Prego ladies!!

My sister Jamie is due a day after Christmas and I am due a day before Thanksgiving!!
We are about 5 weeks apart and we are both having BOYS!!! Which is HILARIOUS because my mom had 5 girls and will now have 4 grandsons!!!

I need to get into gear and get ready for this baby to come. Jamie has her crib set up, the car seat ready, the hospital outfit, and everything else you could think of. I still need a car seat, crib, hospital outfit, dresser, and need to go through all my baby clothes. Maybe next week!! :)

1st day of Kindergarten

I used my new tripod that Spencer got me for my birthday to take this picture!

The boys are sooooo stinkin' handsome! Love them!

On the first day of School Benson and I took Reece into his classroom. We were sitting there with all the parents and children when I asked:

Reece, "Are you going to be okay? Is it okay if Benson and I leave?"

Reece said in a serious voice: "Yes. You and Benson need to go outside and play on the playground. But when the kids come out for recess, you will need to leave!"

And so we left!

2nd day of school:

Reece says: Mom! I have a new very best friend!

Mom: Who is it?

Reece: Her name is Isabelle and she is very cute.

Mom: Oh, you mean cute on the inside--like shes really kind and nice.

Reece: Well, she's just really cute.

3rd day of school: at this point his eczema and asthma were OUT OF CONTROL and his body was super tired from it. Stress and change send his body into a whirlwind of an adventure. I went to drop him off at school and he refused to go into the classroom. After a while his teacher asked if he wanted a special friend to help him stay at school. She called for help and I literally left Reece screaming with the Principal (Benson and I were hiding around the corner--I couldn't leave him until I knew he was going to be okay). He calmed Reece down and got him into the classroom. Benson and I then went to breakfast with all my sisters and Mother for Natalie's birthday.

After school that day:

Mom: Reece, how was your day today?

Reece: It was awesome! I have two new friends. The first one is a boyfriend named Mr. Jones

and he is the boss. But, then he had to go work and so a girlfriend came--but...I can't remember her name.

And...did I mention his teacher is AWESOME!! Ya, she called me during recess to let me know that Reece was doing great. I seriously love her!

Ready for school fun!

My Mom was SUPER AWESOME and flew to Seattle to drive me and the boys home so Reece wouldn't miss his first day of school. We decided to take a detour and go through Sisters, Oregon and then crash in a hotel in Bend, OR. Before we left Seattle we did some "back to school" shopping and got the boys some new clothes for the year. Reece wanted Fish and Chips for almost ever meal so we ate around his request. It was refreshing to see the kid interested and excited about eating!

The night before school started we had a "kindergarten" dessert which Reece got to pick. He was so excited and picked root beer floats (something he's never had before). I wanted to make the night special and hype up the first day of school. I'm pretty sure the Root beer floats and early bedtime did the trick.

Spencer finished his rotation and came home Friday. We did a back to school night with him Sunday night. Spencer gave each of the boys a Father's blessing which was really sweet. We then gave them two new books (thanks to Borders for going out of business they were super cheap!) and had Ice cream sundaes. It was fun to relive the first day of school & the activities involved with my boys. Luckily I had a meltdown last year when I sent Reece to Pre-school and stressed all year about where to send him for Kindergarten, so when it came time to drop him off it was a breeze! Although, I spent a good amount of time writing up Reece's health needs and coming up with plans for him when issues arise (which occured the first 2 days of school). His teacher is AMAZING and just takes care of it in class. I LOVE her! And...there's another boy at the same reading level as Reece and so she's done some special things for them!! YEA!

Grandma & Grandpa Dunkley

The boys and I visited with my Grandma and Grandpa Dunkley the other night.

The boys LOVE to play with their toys--they have some pretty awesome classic cars.

My grandparents are amazing people. My Grandpa is 89 and still has a HUGE garden

and my Grandma is just as sharp as ever. She is really fun to chat with and is always

so happy to us. They make us feel so loved when we are around them.

Blessings...

We have much to be grateful for. We are spending the month in Seattle so Spencer can do an Internal Medicine Sub-internship at the University of Washington Medical center. We've been looking forward to this for the past 6 months! Well, until 5 days before we left Boise--that's when everything went to pots. When something really good is about to happen it seems like everything else falls apart, and it did. However, much to our dismay, we have been here for almost three weeks and have LOVED every minute of it (minus the first two days while we were adjusting!). Here's a breakdown of our stay here in Seattle:

1. Spencer's Sub-I: The purpose of the Sub-I is to work your tail off and get a really good letter of recommendation for residency. So his schedule is crazy. He started out with twelve consecutive 13-15 hour shifts then got two days off and is now doing twelve 13 hour night shifts (with one day off in the middle). He has been blessed with awesome attendings who have been very complimentary about his work. It has reaffirmed our decision for him to go into Internal Medicine. Spencer comes home giddy at night and is excited for residency next year!

2. Irene: We have been blessed to have a nice nurse offer her home to us while visiting Seattle. She is fun and easy to live with. The boys LOVE her and like to help with her outside projects. It's been a blessing for me to be here because I was going a little (or maybe alot) crazy during the month of July. I had some serious OCD nesting and struggled to relax at home. It's been a breath of fresh air to relax and put my feet up without feeling like I need to organize and throw things away. However, I am well rested and ready to have my home back soon!! :)

Irene took us to a Blue Angels party. Here are some pictures from the event.

Irene with the boys. The jets were a little to loud for the boys sensitive ears. They spent most of the time plugging their ears while sitting on our laps.

Reece looks miserable in this picture. He really was happy--just a little hot and maybe a little frightened by the loud jets. They shocked us a couple times and flew right above our heads which was pretty cool.

3. True Friends (Traci, Katie, Kristen, Sommer, Bri & Paola): They say when you go away for school your friends become your family--and that is SOOO true! After only being here for two days I started getting emotional thinking about leaving them when our rotation was over. They really are amazing people. We picked up right where we left off a year ago and so did the kids! These wonderful ladies inspire me to become better--especially at becoming a better mother because they are all exceptional parents)--and they are all so talented and gifted in so many ways. They have taught me what true friendship is all about. I am grateful for them and hope atleast one of them will end up with us for residency!!

Another reason why we needed to come to Seattle was to prepare us for residency. Being close to family in Boise has been so wonderful! We love hanging out with the family and the kids can't get enough of their grandparents--they love them dearly. In June I started having anxiety about leaving Boise and my family. However, my friends here in Seattle have reminded me why I love this medical school journey. The experiences I had while living here stretched me outside my comfort zone which have brough many blessings. It's an exciting journey and the Lord always knows which FRIENDS and people I need around me to help make the most of the journey. I am looking forward to the new experiences and adventures that lie ahead of us.

The next post will have pictures of a couple things we have done with our buddies!

Birthday surprise!

Remember how I was telling you about my SUPER AWESOME friends? Well, they made me feel super special on my birthday by surprising me with a little party (headed up by Traci & Katie!). Traci invited me over for lunch on Monday and when we opened the door they yelled "surprise" and the kids went wild and I was stunned! I didn't tell anyone it was my birthday and Spencer was supposed to work until late that night and so I figured we'd postpone my celebrations until the weekend when Spence had a day off. I'm still a little kid at heart and always look forward to my birthdays. This was one extra special because it was full of surprises and fun times with friends and my family.

Kristen, Katie, me, and Traci

Lainy with an ice cream cupcake and the yummy food behind her!

After lunch, Katie gave me a sweet pedicure!! It was heavenly!
The ladies--Sommer took the top photo so here's a pic with her in it.

Spencer surprised me and got off early!!! Originally he thought he'd be done between 8-9 but he was done at 6:00pm (the earliest he's gotten off this rotation)!! The boys and I picked him up and went to U Village to walk around and get some dinner. We found a delicious deli/bakery and then topped it off with some TROPHY CUPCAKES!!! The most divine cupcakes ever made! I have been looking forward to eating one for months! I didn't want to share my cupcakes and so we took the boys next door to a real classic candy store! We were all giddy and very happy!

That was my super awesome 27th birthday!

I felt very LOVED and special that day.

Thanks to everyone who gave me birthday wishes!

Love, Juliann

SeaFair--Navy ships

To celebrate SeaFair they brought in three Navy ships for people to tour. We thought the boys would enjoy them and so we ventured out with our buddies Brayden, Bennett, and Kristen. We ended up having a great time with some AWESOME stories to tell!

Story #1: We arrived at the first ship to find a 90 minute wait to tour the ship. We decided that was to long and so we walked a little over a mile to the next ship. This one was only a 20 minute wait. We decided to go for it! We had to walk through a metal detector and so me and the boys with our double stroller and Kristen with her boys geared up for the walk through. We were "THOSE MOMS" people talk about. A bunch of little kids with tons of crap and a crying child. Benson was perfectly happy and ready to go until I had to unhook his insulin pump "buddy" from his body and give it to the soldier (imagine being Bensons size and giving your best friend to a scary looking man with a gun strapped across his chest). Benson went into hysterics. Literally. He was sobbing because he thought he was going to lose buddy (metal detectors damage insulin pumps so they can't go through the scanner). So both Kristen and I are trying to get everything through, our stroller set aside, and the kids in order for the ship with Benson screaming because they took buddy for all of 5 seconds! I must admit--it made me proud to see Benson so concerned and upset about his buddy. Buddy will be his friend for the rest of his life and I am glad he takes such great care of him! We ended up walking 30 feet behind the rest of the group until we made it on the ship and Benson settled down.
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Story #2: THIS IS HILARIOUS! We are at the top of the ship when Kristen looks at her watch and says, "oh no, we have one minute until our parking expires". AHHH. We were on top of a Navy ship with 4 kids and just over a mile away from our car. Kristen has a 4 month old who was hungry and so I volunteered to RUN off the ship and to our car. So picture this: A prego lady with a HUGE belly running alongside the piers with TONS of tourist looking at me like I was some lunatic. And not to far behind me was Kristen with the double stroller and all our crap with 4 boys alongside her!! Who in their right mind goes downtown with 4 boys all by themselves? We both had awesome stories to tell about people giving us crazy looks and funny comments. I am proud to say we did NOT get a ticket and I somehow managed to run a mile in just over 10 minutes with a big belly!

Candice and Charlotte's visit

Candice and Charlotte came to visit for a week from Monterey, CA!! We were super excited to have them play with us. It was the first time we met Charlotte and the kids fell in love with her rather quickly! Here are some pictures from our Sunday afternoon dinner. These are always a favorite of mine. When we have lived outside of Boise, these are the days we miss most--just relaxing with the family on a peaceful Sunday afternoon.

Ashley Bell and Jake!

The parentals watching the kiddos go crazy on the trampoline.
Haylie, Candice, and baby Charlotte.

In memory of Don Scott.

http://www.ktvb.com/news/local/Boise-nurse-dies-in-fall-from-Wyoming-peak-127556248.html

Don Scott was our angel in the hospital that helped teach us and befriend us while in the hospital for Benson's diabetes diagnosis. He sadly passed away a week ago. He was hiking with some family members and slipped off a cliff. It's a terrible tragedy--he did so much for the diabetes community in Boise. He started a camp called "HODIA" that was for children with diabetes. He was also a very well respected diabetes educator for St.Lukes and touched many peoples lives. Everyone I know that was diagnosed at St. Lukes considers him family. He truly cared for the people he worked with. He lived a service-oriented life, was genuine and kind, and very compassionate. Here is an except from a letter I wrote to his family:

We have a special place in our hearts for Don—he was an angel sent from heaven for our family. Our son was diagnosed with type one diabetes 2 ½ years ago at the age of 9 months old. I can still remember the first time Don sat down with us to teach us about the management of diabetes. He was so kind and genuine. He kept telling us how sorry he was about the diagnosis and I truly felt like he cared deeply for us, even though we were complete strangers. I always felt at ease when he was around—he made me feel like everything was going to be ok. I felt like he was trying to protect us and wanted to help us in anyway possible... He was the light that guided us through those days in the hospital when we learned how to take care of our son. He was our friend, a genuine friend with a pure heart. We owe so much to him and have talked many times about the blessings he provided for us.

We will miss Don--He touched so many peoples lives and truly cared for children with diabetes. He was inspirational to all that knew him.