1 month

 The first month of lovin on this little man was amazing!

 The first sign that he was going to be the happiest baby i have ever met!

He was a big baby but lost almost a pound being jaundice for week. We went to the doctors every other day for almost 2 weeks. We got to know the nurses really well. I was so over the appointments and bili lights. Since we changed doctors when we moved to IF it was nice to get to know a new doctor and their office. They all know me really well now that that paid off.

 Rylee did amazing the first month. She would kiss him but that was it.

I was so excited to push both of my children in my stroller. Its kind of sad how excited I was!!

He has huge hands! This documents its perfectly.

Little boy in church clothes is by far my favorite! And that big boy is pretty darn handsome too!

I learned the Moby wrap only works for babies that love to snuggle. Charles loved it Rylee hated it.

Tummy baby for sure. Will instantly calm down when placed tummy to tummy

The first month went by so quickly. I already miss the sleepy cuddly baby. I don't miss waking up to feed every 3 hours though. Learning who he is has been a fun experience!

Registered Nurse

Krystal Balls, RN

Helen was great to come up for 2 weeks so I could finish my Kaplan and study for the NCLEX. After Charles arrived I had no desire to study. But I still had to take my test. UGH. I would try and spend some nap times studying. It was easy with Charles but a whirlwind Rylee was hard. I just prayed a lot.

I didn't want to tell anyone I was taking the test because if I failed I didn't want to tell that I failed. But I felt that I that I needed to tell my family so I slowly left hints through out the day. I am so glad I told everyone because it was a huge stress off that I didn't have to be all quiet about the results. 

People always say I felt everyones prayers for me. I never understood that. This experience made me understand that you really can feel when people are truly praying in your behalf. Thank you everyone!  

I figured it would take me over 3 hours. Minium questions you can get is 75. Once you hit either pass or fail, the computer just shuts off. My plan was to be super calm until I hit 75 then start to worry when it would shut off. I was the first one to get there and sign in. I felt like if I spoke I would be arrested. It was the most intense process to take a test that I have ever done. Thankfully never again! We scanned my finger my palm my finger my palm. It was crazy. I can't even really talk about it because someone might come arrest me! So, I went in and was dreading the computer shutting off but not worrying until I hit 75. When i hit 60 I kept my eye on each question waiting for 75 so I could start to worry. At 64 the screen went blue and I freaked out a bit. How could I fail if I hadn't even hit 75 yet!?!?!? Well it was just the first scheduled break that I could take. I said no thank you and kept on trucking. At 74 I took a deep breath and thought okay now that I am at 75 I will answer some more then start to wait for the blue screen. I thought I would hit 85 before I would see blue. I answered 75 without much thought and BAM 

blue screen. I couldn't believe it. The first thought was that is a great sign or a really bad sign. From getting to the testing center to being back at the hotel it was a little over 3 hours. When I called BJ he asked if I passed and thankfully I had to wait for 48 hours before I knew. It was such a relief for it to be over and I wasn't even that worried. Scared but not really thinking about it. 

I wasn't sure I really wanted to see the results but I couldn't not look too see. I went on while everyone was playing and didn't really make it a big deal. I paid to see my results and I closed my eyes. When I opened them i saw

Exam results: Passed

Holy cow. I did it! Wow. I kind of just pushed the computer in front of BJ and showed him that I passed. The rest of the day he had to listen to me tell him that I passed! He and Rylee went and got me a card and all my favorite treats. We celebrated a lot. I just couldn't believe it. It still hasn't really hit me though. 

My sisters made it a big deal which meant a ton! I feel very accomplished. Who knew you really can reach your dreams!

I started my first job as a RN and it is very true that nursing school does not prepare you to be an acutally RN. It just gets your through the test then you really learn it all on the first job. I am very overwhelmed with all that I have to learn after I just went through an intense year of learning but it is so worth it. I love that I can make enough money for my family to live off of and only have to leave my babies for 3 days. It is hard enough being away for that long I don't think I could be a regular 8-5 M-F job.

Another positive that has come from me working is Rylee liking her Daddy again. Rylee has always been a daddy's girl but since I have been home full time these last few months she started to be really mean to her dad. I haven't ever been home this much and BJ has always had days with just her, but tha changed when I was home. When Charles and I went to the hospital and it was just Rylee and Daddy she went back to being nice again. I think she just needs her time with her dad. After my first week back she now his little shadow and will ask him for things again, She is sweet and wants to play again. It makes BJ react differently to her when he has whole days with her and is a lot more patient too. I told him from day 1 that we are both parents and will spend equal amount of time parenting our children. He will have a relationship with each of his children and know them and care for them the same as I do. Working on weekends when he can be home all day is a huge blessing. Most dads don't get that and I am amazed each day at the benefits of Rylee having daddy time.

Eastern Idaho State Fair

The state fair is huge. We were really excited to go. Rylee loves animals and they had an amazing petting area. We got some feed and she feed every single animal. I of course just watched while her and daddy did their thing.

They had a real cow that they let people milk. Rylee was so into the idea.

Then she wasn't. Daddy helped her since he is a pro but she wasn't sold actually doing it

Charles slept the whole time even though there were a ton of people around

They had a lot of fun activities to do which was fun.

Our other favorite part was the food! I won free fair food so we got to try 3 different vendors. WE would never spent $22 on fair food. We always get kettle corn but thats about it. This time we got thsee mini donuts which were supper yummy, a baked potato loaded with toppings we would have never tried before. It was AMAZING! And we got an orange chicken meal. YUM!

We also went the day of the Rodeo. We have been going to free rodeos for the past few years in rexburg with the college kids and farm people. We love rodeos and always have fun. This rodeo was a professional rodeo and WOW! What a difference. Rylee loved it. It was awesome!!! Rylee started to get tired and they threw out free Frisbees. Rylee wanted one but of course we didn't get one. The family behind us had a 7 or 8 year old who caught one. We were watching an event and I was feeding charles and Rylee hurt herself and started to get whinny. I then felt a tap on my shoulder and the mom said that her daughter asked if she could give rylee the frisbee. I said oh thanks but she can keep it. She then insisted Rylee take it and said that her daughter told her I was feeding my baby and then she went on to say how great I was for feeding my child. Rylee was so excited and played the rest of the night with that frisbee.  

Boise Trip

I had planned on taking the NCLEX in Utah so we could attend a friend's wedding reception but when I went to schedule it they had nothing open until September. I was so done worrying about it and needed to just take it and get it done. We have been wanting to go to Boise since we moved here to see it and see if was a place we could live. It is about an hour longer to get there then Utah but they had something open the week i had planned on taking the test so we made a quick trip out.

We stopped in Twin  Falls and saw the shoshone falls.They are called the Niagra Falls of the west so we had to see them. Well, I had too. BJ has pretty much seen everything. 

It was nice to have stops along the saw for Rylee. The park was on a huge hill and Rylee wanted to run up and down it. It got our heart pumping for sure.

Charles was about 3 weeks old so he did great. He slept just fine in the car.

It was fun to see the Twin falls temple and Boise temple. I just wish we could have gone inside but maybe next trip.

My babies did great the whole trip. I was really nervous but of course it was pretty easy going.

We thought about just camping the whole time but then figured it would be best to be well rested and not stressed about caring for everyone before my test at 8 am! Look at how tiny my baby was!

Rylee had so much fun with the phones. We just unplugged them and let her play. We enjoyed the pool and hot tub before bed and we all slept great. Then I had a nice yummy breakfast and set off to take my test.

We made the most of our trip. We went to the Boise Zoo. We love the zoo. The boise zoo was awesome. We had a lot of fun.

Peeking at the muskrats up close

Walk through Butterfly exhibit where they land on you!

Coolest slide ever!!! I love when zoos have playgrounds. Makes the whole zoo thing even better for toddlers.

It was pretty warm that day and we were getting ready to leave but I needed to feed Charles. BJ found the educational building. IT had a ton of hands on things they got to play with while I sat in some A/C and feed Charles.

We then headed out to where we were going to camp. We stopped at all the national parks because we bought a pass when we registered our car then realized all the parks were by Boise and not us. So we made the most of out pass. It was pretty cool to see 3 landings. The snake river is huge and i mean HUGE. Back during the oregon trail they came to the snake river and saw how big it was. They went up  few miles and found three out cropping islands where they could ferry to each island and make it across a lot easier. It was fun to see history.

Again I needed to feed Charles and BJ found a little visitors place that was the best I have ever seem. It was about as big as my living room but full of things that Rylee could do. Everything said, "Please play with me!" Which is everything a mom looks for! Rylee loved it and we stayed for over an hour playihg and learning about Idaho.

Then we found a fish hatchery. I have never been to one and BJ said they were cool we stopped. They had fish like 12 feet long! It was gross and you could even pet them. I didn't and Rylee said she  did then freaked out but it was cool seeing all the different sizes.

Then we made it our camping spot. It was an RV site but we talked the owner into letting us camp there for cheap. I wasn't sure about this but again it was a breeze and we had a great night sleep.

We loved seeing Boise and the surrounding areas. I don't think we will ever move out there but it was fun to visit and we will do it again someday.