Live and Learn... The Shed Fire

About 10:15pm last night as Spencer climbed into bed, I heard a strange noise, Spencer said it was just Buddy who was sleeping in the kitchen. But I kept thinking, no, it wasn't Buddy. Then another noise, this time I said "Its not the dog!". So we jumped out of bed and as Spencer walked down the hallway where he could see out our south facing window he yelled "THE SHED IS ON FIRE!!!" Before I could hit send on my cell phone the fire truck had already unloaded. Thank goodness to good neighbors who saw the flames! I didn't get the camera fast enough because I had to give information to the police officer. So enjoy the morning after pictures. We aren't sure how it started, but we know it started from the wood burning stove. Spence had a fire last night but left the shed around 7pm so anything that was still burning should have been completely out... apparently not though. Something lasted long enough to cause this damage. We are all well.. Sadie slept through the whole thing! And, so did Buddy....some guard dog! Poor dutch who likes to stand by the shed was found as far away as the corral would allow her to! A little shaken up, but she is fine. The lesson learned... put the fire completly out and make sure you have an inventory of EVERYTHING you have... that will be my Friday project! Of course once I inventory everything in my house nothing will happen but better to be safe than sorry!

Saide's Big Day

Just an update, Sadie's operation date is scheduled for January 13th! She will start recieving weekly shots 3 weeks prior that that will help increase her red blood cells. The operation will last about 5 hours. After spending a night in the NICU she will be in a regular room for another few days. No helmet required since the plastic surgeon will be shaping her skull for her. We are anxious for it all to be over, but know that all will turn out just fine.

Other than that, Sadie is growing fast, definetly out growing her cousins! She now weighs over 11lbs and is 23 inches tall.

She is smiling and working on the laughing. Just tonight Spencer got her to laugh multiple times. Afterwards he said he hadn't smiled so hard and so much since forever!
A few weeks ago, Spencer was finaly able to put the new shed in place. He transported it from a house that was going to just take it down. Needless to say, it was free if he could figure out how to move it. So after two nights of working on it, Spence and Matt were able to jack it onto a trailer and bring it to its new home. After weeks of sitting on the trailer.... and of course, me backing into it once, it made its way to the final resting spot. Now all it needs is a paint job to match the rest of the house. That will be a great spring project for me!

I've started working from home. Its great! I just need to get Sadie on a longer nap schedule.. but if that means her not sleeping through the night, I'll deal with it. I take all night sleeping over anything! Enjoy the new pics! From top to bottom: Thanksgiving day, after a delious meal, Dad and Baby Sadie fell sound asleep! Sadie with Grandma Helen (Spencer's Grandma from Texas). Spence about to give Sadie a bath, the time he got her to laugh real hard! The next pic is a bit blurry because I was trying to get a pic of her smiling but she knew and would stop when i would bring out the camera, so this is the best so far! The next two are the new shed and process of getting the shed into place. And the last one is Sadie with Jessica, my midwife who delivered her.

Operation Sadie

We finally met with the specialists up at Primary Children's Hospital yesterday. We were able to meet the plastic surgeon as well as the nurosurgeon. Sadie's skull is fussed in three places in the back of her head which is uncommon as well as having 3 fusions. So they will be doing the operation most likely the last week of December. The surgery is 5 hours long. Because of potential blood loss, Sadie's pediatrician will give her something each week for three weeks before to help boost her red blood cells. She will spend the night in the NICU and then will spend 3-4 days in a regular room. The Plastic Surgeon we will be using has done 3 of these surgeries in the last 10 days. He trained in Dallas under one of the most well known Drs who does these surgeries. Sadie feels totally comfortable with him as do we!!!

Other than that.. Everyone is doing great. Sadie weighed in today at 10 lbs 5 oz.... I cant believe how big she is getting!!

Almost 3 weeks old!!

Well Monday will be Saide's 3 week birthday! I can't believe it! She seems older than just three weeks!!! She had her two week check up last Monday and all checked out good. Her Dr gave me the information for the specialists up at Primary Children's Hospital, so I called right away and got her scheduled for an appointment with both of the specialist on October 29th. Ill let you know how that goes.

This week one of my best friend's, who happens to be my first and only American companion from my mission, Stephanie came up from Arizona to hang out with us. We had a lot of fun and Sadie had her first shopping expierence... though she slept through most....okay all of it!!! Regardless, I think she enjoyed it!

Kristin had her baby last week!!! YEAH!! Welcome Acacia Breanne Barlow (I hope I spelled that all right!) As you can see in the pictures they were excited to meet each other! Now we just await Ella (Nicole's Baby)...coming soon!

Baby Sadie Bell Stevens Sept 22nd 2008

She is here!!!! After 41 weeks Sadie Bell Stevens finally arrived. After being a week overdue I was scheduled to be induced on Monday the 22nd at 7am. Contractions started the Thursday night before and being new to this expierence we even ran to the hospital twice on false alarms! But by Sunday night at 3:30 am I couldn't do it any more! So I woke Spence up and said "we are going to the hospital to either have this baby or else they are going to start me now!" Well no induction was needed! She was born at 9:35 am weighing 8lbs 2oz and was 20 1/2 inches long!

She had a bit of an issue breathing right at first. One of her lungs was not opening up all the way causing her to breath really fast. They took her right away to the nursery to evaluate and decided she needed to be on a CPAP (continuous positive air pressure) to help inflate her lungs all the way. They also gave her some medicine so that her lung would not stick together. They moved her to the Level II nursery were she stayed to be monitored for a few days. On Wednesday they removed the CPAP and allowed us to finally hold her and start to feed her. She did great! We couldn't have asked for more, they just wanted to keep her for another day to monitor her. On Thursday morning her Dr ordered a CAT Scan to be done of her head because its a little funny shapped. That night they told us that seams on the back of her skull had prematuraly fused together. Something that doesn't happen till you are full grown. And if not fixed could cause problems. They are going to refer us next week to a specialist at Primary Childrens Hospital. The surgery will take place any time between 3 and 6 months. It is a few hours long surgery with a 3 or 4 day hospital stay. But after that she will be as good as new. Though this surgery is some what major, it is also a not that uncommon. It was a bit of a shock to hear that our little angel will have to have this surgery but on the upside it was a relief that it wasnt something more serious. We are truly grateful to have Sadie in our lives. Though it is an adjustment to get used to having her around, we couldn't imagine our lives without her.
They released her from the hospital on Friday and we are now finally starting to adjust to real life.
We appreciate all the prayers that went out for her behalf and all the love and support we recieve from you all.

3 Days After Due Date!!

Well, I was online today, so I thought I'd post a very boring update.... No baby yet! Though progress was made yesterday with a few contractions here and there. I was told that was a good thing! So hopefully she is getting ready to make her daybu. I'll let you all know when more happens!

Less than one month to go!!

Well the Summer is coming to an end! I really cant believe how fast it has gone. Everyone said I would hate the summer while pregnant, but I have to admit, it hasn't been that bad! We have spent almost every weekend for the past 2 months camping up at Current Creek. It has been a blast! But I think I am done for now. Spencer is currently up at Current Creek with Russ and Matt for the archery hunt. We will have a few weeks off from hunting trips, and hopefully Sadie Bell will arrive early enough for Spence to make it to the muzzle loader hunt!
I had my first baby shower this last week, put on by Mikaila, Holly and Amy. It was a lot of fun. See the new pictures at the bottom!

Its been awhile so I thought I better bring ya up to date! I am now 34 weeks prego and doing great. We aren't quite ready yet, so hopefully she doesn't come early! As for names, we kept going back to Saydee (spelling still up for changes), of course it could all change if she comes out looking like something else! But at least I think I will get the middle name that I really want which is Bell, my Grandma Whyte's middle name.
We have spent a lot of time this year up at Currant Creek, our hunting spot. Spencer wanted to scout out deer as much as he could, and I just wanted to sleep nice and cool! Dutch is now a part of our camping trips as well as Buddy. I think they both really enjoy it. Spencer is torn between the 4 wheeler and Dutch, both have their advantages so it will be tough call if he ever has to choose between the two of them. But until then, we take the both of them, which makes packing for the trips interesting. Spencer asked where we will put the baby once she gets here, that wasn't hard to decide, Buddy would have to move to the trailer where there is a designated place for dogs. So this weekend we tried it out... I think he did well though I am sure he misses the air conditioned truck! Oh well, the Baby has first dips!

Mexico

Trip to Arizona/Mexico

We have just returned home from our trip to Arizona/Mexico. Our friends, Stephanie (my mission comp) and her hubby Steven live in Arizona, so we flew down Wednesday May 14 to see them. Thursday we packed up the car and drove to Rocky Point Mexico, about a 3 hour drive. Before leaving to Mexico we stopped at Stephanie's office (a Dr's office) so she could do another ultrasound on me for fun. I think this was the funnest for Spence because he asked to do it himself! (Girls let me just tell you it was the cutest thing ever!) Once he found her little head and realized she was holding her hands together by her face, he started talking to her. She dropped one hand and waved! It was so cute! The more he talked, the more she moved! It was nice to not be rushed by a nurse!
Once in Mexico we stayed at Las Palmas resort. First thing first, we headed down to the beach. The weather was perfect as was the water. Friday morning the boys rented jet skis for an hour. We spent half the time at the ocean and the other half at the pool. We ate a lot of quesadillas with a lot of pico de gallo! On Friday night Emily and Drew (friends of Steven and Stephanie) came down. She also is prego at 7 months. It was lot of fun.
We headed back to Arizona after a few more hours in the ocean Sunday afternoon.
Overall, it was a great getaway!!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!

Well I was right!!! We will be having a girl! I guess we were both a bit surprised, but Spencer especially! He asked for a few confirmations and then asked how sure she was! The nurse said she was 99% positive and so he left it at that!
Later that night, when I was so ready to fall asleep Spencer was adamant about picking a name that night! Luckily I finally fell asleep and he gave up. But the search continues!!!

Flying Solo this week!

Well I deleted the post that I had written minutes after finding out my sister-in-law Heidi was pregnant as well (due in December)! Because I guess I wasn't the last to find out, and by doing so, helped spread the news to other family members who read my blog that day of the posting!!! I wont do that again! (Heidi, I am really sorry about that!)

So this past week I have been flying solo!!! Spencer got the opportunity to go back to his mission in Venezuela with a former mission companion. Though I really wanted to go, I decided it probably wasn't best and so the boys headed out last Thursday. I've heard from Spence a few times and he has really enjoyed seeing the people he once taught. I hope we both get the opportunity to go back, but with the economic state of Venezuela we don't know if or when that would be possible.

Due to this trip I rescheduled my ultrasound, so check back next week if you don't hear before, to find out what we will be having! Spencer still thinks its a boy, and though we refer to him as a HIM, sometimes I get a feeling that I am incorrect in saying that. But we shall see next Tuesday.

I have definitely stayed busy this week. The most productive thing I have accomplished is finally after 2 1/2 years of living in our house, I painted our bedroom! I just couldn't stand it any longer!!! I will post pictures next week when I have the camera back! Until then, for those of you who saw it before, just know... its much much better!

Love to all!!!

2007 in Pictures

All good things come in Threes!!!

Well, you'll never believe this! My OTHER sister is now pregnant with her first! This is going to be fun! So this is how our year will look, I am due Sept 14, Kristin October 12 and Nicole Nov 2!!! I guess we just couldn't leave anyone out! Soon I will get a picture of all three of us and update it as our bellies grow!

Update

I am currently 15 weeks pregnant and finally the nausea is subsiding and I am getting my appetite back! YAHOO!!! Which I guess that means, it's starting to show! Which has been fun! In just 6 short weeks (more or less) we will know what to expect...though Spence is pretty set on it being a boy! I am fine either way, but I like the idea of a boy first. So far we aren't firm on any names, but we have a boy name that we both like.
Oh and some other great news, my sister Kristin, who just had baby number 4 last May, is pregnant again! She is due just a few weeks after I am. We are super excited about this.

Tengo 15 semanas del embarzo y por fin no estoy enferma con nausea! y puedo comer mas y mas cada dia. Y eso significa que mi pansita esta mostrandose! Es divertido! Entre 6 semanas vamos a saber si es embra o baron! Aun que Spencer crea que es baron! Estare feliz con lo que sea, pero tener baron primero sera divertido. Hasta ahora no tenemos fijos nombres, tenemos alugunos que nos gustan.
Ay, otras noticias buenas, mi hermana Kristin, quien tuvo su cuarta hija el ano pasado, esta embaraza! Tendra su hijo semanas despues que yo! Estomos muy emocionados por eso!

We are now BLOGGIN!

Well thanks to a good friend of ours, I (Stacie) have been converted to Blogging! I hope you all enjoy this page as I am sure to do! Much love to you all!!