Life happened

As I was a new mother, I thought I would be awesome at documenting and keeping track of everything that was happening with Stedson and all of his milestones.  Needless to say.. going to school full time, working, and being a mother/wife did not allow me to blog at all.  NOW... Chase and I are both graduated, homeowners, and parents of two handsome boys! Not sure how all of this happened, but I am so grateful that this is where we ended up two years later!

Colter David Halverson was born on August 21, 2015 at 3:47am.  I didn't know that my heart could get bigger and have so much love for TWO little boys.  It's possible people.  Stedson is the best big brother and we couldn't be more thankful for that.  He is such a sensitive and loving boy.  He loves holding him and playing with him.  They will definitely be good buddies.

School Hardships

After Chase received his Pre Engineering Associates Degree at Weber State University, he went to Utah State University to receive his Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering.  We contemplated buying a house in Logan and both of us completing our degrees there.  My nanny job in Ogden was helping us survive, so we really couldn't leave Ogden with the jobs there.  I was able to bring Stedson to my nanny job and it just worked out perfectly with school etc.  Chase decided that he would commute to Utah State for TWO YEARS! He is amazing and so supportive of my education and allowing me to pursue the things that I love!  Junior year was hard and full of challenges.  As a young family and Chase's hardest year in school .. we contemplated him switching to business, so he could go to Weber and be home more often.  Many prayers and pro/con lists later we realized that mechanical engineering was where his heart was and we just needed to keep pushing.  A hard decision, but looking back it was definitely the right one!  As we began our senior year, I had the opportunity to take a leadership position at school.  This position changed my life and how I view myself as a leader, mother, wife, and woman as a member of society.  As I continued my leadership I realized that my passion to pursue Marriage and Family Therapy grew.  I was able to present at a national conference and met some very important people.  Chase supported and even encouraged me to pursue my dream by applying for graduate school.  Not only was I excited, but I was baffled that my husband was so supportive even with our 18 month old little boy.  As I began the application process, I found out that I was pregnant with baby number two.  Many prayers later we decided that I should still pursue graduate school.  I applied to many schools and wanted so badly to get into the University of Southern Mississippi.  I got an email that I would be interviewed for their program.  I seriously was on cloud nine! They want to meet me?  They think I am smart enough and they liked my personal statement? ME?!?! It was an incredible feeling!  As we continued to be prayerful with our next steps, it still felt right to attend my interview.  One of my good friends also got an interview to the same program, so we were able to travel together.  This was seriously one of the craziest trips I had ever been on.  To sum it up... the only flight into the little town had been cancelled and the next best thing was to fly to New Orleans and rent a car.  Change in a gas station and attend the dinner with the first years.  Aside from getting lost when we were there.. things couldn't have been more perfect.  We both did well in the group interview and in the individual interview I was hit with a ton of bricks.  I was doing great in the interview, but I had the STRONGEST impression I have ever had that I should not attend their program and no other program at that time.  WHAT?! I just spent hundreds of dollars applying and now flying to an interview.  Why should I not go?  I knew in my heart that I should follow that impression, but by no means was I excited about it.  I went back to my hotel and cried and cried and cried.  I called my husband and told him about the amazing school, program, faculty and how well the interview went.  I proceeded to tell him that I wasn't going.  Obviously he was a little confused, but asked me why I had decided that. I told him I knew I needed to be home with my babies and support him in starting his career.  The next part seriously makes me tear up just thinking about it.  My husband said to me... "Kirstin, if you are going to get a paid internship and you want to get this degree, I am happy to be a stay at home dad."  I wanted to cry into Chase's shoulder at this point.  He had made so many sacrifices for our family up to this point.  He did so much so that we could have Stedson and I could continue to go to school.  It was his turn.  ANYWAYS... I got a call that I was accepted and I declined.  It was another hard moment in this process.  BUT!!! I would seriously make the same decision today.  I have been able to bond with Colter like I wouldn't have been able to otherwise.  I have been able to develop a completely different relationship with Stedson.  I could go on and on.  I started to wonder why... Why was it yes and then no?  That whole experience has helped me develop so much.  Writing a personal statement about myself and why I am worth it... Everyone should do that.  Being accepted into my dream program.  I'm worth something.  Lastly, having the opportunity to start my own business would have never happened if these things didn't happen prior because I wouldn't have believed in myself enough.  

Well we graduated with our Bachelor's Degrees.  Mine was in Family Studies and his was in Mechanical Engineering.  Because of Chase's job as a design engineer in Salt Lake City, we were able to  buy a house just weeks before Colter was born.  We love South Weber and we are grateful everyday for the opportunity to be homeowners.  Life is good as a stay at home mom and business owner.  I have never been more happy with who I am and the person Chase motivates me to be daily.  I give credit to my loving Heavenly Father that has allowed me to use my agency to fall only to get back up stronger.  The companionship of the Holy Ghost was ever present throughout this entire college, career, grad school, and baby process.  Thanks to Chase that always reminds me to pray about things that are too difficult only after thinking it out and presenting my options. 

That about sums up the last two years....

August Cont'd

I've failed to update this during the entire fall semester of school.  Now that I am finished I can have my life back for one month, so I better get blogging.

In August Chase and I celebrated our two year anniversary.  Stedson was nursing every two hours at this point, so a simple dinner date usually required me pumping.  Chase and I wanted to go on a dirt bike ride and go kayaking so I pumped four bottles for Stedson, and my mom came over for the day to watch him.  This was definitely the longest I had been away from him, and needless to say I survived.  Chase and I had a blast and the weather was awesome.  No injuries on the dirtbikes, but I did get pretty sunburned kayaking.  I did get to ride Chase's dirt bike and I loved it.  I told Chase that Stedson can have my bike and I need a new one... Ya that didn't fly.  Here are a couple of pictures from our date.

Chase and I started school this month as I mentioned.  Chase and I both attended school Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  Chase's mom would watch Stedson on Monday and Wednesdays and then my mom would watch him on Fridays.  Chase is commuting up to Utah State University which is about 45 minutes away and then I still attend Weber State University which is about 5 minutes from the house.  School isn't too exciting.. just a lot of work, but we are definitely learning a lot. :)

Chase his brother Karson and their dad Dave went up to their property in Bear Lake which is an hour and 45 minutes away and put up a wall tent and brought up the horses and who knows what they did.  They called it the man cave.  They just cut down some trees, set up this tent, rode the horses, and hung out I guess.  Its a pretty fun little set up there.  I was invited to see the man cave, and it was a man cave.  :)

We went to Pine Valley for Labor Day weekend.  Pine Valley is in Southern Utah.  It's so beautiful there.  There are obviously many pines and it gets pretty chilly up there.  Camille's sister has a cabin up there, so some people stay inside and then others bring trailers up there and we all just hang out and play games and just enjoy the outdoors.  We took the fifth wheel up there because Stedson was only 3 months old, so I wanted a place for him to nap etc.  It was so much fun down there!  It was relaxing.  There are a lot of grandkids, so we have a couple blow up jumpy things that the kids get to play on throughout the day.  On Sunday, we attended a church that is the oldest LDS chapel in continuous use.  We got to sit outside in chairs and listen to the service because so many people come on Labor Day weekend.  Also they have these random cows that are white in the middle and either brown or black on the outside.  We call them oreo cows.  They are the strangest looking things, and I have only seen them in Pine Valley. 

Oh and of course most importantly my birthday happened (and Kristen's) ;)  I turned 23... 

August

I can't believe August is over. Our anniversary was the second of August. Chase and I spent the 3rd going dirt biking and kayaking. It was hard to be away of Stedson, but Chase had a ton of fun together!

Stedson is doing so great.  He definitely isn't lacking in body fat. He rolled over for the first time this month. Chase also got him to laugh for the first time too! Its not working to upload the video of Stedson laughing, but I have posted Iit on my Facebook. You have to see it. . It's so funny!

We also just took a trip to Pine Valley over Labor Day which is in Southern Utah. It was so beautiful there  and it was for a family reunion. Its a super green mountainous valley. 

Grandpa Dave playing with Stedson in the trailer!

July

 Where did July go? July was so busy I can't believe it's over. We went to St. George for the Fourth of July which was crazy.... One because it was a five hour drive with a five week old.  He actually did so great and we only stopped twice, two because it was 105 degrees on a cool day and 90 at night.  The girls mostly stayed in, talked and watched movies. We shopped a little and got our nails done. Stedson is such a good baby. He is so tolerable of outside elements.  The reason we went to this terribly hot place was because Travis who is Chase's youngest brother was leaving on a mission that next week, and their sister lives in St George.  So we brought the party to her.  The boys of course went dirt biking everyday except the last day they went mountain biking which sounded just as intense as dirt biking.

The next week we just spent lots of time with Trav before he left.  Travis left on the 10th to the Mission training center in Provo.  I went to go drop him off with the family... It was not very fun. I'm definitely way more emotional than I was before I had a baby.  I cry at everything now.  Weird.  Anyway Travis is going to be serving in the Oslo, Norway mission and will be speaking Norweigan.  He says the language is pretty hard, but he's getting it slowly.

The next couple of weeks we were strictly dedicated to the Ogden Pioneer Days Rodeo.  Chase was working a ton because his dad is on the committee that puts the rodeo together.  All their hard work paid off and the rodeo turned out great.  Stedson had a great time at his first rodeo.  He went to all five nights.  He was a trooper, he even had his own all area pass with his name on it.

Lastly, we are supposed to be moving this month.  We were supposed to be moving to Logan to go to Utah State University because Chase is doing Mechnical Engineering and Weber State in Ogden only has a pre- engineering program.  So he did everything he could do there.  We both looked for jobs up there but it is a college town and a lot of the jobs are minimum wage which is very difficult to support a family when we both only work part time.  We decided that we would stay in Ogden and Chase would commute with his brother Karson who is also doing mechanical engineering.  Then I can keep my nanny job which is great because I can bring Stedson with me.  And Chase will continue to work for his dad. We just moved in with Chase's parents over the weekend so we don't have to sign a new lease.. then we'll see how one semester of commuting and decide what to do from there. New adventures!

June

June we were still adjusting to our new life as parents. Stedson was circumcised and it was incredibly sad to witness. He was of course screaming the whole time. He didn't even keep the sugar watered binkie in his mouth. He healed great for the circumcision. We were able to shower him now with the belly button and circumsion healed. We have the funniest video of him in the shower. It's so cute. He's just so relaxed.

Girls camp was this month and I was the camp director. They went to the Halversons cabin in Morgan Ut. They loved it. They got to go boating, horse back riding, and fishing. I didn't spend the night, but went up everyday. It was so fun. I was able to leave Stedson with one of the leaders and  Chase and I went o a horseback ride. It felt so great to get back on a horse. That was one thing I really missed when I was pregnant.

May

We finally got to go home on May 23rd. It felt weird just leaving after all the nurses and doctors were around 24/7. Stedson was healthy and well and I was recovering great. He was having a hard time latching which was very frustrating. We lost a lot of sleep over that. My mom stayed with us that first week which basically saved our sanity. Its a lot to figure out all at once.

Chase couldn't be a better dad. He was so cute in the beginning from going down to get instruction on installing the car seat to reading everything there is to know about breastfeeding and how to get them to latch. He is so cute with Stedson and he sure loves his daddy.

He finally got to come home! We were so nervous. It took forever to get home.. 

Becoming Parents!

Our baby was due May 17th, but he decided to stay longer. On the eve of the 20th at about 8:45pm I started to have just very little contractions about 20-50 minutes apart.  I was so excited,  but tried not to think about it.. we had been trying all week to start my labor. I was scheduled to be induced on the 23rd and I really didn't want to be. We went on walks. . I walked on curbs.. I got a massage.. I used oils.. foot zoning.. ect. My contractions started to increase. Needless to say I got zero sleep and by about 1:30 my contractions were about 5-7 minutes apart. I woke up Chase and told him to get ready.. our drive to the hospital took forever and it felt like we were off roading. Thankfully there was no traffic and I kept yelling at chase to slow down but not too fast ect. Looking back on it, it was probably hilarious how much I wanted chase to slow down.. I went through the ER because it was in the middle of the night. I was handling the contractions fairly well at this point. I had to stay in triage for quite a while to make sure I was in active labor. I had to do a lot of walking and chase thought lunges, squats, and jumping was a good idea.. I basically told him once he has a uterus that is contracting I would, but until then... lol. I was only dilated to a 2 after a couple hours, but during the exam the nurse broke my water unintentionally which means you're automatically admitted because there is only a 24 hr window of your water breaking before there is danger of infection. Finally I was able to get out of triage with all the other crazy ladies in labor to my own room. I was able to zone out when chase wasn't bumping my bed or someone wasn't touching me. Lol everyone was trying to be so helpful, but all I wanted was for everyone to leave me alone so I could tackle each contraction on my own. It was around 10am ish and I had been in labor for a little over 12 hrs. I felt good with controlling the contractions, but I was exhausted because I hadn't had any sleep yet. They told me that I was more than welcome to do it naturally if I wanted to, but it could take many hours because I was only dilated to a 3 or 4.  I decided to get pitocin to soeed things up, but I got the epidural first because I had read that pitocin increases the contractions so much and so quickly its very hard to handle. The epidural can also take up to about 15 minutes. So I got that first and then pitocin. To say the least.. I was feeling good and had many random comments. I was no longer anti-social. I felt the epidural working almost immediatley. I was fully dilated very quickly and so the nurse had me push to see if the baby had dropped. I pushed and was crowning. She told me to call kylee and my mom in the cafeteria to come up cuz I was ready to push. The nurse called the OB the peds nurse ect. Everyone looked around like what are we doing here she isn't even pushing. My nurse told them it was going to go fast. I pushed twice and delivered a boy! We didn't know the sex of the baby so knowing the gender was way exciting! They laid him on my chest and he opened his eyes wide and looked right at me. It was so amazing. We named him Stedson Chase Halverson. He weighed 7lbs 9oz and was 20 inches long!