A Second Grader

Oh my Little Liam. I can't believe we are done with first grade! He truly had the BEST first grade year I could have hoped for with the very best teacher in the world. We all got a little teary on the last day of school when Mrs. Sparks said good-bye. Liam had so much fun at the end of the year and exceeded all of her testing and reading expectations. He blew the fish out of the water on his MAP testing and his report card and citizenship grades were phenomenal. He's so amazing and I'm just so proud of him. For his end of the year musical he even had a solo, which he performed beautifully! I'm so sad I don't have any photos of that, but they were accidentally deleted. It's definitely something I'll never forget though. I was a proud mama for sure. This was his spring photo. He chose his clothes, the background and the pose. I love his little goofy first grade grin. He has also starting a LOVE of the comics. Nana always saves all of her comics for him from the Sunday paper and you can't talk to him for the first little while that he has his comics. He has also been writing some pretty hysterical little notes, like these notes to the tooth fairy (we had a conversation about being greedy, so he revised and clarified in a new note to the tooth fairy) and this card to Papa for Father's Day.

Eight Months

Gosh, these posts are so incredibly bittersweet for me. I'm seriously loving every minute being this kiddo's mom.  He is so happy and sweet and fun! I hate that he's growing and changing so fast and so much, but it is so fun to watch him do new things.  It makes me get all teary just typing this.

He's figured out all kinds of new tricks this month. He pulls himself up to stand. He climbed out of his crib before I got around to lowering the mattress. We found him crawling around in his room with a smile on his face. Thank goodness he didn't get hurt. He's decided that he finally REALLY loves baby food. He can suck down a tube so fast!  He still has no teeth.  He loves his brother and sister and army crawls to anywhere they are. He wants to be right in the middle of all the kiddos.  He is also really starting to get up on all fours and crawl.

I know I say it all the time, but he really is the cutest, happiest, sweetest baby in the world and we all are absolutely smitten with him!

Run or Dye

So, I had a random, dumb idea to run a 5K and made my friend Natalie commit to it with me.  Wes decided he wanted in too and a couple of other friends.  I committed to a sugar free month so that Natalie would commit to the run. About the time I committed to the run, I got in my accident and started my new job so I had about zero time to train, which isn't the best idea, especially when the course is at the very hilly UNR.  Regardless, we plugged along and decided to go with it and do it- if not just for fun!  So, all of the girls on 'my' team are Mormon, moms and breastfeeding so we decided to name ourselves the Mormon Milking Mamas. Wes' team was "Fat Paintballer". :)  We were creative, right?

The day of the race was super hot, but we were excited. Unfortunately, the race wasn't super organized and it was hot, but we did have a great time!  We both ran and walked and did the race in about 19 minutes which wasn't too terrible!  We definitely scared the kids when we got home!  And we definitely had colored snot for a few days...

Random Happenings of the Mom

So, at the end of December last year, I decided to finally bite the bullet and apply for a mother baby position at the hospital I work at. I had been putting it off because I worked with such a fabulous team of nurses on oncology, but I knew it was time to move forward to work where I've always wanted to. Because of a hiring freeze, some classes I had to take, and some other stuff, I didn't get the job until the end of April, which actually worked out fine. The bummer of the new job (but there are also pluses to this too) is that I am now full time, which is 3, 12 hour shifts a week, when I was only working 3 before. On my very last day of my oncology job, I was definitely tearful to not be working with such amazing nurses on a weekly basis anymore. They threw me a nice little potluck and gave me the most difficult patients, so I wouldn't be too sad. However, the friendships made and things I've learned on 3NW oncology will stay with me forver! This is my last day: I was however, definitely excited to move on to the pink badge club! I've wanted a pink badge for so long! I've really, really been enjoying my job on postpartum and in the newborn nursery. It's so fun to work with the new babies and moms and getting to do so much education! On my way home from work on my very last day, I had the unfortunate experience of being hit by a drunk driver while at a stoplight. I was stopped and I was hit by a car going at least 40 mph. I haven't gotten the official word on the speed, but I was subpoenaed to court for his case at the end of July, so I'm sure I'll know all the specifics at that time. At any rate, I got some pretty significant whiplash that I have been having 3-4 appointments a week for. And my poor, sweet van that protected me so well was totaled. I was so mad! The driver had the gawl to get out and run after he hit me. Luckily, they found him a few blocks away. The police were quite impressed with how well my van fared considering the damage to the other vehicle. I did slide into the car in front of me, but I'm so thankful my car was in between because there were two tiny children in the back of the vehicle in front of me that could have been seriously injured. So, at any rate my months have been filled with dealing with appointments, headaches, cars, lawyers, etc. Here is my van and the car that hit me. I know I was being watched over and my doctors are actually quite impressed with how quickly I'm getting better considering what I went through. It was an experience I hope I never have to repeat. So, because my car was totaled, I had to get a new car, which I wasn't thrilled about, considering my van was so close to being paid off. However, I got a new Honda Odyssey which I LOVE. It is so much fun and we love our new minivan- Helga the Honda. :) So, back to work happenings. I was fortunate enough to be nominated again this year for the Northern Nevada Nurse of Achievement. I was nominated with my friend Stacy for Nursing Innovation related to our badge clip charity which is still going strong! We had a lovely dinner. My parents joined us as well. Even though we didn't win, there is no other nurse I'd rather do this project with. I'm so proud of our accomplishment with Bedazzled Badge Clips. For nurse's week, Stacy and I made these cute little angel badge clips with this little poem. They came out so cute and everyone loved them. So, that's my updates as of late! :)

SUMMER!

The kids have been so excited for summer! Addy has been running around in her diaper like a wild hooligan. They've been begging for the slip and slide every day, and the pool is a constant must! Finn has joined the summer fun by devouring his first taste of real strawberries. I have to admit, I really love summer too.

Little Surgery

So, Liam had to have a 'little' surgery at the end of May. I'm only writing about it because anyone who is on my reader list already knows about it, and this is part of our family story, so it goes into the blog book Stephenson history too. :)

He ended up having a torsion and they had to remove the dead cells and insure that he didn't not have a repeat of the event. This whole ordeal ended up being more of a big deal that I had anticipated. The surgery took about 2 1/2 hours, which was crazy to me. Most surgeries, even fairly invasive ones, usually last about 1.5 hours these days.  But, he was in the hands of a great surgeon, Dr. Hald, and he had Dr. Gholdoin assist, who is also a fabulous surgeon.  His anesthesiologist was Dr. Winthrop who is a good friend of Heather and Shaawn's, so I felt very comfortable with who was caring for my baby.


He was SUCH a trooper. He was totally relaxed and did exactly what all the doctor's told him. I was a bit of a mess when they took him back, but he was actually really excited about it. He got to wear a cool hat that Dr. Winthrop gave him.

He had some difficulty coming out of the anesthesia.  He had some pretty yucky nausea, but he still maintained a positive attitude.  In fact, when the recovery nurse asked him where his surgery was he replied, "I'm pretty sure it was in OR 4."  He was exactly right. :)  Here are a few pics from before and after surgery.











He had a fairly quick recovery, but still missed about 4 days of school. He received lots of get well soon cards and gifts and felt very loved. His teacher even sent him a get well card with a jamba juice gift card, which he and I both thought was pretty cool.

Anyway, he thoroughly impressed me throughout this whole ordeal. He was such a trooper and did so awesome. His only complaint was that he didn't get to show his cool scars to anyone. We are lucky parents to have such a cool kid.

These little ones...

are my world. I always want a photo of my with my children on Mother's Day. This particular mother's day wasn't actually the greatest. We were getting over a stomach flu and just kind of getting by. We had plans for a picnic in the park, but they got nixed because of the flu. However, I wanted a photo of me with my babies to remember this year, this moment, the good and the bad. Because honestly, I wouldn't change a minute that I get to spend with them. Lately, I'm trying to be more conscious of letting myself get burnt out and loosing it with them. It's easy to do with three small kids, because it's hard.  It's not easy to have to meet the demands of these three little people all the time.   However, they are the people I love most in the world and I am trying to treat them with the respect and love and kindness they deserve.  I want them to remember to treat others the way their mother treated them. I want to be more present with my parenting.  They are so innocent and they trust me 100% to be there for them and love them constantly. And I want them to feel that and know that without a doubt. I want them to forgive me for my mistakes, so I need to be loving and kind and forgiving of them too. Sometimes I feel that I expect too much of their sweet little minds and forget so easily that they are just learning. I hope that I can do better and be better for them. I hope that they always know how much I love them and how much I love their Daddy and how much I love our Father in Heaven.  They are so amazing. And I am so thankful that they made me a mother. I am so, so thankful for the opportunity I've been given to raise them and I've promised myself I won't take that task lightly.