New School Year

Kaden Started Kindergarten and was so excited. I was a little nervous cause its a full day program and I wasnt sure if he could handle it. Daddy gave him his first Father's Blessing before the year started and boy was I wrong about how school was going to be for him. The first day of school I sent him to our neighborhood school and I went to for orientation. When they split all the kids up with there teachers we got a tour of the school. Kadens teacher asked if anyone in the group only spoke english and i was the only one that did. She said she would do it all in spanish and then translate it to english for me. When we got to the classroom and she was going over the parent packet I looked at the kids in the class and Kaden was the only blonde haired blue eyed kid in the class. He stuck out so bad. Tear started to well up but i told my self i couldnt cry cause it would make him have a hard time. I could tell that the teacher was not translating everything for me and it proved to be right when all the parents were filling out a paper and i had no idea what was going on. This made me even more upset. I left Kaden there till school was out but called Brandon, my mom and a few friends cause i didnt know what to do. When i picked him up i noticed that he was one of three white kids in all four kinder classes. I didnt want to set him up for failure. I knew something needed to be done. Brandon had an idea of putting him in one of the Elementary schools by his work and we were lucky that one still had open enrollment. The school he is now at is the one that I went to for Kinder and 1st grade before my family moved to Simi. Kaden got my moms and brothers favorite teacher of all time Mr. Santa Cruz. He taught my brother in fourth grade so that was twenty some odd years ago. Kaden is loving school and has made a new best friend. This has turned out to be really good for him and im so thankful i listen to my gut feeling and moved schools for him.

Summer drama

So Brandon got displaced from the junior high school he was working at last year due to cut backs. He was told that he was going to have a position some where but they didn't know where yet and that they had to place a bunch of other teachers who had seniority over him first. Well he kept getting the run around from the district and the end of July i found out they terminated our insurance while i was at the dentist because he hadn't been pick up by a yet. Weston was due for his 2 month check up but i had to cancel that cause there was no way we could afford a $200+ doctor visit plus immunizations. I found a free clinic in Simi Valley that was actually very nice and got all his immunizations for free. Monday the High Schools started out here so i asked him to call and when he did he was told that 2 High Schools were hiring. I drove him around because he worked a graveyard shift at the Marriott so he was very tiered. The first school was walk in and right back out. The second we were waiting in the car for a little over an hour. While we were waiting Kaden said the cutest little prayer for him. He got offered the position at that school and they wanted him to start the following day. We just needed to head down the the main district office to do the paper work. He is really excited because he is helping with the water polo team and the coach will be retiring in the next couple of years so he may be taking that over. Our insurance should kick back in the 1st of September so everything is starting to look up again.

Its Been Two Weeks

Wow how the time flies. The past two weeks have been super busy since Weston was born. I'm not sure where to start. Well at Weston's 2 day check up the Dr. told me to only have the older 2 kiss the top of his head or his feet. She said if he gets a temp of 100.4 that its no joke. They will hospitalize him for at least 2 days, do lots of blood tests and take a spinal. I wasn't worried at all cause the boys had been healthy for a long time. Not only was my nephew around him with a temp at not even a week old do to my in-laws taking care of him but a few days later Kaden starts to having a cough with stuffy nose and sneezing. Then a day later Gavin gets a fever of 103.0 for 3 days and after the fever he starts waking up in the night crying in pain. It was so hard keeping the two of them away from Weston because they love him so much and want to touch and hold him all the time. Luckily Brandon was able to take care of Gavin but i still woke up every time he started crying.

Other happenings have been Kaden graduated from preschool and is now getting ready to head to kindergarten. As i said time flies. I have been so lucky to be able to work at the same school he went to for infant care and now stay home with the kids. Its important to not only me but Brandon too that I'm able to stay home with these guys and we are willing to sacrifice whatever is needed to do so. Brandon has worked so hard to make this happen and still is. He also does so much at home too. I'm so glad that we will be able to spend more time with him this summer since he doesn't have school or teaching and is only working part time at the pool. Summer fun here we come!

Weston Ray Arrives

At 5AM Monday May 31st I woke up with some pretty strong contractions. I walked around for awhile and then took a shower to see if this was really time to go in, or if they were going to stop like a few other times. They were very inconsistent but i called Labor and Delivery and they told me i needed to come in since it was my third and i would go really fast. I was admitted about 8AM and the contractions slowed down a lot so i thought they were going to send me home. If i would have known this was going to happen i would have not gone in. The Dr. checked me out and decided to keep me. The contractions came back and were now stronger so i asked how long it would take to get the anaesthesiologist in for the epidural and they had just gone in for an emergency c-section and couldn't be there for an hour. I toughed it out and as soon as i got the epidural my body must have relaxed and did its thing. So at 2:50PM Weston Ray Stephens was born weighing 7 lbs 14 oz and 20 1/2 inches long. He is perfect and doing great.

I tried nursing again with him even though i couldn't do it with the first 2 but then realized the stress it was causing me wasn't worth it. I was going to pump and the first couple of time i tried that Gavin was into everything so that was vetoed. I have to say though, that making this decision and not letting it make me feel like a bad mother has made the baby blues almost non existent thus far. I am actually feeling like a better mom because I'm not stressed out.

As for Kaden and Gavin... they are doing great. They love their little brother so much, I couldn't ask for it to go any better. When Weston is crying Kaden goes up to him and will touch him softly and say "its OK big brother is right here" Gavin is telling people who come over "that my baby, not your baby." Also on the first night home Weston's pacifier came out and Gav said "uh oh baby mustache fell off." I guess he watches too much Toy Story.

Baby update

Today i went for my last Dr appointment. I am two days past my due date and was told today that if i don't deliver on my own then i am scheduled to be induced on Wednesday June 2nd at 8AM. I'm sad because I'm not going to be able to make it to Kadens Open House/Moving on Celebration that night from preschool. This will make me 41 weeks along if i last that long. I didn't make much progress this week though. Today i was still 50% effaced and she was able to stretch me to 4 centimeters dilated. Not much but she did say that she has had women walking around 5 centimeters dilated for a week before they delivered. She is hoping that since i am dilated that all they will have to do is break my water and not have to use any other methods to induce me. I am so ready for this little guy to get here this waiting game is killing me.

Kaden's Dream

This morning i woke up to Kaden telling Brandon that he needed to take me to the Dr so they could get Baby Weston out of my tummy. He said "the Dr will cut mommy's tummy open and get Weston out. Then when they are sewing mommy's tummy together again daddy you will hold him." They both come down to me and tell me that Kaden had a dream I had Weston.
On our way to preschool this morning I asked Kaden to tell me about his dream. He said... " I had a dream you had Weston." I asked him to tell me what he looked like and this is what he said. "He had cute little fingers and cute little toes. He had a red shirt on with white writting. He had a moe hawk and a cute little face. His shirt was red with white writting that said Chick fil A" This is one of the first good dreams that Kaden was able to remember and tell me about. He is really excited for his baby brother to come and i cant wait to see them together. He is already a great big brother to Gavin.

Still waiting...

Today marks that i am 40 weeks pregnant. The last few day have been really emotional with wanting to have the little guy here already. I am having fears that something is wrong even though he is moving fine and everything has been good with Dr appointments. It making me wonder how I'm going to handle the baby blues this time around. Is it going to be harder since its starting already? Or is it going to be easier since its already started? I have come to the realization though that i just need to enjoy the time i have with the two i already have. Gavin was 4 days late do it really isn't anything to be worried about at all. Gavin has been talking to me belly saying "baby come out, i miss you, i love you" and giving it kisses. They Kaden and Gavin have been really excited for him to come too so i think that's why I'm having a hard time waiting too.
I have decided that im not going to try the castrol oil to induce labor but i did try fresh pinapple, spicy food, greasy food, walking and nothing seems to be working. He must not be ready. I have an appointment on friday and last week the Dr said if i havent had the baby yet she will schedule to induce me 5 days later. I hope i dont need to be induced. It was not fun when i had to be for Kaden. But then i wasnt even dialated at all so it may be different.
I know everything is going to be fine. Just hate the waiting game escpecially when people keep asking.

Journaling for the week

So the lesson in YW today was on Journaling and i wish that i could be better at it but I'm just not. But i thought that i would write about this week since it has been somewhat eventful. I went to the Dr for my weekly check up and found out that I'm 3 centimeters dilated and 50% effaced. When I left i was having some contractions and they were about 5-8 minutes apart for a good 45 minutes but then all of a sudden stopped. I kept telling myself you cant go into labor now Kaden is going on his first fathers and sons camp out tonight and is really excited. I didn't want to ruin it for him. The contractions came and went for the whole night so i thought i was going to have the baby the next day. I was so wrong i guess me telling myself no is going to drag this out longer.
On a good note though Kaden had a great time camping. Daddy went and so did both Papa Terry and Papa Gregg. From what i hear it was real windy and at about 1:30 am Brandon and Kaden went to sleep in the car since they weren't sleeping at all because it was too loud witht the tent moving all the time. On a good note Kaden went to bed at 6pm and slept the whole night. I'm glad they had a great time. The other good thing that came of it was i had them bring the camera to take pictures. Unfortunately the camera was broken. I'm so glad it was there they found out and not in the delivery room. That would have been so bad not getting the firsts of baby #3. So we went to best buy and bought a new camera.

A sad day

Last night right after dinner Brandon and Gavin went to give Scout our Guinea Pig an apple. All of a sudden i hear "Taryn, come here." When i walked into the room I knew exactly why he called me in. Scout had died. I told Kaden not expecting a big reaction out of him and boy was i wrong. The tears and sobbing came full force. This was his first real pet other then gold fish. About a month ago Brandon's parents dog Shasta died and he didn't react like this at all. When he calmed down he said to me "Now Shasta has a friend" Gavin heard this and went straight out the back door and sat down on the ground calling for Scout thinking that she would come to him. This morning i was getting the boys in the car to get Kaden to school and saw Kaden waving to the sky. I asked him what he was doing and he said "saying good bye to Scout" I guess its now time to start thinking of what kind of pet we are going to get next and when?

Oct 2009

My younger sister Traci, got married Oct 10, 2009 in Saint George Utah. We all took a trip to be there. This was the longest car trip that we had ever taken the kids on so far but we wouldnt miss it for anything. I was dreading the drive but we borrowed a portable DVD player from my father in-law and it was not bad at all. I was a Brides maid and Kaden and Gavin were Ring Bearers. When it came down to it I walked down the asile with two of the best looking boys there. Gavin held my had and Kaden got a little shy so i had to pick him up.

This was a great time. The boys had a good time and i also got to see two very special people that have helped make me who i am today. Jeanne Merritt and Karen Starks who were Young Womens Leaders of mine and i cherish so dearly. I love and miss them so much.


Congratulations and Best Wishes Traci and Dan Valadez!

Let The Potty Training Begin

Gavin has been showing much interest in the potty and telling me that he needs to go. Most of the time it has been right after he went in the diaper. So i decided let the potty training begin. Im not sure if I'm ready for it but i would love to not have to change two sets of diapers when our new little guy joins our family in May. So here is how the day has gone... 1st accident I'm getting laundry ready to put in the washing machine and hear "Mommy poo poo". I stop what I'm doing and go to him and he takes me right to where he peed on the floor in his room. (good thing its wood and easy to clean up) So we clean it up together and change into dry underpants. 2nd accident Im folding laundry and when I'm done, go out to take him into the bathroom. I see him with a rag wiping up the chair. I asked him what happened and his reply is "I accident. I clean it up." I'm so proud of him for cleaning up after he had an accident. I hope that he doesn't think that he can pee anywhere and then clean it up and be ok. I guess i need to be more on top of it. Lets see how the rest of the day goes.

Its almost bed time and i have to say its been a 50/50 day. Tomorrow will be better for sure. We have been using M&M's as an incentive but I'm thinking that $$$$$ may be a better idea for him.

Baby Stephens #3

So I got a call a few days after our ultrasound that was on 12/23/09 from a Genetic Counselor. She informed me that something came up on the ultrasound that needed to be addressed. She explained to me on the phone that the baby had a brighter spot on his intestine which is called an echogenic bowel and that sometimes it is linked to downs syndrome, cystic fibrosis, or other mental retardation. We set a time to meet with her in person the next day and go over options that i had and to find out more. This was a very emotional time for me. I started praying that the baby would be healthy right away and went straight to my parents house for my Dad and Brandon to give me a blessing for comfort and strength. I immediately felt peace that i would not be given anything i couldn't handle, and comfort that He was right there with me.
After meeting with the counselor this is what we knew. My AFP test came back negative which meant the baby didn't have downs so that brought that possibility to a 10th of a % of a chance. Cystic Fibrosis I tested negative to being a carrier so the chances of that was only 1.5% of a chance. Then there were 2 other infections that could cause mental retardation so i got blood work on those and that came back negative for both also. We scheduled an amnio to be done but then after going to the Temple much thought and prayer and talking to the counselor one more time i chose not to because of the risk of harming the baby or miscarriage was more than it actually being anything. We made an appointment with a Genetic Specialist Dr. to do another ultra sound. I had the appointment and she said that she did not see the echogenic bowel and that everything looked great and normal. I really felt that this would be the outcome. She did tell me though that ultrasounds aren't always 100% and can pick up or not pick up thing. So as of right now everything is great and normal. Ill have another Ultrasound done in a few weeks just to measure the babies growth.
I am so thankful for my friends and family and the love and support they have given me through this time. I am also thankful that as sad as it might seem... this circumstance has brought me closer to the Spirit and a stronger person spiritually.

Why cant i get this thing started?

So for some reason i don't make the time or effort to get this blog thing started. I love looking at my friends and seeing what is new with them and their families. I talked to a friend last week and her husband turned hers into a book for her so that the kids would have it to look at no just on the computer. What a great idea. I really hope for my kids sake that this will be the turning point for me and that i will journal things that will be fun for them to look back on and say... i remember doing that, or i didnt know mom and dad went through that. So my plan is to try and blog something everyday so that i get use to doing it. Then trying to go back and remember things that i want the boys and us to never forget.