Our first chapter in our new adventure...

Me and my kiddos - Walker, Nate, Me, Ryder, and Jocelyn - on Nate's 21'st birthday

December

The week after we moved into our house we headed up to Omaha to see family and friends.  I also wanted to spend my oldest son's birthday with him (he's living in Omaha now).  Not only was it a couple years since I have had that chance but this year he turned 21!  Boy is he making me feel old!  I absolutely adored seeing the kids together!!  We had a great time seeing all of our family and friends especially since it had been a year and a half since we'd been up there.  Click HERE for December pictures.  And click HERE for portraits I did for the Wyant side of the family.  They turned out great!  Click HERE for the Omaha Pictures.

Jocelyn and big brother Nate

Celebrating Walker and Jocelyn's 4th birthday and Nate's 21st birthday with family and friends

Nate got his face smooshed in some cake LOL

Walker got Batman form his Godmother Janel

Me and my biggest boy  :-)

Me with my oldest and my best friend with her oldest - wow times have changed since we first met in Jr. High!

Youngest Brother helping Oldest Brother with a drink - too cute

CHRISTMAS 2012

Walker and Jocelyn - they look so grown up here!

Ryder - looking grown up too but he's still got a little baby face left  LOL

We had a great Christmas and had a Christmas Day potluck for the people we had met from Nick's class.  We had a great turnout and many of them have kids around our kids ages which is awesome.  We are so incredibly lucky to have met some amazing people here!  Click HERE for Christmas Pics.  And click HERE for Christmas sort of portraits.

The boys playing in the snow on New Year's Eve

Jocelyn getting ready to throw a snowball at me

We have the best sledding hill in our backyard!!

JANUARY

Nick started school in January and he's doing fantastic!!  I am very proud of him!  :-)  He'll be doing the academic portion for 15 weeks (end of April), then Operational for 15 weeks.  During that time he'll find out which ASI he will be trained on.  After Operational he'll do ASI training for approximately 18 weeks.  Sometime during the beginning to middle of that (hopefully closer to the beginning!) we'll find out where we will be going!  :-)  Our options are Fort Bragg NC , Fort Belvoir VA , or Schofield Barracks Hawaii.  We will have a chance to put a "wish list" in but of course like every wish list in the Army it's just a wish LOL.  They'll send us where they need us.  We're kind of torn between Bragg and Belvoir being our #1 choice.  Bragg is definitely a lower cost of living.  We'd be in between the beach and the mountains.  You hear good things and bad things about Bragg.  You really never know how you feel until you get there because everyone is different.  I mean some people wouldn't like Fort Leonard Wood and we love it.  Anyway..  :-)  Belvoir I would love besides the traffic and big city stuff.  It's just south of DC.  WAY too big city for this girl but we went to DC several years ago for vacation and I absolutely loved it.  More than I ever thought I would.  I love the Mount Vernon area.  Could just sit for hours in that area by the Potomac.  Belvoir is right next to Mount Vernon.  Beyond that thinking of all of the museums the kids could go to and I really do love the area once you get away from the city.  It's close to all sorts of other cities that I've never experienced.  I have never been to the East Coast except the 1 trip to DC and a trip years and years ago to see my sister when she lived in Wilmington NC (which is southeast of Bragg).  Our other option....Hawaii.  Well that is number 3 however we look at it.  We have vacationed there and while it was pretty and definitely green :-) we would rather not live there.  We're really not island people and man would we miss the snow.  The traffic is nuts and it's way expensive.  It's so expensive to fly back that we would probably be there without leaving for the full 3 years (or however long they leave us there LOL).  SO that said we'll probably get it.  LOL  We're trying to think of positive things like we can go hang out on the beach whenever we want.  I can take some beautiful photography.  Maybe I'll actually get a tan.  LOL  Maybe I'll see some Hawaii 5-0 people!  LOL  We'll see what we end up with.  Quite honestly after Fort Bliss I will be happy with any of these 3.  Just don't send us to a desert again!!  LOL  And really what I'm finding out here is if any of these amazing people that we have met here end up where we go we will have a great time.  We've all really clicked thank goodness!  I've been incredibly lucky to meet a couple of ladies who we trade babysitting with for appointments and what not.  This year has somehow ended up being very busy for appointments!  Click HERE for January's Pictures.

The kids with one of our good friends little boy

Awww

Our friends little girl (sister of the cute little baby!) and Ryder.  They look so cute!

Ryder loves playing ball!

FEBRUARY

February has been incredibly busy!  First off I've actually been social here!  The kids are finally old enough to take out of the house without too many issues and I've been so lucky to meet friends with kids near my kids ages so we can do things together.  A few of us started doing craft days once a week.  We alternate houses and pick a fun craft to do each week.  So far we've ended up having a lunch and letting the kids play and mom's have coffee and chat after the craft.  It's been SO nice!  Click HERE for all of February's pictures.

Our first Craft Day

Walker's "Snake"

 We also started a Ladies Lunch once a month.  Our guys work very hard in school and we don't see them much because of homework and lab groups which leaves us a little overwhelmed with everything else.  It's nice to take a little break once a month and leave the kids with Dad while we go to lunch and relax for an hour or so.  Definitely gives us something to look forward to!!  :-)

Our first Ladies Lunch

Some other big things that happened in February - Walker and Jocelyn went in for an assessment at the Preschool here.  It's free however the children have to "qualify" by having something that could hold them back in kindergarten (Missouri doesn't have Pre-K).  I have been worried about Walker's speech for awhile and I'm so glad I did take them in because we did find out that he needs speech therapy.  He had a hearing test which he passed with flying colors so it's just a matter of helping him with his articulation and also strengthening some muscles in his mouth.  He was just fine on everything else and Jocelyn is right where she needs to be for her age.  Walker qualified for the preschool (and also speech therapy) and Jocelyn qualified since they are twins.  There is a waiting list so we may be looking at next Fall before they can start school but Walker will be starting speech therapy in the next month or so.

I've also had a lot going on.  The birth control pills that I was on were not working for the pain any longer and I made an appointment with the doctor.  It took about 3 weeks before I could get into the Gynecologist but they did get me right in after talking to me on the phone and understanding the pain I was in and what I wanted done.  The Doctor that I met with went over non-surgical options which I'd pretty much tried already.  After explaining I'd already been working with a specialist at Fort Bliss who agreed that I needed a full hysterectomy with removal of ovaries and handing over my past surgical reports he agreed to go forward with the hysterectomy.  With my history and my families cancer history we decided to remove the uterus, fallopian tubes, ovaries, and cervix.  He also told me that I am not a candidate for HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) due to my endometriosis and family cancer history.  He basically said I'd be facing menopause head on and wished me luck.  LOL  Nice huh?  ;-)  Luckily I'm a research fanatic and I already knew this and I've planned on it.  My next challenge was trying to figure out HOW to manage this surgery that has a 6 week recovery time frame on it with 3 young children and a husband who cannot take any time off work (school) and is rarely able to help me (not that he doesn't want to but he is studying almost constantly right now).  We got very very lucky and our good friend, Smith, was getting out of the Army the week before my surgery and he isn't starting school until the next semester so he was able to come out and help us for as long as we need him.  Since I can't lift anything 10 pounds or more for 6 weeks that is VERY helpful!  I also can't drive for 3 weeks.  My father-in-law and mother-in-law also were able to drive down the night before my surgery and stay for 10 days.  On top of that my wonderful friends here have been incredibly supportive of my surgery and watched the kids whenever needed for appointments.  My surgery was February 19th.  Leading up to it I had a few moments where I was a little emotional.  I've gone through a lot with this uterus.  SO many years of trying to conceive, finally growing my children in there.  Overall I was really looking forward to it the surgery and hopefully ending my pain.  I've been on the Effexor and the Doctor told me to stay on it as it should help me with some of the "side effects" of menopause like mood swings and even hot flashes hopefully.  The day of surgery I was actually very relaxed.  It kind of made me laugh that I have almost all out panic attacks when I go to the dentist but I go to the OR and I'm completely relaxed.  Very bizarre.  I was mostly nervous about being nauseous after surgery.  I told the anesthesiologist that and he put 4 different anti-nausea meds in my IV and also the patch behind my ear (which I'm a firm believer in now!).  I woke up with NO nausea!!  I stayed overnight in the hospital and went home the next morning.  It's been a pretty good recovery so far.  I'm 11 days post-op and I'm not getting exhausted quite as quickly (don't have to take a nap anymore!) but  I still get tired pretty quick and I still need to take it very easy.  It's hard to not be in my normal routine and I'm anxious to start exercising and losing some of this weight I've put on but in order to do that "on time" I know I HAVE to take it easy and let my body heal.  So hard though.  LOL  As far as the menopause aspects I've had mild to moderate hot flashes and night sweats, some nasty headaches off and on, but thank goodness zero mood swings thanks to the Effexor I'm guessing.  I actually feel fantastic mentally/emotionally.  It's weird but I almost feel relieved to have the hysterectomy.  I mean yes I won't have anymore periods which is AWESOME!!  LOL  More than that I spent almost my entire adult life trying to get pregnant.  SO many months I would wonder am I pregnant, am I not?  What is that weird symptom.  PMS?  Pregnancy?  Even after Nick got his vasectomy, was cleared, and I was on birth control pills I would still go what if somehow I still got pregnant.  I don't know if it was fear or wishful thinking.  LOL  Obviously the wishful thinking is the crazy infertility part of my brain that I just couldn't put to rest because I know we are done and our hands are overflowing with children.  LOL  I think having the hysterectomy and KNOWING there is absolutely NO way that I will ever be pregnant has enabled me to finally close that chapter of my life.  It's a little sad but I feel so blessed and thankful for the children that I have.  Right now I'm looking forward to just healing and enjoying my family and friends.  :-)

The weekend before my surgery Nick and I went to dinner with two other couples and we had SUCH a great time.  I really needed that before this long recovery process.  LOL  Here are a few pictures:

Me and my wonderful hubby

Some great friends - Nicole and Christine

Christine and I enjoying our wine

Nick and I at the Cave Restaurant - it was a pretty cool and different experience!

Here are some pictures from our visit with Grandpa and Grandma:

 

THE FIRST DAYS OF MARCH

Since it's only the 2nd of March I don't have much to write (and after these long posts today you are probably thrilled LOL).  There is one very exciting piece of news though!  Ryder FINALLY has decided to wear big boy undies!  After many, many months of starting potty training and fighting over it with him I let him take the reins and I followed his lead.  He's been going pee and poo on the potty for quite a few months but also has many many full diapers.  SO between that and surgery I figured I'd wait.  Well February 28th he woke up with a completely dry diaper and went straight to the potty himself (he'd been doing that for a few mornings) and he said he wanted to wear big boy undies instead of a diaper.  He's been wearing them ever since!!  Dry bed (knock on wood) every morning since.  Only 3 accidents the first day, 2 accidents yesterday, and none today!  I am SO excited!  We are finally doing this!  LOL  Yes it's a month before his 3rd birthday but that was probably the easiest time I've ever had potty training and he is the 6th child I have potty trained!!  Quite honestly - thank goodness he is the last child I have to potty train!!  LOL  So - YAY Ryder!  So proud of my big boy!  We got some of that snowstorm that went through here the last 2 weeks and the kids got to go play in it today.  Here are some pictures: