The Silly Side of the Stevens'

Well J.D.'s mom has been staying with us for a couple of days to help with the baby and she brought her camera. We got looking at all the pictures and just started laughing at all the fun memories that the Stevens family has had. So I decided it would be fun to post some of them. It also explains the another side of J.D. :)

So to start off, there is this new tradition of making birthday hats for the birthday people! Here are the creations so far starting with Loni and Lynette
This is Lucas! He's the oldest sibling, has 3 kids (Jetta-6, Brant-3, Tilden-2) and is married to Molly. (you will see her in another pic)

This is the 2 that started it all, Mom and Dad! There birthdays are 1 day apart! They are high school sweethearts, and have been married for 35 years!

This is the youngest brother, Parker (9) He is the highlight of the family. This happens to be a very good picture of parker's smile! We have a hard time getting him to smile with eyes open AND not a big cheesy grin. When we say "smile" we never know what we are going to get from Parker.... :)


This is Loni and Lucas. Notice the similarities in the sleeping style....

In Holden they always have a Christmas Program and then Santa comes. Parker went up with me so I wouldn't be scared to see Santa. hahaha... I just wanted some candy.
Also they have a light parade. Molly has a realty business and this was her float. Parker is posing inside... don't be confused that parker isn't really 'for sale'

This is Molly and the kids dressed for Halloween. Molly is dressed to be Lucas..

Just recently J.D.'s parents went out to Virginia to drive back with Chet and Bobi Sue and also a road trip. This is a statue that was in Navoo. Chet and Bobi Sue and Taylee posed the same as the statue...
Then J.D.'s parents posed with one of their daughters Lynette. It's a picture perfect moment! Lynette really resembles the statue. :) JK!

This is almost the whole clan. This was last year for Thanksgiving. We are missing JoAnn. She is the 2nd to oldest sibling. She passed away last August. After looking at the picture, we decided that she was there in between Bryant and Lucas in the back row. :)

1 Week Old

Yesterday was Dawson's 1 week old mark! (his actual due date) He already looks so different. Definately has a lot of Stevens in him. Not a lot of Shelley so far, except his flexibility! I know babies are normally flexible, but we've had a lot of people say his ankles bend more than any other babies they've seen before... who knows though right?
So I wanted to tell a story about Dawson, that I think he will be proud of when he's older, J.D. is definately proud of, and I was too.. haha! The day after he was born they took him to get circumsized. (sp??) J.D. went to be there for the poor guy. I guess while there, the doctor told the nurse to get a certain size for the bell thing they use to make the cut. Well, the doctor went to put in on Dawson, and it didn't fit! :) He looked at J.D. and then at the nurse and said, "hmmm... is there a bigger one.. I don't know if we have a bigger size." hahaha! I wrote the story in his baby book so he can hopefully be proud.


I love his faces that he pulls. He has a bit of a upset face here, I don't know what he was dreaming about though. So far things are really good. I've had my mom here every night to help, and then last night and until sunday J.D.'s mom is here. Even if they don't do a whole lot, just having someone here is so comforting. They have done more than expected though. Thank you all for the support, comments, and love.

Dawson Is HERE!!

Well, Dawson made his entrance on Sept. 18th, (the day I wanted him too... long story) at 5:26 pm. He weighed 7lbs 9 oz and was 20 inches long. He is so healthy and is such a good baby!

The story.. So a long time ago I was telling everyone i really wanted Dawson to come on the 18th. I just figured that would be the perfect day. 2 reasons- 1. my nephews b-day is the 4th, one week later is my brother's b-day and one week later is the 18th. 2. my mom's, my other nephew, and my sister's b-day's are all on 18's. .. So I would just say, he's coming on the 18th.
Also, 3 weeks ago I was telling J.D. that I had a feeling about something happening at 10:00... not sure if AM or PM... but 10:00.
Tues my sister kort came over and gave me a foot rub. Which helps with pressure points and stimulating labor. Wednesday, I worked and got home at 11. I bought castor oil and drank it about 12:30. i was so sick... but at 4 in the morning of the 18th I was having really strong contractions only 8 min. apart. J.D. got home at 5:50 am and by that time they were 5 min apart. We went for a long walk and they were all within 2-5 min. apart. I was getting nervous and scared because I just couldn't clearly think of what to do. also, my doc said if I can't walk, talk or breathe and they are 3-5 min apart. well, I was walking, talking, and breathing, so i wasn't sure if I should go in. It was 7:45 and I kept calling my mom from here til 8:00 and she wasn't answering. So i called my sister-in-law Jamie and she said, call your doctor, but she strongly said I should just go in and let them monitor me. (I have to be honest I was pretty scared, and I am pretty nervous when it comes to hospitals...) So we said a prayer and decided to go in. J.D. was so good in comforting me and letting me know it's okay. My contractions were lasting 2 minutes and were 4-5 min apart while monitoring and I was dialated to a 3. Then at 10:00 the doctor just popped his head in and said, "I have a strong feeling that we need to keep you here. So sit tight and I'll be back to break your water. " My contractions kept getting stronger and pretty painful.
At 12 the doctor came in a broke my water. I was in a bit of pain and breaking my water made the contractions worse... they couldn't give me an epideral until I was to a 4.. but by 12:45 they decided to just give it to me.
Well.. they pain didn't go away at all within 15 min. so they gave me a stronger dose of a different medicine for the epideral... the pain lessened a bit, but for the next 3 hours I was still in a lot of pain with the contractions. They kept saying I shouldn't be feeling anything, but for some reason my body was being resistant to the epideral.
Finally at 3 the anethesiologist decided to double dose the stronger stuff and give it to me... and thankfully IT WORKED! I couldnt' feel the pain any longer! What a blessing and answered prayer!
the nurse checked me at 3 and I was to a 5... YAY! Then through many answered prayers from all of you within 1 hour I was completely dialated and thinned. At 4:30ish we started labor pushes before the doctor would deliver him. J.D. would help the nurse by holding my legs and then counting 10 seconds for each push during contractions. Then the nurse just let J.D. hold both legs and count while she stepped over to the computer. All of the sudden J.D. got this shocking look on his face... He tapped the nurse and she looked over and kind of panicked! she said ,"Stop! Stop pushing! Don't push anymore!" Well thats because Dawson's head was crowning and coming out! ahaha! She ran to get the doctor. He came fast, and then with 4 quick 10 second pushes, he was here!
I only had to get 3 stitches! J.D. got to cut the cord, which was very exciting. Dawson didn't even cry until they started rubbing him and wiping him off. He was so good!
So here is one of the first pictures! He is getting ready to yawn and his little nose flared. ahah! He has so much hair. J.D. insisted on doing a mo-hawk. :)

Here is the new daddy, J.D. holding his son for the very first time!
Here is the first family picture. We are proud & very excited parents!
And this is the day we got to go home! (sat.) Dawson is in his new scrubs!
When we got home, we were so tired! J.D. had bought me a glider and had Chet and Bobi Sue set it up before we got to the hospital. I was so excited, but before I put it to use, J.D. fell asleep.
After the birth, I was feeling so good! I was walking and talking, and very happy that Dawson was here and very happy that I wasn't pregnant anymore. :) I still have the pic line because the doctor wanted to make sure I'd be okay before taking out something so permanent. So next week I get to have that thing GONE! Hurray! Thank you all so much for support, advice, comments, gifts and prayers! We are so grateful for it all!

Still Waiting...

We are still waiting... We have tried just about everything and we've come to a couple conclusions... either he's pretty stubborn, or is having fun thinking that making us wait is really hilarious, or knows what he's in for in this world and isn't QUITE ready to present himself. . . Maybe he's waiting for the perfect moment to make his entrance... One day I'll ask him what took him so long, I'll be sure to let you know once I figure it out. :)
Today I'm going to go into work. Here is my reasoning why, other than I'm scheduled but don't really have to if I am feeling like I can't. The assistant manager was pregnant as well.. Her due date was on the 16th of September.. well on Aug 30th me and my co-worker had a pretty big issue that we didn't know how to fix, it was 10:00 pm and we had to call the assistant manager to come in. She was there for 50 minutes because she was trying to figure out how the heck to fix this issue. Well... she left, went to Taco Bell, walked into her house, changed clothes, and brushed her teeth... THEN her water broke! I had told her at work that I was trying to put her into labor by having her come in.... it worked! So she had the baby the next day, 2 WEEKS before her due date. So maybe at work tonight it will put me into labor... or maybe my water will break too. I hope it doesn't break at work... then again that would be a really funny and good story..
So if you all could really pray for this child to make his entrance we (especially me) would really appreciate it. :) Thank you!

We have progress!

Today we went to another doctors appointment... and we are dialated to a 1 1/2! Hurray! Also, he checked the heart beat again as usual and everytime he does, he can't get over the fact that it's so strong. We are always happy to hear that. :) So I've decided we can't let the progress go any slower... lol, we are going to go for a long long walk this afternoon, and my sister Kortni is coming over to give me a foot rub (if some of you have heard... there are pressure points in your foot. If you know where to push and how hard, then it can help put someone into labor... Kort's a massage therapist and did this for my other sister Jori. It worked too! ) Hopefully we can get this baby out cuz I'm really ready as some of you can relate. I think J.D. is more ready though... every morning when he gets home from work he wakes me up and asks... "so are we going to have the baby today?" ahaha! what a silly boy!

Ready and Waiting...

Well, we feel like we are as ready as we can be for this little boy to come! I took some pics of his room. We have gotten everything we can think of, thanks to family mostly for letting us borrow so much. It's truly been a blessing!

This is the cutest thing ever!! We wanted scrubs for Dawson to wear home from the hospital and we finally found a site online where they make them newborn size. they are so tiny and so stinkin cute! They just got here yesterday and we are so excited!
The best part about the scrubs is that we got his name embroidered on them! He's going to be leaving the hospital in great style right?

Here is the changing table that we got from a co-worker of Jenny's. We had to nail it and fix it up and paint it... Jenny's mom made 3 changing pad covers! She is amazing! The chair goes with our living rm furniture, but we decided to put the glider in the living room and the chair in here.

You'd think he has enough clothes right? Well, to let you know we have bought 1 shirt and then his hospital outfit. The rest... yep, borrowed. Jenny's sister Jori had a baby boy last october, so all of his clothes are the right season and size for our baby. She was so sweet for letting us borrow so much of her stuff. (literally everything) Also, J.D.'s sister in law Molly had a baby boy 1 1/2 ago and she let us borrow chairs, toys, blankets and clothes as well.AND also, Jenny's sister in law Jamie had a little boy 2 1/2 years ago and she loaded us up with tons of clothes as well! We love family!
And this is the lovely stroller/carseat that J.D. was pushing around the house in the last blog. Thank you so much Grandma Shelley! It is so dang cute!
This is the highchair that we recieved at Jenny's baby shower up north. Before we moved, our work threw Jenny a baby shower and our boss got us this highchair! We wanted it so badly and thought it was so cute, AND it matches our table!! We could not believe that her and her husband actually got it for us. Thank you so much Jill & Scott!
also this summer, J.D. promised Jenn that he'd build a crib for the baby. so here are the workings of that.
2 sides done!
He is so amazing and talented! I am so blessed! Plus he is very good looking! :)
And here is the finished product. Thank you again Grandma Shelley for the crib set! It is the exact one we wanted and Dawson is going to love it!

We really are so blessed and thank you all of you who helped us out with so much stuff. We have plenty to last for years we feel like. Please pray that we have him soon because I'm soooo ready to not be pregnant for awhile. :)

Ohhh J.D....

Well, I sure wish I had a pic of this because it was so cute and funny! My mom bought me and J.D. the stroller/carseat for our baby gift... Yesterday I drove to St. George to have my mom help me make the baby changing pad covers. When I was leaving she said I should take the gift home and put it together with J.D. since time is coming to end until Dawson gets here. So I got home and J.D. was so excited to see the gift. He immediately opens the box and we started putting it together. After it was all done, we locked the car seat into the stroller to see how that would work and then I started shoving all the paper, plastic and foam into the box and took it out by the trash can. I came back in and J.D. was pushing the stroller around in the house with a huge smile on his face! hahaha! It was so cute! I started laughing it was so funny! He would stop and put the brakes on, make sure they work, take the brake thingy off and start pushing it down the hallway, through the kitchen, in the living room in a couple of circles... ahaha! THEN, he looks at me with so much excitement and says, " Do you want to go for a walk right now?!!" I just looked at him and said..."we don't have a baby yet to put in it..." Then he says," Thats okay! We'll just cover the top and no one will no. We can just go around the block.?" I about died laughing! I just said, "Well... people might wonder if we've had the baby... but then they'd get confused because they would see that I was still pretty dang pregnant!" He was kinda disappointed, but then he just pushed the stroller around the house again. ahaha! He is soooo funny!
It really makes me happy to realize how blessed I am to have a husband that's so excited to be a daddy and really wants to be so involved. It's been so much fun to get all these baby things and be able to be so excited with J.D. I don't know many husbands that would push a stroller around the house because they were so excited for a baby. :)

The Incredibles

I have to share this with everyone because I find it so funny. As some of you know J.D. has a pretty busy schedule and when it's time for him to go to sleep he usually needs a movie on to let his mind go which makes it easier for him to just fall asleep. So, ever since the movie The Incredibles came out he has become it's number 1 fan. We finally got it to own and I have found him up in the middle of the night watching it over and over again. Anytime we sit down and want to watch a movie our conversation ends up by J.D. saying ,"What do you want to watch?" I reply, "Um.... i don't care, you choose.." (which I've learned now not to let that happen since I know he'll say Incredibles... but once in a while I forget about that and just naturally say you choose.) So today he got home from school and it's his bedtime as usual... he really needs to watch a movie since he's been stressed with tests this week. He suprised me though.. I was going to just let him watch Incredibles and in my mind I was assuming thats the movie he'd choose. BUT he asks, "What movie do you want to watch?" Me again, "I don't care, just nothing scary." ... Then he says, " Meet the Robinsons?" I gave him a weird look and just said, "sure." As he's putting it in he says,"I was going to choose the Incredibles, but I know you hate watching it so many times..." I was in shock! ahahaha! I didn't even know how to respond. The one time I was just going to watch it with him without saying anything about watching it sooooo many times, he chooses something different... LOL We got 3.52 minutes into the movie and J.D. is already out. I'll let you know if Meet the Robinsons is the new 'go to bed' movie. hahaha!

2 Weeks!!

Well, 2 weeks exactly from today, Dawson is due.... but we are hoping and doing everything to get him here sooner...:) Jenny has this feeling that he's comin the middle of next week. We went to our doctors appointment today. We love hearing the heartbeat! The doc keeps saying he has a strong heartbeat. They tested for Strep B.. we haven't heard on results yet. The doc was trying to see if he was turned right and had his head down... he couldn't really tell for sure so we got to do a short ultra sound. We couldn't see him very well, but he his head down...he was just facing the wrong way. We think he was just turning to say hi to us. The doc said we needed to talk with Dawson and explain that he needs to face the right way. ahahah! It was really funny because they moved the ultra sound machine over Jen's whole stomach and all of the sudden the doc says," Wow, there's his 'goods'!" ahahah! We just replied, "We're glad he's still a boy!" ahaha! Afterwards we came home and and had a talk with Dawson... hopefully he's a good listener and turns around!

Labor Day

On Labor Day, J.D., me, and our friends Jeff and Ashley decided to go on a picnic and fishing at Duck Creek. It was so much fun! We didn't catch anything, but it was fun to try. Nobody that was fishing caught anything.... I guess the fish just weren't hungry that day. It was so nice to relax and just hang out for the day. Afterwards, even though we didn't do anything too physically challenging, we crashed out completely for the whole night... we got home at 5:30 and woke up in the morning!

Here is all of us! Me and Ashley were wrapped up in blankets because the wind was so cold and strong!
Here's J.D. fishin away!
This is Jeff and J.D. I was trying to get Jeff to smile the same time as J.D.... this is the best we could get.
If you can tell my face got so so so sunburned! I had the worst raccoon eyes ever! You can't see it very well here, but I promise it was red! :)

J.D.'s first week of school....

Well, this last week on monday J.D. started school at SUU. He's taking Anatomy, Organic Chemistry, O-Chem Lab, Anatomy Lab, and Business Marketing. So far he really has enjoyed it. He really likes his Anatomy class. I think it's because I help him study with that... I will point to different parts and he has to name that part. I should basically be taking the class because I swear I'm learning more than him.. hahah! His Organic Chemistry he was kind of worried about, but so far the teacher has been very good. He is understanding everything really well. The Anatomy lab I think will be the hardest physically for him to handle... physically meaning well-being. The first day of that they disected a human being. No warnings, they just started cutting.... he could barely eat for a couple of days. He said it was interesting, but the smell combined with the cutting was really hard to handle! haha! The other 2 classes are not bad at all.... just classes.. He is so amazing and such a hard worker. He really wants to do well in his classes. Plus he works graveyard shifts 40 hours a week, and also goes to shadow dentists for dental school shadowing hours, finds time to be with me and time to help get things ready for Dawson, fulfill his calling, and helps me around the house. Don't ask me how he does it, but he loves his schedule he says. I love him so much am truly blessed to have him!