Playing with Grandpa and Aunt Megan

Grandpa reading me my favorite book

Levi's first hair cut

Before

I could not take it any longer my son was a hillbilly redneck, with his hair resting on his shirt collar and wrapping around his ears, it had to be cut!











Halfway

Levi would giggle everytime the clippers would come close to the back of his ears.

After

A hillbilly redneck no more! He looks so cute! Thanks MOM.

I'm a big kid now!

Levi helping me with the Laundry























Enough of the bottle, I want to drink from this

Eye Exam

No Lazy Eye ! Hurray! For the last few months we have been noticing that Levi's left eye would turn in occasionally, more often when he was tired, and there is a strong history on Shane's side of the family so we decided to have it checked out. Levi's exam was flawless and the doc couldn't detect anything so he recommended that we need to still keep a close eye :) on it for the next 6 months.

Levi is more and more active these days. Here are a few pictures of the last few days.

My Water Boy!

~Cheney Newsletter 2007~

Ok, I don't know what happened to me in the picture in the last post but oh my goodness, you would think that my eye was swollen shut. Anyway....

This year we welcomed little Levi to our family. Levi arrived on May 21, 2007 at 9:20 a.m.. Two months earlier than originally planned. Here is a quick low down, everything went great until about 33 weeks. After all the tests being negative, we couldn't find any reason why I started laboring so early but here is my philosophy.....I decided to pick up an extra shift at work (I had scaled back to part time in March) My patient assignment would be light and the unit was short nurses. Well needless to say one of my patients went south soon after I arrived to work. The baby started coughing up bright red blood, hematocrit was 32 at first check, second check 15-20 min later while giving fluid boluses, the second hematocrit was 16, with blood pressure falling. The baby had some kind of internal bleeding and we didn't know why. Needless to say I transferred the baby to PICU. Come to find out the baby had a rather large ulcer the size of its stomach. While standing at the PICU bedside giving report I started contracting and they never fully stopped until Levi arrived. I went to the hospital hoping that we could get them stopped... 2 steroid shots and 36 hrs later we had a crying baby weighing in at 4 lbs 9 oz and 19 inches long.

(Levi had jaundice for 2 weeks and had to be under bili-light)

(Levi just pulled out his feeding tube right before this picture, doesn't that face say "Don't look at me, I didn't do it!")

Levi did not have any complications and didn't require any oxygen. They had me deliver in the OR so that we could pass him through a window to the Neonatoligists in the NICU quickly just in case he had had any complications they could attend to him. That moment was the most terrifying moment in my life. Hearing him cry for a brief moment and seeing him being carried away. Levi stayed in the hospital for 3 weeks learning how to eat and grow. Luckily it was only three weeks, they wanted to keep him for 2 more weeks but Shane and I convinced Levi's pediatrician that we were more than qualified at taking him home (You can't get any better than having a mom as a nurse and dad as a respiratory therapist). He was eating on his own with all feeds 3 hrs apart and gaining weight WHY NOT? Within 48 hrs of being home Levi was eating better and putting on the ounces.

I am blessed to have such a wonderful husband who was there for me every night that I had to come home with out my Levi. Once home, Shane was able to take a month off which I am truly thankful for. Even now Shane never hesitates to change a diaper(even if it is stinky), feed Levi a bottle, or for some one on one time so that I could catch up on some much needed sleep.

Shane is a back up supervisor and a member of the life flight (fixed wing) team in the Respiratory department. He really enjoys the challenges that they all bring but still wants more. Who knows what he might be doing next!

As for me I have taken on a new challenge. I am a preceptor/integrator for nursing students and new nurses on the Infant unit. Lately, I have been offered a charge nurse position but don't feel quite ready for that move so I decided to take a step out of my comfort zone of nursing and teach new nurses. I hope to teach them how to be a nurse that is an advocate, alert , and confident. Taking care of babies is so much fun. I LOVE what I do and hope that I make a difference in peoples' lives.

Shane and I have truly been blessed this year. We are thankful to be surrounded by such loving and supportive family. I hope that everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

(Levi's early Christmas gift, he gets so excited that he shakes. I love it)

A few facts about me

- First and foremost I am extremely TERRIFIED of spiders. Microscopic to HUGE!!!! the size doesn't matter they are ALL HUGE, GIGANTIC..... and they all ATTACK!





-I love being a Wife and a Mom.











- I can't stand it when things are not put in their perspective places. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. (sorry megan)





-I would rather scrub the bathroom than do grocery shopping and laundry, but I do enjoy ironing, 90% of my clothes have to be ironed


- I am the worst decorator, our poor house still does not have anything hanging on the walls (except for the (3) floral arrangements my mom made) she has the best eye for those things.


- I ABSOLUTELY love to run.. it is the best stress reliever ever.






- My favorite action figure of all time is BUZZ LIGHTYEAR..... TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!






- I love to laugh








- The Office (Dwight is my favorite) and Seinfeld are my favorite TV shows reruns never get old..



















- Spending time with family is very important to me






- It really bugs me when people don't pick up their feet when they walk






A calculator is a Nurses best friend (found this at staples and bought 4, you can never have too many)














- I look up to my parents for their wisdom





- I am the worst back seat driver,and I do admit that at times I can get aggressive behind the wheel (that usually only happens if I am late somewhere)






- It drives me crazy when people are late and I HATE BEING LATE. Shane doesn't mind and it makes me want to scream



- Wearing socks drives me crazy. As soon as I am in the door shoes and socks off.




- My brother and I accidentally started our house on fire when we were 2-3 yrs old.




I love watermelon







and HATE seafood












- my favorite beverage is lemonade and sprite mixed half and half...... mmmmmmmmmmm REFRESHING....



- I have this awful habit of not thinking things through before doing them... for example one Christmas I was putting up a real tree that a roommates dad had given us and it needed a small branch to be removed in order to fit in the tree stand..... of coarse I don't have a saw so the next best thing was a bread knife.... sawing away (it worked quite nicely) once done I thought "Oh no now this is not sharp..." with out hesitation I whipped out my index finger and sliced a way. As soon as I had cut my finger it dawned on me that that could have been the most stupid thing I have ever done... why didn't I think #1 then #2 why my finger. Luckily it wasn't a bad cut and it healed quite nicely. Every time I look at a bread knife, I think "THOSE KNIVES ARE ALWAYS SHARP" with a smile on my face :) I am so thankful that this doesn't happen very often.