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???