Oh 2009, how you will go into history....

We started off our New year one Year ago at an amazing wedding that I helped do. I was about 8 weeks prego and working my butt off to get a dance floor painted in time along with as many flower arrangements as I could as well as decorating the whole church.We had so much fun and Evan was a great help!








We found out Jackson was a BOY!




Next we prepared for Evan to go back to Embry Riddle. He would stay in Arizona with a couple trips home for 2-3 months. He finally was finished and returned home to a very pregnant wife...We were also planning on joining the Navy so that Evan could be a Navy pilot! There was a TON in Limbo at this point!










From May to mid June our lives consisted of trying to find a job for a Evan and preparing for the new addition!






Mid June came around and the doc gave us some bad news. My Blood Pressure was not cooperating so i had to begin fetal monitoring 3 times a week and weekly drs visits.

On June 29 I was admitted into St. Joes. I gained about 5-10 lbs of fluid a day as my kidneys were not working. by the 3rd of July, my body could not take any more trauma and our Precious Son was delivered via C section. At 1051 they cut me open and at 1053am, little 4.0lb Jackson Wade was born, kicking and screaming!


My first time seeing him a day after he was born. I could not leave the hospital because I was hooked up to seizure meds and being monitored every minute...ick!





At 2 days old he contracted a staph infection through his umbilical cord. I had just gotten out of the hospital and that night we got a call at 1am saying that Jackson was septic and his white cell count was down to 20. We were terriffed but also new that since his vital signs had NEVER dropped that he was not in immediate fatal danger. After all he was in the best NICU ever at CHOC for a mere $7,000 a DAY plus extra costs for the staph.




They machine gunned him with antibiotics and found that it was Staph infection of the skin that made him soooo sick! We are pretty sure he contracted it from a nurse. There were soo many people in this little intensive care unit, it was ridiculous! Because of our complaints and a rash of infection outbreaks, there are now NO visitors allowed accept for the child's parents.

All he had to do now was grow and prove to everyone that he was strong enough to hold his own temp and eat enough to get nice and big!





The day after Jackson was born, Evan found out that he got the job with Logan Energy and that we would be moving to Kauai! That was welcoming news because the Navy had been negligent in securing Evan in a career. About 4 days after Jackson was born, I went home...without my baby boy. That was one of the hardest things ever. However, i was still so very sick and weak. Jackson would stay in the NICU for 2 more weeks.


After he came home, there was nothing but growing to do. Our room was pretty much his extended incubator. We had clear orders to keep him "germ safe" till he was 8 weeks old since the swine flu had made its appearance. This was very hard but necessary to do.


Here are a few pics from his first 6 months of life!













So we began our transition to Kauai....We sold the truck



and packed alll of our things to be shipped off to never never land for the next ohhh 45 days.

We made it and have adjusted to life here on the island rather quickly. This is our dream home. It is so calm, relaxed and slow paced. Just what we needed after a long year of craziness!












We started off 2009 with a TON of unanswered questions about life. We were forced to stop TRYING and let God's will take over. Everything seriously happens for a reason. If Evan had gone into the military he would have missed the birth of his first son and the severity of the situation surrounding with regard to my health and I most likely would have been moving to Pensacola Florida with a Preemie. So alone and so unhappy. God knew what we needed as a little family. I could not have gone through all of this without my dear sweet loving husband who I love more than anything in the world...well, maybe Jackson, but thats different haha.

As we look to 2010, there are more challenges ahead. I leave on January 13th with Jackson to return home and have my knees replaced. I have my first consult the 14th in Orange and the 2nd on the 19th in santa Monica with the dr I believe will actually do the surgeries. This is very scary but very exciting for me as I am looking at getting my athletic life back. Not many know the amount of pain I experience on a daily basis. Mostly because I dont talk about it. I decided to not let it control who I am a long time ago. I think now that I am finally looking at freedom of this pain that I am not afraid of writing about it. I hate pity, but need to learn how to draw support from those friends and family around me. So here it goes.

My daily struggles:

sleeping ( my knee joints hit eachother at night while sleeping on my side and i wake up in agonizing pain)
getting out of bed (have to think about it for a moment and motivate myself to brace for the pain)
getting on and off the freaking toilet ( always have to grab something to pull me up)
Getting up from any seated position
Showers are great! BathTubs are HARD!...to sit down in at least, and get up
Going down the stairs, one at a time while death gripping the rail.
Being afraid of falling
making sure I wont need anything else upstairs so I wont have to go back up for it...
Not being able to take Jackson out for morning jogs or at least walks (it was always a dream of mine)
Not being able to walk on the sand without excrutiating pain
NOt being very active.
Not being able to dance very long with my son to soothe him.
Making dinner requires standing and by the end of making a home made dinner Im in so much pain I cant enjoy it with Ev
Ev seeing me so weak
NOt being able to do outdoorsy things with Ev (breaks my heart)
Being in sooo much pain that i fall asleep crying.


Yes, all of these things sound horrible ...and they are, but thats how much better OUR lives are going to be after these surgeries.


So in 2010:

Ev is working in Kauai
Me n the babe are in OC
Im getting fixed up
Ev's whole fam is coming out in July
Jackson is 1!
I turn 27 eeek
Ev turns 28 wow
Katie gets married
We go home for that

And that is as much as I plan ahead!

Hello 2011 !!!

AUR REVOUR 2009! ALOHA 2010!