Entering the 30s



I still remember when 30 was old...no but seriously, I do remember.  Now that I'm here, it doesn't seem so old.  Back when I was 19, I never would have dreamed how my 20s would turn out.  Collin and I love traveling and my favorite vacation spot is the beach somewhere.  We were going to go to the coast for my 30th but with some unexpected bills that came up and the fact it's high season, we decided we needed to stay close to home.  On my birthday he took the day off.  My sister and her husband brought us breakfast on their way out of town.  Then Collin and I went through boxes, yes, we're still not unpacked from our move, and took a load to donate.  Then we went to lunch at a yummy French restaurant, then to the mall to get a few new things, and then drove around town with Caden with a stop at Lowes and the grocery store.  We ended up getting dinner to-go because Caden was pretty tired.  And if you have kids, you know it's sometimes not worth fighting a tired child and eating out.  So we got some take-out and went home.  Collin and Caden bought me a delicious chocolate cake and Marble Slab ice cream for dessert. 

Collin planned a little party at Burger's Lake today so I could enjoy some sand and water. We had a great time.  My brother and his fiancee came and so did my friend Loni and her daughers.  Thank you Collin and Caden for a wonderful birthday!!

In case you wondered what I did in my 20s.  Here are some milestones and major events that happened.  I'm not going to list everything but this will give you a good idea. 

20
- met the love of my life, Collin
- was in a life-changing car accident. Had one of two ankle surgeries and a broken coller bone. Had to be in a wheel chair for the summer because the broken bones were both on my left side.
21

- married Collin! :)

22
- transferred my senior year of college to UTA and moved to FW
- joined Legacy
- went camping
23
- went on a mission trip to Dominican Republic
- we bought our first house
- graduated college
- started working for a law firm
- vacation to Hot Springs, AR
24
- worked a lot to pay off college debt
- went on my first cruise
25
- still paying off college debt
- went to D.C. with C for business
- went to San Diego with Collin for a business trip
- took our first trip to Europe! Went on an unforgetable and wonderful Eastern Mediterrean Cruise!
26
- moved to Germany!
- met some lovely people in Germany
- joined an awesome local church
- joined PWOC
- traveled all over Europe
27

- gave birth to the most amazing son in the world!

- traveled all over Europe and took a Western Mediterrean Cruise
- joined a military MOPS group
28
- continued traveling around Europe
- went on a Baltic Cruise
29
- sad year, had 3 miscarriages
- moved back to TX
- bought our second house
- joined a MOMS club group and a local MOPS group
- placed membership at a local church

Overall my 20s were wonderful.  May my 30s be ever more so.  There were lots of good times including traveling to see family, friends, and new places.  We had several life changing events: two overseas moves, a child, multiple miscarriages, and experiences that have changed us forever.  While we're still getting over the fact we no longer live in Germany, we are enjoying our new chapter back in the States.  In my 20s I traveled a lot.  Collin and I (Caden went with us to some of these places) visited 21 countries in Europe, 4 countries in Central America, and 10 States in the U.S.  I don't know if we'll travel quite as much during my 30s, but I hope so.  Most likely we'll explore more of the U.S.

Thank you God for blessing me with such an amazing family and precious friends.  They all mean so much to me.  May I continue to try and do God's will and be pleasing to Him.  Thank you Collin for walking this life with me.  Most of my 20s I have been married to you.  I know I would not have experienced all that I have without you.  Thank you Caden for being you.  You have blessed my life in so many ways.  I also want to thank my parents, Dad, Cathy, my belated mother, my terrific mother-in-law and father-in-law and my the rest of my family - grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  You have helped inspire and encourage me.

Backyard Fun

I love being a mom and I love having a boy.  One of Caden's favorite things to do is jump on his big trampoline.  Now that it's getting hotter outside, we don't stay out as long as we used to in the middle of the day.  We were playing outside 1-2 hours a day.  Now we try and spend at least 30 minutes to an hour a day outside.  I've been wanting to take pictures of him playing but am usually too busy enjoying spending time with him that I don't get out my camera.

Today was different.  I had a plan.  I wanted to take a picture for his birthday card and caught a few good shots of him. Of course he was not interested in doing any "poses" I suggested.  So I just caught him in action, I like candid better anyway.  He didn't get on his swing while we were out there taking pictures so I don't have any on his swing set.  I included a few of him jumping, riding his car, standing by his log cabin, and just being the cute sweet boy he is.  Love this boy!  I had thought about walking down to the lake in our neighborhood but decided I didn't want to risk him trying to swim while taking pictures.  So for now, here are a few shots of some backyard fun!

More Answers

Several days after I found out I had two genetic disorders, I found out I have something called a Balanced Translocation.  Chromosomes 6 and 10 are switched.  My doctor's nurse told me this can cause miscarriages.  I have been too depressed to write about this and so have avoiding blogging and trying not to think about it.  However, I think it's important to share this information.  When I was researching some of my issues, I didn't find many answers. 

I went to see a perinatologist last week and she said people with switched chromosomes like mine have a 50% chance of losing every pregnancy.   She said I could go on and have 7 healthy babies or I could end up having 7 more miscarriages.  This was difficult to hear.  I always wanted to have 3-4 kids and now I may not be able to have anymore.  Caden is truly a gift from God and I am so thankful for him.  The question Collin and I have discussed is how many miscarriages can we handle?  How many more times do we try to hopefully have another healthy child?  And if we continue trying and continue to have more miscarriages what effect is that going to have on us emotionally?  Or do we count our blessings to God for our son and be grateful for having one?  For now I can tell you, we are extremely grateful for Caden and I feel so blessed to have had him without any major problems.

This is how my doctor is treating me for my other issues.  Besides the switched chromosomes, I have Hashimotos Disease (thyroid disorder).  Like the internal medicine doctor in Germany said, she said I need to see an endocrinologist every 6 months to a year.  If I do get pregnant again they will need to closely monitor my thyroid levels.

Regarding the genetic disorders.  I have MTHFR which for the most part means I cannot absorb folic acid as well as others.  About 1 in 10 people from European descent have this. She prescribed me a prescription prenatal vitamin with higher levels of folic acid and folic acid supplements to take everyday. 

I have Prothrombin Gene Mutation which is a blood clotting disorder.  For the rest of my life I need to take a Baby Aspirin once a day. If pregnant we will discuss different injections such as Lovenox.  The thought of giving myself a shot everyday is not appealing, yikes!

My progesterone levels are low.  I have a prescription for progesterone pills.  If I get pregnant again, I will need to start taking one a day after getting a positive pregnancy test.

Treating each of these other issues will help me carry a healthy baby if my chromosome doesn't interfere.  If I can make it past week 9 with a healthy heart beat, my doctor said there is a great chance that I will have a healthy baby and carry to term.  My disorders tend to cause early miscarriages. It's never easy no matter when you have a miscarriage but at least there's some hope if I get further in a pregnancy that the baby will make it.

I've had a few struggles with all of this.  I've questioned God and why he allows certain people to have a lot of babies so easily, especially people who don't want a child or were not planning on having one.  But then those of us who would love a baby struggle.  I don't know why it's like this except that God has a plan and it's better than mine.  To help this process I've been looking at all the positives of having only one child.  There are many, just like there are many positives to having more than one.  We've also talked about adopting and/or fostering.  I don't want to bring a foster child into my home until Caden is a little older.  We've had so many huge changes this year and we're still adjusting to things.  But those are possibilities.  And even if we only have one child, we are truly blessed.  I believe God allows us to go through things to build us and mold us and make us stronger. Even though somethings I would rather not go through, I know he's watching over me and is there.

I am so glad to be back in America.  It is so quick to get a doctor's appointment and see someone.  Also seeing doctors who speak English has been awesome!  The doctors in Germany mostly spoke English but a lot of times their staff did not.  Also, some things were harder for them to explain.  My OB doctor, for example, would never give me results over the phone.  She said it was easier in person because of the language barrier.  My parents have been a great help.  They have been able to watch Caden while I go to my appointments.  In Germany, Caden always went with me.  Overall it's just good to be home.

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day has been difficult for me since I was 12.  That was the first year I experienced Mother's Day without my own mom.  Since Mother's Day is always on a Sunday, moms are usually celebrated at church that day, which I think is great.  It has just been sad not getting to celebrate with my mom on this earth.  I look forward to the day of greeting her in Heaven.

Even though I no longer have my own mother to celebrate Mother's Day with, I have been blessed with some amazing women.  A few of them include: my maternal grandmother who really stepped in after the passing of my mother.  She has been a Christian mentor, mother-like, and friend to me my whole life.  My paternal grandmother has been kind and encouraging to me as well.  My step-mother came into my life later on and has been a blessing and support.  And my mother-in-law whom I refer to as my other mother.  She calls me almost as much as Collin does.  She has been a friend and mentor to me as well.  There are many others who have been an encouragement to me.  Some are peers, others are older, and some are younger.  I am truly blessed to have such wonderful Christian women to help guide and support me in my own motherhood. 

For Mother's Day we decided to visit Collin's parents.  It's not as easy trip because it takes us 8 hours in the car to get there.  But we enjoy every bit of it.  Caden loves his grandparents and enjoys the country.  Collin's parents have been married 59 years and serve as a great example of two people who love each other very much.

This was the first long car trip we let Caden just wear underwear on.  I had brought a pull-up for night even though he usually wakes up dry and goes to the potty.  However, to our surprise, he fell asleep not too long after we headed out, which made for a long trip.  We left at 3pm and didn't arrive until 11pm.  So he was up until midnight while only getting that short nap.  He had had a drink before we left the house so I knew he'd need to go as soon as he woke up.  It is hard to pull over on the highway and get to a restroom when a child wakes up from a deep 45 minutes nap.  So he had a little accident which was sad because he had only had one other accident in the car when I was driving across town and couldn't get off the road and find a bathroom in time.  But we cleaned him up and he's done great the rest of the trip.

I love being a mom.  This has been one of the greatest adventures in my life.  Caden is such a joy and truly the best kid for our family.  He's smart, funny, cute, and keeps us on our toes!  All day today Caden has told me "Happy Mother's Day Mommy!" and has brought me flowers and given me hugs and kisses.  Caden and Collin gave me a sweet Mother's Day card and some great gifts.  Collin is giving me a gift of time alone, a rarity, being a stay-at-home mama.  He's also sending me off to get a pedicure with my step-mother and sister for some girl time. 

Happy Mother's Day to all the amazing mothers out there!  You have one of the hardest but most rewarding jobs in the world.

Pictures to come!

We bought a new SUV!

Collin and I tend to both research things to death, especially when a lot of money is involved.  We have worked very hard to be basically debt free except for our houses and we love to eat out and take vacations.  However, when we moved back to the States we needed another vehicle.  Collin's parents have graciously let us borrow one of their cars until we bought a house and bought a car.  Thank you Jim and Reba!  But the time has come to make a decision and return theirs.

We considered a larger SUV or minivan or getting a super gas efficient car mainly for Collin.  However, after having my third miscarriage, I don't have as much hope for having the large family I always thought I would.  So given that, I didn't want to drive a huge gas guzzler around with only having one child.  Although having a third row would be nice it was not necessary.  A must was rear air conditioning and we decided that with hot Texas summers, getting the vehicle with rear a/c was a good move.  We looked at the Acura MDX's.  We loved them!  Sadly, new they cost 50K.  Yeah, that was way out of our budget!  We looked at about 6 used ones, all ran good but had a lot of miles on them.  We drive about 10K miles per year per vehicle.  So buying a six year old car with over 100K miles wasn't appealing.  We wanted to pay cash for something but around the 8K mark our choices were limited.  As we moved up in price the vehicle choices increased.  However, we just couldn't justify paying 16K for a vehicle with 120K miles on it (a fully loaded 2006 MDX).  So we decided to buy new since we haven't had a car payment in two years (when we bought our new Subaru we paid it off in 2 years) and we paid cash for Collin's car in Germany and sold it for $300 less than we paid for it 3 years before. 

I contacted probably 20 car dealers comparing deals.  Finally, Sunday night, I saw an internet special ad for a new 2012 Ford Edge and 2013 Explorer.  I emailed Sunday night and followed up Monday morning.  The Explorer had been sold but the Edge was still there.  He said but they only had one at that price.  I played tough girl and told them I was driving across town and if it sold to call me asap because I didn't want to waste my time driving there if that vehicle for that price was not available.  Dealers have played that game with me too many times and I've walked away angry.  Needless to say, he put the keys on his desk and when I got there only one other family had driven it that morning.  I drove it and then bought it.  The dealer said we got such a good deal on it and our credit is so good they could have written us a check.  We got over $5500 off MSRP and below the Consumer Reports rate.  It would have been $750 more off but I didn't have a trade-in.  The internet sales guy said they have specials about once a month where they lose money to draw people in.  However, only people with really good credit get the truly good deal.  We loath car payments but decided at this time it's worth doing considering the poor used car market.  It was strange buying a car alone but I like playing hard ball.  Collin would have been there with me if he could, he's just been extremely busy at work since we moved here.  Thankfully he loves his job.  The dealers even let me drive it off the lot before Collin could get off work to sign off on his part of the deal.

Here's our new beauty!  It's dark blue with tan interior.  I love the peppiness of the Edge over larger SUVs such as the Explorer.  Although the Explorers are very nice too!

Updates

It's been a while since I've written.  We have been extremely busy since moving back to the States.  I'm still unpacking boxes.  Which by the way, I LOVE our house!  It was not one of the original choices.  It's a new construction that is closer to my Collin's job.  Being close to his job is very important to us.  It's twice as far as his commute in Germany but close enough we can still meet for lunch several times a week.  If we both drive 10 minutes, we meet in the middle and there are lots of great restaurants to choose from. 

For Easter, we had my side of the family over for Easter and that was a lot of fun.  I signed Caden up for gymnastics this week, have joined a MOMS Group, hung out with friends from church, and met up with new friends.  We also go to the zoo about once a week and try and meet up with friends 2-3 times a week and family on other days.  Needless to say, we're rarely home.  I have a goal of unpacking at least one box per day.  We're down to those boxes of things that fall into the catergory of, do we really need this?  Or why do we own this?  But every once in a while we find something that is of value that got thrown into a box of junk.  We're trying to get rid of things we don't use and not become pack rats.

Last week I found out I was pregnant.  I found out on April 10th, the due date of the baby from my second prengnacy.  That was a hard day until I found out I was pregnant.  Then I was hopeful.  We were super excited and I immediately called a doctor to get an appointment because my German doctor told me once I got pregnant that I needed to come into her office and get a progesterone injection.  I could not get an appointment until two days later.  When I went in my hGC levels were very low, 19, and my progesterone levels were extremely low as well, 1.2.  This was not a good sign.  Sadly, we ended up losing this baby too but I was a little more prepared, since I knew what my levels were.  My German doctors never told me the numbers so I had nothing to compare too.  Even though I was more prepared mentally, it has still been extremely hard.  I have so many mixed emotions and feelings. I went back and actually met the doctor on Wednesday and I really like her (I met with a nurse practitioner last week).  The doctor is going to run 18 tests on me.  I go in and have 17 tests done next week.  She has a lot of high risk pregnant patients and works closely with specialists.  Since this was my third miscarriage, I told her I just want to know if I can have anymore children.  If I cannot have anymore children, then I don't want to continue trying because emotionally I am not able to continue this.  She is pretty positive that I will be able to have more.  Since we know I have a thyroid disorder and a blood clotting disorder, we're going to try and balance all of that out.  Also, I have very low progesterone levels, so there's a good chance I'm going to have to have injections in a future pregnancy.  Once I have the blood tests done, she wants me to take one baby Aspirin a day with food and later start progesterone supplements.  A lot was said and I'll know more once I have the blood tests and we get the results back.

 

 

I will update more as I know more.  Eventually I will post some fun and interesting posts of things we're doing.  Because overall, we really are enjoying being back home.  It's nice having some grandparents around and seeing old friends.  Caden loves his extended family and we are enjoying all of the American amenities.  We feel so spoiled after living in Germany to be back in Texas and Germany is a very nice country to live in.

Concert, Playdates, Birthdays, and More!

Ever since we moved into our house, things have been even busier for us.  On top of having to unpack, this is our first move with a child, we are continuing to get involved in fun activities.  I'm a stay-at-home mom who loves to get out of the house!  We've had great weather lately and we're trying to enjoy it before it gets too hot.

This past Wednesday, I took Caden to his first concert.  It was at Will Rogers Memorial Concert Hall and we saw Stephen Fike, a children's artist.  Caden and his friends had a good time.  However, I think he'll enjoy it more in a few years.  I was surprised how well he paid attention and was engaged.  It was an hour and I think that was the perfect length of time.  There was a total of 6 moms and 9 little kids who came from Legacy.  The place was packed, there were bus loads of school kids there.

After the concert we went to eat lunch with our friends at Central Market.  The kids got to play on the playground after they ate.  Then Caden and I went to see my maternal grandmother, Grandmother Dot.  It was her birthday.  Caden picked out a flower at Central Market to give her, we made her brownies and bought her a piece of chocolate cake and a card.  She was delighted to see us.  She loves Caden and he loves her too.  Of course I love her as well!  She is very dear to me and we are and were very close.  Happy 88th Birthday Grandmother Dot!!

Another exciting thing we've done is I've joined a MOMS Group.  The first week we were in town, Caden and I went to a MOPS meeting at a church close to my parents.  It was fun and I enjoyed the ladies, but our schedule has not worked out where we could attend again.  Last week Caden and I went to a MOMS Group meet-up at someone's house.  It was kind of strange walking up to someone's house you don't know but we both had a great time.  We went to another meet-up yesterday and joined the group.  I also got two referrals for babysitters, hooray!

We also try and meet-up with friends from church at least once a week.  Besides going to the concert, we've enjoyed trips to the zoo and museum. 

Also, we finally bought Caden a big trampoline.  He LOVES it!!  Collin and I do too!  Pictures to come.

Monday night we had our first cook-out.  My parents and both brothers and their girls came over and we cooked hot dogs and hamburgers.  Sunday we're having extended family over for Easter and I'm making brisket among other things.  We love our house!  We'll get internet next week so I'll be able to start posting pictures.  I'm doing a photo shoot for my friend on Saturday.  She's engaged to a great guy!  I look forward to meeting him.  I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend.  We are so blessed because of Jesus.