Our little artists

All the kids were home one day and needed something to do, so I got a big piece of butcher paper, laid it out on the kitchen table, got all the markers and crayons, and let them go.  Normally, I am the natzi when it comes to making any kind of mess expecially when markers and children are concerned, but today I walked away and crossed my fingers.  The kids loved it! and really so did I.  I left the paper on for about a week and we all had fun playing tic-tac-toe, and scribbling while we ate.

Kason's Blessing

Kason was blessed on March 6th in the Green Valley 7th ward.  We are so thankful for all the family and friends who came to support us and share this special day with us.  Luckily, after a week of nasty cold weather, it turned out to be a beautiful sunny day to have a family dinner afterwards in our backyard.  Kason got to share the day and party with cousins Cianna and Autumn who's birthdays were also that same week. We are so blessed to have Kason as part of our family, and love him so much.  He has brought so much joy and happiness in just the short time he's been here, and it's hard to imagine not having him  to love and cuddle. 

Happy Valentines

Valentines day has always been one of my favorite 'holidays', as a kid, I loved making valentines boxes, sugar cookies with pink frosting, the heart suckers with the white outlines (you know what I'm talking about!), door ditching your friends with treats late at night (do people even do this anymore??), and giving/getting something special from somebody special! I will say, Valentines is even more fun with kids.  Braxton used his creative mind and made a cute alien/robot valentines box for school, we had a fun candlelight dinner, and got busted trying to door ditch treats to our neighbors and cousins.  The kids loved their valentines balloons and little gifts from mom and dad, and had to show us each and every valentine they got from their friends at school and daycare, while I scoped out the treat I would help myself to after they went to bed!!  Hope you all had a great valentines day too!!


Pretty awesome valentines box



Valentines pizza dinner by candlelight



Braxton, Tanner, and Camrie showing off  their valentines gifts

Catching up the last month!!

Braxton decided to participate in a youth bike race on Saturday Feb. 12th.  This was sponsored by the Rec Center and held out to the Bloomington Hills park.  The 1 mile race was broken into 2 different heats which consisted of 2 laps (1/2 mile per heat).  The loop had a bit of a hill to it and was a little harder than he thought it was going to be.  The first heat Braxton came in 4th, and the 2nd heat he came in 3rd.  Each participant got a nice medal and a t-shirt for finishing the race.  We figured he'd race his mile around the park and we'd be done in about an hour....we were there for 2.5 hours! I didn't take anything for Tanner and Camrie (or more importantly...myself!) to eat or drink thinking we wouldn't be there very long.  Luckily they had snacks and drinks for everyone there, so our breakfast of champions consisted of fruit snacks, cookies, and lemonade!!  They also raffled off some pretty great prizes and we won free pizza, ice cream cones, passes to SHAC, and also the Rec Center.  Braxton was so excited for the race and can't wait until the next one comes around.  Way to go Braxton we are so proud of you.

 

Showing off his medal and shirt



Ready for the 1st heat

Introducing Kason Val Webb

I suppose 2 weeks late is better than 2 months right? Kason joined our family in a hurry Sunday January 30, 2011, a month early at 36 weeks just like my older 3 kids.  About 11:00 am, my back started to ache more than it had the past few weeks and a bit lower (that is my labor clue!) I passed it off as nothing and played some games with the kids hoping to distract me and that the ache would go away, figuring if it hadn't subsided by the time Nick and Paige got home from church at 2 (we were slackers that day!) that I'd go in and be checked.  Paige just happened to call ( it's that inspiration that comes with being the RS President I guess) and check on us.  She said she was on her way home to stay with our kids while we went in.  I called Labor & Delivery and let them know my story and that I was dilated to a 5 a few days before and was it worth it to come in? Troy and I got there about 1:30, and I was a 6+.  I was feeling a little guilty for even being there since I wasn't having contractions nor had my water broke, and was trying to talk myself into going home, sleeping in my own bed, and coming back the in the morning.  Troy kept telling me to call my parents, saying this baby was going to come faster than I thought, but I still didn't think there was a big rush for them to head down.  Dr. Lunt admitted me and I was moved to a delivery room, and showed up about 30 minutes later to break my water (ok so now I'm thinking Troy was right!)   It was then and quickly there after I can say I FELT A CONTRACTION!!! I asked if I had just had one and my nurse said yes.  I told her that I didn't really think I liked it very much, and that I'm sure they can get pretty nasty.  I got my epidural just about10 mins later and felt another contraction just as Dr. Miner gave me the Lido shot and I'm pretty sure that I would take the "bee sting" of the shot instead!  They got me all situated and comfy and was planning on just relaxing for a few minutes before I got a catheter and checked again.  Well, Dr. Lunt came back in and checked me and asked if i wanted to push.  I looked at him, with the 'deer in the headlights' look, and said "NO!" and I got the same look in return from him!  I hadn't even had my epidural for maybe 15 minutes and was just begining to have tingly feet!  You know how they start bringing in the all the sterile supplies, they get you ready and in the stirrups, and you have a few minutes for some mental preparation time that this is really going to happen? I was thinking you can't be serious that we are really doing this NOW? I'm not numb nor even in the stirrups, he is really is just going to catch him!! My nurse was even way surprised and totally taken out of her routine.  So I pushed 2x's and was complete.  THEN everyone shows up with sterile green drapes and everything comes out of the closets and we are ready to have a baby! About 5 vein popping pushes later (i've never had to really push before!!) Kason was born at 4:22 pm, tipping the scales at 6 lbs 7 oz and 18 inches long.  My immediate thought when they first laid him on me and I got a look at him was "Hello, Tanner!" they are brothers for sure! Since a sacral dimple was found on Camrie after she was born, we both were a little nervous about some surprise issue being found with Kason, but we were happy to know he checked out just fine!  We had a great experience with Labor and Delivery, and all 3 of us were totally spoiled by them.  I suppose it helps to have some good connections with them too! We texted my good friend Julie who is a tech on L & D to let her know that Kason was on his way and for her to hurry up and get there, but her phone had taken a recent dive into a glass of Limeade and so she missed our text.  She did work that night so she came running into our room with hugs and apologies that she had missed Kason's entrance and that she didn't get to take care of him like she had done with Braxton, Tanner and Camrie.  She was great to help us get all settled up on Mom and Baby and stayed to visit awhile.  We were starving so we took advantage of the great room service, however, if you ever order room service and want a steak, make sure to have them leave off the cute little sprigg of Pine! Troy's steak came with this pine branch that looked like they had cute it off a tree in the back parkinglot which made his steak taste like a pine cone!
Grandma and Grandpa Smith made it down in record time, and Aunt Caroline and Uncle Brent also came to meet Kason, and bring me the best tasting, long over-due Diet Coke ever! Nick and Paige also brought the kids in to meet Kason through the nursery window since it is RSV season.  They all were so excited to see him, Camrie kept saying "look it's baby Kason!" when he would cry she would say "baby Kason...grumpy!".  Thanks N & P for bringing them in and staying with them until my mom got there, and taking care of their melt-downs because they missed their mom laying down with them at night.
We stayed in the hospital until Tuesday, and had great visits with both Dr. Lunt and Dr. Nygaard.  Kason passed all his tests with flying colors.  Because he was a preemie, he had to have his sugar checked every 6 hours (his poor little heels looked like pin cushions), and also got to hang out for 90 minuets in the nursery in his car seat to make sure his O2 level didn't drop.  They said he was very good and slept the whole time, at least we know he can tolerate his car seat for a trip to Beaver which is 90 mins! Camrie hated it!  We are very thankful for all our wonderful nurses and CNA's who took such great care of us and Kason.  It was a nasty, cold, and windy day when we came home.
Grandma Smith stayed for a week, and as always, was a huge help! She helped Braxton with his homework, mopped floors, did an obscene amount of laundry (really how can a baby add that much more?), I'm pretty sure she thought it would never end! She gives her new grandbabies the best night-time rub downs and gets them in their jammies, She also had fun tea-parties with Tanner and Camrie (Tanner let Braxton know that he was too big for tea parties and couldn't come to their party!).  She also met up with one of her cousins she hadn't seen in many years who just happens to live in Caroline's ward and had a fun afternoon visiting and going out for lunch.  We were very sad to see her go and can't wait until she can come back again and stay for a few days.  Camrie has pointed to the extra bed in her room several times and said, "where g.ma go?".
We also had Aunt Valerie, Uncle Mark, and their girls come down for a visit. 
Life with Kason has been so much fun so far, he does have his days and nights a bit mixed up, but is getting better about waking up more during the day.  The kids love to come home and see him and are all great helpers with him.  It took Tanner and Camrie a day or too after we brought him home to want to give him loves, they were content to just look at him and be excited. Kason has a scream and squeal that reminds us of a peacock, or as the window screen delivery man from Jones Paint & Glass put it, "he would make a great coyote call."  Hopefully we aren't keeping the neighbors up all night!  We did the cute little pictures in the hospital, but for some reason, our account has a security lock on it, and we can't look at them on the web nursery, and after many phone calls, and them promising to call us back when the security thing is off, we are not impressed and have given up!

Kason's Stats



30 mins old



Dr. Lunt, Kason, Mom

Kason meeting Gma Smith

Kason meeting Gpa Smith

Uncle Brent and Kason

Kason and Aunt Caroline

Changing time!

One eye open!

Mom and Kason

All snuggled up and ready to go home



We love you Kason!

Welcome home on a windy, cold day

Proud big brother Braxton

A sad day....

The month of December began with some job-changing news for Troy and our family.  Troy was asked to step down as the Clinic Manger for the River Road InstaCare due to the need for budget cuts in the Medical Group. His registered nurse salary is too expensive to pay as both a clinician and manager, so he will go back to working 3 12 hour shifts doing patient care, which is what he loves most.  However, the down side is that the only clinic with an opening is the Hurricane InstaCare....which he helped open originally & it really is a nice facility, but isn't the most busiest, and it is a small commute.  He will still continue working for Southern Utah Homecare and Hospice as the call nurse at night, but can also see patients on his days off from the Instacare, perhaps freeing up some of his weekends & maybe make it through a whole Sunday at church!  Oh and for those who have asked about CPR? he will contiune teaching his monthly recertifying class, & issue cards.
The past few weeks have been an emotional rollercoaster for Troy..excited about his new job, letting go of all the stress of a managerial position, yet sad to leave his 'home' for the past 13 years, and all his wonderful employees and friends at the RR InstaCare.  Last Friday was his last day and so we had a little party, the docs bought 'Tin-can Tamales' for lunch and I got him a big cake. Here is a free plug for the tamales...I had never tried one, but they really are good.  Rita Diaz, one of Troy's employees does this as a home business, & she just started selling them at Steve's MiniMart on the corner of Sunset/Valley View, served hot and fresh daily so go getcha a can or two, you will be suprised too! Anyway, it was hard to see Troy shed tears as he closed his office door and carried his stuff out to the truck at the end of the day.  Hopefully the Hurricane thing won't be for long and a nursing shift will open up at RR and he can transfer back.  I for one will really miss him being there,  RR is where we first met 11 years ago as friends when I first started working in x-ray, & where I began to avoid him after both our divorces when we began chatting more after work & I knew I could like him more than just a friend :)  For the past 5 years, we have always looked forward to the days we get to work at the same place.  We were excited about working a few shifts together in Hurricane this month, but with baby so close to coming, I'd really prefer being in St. George and not on my way to/from Hurricane when baby decides to make his debut.  So now what do I do when I/ I'm..... having a computer crisis & don't want to spend all day on hold w/ computer support, need a treat from his desk drawer,Rolaids, need my blood drawn, need someone to listen to me vent, run to Target for me, lunch date at Subway, email this/scan that... & who is going to give me a big hug and kiss??? I feel like I'm losing my BFF at work!!  I have had many disgruntled  people say they can't imagine being at RR without Troy just because he has always been there and  seems to hold the place together, as well as being  the 'go-to guy' with all the answers.  One comment was made that after this change takes place hopefully the big bosses will see that they have lost a dollar to save only a dime.  Very true indeed!  So I'm wondering if I need to send a set of intructions with Troy to work tomorrow concerning a black box on the wall as he walks into the Hurricane clinic...it's called a time-clock & don't forget to use it (you know how manager's love it when we forget)  WELCOME BACK TO SHIFT WORK BABE!! and have a great day!!  I love ya!

Baby is on his way!!

So here I am at 33 weeks and baby Webb is well on his way, a little earlier than planned, but that's just the way it goes for me and childbirth!  Luckily, after being told I was dilated to a 3 last week, Dr. Lunt didn't totally send me home to the couch, just laid on some serious restrictions for the duration of this pregnancy.  We are hoping to just make it through 2 more weeks and keep baby out of the NICU.  I had two steroid shots last week to speed up his lung maturation, a fetal fibronectin test, and also spent some time on the fetal monitors at work during some down-time just to see what baby was up to, & only got his hiccups, no contractions.  Speaking of contractions....just what do they feel like?? how crazy to say after 3 babies and going on #4 that I have yet to feel anything that would make me wonder if I was having them? That's what makes this stage of pregnancy just a bit stressful, & why my sisters curse me so much!
For this week I get to go to work, that may change Wednesday at my next appointment, but I do need to thank those that I work with for once again covering my call and changing schedules so I can take it a bit more easy.  You all seriously ROCK! 

We finally got an ultrasound machine at work that does 3D images, & it has been fun to practice on myself!!

25 weeks