Harley's Birth Story

Disclaimer: If birth-related things gross you out, you may not want to read this. I wanted to write down every detail that I remember and some people may not want to know everything. If that's you, don't read. If you don't mind, read on! :)

Harley was due January 25. I hoped she'd come a little early because I was really tired of being pregnant and huge, but I had a feeling she'd be a stubborn little thing and come late. I had asked my midwives about induction, and they said they wouldn't do it any earlier than 41 weeks. That fell on the weekend and apparently the hospital doesn't like to do inductions on the weekends so I had to schedule it for Monday the 2nd.

The night before the induction I could not sleep at all. I knew I needed to get some rest but it did not happen. It was like Christmas Eve, I knew that within the next day or two I'd have my precious little girl! We woke up at 6:30am to call the hospital and make sure they had room for me. I was going to freak out if they said no, but fortunately they told me to come in at 7:30. I texted our doula Rianne and she said she'd meet us at the hospital.

After checking in and getting settled, the nurse asked if I wanted to have some music. They had Pandora playing a Norah Jones station and I told them that Harley liked Bon Jovi, so the whole time I was in labor we listened to 80's rock music. Who wouldn't want to enter the world to that??

They did my first examination at about 8:30am. I was 2cm dilated and 0% effaced, which was disappointing since they had told me I was about 60% effaced less than a week before. My midwife Morgan discussed my induction options with me, and we decided the first thing to try would be a pill that they put in my cervix that would make me have contractions. While waiting for the pill to do its job, I walked around, bounced on a birthing ball, ate breakfast and just hung out. It worked, but not well enough. I was having small, frequent contractions that I couldn't even feel. I was dilated a half a centimeter more and was 50% effaced. I had some visitors, Shaun and Eliza, who brought me and Jason food and kept us company.

At around 1:30pm I was given pitocin, which I had kind of wanted to avoid after hearing some horror stories. It was the best option though. Morgan didn't feel comfortable breaking my water because the baby wasn't low enough. The pitocin definitely worked. I began having very painful, intense contractions that were really close together. It got to the point where my contractions didn't even pause, I would have one long 10 minute contraction with no break. It was impossible. I threw up a couple times (surprise, surprise). I remember making a conscious effort not to breathe in Jason's face during contractions because I knew I had barf breath haha. Rianne was very helpful in reminding me to breathe through the contractions and I was surprised that it actually seemed to help me get through them. At some point during all this, Jason tried to compare my contractions to some bad gas pain he had a little while ago. I remember thinking, are you kidding me?! Haha. After a few hours I decided I wanted to try laboring in the tub. The heat felt nice but it was also making me feel dizzy and lightheaded. By this point I was positive I could not take the pain anymore so I told Jason I wanted an epidural. Before being induced I was pretty set on having a natural birth, but as I went past my due date and decided to be induced, I knew the chances of me doing it naturally went down. At 5:45 I got the epidural. By then I was dilated 4cm and 80% effaced. Once the epidural kicked in I began feeling MUCH better. I didn't go completely numb, I could still feel and move my legs, and I could feel the pressure of each contraction.

I kept throwing up and feeling nauseous so I asked to have some Zofran. That helped with my nausea, but then I started having really bad acid reflux and every time I would lay down, I would throw up again. I was given Pepsid and finally felt better. Shortly after I was given the Pepsid, around 10pm, I started feeling a strong urge to push. I told the nurse and she said that's a good sign, but didn't really do anything. I told her again a few minutes later that I REALLY felt like I needed to push. She finally went to get Morgan, and when she came in she said "Oh, you're probably dilated to a 7 or so." When she checked me, she was surprised to discover that I was dilated to 9. I told them I needed to push! They had already taken me off the pitocin because it was working too well. Morgan decided she could break my water now and did so at 10:15pm.

At 10:30pm I was fully dilated, but Morgan wanted to let me rest for a little bit. I told her that my epidural was running out and I wanted more, but she told me it would really be better if I could feel when to push. I was starting to feel the pain again so I was scared, but I agreed to try. At about 12:30am I started pushing. I remember wanting to just not push at the next contraction, so I could take a little break but when the contractions hit, I couldn't NOT push. We tried a couple different positions. Jason had originally said he would stay up by my head but he wanted to see the action so he went down to the end of the bed and helped me hold my legs. I felt so incredibly exhausted, I had gotten NO sleep and had no food in me. I pushed for 2 long, excruciating hours. With one really big push, I went from her head not being out at all, to crowning. Nobody was expecting it to happen that fast. Jason's favorite part of my birth story was that with that big push, my catheter flew out. Morgan said she'd never seen that happen before. Since they weren't expecting this to happen so suddenly, they told me to wait while they got the extra doctors and nurses in the room. Up until that point I had been pretty calm, and quiet through my labor. No screaming or yelling, but that was when I started panicking. That big push hurt like nothing else and then they tell me to wait?! I started freaking out and couldn't hold still, I remember squirming all over and yelling "Get her out, pull her out!" Morgan asked if I wanted to reach down and feel her head, and I said no. I just wanted her out! Jason said when her head came out, she turned it and everyone freaked out and had to turn her head back down. Rianne was trying to help me breathe but the pain was too intense to think about anything else. What felt like hours later, they told me to push again and I was able to finish pushing her out. It was the hardest thing I've ever done, and I still can't believe I did it! Harley Savannah Katwijk was born at 2:38am.

She wailed just enough for the pediatrician to not be concerned, and they placed her on me right away. She didn't cry; instead she immediately looked up at me and stared at me with her big beautiful eyes. I got to hold her for about 30-45 minutes while they stitched me up. I tore really badly, and I could feel them stitching me up. It hurt like crazy but I just kept focusing on my sweet baby girl. She weighed 8lbs 9.7 oz and was 20.5 inches long.

It's been over a week since that traumatizing, yet wonderful event. I have wanted Harley for so long and I am ecstatic that she is finally here. She's as perfect as can be, and I am loving every second of being her mama.

2014 Wrap Up

What an exciting year this was for us! Let's review:

January--I can't think of anything exciting that happened this month. I got a new phone, and that is pretty much all.

February--Jason got really sick and after two trips to urgent care, they couldn't figure out what was wrong so they sent him to the ER. We suspected a kidney infection but it came back negative for that. Either way, he was in a ton of pain and was really really sick for a few days. No fun!

We "celebrated" Valentine's Day by laying on the couch watching TV.

We watched the Super Bowl at a friend's house and Jason was happy the Seahawks won.

ER visits in the year 2014: 1

March--Jason and I went up to an indoor skate park with some friends of ours. Jason made me take hours of videos of him riding his bike (sooo exciting for me haha) but it was cool to be reminded how awsome my husband is.

Hot.

One day at work I got a call from Jason saying he got hit by someone and was on his way to the ER. Of course I freaked out but then he explained he was riding his bike at the skate park, and another kid on a bike collided into him. He split his leg open pretty good, duct taped it up (like a man) and drove himself to the hospital. I got off work a little early to meet him there and watch him get stitched up.

10 stitches later...

ER visits in the year 2014: 2

Our friend Dan had an extra ticket to a Sounder's game so he took Jason. A little bit later that day our friend David called and said he had an extra ticket too, so I got to go :) The four of us drove up together but had to sit in different sections. Oh well, it was still a free game and still lots of fun! Thanks Dan and DH!

Great seats!

At the end of March, we went on a trip to CA. It was my first time getting to bring Jason down to meet all my friends and family, and it was a lot of fun! We went to a Sharks game, Dave and Buster's, the Santa Cruz boardwalk, and more!

This view never gets old

Go Sharks!

April--While we were still in CA, we got rear ended in our rental car. Not fun. In fact, we are STILL in the never-ending process of dealing with stupid insurance companies. As much as we LOVE to go to the ER (ha ha) we did not go after the car accident. We knew we had whiplash and would see our chiropractor when we got home.

 I started a new workout program from Beachbody called the 21 Day Fix. It was awesome and I was happy to start seeing results!

Working out is always better with a friend!

May--The little boy I was a nanny for, Gavin, turned one! He had a party at the Hands On Children Museum (combined party with his brother Tyler, who was turning 4). I sure love these boys.

I got really sick. I woke up really early in the morning with terrible pain in my kidneys, so went to the ER and found out I had a kidney infection. The doctor also surprised us with the news that we were pregnant!! It was very shocking, and weird to have someone else reveal it to me. I had suspected I was but after a couple negative pregnancy tests, I told myself I must not be. Turns out I was just taking the tests too early, at the time the doctor told us I was only about 3 weeks pregnant. 

ER visits in the year 2014: 3

We didn't keep it a secret for long. We had our closest friends over for a BBQ and told them we were moving. After allowing them to react, we said "Just kidding, we're pregnant!" :) Everyone was MUCH happier with that news.

June--About halfway into June I stopped working at my nanny job. Gavin's mom is a teacher and they didn't need me for the summer. (I ended up not going back to work for them. They moved up to north Tacoma, and I didn't want to make the commute. I also would have had to quit in December anyways. I was really sad to leave them though, they are an awesome family!)

I also started getting morning sickness, hooray, and luckily the vomiting didn't start until after I'd stopped working. Pretty much all I remember for the summer months was throwing up every single day. Bursting blood vessels in my eye was a common occurrence. 

Some of my family was in town visiting. We went out to eat at Red Robin, where I discovered I could not eat a single thing and spent the whole time running back and forth to the bathroom to throw up. I didn't stop on the way home (I threw up two or three times into a Carl's Jr. cup...awesome), and didn't stop for another 12 hours or so. I was finally SUPER dehydrated and hadn't been able to keep anything down so we went to the ER and got me an IV. They think I caught a stomach bug.

ER visits in the year 2014: 4

Jason and I went with his parents and grandpa to a gun show down in Chehalis. I got bored after about thirty minutes but Jason and his dad had a blast and bought some guns. I'd rather shoot them than walk around and look at them :)

We went to Carson and Hudson's birthday party (the twins that I used to nanny for), which was a lot of fun. I'm so glad I have kept in touch with their awesome family, and I love seeing the boys grow up!

July--We had a pretty laid back 4th of July. We took Gus to my parents' house and walked down to the lake to see the fireworks. He did really well and wasn't scared of them!

We took a road trip to Rexburg, Idaho for a family reunion. On our way there we stopped for some Subway and I took this awesome picture which I am proud to say became quite an internet sensation haha :) Best picture I've ever taken! !

Years later, Napoleon Dynamite and Pedro are still friends!

We spent a week in Rexburg and St. Anthony and got to spend lots of time with family. I was glad I got to see my sister and nephews as well.

First time meeting my nephew Tucker

Hanging out while Jason took Landon on the merry-go-round

Our newest niece Emmaline, such a doll!

We celebrated my birthday at Fujiyama's, which is always amazing...unless you are pregnant and they cook raw chicken right in front of you. I had to try REALLY hard not to throw up haha. 

Our friends Chigro and Jaimee got married up in Renton. It was fun to meet some of Jason's old BMX friends, but it was at the awkward time in my pregnancy where I was starting to show but it pretty much just looked like I was a little bit fat haha.

My handsome groom :)

Kim came home for a friend's wedding and it was great getting to spend some time with her! Mom, Kim and I took a day trip to the beach and also went kayaking with Jason and Robert.

August--One of my best friends, Jasmine, had her baby Ezra. I visited them in the hospital and all of the sudden it got real--this was going to be me in 5 months! I may or may not have had a minor freak out haha.

I spent most of this month thinking my morning sickness should be over since I was now in my second trimester, but I was wrong!

Michelle came to visit so I got to see my cute nephews again.

I got in a car accident--it was really scary and traumatizing, especially since I was pregnant, but it could have been a lot worse! I wasn't far enough along to feel the baby moving so as soon as I got home I listened for its heartbeat and everything was okay, so I avoided a trip to the hospital.

September--Jason and I went to Mariner's game with our friends Soup and Mrs. Soup (aka Susy).

We had a birthday party/BBQ for Jason at my mom's house. 

Jason got two pretty awesome birthday presents: a new car (mine was totaled in the accident, and he had sold his right before the accident) and finding out his baby was a GIRL! :) The ultrasound place was trying to make me wait another week or so to find out the gender. I was already almost 22 weeks along and I had zero patience left. I begged the lady on the phone for any way to find out sooner and she said if I wanted to drive up to Lakewood I could be seen immediately. Done! I called Jason, had him get off work early and pick me up.

2010 Kia Sportage--we love it!

We found out the day before his birthday. 

We also celebrated his birthday at Buffalo Wild Wings with some friends, and with some delicious ice cream cake with his family. In honor of his daughter, his cake was decorated with pink sprinkles :)

October--Amber and Will (friends from CA) came up to Seattle so Jason and I drove up to spend some time with them. We also got to see Mike and Stephanie, who live in Seattle but we hardly ever see.

Mrs. Katwijk and the soon-to-be Mrs. Caillat

Jason and I joined his family in participating in a Buddy Walk for Down's Syndrome. It was a lot of fun. We brought Gus along and he loved seeing all the kids and people.

Cutest brother-in-law ever!

Jason and I carved pumpkins and watched the Nightmare Before Christmas. We were planning on attending a trunk-or-treat but two days before Halloween I started throwing up. A lot. Finally by Friday morning, I hadn't been able to keep anything down for a day and a half so my mom got off work early and took me to the hospital. This time, instead of seeing me in the ER, they took me to the Family Birth Center because I was so far along. I got an IV and they monitored my baby. I felt her have the hiccups for the first time :)

ER visits in the year 2014: 5

November--The day after Halloween I had my first baby shower. I was glad to be feeling better by then! Emily and Kiah threw me a wonderful shower and I had so much fun with my amazing friends. A week or so later I had a second baby shower, thrown by Jasmine, which was also awesome! I have been so blessed to have so many people giving gifts to my baby girl. We have gotten so much stuff it's incredible, and we are so grateful!

Jason's parents took us to see Popovich's Comedy Pet Theater in downtown Olympia. It was very entertaining, but made me think my animals are pretty dang useless ;) 

We got a new kitty. Jack is a wonderful addition to our little family.

Best buds

Jason's mom took some maternity pictures. It was FREEZING so we didn't get too many but we got a lot of good ones!

Jason's whole family went to Idaho for Thanksgiving. Being so pregnant, I did not want to make that drive so we stayed here and spent the quiet, relaxing day with my mom and Robert.

December--Jason's brother Lance came home from Idaho for about a month. His family stayed with us for a few days before going to stay at his in-laws, and it was fun having my two little nephews here! Adelin loved Gus and Gus loved him.

Our good friend's daughter turned one and we had a party for her at our place. I can't believe little miss Piper is a whole year old! It has been so much fun getting to see her grow up :) 

Well that was pretty much our year! Hopefully next year we will have less visits to the hospital ;) We hope all of our friends and family have had a wonderful year, and a happy holiday season. Merry Christmas, we love you!

XOXO,

The Katwijks

Jason, Elise, Gus, Zuko, Jack, and Baby Girl

Getting Close

Tomorrow I am 30 weeks pregnant. Time has been flying by the second half of my pregnancy. I wish I could say that I am all done being sick, but I am definitely not. On Halloween I spent the day in the hospital getting IV's because I had thrown up for over 30 hours straight and was severely dehydrated. This morning my cinnamon toast crunch decided to make a reappearance. So yeah, me and the toilet are still best buds. I guess it will just be that way until she's here!

I had two baby showers. They were both a lot of fun! Baby girl and I are extremely grateful to everyone who helped, came, and brought gifts! I failed to take any pictures at the first one, which is quite unfortunate. I wanted to get a group picture of everyone who was there and I wanted to document the adorable decorations that Emily had set up. My mom took a bunch of pictures at my second shower, I look like a beached whale in most of them so I will only put up a couple :)

Adorable diaper cake made by Jasmine!

Other updates: Jason and I found a name that we both love (which took forever and was nearly impossible) but my dear husband doesn't want to commit to the name until she is here :) Hopefully she looks like what we picked out, otherwise she may be nameless for awhile!

I assume I do not have gestational diabetes because I took my test a week ago and haven't heard back from my midwife's office. Woohoo! I couldn't do the fasting test, I threw up less than an hour after drinking the glucose drink so my midwife let me do an alternate way of taking the test.

We got a new car back in September because Jason sold his to his brother, and I crashed mine. It is kind of unfortunate only having one vehicle to share, but we're making it work. If it were better weather outside, Jason could just take his motorcycle to work every day. Luckily for me I have Kiah and Jasmine who always offer me rides and get me out of the house a couple days a week :) 

We got a new kitty named Jack. Jason calls him Handsome Jack (from Borderlands) and I call him Black Jack. He's the sweetest, most loving kitty I've ever seen. He and Zuko were best friends right away! Gus is dying to play with him but Jack still isn't quite sure about him.

My Pregnancy

Hey everyone. I thought I'd write down a bunch of stuff about my pregnancy so far--and if no one thinks that's interesting, I'll at least have it to look back on later ;)

Obviously I could not wait to be pregnant. Jason and I tried for over a year. When it finally happened I was beyond thrilled. I expected to have a fairly easy pregnancy (wishful thinking). I also knew that most women in my family do not experience morning sickness, and I didn't have any with my last pregnancy so I thought I'd be good. Boy, was I wrong. It hit me at week 7. I threw up nearly every day until week 14, with just a few random days that I did not throw up. Then I thought I was done. Most morning sickness goes away in the second trimester right? Not for me! I was fine for about a week or two, then would randomly get sick again. I am now 17 weeks. I threw up yesterday and today. It feels never-ending! I've tried practically everything that I have read or heard about and nothing really works unfortunately.

The toilet and I are best friends now.

In the beginning of my pregnancy, I craved fast food all the time. I discovered pretty early on that my pregnant self does not enjoy chocolate (I know, crazy!) and that I cannot eat chicken (unless it's breaded/fried). Vegetables have also been nearly impossible to eat. I feel like I've lived off cereal, Ramen, fruit, and more cereal for the majority of my pregnancy. Pizza, frozen yogurt and mandarin oranges are a few things that always sound good to me. Trying to eat healthy seems nearly impossible. For the past month or so, I have had very few cravings and most food sounds gross to me. I am also hungry ALL THE TIME which makes this whole thing even more difficult. Always hungry + nothing sounds good = misery.

Of course I planned on being super healthy and working out every day during my pregnancy. Ha! That has not happened at all. I try to go on walks whenever I can, but that is pretty much all I can manage. Right before I got pregnant I was actually working out nearly every day and starting to see some results. Well, now I am just focused on trying to not gain a million pounds haha.

Everyone told me I'd sleep amazingly when I was pregnant. I did sleep pretty well in the first trimester, but now I do not sleep well at all. I can't get comfortable, I have to go to the bathroom usually twice a night, and I wake up countless times. My hips have started to hurt when laying on my sides so I have to lay on my back a lot of the time. Usually the best sleep I get is in the morning when Jason leaves for work and I fall back asleep for an hour--if I can get Zuko and Gus to be quiet :)

Don't get me wrong, as much as I can sit and complain about my pregnancy, I am SO happy to have this opportunity. I am so grateful to experience pregnancy, and I know that every time I throw up it is just a reminder and indication that my baby is growing healthy and strong. A friend gave me a fetal heart monitor and I LOVE listening to my sweet baby's heartbeat. After a long day of being sick, nothing puts a bigger smile on my face than hearing that amazing sound. I have not felt the baby kick yet, but I have felt a few little flutters. We will find out the baby's gender in 3 weeks, and we CANNOT WAIT!

I know that some women will never get to experience being pregnant. Not everyone wants to, but my heart aches for those that do. I am not taking this pregnancy for granted; even in my most miserable moments I still am so amazed that I get to make this beautiful little life and bring it into the world. Women are amazing and I have a new respect for anyone who has been through pregnancy haha. It is not easy but I know it will absolutely be worth it!

Quote from my favorite children's book of all time

Our Big News

It's baby time!!

As many of you know, Jason and I have been trying to start a family for awhile now. Early last year we got pregnant and miscarried at 12 weeks. I remember so many people telling me that it was okay, I'd get pregnant again right away. I believed them...

But it didn't happen. We tried for over a year to conceive again and it just wasn't happening. I kept trying not to get my hopes up but every single month that went by that I wasn't pregnant was absolute torture. Finally around the one year mark I decided to make us doctor appointments to see if there was anything physically preventing us from making a baby.

In May I started feeling like I might be pregnant. I tried desperately not to get my hopes up, but I couldn't ignore certain symptoms. I took a few pregnancy tests, days apart, and they were all negative. However, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was really pregnant.

Shortly after my negative pregnancy tests, and less than a week before our appointments, I went to the ER for a kidney infection. They also did a pregnancy test and told me it was positive. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. At that time I was about 3 weeks along, which is why my at-home pregnancy tests came back negative. About a week later I took another at-home test, just so I could see it for myself.

I've already had several doctors appointments and an ultrasound, so now it feels real! There is a baby growing inside me. With my last pregnancy, I had no morning sickness and was not showing at all by 12 weeks. This time, around 7 weeks, I was hit with "morning" sickness that really lasted all day long. It just stopped over the weekend while I was on vacation in Idaho, right around the time I hit 12 weeks. I already have a tiny little bump, which popped out around 10 weeks. Baby is growing and healthy and finally done making me sick (hopefully)!

We cannot even begin to describe the joy we are feeling right now. We have always wanted to be parents and have struggled so much the last year with the possibility of it not happening. It was very difficult to watch many close friends and family members become parents while we were having such a hard time making a baby. Everyone said "your time will come, it will happen" and it finally has.

Thank you all so much for your love and support! Baby Katwijk appreciates it :)

My Biggest Regret

This is going to be full of things that I am ashamed of, embarrassed by, and things I haven't told anyone. I really want to get it off my chest though.

Most of you don't know this, but I started school this week. I am attending University of Phoenix online. I looked into online schools for so long, and even though doing my education online is not the ideal way, it is the only way that I can do this without sacrificing my full time job. Luckily for me, I am a nanny for an 8 month old baby so I have the opportunity to do schoolwork while he naps.

I have been putting off going back to school for WAY too long. I hated talking about it, and to be honest I was embarrassed that I never had the motivation to finish school before. I was embarrassed that kids I used to babysit were getting their college degrees before me. I was embarrassed that my friends all had degrees, some of them even had Masters. Boy, did that make me feel pretty lame! I made excuse after excuse, but in reality I just wasn't ready to dedicate myself to school until now.

I went to BYU-Idaho for two semesters right out of high school (literally right out...I started 2 weeks after graduating, and I was still 17). I did pretty well my summer semester, but fall semester I started suffering from really bad insomnia. I wouldn't fall asleep until about 4 or 5 in the morning, and as a result I couldn't get up for my 8 am classes. I tried taking Melatonin, which helped me fall asleep a little earlier, but not much. Missing a bunch of classes lead to me falling really far behind in school, to the point where I just sort of gave up. I also became really homesick and it was making me depressed. I have told VERY few people this information. After that semester, I went home and stayed there for about 6 months before moving to California to live with my grandma.

She said that if I was going to be living with her, I had to go to school so we signed me up and I gave it another shot. Like at BYU-I, I did well for a semester and then started losing motivation. I couldn't pick a major. I tried out a couple different ones (English, Liberal Arts, Journalism) but I couldn't find one I was passionate about. I decided if I wasn't passionate I didn't want to waste my time. I was working part-time, and would rather spend my spare time hanging out with friends, not doing homework for classes that I didn't care about.

I was both surprised and frustrated with my college experience thus far. I had always been a pretty good student. In high school, I definitely could have done a lot better (I skipped a lot of school, especially senior year, and was pretty lazy with homework and studying) but I still managed to graduate with honors. I expected that I would do well in college too, and I expected to love it. It wasn't that I was not capable of doing well, it wasn't that college was too hard for me--I just could not find the motivation to do it. I was so envious of my friends who knew exactly what they wanted to be and what they wanted to study. The things that I were good at unfortunately were not things I wanted to study. 

Ever since I stopped going to school, it has popped into my mind very frequently that I should return. I need a degree, I need to go back. I don't know how I managed to push that thought to the back of my mind for so many years. I used every excuse: I don't have any money for school, I don't have time because I work full-time, I don't know what I want to study, I'm getting too old--I don't want to be the oldest one in my classes, I move a lot so I would have to wait for residency to kick in (1 year--dumbest rule ever) before I can start, etc.

Finally, after years of silencing that voice in my head, I decided I absolutely could not put it off any longer. Even though it is embarrassing to me that I am 27 years old and do not have a college degree of any kind, I need to do this. Some day I will have children and I want to set a good example for them. I need to do this to feel proud of myself.

My college credits are kind of all over the place, so I am starting over completely new, as a freshman. I will be getting my associates of healthcare administration/medical records through University of Phoenix, and then my plan is to get my Diagnostic Radiology BS, hopefully at Boise State. It is LONG overdue, and I know this is the worst way I could have done things but I can't change the mistakes of my past. I am very excited to be in school again and cannot wait to learn new things!

2013 Highlights

January

My dad and stepmom Tonia came to Las Vegas to visit. We went to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum and had a fancy schmancy brunch at one of the hotels.

Jason's family came to town for a deck convention (his dad owns a deck building company) and brought us our kitty Zuko. We fell in love instantly.

We found out we were pregnant with our first baby. It was unplanned and unexpected, but of course we were very happy about it. We didn't know we were pregnant when Dad was here, but we had found out before Jason's family came into town so we were able to tell some of them in person.

February

We had a mellow Valentine's Day dinner at Five Guys, and watched my Niners lose the Superbowl.

March

After 9 months of living in Las Vegas, we finally found the temple! Haha. We left church early one Sunday and were determined to find it (it is not easy) and I'm glad we did. It was incredibly windy but we had a nice time walking around the grounds.

Kim, Grammie and Aunt Joy were in town so we all had lunch together at the Hard Rock Cafe.

My mom and Robert drove down to help us move back to Washington. 

A week after moving home, I suffered a miscarriage.

April

With our tax return, we bought a new laptop and sent me to California for a week. It sucked being away from Jason and Zuko, but I had so much fun catching up with my family and friends down there. I went to a Sharks game, to the beach, and saw as many people as I could!

We moved into our first place on our own! My aunt Marlyn let us rent her house, and we have loved living by ourselves.

May

On a whim, I had decided to sign up for a 5K a few months back. I meant to get around to training for it...but that didn't really happen because I hurt my knee. I did the 5K anyway, which I am super proud of because I am NOT a runner. I didn't even do half bad! It was for church, so it wasn't timed but I know that I was definitely within the top 1/3 of ladies who finished :) My knee did great and I finished, that was all I cared about! I made Isabella do it with me, but she just walked the whole time.

June

Jason and I celebrated one year of marriage with a motorcycle ride out to the beach, then dinner at Fujiyama.

I got a part-time job working front desk/cafe at Piper's Playground and met a lot of wonderful people. I learned how to make coffee drinks, which totally intimidated me at first but once I got the hang of it, it was really fun!

Jason, TJ, Jasmine and I participated in a walk for Cystic Fibrosis to support TJ's niece. 

July

We celebrated the 4th of July at the beach with some friends.

A bunch of us went river rafting down in Oregon, which was a blast!

Our family reunion began on my birthday down in Astoria/Warrenton, Oregon. For most of the trip, the weather was cold and wet :( The day we went to the beach, however, we were blessed with sunshine and I got a tan :)

We celebrated my birthday by going out to breakfast with TJ and Jasmine, driving down to Oregon, and going out to dinner with all of Jason's family.

August

Jason took me to my first Seattle Sounders game. We got to go with some friends and we had a blast!

While playing disc golf (which we did a lot of once we moved back to WA--I even got my own frisbee!), I got stung by a bee for the first time since I was a kid. Not so fun. 

Jason and Brandon entered a hole-in-one disc golf competition up north. I watched and took photos. Brandon almost had it, but Jason was nowhere close :) He did throw farther than most of the people there though.

I quit my job at Piper's, and started a full-time nanny job for a baby boy named Gavin. I love working for the Weston family and Gavin is such a wonderful baby! I love being a nanny.

September

Jason turned 25. We had a BBQ party at our house. It rained, so Jason BBQ'd in the garage haha. His family and some of our friends came over, and we played games and ate lots of food!

This was a sad month for us, because our baby was due September 15. I will never forget that date. That was the day we were supposed to become parents.

My friends Mike and Stephanie got married in Spokane. Amber came up, and the three of us drove over to Spokane and spent the night. It was a very very very hot day, but their wedding was beautiful and I got to see a lot of my friends from California.

We added a new member to our family--meet Gus Gus. He is a Rottweiler/lab mix and is cute, hyper, playful, very attached to us, and loves to play with/torture Zuko. They love each other, and we love him.

October

Michelle, Mike, and Landon came for a visit for Michelle's birthday.

Jason and I dressed up as a Pink Lady and a T-Bird for Halloween. We passed out candy at our ward trunk or treat, then went out to dinner with Emily and Curtis.

November

We went up to my cousin's house in Bellevue for Thanksgiving. It was a very relaxing day. Kim had surprised Mom by coming home for a week, and it was great to have her here! 

Jason and I went to a Grease sing along in downtown Tacoma. It was a lot of fun! I'd definitely recommend everyone who likes musicals to attend a sing along one. I want to do Sound of Music next! :)

December

We got our first snow of the season. It wasn't much, and it didn't last more than a few hours but it was still exciting!

Jason and I attended our ward Christmas party, which was Polar Express themed. Unfortunately we couldn't stay long but it was still fun. The next week I went with Mom, Robert and Isabella to theirs.

That's about it. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!!

XOXO
The Katwijks