Garden of the Gods

We had some warm weather (80s) and decided to get out and see some of the moutains!  We hadn't been to Garden of the Gods, so we made that our day's adventure! :)

 The beautiful view of Pikes Peak

 "Kissing Camels"

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A Day at the Zoo

While Jason was on his crazy shifts, we had days off during the week, so we decided to take a trip to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo! It was a gorgeous day and the kids had a blast! We will most definitely be returning...

 Paige was SO excited to feed the giraffes!  I think it was the highlight of her day!

Dinosaurs and recreation

Well, we've been here for about 2 months and are finally settled in our house!  Two weeks after we moved in, my mom and sister came to visit.  It was such a fun time to have them come to our house!  Two weeks after that we drove to Albuquerque to meet my parents.  They very generously gave us mom's PT Cruiser (since she bought a new car).  It was great to see them again and it was a very easy drive.
We are getting into a groove with Jason's new work schedule (that is about to change again since he is starting school March 19).  He has days off during the week which is great for touring since most people are still working! :)  The weather is feeling a little more like spring so we are able to be outside for longer periods of time without feeling like we are going to turn into icicles.  We took a drive yesterday to visit the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center.  It was fun for Paige to see all of the skeletons, but definitely not work the $20 for the 45 min. we were there.  We had to laugh at the lady trying to give us a tour.  We politely told her we were not interested so instead she just followed us around and gave her spiel about each dinosaur and how they lived MILLIONS of years ago (really lady, pick up a Bible).  Anyway, after leaving the Dinos we drove back down the mountain.  The views were magnificent.  We will definitely be making more trips up there for pictures...plus it's on the way to Pike's Peak.
We are making Colorado Springs our home and are loving it so much here!  We are so thankful to be closer to family and be getting the medical care that Tucker needs.  2 weeks ago he came down with RSV had had to be in the hospital overnight.  What a blessing he was taken care of so well here.  He had to come home on oxygen for a week, but he's a tough little booger and is doing great! Thank you for all of your prayers for him and for us.  God is so good!

Birthday Celebration

We arrived in Colorado a week before my birthday, and we decided to go to Focus on the Family for the big day.  It was such a fun place.  Having grown up with Adventures in Odyssey and Dr. Dobson, it was a special treat.  The kids loved it as well!  I highly recommend visiting there if you are ever in Colorado Springs!

Colorado

Well, December 10th we made the long flight back to the USA!  We flew into Colorado Springs and stayed the night with Jason's sister.  My parents met us there and the next day we drove to Arizona for our 30 days of leave!  We spent 2 weeks in Arizona with family and celebrated Christmas.  On Christmas day we drove to Nebraska to celebrate Christmas with my family!  We spend 2 weeks there then make the final trek to Colorado Springs...our new home!  We are going to be moving into a new home on base the beginning of February, but for now we are staying with Jason's sister.  We are getting settled into the town and loving it so far. 
We have already started some site seeing.  Last weekend (on my 31st birthday) we visited Focus on the Family.  It was a great time for the kids as well as the adults.  We enjoyed lunch and, of course, the bookstore!  We have our "bucket list" of things we want to do and see in the next 2 years we are here.
We are so thankful to be back in the states and closer to family!  Now, we begin real life again and getting back into daily life.  We are starting the process of getting referrals for Tucker to get in to see specialists.  I will keep everyone posted on what happens. :)

Merry Christmas!

I can't believe it's that time of year again!  Seems like we just wrote our "letter" for last year...what a year this has been.  We started the year in Okinawa, Japan and will be ending the year in Colorado Springs, CO!  We are being stationed at Peterson Air Force Base!
We cannot express our thanks to everyone who has prayed for us and offered encouraging word to us during this time in our life.  We are so thankful to be able to celebrate our Lord and Savior and what He did for us.  We wish you all a very merry Christmas and happy new year!

just another update...

We've had Tucker home for a month now, and he has adjusted very well!  Paige is loving being a big sister and is so helpful.  Thankfully, we haven't had any jealousy issues...yet.  :)  This last month has been filled with several doctor appointments and such.  The latest was his eye exam.  After his fourth exam, we were told his eyes are fully grown now and there are no abnormalities thus far.  When we get to our next duty station, we will have more follow up appointments to make sure things are still going well.  He also had an evaluation by a program called Educational and Developmental Intervetion Services (EDIS), where they had a physical therapist come and watch his movements and such.  To qualify for the program, meaning he would have to have routine visits from the physical therapists and any other people to help with his development, he would have to score a 2%.  After his evaluation, he scored a 3%!  In other areas, he scored just below average and therefore was not eligible for the program!  This means he isn't so far behind as his prematurity!  We are so thankful.  We realize this could change, but right now he is doing great!  Also, this week he got his first set of shots and he now weighs 6 lbs 1 oz!
We are still waiting on our orders to go to our next duty station, but we are being told we should be leaving here mid October!  We are very excited to be able to see our families again!  We are so thankful for the experience to come to Japan and for our little "souvenir", but we are ready to see what the Lord has in store for us at our next assignment!
We ask for your continued prayers and we gear up for this next adventure and for our health and safety the remainder of our time here!  Thank you all! :)

Home at last!

Saturday, August 13, Tucker was finally discharged from the NICU and just in time for Paige's birthday party! :) Friday, we were told the great news that he would be able to go home the next morning! I stayed the night at the hospital and roomed in with him and for the first time he had no cords or monitors. I was a little nervous at first, but soon jumped into my mommy mode and things were great. It was such a wonderful night bonding with him with no interruptions. The next morning, Jason and Paige came to the hospital to pick us up (we hadn't told Paige yet). She didn't fully understand he was coming home with us that day until we were walking to the car and she saw him in his car seat! She was SO excited! It was such a relief as we left the hospital parking lot...a chapter closing. Tucker is now 6 weeks old and has been home for 2 full days and is doing wonderfully. We are still adjusting to having him home, but we are all managing well. Jason goes back to work this week and we can finally begin to get back into some sort of routine again! We are still awaiting orders and where we will be going. We are praising God for his provisions for our family and giving us the strength to make it through this experience. He has given us this little miracle and we are so blessed. Again, we thank everyone for the continued prayers. We are so amazed and God's work!

1 month update

Well, right now we are awaiting what was supposed to be a "super" typhoon, but has now been downgraded to a category 2 (90-100 mph winds). We were strongly encouraged not to stay at the hospital with Tucker since they would be double staffed and they also have alot of pregnant women that have to go in during the storm in case of labor. It was very hard to leave him and know we wouldn't see him for a couple days at the most. This story just keeps getting better :).

Tucker is now a month old and weighs in at a whopping 3 lbs. 11 oz and 16 1/2 inches long! He has had some ups and downs and the most recent is he had gotten off his oxygen, but after about 3 days had some big drops in his heart rate and breathing and they had to put it back on. The doctor thought he might have some sort of infection going on since their body can't run a fever yet, they heart rate drops. They did several blood tests, a spinal tap and a catheter and ruled out an infection and are thinking it is just immaturity still. It was emotional for his mother ;). On a better note, he is now taking all of his feeds (8) by mouth. Some days are a little harder on him than others and he is just to tired to eat so they have had to use the feeding tube. When he can go at least a 24 -48 hours without having to use the tube it will come out! Another big prayer answered is he had his eye test this week and so far everything looks good for his gestational age and they are progressing well. He will have another test August 16 (please pray). He also had another ultrasound to make sure there is no fluid on his brain and that came back all clear. He has had, I think 4 other checks and this was just routine again. Another good thing is he is now wearing clothes! I know this isn't a huge shock, but it means he is beginning to regulate his temperature. He is still in an isolet, but he is almost ready to have the top opened to make sure he can regulate his temp well then he will get to be in an open crib! I know this all sounds like a foreign language, but it's good news! haha He has changed alot in this month and is starting to look more like a newborn and less like a preemie (if that makes sense). We think he has a little red hair as well so look out! :)

Another big milestone we had this week...Paige turned 4!! We cannot believe how fast the time has gone! Since all of this with Tucker has been going on, she has had to deal with hospital living during the day, but for her birthday, Jason took her bowling and got her ice cream! She had so much fun! This weekend we are having a little Strawberry Shortcake party for her with a few of her friends. We are working it in between Tucker's feeds! Such a crazy life right now!

We have been so blessed with so many kind words and prayers from so many people. We have such an amazing support and prayer system and we thank you all so very much and I know our families thank you as well! We look forward to the next stage of this season of life and bringing Tucker home to join our family. What a day that will be!! We are also looking forward to see where God will be taking our family. We are awaiting orders to be reassigned back to the states where Tucker can recieve the medical care that he will need! There are no pediatric specialists here, so the doctors are sending us back! We are very thankful for the time that we go to have in Japan, but look forward to being closer to family and friends :). Thank you all again for all of your continued prayers! We love you all!!