Taking the Bitter with the Sweet

Well the randomness of life never ceases to plague us! I wanted to write a Christmas post for December and talk about our most recent miracle with our sweet baby boy. I'm still going to, but I have some Christmas goodies to add to it now. This past week was a rough one. Sometimes it's hard to see why things happen like they do, but as we've learned a long time ago (and keep learning) sometimes you just have to take the bitter with the sweet.

Some sweetness: At our 1st anatomy scan, they found that our baby's heart wasn't at the right angle a normal heart should be in, and his little stomach wasn't quite right. Naturally, we were nervous and concerned. (thanks for all the prayers and fasting familia!) After seeing a pediatric cardiologist and having another anatomy scan, we were relieved to find that even though his heart is at a different axis, everything was still functioning fine as far as can be seen for now. After asking my OB if this was common, he told me he honestly had never seen a case where the heart was turned as our little man's is and there wasn't an underlying abnormality or functioning problem with the baby. He told me when our boy comes, we need to tell him he's a very special baby. Um, wow. So thankful! Miracle? I think yes. Very special baby INDEED!

Some bitter: Last Monday, my thigh was super sore and got progessively worse as the week went on. I thought I'd just pulled a muscle. I was supposed to start physical therapy for sciatica probs, but the morning I was to start, my entire left leg was swollen, purple, and killing me! I called my doc and ended up going to see him instead. I was sent over to the hospital for an ultrasound and admitted within an hour. Keep in mind that David was in the middle of finals and stuck downtown until at least 4:30 that afternoon. I had no idea what was going on for about 4 hours, so I was pretty much scared to death and wishing David or someone could be there with me. FINALLY I was informed that I had a blood clot in my femoral vein. As luck would have it, I've got the genetics to be more prone to a clot and pregnancy helped to make it happen. So much for all that walkin' I'd been doing! (By the way, this all happened 5 days afore we were to fly out for ID for Christmas)

Poor David while sick and feeling awful, stayed with me that night, but left really early to head to school for more finals. Right after he left, a nurse came rushing in to inform me that I was having regular contractions. (yeah, totally didn't even know it) I spent the morning getting shots and being monitored until they were able to get it to stop. Thankfully, they did. Supposedly the stress from the clot sent me into preterm labor. (REALLY?!) We know our boy's feisty though, because he kicked the tar out of the monitors whenever they were on my belly. The nurses turned down the volume on the monitor because it got so loud from him kicking. 'Ats my boy! Our sweet baby was and is just fine, THANK HEAVENS!

We miraculously got permission from my hematologist to fly under certain conditions, and after painfully going back and forth we decided to come. I'm on bedrest and have to be super careful from here on out. Don't know if it was the best decision, and it's been tough, but we're sooo glad to be around family and have help! I have the best nurse in the WHOLE WORLD. David is so amazing...I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful hubby who's taking such good care of me. He even gives me my shot everyday! It's times like these that make me swear I'll NEVER take him for granted ever! I lived in a wheelchair on the way over, and I have a grandma cane I've been using (yeah, I laugh about it, too). My leg's still swollen, but we're counting our blessings that it happened when it did and not after we got to Idaho. It could have been so much worse. And on the up side, I think I'm better prepared for childbirth now because this has been PAIN-FUL!

Pretty sure this pregnancy has been anything but fabulous, but I know he's going to be sooo worth it! I just keep telling myself, I can do this! It really could have been so much worse, and our baby's healthy and strong. My oh my, he is strong! :)

David finished his first semester of dental school and has done awesome. I'm so proud of him! His two weeks of 11 finals were painful, but he did it! And he still loves it. Him happy = Me happy

I'm so grateful for tender mercies and for my Savior, Jesus Christ and all He has done for me and my family. He is helping us through this new trial. What a wonderful time of year to celebrate the birth of our dear Savior! I know He lives, and He loves each one of us. May you all feel His love and constant presence in your lives! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! 

Lovelies I Love

I love David!

I love knowing that I have a Father in heaven who loves me
I love sitting by an open window with a breeze coming through, reading a book

I love going to see a friend I haven't seen in months and it feels like we were never apart

I love how said friends feel like sisters to me (you know who you are LD)

I love everything about my new little niece Saydee Pearl (is she not the cutest baby ever?!  LOVE HER!)

I love harvest time in Idaho

I love how Paul, Idaho will always be home
I love love LOVE David!

I love baby kitties

I love when pest control comes :)

I love getting into a bed with a heated mattress pad on a cold night, mmmm

I love the slower paced life of country living

I love drinking a steaming cup of hot chocolate, I don't care what flavor (I confess, I even drink it when it's 70 degrees outside and it's still fabulous)

I love playing in a big pile of leaves, especially when it's with my fam

I love vit B6 and phenergan and I don't care if anyone knows it (saying to myself, "My name is Kabree and I'm an addict")
I love shopping with my mom, and sister, and my auntie
I love home-grown food
I love being able to visit my family...the only thing missing this time was David being with me

I love driving my dad's big truck

I love when David gets home at night

I love the smells (and hopefully I'll enjoy the tastes) of the holidays

I love the excitement of what the future is going to bring for us

I love beautiful sunsets (that's an Idaho beauty right there)

I love cooked pumpkin seeds and pumpkin chocolate chip muffins (that I can even eat, how 'bout that)

I love when our baby gets the hiccups

I love kisses and hugs and laughing

I love how blessed I feel

I just love being in LOVE!

I'm in a lovely mood and just wanted to document (maybe just for myself) what I'm loving today.  I feel so incredibly blessed. We all are faced with the struggles of life, but we're also given so many wonderful things! I want to do better about realizing the good, more than the bad. There's so much about life to love! Sorry if it bores you, but I hope it gets you thinking about what you love today.

So what do you love?

Baby Update :)

I've been asked to update on my pregnancy, so consider this my update of sorts...
For anyone who's struggled with not being able to get pregnant, they would understand how emotionally straining it is to look at one pregnancy test after another and get your heart broken. I did it so many times that when I finally got TWO LINES I took 4 tests just to make sure I wasn't going crazy. I still have days where I wonder if I really am pregnant, and think I might be dreaming. Luckily, I have an internal dialogue that lets me knoooooow I'm definitely pregnant. It goes somethin' like this:

Do people really like food?  Pretty sure if all the food in the world disappeared, I'd be ok with it. (WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?)
It's honestly pure torture for a person to hate food, but then need to eat all the time in order to not throw up.
I wonder if there's a record for how many times a person's gagged in a day. I just know I beat it!
I swear seafood never smelled horrific like this before! It should be outlawed.
Can a person really pee this many times in a day AND night?
For those who don't know, it's possible to throw up, even though you have nothing to throw up. Oh, and sneezing can make you throw up, too, I promise.
[In the middle of the night] Why am I not asleep...SLEEP body SLEEP!
I still wake up in the morning just sure that I swallowed a rock or mini basketball in the night. 
To Dave: "I'm pretty sure my tummy's going to explode any minute now. Wait for it....wait for it..." To self: (I knew I shouldn't have swallowed that mini basketball last night)
I'm not getting emotional about the things I usually get emotional about, like a touching story or moment.  But if I see a commercial where a teen gets to open THEIR 1ST CHECKING ACCT, it tears me right up! (don't judge me)
Will I ever like desserts or sweets again? :( (For reals this time, what is wrong with me?)
I swear these pants fit me just fine yesterday!
[Two weeks later...] Did I honestly used to fit into those pants before? There's no way!
OH. MY. GOSH. I fill up my bra now. (GASP, I know) Really, I do!  This has never happened before!
How do people grocery shop? It's gotta be the most disgusting thing EVER.
My body's got it all wrong...my rear seems to be growing more than my belly.
Will I ever be able to cook again?
Dr. Oz says a normal person should "expel gas" 12-15 times/day. After the pregnancy, I should be allowed at least 20-25 times/day because I'm pretty sure it's at -5 for me right now :( Yeah. Painful.
Dear whoever said ginger and Preggie Pops get rid of morning sickness: They didn't. The end.  

If you can't tell, I've been sick. At almost 21 wks now, I'm still not feeling great, and still throwing up. Guess I'm one of the lucky ones who gets to feel yucky for a long time and meds don't really work for me. I'm trying really hard to be positive and just be sooo grateful that we have a baby on the way. What a blessing! We're so grateful for good drs and modern medicine! And prayer works! We know Heavenly Father was in control, even though it was sooo hard to have patience and faith, we see now that I would've had to drop out of school because of the sickness, had our little one come in the last 2 years.
I do have things that I love about pregnancy: I am in LOVE with feeling this baby move. I've been feeling baby since I was 16 wks, and we're pretty sure it's hyperactive. It's constantly wiggling! Love it. Dave gets to feel it too, so we have fun giggling when we feel it :) I love that we feel so much love for somebody we haven't even met...I cry every time I think of our lit'l miracle! I love that my hair and nails grow a foot in a week. I love how my mom and dad take turns throughout the week calling to check on me, the baby, and daddy. Don't know what I'd do without "Nana and Papa's" calls! I love that David has been doing most of the cooking and dishes for the last 4 months and has never complained. Nor has he complained about my whining, or constantly askin' for massages. I'm a lucky girl! So, Baby Sterzer is set to arrive around Feb 26, 2011, and did I mention that IT'S A BOY?! We are sooo excited...beyond words! And yes I am growing. Slow, but sure. Maybe someday I won't be so weirded out about showing people picts of my belly. HA! Until then, just trust me when I say that he is definitely growing. :) 
OH and for those of you who know Bryce and Courtnie, they're inducing Court today so we're hoping our new little niece will be here this afternoon! SO EXCITED!

Summer Full O' Firsts!!!

So we realized that our summer has been chalk full of "Firsts" and wanted to document the madness.

David's first time to visit some church history sites in NY (work trip perk)

Our first romantic getaway to beautiful Ruidoso, NM (work trip yet again)

Bought our first home, fridge, and lawnmower (still seems weird)

David swam in the Atlantic ocean for the first time

David had his first day of school

The Sterzer's came down for their first visit to H-town to go to David's white coat ceremony

The Dayton's were first timers to H-town when they DROVE down here to visit and brought us furniture upgrades (thanks Aunt Jer!)

Oh and we saved the best one for last.  Did we mention that we're expecting our first baby??? :)  Miracles happen...LIFE IS GOOD!

Long Time No Post

Wow.  So it's been a while, and we have a lot of catching up to do, but I'm thinking today just isn't the day I feel like doing it.  After a LONG two weeks of living in an extendastay hotel (I still throw up thinking about those two weeks), we waved a tearful g-bye to 'ole A-town and headed down south.  Here are the top 20 things we've learned since moving to Houston:

1- I don't care what anybody says, it really is stinkin' hot down here. AC is fabulous
2- Showers don't really do a whole lot...you go outside and you'll be soaked with sweat in T minus 5 seconds
3- Bugs like the big city life.  Never seen so many bugs in our lives!  Don't worry, it's normal to find at least a couple spiders a day visiting in our house (yeah and that's even with pest control. YUCK)
4- Rain is a blessed, blessed thing!
5- There's no point in doing your hair.  I have devil horn fly-aways on my head pretty much anytime I go outside
6- Rain brings out the frogs
7- Regardless of what one might think, frogs DO NOT get out of the way of the lawnmower
8- A frog can still hop with only three legs. Frog legs for dinner anyone?  (sorry, don't let the kids read this one)
9- If I see a black spider with a red hourglass on its bum, run and get David. FAST
10- Black widows like garage doors A LOT  
11- Crickets multiply like rabbits apparently.  If anyone has a pet that eats crickets, give us a call...I can get about 100 from my flower bed alone (I'll give you a fair price, heck I might even give you 99 for free)
12- A mosquito bite down here can produce an impressive welt the size of a quarter, David's poor hiney was living proof o' that one night (don't ask)
13- The neighborly thing to do is to go sit in somebody's garage with them and drink beer and talk about the size of your TV, what NFL team you like, if you like Nascar, and what kinda car you drive.  Every night. (Yeah we're not very neighborly I'm sure everyone is finding out)
14- The very friendly neighbor kids graciously taught David how to start a lawnmower correctly, how to mow a lawn, and how to water a lawn (good thing David is such a patient man!)
15- The beach= euphoria
16- Our family can no longer send chocolate in their packages to us (BOO HOO!)
17- People do crazy things down here...at church last week a man told the entire congregation about how he beat the tar out of a guy who was trying to steal stuff out of his truck.  His point was that you have to be prepared for anything. David and I now know that kneeing a man repeatedly in his face will most likely make him fall to the ground so you can sit on him
18- The standing record for a door-to-door salesman trying to get us to answer the door is now three rounds of doorbell rings and two rounds of knocking (don't people know if nobody answers the door, nobody's home?)  I guess it probably didn't help that I was vacuuming the front room at the time ;)
19- We still miss our familia and now we really miss our cronies from Amarilla
And last but not least,
20- A neighbor informed us if we see an 8 yr old driving a car around in the neighborhood, we shouldn't worry about it even though he's Mexican and we might think he's stealing a car. It's just his son, and he lets him drive the car around

Such a learning experience it's been!  But we're happy!  I passed my nuc med tests and I'm certified.  Yippee! And David started school this week and he's jumping right in! So proud of him!  Hope summer life is treating you well in your neck o' the woods...

Change is Oh So Good!

Well, we're still alive, still in A-town, still on a high.  Time to play a lit'l catch up on what we've been up to for the last 4 months. :)

The ENTIRE Dayton fam got to come see us in Feb.  It was a wonderful week full of lots of laughs, shopping, and most importantly many late late nights of farming game playin.  (we're hard core with that game)  We were so sad to see them go.  It's always a party with the Dayters!

Dave got to go to Idaho for work again (so jealous) (he gets to go to NY in a week...again so jealous) and it was perfect timing for him to get to see our niece Hadley's baby blessing, and see Marnie who was visiting from Germany.  First time in like 4 yrs that all his siblings were together.  So fun!

    Went to Houston over spring break to find a house and check things out.  We were pretty sure we were gonna get shot or beat up or something the whole time we were lookin. Apparently we were lookin in all the wrong places! OOPS!  We got to go to the temple, a rodeo, and Gary Allan concert while we were there.

Our city league v-ball team took 1st place again for the spring season.  Yeehaw!  We're gonna miss this...

It was our 4th anniversary at the first of May.  :)  Seems like just yesterday we were walking out of the temple together.  Oh the memories!  I can't wait for what the future holds for us!  I definitely got the cream of the crop for a hubby!  Sooo blessed...He takes such good care of me...always has me laughin', and he gives the best massages!  LOVE YOU DAVE

Finally we just bought our 1st home down in Houston.  WHOA!  Yes.  Craziness.  Lots and lots of it.  But we love the house, it's finally finished, and it's beautiful!  I love the low housing market in Houston!  It's wonderful!!  We're still in shock...it's a new feeling to sign your life away, but I guess Dave's gonna be doing quite a lot of that in the next little while.  We're so excited to start this new chapter in our new home.  So if you're ever in our neck of the woods, give us a call!  We'd love to have you!  I'm graduated with just clinicals left now, we have a home, and I'm a happy girl!  We're feeling so very blessed.

So here's to wonderfully warm sunny weather with no wind for a change, so's we can go run off all the winter insulation we've accumulated :)

Remember that one day when...

So I'm going to give a replay of how January 19, 2010 went for David and me:

Just got home.  Sittin' on the couch eating some addictive gummy bears.  Got a text from David.  Read it three times before it made sense in my head.  Started crying.  Evolved into bawling.  Said "Oh my gosh!" about 500 times [Out Loud].  Started freaking out because I couldn't call David [he said he couldn't talk right then].  
Called my parents.  Dad answered.  Scared Dad to death when I could barely talk.  Because I was still bawling.  He thought something was wrong, HA!  Told him the news.  There was a lot of laughing, a lot of crying, and a few more "Oh my goshes!"  Hung up.  Freaked out some more.  Might have done a few olympic ice skating jumps across the living room.  Called my sister.  No answer.  Called my aunt.  Told her the news.  Still crying at this point.  Decided I better stop blabbing the news and let David do the telling.  Compromised (with myself) about just telling my sister.  And my brother.  That's all.  And my mom and lil bro who'd be getting home in an hour.  And maybe my sis-in-law because my brother wasn't home.  And maybe...nah, just kidding.  Self control.  Decided I better let Dave tell everyone else himself.  Stopped calling people (after I got ahold of my sis 3 tries later, hehe).  Finally got David to call me.  Learned he couldn't call earlier because he was so excited he couldn't talk.  

To make a really long story short, or maybe medium length, OK just longish, when David got home, there was mucho hugs, kisses, and happy tears.  So what, you might ask, would make me behave so ridiculously?  Well here's the big news!  We're moving to Houston in July, because come August, David will officially be a Texas Longhorn . (Excited face!)  He got accepted into UTDB in Houston!  So yes, we've had a perma-smile ever since.  I'm sooo proud of my David.  He's worked hard to get to where he's at, and he never gave up.  It does my heart good to know that he's going to be able to do what he loves, for the rest of his life.  The reason we moved to Amarillo was for David to work at getting into dental school, so our prayers have been answered. HE DID IT!  So watch out Houston, and watch out world!  Here comes Dr. Dave!  He's got a long four year road ahead of him (I think I should be saying WE have a long 4 yr road ahead of us, haha), but I know he's going to accomplish great things. Congratulations to you, my David!  I know Grammy is so proud of you!  It's definitely been a better year already.  Houston, here we come!

What I'll Miss the Most...

Her laugh. Gram had a great laugh! Dave was so good at making her laugh...loved it!

Wow, she could cook! She always was cooking when we were over there--breakfast, lunch, & dinner. She insisted. And she ALWAYS had the best treats.

Her pretty hair. I don't think her hair ever looked bad.

The cards she'd send to us with "presents" at EVERY holiday, even if it was a little one.

The little pictures she'd draw for us in the holiday cards she sent...turkeys, clovers, hearts, pumpkins, etc. The last one we got had turkeys on the envelope and in the card. :)

(Kabree 'Rose' Day'ton' Sterzer)

How she was always worrying about us. I always told her "not to worry" but I'm grateful that she loved us so much that she did always worry about us.

Her being at every important thing that's happened in our lives. She never missed anything! My last 2 b-days in TX were the first ones IN MY LIFE that she hadn't been there to help me celebrate, and it was my fault! (b-days are big in my family!)

She took the entire family out when we'd get together. A fav was Papa Tom's in IF, or anywhere we wanted to go when we went to visit. She always got pizza with sliced tomatoes on it.

I'd secretly catch her reading her scriptures or saying her prayers. What an example!

Our weekly if not bi-weekly phone calls. She'd call us to see how school, work, dr appts, & church stuff was going. Or just to talk. I called her on my way home from the hospital often. I miss these calls A LOT. A lot.

Her hugs, my Rosie O'Neal nickname, her stubborness, her pink lipstick, her garage sale finds.

She spoiled us...seriously, we were spoiled!

She treated David like he was her grandson before we were even married. She told me before she died what a good man he is, that she loved him like he'd always been her grandson. :')

She helped raise me. She literally was like another mama to me.

Mostly I'm gonna miss her.

Our Grammy passed away on Christmas Eve. Needless to say, it was a hard Christmas! What a blessing we were able to be in Idaho with our family when it happened. Grammy was an amazing woman, and we feel so blessed to have had her as a part of our lives. She taught us so much, and we have TONS of wonderful memories to remember her by. We're going to miss her terribly, but we know that we'll see her again. Families are forever!

WE LOVE YOU GRAMMY JANE!!!

Here's to 2010!

Out with the old, in with the new. We've decided to give 2009 a permanent title for the record books. 2009 is officially "The Year of Tuff Stuff". Seems only fitting...it really was a tough year. We look back and see this: lots of funerals, lots of tears and heartache when dealing with "tuff stuff", being away from family, being in limbo with where we're going with our lives, getting diagnosed with Hashimoto's, etc. BUT, 2010 is here! This is a new year full of new beginnings. And it's going to be a good year. We'll make it be a good year...I think it's time for a good year. So here's to 2010!