Back to school.............

As if having a bachelors degree wasn't enough! :-P Adam and I decided that I would go back to school. I thought about getting a masters degree but with my bachelors being in health care administration we figured it would be more beneficial for me to have my RN license so I could work my way up through the ranks in a hospital. Truly, I plan to just be a stay at home mom but if I were ever in NEED of a job for money reasons or if Adam gets paralyzed again then I want to have the ability to provide for my family. So I'm taking online classes through Rio Salado to get my pre-reqs done so I can apply to nursing school. I started my Chemistry class last week. It's been a challenge because I'm so bad at science and math but I have a great teacher and I pray before I study and pray every night that I'll be able to retain what I read and study. So far it's been pretty good. I'm able to get about an hour a day in of study time. It's just the first week, but so far so good. :-) Keep your fingers crossed!!!! :-)

Michael's First Shower!

All my friends kept telling me that it's so much fun to have the baby in the shower with one of his parents. So we thought we would give it a try and see if Michael liked it. At first he hated his bath's (probably because he was cold) but now he loves to just lay in the warm water and play with his light up ducks that his Great aunt and uncle got him for Christmas. I was hoping he would enjoy the shower as well since he would have the warm water. At first he was NOT too sure about the whole thing and nearly broke out into tears, but after a few minutes he warmed up to it and had a pretty good time....as shown in the pictures. :-)

Michael's New Toy!

About a week ago I was talking to my mom and telling her that I didn't know what to do with Michael during the day. I was reading him books but he didn't seem too interested in those yet. We play little hand games that he enjoys but those get old after a few times. Other than that I wasn't sure what to do to help him develop. So we took a trip to Babies-R-Us and they showed us this jungle gym thing that is supposed to help. It has lights and colors and you can put it on a setting that it will only play music and light up when he touches something. So that helps his mind develop. So anyways, she bought it for him and we set it up. He LOVES it! He could stay in there for hours just watching everything. His favorite toy on it is this orange and yellow monkey. He will just laugh and talk to that thing forever. It's the cutest thing in the world!

Graduation Day!

I almost forgot to add a very important part of this past year. Both Adam and I graduated with our bachelor degrees this past July. It was very exciting and very tiring....especially with me being pregnant at the time and having to stand and walk for hours on end....talk about swollen ankles! ouch! :-P We had a great time, although both Adam and I agreed that we probably won't walk in a ceremony for our masters. :-P Adam earned his bachelors degree in finance and I earned mine in Health Care Administration. Adam plans to start his MBA beginning of February and I'm continuing my nursing classes starting January 22nd!

First Family Christmas!

This year we had our very first Christmas with our baby boy. He got lots of presents even though he's just 2 months old. :-P Spoiled rotten! :-) We spent our Christmas morning with Adam's parents and then for Christmas dinner both Sarah's parents and Adam's parents had a large feast together at the Weeden's home! It was a wonderful way to spend our first holiday as an official family! Michael is fascinated with the lights on the trees. He will stare for hours at a time. We took him to see the temple lights a couple days after Christmas and he was in love. I've never seen his eyes so big! :-) We decided to keep our Christmas tree up a little longer even though the rest of the decorations are put away. We did that just so that Michael can look at the Christmas tree lights a little longer. Sometimes it's the only thing that makes him stop crying. ;-) Would it be wrong to keep the tree up all year round? :-P hehe j/k.

Blessing Day!

On December 2nd Michael was blessed at church. Lots of family and friends were in attendance. We were so blessed to have so many people come to support our little boy. Craig (Adam's best friend growing up) and his wife Shalece (now, one of my best friends) came all the way from California and thank goodness they did because I was crying so hard during the blessing that I needed someone else to write down what Adam was saying for Michael's baby book, and Shalece comes from a big family so she has done short hand on several blessings for her siblings children, so she was able to do Michael's as well. After the blessing we all headed over to my mom's house for lunch and visiting with family. Everybody brought a yummy dish or two and we all took pictures, ate, and enjoyed each other company. It's amazing to think just how loved our little boy is already. He is one lucky baby. :-)

Announcing Michael's Birth!!!

Michael Paul Weeden was born on October 15, 2007 at 4:17pm. He weighed 7lb 2 ounces and was 19 inches long. He is in perfect health and is absolutely beautiful! Everyone says he looks just like his daddy. On Sunday around 9pm Adam and I went to bed just like any other night because we had to work the next day. Baby Michael had other plans. I tossed and turned and just felt uncomfortable. I didn't want to wake Adam so I headed to the living room to watch TV. About 11pm I started having contractions. They grew stronger and stronger and all night I was laying over my birth ball wanting to cry out in pain but not wanting to wake Adam up. I had a false alarm the week before and I didn't want to go to the hospital again just to be sent home and they were planning to induce me on Wednesday. Finally Adam woke up for work around 5am and came into the living room to see me laying on my birthing ball moaning and groaning in pain. My contractions were about 2 minutes apart. Adam made me eggs because he wanted me to have my strength and knew that they wouldn't let me eat at the hospital. I got through one bite of the egg and wanted to throw up. So I got a bowl of cereal and couldn't even look at it. I packed some crackers and we headed to the hospital. Although I was only 2 cm dilated when we got there, I was about 85% effaced and since I was going to be induced in 2 days anyways they hooked me up to the meds that make my contractions stronger to help me dilate more. After a little while a doctor came in a broke my water. The contractions were nearly killing me so a very wonderful nurse invited a very wonderful man in to give me an epidural! Unfortunately my epidural only numbed my left side so I could still feel everything on my right side (VERY strange feeling, but they said that sometimes that just happens). My dilation happened VERY slowly, but finally about 3:45pm on Monday I told my nurse I needed her to unhook me because I needed to use the restroom. Since she knows more than I do about these things she wanted to check my dilation first....sure enough I was 10 cm dilated, 100% effaced and the baby was on his way! I couldn't believe how fast everything happened. The doctor was there, my nurse was there, Adam was there, my legs were up and they told me to push! I pushed and pushed for 20 minutes straight (exhausting!) I was also extremely sick to my stomach and Adam had to hold a bowl next to my head so I could throw up in between pushes. (Not my most attractive time) :-P Finally, I got my final push in and right when I was ready to start pushing again my doctor told me to look down and there was my little boy! He was perfect! They laid him on my lap and both Adam and I cried for joy. He was finally here! After doing all the old wives tale tricks (spicy food, walking, jumping, bouncing, etc.) to get him to come early, he was finally there. 10 fingers, 10 toes, perfect!

After Adam and I got a chance to bond with him we invited those waiting in the wings to come meet him: Grandma Tobler, Grandma & Grandpa Weeden, Uncle Larry, Great-Grandpa Tobler, and Aunt Janelle.

The first night I was scared to death and made Adam stay at the hospital with me because I had no idea what to do. My motherly instinct didn't kick in like it was supposed to. :-P Adam was great! He was older when his baby brother was born so he knew what to do with the diaper and I had great nurses that instructed me how to feed the little guy.

After 2 days we were released and made our way home. It's been heaven ever since! Even with all the sleepless nights. ;-)