Utah Vacation Post #4

The following weekend was Easter weekend so everyone had Friday off of school and work so we convinced my Dad to take us to Disneyland for the weekend (thanks Dad!). We drove down Thursday night and spent Friday, Saturday and part of Sunday at the park. It was a quick trip filled with long days at the park, but we had fun. Saturday afternoon J had a major meltdown from the lack of sleep, but once we took her back to the hotel for a nice long nap she did much better. J wasn't a fan of the rides. The only ones she really liked were the carousel and the dumbo ride, I think this is because those are the only 2 kids rides that aren't in the dark. Her favorite part was meeting the characters. When we first got there, we bought her a book to have her new friends sign and she LOVED that and still talks about friends that she needs to have sign her book! Here's a few of her new friends. . . at first she was a little nervous about meeting them so Mommy or Daddy had to go with her, but then she figured out what to do and didn't want any help.

Sunday was Easter and the Easter Bunny found J all the way in California! He even hid eggs for her and her cousin Keegan to find. He's such a smart bunny.

Utah Vacation Post #3

The Monday after we got back from snowmobiling we headed up to Logan to see my Grandma. My mom was able to come with us and we stopped in Provo on the way up and picked up my little sister. We were also able to stop in SLC and have dinner with some of Erik's friends. I'm glad that he was able to have such a good visit with his friends, he hasn't seen them since we were married almost 5 yrs ago. After dinner we finished our trek up to Logan and stayed the night at my Grandma's house. We were able to spend most of the day with her on Tuesday before heading home. I love going to visit my Grandma, she's one of my favorite people in the whole world. I don't get to see her very often so we always try to make the trip up to Logan when we're in Utah. It's a long drive but it's definitely worth it. We LOVE you Grandma!!!

Utah Vacation Post #2

Our next adventure took us to Kolob Mountain where my parents have a cabin. My whole family was able to go and between all of us, it took 2 arctic cats and 4 snowmobiles to get us up the mountain. J isn't a big fan of snowmobiles so my wonderful SIL took J with her in one of the arctic cats while hung on for dear life while riding behind Erik on a snowmobile. The ride up was a bit windy since a storm was coming in and by the time we reached the cabin it was starting to snow on us. The next morning was a beautiful day so we headed out right after breakfast. While we were getting ready to go, J entertained herself with the icicles that hang from the eves while Keegan watches. We found a slight hill near where we tried our hand at tubing. Once we got the hang of it people started getting daring and going double on the tubs. J enjoyed catching a ride with whomever she could. She really wanted to go by herself but she was too small to fit on the tubes alone, we eventually got a small plastic container for her to sit in and slide down the hill. Everyone was having such a good time (and some we're a little to impatient to wait for the tube) so Aunt Heather went back to the cabin and brought us a second tube. Which made the possibilities for fun endless! In fact, it's a fun (and a bit scary) to think of what you can do with a snowmobile, rope and 2 inner tubes. Uncle Scott was the first one to test the set up, after a couple of single runs, the second tube was tied on. While everyone was taking their turns on the tubes, grandpa attempted to take J for a ride on the snowmobile, it didn't last very long. All this activity wore everyone out, including the dogs (who had been out frolicking in the snow all day with the rest of us)!

Utah Vacation Post #1

We flew to Utah March 24th and were able to stay until April 8th (just over 2 weeks). It was great because Daddy was able to come with us and stay the entire time. Before we left, I pulled out the suit cases to start packing them, but J had a different plan for them. She put on her "life jacket" and found some "oars" and started to paddle away in her boat, making sure to push the crocodiles away when they came close. Once we got to Utah, the fun and activities started right away. Our little family went to Zion National Park the day after we flew in (my sister had a free pass that was expiring a few days later so we decided to take advantage of it while we could). We hiked to the Lower Emerald Pool (1.2 miles) and to Weeping Rock (1 mile) and J hiked most of the way by herself on both of them. Then we had a picnic by the river before heading home. It was a fun day for all of us.

Hard Pill to Swallow

When my Dr. did all the tests after my last miscarriage we were told that all but one of the tests were normal and that one was only slightly elevated so the Dr. wasn't too worried about it. When we found out we were pregnant again we switched Dr's and I'm so glad that we did. Our current Dr. saw the elevated levels on that previous test and immediately referred me to an Haematology Specialist. I had that appointment today and I wish it was good news, but it wasn't. I have an autoimmune disorder called Antiphospholipid Syndrome or Hughes Syndrome. This causes my blood to become very thick and the platelets sticky so that blood clots form. Apparently what causes this is that I have abnormally thick blood to begin with and then when I was pregnant with Jordyn, my body didn't recognize Erik's genes in here so it made antibodies to help fight off what it thought was a disease. Those antibodies get confused as to what's me and what's not so it causes my blood to thicken and clot. Most likely what happened with our two miscarriage is that my body recognized that foreign protein and started making those antibodies again and the thick blood or a clot couldn't pass through the placenta so the babies essentially starved to death. Fortunately everything looks good so far in this pregnancy. We were able to see both babies heart beats at our ultrasound Monday. Due to this disorder and being pregnant with twins I'm considered high risk and will see my OB weekly and my Hematologist about every 6 week. I also have ultrasounds done every 3-4 weeks and blood work done almost monthly to test the thickness of my blood. To help the blood thin out I'm to take a low dose aspirin daily and then give myself 2 shots of Lovenox (a blood thinner) daily. When I see my Hematologist in 6 weeks he'll look at my blood thickness and decide if I can go down to 1 shot daily. I'll have to do the shots until the end of the pregnancy. I'm just glad that we have good insurance and the shots are covered. The pharmacist told me that not many insurance companies cover them and that they cost about $5000 a month (I had to pay $30).

Exciting News

For those of you who don't have facebook but read this blog we just found out that we're expecting TWINS!! They're due in November. We're excited (scared, nervous, and shocked as well). I'll post details later, along with updates from our trip to Utah a month ago, but I'm too tired right now.

Houston Rodeo

I logged on today thinking that I'd start relaying the details of our trip to Utah, but then I took a closer look at the blog and realized I've got more catching up to do than that. We'll go back to the first part of March and the Houston Rodeo and Livestock Show. This is a HUGE event in Houston, lasting about 3 weeks. To start things off this year, we went to the Rodeo parade (sorry no pictures, it was cold and I was trying to stay warm and keep J warm as well). J liked seeing all the horses, especially the police horses. About a week later we hit the livestock show and rodeo. J enjoys going to the birthing center to see all the baby animals that have been born that week and to the petting zoo. (this goat jumped right into Erik's lap). Erik and J were trying out the tractors, apparently J's a little scared of her dad's driving because after she quickly put her seat belt on. After a long afternoon at the livestock show we dropped J off with Erik's mom while we headed back to the rodeo. I've never been to a rodeo so it was cool to watch. Each night after the rodeo there's a concert, the night we went Tim McGraw was performing. We went back to the livestock show a couple more times, once with some friends of ours from church and then again with Erik's mom. On the trip with Erik's mom, J got to ride a few rides at the carnival. The carousel is always a favorite. She was so excited to be tall enough to ride this ride by herself, and here is her and her Mimi on the bumble bee ride.