John's Graduation

Three years ago John applied for Nursing school and didn't get in.  He applied again a few months later and again was rejected.  The third time he applied he branched out and was finally accepted.  He drove to Salt Lake for school a few times a week for nearly 2 years as he attended Eagle Gate College.  Yesterday, he graduated.  When he started two years ago, the end seemed very far away.  Nevertheless, it came!  I am so proud of my husband for all the hard work and dedication he showed.  He had some of the top grades in his class and everyone he worked with had great things to say about him.  He really has found something he loves and that he's good at.  Out of the 19 other students in his graduating class, they chose John and 1 other person to speak at the ceremony.  What an honor!  John loves to speak and he's good at it too!  Someone told us he was the unofficial valedictorian!  He drove up early and I rode up a little later with his parents.  We got there a good 20 minutes before things started.

Here's where the story gets really... interesting.  Ezekiel was doing really well... I made him a bottle and fed it to him while we were waiting for the ceremony to start.  He's always pretty mad when the milk runs out but thankfully there was a lot of talking and noise so no one really noticed his crying.  I had him sitting on my lap and after a few minutes... he was filling his diaper.  Now, he's at a stage where he only poops every few days.  I couldn't believe he had picked this moment to do it.  Minutes before the graduation ceremony.  So, I picked him up and swiftly took him to the bathroom to change him.  The bathroom was out of paper towels so I used my changing mat in my diaper bag to lay him on, on top of the changing table.  I pulled off his pants and got stuff on my hands...  He had blown out his diaper!  All over his pants, his onesie, and now my hand.  I grabbed out the wipes I had packed and noticed I only had about 5... I knew it wouldn't be enough.  I frantically stripped him all the way down and tried to clean him up managing with the few wipes I had.  He's wailing and kicking, naked, as I'm stressing out about the mess, lack of cleaning supplies, and praying that I don't get anything on my new dress.  It went fairly successfully.  He had to sport some casual back up clothes instead of the nice dressy clothes I had him in.  He eventually stopped crying and did amazingly well the rest of the night.  We got back into the event room about a minute before things started.  I was so relieved!  I had managed my first real scary outing-with-the-baby.   Panic mode subsided and I was able to enjoy the rest of the night.

The ceremony was really nice.  I got some pics and videos that should show you more than I could tell you about how things went.  The blonde woman was the other speaker and the girl playing the harp was a student as well.  The girl who John has his arm around, who is not me, is Lindsey.  She and John carpooled and did many study sessions together.

Here are the videos.  This first one is John's talk.  It's kinda long but worth watching!  The next one is his name being called and him receiving his "diploma".  The last is a candle lighting ceremony representing the times Florence Nightingale would check on soldiers in the night.  She is known as the mother of nursing, if ya didn't know.  What a great day!

Baby this, Baby that, dot dot dot

Alright, I think it's time for an update.  I know you all have been waiting!  First off, my kid is great!  He's absolutely perfect.  I couldn't ask for a more beautiful and healthy baby.  He is almost 4 months old.  He is smiling a ton every day and starting to laugh as well.  He hasn't lost any of his hair, in fact it just keeps growing.  It is almost 3 inches long now!  A couple weeks ago we started sleeping him in his own room in his crib.  John was eager to do it but it took me a while longer to be ok with not having him in our room just a couple feet away from me.  But there were a few days after feeling like I had to be quiet as to not wake him up where I lost too much sleep that made me ready.  And it has been a lot nicer!  He typically sleeps about 5-6 hours now which is great because I really only have to get up once a night to feed him!  Speaking of feeding... I thought I would enjoy breastfeeding, but I really don't.  I'd say 95% of the time I hate it.  It has been more of a challenge and taken a greater deal of effort than I ever imagined.  I always thought it was this wonderful bonding experience... but I'm not getting that.  It mostly feels like an inconvenience.  It takes a lot of time and patience, not to mention proper posture so my back doesn't ache.  Maybe because since I've been back at work, he is fed from a bottle and has come to prefer the bottle.  I want to do it because I want to give him the best.  I just can't help but count down the days til I can stop and get my body back to myself.  Ya know, this baby stuff really does change your life!  He's totally worth it though, just check out his cuteness.  I love him so much!

So yes as you read, I am back at work.  I am just working part time.  It's going good but it is hard not being my own boss.  I don't make my schedule anymore.  I am not in the loop of all that's going on, and I'm still not really friends with anyone I work with.  I mean, we get along great and work is pleasant, I just thought that once I wasn't the boss, people would open up to me more.  Maybe it'll just take time, but I haven't felt very welcomed since I got back.  My clients are what is keeping me around, but I'm starting to think that the majority of them will do just fine without me.  So, I guess what I'm getting at is that I want to quit.  Summer is almost here and I haven't had a summer off in years.  I'd like to have Saturdays to myself again.  I've worked at my job for 7 years now, and I think I'm ready to say goodbye.  John wants me to stay home with our son too so I know he's ok with it.  Once our finances are all caught up and John is working as a nurse making double what we're used to, I'll be able to stay home.

Speaking of John and school, he is almost done!  Only 2 more weeks of school!  Then a lot of studying to pass his test, which he'll take in May!  Then he just has to find a job!  We are very excited, but would probably be more excited if it really were the end.  He will continue on to get his Bachelor's Degree, then most likely apply for Nurse Anesthetist school.  So, he still has 3-5 more years but at least he'll be a Registered Nurse for those years making good money in the mean time.  He is working hard and wants to be done with school but we've just gotta stick it out.  It will totally pay off, literally, in the end!

I should probably take a quick minute to mention our son's blessing.  Grandma Lewis made EZ's blessing out fit and it turned out great.  My parents, as well as my sister, Cody, drove up from Arizona to be here for it.  They drove about 21+ hours for the trip in less than 4 days.  What love and support they showed. I so loved having them here!

 
Well that's about all that is going on around here.  Thanks for reading!