I'm in for some trouble...

I know I'm biased, but I've always thought that my boys are pretty cute :)  Noah has a pretty good combination going for himself: blonde hair, blue eyes, tall & has a nice smile with dimples.  I've always wondered when I would have to start worrying about him becoming interested in girls.  We've watched some TV shows that have pretty women on them, and I've heard occasional comments from him about how they're pretty and one time I remember hearing: "She's hot, hot, hot!" That made me laugh... where is he learning these things?
Today at the pool I was talking to him about girls and talking/teasing him about whether or not he thought anyone was pretty.  He said no, making me very happy.  Then not 20 minutes later a little 6/7 year old girl (cute) walked into the pool area and I hear "Mom, that girl is hot!" I asked if he meant that she was hot and needed to get into the pool and cool off only to be corrected by letting me know she was hot, like pretty.  Great! I'm in trouble.
I always find things about him that are similar to me, and apparently this is one of them.  I was SO boy crazy when I was young.  I guess now is a perfect time to start explaining that girls have cooties??    

Joey

Since I'm finally getting back to my blogging regularly, I thought it was only right to properly introduce the newest member of our family.

Joseph William Stephenson

"Joey"

He was born on January 20, 2011 at 11:19 am

7 lbs 8 oz and 19 inches long

I was scheduled to be induced on the 20th (having been 4 cm dilated for 3 1/2 weeks) and from the time they broke my water to start the induction and Joey's arrival into the world took 2 hours and 19 minutes. They didn't use much pitocine, but about 40 minutes after my water broke I was getting regular contractions and they were really starting to hurt.  Realizing that I didn't want to be in pain I had the nurse get the anesthesiologist so I could get my epidural.  Brian came back from getting something to eat right as I was being prepped and shortly after I was feeling much better again.  Having had an irregular experience with the anesthesia wearing off with Noah I've always been a little sketchy about getting a large dose of it again.  So I did my best to not push that wonderful button they provide you with :) until I started feeling the contractions again.  After the button still didn't relieve the pressure, I called the nurse and had her check me out (this was about 45 minutes after the epidural) and she came in and checked my status to "please me" since I probably hadn't progressed much.  To her surprise, I was already at a 9 almost 10 so they had to call my Dr. over right away (she was currently at her office) and once she got there and scrubbed up 20 minutes later decided, that I could push. Moments later we had our wonderful baby boy :)

I have adjusted to life of 3 boys well enough.  I have my moments that I would like to hide in the closet and take a breather, but for the most part I LOVE it.  I can't lie, Logan's in that TERRIBLE 2's stage and is more then happy to make sure he lives up to it.  But the love those boys have for one another is so sweet and I am so blessed to have been given them and allowed to be their mother. 

I'll try to post updates on the past few months, but for now here are some pictures...

 Joey's 1st bath

 Most recent family pic

Things to do this year...

I know it's been a while since I've updated, and I plan on getting everything up of the past few months very soon.  But I wanted to post tonight about something I'm VERY excited about.  As most people know, I've yet to go through the temple.  I plan on changing that this year!  I watched the morning session of conference today and President Monson's talk about the temple really hit me.  I've put off taking out my endowments for a few reasons, but hearing these words from President Monson hit me: 

"No sacrifice is too great, no price is too heavy, no struggle too difficult in order to receive those blessings. There are never too many miles to travel, too many obstacles to overcome, or too much discomfort to endure..." 

I'm temple worthy, yet I haven't taken out my endowments in the 5 years I've been a member. I've lived so close to a temple that I could drive there in 30 minutes from home, and had passed it many times running errands.  Yet, there are people who travel thousands of miles, for many days and spend their entire life savings just to be able to attend once.  There is no reason why I should deny myself or my family the blessings of attending the temple anymore.  I have so much work to do for my family, but that can't start until I go for myself first.

I'm excited about making the trip to Mesa this year to attend this beautiful temple. 

I LOVE General Conference. I do enjoy getting to stay home and not stress about making it to church with the 3 little ones, but mostly I love the inspiration I get from all the talks.

One of my favorite talks this morning was from President Uchtdorf. I sometimes feel like there are prayers that go unanswered, but I love knowing (& realizing) that:

"...we have our heavenly father's assurance that he will answer our prayers, the answer may come through the voice and wisdom of trusted friends and family, the scriptures and the words of prophets... some of the most powerful promptings we receive are not only for our own benefit but also for the benefit of others." 

He quotes President Kimball saying: "God does notice us, and he watches over us, but it is usually through another person that he meets our needs. Therefore, it is vital that we server each other."

But, I think my favorite and inspiring quote from President Uchtdorf was:

"Often the answer to our prayer does not come while we are on our knees, but while we are on our feet. Serving the Lord and serving those around us."

If that isn't motivation to help and serve others, then I don't know what is.  

So I guess that makes 2 very important things I plan to do this year.

1. Attend the temple

2. Serve others

I hope everyone else enjoyed their conference weekend and were able to obtain some guidance from our church leaders, we are truly blessed to have this opportunity. 

Book of Mormon update

I posted a while back that we started reading the Book of Mormon as a family and we've carried on this tradition still.  There were times when Brian was sick or we were out of town that we didn't get to read together as a family every night.  But, we've read some extra here and there and caught up mostly.  Although it doesn't seem like much, we're on 1 Nephi 11:10.  Logan started to read with us the other night as well.  His speech is incredible for his age, and I'm very proud that he has chosen to read along (repeat) with us as well.  Noah asks a lot of questions when he doesn't understand the wording, and I remember being that way when I first joined the church and couldn't make sense of the way things are written, but I think this is going to be a great way for him to understand more from the scriptures as he continues his personal scripture studies throughout the years.  We also just received a list from Primary that he will get to check off each time we finish a story from The Book of Mormon Stories, I am ordering it tomorrow and hopefully it will get here soon so we can start that as a family as well.

Sorry no fun pictures tonight, but there will be more to come.  I finally found my camera and plan to take plenty of pictures to share.

Chocolate

Today was a busy day for the boys and I.  With Brian on a more normal schedule for work we continued on our normal routine as well.  Noah had his Sensory Therapy appointment at 12:30 and since he did so well we went for a treat at Eegee’s.  Okay, so maybe I would have stopped by there anyways :)  But the point is, he earned one too.  So the 3 of us had one of our last treats together before baby #3 makes his debut, and it was very nice.  After we headed over to Target to return some items, and of course I got sucked into the toy section.  How?  I never can figure that out since it’s on the complete opposite side of the store in the back corner.  But, I had fun hanging out with my boys and they obviously had fun because on the drive home they fell asleep.  This would normally be great right?  But not so much when it happens around 4:00, I still let them get their rest since they obviously needed it.  After Logan woke up we went for a little walk around our neighborhood and then after Noah woke up we returned (dad was home, so no I didn’t leave Noah alone while asleep).  

Logan HAD to have chocolate and I’ve been craving chocolate really bad too.  So when he suggested making brownies, who was I to deny that request? I normally am very much against them eating the raw batter on any baking goods that use egg, but he needed the chocolate ASAP and I scrapped the bowel pretty good and figured this once wouldn’t kill him.  I start going about my business, leaving him to the bowl (he was very happy) and this is what I find:

This boy has no shame :)  He told me he was being a puppy dog (one of his new favorite things).  He happens to be Noah’s puppy dog and my kitty cat.  

After dinner we enjoyed watching Despicable Me as a family, and I would like to thank whoever named it because I think it’s absolutely adorable how Logan says the title.  Then we had our much needed brownies and it was off to bed.  It was a special night because Brian invited Noah into our bed, and Logan had me sleep in the boys room (there’s a queen bed).  The only problem with my body is that it’s not use to getting so much rest, so after going to bed at 9 (not our kids normal bed time, but when you wake up from a nap at 6 there will be no 7 bed time) here I am blogging at 5 am.

We’ve had such a great time together lately and I excited to see what baby #3 will be bringing to our family, and I know the boys will be the best big brothers ever.  We haven’t decided on a name quiet yet, but we have it narrowed down to 8.  Noah has come up with some pretty good ones, but as of lately it’s Logan and he won’t get over the fact that we’re not going to name the new baby Logan as well.  

Week 38

Well today was my 38 week appointment (not the best picture, but that's okay).

I was a dilated at a 4-5 (was a 4 last week) and am scheduled to be induced next Thursday, January 20th, if he doesn't come on his own before then.

I've finished what I NEED to have done before the baby gets here.  I would like to make more meals and do some more detail cleaning, but I'll be fine if he came now with how things are.  I need to clean up the play room, but that's ongoing plus I have a ton of boxes that I need to recycle but will have to wait until after our recycle can is empty.

Today I took the boys to the Children's Museum, they loved it like always.  It's so great to see their imaginations run wild there.  I am trying to take them to a bunch of fun places before the baby comes because I know it will be a while before I am brave enough to venture out with all 3 by myself.  

I have no house work I need to get done, so I'm off to bed!!! :)  I will update more if anything changes with the baby.  As of right now we still don't have a name, but we've narrowed it down to 20 (haha, I know that's crazy).

Back to the blog

I know I've slacked pretty bad the past few months on this blog, but between all the sicknesses, pregnancy, and traveling I just let it slide. I will be updating more now about what has been going on these past few months, but I thought I would start with a few proud mommy moments that I had today.

We went to church today (late, but still went) and the boys were mostly well behaved during sacrament meeting.  During the last part of the meeting Logan points to a man sitting in front of him and asked what his name was.  I told him it was Brother Hill, and he turns to me and said "NO! (points to Noah) That's brother".  I thought it was pretty cute.  It took me a little while to try and explain what his name was and I ended up giving in and just telling him his name was Mike.
Then after sacrament I took Noah to his first week in Sunbeams and Logan to nursery all alone.  There weren't too many seats left in Gospel Doctrine so I just sat outside of the primary class and watched Noah.  I think he did really well, and I was proud at how he behaved.  When I picked him up from class later he showed me the picture he drew of himself

 and I think it was pretty darn good for a 3 year old.  He even drew some hair on it, but of course it took me about 3 hours to realize that he told me it was hair.

Anyways,  I'm so proud of our boys and am excited to meet this next little guy.  We still haven't settled on a name, but we're narrowing it down.  I have my 38 week appointment in the morning and we'll know how he's progressing in there.