June Update

This poor blog is so neglected. Lets do a quick update. Its June. Time is flying by. The girls have 2 more weeks of school until summer vacation. Ben's been working in Seattle since April. Its great because he gets to come home on the weekends. I've been working about 30 hrs per week in Labor & Delivery here in Spokane. We are busy busy busy trying to keep up with life. We visited Ben in Seattle last weekend. He surprised the girls with new bicycles (used new bikes). They were very excited. We went to the space needle, hung out at Pike's Market in Seattle, went bike riding at the park near his hotel. It was a great weekend. Now its back to reality, trying to keep up with the housework, the lawn, all the kids activities. But I am truly grateful that Ben has a great job & that we are here a good area to raise our kids. Life is good.

New York Trip Day 2

Friday was a very busy day.

We took the train from Hicksville
to Penn Station
and headed into the city.

Lots of time spent walking around.

And taking pictures.

Busy traffic, busy people.

Narrow one way streets.

Time Square

It was rainy,
foggy,
& beautiful.

We went to the Discovery Times Square Museum. They have the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit going right now. It was wonderful. We spent hours pouring over the artifacts. Some are thousands of years old. I kept thinking of what was happening in the scriptures (Old Testament, New Testament, and Book of Mormon) when looking at the dates.

Ben was done in about 30 minutes.

I took 3 hours.

What a patient husband I have.

We grabbed a quick bite to eat at Junior's.

Ben had some New York Cheesecake.
Then we went to see The Phantom of the Opera.

It was beautiful.
I cried.
The music was fantastic.



Then it was on to the Empire State Building.

This building is beautiful.

They have tight security.
Its like going through the airport.
They almost didn't let Ben in.
He had his pocket knife that he had to check in and leave with security.
They gave it back afterwards.

Spectacular views!
I can't believe they built this in 1 year!
I liked going at night.
There were no lines.

This is a view looking up from the observation deck. It was crazy windy. I thought my camera would blow right out of my hand. They originally thought they could dock a Blimp at the observation level. But updraft winds created by the building itself made that impossible.
Ben and Carolyn

New York Trip Day 1

Ben's been working in New York for a few months. I get to visit him for the weekend. I flew out on Thursday morning from Spokane, WA into St Paul, MN. And then onto LaGuardia airport in New York City. I slept most of both flights after staying up packing most of the previous night. So it was a good use of my time. Ben is staying at the Residence Inn Marriott in Plainview NY. Its a nice extended stay place. They have free dinner in the restaurant Sunday - Thurs nights. It was a nice evening.

New Home... Closing 6/15/2011

We have been looking for a house and we have a closing date! We are excited. The kids will all have their own rooms.

My life is boring...

Wow... I am such a lame blogger. But things are boring. We live out here in Spokane. And I haven't discovered any cool fun things to do. I basically work and drive my kids to & from school. And go grocery shopping. Everything is very close together. 3 minutes to the school to drive or 10 minutes to walk. And I drive because it is freakin' COLD!

Ben is loving his job. Each day that passes has shown me that his job has been truly a gift from Heavenly Father. He's taking advantage of the educational opportunities and will be starting school part time either this summer or fall.

The girls are in a great school with great teachers and making nice friends. Natalie loves her dance class & Julia loves her gymnastics class. Levi is growing so fast & is now 15 months old. He hasn't had any PKU issues. Our metabolic Dr in Sacramento said he didn't need to see us anymore & no followup would be needed here in Spokane. His Pediatrician here in Spokane just did a PHE level last week per my request and I'll be surprised if its elevated. Levi's development has been normal and he's a bright, sweet, cuddly little boy. He loves to be read to. He loves music. He understands quite a bit, but he's not the most verbal yet. :)

My work is taking some getting used to. There are some cool things about it. It is a LDRP which means I get to care for the laboring mom & then the mom & baby after delivery. Some days I have post partum moms and babies, some days I have antepartums. It doesn't get boring. Some patients are what I call a "one night stand." This means they whine soooo much and complain soooo much and drive a nurse crazy that even though you had them last night... you have therefore done your time and are not required to ever have them again. Who cares about continuity of care. They are a ONE NIGHT STAND. A fellow nurse had one such patient. Her room was the farthest room from the nurses station and took quite a hike to get down there. She would often use her call light to send for her nurse. And then have her nurse make several trips in with ice, pain meds, formula, extra blanket, pillows, etc etc... Her best line was when she called the nurse to come to her room. When the nurse got there, she stated that when she flushed her toilet, the noise would startle her baby. She asked if the nurse would please flush the toilet while she stood in the farthest corner of the room holding her baby so the noise wouldn't startle her. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? That was my favorite line. Classic ONE NIGHT STAND of a patient.

Well there's a quick update on my boring life. I'll try to be a better blogger.

New Place

So we recently moved to Washington state. We're loving it. There are some changes for sure and I really don't do CHANGE very well. But I'll get used to it. The girls started a new school a few weeks ago. I started a new job. Ben started a new job. We are living in an apartment until we find a house. Lots of change. Lots to get used to. :)

Fast Forward

My life feels like the fast forward button got pushed. Everything has flown by so quickly since I started back to work in January. I've been picking up lots of extra shifts at work & essentially turned my part time job into a full time job. Ben's been able to keep up with all the girls' activities while taking care of baby Levi when I'm working the noc shift & sleeping during the day. As these days fly by... my Natalie has turned into a beautiful little lady. She's taking a dance class on Mondays that I never get to see her do. I know she enjoys being with her best friend who is also in the class. Tuesdays my sweet, tender-hearted Julia goes to ballet class... which I've never been able to watch her do. Twice a month (on Tuesdays) I teach the Activity Day girls ages 8-11 in our Branch. Ben drives the ballet run and picks up Activity Day girls from school & I wake myself up to plan and do the activity every other Tuesday... but I miss watching the ballet class. On Wednesdays Juls has her gymnastics class. I totally love gymnastics & I miss being able to watch Juls in her gymnastics. She's very good and shows me her new gym skills all the time. But I miss watching her. I missed Levi rolling over from his tummy to his back for the first time.... I cried when Ben told me how he had rolled over. I told Ben that from now on... Levi is not allowed to do anything for the first time without me. If he does something new... don't tell me. Pretend that when I see it.. It's the First TIME he's ever done it. Life isn't always what you planned it to be, but I feel like I am missing out on my own life. It makes me sad. Fast forward... Levi is 4 months old now. He smiles and laughs.. He loves his mommy and his daddy. He is such a good baby. He loves going on walks with his daddy in the stroller. I need a bit more balance in my life. Less working and more time with my children, husband, & family. New goal. :)

Back to Work

Went back to work on Thursday night. Levi is 8 weeks old. He's so cuddly and has adorable chubby cheeks. LOVE THEM... He's starting to smile and will occasionally laugh. So Thursday during the day I tried to sleep in with the baby in bed next to me. He's so sweet. Then I got about an hour or so nap before going to work @ 11pm. I had one delivery, helped with another delivery, then got the AM c-section patient ready to go. They started this new thing at work when someone comes back from a Leave of Absence, they gave me an "orientation" day. Loved it! Jessica did all my charting & I did the manual labor stuff. My password for the computer charting wouldn't work anyway. Hope to get that resolved soon. It was nice to be able to pump twice at work during my two breaks. I came home Friday morning arouond 8:30am and snuggled my baby all day while 'sort of' trying to sleep. I think I missed Levi so much that I felt I had to make up for the 9 hours we spent apart. I held him in my arms and loved him all day.... and the next day too.... Today was hard to dust & vacuum house, do dishes, sweep & mop the floor, do all laundry... while wearing my baby in my front-pack... Oh & went to Target to buy a new mop, and a b-day present for Nat's friend. I am oh so tired... but my room is messy. The baby is in his own bed right now. I finally put him down.... I think I'll leave 'my room' for tomorrow. Ben's in CO right now on a job interview. My brain is so fragmented. It is time for bed. I love my baby boy. :)

Levi is 6 weeks old

Little Levi is 6 weeks old. He's such a sweet, mellow, cuddly baby. He loves to be held and he loves to EAT...

Levi (2 weeks ago) weighed about 10 lbs. I am sure he's even bigger now. His little cheeks are so chubby and cute. He's no longer in "newborn" diapers... He's in the size 1 size. (growing so fast already... ) He's been to a few outings. He went to his first day at church this past Sunday. He was very well behaved and slept through most of it. He's been to his sister Julia's Gymnastics Christmas program, and to Natalie & Julia's piano recital, and to Natalie & Julia's Christmas singing program at the elementary school. He slept through most all those performances as well. He likes to sleep through noisy situations.

Levi is "sort of" fussy/tired & doesn't want to go to sleep.

Baby Levi in his bouncy seat... 6 wks old!

Natalie's beautiful smile!

Mom & Dad came to visit from TX for Thanksgiving.

Jennifer & Mike came to visit from Provo for Thanksgiving.

Natalie & Julia hold baby Levi on Thanksgiving.

Natalie plays 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas'.

Natalie & Julia had two snow days from school!

Julia at her gymnastics Christmas Performance.

Levi was diagnosed with PKU when he was a few days old. It turns out that his PKU is on the mild side of the spectrum & is called benign hyper-phe. He'll have blood tests to make sure his levels of Phe are safe, but it looks like right now he'll not have to be on a special diet. We are so grateful for this miracle. Levi had to do about one week of the special medical formula mixed with measured amounts of breastmilk. I was neurotic and crazy for the whole 2nd week of his life, measuring out breastmilk and formula into bottles for each day's feedings. What a miracle to get the news that he has the benign form of PKU.

Julia Throws Up

This morning Julia came into my room crying because she had just thrown up. She says to me... "Mommy, I was trying to go potty and my poop smelled so bad that I threw up on the floor.".....

Baby Levi Benjamin Light

So happy to not be pregnant anymore. Well, I gave in. We named our sweet little boy, Levi Benjamin Light. I am happy with the name and it only took 10 years for me to agree to name my son Levi. He is a sweet, cuddly, calm little boy. I wasn't sure it would be worth it after the torturous nine months of unrelenting nausea. But it Totally was worth it. I am so in LOVE with his sweet spirit.

He was born Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 2:49pm. He weighed 7lbs-11ozs... totally HUGE right? and 19 inches long.

We got to the hospital around 7:30am, started the pitocin around 8:30am. Dr M ruptured my membranes around 8:30 as well. Got my epidural around 11am. I pushed for about 25 minutes and asked Dr M to please just pull him out. I was soooo done pushing after 25 WHOLE minutes. My epidural was magnificent thanks to Dr K. It was the best, most DENSE epidural in the whole world. I couldn't feel a thing, and I couldn't push worth $#@%. Oh well.... Just a little Kiwi vacuum and we had a baby.

My sweet husband kept me entertained the whole time we were in the hospital. He's so fun to be with and I had his undivided attention. That night we celebrated with the best steak I have ever had from Outback Steakhouse. It was the best feeling to not feel like puking! We also had my favorite... Vanilla Blue Bell Ice-Cream on a warm brownie... I didn't throw that up either. It was incredible.

Now we are home enjoying our sweet little Levi. It only took us until Saturday 11/14 to name him. I know we had nine months to think of a name, but I had to try and come up with something better than Levi, but I just couldn't. I think I love my husband so much that I just couldn't name him anything BUT Levi. That is probably why nothing sounded right to me... until I finally accepted it.

Name Venting Post

Another post from Dad... 2 days after Baby Light's birth and still "IT" has no name! Looks as if Carolyn and Baby IT will be discharged this morning and we will have nothing to tell inquiring minds what "IT's" name is. Maybe "IT" can be named "I.T. Light"! (Hey, what's up I.T.?) or we could spell it "Eye Tee Light"..... Whatever!

So most everyone knows that I have had a name picked out for most our marriage, if we were ever blessed with a boy. Levi Benjamin Light. Well, come to find out that 12 years back Carolyn was attending a church dance and some hot guy named Levi asked her to dance. He was one of these summer college working pest control guys from Utah working in Texas. Well his mother forgot to teach him about hygiene etiquette (shower, soap, deodorant, toothpaste,) normal need to know stuff to keep woman around after your looks have gotten you to the dancing part. All Levi had to do was come within a 3 ft proximity, lift his arm and open his mouth. Now my chances forever having a son named Levi is completely gone down the Drain! Literally!

So, "Forever Single Levi" wherever you are....THANKS! And now we have been blessed with a Baby "IT".

The Big Day.... "Carolyn's D-Day"

So, first let me start by being up front with everyone that reads this blog entry. This is from Ben and not Carolyn. The narcotics they have her on, hinders her from being in her Right mind! So enjoy the sense of humor that Carolyn endures on a daily basis.

It felt like D-Day started three nights ago when Carolyn went into the nesting phase of the pregnancy. The neurotic “Honey do” list grew faster than the natural man or husband could keep up with. Everything need to be perfect! Carolyn took to cleaning and organizing our bedroom making room for the baby. After completion, it only took (1) Dr.Pepper for Carolyn to decide to start over and re-clean and re-organize the room again.

On Tuesday morning, we arrived at the hospital around 7:30am and were escorted to our suite (oh I mean birthing room). I say suite because it was as big as Carolyn and I’s first apartment! I mean it! The apartment was small but this room was huge! I bet the max capacity could have been around 25+. (Carolyn was not hip on the idea to see how many we could fit.) I guess it’s good to have perks every once in a while. Well, they hooked Carolyn up to an IV and started PIT. By 8:15am. The doctor stopped in and gave Carolyn a pep talk along with offering some motivation with an AROM. This is medical terminology for a procedure that I would name “No going back now!” It could be compared to popping a water balloon between your legs.

The PIT worked its magic and by 11am it was time for the epidural. Carolyn calls it the Happy-dural. Here is a classic picture that I was fortunate to catch. Immediately after the anesthesiologist finished putting in the epidural, Carolyn went back to texting. Remember now, she is not numb yet and she is having contractions. Technology is great. The funniest part was when she got on the phone and was too busy to hear the Drug Doc. asking here to sit back up so he could readjust the epidural. So he sat there and waited for her to finish.

Well, finally around 2pm Carolyn was complete and ready to push. Carolyn asked to have her 'Happy-dural' turned off because she could not feel the lower half of her body. 20 min. later the Doc arrived and after a whole 29 minutes of pushing the Doc pulled the baby out with a baby plunger called a kiwi. You can tell in this picture those 29 minutes did a number on her.

After everyone (Carolyn) is fixed up we pose for pictures with the Doc and then our nurse.

Here is a classic picture of Baby Boy Light staring down MOM!

Natalie holding Baby Light

Julia holding Baby Boy Light

Grandpa & Grandma Light with Baby Boy Light

And Me with Baby Boy Light

We are still trying to decide on a name for this special, sweet little baby boy. He's blond, blue eyed, calm, mellow and very cuddly. Any suggestions???

37 weeks

Had another OB appointment yesterday. It was short & sweet. Baby Boy Light is doing fine, getting HUGE, and moving around like crazy. My OB asked me if I had any questions. I told him I wouldn't harass him about an induction date this time.

The girls are so excited. I went on a field trip with Julia last week. (Last one for a while; it wore me out for 2 days!) She told me as I got on the bus, that she had promised all her friends that they could rub my belly and feel the baby move if they wanted to. I told her... ummmm NO. She was a bit disappointed. :( I am such a mean mommy.

Natalie is becoming a fantastic piano player lately. She practices daily and it sounds really nice! She's turning into a little lady. She and Julia were "Best Friends" on Saturday and played outside all day long. It was so sweet.

Ben is halfway through his Biology class this semester. He's working hard at interviewing with different law enforcement agencies, but so far we are still waiting for official job offers. We'll see.

That's about it for this week. :)

My Birth Plan.. Part 1

OK, so I am a lame blogger lately. I'll try to be better. I got an email from MyPregnancy.Com today about writing out a birth plan for my hospital stay. As an L&D nurse, I sometimes roll my eyes at some of these birth plans that patients come in with. I am not a granola, natural person. I like drugs, epidurals, scheduled inductions, & I am OK with a C-Section if this kid doesn't just fall out in a few hours of labor. Try that on for a birth plan! Only I seemed to have picked a very conservative, careful, OB/GYN. He doesn't share my same idea on giving me a scheduled induction 1 wk before my due date just because I want one. He thinks my cervix needs to be ripe & my baby's head should be in the pelvis. (sigh.....) whatever.

So here is Part 1 of my dream Birth Plan for Baby Boy Light...

• My Due Date is 11/17/09 - (If I come into the hospital anytime in the week before my due date and I am not in labor, you are just going to have to keep me because I am not going home. INDUCE ME if I am not in labor.)
• I would like to be free to walk, move around, & change position at will throughout labor. (I will not be walking much as I plan on having an epidural ASAP! I agree to to change positions, but you may have to remind me and help me do so b/c I move as well as a beached whale.)
• I would like to be able to have fluids by mouth throughout the first stage of labor. (I would like to eat & drink whatever I want, whenever I want it. I know I am only going to be allowed ice chips while in labor with an epidural. I am actually an ice chomping monster right now, so just keep the ice chips coming & we’ll be fine. I will be puking occasionally while in labor & for the 1^st 24 hrs after delivery regardless of what I eat or drink, so please let me eat & chomp my ice chips at will. I will be needing IV Zofran 4mg q 6hrs while I have an IV. This will only help me feel less nauseated. I will still puke. If you don’t keep the ice chips coming, my husband will be sent to refill my ice cup. And if you don’t keep the Zofran coming, I have my own stash of Zofran that I will take while you aren’t in the room.)
• I will be bringing my own music to play during labor. (Actually no music needed, I’d rather sleep or watch TV).
• Monitoring. (I would like to have continuous fetal monitoring because I am a control freak and I want to make sure my baby is not in distress. Feel free to use external or internal monitors as needed).
• Labor Augmentation/Induction. (I would love to be AROMed to get my labor going. We can try anything: pitocin, cytotec, etc. I would like to avoid the ‘natural’ methods like walking or nipple stimulation. Walking is too much work and ‘nipple stimulation??’… Let’s just use the drugs God gave us to use.
• Anesthesia/Pain Medication. (I know pain medication exists. Let it be clear that I would like a heavy, strong epidural ASAP. I do not want to try any IV pain medication before the epidural because it will make me even more crazy than I already am. If Dr Brown is available, I pick him to do it. :)

That’s all for now… I’ll finish Part 2 later… :)

Meet Rachel's "Harry Potter"

I Failed my Glucose Tolerance Test

Are you freaking kidding me??? I thought it was a fasting 1 hr glucose tolerance test, (which when I showed up, it turned out I didn't have to be fasting). The last thing I ate was a bowl of ice-cream around 10pm. I woke up, did a few chores. Did not eat or drink anything. I showed up for the test around 1pm in the afternoon (starving to death), drank the nasty orange crap, & waited an hour. They drew my blood & that was it. I went straight to Taco Bell and ate a huge meal! I just got a call that I failed the test and now I have to do the 3 hour test. This sucks. If I have gestational diabetes, I will die! I have no self control when it comes to food. I eat whatever & whenever I want. I won't say I eat a lot, but I don't have self control when it comes to dieting or exercising. I just don't care. I love my food!

Champs Swim Meet

Natalie & Julia did great @ the Champs Swim Meet. It was so fun to watch them. They really improved their times on all strokes. Natalie is the breast stroke queen! This is Julia's 3rd year on the swim team and this will be her last year as a 6 & Under. She had many 1st & 2nd place ribbons this year. I survived the summer. Ben did all the volunteer requirements and then some. I just sat in the shade and made sure the girls made it to their races. I did swim in one parent relay team with my preggo belly about 2 weeks ago. I only had to do one lap of free-style (25 YDS). It was the most exercise I've had all summer (not counting 8 hr shifts running around @ the hospital). Two more weeks until school starts and 15 more weeks being pregnant.

Random Thoughts

I am so not into taking pictures or blogging lately. Sorry. I started back to work. It has been nice to only work 8 hr shifts. I feel like I am missing half of my brain. I seem to have forgotten all passcodes and door lock combinations and I don't know where anything is. There are some new policies and I am slow at charting and I could go on and on. My patient last night was psychotic. Luckily, she delivered within 45 min and I got her upstairs to Post-Partum as fast as I could. Did you know it is against our hospital's policy for a patient to keep her own placenta? My psychotic patient threw a fit because she wanted to take her placenta home and bury it so she could plant a tree over it. This is granola-ville California!! She can't do that? I personally think it is gross, but whatever.

The tooth fairy is visiting Julia for the first time tonight. She went to the dentist today and begged her to pull her wiggly little tooth on the bottom. Julia had been working on it for weeks to no avail. The dentist kindly abliged and helped Julia out by numbing it with orajel and pulling it. She was so excited. Natalie also had her appointment and was very brave while the dentist removed her spacer. Tonight, I checked on the girls as they were sleeping.... And I found a note next to Julia's pillow. It said, "Dear Tooth Fairy, Could you please give my sister Natalie money for her spacer? Sincerely, Julia" (Only it was written in very mature handwriting for little JULIA to have written... ) I wonder what the tooth fairy will say to that... :)

Julia has changed career choices for when she grows up and states she wants to be a car cleaner. She recently helped me detail my car with armor-all and a Q-Tip. Yes, I know I am crazy... but it felt so good to get that Q-Tip all in the little cracks and have all that dirt come out. It was that or buy a new car. My 99 Rav4 is still running strong with close to 189K miles and I am broke so having a SPOTLESS car makes me feel almost like it is a new car.