Baby Boy

 34 weeks. He dropped so much then the next day was super high. He can't decide if he wants to stay down or not. It is really funny to watch my belly rise and lower. I really should take pictures each day to see where he is sitting.

This little guy hasn't been in the spot light very much. He kind of just is along for the ride right now. I haven't done anything that I did with Rylee. I feel my pregnancies have been pretty much the same with a few differences. He is less wiggly then Rylee. He is awake all night long where Rylee always was awake during the day. I have had contractions with him and not Rylee. Other then that, same complaints, same pains, same same same.

One thing different is nesting. I remember wanting to have a car seat and stroller for Rylee but I didn't decorate for her or care to have everything in order. I can't help but make sure things are perfect before he gets here. My poor husband. I came home from class and looked at the living room. I started picking eveything up then had him move it all around. The next week I walked into Rylee's room and just started moving things. He came in and moved the bed to where I wanted then we moved onto our room and rearranged it. I had him move the kitchen around and then felt good about the house. 2 weeks after that I had to wash all of his clothes and fold them. Then on Tuesday I was suppose to spend the day studying for a test and the only thing I could think about was the car seat out in the shed, the swing that was in pieces, the stroller parts that were all around the house. I had an hour before I had to take my test and I finally went and grabbed everything and got to work scrubbing away. My wonderful husband didn't even ask he just went to work putting things together. I finally said ok great I can take my test now. He just chuckled. I don't know why I have such nesting cravings but I just have to have it done. I think all I really need for him are a few sleepers but I'm waiting to see what the weather will really be like, a pacifier, and that's it.

I don't know if working in labor has made me have all these crazy labor dreams or what. I have given birth to this little guy multiple times in my dreams. Once the soccer dreams of me being the keep and pregnant ended I started giving birth every other night. Maybe that is why I have this overwhelming thought he wants to come over the 4th of July. I have no idea why I have that feeling. I am going to be so disappointed/ relived when he doesn't come. I guess I will just look forward to an ultrasound that week instead.

I think we finally have a name for him. We still are going back and forth between 3 names. It is just so weird to not have a name for him. We named Rylee the day after we found out it was a girl. I called her Rylee Aden from then on out. I just call this one baby brother.

Rylee doesn't really care about baby brother. She knows he is there and will include him when we remind her but that's the extent of it. My heart melted the other day when I was laying on the couch and baby brother was making my tummy move all over. Rylee rubbed my belly and laughed. I told her baby brother was saying hi. She thought that was so amazing. She had so much fun watching him move all over. She ran and made BJ come see that baby brother was saying "hi rylee!" We just smiled at each other and enjoyed watching her be amazed. I am sure she will love him and adjust just fine.

I'm so ready for school to be over and to just enjoy my babies. I'm ready to be a mom of two and watch Rylee become a big sister. I think I am looking forward to that more then being done with school.

Preceptorship

My last NCW (nursing care worksheet) ever. I truly hate those things! 

I was more then excited to start my precetorship because I wanted more time to see if I really did want to be a Labor and Delivery nurse. My first day I did postpartum. I love love love love love love love postpartum. I think my child development background and doing my internship with Parents as Teachers really made my love grow working with moms and their children. That is exactly what postpartum is. I get to make sure they are healthy and I get to teach moms about their babies. Even experienced moms have questions and being there to answer and support them as parents is by far the most rewarding paying job ever.

It was the first time I could walk into a room and not worry about not knowing the answer to questions or wondering what else I could really do. I knew what was going on. I knew the answers to everyone's questions (minus policy questions) and I was confident in my role without my nurse. That has not happened in any other semesters.

I was kind of let down with the hospital at first. It was very old school. Things we learned in school was oh you wont ever do it this way, was the way the hospital had it. It just scared me a bit. More errors are made the old way and you have to be even more careful then careful. My thought about labor and postpartum have changed drastically since this semester. I am even at the point of switching back to an OB from the midwives. When you learn and see what really goes down each day in the world of labor it is scary and sad! Walking out of a room with a healthy mom and baby is such a relief each and every time it happens. Thankfully I didn't experience anything too tramatic and we were able to keep everyone well but there were way too many close calls. I mean super close calls.

I really like labor and delivery but there are so many things we didn't learn. I now understand why hospitals rarely hire inexperienced L&D nurses. I think I would be more comfortable getting on postpartum and getting experience with labor before working full time there. I need to learn and expereince so much more before I think I could be confident enough to be the nurse.

I ended up loving every shift. It was hard on my pregnant body but I wasn't alone. Nurses are mainly women which means lots of pregnant mamas working. You don't get off easy. You are expected to work. So I did. I loved it. I don't think I will be looking for employment at that hospital but I will try my hardest to get onto maternity. That is by far the best nursing job there is. Hands down.  

Warm River

 BJ wanted to get a fishing license for Father's day. Since I had to be at the hospital on Father's day we went camping the weekend before. We went up to Warm River and it is now my all time favorite camp group. We were right on the river. It was super shallow and not too strong. Rylee loves everything about water. We played while BJ fished.

 BJ caught about 4 or 5 total but only kept the 2 biggest. He was dying to show Rylee the fish and really wanted to eat some. I wasn't really into the whole idea but I went along with it. Rylee never ceases to amaze me. I thought she was going to be grossed out or at least sad about killing the fish. NOPE! She was all about hitting them on the head, using her knife to help cut them open, and cleaning them with her daddy. She loves doing anything with her dad. We took them home and I cooked them up and was actually surprised at how tasty they were. The tiny bones were annoying but all three of us gobbled them up in no time.

 She loves to cut anything and everything with knifes!

I love capturing daddy daughter moments. Rylee loves her daddy more then anything. I still get the mom title thankfully but when it comes down to it, her daddy is #1. I am more then happy about that. The more time they spend together the greater their relationship grows. I hope they stay best friends!

Rylee turns 2

 She is really into taking baby doll on walks right now. She isn't a fan of walking very far but if we take baby she will walk longer. If we don't have baby and she doesn't want to walk I suggest running and she will run the rest of the time. She just hates walking.

Milestones
- Can count to 12
- Can put on her pants and shoes just not the right foot
- Potty Trained when I'm not lazy and just put a diaper on
- Speaks in full sentences
- Problems solves really well
- Loves to sing wheels on the bus
- Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is watched several times through out the day
- Loves all the characters in Mickey Mouse
- Still loves Nursery
- Great helper and does chores, pulling things out of the dishwasher, putting clothes into the dryer, picking up the play room, putting clothes into hampers, throwing things away, clearing the sliverware from the table to the sink.
- Spends her chore money on riding the little rides at the mall or on the little vending machine toys/candy
- Tummy Yummy Juice is her favorite
- Eats everything still just not eggs
- Knows all of her colors and now will differeante between light and dark colors
- Loves to watercolor paint, color, and learning to use sissors
- Knows all her shapes
- Loves to help Daddy fix things and work on the car
- Trucks are her favorite
- Zoo animal favorite are the birds
- Has the greatest facial expressions
- Thinks it is so funny when she farts but always says excuse you Rylee
- Can do everything on my Smart Phone, even download and find apps she wants
- 26 lbs, 95% and 36 inches tall, 45%
- Wears 2t and size 6 1/2 shoes

 On her birthday I had lab so we thought we would wait until her party to really celebrate. She woke up super early so I turned on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Road Rally and she asked for chips. Then I headed off to Rexburg.

 We didn't have any plans and Rylee asked to go to the Zoo. Since we go to our zoo all the time I thought it would be fun to go down to Pocatello and try out their zoo. They had a super cool tree house slide and other toys to play on. We got there just in time to do the petting zoo. Then we had to hike up a HUGE hill to see the animals. The zoo is on a mountain side so half of the animals on on the lower level then up the huge hill are the cooler animals.

 They had a grizzly bear exhibit. The picture doesn't do it justice with how breath taking they made it. The bear was pacing back and the view was amazing!!

 This picture makes me laugh! BJ climbed up on the bear statute and asked if Rylee wanted to climb up. She is standing there telling him to "get off, not time to play with bear. Time to leave Daddy. Get off daddy!" She was so mad at him for being on the bear.

 They had a sand pit where you could dig for fossils. BJ didn't think she would like it but I knew she would spend the whole day there if she could. She would find the bones then cover them up and do it over and over. It took 4 big boys coming over to play for her to want to leave.

 This picture makes me happy. She was doing her make-up with me for church and got to my stuff without me seeing. At first she didn't care until BJ showed her what it looked like in the mirror. Then she was all sad and wanted it off!

 Rylee is very into Mickey Mouse so when we went to get decorations I let her pick out what colors she wanted. Red. Everything was red. The plates, cups, streamers, balloons. It was a mickey mouse party. I figured a Mickey cake would be easy enough. I think it turned out cute. It tasted Heavenly too. I used a cake mix but instead of water and oil I used real butter and milk and added an egg. Then the frosting was pudding and whip cream. YUM!

 She was dying to wear her new fancy pants. I bought her a Minnie shirt for one of her gifts and they matched really well. I put her down for a nap before her party but it wasn't far enough ahead of people coming that she was still cranky. She has a hard time when there are a lot of people around. She takes forever to warm up and everyone was excited to talk to her which made her even more cranky.  Plus she didn't eat so that didn't help. The only thing that got her through was seeing that people brought gifts. I was surprised people all brought something. Her cousin Lilly had a party earlier this month so Rylee thought Lilly was going to open the gifts. Once she understood they were for her she got very excited.

 She loves opening gifts, but really who doesn't!? She got more then I thought she would. Not much but just right for a little girl.

We love to entertain. I love that Rylee's birthday is Memorial weekend! We had our neighbors come on both sides and Uncle matt, camille, lilly, and BJ's great aunt Barbra. We did a BBQ which everyone contributed too. It was super tasty.

After cake we all sat and talked and had a fire. It was a great night and we got to know our neighbors better. It also showed me what little boys are like. EEK!

Spring Break BABY

Spring break landed on my birthday week this year. We wanted one last time of playing before BJ has to be a big boy and start working again. We had lots planned for our week.

 I figured the only time I would have to potty train consistenly was during spring break. We started during finals week because I finished super early. Candy was no incentive to go on the potty. So I tried the sticker method. It was a huge success. She just wanted to put the stickers up. She understands the whole thing but still needs some time. If we stay home we only have one or two accidents and that is when we are playing and I forget to remind her. Out and about she wouldn't tell me for the first few days. Now she tells me sometimes but we wear pull ups just in case. Chonies don't really work out. She usually starts to pee and feels the wet and stops and says "I peed mommy." then we run to the potty and she continues. When she wears chonies she doesn't feel the wet until she is going to much to stop it. At home she just wears a shirt and socks. I figured the longer we do this the better she will understand before she has to pee and tell me.

 After about 3-4 days she was over the stickers. She went and didn't care to put them up anymore. I was ok with it. It got the ball rolling. I'm not too stressed about her being in chonies full time. We went from using diapers all day and night to 3 total for the day. That works for now!

 BJ planned on catching up on some sleep. I laughed when I came home and they were asleep like this. It reminded me of the pictures everyone takes of daddy with his newborn sleeping together. What about when they are almost 2 and don't really fit on top of you any more?! This pictures just makes me laugh.

For my birthday all I wanted was a pair of slip on shoes. Then one day I was doing my hair when I noticed some lighter hair in my bangs. At first I thought it was just my highlights growing out until I realized they were long gone. As I leaned in closer all the light hair was GREY! My bangs were full of them! I knew I had a few in the back but in my BANGS?! I then said I wanted to go get highlights!

 The next day we were at Sam's Club and I saw this bad boy. For some reason I have always wanted a water dispenser. Lately we have been buying water bottles, 35 pack, every 3 days. It was getting really bad. I hate luke warm water and the tap just isn't cold enough. I don't want Ice taking up space in my freezer. I don't want a jug taking up space in my fridge. When I saw the water cooler that you slide the 5 gallon jug in that keeps it cold and hot I was sold! These babies retail for $170 easy. This one was in the clearance section because it was the floor model and it was all scuffed up on the door. We got it for a fourth of the price so I could handle the scuffs. Now I have nice cold water whenever I want it and I can fill up my water bottle right when I leave and don't have to think about filling it 2 hours before I leave. So I just have to deal with grey hairs until baby comes and I can dye my hair again.

 My sister in law sent up a bunch of her maternity clothes and it just happened to get here around my birthday. My sisters and sister in laws have spoiled me with clothes. With both pregnancies I have only bought about 6 items. I am pretty spoiled!

 Nothing happens in Idaho until May. Thankfully our little zoo opened up. We got a season pass because Rylee LOVES animals and it is just small enough to do in an hour or two but large enough that Rylee can walk the whole thing and be ready for a nap after. They have a petting zoo which was the highlight, well other then the ducks. It had snowed a few days before and was 35 and cloudy but not so windy. We were able to handle it outside which was nice.

We spent the mornings organizing and getting rid of things we didn't need. In the afternoon we would go play. The wind was perfect to fly kites so we ran to the store and bought some. Rylee picked Whinnie the Pooh. She even held on to her kite and flew it all by herself. She thought it was so cool to see Pooh flying. When he finally fell we spent the rest of the time playing at the park. We do the park several times a day these days.

On my birthday I figured we could drive down to Pocettelo and do their zoo. It's suppose to more of a wildlife zoo and we have BJ's cousins that we could see. The night before we looked it up and found out it wasn't open yet! BUMMER! BJ then suggested the Hogle Zoo in Utah. I didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars in gas just for a zoo. He then informed me that I wasn't driving my F350 anymore and our little car got 35 miles to the gallon. We looked up a trip calculator and it said roughly $50 round trip! We could so do that!! I wish I would have realized it sooner cuz we could have spent our week in AZ. Oh well now I know!

 My sister in law Liz lives in Spanish fork so we called her up to see if she wanted to meet us at the zoo. Her oldest gets out of school around 11 and we got there about 1. We stopped at Chipotle for lunch which was worth the trip in and of it's self! Rylee had fun showing her cousins the animals and running around with them. They didn't have tons of animals but each animal has a ton of space so it took awhile to walk the whole zoo. This time Rylee was into the Tiger.

 Rylee and Livvy are a month apart. It is so fun to watch them together. Rylee is way more talkative (every single person points out how much she talks and how big her vocabulary is) but Livvy plays more. Rylee is taller by about a forehead and they still aren't good at playing together and would rather play with the older kids but maybe someday they will have fun together.

 Liz had a babysitter for the night because she had a seminar to go to so we piggybacked on her sitter and left Rylee with her cousins. They got to have dinner and a movie. We ended up being late to the seminar so I got to pick a resurant to eat at. We went to the Old Spagetti Factory which was excatly what I was wanting. It was fun to sit and chat with Liz and Jon and eat yummy food. Matt and Camille ended up getting to Utah that night from Cali so we were able to put the kids to sleep and have fun sitting and chatting. The next morning we all had breakfast and just hung out until they had to leave.

 We went up to Salt Lake and took BJ's grandma out to lunch at Sizzlers. It was fun talking with her and visiting. Rylee wanted to go see the Temple and since I now HATE traffic and feel like I am going to die anytime I drive in Salt Lake we thought we would hang out until after rush hour. We walked temple square hitting all the fountains and making wishes. We did both the visiting centers. Then we headed up to Bountiful to return some shoes BJ had bought and eat dinner.

We ended up leaving around 8 and it started to rain. I don't mind driving in the rain so we kept going. As it got darker the rain came down harder and our headlights were foggy so they weren't super bright. After a truck passed me and I couldn't even see the reflective signs on the side of the road I pulled off. My stomach was so tight from not sleeping well and being stressed with traffic that I couldn't handle the pain anymore. Thankfully BJ has a million family members all through out Utah. Less then 3 miles from where I pulled of lived BJ's aunt. We made our way to her place and asked if we could spend the night.

 His cousin left her kids with grandma so we got to spend the morning playing with the twins and riding the four wheelers out to see the cows. I love the Balls side of the family. They are so much fun to be around and have the weirdest stuff. Rylee had fun with the babies and seeing more animals.

We made our way back home and we had planned on doing Bear world this weekend. It was 1/2 off admission, Cub palooza, free rides, and an Easter egg hunt. I've driven by Bear World so many times in the 2 years we have been here that I figured we needed to try it out. I must say it is NOT WORTH the $16 per person regularly.  We got in right as the Easter egg hunt was starting so Rylee and I ran out there super fast so she could get some candy. Then we headed over to the rides that were free today and found out that Rylee is more like me and wanted to ride every single ride. Even the ones for big kids. BJ hates waiting in line for rides because he doesn't think it is worth the 1 minute of fun. I will stand in line forever because it IS worth the 1 minute of fun. Rylee proved that our family will go to amusement parks! BJ kept trying to get her leave but she would just say, "nope I waiting to ride..." I let her wait and do whichever she wanted. BJ was bored.

 Then we headed to the petting area. Rylee thinks it is so cool to pet the animals. The deer gave her head some kisses even. We had to hurry home because BJ was meeting someone to sell them his tires so we hurried over to the drive through portion. It was very lame. If Rylee hadn't had been there I would have been so mad we spent $15 to do it. Rylee of course loves sitting in the front seat and even the regular birds that we see every day was exiciting to her. We got to see a rare all white Elk but we have seen him from the rode driving by. The bear portion was cool because some even came up to the car and Rylee thought they were so funny. She makes everything 10 times more fun.

 After that I was ready to go home, shower, and just relax. We had such a fun filled week! School starts on Monday so it's back to regular life for us. It is always nice to take a break from life and just enjoy!

Three down one to go

I made it! I got through the third semester! Everyone says if you can make it to the 4th semester you are golden!

This semester was a whole lot easier then last semester. Class was easier, tests were easier, clinical was more excititng. I must admit I am glad we didn't get another semester as hard as 2nd because I really wasn't feeling it. I don't know what it is like to be pregnant and have nothing to do but I just didn't care about the material we were learning so it made it very hard to concentrate.

Several people have commented that I am lucky I am so good at school. This semester kind of proved that. I really did zero and I will be getting a B- maybe even a solid B. I think the subjects this time around were easier to understand. More patient care instead of diagnosing and figuring out things. We did a lot of group work which made things a lot easier. Clinical were a lot more fun. We got to be all over the hospital instead of just med surg. Picking up the material was easier which meant less study time for me. I studied with some of the other students last semester and at the start we got together again. I did not want to spend that much time studying this time around so I backed out. How I studied, go to class, play on pinterest, write the 20 page study guide out by hand, take test. I got in the 80's on all of my test. 2 other students had the same exact score as me yet they spend hours and hours studying. They prepared for class, took notes during class, went to several study groups then took the test. They all got mad at me when I would get the right answer and I didn't have any great insight into why it was the answer, it just was. Other students worked extermely hard to get a B and I did about nothing. I wonder if I had put in all the time they did if I would be one of the smarties and be getting an A. Eh, I'd rather grow a baby and play with Rylee. I passed and learned a ton actually. This is the first semester I felt I acuatlly learned something and feel competent working with my patients.

Next semester is the one I am looking forward to the most.    OB and peds. I got one shift in the ER and I had several infants patients and I know I do not want to work peds. I am so happy I got one of the two positions for the labor and delivery nursing preceptorships. Ever since Kerri let me be there when Kaci was born I thought being a labor and delivery nurse would be the best job in the world. I can't wait!!!! This semester is going to be the best one yet.

I am going to be huge but BJ will just be working so life wont be too hectic. Come July I will be done. I can take the test to be a registered nurse and be Krystal Balls RN. How nuts is that?! A year ago I was so scared starting the program and now I feel like I really could be a nurse and be just fine. It's been stressful at times but it has been the best learning experience ever.

Happy Easter

We went to the park where the Fire Department had an Easter Egg "hunt" for the community. Rylee was up all night with a fever and runny nose so I wasn't sure if I should make her go and play or not. I figured we would have to wait a whole another year so might as well try. They had the 0-2 year olds in the tennis court and just had a whole bunch of eggs laid out and every one circled them. When the siren sounded the kids could go pick them up. I had BJ grab Rylee and put her right in the middle so she could pick them up without having to fight the other kids. We were the only smart ones so Rylee had her choice of what to pick up. We only got about 10 or so but we didn't help pick them up like some of the other parents. Rylee had more fun sitting and opening each egg and seeing what was inside. The fire department used some pretty sweet candy. Better then the stuff we bought. It lasted about 5 minutes but she really enjoyed it.

 I remembered that  Barnes and Noble was having story time so I thought that could be fun. Since the weather has been amazing with the sun shinning and in the 60's we rode our bikes to the mall. It was about half a mile ride. They took forever to start and when the lady showed up she had a really boring book and Rylee wasn't interested. We colored a picture while she read the book then she got more candy.

 The Easter bunny gave Rylee a Bubble gun and water guns. She had a blast and went through all the bubbles already. The Easter bunny didn't get the memo to buy the big refill bottle too. Rylee loved getting a purple basket. The night before I told her all about the Easter Bunny and how he might bring fun toys. She was so excited. When she woke up I asked if the Easter Bunny came. She ran to the window and looked to see if he was there. I told her to look on the table and when she pulled down her basket she shouted "FUN TOYS!" She sat and opened all the eggs and was excited to see fun orange colored juice. She has yet to stop talking about him and what he brought her. We have filled the eggs up several times just so she can open them. She is walking around with the basket still talking about how nice the Easter Bunny is.

Matt, Camille, and Lilly came down and we went to Red Robin for dinner. We are obessed with Red Robin. We split a Royal Red Burger (has a fried egg on it) get endless fries with campfire sauce and ranch and endless root beer floats all for $14. We love it. We introduced it to Matt and Camille then headed back to our house to let the kids pick up Easter Eggs again and Dye them. Lilly is just crawling and wasn't too into picking up the eggs so Rylee showed her how it was done.

Kerri told me to use the muffin tins to boil the eggs and dye them. She said they don't crack in the oven but 5 of ours cracked. I didn't mind since we were using food coloring. The muffin tins work great!! No one spilled other than a few drips here and there. Rylee is really into colors and had fun watching the egg go from white to a color then to brown. She just wanted to keep putting them in the colors and since they were for her I let do what ever she she wanted. We ended up with camo eggs. The down side to muffin tins are colored fingers. Rylee's were brown and so were her arms from drips when she held it up to show everyone. Since she is sick and can't go to nursery I figured it didn't matter. Kerri said her hands were only dyed for a day or so. After bath time though it was all gone. I was super surprised.

BJ got a four wheeler with his truck and he and Matt spent the day getting it to turn on. They finally got it up and going and had some fun riding it around the yard. Rylee had a blast riding with her Daddy. Camille, Lilly, and I stayed inside and sorted through all of Rylee's clothes and finding the baby stuff.


It was one of the best days we have had in awhile. BJ pointed out how nice it was to have me home on a Saturday. For the last year all of my Saturdays have been spent at the hospital and when I had time off it was snowing outside so we couldn't really play.

I'm glad we did all of our Easter fun stuff on Saturday so that today we can have a normal Sunday and color the picture of Christ next to the tomb and be more focused on Him then the Bunny. Holidays are a blast with a kid. I can't even remembered what we did last Easter.

And of course it isn't Easter Sunday without a new Easter dress. Thanks Grandma She loves it so much I can't get her to stand still enough for a decent picture!