Tired of these yet? We still have 26 prompts to go, so just settle in and get comfortable.

List 10 Things You Would Tell Your 16 Year-Old Self 

1. You are a precious daughter of God. Don’t ever forget that.

2. When you start at BYU in the fall as a 16 year-old, you’ll take Intro. to Chemistry in hopes of pursuing a nursing degree. That class will be hard. You will get a B. But don’t give up on yourself so easily. Take it again, or don’t take it again. But don’t throw the whole idea of nursing (and nurse-midwifery) under the bus just because that one class is hard.

3. Take some home economics classes at BYU–cooking, sewing, etc. These skills will come in handy.

4. Be true to yourself and don’t change yourself to make other people happy.

5.  In a year or so, when you’re at BYU, you’ll be accepted to study abroad in London. Go. Your parents will get worried about your safety because of the various wars in the Middle East and will encourage you not to go. Go anyway. You’ll regret it if you don’t.

6. And on that note, nice work getting into BYU! Way to take initiative. Deciding to take the ACT early and apply for early admission to BYU while you were living in Honduras took some guts. I’m proud of you for doing that.

7. Get used to Utah. Turns out, you’ll spend way more time here than you ever thought you would. Like, WAY more time.

8. Take some cash and invest in Apple. Just trust me on this one.

9. You can do hard things. Take some risks and see what happens.

10. Some wonderful things are headed your way. I am so excited for you.

I am really enjoying writing these. I think I might see if I can get Bryce to write the same series. I think the kids should know all these things about him, too!

Today’s prompt:

Describe Your Relationship With Your Spouse

Bryce and I have been married for 9 years now and I count myself among the very lucky. It was never really my plan to get married young. I skipped 12th grade and started at BYU when I was 16. I dated a bit, had a couple of boyfriends, but nothing too serious. And then in the fall of 2002, one year after I started college, I met Bryce. It was time for the annual Preference dance at BYU. This is a Sadie Hawkins kind of dance, where the girls are expected to invite the boys. I asked some of the girls in my dorm for date suggestions and some of them said I should ask Bryce, this really cute guy in their Family Home Evening group. We were in the same ward, but, to be honest, I hadn’t really noticed Bryce yet. He claims he noticed me from the start. I think Bryce was shocked that I asked him, but he said yes and it was set. Being the planner that I am, I suggested that we do lunch together before the big date just to get to know each other a bit before we went out. So, in the glamorous Cougareat Food Court on campus, we had lunch and chatted. Bryce told me later that he was so nervous his jaw was shaking. I didn’t notice. We discovered that we’d both lived in El Salvador (me for almost 7 years as a child and Bryce as a missionary)–small world! From there, we just kept connecting. And when we got to the actual date, it was by far the best first date I’d ever been on. It seemed like we just connected from the very beginning. It was never awkward. We understood each other and had such a fun time together. It was so comfortable and a very pleasant surprise.

I think I definitely took some of the reigns in the beginning. I asked him out, I’m the one that got us holding hands a couple weeks later, and 5 months into our relationship, I convinced him that it was time for our first kiss. Neither one of us had kissed anyone before, so this was a big (big!) deal! I was so impatient to be kissed by him and it wasn’t happening! So, one night on the stoop outside my dorm, I teased him by calling him “chicken.” He quoted Back to the Future and said, “Nobody calls me chicken!” And then we kissed. It wasn’t a great kiss–I mean, we had zero experience–but it was perfect all the same. A little over a year after we started dating, Bryce flew out to North Carolina and proposed to me. On April 24, 2004, we were married and sealed together in the Salt Lake City temple.

And that’s how I ended up getting married at 19.

On our wedding day.

So, how to describe our relationship? Well, I think Bryce and I work very well together. Where I tend to make decisions quickly, sometimes too hastily, Bryce always takes his time. Where he might move too slow, I’m there to encourage him along. We make each other laugh and I think we’re learning that it’s better to laugh than to cry sometimes. We support each other in everything we do. When I decided to pursue my master’s degree, Bryce backed me 100%. When Bryce decided to quit his job and try working from home, I trusted him and encouraged him. When I chose to birth naturally, Bryce never doubted my strength and was there every step (and contraction) of the way. When Bryce wanted to run a marathon, I cheered him on and made it possible for him to train. I could go on and on. Supporting each other is a very important part of our marriage. We are the best of friends. He is my favorite person in the world and I’m pretty sure that I am his. At the end of a hard day, we take comfort in being together. And we know that no matter what life throws at us, we will make it because we have each other. We know that we are in this for the long haul (an eternal long haul, in fact) and that means that we are committed to each other and to our family. We are kind to each other. I think this is so important. We try our best to speak kind words, to forgive each other when we make mistakes, to see the best in our partner. I would say that our relationship is a peaceful one. It is a safe place. It is my glimpse of what heaven will be like and I am so very very glad that I get to walk through this life, and all time and eternity, with Bryce by my side.

One of my favorite pieces of poetry by Yeats sums it up for me:

“Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.”

We have spread our dreams and do our best to tread softly and treat each other with love.

Liam is 2 months old today! He has changed so much since we brought him home from the hospital. He sleeps well at night (once he decides to go to sleep), is a delight during the day, and is just an overall sweetheart.

He’s found his thumb. I know we’ll have to deal with weaning him from it eventually, but for now it’s so cute! And it helps him self-soothe, so that’s great.

I love baby smiles! They are such a delight. At 2 months, Liam gives lots of good smiles.

Love you so much, my sweet little man!

Well, I guess I need to finish writing up Liam’s birth story. Where were we? We were at the hospital, but everything was checking out fine and we were planning to take him home on Friday, April 19th, two days after he was born. We were so happy on Friday. Bryce and I watched the required teaching videos that they make you watch at the hospital–one about shaken baby syndrome and one about infant CPR. The infant CPR video was really cheesy. Think 1980s aerobics video kind of material. It was fun to sit and laugh with Bryce. It had been a hard couple of days and I could feel the relief washing over me as I anticipated bringing Liam home. While we watched the videos and got our room cleaned up, Liam sat in his car seat for the 90-minute car seat test that’s required of all NICU babies. They have to prove that they can sit in that position for 90 minutes without their oxygen levels going down. He passed without any problem.

I got out a little outfit for my baby, the second try at a going home outfit, and laid it out on his little hospital bassinet. We were going home!

I noticed that shifts had changed and there was a new nurse practitioner walking around talking on the phone, clearly very busy. We hadn’t met her yet during our stay. I think I remarked to Bryce that she looked very busy. I overheard her say something about a blood test result and something went off in my head, but I brushed it aside and assumed she was talking about one of the other babies in the NICU. We were going home. Our baby was just fine.

Turns out, he wasn’t. Without so much as a “Hello,” this new nurse practitioner came into our room and said, “His 48-hour blood culture just came back and it’s positive. You’re going to have to stay here at least another 2 or 3 days.” Her busyness seemed to remove bedside manners. You have to be so careful when you’re talking to parents of tiny ones! We were just thrown this information and we sat there in shock. We were going home! Were they sure they had the right baby? Someone went and got the neonatologist, the doctor in charge of the unit, and he sat down with us to answer our questions and explain things. The news just got worse. Yes, his blood culture had come back positive. Yes, they had the right baby. Yes, it was a bacterial infection. Something that if we hadn’t caught it, could possibly have ended in meningitis, a very very scary infection. And, yes, they needed Liam to stay longer. Not 2-3 days, but 7 so that they could get a full round of antibiotics through his tiny little system.

I just sat there holding my sweet little baby up to my shoulder trying not to let the tears take over, at least not in front of the doctor. Bryce did all the talking. I was just in shock and kept kissing Liam’s sweet head. My baby was sick and he wasn’t coming home today. Bryce gave Liam another blessing, tears streaming down my cheeks. Our rooming-in time was up, so we packed our things into our car, left Liam at the hospital where they started his antibiotics, and went home. I cried all the way home, his empty car seat riding behind me. That car seat wasn’t supposed to be empty. I was going home without my baby.

Bryce and Liam.

Bryce got permission to work from home for the week so he could take care of the kids during the day. Friends and neighbors brought us meals and babysat the kids for a couple hours a day so that Bryce could come visit Liam in the hospital. And I drove back and forth between the hospital and home several times a day. I wanted to be there with Liam as much as I could and only came home to eat and sleep. The rest of the time, I was in the NICU, holding him, rocking him, talking with the nurses, weighing him before and after I nursed him, weighing his diapers, pumping breast milk so the nurses would have plenty for his night feedings, and making sure he was okay. It was a special time, a time just with my baby. During the same time, Liam got poked and prodded, poor guy. He had IVs going in through the top of his hands, but those stopped working, so they put a line in through his skull. When that one wasn’t enough, they inserted a PICC line, a catheter system that went in through his skull and ran down to his heart. This was a more stable way to deliver the antibiotics and other fluid he was getting. He also had to have a spinal tap (or lumbar puncture) done so they could see how far the infection had spread. Unfortunately, it took 4 tries across the span of 3 days to get the necessary fluid. From everything I’ve read and heard, it’s a very uncomfortable procedure. It made me sad that he was having all this done, such a tiny little thing.

Grandma and Grandpa Haymond got to come for a little visit.

Liam never looked sick while we were there and got better and better each day. We thought he might get to come home on Friday, April 26th. On Wednesday, the 24th, I got the best anniversary present ever–he could come home on Thursday! I was over the moon and ran out to the waiting area to call Bryce. Liam was eating well, gaining weight well, and everything was looking up. We just needed to get the final doses of antibiotics in him and then he could come home.

First day home.

And this time, he did. On Thursday, April 25th, we finally got to put on that going home outfit and ride home together with our baby in tow. During my pregnancy, I was anxious about having four children. I was so worried that I wouldn’t be able to handle it, that four kids in our small condo on the third floor all under the age of six would just be too much. But all those hours sitting in the hospital holding my baby, there was nothing I wanted more than to have my four kids in my small condo on the third floor. Things were definitely put into perspective and my heart was changed. Has it all been easy since we got home? No. But is it all worth it? Yes. I wouldn’t change a thing.

For those of you wondering, I will finish the story of Liam’s birth and hospital stay soon. But these writing prompts are so much fun! Today’s prompt:

Describe 3 Legitimate Fears

I wonder what an illegitimate fear would be? No matter. Back to the prompt.

Fear #1: Heights

I don’t fear heights if I’m enclosed–if I am in a tall building or something. But if I feel at all exposed, the fear definitely strikes. So, really big ferris wheels, ski lifts, and the tall scaffolding I had to climb at an outdoor theater in Tahiti to get to my light booth to operate the spot light during a ballroom dance concert all terrify me. Wait, you haven’t heard that last story before? I’ll have to tell it to you sometime.

Fear #2: The death of one of my children.

What mother doesn’t fear this? News stories, the tragedies that have hit friends and loved ones, and just the risks associated with everyday life all add to my worry. These little ones are just so very precious.

Fear #3: Birds

Ironic, isn’t it? I mean with my name and all. I’ve had a fear of birds as long as I can remember. I mean, I can appreciate a bird in flight high up in the sky and I even enjoy the bird show at our local zoo. But I get very uncomfortable if I am near a bird or if there’s one in the room. A bird in flight around a room? Even worse. I don’t know, something about them just sets me on edge. Like they could fly into me at any minute, or peck me, or something. So, sorry, Bryce. That African Gray parrot you’ve always wanted? Not gonna happen.