Lately I feel like I do the same thing day in and day out, and it's usually just Owen and me. Wake up, go on our walk, put Owen down for his nap, take a shower and get ready, take Timmy lunch, come back eat lunch, feed Owen, play toys, put Owen down for another nap, take a nap myself and then cook dinner. I live my whole day for what happens after dinner. I get to watch my son and his daddy play. I am usually picking up from dinner, or resting on the couch. A lot of the time Timmy doesn't know I am watching them. I love their faces, how happy they are. I watch them tease each other and chase each other. Timmy teaches Owen something and then they do it back and forth.

It's funny before we had Owen I hated being alone, I always had the tv on or I would go to a store so I could be around people. I love that I am never alone. I get to hang out with a cute baby, and I love it!! The only thing I wish was that I had enough energy to keep the house all cute and organized like those cute moms at church. I see that sign on Pinterest, you know the one that says pick two: clean house, healthy dinner made, great sex life, well groomed fit and put together, work full time, laundry done and put away. Well lets see, I work part time nights, I make dinner half the nights, my house is partially clean, I am never put together and the laundry gets done half the time. Haha, my life is half ass right now. Working nights was awesome when I didn't have a baby, but now I am always tired, I get to sleep about 4 hours the day after I work, and I am tired the rest of the week.

Change of subject, Riley comes home next week. We are so excited!! Next week is going to be very busy. Riley comes home, Owens one year appt, doctors appt for me, hair appt, one year pictures, and Owens one year party. I am so excited to see my whole family together. It has been 4 years since we have all been together.

Crazy few months

A lot has changed in our little family in the past few months. I only work twice a month, Timmy does not teach right now, we moved to Vegas, and my baby is 6 months old. Crazy I know! Every thing is great so far. I love being a stay at home mom/wife. It is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I love cleaning, organizing, cooking, (I don't like laundry.) I have essentially worked full time since I was 15. This is a great change and I love it! I mean being a mom is not easy by any means and I am sure all those moms out there with more than one kid have it way more rough than I do. But totally worth every second. The days that I do work I love being a nurse. I love helping people and sharing my story, but I hate leaving my baby. When I get home I can't believe how much I missed him.

Timmy is not a teacher right now. He is in training on being the parts and service manager at Yamaha of Las Vegas. We are now in the motorcycle business again. (He did this the first year we were married.) While I was on maternity leave I was only making 50% of what my paycheck was, and we had to pay for our premiums. We found out really quick that a teachers salary was not going to pay all our bills. Timmy and I decided that we wanted me to stay home with our kids as much as possible. Russ offered him a job, and he took it. It was a quick decision and we put our house up for rent. We moved in January (well Timmy moved in January.) I stayed at my moms with Owen until I finished up the schedule at work. We finally both got here the first week of February. I have still had to drive up to St. George a lot lately because Owen still has multiple doctors appointment and vaccinations. At the end of March I won't have to drive up as often. We do miss family, but in all reality we only saw Timmy's family once every other week, and my family once every other week. It has been really nice to live so close to Russ and Nicole. Owen loves to watch Ryker. He is so happy and content to watch that little monkey run around. Timmy and I created a people watcher that is for sure. It is too bad we don't have a little one year old.

I like that we live so close to things down here and that there is so much more to do, if you want to do more. If not there is still the normal movies, restaurants and of course Target and T.J Max! I kinda like too that you don't see any one that you know. You can go anywhere you want looking however you want and nobody cares! I know that might sound crazy but I don't always like getting ready, well I really only get ready to take Timmy lunch, haha.

My baby is 6 months old. I cannot believe it! It has been the best 4 months having him here at home with us. He is my miracle baby and I love him more than I can express. It has been such a blessing in our lives having his smiley face with us. I feel so honored to be his mommy. He is getting so big! He smiles a lot and baby talks. He loves to suck on his hands, and he is getting a tooth. He still eats every three hours, and lately has been waking up 1 or 2 times in the night, which is totally exhausting and requires a nap in the day, for me hahaha! He loves his bath time, and loves to go places to watch people. He doesn't really like to stay at home, I think he gets bored. He still struggles with rolling over, he hates his tummy and cries every time you lay him down. He is getting better at sitting up though. He still fits in 3 month clothes so I am curious to see how much he weighs. I am so proud of us though he has never been sick. After his Synagis he gets a stuffy nose but it clears up in 2 days. We are still careful about taking him to crowded places and will be probably until the end of March.


Well that is our life in a nut shell, I will try and write more often.

Living the Key life

We have now been in "The Vegas" for about 6 months. Things are starting to grow on us. There are lots of things to do, even though we really haven't done much. Right now we are struggling money wise, why you ask? well I just got my tonsils out about 6 weeks ago $1500, I just rear ended a guy $450, we were already over our budget so we need to pay off our credit card ( I am not going to post how much that is). In all reality if I would have looked for a job before we moved and started when we got down here then we wouldn't be in the debt that we are. It is difficult for me to think that I should have done that, because I have really enjoyed staying at home with my little guy. On the other hand I can see how stressed Timmy has been since we have been down here and I don't like it one bit. I wish we just had enough money to live "comfortably" I feel guilty about saying that because we have a lot compared to others. That word is so variable for everyone. Some people feel that being comfortable is having a roof over their head and having enough food to eat; which we do and I am so grateful for that. I am thankful for all the things we have: our jobs, cars, house, furniture, friends and family. I would like to be debt free, and be able to do a few fun things with my family. That to me is living comfortably.

I just started my job 3 weeks ago. I am continuing my specialty which is Postpartum nursing at Summerlin hospital. I have enjoyed it so far, but things are so vastly different than what I am used too. I think the main difference is how busy they are, all the time. They do not use CNA's, so that is really difficult for me because I relied on my CNA's a lot. I get paid a lot more which is very helpful, and I am excited to meet new people. I have been so lucky to be home with Owen for about 9 months working a night here and there. I am so grateful that I only have to work 5 shifts a month. Our goal is to be debt free (besides our mortgage) by Timmy's 30th birthday and to have some in savings (right now we have none).

Three big things are happening to our family this year. Timmy will be 30, Owen is turning 1, and Riley will be home from his mission. I will be throwing a party for Timmy and Owen and I am so excited about that. Timmy's party is going to be a "dirty thirty" where people have to come in their best white trash outfit. Owens is going to be a Peter Pan party. That is his favorite movie. I have been planning both for some time and I am so excited to see friends again. I can't believe Riley is going to be home. It has been so long, but it has gone by so fast.

Basically that is the update in our family. We are working hard, so eventually we will be able to play hard too.

Owen loves Ryker, he looks up too him and loves being around him.

Owen loves all his cousins, and likes to play.

Owen gets so excited when he learns something new.

Owen loves his daddy.

9 month appt, Dr. Marsden said he is just about caught up!

Happy 4th, Owen is very intent on watching the parade.

Loves to crawl

Visiting brother, memorial day

Tickle monster

Livin' the life in Vegas

Life in The Vegas

We have now lived in Las Vegas for almost 3 months. We like it so far, unfortunately we are not making as much money as we thought because I am not working. I have an interview tomorrow at Summerlin hospital. I am really excited actually. I will be able to work less and make more than I do in St. George and probably get more experience. I even have a friend that works there. Tara, she went to nursing school with me and worked in postpartum with me in stg.

Owen is getting so big, he laughs, sits up, rolls over, and eats real food. He is the sweetest baby. He loves to cuddle and in the morning after I feed him he will jut lay next to me and cuddle for a half an hour or so. It is so cute. He loves to jump in the jumparoo. He had his last RSV shot and his occupational therapy appointment. Kari Ann was so impressed by him and said he does everything at his both age not his gestational age. We are so proud of him! He loves living close to Ryker and Harper, he loves to watch them play.

Timmy likes his job...I think anyway, he doesn't talk about it much, oh wait he doesn't talk much at all. Hahaha. We don't see him much and that is hard but he is a hard worker and I am so proud of him. He gets to bathe Owen every night and then we get to spend time together.

We are so lucky to be next to Nicole and Russ they have showed us around the city, helped us meet new friends and we get to hang out every once and a while. We have not done much of the big city stuff or have even really gone any where (me more than Timmy) but it is our life and we love it. Wet n Wild is just 2 min from the house so we will have somewhere to hang out this summer.

The most exciting thin I have done so far is a private showing of The Lone Ranger. I met Nicole there and we got to see unseen footage of the movie and watch an interview with some of the cast, the producer and director, including Johnny Depp! I got to see him so close. I wish I was only able tiger a picture or an autograph.

My baby is 3 months

A lot of things have happened over this month. I am now 27, we celebrated Thanksgiving and Owen is 3 months old. Timmy took me to dinner for my birthday, we went to Benja's. The only other thing I wanted to do was walk around and look in different stores. We didn't get anything, I just wanted to do something different. Thanksgiving was fun. I got to see my family a little, it was really hard not being able to take Owen places. I know it is for the best and we really don't want him to get sick but it is difficult, not being around family. Timmy was a good husband and watched him while I did my black friday shopping and let me go to a movie with my sister. Owen is getting so big, he is now 7 pounds 8 ounces. We love him so much. Here are some things that he has accomplished this last month.

• He sleeps for 5 hours at night after his 30 calorie bottle.
• He just learned how to coo, he doesn't do it very often but he knows how.
• He can lift his head up and turn it side to side. 
• He crys a lot. His tummy hurts and he gets lots of gas bubbles.
• He likes to be with mommy. 
• He loves his bath time; he likes warm water, it makes his tummy feel better.
• He fits in newborn clothes.

We had so much fun for Thanksgiving we made our own dinner, and went to the sand dunes for football and watched daddy play.

I love his dimples

I said smile for daddy and he did.

Loves his bath time but hates getting out, it is too cold.

Loves to be wrapped to mommy

At home with my Owen

My little Owen is now 2 months old. He is getting so big, now at 5lb 4oz. I know that seems small to some people but he was only 3lb 2oz at birth. Here are a few things about him.

• He is getting little chubby cheeks and starting to fill out his preemie outfits. He has even outgrown 2 of his jammies. 
• He is really strong too. We do his exercises everyday. He can lift his head off the ground for 3 sec and he can grab my hands and pull his body up. 
• He sleeps a lot and eats every three hours. When he eats he puts his hand on his head like he is thinking. He gets 2 extra calorie bottles a day and loves daddy to feed him. 

 

• He is almost at his due date. Next week he will be 40 weeks on Wednesday. 
• We haven't gone many places yet. We avoid places with kids, and crowds. He had his first walk on the river trail, he loved it. He fell asleep pretty quickly. 

•  He has learned how to suck his thumb and sometimes snores when he sleeps.

• He likes to be up at night most of the time, and when he sleeps he likes to sleep next to his mamma.
• He still has frequent doctor appointments. Two next week.   
• His hair is red and it is fuzzy like his uncle Rileys

We love him so much. We are so happy that he is finally home. We pray everyday for him and are glad that he is growing and getting so strong.

My delivery story

Friday August 31 I went to have an NST at 10:20 am. I was able to go right on back and got comfortable on the recliner. Owens heart sounded really good, in the 140's and 150's. About 15 min later his heart went down to the 90's. I tried to find his heart but it was difficult, it came right back up, but mom knew something was wrong. I almost called for some help but his heart rate went back up after 1 min or so. I told Dr. Ott and he said that it was my heartbeat and that sometimes it picks up the maternal heart rate. I knew in my heart that it wasn't mine and it was his. I called Timmy and he told me very calmly to listen to his heartbeat with the doppler throughout the day. I went to Wal-mart to get my mind off of things, and bought things  for delivery that I wouldn't be having for at least a few weeks and then went home. I listened to him a couple of times, on and off and he sounded really good. I called Lena to talk and ate some pizza for lunch. Throughout the pregnancy I had been watching Private Practice so I sat down to watch an episode. I listened to him for almost the whole episode and once again he went down into the 90's. I called Timmy in a panic he told me to call the office but I didn't know what to say so I got in the car to drive there. The panic that was going through my mind was too much, what if by the time I got there and they sent me to Labor and Delivery it was too late? I decided then that I would go strait to Labor and Delivery especially because I was worried that they would send me home.

I was a mess. I started crying right when I walked in, they asked me what was wrong; was I hurting, and if I had felt him move. We went into a room and they hooked me up. Venice was my  nurse, we were there for about an hour and a half and everything looked really good she went to go get the discharge paperwork but I asked if I could stay for a bit longer. She came in to tell us we were just about ready to go, and he did it again. Luckily she was in the room and watched him. She said that it could have been picking up my heart rate, but it also could have been him. She said she would call Dr. Ott. He wanted us to stay for the weekend and Dr. Chalmers would be back on Monday to decide what to do with me.

That night he had 4 decelerations, the longest was in the 40's for about 5 min. I was so scared and cried a lot. Dr. Eggert the Neonatologist came in and talked to us about how I was only 29.4 weeks along and what we could expect if our baby was born this weekend. He suggested that I take 2 doses of the betamethesone shots, but it would take 48 hours for the full effects to kick in. He also wanted me to start taking prophilactic magnesium sulfate. The betamethasone is a steroid that helps lungs develop quickly, and the magnesium is to prevent brain bleeds. The shots were the worst, they hurt more than any other shots I had at the beginning of  my pregnancy. Timmy would rub my hip where the shot was given to make it feel better. The Magnesium ran in for 12 hours and made me feel a little woosy, and burned going in. I kind of liked the feeling though because it made me calm. I tried to sleep but about every 3 hours he would have a deceleration so I would end up just starring at his strip.

Each shift I had a new doctor watching me and my strip. The first night Dr. Ott and Dr. Wong the second night it was Dr. Fagnant. At first he made me feel comfortable by answering all my questions. By the end of the night all of his statistics and studies were confusing me, he was still even mentioning the possibility of sending me home, and he wasn't making any decisions. That night when I would have a decel no one would come in and once again I was watching my strip constantly. Sunday morning I finally got a few hours of sleep . Dr. Strubble was my doctor that day, and I was so grateful.  When he came on he said he was going to call Perinatology in Salt Lake and ask them three questions. 1. When they should deliver me. 2. If they should deliver me and 3. If they should stop my contractions. When I got up to use the bathroom I felt like I was having gas and felt a little pop. I called out to my nurse Kristen and said that I thought my water had broke. Corbin decided that because no one was going to make a decision he was going to break his water. Dr. Strubble called the Perinatologists again and they said they would do my C-section if one of three things happened. 1. Owen was showing signs of infection. 2. I got a temperature or 3. If I went into labor. Almost immediately I started having stronger contractions. I had about 5 contractions and they were getting pretty uncomfortable. The one I had right before they checked me I started to cry. I was 5.5 cm, at that time they started getting me ready for surgery. Everything went really fast.

They wheeled me back and Dr. Nelson put in my spinal I will truly always be so grateful that I was able to be awake during my labor experience. He went really fast and then they layed me down. Timmy came and they started to cut. It was the weirdest feeling, it was almost hurting but it was just the tugging that felt so weird. When they pulled Owen out it seemed like forever before I heard his sweet litttle cry. I was a mom. He was actually crying. Throughout the past two days I was in fear for his life, his heart rate went down numerous times and I wasn't sure if he was going to survive or if they were going to tell me something that I had already heard once before. They let me see him only for a second and they they took my sweet little boy to the NICU, luckily daddy got to follow. A  couple minutes later they were done with the c-section and I was wheeled back to the recovery room. My mom and Dad and Tyler were there to greet me.

A little bit later I got to meet our other sweet little boy. He was perfect. I can't express the feelings I had that day. There was a spirit in the room and I knew he was there watching out for his brother. If his water wouldn't have broke that day, I don't know if Owen would have made it much longer. He passed away so his brother could grow big and strong and his water broke so that his brother could survive. I will always be grateful for that little boy. Labor and Delivery techs were able to get hand prints and foot prints, and perfect hand and foot molds. We decided to name him Corbin Russell.

A few hours later my legs were finally un-numb. Lisa came down and got me in a wheel chair so I could see my precious new baby. I am so glad that she was able to take me to see him right away. I really don't remember much but that he had his cpap, and his uvc. I wasn't really that worried about him now that I could see him breathing. Timmy and I were so happy.

The next few days are kind of a blur. We went to the NICU frequently to hold him and we learned a lot. We got to hold him every 7-10-1-4 o' clock hour. Timmy decided that he would hold him at 7 every night, that way he would get used to him putting him to bed when he got home from work. I started holding him every 10 o'clock in the morning and evening. That later changed because I started to feel disconnected from Timmy and I was starting to lose a lot of sleep. The first 10 days were really hard, I was emotionally drained from everything we went through and physically drained from having no sleep. The nurses and Timmy finally convinced me to sleep in the thurs before Corbins burial.

Now that it has been almost 2 weeks things are starting to fall into a routine. Unfortunately the house is a wreck and the time really seems to fly by. Timmy goes to see him before work. I wake up around 8 pump and shower and go to the hospital for rounds I stay until 11:30. I go home eat and pump and take an hour nap and try to organize a few things or run errands. Then I go back to the hospital at 4 until 5:50 and Timmy meets me there. Then we eat dinner and go back at 7 until 8:30 and try to sleep. Then mimi goes to visit at 10.