Kyle and Anna-Lisa

Sucky 2011 continues

2011-10-17T21:30:00.000-07:00

2011 has brought us another "challenge" as my mom calls it. You can read my new blog http://live-for-him.blogspot.com/ to read the news.

Six months already?

2011-09-26T18:04:00.001-07:00

One week old

Smiley girl

Always wanting to what brother is doing

Say what?

Kylie is six months old already! I can not believe how fast the time has gone. I'm convinced that time goes by so much faster with the second baby and I'm a little sadden by that...OK A LOT!

The first six weeks of Kylie's life were miserable. Not only were we trying to get used to having two kids, we were also dealing with a very crabby baby who cried ALL THE TIME. We found out at exactly six weeks that she had silent reflux and it was bad enough to put her on medicine. She totally changed once we started her on her medicine. She started smiling at everyone, was happy (as long as there's people around to entertain her), and she started sleeping through the night. Her true personality started to come out. She loves to play peek-a-boo and smiles at everyone she sees. Her favorite person is William and her face lights up whenever he walks into the room. She is sitting up by herself and rolls all over the place although she would rather be walking (which she'll do if you hold her hands while she's standing up). She hates being by herself and would rather sit and watch me cook dinner than play in her bouncy seat in the other room. If she's unhappy, she will let you know and she can go from smiling to screeching at you in seconds. In fact, she flat out yelled at me when she was two weeks old. I hope that she always tells people how she feels and stands up for herself (I may regret that when she's 15).

I have enjoyed the last six months watching Kylie grow and I'm excited for all the changes that are coming in the next six months.

2011 update

2011-09-26T10:24:00.000-07:00

I'm going to steal my mom's blog idea and write a post on our not so fun year so here it goes.

This year started off with Kyle starting is new job as a Marine Corps Recruiter. We knew that it was going to be a big change for him and for our family with longer hours and more pressure but we just didn't know how hard it was going to be. It's one of those situations that you hear from other people how hard it is but you don't understand until you're in it. Like everything he does, he's very good at his job but it is VERY stressful and it's hard to see him doing something he doesn't enjoy. The thing I keep telling myself and him is that he could be deployed. At least he gets to come home every night (well almost every night). I try to look at the positives but it's hard sometimes. I don't think things have gotten easier with his job but we've slowly adjusted.

In April I found out my little sister (who is 19 and a senior in high school) was pregnant with twins and she has chosen to live in a house for unwed, homeless mothers instead of with my mom. This pregnancy has brought up a lot of "why God" prayers in my life which I realize is not how it should be but it is. I won't get into specifics but I will say that a lot of changes need to be made on her part for these babies. After six months of being sad, angry, worried, and indifferent, I think I've finally turned the whole situation over to God. I am not in control of her life or her decisions, God is. The only thing I can do is pray and that's what I intend to do. It is still a very difficult situation for my whole family and there are a lot more question marks than I am comfortable with. It's been a struggle for me mostly because instead of my sister and I getting closer and sharing pregnancy stories, this has pulled us farther apart. I really don't know if our relationship will ever be repaired and that is something else I'm not in control of (sorry if none of that made sense). There is only so much one person can do and a relationship is two-sided.

On top of that, my little brother went to live in a rehabilitation boys school in Kentucky about two months ago. This was not something that any of us wanted to happen but it was very much needed. He was very angry at everyone and was starting to get violent with my mom. I can honestly say she tried everything before she made this decision and it was not made in hast. He will be there for at least a year. I really don't think I've dealt with the fact that he isn't around and won't be for a while. I haven't let the thoughts of missing him and him missing out on family events into my mind. I refuse to think about them or deal with them. I look at the situation very logically and I don't let my emotions in at all. That's the only way I know how to handle this right now. I haven't cried, I haven't gotten angry, I haven't gotten sad. I refuse to let myself go there. Maybe I'm avoiding my feelings because I feel like I need to be the strong, logical one right now. I don't know. I know someday I will let those feelings in and I will have a breakdown but for right now I'm OK with burying those feelings.

There have been some good things to come out of this year. The first (and most important) is Kylie's birth. She is already six months old (I'm going to write and update later)! I can't believe time has gone by so fast. She has brought so much joy and happiness to our family when we really needed it. The other thing that is awesome is being so close to our family that we get to see them a couple times a month. Its been really nice getting to spend so much time with my family. William loves spending time with his cousins, his aunts and uncles, and his grandparents/great grandparents. The only thing that would make it better is to have Kyle's family here too!

Things I've learned from my two year old

2011-09-16T12:51:00.001-07:00

This year has been a very trying time not just as a family, but with William. A couple weeks before Kylie was born, the dreaded terrible twos joined our family. Now compared to some kids I've heard about, William is not that bad. He doesn't throw screaming, kicking, tantrums and he listens fairly well, but man that boy is stubborn. If he doesn't want to do something, he completely ignores anything you have to say and would rather be punished than do whatever it is your asking him to do (or not do). He is also very independent and it's a constant battle over what he can do and what he's allowed to do. It's a power struggle between him and I daily. He is also the most loving little boy and he is constantly teaching me new things. Here are a few things I've learned from him.

1) A smile is the best way to greet someone. William has a way of making everyone he meets feel good about themselves. He greets everyone like they are his favorite person in the world. Even people he has just met get an enthusiastic "Hi" with a 1000 wat smile. I realized that I need to start doing that to everyone I come in contact with especially my husband. A lot of times when Kyle comes home I'm in the middle of some project or chore and instead of stopping for a moment to greet him, I give him a quick hello. I'm sure that makes him feel like whatever I'm doing is more important than him

2) Everyone is equal. A toddler doesn't care how much money you have, what you look like, what kind of clothes you wear, what kind of car you drive, your social status, etc. Their judgement of people is how a person treats them. I am a judgemental person to a fault and it's something I am constantly working on. I love watching William interact with people because he could care less about who they are as long as they are nice to him. I want to be more like that. I want to quit judging people by what they have or what they look like or what they wear and start paying attention to their character.

3)He asks for help. This is something I'm awful at. I try to do it all and I'll wear myself down before I ask for help even from Kyle. I am learning how to ask for help when I need it but it's hard.

4) He has a servant's heart. One of the things that has surprised me the most about William since Kylie was born was how helpful he is. If we ask him to get something, especially for Kylie, he rushes to get it. He is always helping me "clean" and when I ask him to help pick up he does. I am not very good at this especially in my walk with God. Sometimes I hear the call of God to do something or help someone and I ignore it because I have my own stuff to do. This is something I really need to work on.

These are a few things I've learned from William this last year. I never imagined my baby boy could teach me so much.

Adoption-older VS younger

2011-08-12T09:46:00.001-07:00

Someone recently asked me if I wished my siblings had been adopted at a younger age. They were wondering if that would have made a difference in their stories. I can honestly say I don't know. I think that no matter how a child is when they're adopted, there is always a feeling of loss. They always wonder who they look like, who their parents are, why they were given up, and they go through a period when they don't feel good enough for anybody. How many times have you sat down with your parents and compared baby pictures to see which parent you looked like more. Have you ever talked to your family about what genes you share (this is a common occurrence in our house because we have some strange genes that we all share). Adopted children don't get to have these conversations (obviously open adoptions are the exception). For my siblings, all they have are pictures to see who they look like and for one of them, they don't know what their birth father even looks like. In this sense, no matter what age a child is, adoption is always difficult.
I think if my siblings were younger when they were adopted they might not have some of the attachment issues they have now. If they were adopted as babies I know they wouldn't have some of the bad experiences they've had. I can't say that they wouldn't for sure have attachment issues because even kids who were adopted as babies deal with attachment issues. They would probably have an easier time being part of a family though. For all three of the youngers, none of them knew what it meant to be part of a family. They have never had to do chores as a family, they've never sat down for a meal as a family, they've never gone to church as a family, they've never celebrated holidays as a family, etc. All the things we take for granted every year, these kids have never experienced until they were adopted. Imagine going to a random person's house during the holiday season. You have no idea what their traditions are. All these people you're with know what's going on but you're just kind of thrown into the mix. But you're supposed to be part of the family. I don't know if I'm making any sense but I'm trying. In this sense, I think it would be easier if my siblings were adopted when they were younger.
On the flip side, sometimes I wish I was younger when the youngers were adopted. By the time AJ was adopted, I was 18 and already living on my own. When RJ and T were adopted, I was living in a totally different state and engaged. Sometimes I wish I had been younger so that I could have had the experience of living with them. Like I said before, I don't know if anything would have helped with their attachment stuff, but maybe if I had been around all the time, my relationships would be different. It's one thing to be the cool sibling that comes around every now and then and it's totally different when you share their everyday life with them. I have always said that I don't think of them any differently than I do my biological brother, and in some ways I don't, but in other ways I do because I don't really know them because I'm not there everyday.
I know this post is really scattered but I hope I answered the question about the kids being adopted at a younger age. I really don't know if it would have helped but I think some things would have been easier.

Advice for adoptive parents

2011-06-02T13:10:00.001-07:00

I always think about what advice I would give parents that are adopting that already have older kids. When I got pregnant with Kylie, people were always giving me advice on how to transition William into being an older brother. Since I've had Kylie, one of the most asked questions is how is William doing with a new sister. It's strange to me that there isn't any information on how to help an older child handle an adopted sibling. Nobody asks the parent, or the older child for that matter, how things are going for them once the adopted child is home. Is it any different? Personally, I don't think so. The situation is different. There might be different problems especially if you are adopting an older child but the child that was already there still feels the same things. They still feel jealousy. They still wonder where they fit in now because their family dynamic has changed. They still feel replaced at times. The feelings are still the same.

One of the biggest thing a parent can do to help the older child during the adoption is to keep the older child involved as much as possible. I had already moved out by the time AJ's adoption was going through so I was a part of the adoption from far away. It was my fault for not being very involved but I wish that my parents would have forced me to be more involved. Have family meetings with all the older children to talk about the adopted child. Talk about where they're from, how old they are, share pictures, share stories, talk about their history like have they been in an orphanage, with foster parents, or with their biological parents. If you travel to get the child, bring back souvenirs and lots of pictures to share with the older kids especially if you got out of the country. Keep the older child involved in the process. Let them know where you are in the adoption process and what's left. Once you get a date to get your child, keep a countdown so that everyone is aware of when the new child will be coming. Let them help you decorate the room and pick out new clothes. Have the older child talk to the adopted child as much as possible whether through letters or phone calls. Have them be a part of the everyday boring stuff of the adoption.
Another thing a parent can do to help is talk to the older child about the possible issues the adopted child will have once they come home. This is especially important when adopting older children. I know that every child is different but I was totally unaware of what RAD was and how it would affect my relationship with any of the kids. When AJ came home, I had these dreams about going shopping, sharing secrets, have sleep overs, and being close. I didn't realize that her RAD would keep her from having a "normal" sibling relationship. Many adopted children don't even know what it means to be part of a family especially those that have been in an orphanage. They don't know what it's like to have chores, to have holidays with a family, to spend time as a family. I think my relationship would be different with AJ if I hadn't pushed my dreams on her so hard in the beginning. I don't think it would be what I had dreamt it would be but it would be different than what it is now.
Another thing parent can do to help their older child or children deal with the adoption is to take time to spend with them and listen to what they have to say. My mom did a really good job of letting me talk (once I figured out what I wanted to say). As silly as it sounds, I was jealous of AJ when she came home and I still am jealous of the all the younger kids every once in awhile. They have a different relationship with my mom than I did growing up. My mom is able to spend more time with them and take them on trips and buy them the things we couldn't afford. I am extremely happy for them but at the same time I can't help but feel a little jealous which is totally normal. As an older child, I needed to know that what I was feeling, no matter how silly I thought it was, was ok and normal. If your older child doesn't feel comfortable talking to you about how they feel for whatever reason, take them to a counselor. If they aren't able to talk through their feeling about their new siblings, they will eventually start to resent them.
I think the most important thing a parent can remember is that even though your child is older and you are not physically having a child, adoption is the same thing. Kids still feel the same way and their place in the family is different just like when a new biological child is brought into the family.

2011-06-02T13:07:00.001-07:00

Intro to adoption blog

2011-06-02T13:05:00.000-07:00

Introduction
I have been wanting to start a blog about my experiences with my adopted siblings since I have yet to find any blogs or books written from the perspective of an older, biological child plus I need an outlet to vent and get my thoughts out. I haven't started a blog before now because I have always struggled with how to start it. Since there has been some struggles going on with one of my younger, adopted siblings, I have had the need to get my thoughts out even more. I finally decided that not knowing how to start this blog was not a good enough excuse anymore. I figured that the best place to start was a short introduction and background to my family. I promise there will be more detail in the coming posts.

I was 18 and living on my own when my first adopted sibling came home. Up until that point, it had only been my biological brother (T.P.) and I. We're two years apart and we have always had a love/hate relationship (we still do). For as long as I can remember, adoption was always talked about in our family. My mom had always wanted to adopt and would spend hours on adoption websites. The thought of having another sibling that I might actually get along with was fine with me. My dad was always the one who drug his feet about adopting. When they finally agreed to adopt I was already a senior in high school. They agreed to adopt an older girl from Guatemala (my dad is fluent in Spanish and wanted to adopt from a Spanish speaking country). They found a facilitator that specialized in Guatemalan adoptions and we were matched with A.J. She was 10 when she came home and she DID NOT like me for about the first year (more on that in another post). She is now 18, a junior in high school and a very smart, funny, loving, young woman who definitely has her share of issues and is currently giving my mom quite a few gray hairs.
About two years after A.J. came home, my mom and dad divorced. They were planning on adopting A.J.'s biological siblings so all the paperwork was current. Before my mom's paperwork expired, my mom decided to adopt again. This time she chose Brazil and was matched with a sibling pair, T and R. By this time I was living in another state and was engaged so it was a little difficult trying to establish a relationship as their sister instead of some stranger who called every couple days and sometimes came to visit (again, more on my relationship with them later). T 14 is and R is 12 and they've been home for four years now. T and R also have their share of problems but I have never known two kids their age who work so hard and will do anything you ask them to do. T is a beautiful and very loving young woman. R is extremely funny and has the best smile of anyone I know.
All three of the youngers have Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) which is to be expected of older, adopted kids so they all have a hard time connecting to family members like a biological child would. Their journeys have definitely been difficult and there have been many trying times as a sibling but I can honestly say that I can't remember my life before them ( I have memories but I don't remember what it was like without them in my life). I can say without any doubt that God placed all three of them in my life for a reason and I am truly blessed to have them in my life.

Kylie Rae (Long)

2011-06-02T12:19:00.001-07:00

I've been totally slacking on my blogging lately. I started a new blog to write about my experiences being an older child to adopted kids and since I can't remember my password to get into that blog, I'm going to use this blog to write about all that fun stuff. Before I do that though, I figured I should write a little about Kylie Rae!

Kylie was born on March 25th at 10:21 pm. My labor was so different from William. It was easy and smooth and fast (compared to 20 hours with William, anything is fast). I had been having contractions for many weeks and was taken off bed rest at 36 weeks and everyone, including the doctor, thought I would go into labor that weekend. Kylie had different plans though. On the 24th I started having contractions that were closer than the normally were but they weren't painful so I went to bed not worried about anything. The next morning, my contractions were still about 4-5 mins apart but since they weren't painful, the doctor didn't want me going to the hospital just yet. Finally around 3:00, Kyle told me we were going to the hospital even though I wasn't in pain because he "refused to deliver his baby at home".

We arrived at the hospital about 3:30 and I was only 3 cms dilated. The nurse gave me an hour to dilate to 4 or I was going home. We walked around for an hour and that did the trick. My contractions still weren't painful at all so we hung out in the room watching March Madness. Around 9:00, my contractions got really painful fast so I got my epidural. I was only about 6 cms at that point so my mom decided to start heading home about 10:00. As soon as she left the room I started feeling a ton of pressure so the nurse checked me. I went from 6-10 cms in about a half hour so we called my mom back and I started pushing around 10:15 and she was born at 10:21 weighing in at 7lbs 12oz and 21 inches long.

Since her birth was different than William's we should have known that she was going to be a very different baby. The first six weeks were miserable. She cried ALL THE TIME and would only sleep while being held. She slept in our bed on my pillow and had to be forehead to forehead which at first was really sweet but then got really hard to get good sleep. I finally took her into the doctor at six weeks and she was diagnosed with reflux and put on medication. Since then she is a totally different baby. She is easy going, sleeps through the night, and is very happy. At that appointment she was also diagnosed with an umbilical hernia that will have to be surgically repaired. She has an appointment for that next week so we'll find out then when her surgery is.

William is an amazing big brother. He is totally in love with Kylie and she is in love with him. He loves to get her binkie when she cries and he keeps his eye on her when someone else is holding her. He loves to give her kisses and hugs and his new favorite thing is to lay down next to her when she is playing on her mat. It is so cute to watch. I can't wait to see their relationship grow as they get older.

Times you go hmmmm.....

2011-04-08T18:15:00.000-07:00

My failed attempt at getting

a cute picture of the kids......

2010 In Review

2011-01-10T15:09:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to write this post since the beginning of the New Year but it always seems like something else comes up. Since William is on his second nap and I just can justify taking a second one with him, I figure now is as good of time as any.

2010 in the Parrish home brought some very big changes. It started off with the possibility of Kyle having to go on Recruiting duty. He had gotten out of his orders twice before (due to him teaching his class) so we pretty much figured it wouldn't be any different this time. We very quickly figured out that there was no getting out of these orders no matter what Kyle tried to do and he tried everything. We really felt like God was shutting every door on us and that Kyle was really supposed to be a recruiter. We spent most of the year knowing that we were moving but we had no idea where. It's really difficult trying to plan a move when you don't know where you're going to end up. In August Kyle started recruiters school and a month after he started we found out we would be moving to Wenatchee, WA. We were both excited because we wanted to be closer to family and you can't really beat the views in WA. Kyle graduated on his birthday, October 21st, and we moved from San Diego to WA November 2nd.

The other big change hasn't exactly happened yet but we found out that I was pregnant on July 22nd. I'm due April 1st and we're having a little girl. We were both extremely shocked to find out we were having a girl. We both thought that we would only have boys but we are excited to have a little girl in the house. After we came up with William's name, we decided that if we ever had a girl we would name her Kylie (after Kyle) Rae (after my mom, grandma, and great-grandfather). The closer I get to my due date the more and more excited I get to meet this little girl but I'm also very nervous about having a new baby and a very active toddler in the house.

Speaking of the very active toddler, we celebrated William's first birthday this May. He is an amazing little boy and I thank God everyday for bringing him into our lives. He is so funny, very loving, and very much ALL BOY! He recently has decided that he needs to hit and kick everything in the house and that every toy he has is a weapon. He loves to wrestle and tackle Kyle and just like his daddy, he thinks he's the funniest thing on this Earth. He says quite a few words but he's determined to just jabber full sentences at you and we are slowly figuring out what he's trying to say. He pretty much skipped saying just words and went right to full sentences. He is a very loving little boy and will give kisses and hugs to pretty much anyone who asks and every once in awhile I get him to sit still enough to cuddle with me. He is very interested in my belly and pulls my shirt up and gives "ya-ya" (Kylie's nickname from William) kisses and high fives. Hopefully he'll be this loving when she gets here.

I'm very excited to see what 2011 brings to our house although I could do without another move :)

A family update

2010-05-24T14:12:00.000-07:00

I realize that I haven't posted in a very long time and I really don't have an excuse. Anyways, here's my long overdue family update.

This month we celebrated William's first birthday! I can't believe he's already a year old. He is such a joy and is such a happy baby. He is constantly smiling which is very contagious. We got to spend his first Easter in Alabama with Kyle's family and with the exception of being a bit overwhelmed, he did amazingly well even on the 5 hour flight home. A couple days after we got home he started walking and hasn't stopped. He would be very happy if he could be running too. He's still in the 99% for height but is only in the 47% for weight. The doctor said not to worry since he eats ALL THE TIME but he's constantly moving. I really wish I had his metabolism! He is slowly starting to talk. He says dada, daddy, doggy, Jack, bath, and done but still refuses to say mama. I will ask him to say all of the above and try to sneak in mama but he just sits there and acts like he can't hear me. He is so stubborn (gets that from his father). He loves being in water whether it's a pool or a bath. He is very loving and will walk over to Kyle and I just to give us a hug or a kiss. My heart just melts every time he does it. A friend of mine told me that the biggest changes come between 12 and 18 months so I'm so excited to see how much he changes in the next couple months.

The big news of our family is that we are moving around the beginning of Nov. Kyle got recruiting orders and will be done with the school around the end of October. We won't know until the second week of September where we will be moving to. We would love to move to either Spokane or Mobile to be close to family but so far it looks like that won't be an option. We're both kind of excited and bummed out about his new job. Neither one of us is looking forward to the actual recruiting aspect of it because recruiters have extremely long hours including the weekends but we're kind of excited to move somewhere new and it's a great career opportunity for Kyle.

We are going to be quite busy this summer. Johana is coming to stay with us for the whole summer and Tati will be here half of the summer. Mom and RJ will be here in the middle of July to celebrate Jae's 18th birthday. It will be so fun to have all of them here and I'm really looking forward to spending so much time with the girls.

William update

2010-02-18T15:03:00.000-08:00

I realize that it has been three months since my last "William" update. I can't believe how fast time has gone! I'll get right to the update...

William started crawling and he is so fast. For about the first month he was still getting used to crawling and didn't really go anywhere. He enjoyed the comforts of the living room and he was good with that but once he figured out that there was more to the world than just the living room, he was off and wanted to look in every room of the apartment. Did you know you can lose a baby in an 1,100 sq foot apartment? I didn't know that until it happened but you can. He loves playing with the scale in the bathroom and he recently learned how to open up the cabinets in the kitchen and pull out whatever is in that cabinet. Metal mixing bowls can get REALLY loud.

William is also pulling himself up and walking around furniture. Since he started pulling himself up he has earned the nickname booboo. He is very adventurous but hasn't quite figured out that he can't stand by himself yet and just because you can climb over something doesn't mean you should. We have at least one major accident a day and I've come to realize that I'm going to have the child in the class with a permanent bruise on his forehead. I'm actually really excited for him to start walking. I look forward to running around with him and going for walks. I'm also ready for my back to quit hurting from carrying him everywhere :)

William and I flew up to Spokane for a week to go to the family condo in Idaho. I've been going there for as long as I can remember so it was pretty cool getting to take William up there. It was also so much fun to hang out with my family and William loved playing with all the kids.

We've started feeding him more "adult" food and he really doesn't ever stop eating. His favorite food is green beans and will eat the whole can (small one) if I let him. He also loves goldfish crackers, Cheerios, and Cantaloupe.

The last couple months have brought about a lot of changes and it is so much fun watching him grow. He has such a personality and is constantly smiling and laughing (usually at himself). I am so blessed to have such a healthy, loving baby boy.

"

Lovin' Aunty Tati

Wrestling with Uncle RJ
All bundled up to go to the pool
Giving Aunty Jae a kiss

First Christmas

Meeting Aunty Ashley for the first time

3 Years

2009-11-25T15:47:00.000-08:00

November 25, 2006 started out like any other day but it was the day that changed my life forever. When I went to a friends wedding I didn't realize that I would meet my husband. I am so grateful that I am married to such an amazing man and I can't wait to see what God has planned for us in the future.

6 Months! (a little late but worth the wait)

2009-11-18T20:52:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that William is already 6 months old. I remember thinking when he just came home that 6 months seemed so far away and now it's come and gone.
So much has happened this last month. It amazes me how much he changes every month. We started William on solid food. It took him about two sittings before he realized that he liked the stuff and he's never looked back. He started eating a couple bites once a day. After two days he started eating two jars twice a day. My boy likes his food!
William is now sitting by himself. He definitely doesn't do anything until he is good and ready to. We had been working on him sitting and he could do it but he refused to do it unless we were sitting right behind him. And then one day he just decided to start doing it by himself and hasn't quit. He's still not crawling but he has learned how to roll and is very happy to do that and not crawl. For about three weeks we keep thinking he's going to crawl any minute because he rolls over on his stomach, pushes up on his arms, gets up on his toes and pushes off and that's as far as he gets. After his first initial push off he then rolls over and begins rolling around the house. I'm convinced that this is his form of crawling and he's going to skip over the "normal" way of crawling.
We have had a very busy month. Kyle's dad and step mom came down to visit for 4 days. We all got VERY spoiled with them down here and can't wait to see them again. My mom came for a weekend and took care of William so Kyle and I could go out on a date and stay the night at a hotel for our anniversary. It was very much needed and we enjoyed it. I was surprised at how well I did leaving William for the whole night for the first time. I think it helped that it was mom taking care of him and we were only 5 minutes away. This last weekend my best friend and her husband came to the states from Australia and we met up with them in LA. We spent one day in Santa Monica doing the tourist thing and then we went to the San Diego zoo the next day. William did amazingly well for being drug around everywhere for two days.
*pics to follow shortly*

Adoption (warning: long)

2009-10-11T18:20:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: This post is about adoption so I have used my mom and siblings as examples. Also, I have struggled for almost two weeks to find the words I want to use to write this post so my words might be all over the place.

A couple weeks ago, the Today Show featured a story about a woman who gave her adopted child to another family because they weren't bonding (http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/33089578/ns/today-parenting_and_family/). I DO NOT agree with her decision to adopt the baby in the first place or give him to another family, I am trying not to judge her decision and this post is not about that. The hardest part about the interview was having to hear her be called a hero. I'm sure that the decision she made was a hard one and I'm sure she didn't take it lightly but in my opinion the decision she made does not make her a hero. The people who adopt and deal with attachment disorders and issues daily are the true heroes.

I have three adopted siblings who were adopted as older children and who have attachment issues. Like this woman, my mom did her research before she adopted and knew how to deal with the attachment issues according to the literature and the therapist but until you adopt a child with attachment issues you really don't know how to deal with it and each kid is different. What may work with one child won't work for the next. Like hundreds of parents who have adopted children with attachment disorders, my mom works with my siblings daily and some days are much harder than others. My sister J was 10 when she came home from Guatemala. She lived with her biological mom up until my mom and dad went to pick her up to bring her home. She was old enough to have a bond with her bio mom and she came home with plenty of memories. She formed an attachment with my dad fairly quickly but refused to get close to my mom or I. If my mom told her not to do something she would roll her eyes and stomp off. I remember the first Mother's Day she spent with us she walked right up to my mom and said "I'm not going to get you anything for Mother's Day because you're not my real mom." I could see the hurt on my mom's face but she said "it was ok because even though she wasn't J's bio mom she was still her mom and would be forever."

T was 10 and R was 7 1/2 when they came home from Brazil. They had lived in an orphanage most of their life. T has some memories of her bio family but all R remembers is that his dad was tall. Even though they didn't have a "family life" they were very used to living on the street and doing things on their own and not having someone telling them what to do. Part of the adoption process in Brazil is for the adopted parents to to go there for six weeks to make sure they the family is a good fit. The first day mom met the kids, they went home with her to the hotel and all hell broke loose. Mom had to hide all the knives because R chased her with one. She had to unplug the phone from the wall and hide her cell phone because the kids would call random numbers and tell them they needed help. She couldn't take a shower for three days because they would either destroy the hotel room because they couldn't get out or they would get out and run away. The lawyer finally stepped in and the kids settled down enough for them to get acquainted with mom. When they came home, T & R would talk to each other in Portuguese and would totally ignore mom. T was more receptive to mom's love but is still struggling with trusting her. She constantly has to know what is going on, what the plan for the day is, where mom is going, and when she's going to be home. If they are planning a trip T has to know when they are leaving, what time they are leaving, what they're going to be doing every minute of every day, why they are going, when they are going back, and how far away it is. She has to have complete control because she doesn't trust anyone but herself. When she first came home she would tell mom that Brazil was better than the states and had a fantasy built up in her mind of how life used to be for her. R is probably the most attached of the three but is about three years behind his peers in maturity and development. When he first came home he was prone to violent outbursts that would sometimes last weeks because he was upset about something. When he remembered to put on clean underwear, he would put them on backwards and inside out. He repeatedly told my mom that he hated her and wanted to go back to Brazil.

All three kids are still dealing with attachment disorders but because of my mom's love and hard work, they have made tremendous strides. J now tells mom she loves her daily and will actually talk to mom about her problems. She was the most improved student at school two years ago which is amazing since she never attended school in Guatemala. T still tries to control stuff when she is stressed out but she will talk to mom about it instead of trying to take control which means that she is starting to trust mom. R is still struggling to catch up to his peers but he is doing very well in school and puts his underwear on correctly every day. He still gets upset but reacts like most kids and is only upset for a little bit. He has even started apologizing when he gets upset.

I know that there are many families who are raising adopted kids who have attachment disorders, some worse than my siblings. I also know there are days when those parents feel like they can't continue raising their kids because it's too hard and they feel like they aren't making any progress but they keep loving their kids unconditionally and parenting them with everything they have because they are true heroes.

4-5 Months

2009-10-07T08:46:00.000-07:00

William's 5 month birthday was spent at the airport welcoming home our good friend Evan from Iraq. He was there for 6 months as a contractor so it was good to see him get home safe and sound and reunite with his daughter and baby girl and it was a great way to spend the day. William is still sleeping very well and changing everyday. He is growing so much everyday and rapidly growing out of his clothes. He has quite the personality on him and LOVES to be the center of attention. When he's awake, our house is never quite because he is constantly cooing or screeching at the top of his lungs. He is learning how to tripod (sit up) and when he's on his stomach he is pulling his legs up under his stomach which is the start of him learning how to crawl. I'm hoping that he holds off the crawling for a couple more months because I am not ready to try to keep up with him. This month is pretty busy too. We're excited to see Kyle's dad and step-mom in the middle of this month and to celebrate Kyle's birthday. And of course we're excited for William's first Halloween. We still don't have a costume for him because Kyle "can't figure out the best costume for him."
That's about all that's been going on. Hopefully next month I won't wait so long to write an update. Here's some pictures from our trip to Spokane

Meeting Papa for the 1st time
Auntie Sara and William
Meeting Nana

Grandpa Stan

Meeting Uncle Tig for the first time. I love this picture of Tyler. He fell in love with William

Meeting Bobpa

Hanging out with Nana Shirley

Auntie Tati loving on William

Naked Pics

2009-08-13T22:37:00.000-07:00

Everyone needs to take naked baby pictures and I am no exception to the rule. I personally think that they are for future blackmail plus they are just so cute. Please don't mind the dirty mirror. I didn't notice how dirty it was until I downloaded the pictures on the computer. Anyways, enjoy!

3 Months

2009-08-07T20:12:00.001-07:00

Like true Anna-Lisa style, I'm just now getting to William's 3 month update. At least I'm only a couple days late!
It seems like William has grown up a lot since last month. He has started sleeping about 10 hours at night which is VERY nice for mom and dad. We are now formula feeding him so I'm sure that helps out. He has no interest in rolling over yet, but he loves rolling over to his side just enough to make us think he's going to go all the way and then he stops on his side and lays there. He is still talking up a storm but he is actually talking to more than just the blinds. He weighs about 14 pounds now and for those of you keeping track, that's double his birth weight already! His favorite thing to play with these days are his hands. He spends all day sucking, licking, and trying to put his whole hand in his mouth. He is even willing to try other people's hands and arms if you want to share. He now flirts with any female that wants to pay attention to him which worries his mama just a little but of course his dad encourages. He still is a very easygoing baby and we can take him anywhere with us. We have truly been blessed and I can't wait to see how much he grows over the next month.

My little Aggie
MMM...So good

Yummy

Mom, you're in my way. I can't see the tv

Ugghhh....I hate tummy time!

Happy Birthday to a very special lady

2009-08-04T19:51:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday mama!! Today is my mom's birthday and I wish I was there to celebrate with her. My mom is an amazing person and gives everything she has to her kids and never complains. Kyle makes fun of me daily because my mom is one of my best friends and we talk at least once a day every day. I wish that she lived closer so I could see her everyday and she could watch William grow up and help me when I feel like I don't know what I'm doing. I hope that I can be the mom to William that she was to me. I love you mom and I'll see you soon. Have a wonderful birthday and make those siblings of mine take care of you and treat you like the queen you are.

P.S. William says that you are a great grandma but you don't look old enough to be his grandma.

Swimming

2009-07-22T17:46:00.000-07:00

I have been dying to get in the pool this summer because it's been so hot but William hasn't been old enough (and I couldn't find a swimsuit that fit..oh the joys of pregnancy :P). I finally caved yesterday and bought him his first swimsuit and today we went to our friend Amanda's house to go swimming. William didn't really care about the whole thing. I was way more excited than he was. He sat on my lap the whole time with his legs in the water and didn't seem to mind it at all. At least he didn't cry the whole time.

Happy birthday to a very special sister

2009-07-15T11:16:00.001-07:00

Today is my sister, Johana, 17th birthday. For those of you who don't know, 7 years ago we adopted Johana from Guatemala. We have definitely had our ups and downs but I can't imagine my life without her and I feel like she has been in our family her whole life. I am so lucky to have her as a sister. I wish I could be there to celebrate her birthday with her. I love you very much and I hope you have the best birthday ever!

Pictures

2009-07-10T21:14:00.000-07:00

PIMP Suit
I'm this big!

Learned how to smile and hasn't stopped yet

His big boy shoes and AWESOME socks (thank you Aunty Ash for the socks!)

I'm so tired of pictures

Video

2009-07-08T10:40:00.000-07:00

We got a video camera last week and I've been trying since then to catch William cooing. I took multiple videos but as soon as I turned the camera on, he became silent. So Kyle decided he would try it and of course he got it on his first try. Here's the link. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZHBBfaZFDw

2 Months!

2009-07-06T17:12:00.000-07:00

This is a little late but my baby boy is 2 months old! It's a very odd feeling. On one hand, it seems like he's been around forever and is older than 2 months. On the other hand, it doesn't seem like he's that old. This month has brought quite a bit of changes. He has started smiling as Kyle and I and especially his favorite toy, the window blinds! He has also started cooing and every one in awhile he'll give us a little chuckle. Back to the blinds....William's favorite thing in the house are our blinds. When he's really fussy, Kyle will go lay him down on his changing table which is right by the window in his room, and William instantly stops crying. In the morning when he's laying our bed, he kicks his legs until he's laying sideways and can look at the window. He loves cooing at the blinds, smiling at them, and laughing at them. Its so funny to watch. The other big change this month is William has started SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!! He averages about 6-7 hours a night but has slept up to 8 hours. It is absolutely wonderful. Hopefully he doesn't decide to change and start waking up every couple hours. We had his two month appointment today and he weighs 12.12, he's 24 1/2 in. long. He's in the 75% for weight and the 95% for length.

Reading time with mommy
Happy he's not on his tummy

My favorite boys

HAPPY 4TH

2009-07-04T12:57:00.001-07:00

Papa's Day

2009-06-21T18:56:00.000-07:00

I wanted to say a Happy Father's Day to my dad and to Kyle. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful father. Thank you so much for everything you have done for me. I am also very blessed to have such an amazing father for my little boy. William is very lucky to have Kyle as his daddy. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

Mariners Game!

2009-06-17T15:10:00.001-07:00

The Seattle Mariners were in town playing the Padres so we took advantage of going to a game (William's first and Kyle's first Padres game) with the Mariners. We sat in the all you can eat section and it's very much all you can eat. We had an amazing time with our friends Mike and Rebekah and very much ate our fill of the food. The Mariners won 5-0 which made the whole night even better. William did great the whole game and actually spent most of it sleeping. I can't wait to go to another game. Someday I'll have to take him to Safeco Park to see a Mariners game in Seattle.Rebekah and I
William very much enjoying his first game

Mike and Rebekah
William and daddy

Our family

6 Weeks

2009-06-14T18:10:00.000-07:00

When parents say that their kids grow up in a blink of an eye they are telling the truth. I just thought it was something parents say but it really does happen. I can't believe my little boy is already six weeks old. It seems like just yesterday we brought him home from the hospital although he is very much a different child. We had his one month appointment last week and he weighed in at a whopping 10 pounds 10 ounces. He had gained 44 ounces in exactly 21 days! He is in the 75% for weight and length but only in the 25% for his head size. Apparently our child has a tiny head :) Of course he's starting to stay awake for longer periods of time and has started smiling (not just poo smiles, real ones) and every once in awhile he'll coo at something. He loves lifting his head up and pushing away from us when we hold him. He's even started sleeping for longer periods of time at night. He now wakes up every 4 hours instead of every 3. It doesn't seem like a whole lot but trust me, it is! Maybe he'll start sleeping through the night soon :)

I almsot caught the whole smile

1 month old!

2009-06-05T12:10:00.000-07:00

Our computer broke down last week so I couldn't write a post about William's one month birthday so I'm writing it now a little late. I can't believe it's been a month already. What everyone says about time flying with a baby is very true! It might be because my day is on a 3 hour schedule but whatever the reason, I wish time would stop or at least slow down. William is still doing great. He has been nicknamed my sidekick because he goes everywhere with me and he travels so well. I put him in the car seat and away we go. He hardly ever fusses when we're out and if he does fuss, he quickly stops. He is still waking up at night but sometimes he'll sleep for 4 hours in between feedings. I love those nights! He is staying awake longer and is focusing on everything around him. He loves looking at the blinds, the tv, and the design on our futon. Kyle and I are still finding parenting pretty easy (it helps when you have an easy baby). As of today, Kyle is off for 3 weeks! We don't really have any plans except to hang out with each other and enjoy our little man. Mom made a slide show for William's one month birthday and once again I'm going to add a link to her blog because I'm lazy and don't want to do another one. Enjoy! http://lisa-lisasfamily.blogspot.com/2009/06/happy-one-month-birthday-sweet-baby.html

3 weeks

2009-05-27T16:51:00.001-07:00

William is peacefully sleeping so I figured I would write a little update. This week has been good and frustrating. William is now quite the chunky monkey and is learning how to hold his up. He is also staying awake for longer periods of time. He has also decided he needs to be fussy from 10 pm to 1 am which, according to my parents, he gets that from me. We are slowly learning how to deal with the fussiness and learning a lot of patience. Other than the fussiness at night, he's still a very easy going baby. Kyle's mom is coming down here on Saturday and will be here for two weeks. It will be nice to have her here to spend time with all of us. Here are pictures I took today. Enjoy!

Jack giving William kisses

Hating tummy time

You can't really tell, but he's holding his head up

Having a whining contest with daddy

Look how big I am

William looks like...

2009-05-26T22:30:00.001-07:00

Since my mom already did all the work, I figured I would just post the link to her page. http://lisa-lisasfamily.blogspot.com/2009/05/who-does-william-look-like.html. Thanks mom

William update

2009-05-14T15:49:00.000-07:00

William is sleeping with Kyle so I figured I would write a little update. I am so blessed with such a wonderful little boy. He is a great baby. The only time I have heard him cry is when he was first born (I know I just jinxed myself). He whimpers when you change his diaper and all he does is grunt when he's hungry. He is still eating very well and sleeping 4 hours at a time at night. Last night he slept in his bassinet for the first time. It took me three days to get the courage to put him in there all night but I finally did it. Amazingly he slept better in there than in our bed. He's starting to stay awake longer and longer at a time and has started making baby noises even though he doesn't know what he's doing. He's only 11 days old and I don't want him to grow up! As for Kyle and I, we are doing great. He is a wonderful dad and he's taking wonderful care of me. I don't know what I'm going to do when he has to go back to work on Monday :( I'm doing good. I'm still pretty sore but part of that is because I pushed myself a little too much the first couple days because I felt a lot better than I thought I would. I am very ready to feel "normal" again and even start working out. I was very blessed to have both my parents come down to help out last week. Dad was here for 4 days and mom was here for 10. Mom left yesterday and I'm not quite sure what to do with myself. It was great to have both of them down here and for 10 days, mom was the maid and the cook. She is more than welcome to move down here :)

Dad meeting his grandson for the first time

This doesn't look quite right. Good thing I caught it before she got on the plane :)

A week in review

2009-05-11T20:48:00.000-07:00

I was going to post this yesterday because William turned a week old yesterday but the day slipped away from me. That seems to be happening more and more lately. This last week has been very surreal and amazing. William is such a good baby. He hardly ever cries. The only time he does is when we're changing his diaper. He doesn't even cry when he's hungry just roots around and grunts. At the beginning of the week we were a little worried about his weight (he lost 13 ounces by Tues.) and he was jaundice. By Saturday his Bili level was coming down and he had gained 9 ounces back. Since then he has been eating quite well and getting fat! He's even sleeping for 4 hours at a time at night which is AWESOME! We have an appointment tomorrow to make sure he's still doing well but I'm sure the doctor will have nothing but good things to say.

William Alfred Parrish

2009-05-07T21:28:00.000-07:00

I have finally "allowed" my family to watch William for a bit so I can update everyone about his birth (only 4 days late!)

Saturday, 5/2/09, Kyle had plans to celebrate his best friend Christopher's birthday at the Pizza Port. It had been a very normal day. A few contractions but nothing out of the ordinary. I drove Kyle and Christopher to the Pizza Port around 7:00 pm and went home to enjoy a quiet night to myself. I got home around 8:00 and sat down to the computer with my McDonald's chicken sandwich. I was getting ready to play a nice hand of poker on Facebook and my water broke. Naturally I freaked out a bit. I called Kyle to tell him to quit drinking, get his pizza to go, and get a cab and come home. Him and Christopher came home about 30 mins later totally giddy and high on adrenaline. We got to the hospital around 9:45. We had to wait for a room before they would check me. When they finally checked me, I was still only 2 cm dilated so they wanted me to walk around to see if I could dilate more. I walked around for about an hour and started having really bad contractions. My nurse was amazing. She came and checked me again and I was still only 2 cm but she called the anesthesiologist to give me an epidural so I could try to get some sleep anyway. Around 7 am, the nurse came to check me and I was dilated to 5 cm. My mom showed up around 11:30 and by 12:30 I was fully dilated and started pushing (I apparently was waiting for her so she says). I pushed for about a 1/2 hour and the nurse decided to give me a break while she set up the room. By this time I was getting really uncomfortable on my left side and we realized that my epidural wasn't working. Not fun! We got that all situated and the doctor came in and I started pushing again. 3 1/2 hours later, my epidural started wearing off completely and I still wasn't making any progress. William was laying face up, sideways, and had his hand by his face. They also found out after he was born that his cord was wrapped around his body so every time I pushed, he would be pulled back inside. At this time we decided to use the Hoover Maneuver. It was so painful!! William Alfred Parrish was born at 4:00 pm after 4 hours of pushing. He weighed 7 lbs and was 21 1/4 inches. He was born with quite a cone head but was very healthy. Kyle was absolutely amazing. He was so helpful and was quite the cheerleader. We are very blessed!!

Doc Appt

2009-05-02T14:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had a dr's appt and everything is looking good. The dr did another internal exam and pretty much told me he's not quite sure how I'm still pregnant. My cervix is almost completely effaced (just a little piece left) and the baby is as far down as he can possibly get without coming out. So...We're playing the waiting game now. William can be here tomorrow or two weeks from now. We're just playing the waiting game now.

My hubby

2009-04-30T10:23:00.000-07:00

I have to brag about my hubby for a quick second. Throughout the pregnancy he's been very vigilant, loving, caring, sweet.....You get the picture. Kyle is a very deep sleeper. So much so that Jack can bark right next to his head in the middle of the night and he won't even notice. That was until I got pregnant. Every time I get up to go to the bathroom or move, he leans over and asks me if I'm ok. The other night, he kept waking me up to check on me. Of course during the night when I was being woken up in between the times I got up, I was not very happy about it. Now that I'm fully awake and I've had more sleep, I am very blessed to have such a loving and caring husband. I don't know how I got so lucky but I thank God that I did. I found these pictures the other day and I thought I would share them again. I love the look on Kyle's face. Mom took these pictures when we fould out the sex of the baby.

Exciting news from the DR

2009-04-25T06:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had a doctors appointment and everything is looking good. The baby and I are both healthy. The most exciting news was that the doctor said he would be shocked if I made it to May 16th. The baby is measuring big and I'm already dilated and my cervix is almost completely gone!! WOHOOO....I'll keep everyone updated!

Maternity Pics

2009-04-24T17:18:00.000-07:00

Our friends, Mike and Rebekah, took maternity pictures for us and they turned out so good!! For some reason, I'm having an issue downloading the pictures onto our blog. My mom was able to put some of them on her blog so you can check them out there or on Facebook. Here's her link, http://lisa-lisasfamily.blogspot.com/2009/04/anna-lisas-maternity-pictures.html. Mike and Rebekah, thank you again for the pictures and all the time you put into them. They are amazing!

Thankfulness

2009-04-22T20:13:00.000-07:00

Apparently God is trying to teach me a lesson on being thankful this week because that seems to be where all my thoughts are this week. Last night I was laying in bed thinking about how uncomfortable I was because William was in playing in my ribs, I was having bad reflux, I had already gotten up three times to go to the bathroom since I went to bed, I was hot, so on and so on. I suddenly realized I hadn't thanked God for the miracle growing in my belly. After that I got to thinking, are we supposed to be thankful for everything we experience even the bad? Is a cancer patient supposed to thank God for the cancer that could take their life? I did a study this morning and I'm still a little fuzzy on what God wants from us when it comes to being thankful. Obviously we are to thank him for everything in our life, but what about the bad stuff or the uncomfortable stuff? I do remember hearing that we should thank God for whatever test and trial we are going through because we are still blessed and God has a plan for our lives and the test or trial we are going through is part of that plan and even though we don't know what the experience will teach us, we should thank God for that lesson. In 1 Thessalonians 5:18 it says, "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
So, my what I learned is I'm still confused. I'm still going to have to do some research but this may be one of those things that God is going to have to show me himself. If I am to read into the Thessalonians verse, I would say that we are to thank God for EVERYTHING in my life no matter how difficult the experience is. This is definitely something I'm going to have to work on. Please feel free to add your two cents in on this subject because I am totally unsure and a little lost.

Rant of the day

2009-04-21T09:12:00.000-07:00

Sunday was the miss USA pageant and like every year there is always some answer that draws a lot of attention. This year, it was Miss California's answer. Perez Hilton (who is very openly gay) asked her if every state should legalize same sex marriage. Why or why not? Her answer, "Well I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. Um, we live in a land that you can choose same sex marriage or opposite marriage and, you know what, in my country and in, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there. But that's how I was raised and that's how I think that it should be between a man and a woman."
Of course, Mr. Hilton was not happy with her answer and has now made a statement stating her answer to that question lost her the competition. Here's where I have an issue. You asked her opinion, she gave it, and it wasn't the same as yours, and now your acting like she's the anti-Christ. When did we become a country that didn't accept that everyone has different opinions? I thought that was one of the things that made America great. I am very impressed that she didn't bow to the pressure of being asked the question by a gay man and give an answer she thought he would want to hear. Here's the YouTube link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XMvviFbkf0&feature=related and here's the link of Perez Hilton's comments after the pageant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_QhM3TK2UE&NR=1 (There is some cussing in this one and it makes me SO MAD!). Today I am thankful that I live in a country where I can express my opinions and not have to worry about government backlash even though other people may be offended by my opinion.

Follow up to yesterday's post

2009-04-20T09:11:00.000-07:00

This post goes along with the one below. I heard the song (by Craig Morgan) God Must Really Love Me Easter weekend (oh if you turn your speakers on you can hear it). The first time I heard it, the radio played the "special version" which had messages from military men and women overseas to their family here. It was very sweet. The second time I listened to it, I actually listened to the words and realized that this song is very true about my life. It seems like our society is very much about dwelling on all the bad stuff going on, the war, the economy, you name it. Instead, we should be dwelling on everything God has given us. It seems like the world is so much about pissing contests (excuse my language) about how bad our lives our instead of how great we've been blessed. Can you imagine a conversation that went like this, "Oh man, today God blessed my life! He allowed me to wake up and start my day. Then, he allowed me to kiss my husband goodbye on the way to work. He even gave me the job that I got to go today." Instead we hear this, "Today was horrible. I had to wake up early to get to work. My husband was cranky when he left for work. Work was terrible and I hate my job. Then on the way home from work, the traffic was horrible." I admit, I am very much guilty of the second scenario. When I heard the song, I felt very guilty. We heard once at convention that we are so focused on seeing a big miracle in our life that we always forget to see the little, everyday miracles that happen in our lives everyday. Pastor Jeremy once made a comment that made me stop cold. He stated that the fact that we woke up and we were able to get to church that morning was a miracle. My goal is to start noticing and thanking God for the everyday miracles God performs in my life. Today, so far I'm thankful for the ability to wake up and get out of bed, my husband who is amazing, William being healthy, and the beautiful weather down here. What are your miracles today?

Lyrics to my new favorite song

2009-04-19T21:17:00.000-07:00

Lyrics to God Must Really Love Me :

There's been times I've let my faith run thin
Not been the man I should have been
After all the trouble I've been in, I'da gave up on me
I've lived hard and I've lived fast
Lost things I will never get back
Cause someone to look past all of that
God must really love me
When I look at the miracles around me
At the way that I live and the way He forgives
I know He's up there smiling down on me
And I believe the only reason why
I'm still alive isGod must really love me
Wake up and feel you by my side
The perfect girl, the perfect time
And see the way our future shines
God must really love me
When I look at the miracles around me
At the dream that I live and the gift that he gives
I know he's up there smiling down on me
And I believe the only reason why
I get to live this life is God must really love me
When I showed the worst, He saw the best
He pulled the world right off my chest
Every day I wake up I feel blessed
Yeah, I feel so blessed
God must really love me
God must really love me
God must really love me

Thoughts of the day

2009-04-16T12:27:00.000-07:00

This morning while I was laying in bed wide awake at 4:30, I decided to start writing more in the blog. Writing has always been my way of getting my thoughts and feelings out in the open even when I didn't really know how I was feeling and I haven't done it for a very long time so I figured why not start now. So here are my random thoughts for today.
As I was laying awake this morning, I realized that I haven't really had any fears about the baby and being a mom which is very strange since I'm very much a "what if" kind of girl. Well, I finally found my fear, deployments with a child. I don't know how to raise a boy. I thought about this because I realized that the reality of my life is that Kyle will deploy again. I know that Kyle is going to be a GREAT father and will take every chance he gets to teach William how to be a man, but what do I do when he's gone? I just hope that I don't make him a sissy :) My other thought is how do you explain deployment to a child. As an adult, you can wrap your head around they reason your husband has to go clear across the world for 7 months, but how do you explain that to a child? My biggest fear is that William would think that his dad doesn't love him because he's not here. It's my job to make sure that he knows how much his daddy loves him no matter where he's at. I've started coming up with ideas on how to do just that. Whenever I start thinking about Kyle being gone again, I think about one of my favorite verses in Matthew. " Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life...." That verse brings me so much comfort anytime I start to worry about the future. I know that God will take care of our family and we will get through any deployment Kyle goes through. No matter how hard the military life can be, I would never trade it for the world but that's a whole other post.

Belly pictures

2009-04-15T09:16:00.000-07:00

This was taken on 4-14-09.

It's officially time for this baby to come out!! We had an appointment last Thursday and everything is looking good. The doctor even told us we could start walking to get the baby to move down. The appointment was cut short because he had to go deliver twins but I'm thinking he believes the baby is going to come early :)

Update

2009-04-01T15:39:00.001-07:00

Since I'm not working anymore I really don't have any reason not to update the blog so here's the most recent update. I had an appointment last week and my doctor took me off of work because I'm starting to have some contractions and I get really swollen after working all day. The baby is already head down and growing perfectly. Since I've been home, I remember why I love being a stay at home wife/mom. I love having the house clean when Kyle comes home and having dinner on the table for him. Since everything is clean and done, we get to spend more time in the evening together. For about the last three weeks we have been trying to not be couch potatoes. We live in such a beautiful place with the best weather and we never take advantage of it. So far our tv has been turned off more the last 3 weeks than the whole time we've been married (it's sad to admit that). Jack enjoys it as well because he usually comes with us wherever we go. We've also been working on William's room. Everything is done EXCEPT the stupid dresser. We got the dresser at Walmart and when I opened it up, none of the hardware was in the box. So we had to wait for 7 business days for the hardware to be shipped to us. So I finally got it all put together and realize that I'm still missing the screws for the knobs and drawer guides (for the drawer to slide back and forth) are warped and the drawers don't work. So now we're waiting for more hardware but after that we're done with the room! Ok, this is a very long update but I also have recent bump pics. Enjoy!

Almost 34 weeks.

31 Weeks

2009-03-15T08:45:00.000-07:00

Finally I have a new baby belly picture. There will be more thanks to my mom. Things with the baby are really starting to come together. We have all of our nursery furniture and we're going to set everything up next weekend. I'm still feeling good just starting to get a little uncomfortable . I've started having some hip pain and really bad swelling in my hands, feet, and my face but that's it. The countdown is officially on. 9 MORE WEEKS!

Tati feeling the baby move

31 weeks

Baby Shower Pics

2009-03-15T08:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had my baby shower and it was awesome!! Heather and Chandra did an amazing job with everything. Thankfully my mom and Tati got to come down for the shower and it made it so much more special. The pictures are totally random order.

The girls

Mom poking my belly trying to get William to wake up.

Heather, Chandra, and I
Almost everyone. Most of the group had left at this point

Kyle's favorite bib

Cute until he turns 15 and has the same attitude

Addyson...My future daughter-in-law. Who said arrainged marriages are a bad thing?

Judging the baby pictures everyone had to draw on their head. It was so funny!

Kaesyn chasing the cats. So adorable

The loot :)

Tati and Addy. She makes a very good babysitter

Getting ready to leave

Food table!! YUMMY

Baby Bump Pics Finally!!

2009-01-25T19:39:00.000-08:00

Baby Bump

Week 24

BIG BABY UPDATE!!!

2008-12-31T20:04:00.001-08:00

Today we had our "big" ultrasound appointment where they look at every single part of the baby to make sure everything is developing correctly and nothing is wrong. We found out we have a perfectly healthy baby. We also found out we are having a.......BOY!!! We are both very excited to be having a boy. Kyle chose the name William Alfred Parrish and I think it is the perfect name for our little boy. Mom and the kids got to come to the appointment with us which was pretty cool. I'm not quite sure the kids understood exactly what was going on. The ultrasound tech was very nice. She did all her measurements and then got the rest of the family so they could come in and find out the sex. After they all got there, she spent about 10 mins. showing them the whole baby and then telling us the sex. It was pretty cool that she took the extra time with the family. Here are all the pictures she printed off for us.

Little baby feet (they're pointed toward the left)
Rubbing his tired eyes

Boy parts (look toward the right in between the legs)

Profile picture

Another profile

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2008-12-25T12:50:00.000-08:00

Honda Pilot

2008-12-13T21:14:00.000-08:00

We bought our first family car today!!! We bought a 2004 Honda Pilot and I absolutely love it!! It rides so smooth and it is really nice. It seats 7, has power everything, a built in navigation system (which we don't know the code to yet so we can't use it), and is in really good condition. I feel like such a mom when I drive it.....LOL. It will be great when mom and the kids come down here for Christmas because we can all fit in the car instead of having to drive two cars or mom paying a ton of money to rent a van. No we just have to sell the bike!

Our new car

Appointment update

2008-12-05T17:36:00.001-08:00

We had our doctors appointment yesterday and unfortunately we didn't find out the sex of the baby :( We didn't even have an ultrasound because our doctor was gone and we saw the nurse practitioner. We did however get to hear the heartbeat for the first time which was amazing. Our next appointment is December 30th and then we have our 2nd trimester ultrasound the next day. That ultrasound will be a long one where they look at every single part of the baby and make sure it's developing properly. At that appointment we will find out the sex of the baby for sure.

Thanksgiving!!!

2008-12-02T18:34:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday ever since I was a kid probably because we always seemed to have such a huge dinner every year. Naturally I had to make a big deal out of Thanksgiving this year and my husband lovingly went along with me. We had another couple come over and had a wonderful dinner (of course no pictures). I cooked the turkey, mashed potatoes, apple pie, and of course Nana's rolls. Who knew I could cook. I think it's in my DNA and I finally HAVE to put to knowledge to use. Of course it helps when I have Nana on speed dial so I can call her when I have questions which are many. Our friends, Evan and Amanda, have a two month old preemie baby who is absolutely adorable. We were a little worried about how Jack would react but he actually was scared of her and wanted nothing to do with her. It was kind of funny watching him sniff around all of her stuff trying to figure out what it was and what the very small thing in his house was. Hopefully he grows out of the scared phase since he's about to have a baby around him all the time!

Baby Bump!

2008-11-21T17:46:00.000-08:00

Baby bump at 15 weeks!
The bump

One more bump picture

Happy Veterans Day

2008-11-11T18:26:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to write a little note thanking all of our veterans (including my amazing husband)

for their wonderful service and their willingness to protect us at all cost. THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS!!!

One year ago today.....

2008-11-07T06:58:00.000-08:00

One year ago today, Kyle came home from Iraq. It was one of the best days of my life. He didn't come home until the afternoon but of course, I woke up really early just so I could wait. Kyle called me when he got to March Air Force base and I finally got to head to base, where I waited for 4 hours!! The worst part of the waiting (besides waiting) was this lady kept walking around telling everyone there were on their way to the parade deck. So we would get all excited and then about 20 mins later we would realize that she didn't know what she was talking about. But of course we listened to her every time she said it. When they finally got to the parade deck, and they were dismissed, it was so amazing finally getting to see him. The feeling is indescribable getting to see him after 7 months and holding him and checking all his fingers and toes making sure he was OK. All the waiting and the hard times disappeared as soon as he came home. It was hard, but the end was so worth it. I tried to download some pictures but for some reason they won't work :( I'll keep trying though!

Baby update

2008-11-06T22:35:00.000-08:00

Profile Shot
The baby is looking right at us. The black holes are it's eyes and mouth

Another shot of the face.

We had our doctors appointment today. Everything is looking good. We got to see the heartbeat which looks really strong and good. The baby was moving around and dancing for us again which is great. The doctor thinks that the baby is really photogenic because as soon as he moved the ultrasound wand, the baby moved right into a position where we could see the face perfectly. No matter where the doctor looked, the baby kept showing us its face. Definitely takes after his daddy!!

Dr's appointment

2008-11-06T12:15:00.000-08:00

I have a dr's appointment today so look for new baby pictures and updates! We're so excited!!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

2008-10-31T06:45:00.001-07:00

Finally......

2008-10-29T18:24:00.000-07:00

Even though I finished my college courses, I didn't really feel like I graduated.....until today. I GOT MY DIPLOMA!!! I officially have an AA degree in Health Administration. Ahhh...I feel so smart :)

A very special birthday wish

2008-10-21T17:06:00.000-07:00

So today is a very special day....It's my Love's birthday!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!!! I hope you have a wonderful day and I hope all your wishes come true. I know mine have because I wished for a husband like you and it happened. You are so amazing and so loving. I didn't think that you could be even more caring than you already were but you have once again surpassed all my expectations since we found out we were going to have a baby. I know you are going to be a great dad because you are such a wonderful husband. I love you so much and I can't wait to spend many more birthdays together (maybe one of mine...). I love you handsome. Happy birthday

Baby update

2008-10-09T18:15:00.000-07:00

We had our first OB appointment today. The doctor was wonderful and we both really like him. Everything looks great with the baby. Its growing and the heartbeat was strong. By the baby's size, the doctor says I'm about 8 weeks and due May 16th. During the ultrasound, the baby was shaking its hands. It was so much fun to watch.

I Graduated!

2008-10-06T12:24:00.000-07:00

So I totally forgot to post something very important. I am officially a college graduate!!! Wahoo....I'm finally done with school (for now according to Kyle) and I'm loving the extra time. I will get my diploma in about a month courtesy of University of Phoenix.

Vegas

2008-10-01T19:20:00.001-07:00

Ok...So I finally downloaded our pictures from Vegas. Here are just a few of the pictures.....Enjoy!

Vegas

2008-10-01T19:18:00.000-07:00

This is just the 1st day....It got worse :(
We were there!!
Best seats in the house
ESPN Zone....Do you know of a better way to watch football?

Some More Pics

2008-10-01T19:14:00.000-07:00

Cheeseburgers in Paradise
Of course we had to eat here!
One of the bikes at the restaurant
My favorite bike...The Elivs bike
The tattoo

Vegas Pics

2008-10-01T19:10:00.000-07:00

ESPN Zone
My baby, so tough!!
Looking down the strip.
Dinner at the Eiffel Tower
Our "anniversary" treat

I love this picture. Someday we'll see the real thing

Baby news!

2008-09-11T17:42:00.000-07:00

So it's official!!!! Kyle and I are pregnant!!!!!! I'm about 6 weeks which means I'm due early May. I had my first appointment on Wednesday which was just for confirmation of the pregnancy for the insurance so they can refer me to an OB/GYN. So right now we're in a holding pattern until I get the authorization from the insurance. It usually takes about 5-7 business days. It hasn't really hit either one of us yet even though we have books and we've been talking about baby names :) We are both very excited though! I will keep all of you updated.

We're back....

2008-09-01T10:24:00.000-07:00

So Kyle and I got home from Vegas on Saturday. We had an amazing time and we have lots of pictures I'll post some time this week. We planned it our perfectly so that we had a whole week off and then came home and had a long weekend! it pretty much rocks. Jack was very happy that we came home too. We picked him up from the kennel and he spent the whole way home running between the both of us and licking us non-stop. When we got home he ran around the apartment for about two hours. He re-adjusted real quick though and is once again ruling the house.

Birthday Wish

2008-08-05T12:37:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to send out a very special birthday wish to my mamma. I know its a day late but better late than never. (just for the record, I did call her yesterday...LOL). I just wanted to write a little bit about my mamma. She is one of my best friends and she is so amazing. I am constantly so amazed at her strength, spirit, and love. She has always been there for me and I know that I can call her at any moment and she will be there to give me the advice that I need. It may not be the advice I want to hear but its what I need. I am always amazed at how well she handles every situation with the younger kids. I love you mom and I hope you had a wonderful birthday.

Update

2008-07-26T21:15:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to thank everyone for the birthday cards, phone calls, and emails. They all meant a lot to me. I had a pretty low key birthday. I started my new job and then I went to Olive Garden (would you expect anything less) with some friends from church. In other news, Kyle came home on Friday!!! Wahoo!!!! His flight came in at 7:45 pm and Delta let me meet him at the gate because he's a Marine. The lady at the ticket counter was so cute. It totally made her day letting me go to the gate. Kyle had no idea I was there and his face was priceless when he saw me. Today he gave me my birthday present which was a riding jacket that I wanted REALLY bad. He totally surprised me with it. Anyway, thats our little update.

Its Official!!

2008-07-21T21:41:00.000-07:00

Its official!! Kyle passed his final project today and he got his tickets to come home. He will be home Friday night!!! Thank you all for your prayers and support.

Concert

2008-07-20T18:09:00.000-07:00

The birthday girl Rachel and I
This little girl entertained us for an hour.
Giving us the "thumbs up"
Seth and Rachel
Rachel and I again
One of my favorite things down here is the $5 concerts one of the country stations puts on. I have been to about 4 of them. Each concert has 3-4 artists that have at least one song on the radio. Last nights concert had Whiskey Falls, Heidi Newfield (used to be the lead singer for Trick Pony), Phil Stacy, and Josh Gracin. The coolest part of the concert is that the venue is right on the beach. Its absolutely gorgeous.

Jae softball

2008-07-20T18:02:00.000-07:00

While I was in Spokane I got to watch two of Jae's softball games. She is a very good player and she loves playing the game. Her only problem is that she is constantly getting hit by the pitchers. In one game she was hit 3 times!

4th of July Pics

2008-07-20T17:47:00.000-07:00

Roger and I showing off our artwork
Tati and I

Nana and Papa and their family. Not the best picture of all of us.
Mom and her kidlets
As you can see I'm enjoying the weather on the beach.
Fruit pizza...I did the design. I'm very proud of myself :)
All of us kids....As you can see Tyler loved it!!

My mom bought me a plane ticket to fly up to Washington for our family reunion for my birthday present. I flew into Spokane and then we drove to Lincoln City, OR for the reunion. We had a lot of fun except I was cold most of the time. Not quite the same weather as down here! Hopefully Kyle and I will get to go the next reunion in a couple yers.

One More Week!

2008-07-18T21:24:00.000-07:00

Only 7 more days until Kyle comes home!!! He has to present his finally project on Monday and then he'll be done. They have graduation on Friday and he will either come home Friday evening or Saturday morning!!! He has done so amazingly well this whole time and I am constantly amazed at his work ethic. I love you baby.

14 Days

2008-07-11T15:03:00.001-07:00

OK so this post is a day early but we have only TWO more weeks until Kyle comes home!! That's only 14 more days!!! These last two weeks are going to be tough for him though because he has a huge final project due on Wednesday so please keep him in your prayers.

Wedding Picture

2008-07-11T15:00:00.001-07:00

I found this picture in the middle of all of our wedding pictures and I absolutely love it!! I cropped it so that you can only see Jae and I. The last 5 years with her have had their moments of really hard times but I can not imagine our family without her. I cant imagine our family with Tati and Roger either. It feels like we are finally whole.

Countdown update

2008-07-05T23:07:00.000-07:00

Exactly 3 more weeks from today that Kyle comes home!!! I am so excited and I know that he cant wait to be done with his class. I just have to take a second to tell you how amazing my husband is. He is going through the worst schooling that I have ever heard of and he is excelling in it! Not only that but he is constantly making sure that I am taken care of. He amazes me everyday. How did I get so lucky?

Countdown!

2008-06-24T23:19:00.000-07:00

The countdown is officially on!! Only 4 more weeks until Kyle comes home!! YAY!! Hopefully the next couple weeks will go by fast.

Harley Pictures

2008-06-15T19:29:00.000-07:00

I have finally gotten off my lazy behind and downloaded all my pictures to the computer. Here are pictures of our Harley. This is what it looked like the day it was delivered. Since then we have added a few things, like a backrest for me. Enjoy!

Congratulations

2008-06-09T07:50:00.000-07:00

So I just wanted to say congratulations to my little sister and cousin for graduating 8th grade today!! Congrats Jae and Clayton. I cant believe you guys are going to be in high school next year!!! I love you both and I wish I could be there.

Long awaited update!

2008-06-06T20:04:00.000-07:00

Kyle left May 17th for Ft. Benning. He was originally supposed to be there until August but they are working six days a week so he gets to come home early!! Its hard on him because he never gets any time off and the school is very hard but he is, of course, making it look easy. He is so smart. As for me, I quit my job at the preschool and my last day is on Tuesday. The school can be fun and the kids can be cute but for the most part it is very hard work. I have never been so disrespected my whole life and to make it worse, its by five year olds. I'm very glad I did not become a teacher. I've sent my resume to a couple different places and now I'm playing the waiting game. Other than that, not much else is going on here. I'm looking forward to going home for the Fourth of July. It will be nice to see my family. I will even get to see one of Johana's softball games!

Very Proud

2008-06-06T19:56:00.000-07:00

So this year Johana started 8th grade this year and it has been an awesome year for her. Just a little background, Johana came home five years ago and had never been to school, didn't know any English, and didn't know how to read or write in Spanish. She started school in the third grade and since then has been trying to catch up. Her teachers have been wonderful and have allowed her to do "modified" assignments, take tests over, and have even tutored her. This year she started doing all of the same assignments as the other kids and has gotten B's and C's on her report card all year long. To me that is amazing. Coming from a background of never going to school to learning English and being able to get B's and C's in school. Well, her hard work paid off. All the teachers voted her the Most Improved Student of the Year!! I am so proud of her. These are pictures mom took of her award.

Pictures

2008-05-17T17:54:00.000-07:00

Ok....So many of you have requested some updated pictures. I dont have very many but here's the ones that I do have (sorry no apartment pics yet). Enjoy Jack loves his boxes
My boys
Jack's favorite toy, our socks. He has even learned how to take them off our feet from the top of the sock. He's addicted
My love

Jack the dog/human

2008-05-13T21:03:00.000-07:00

Ok, so many of you know that our dog Jack is very spoiled. Of course I do most of the spoiling but I cant help it. He's so cute!! Well, we have recently realized that he has the biggest personality. First of all, he is very protective over me. So much so that he will be sleeping or playing with a toy and as soon as Kyle comes over to give me a hug or a kiss he instantly jumps up and starts barking and trying to get in the middle of us. I realized the other night that I had created a monster. Kyle and I were in bed and Jack's bed is on the floor on my side of the bed. He usually runs around the bed for about 5 mins whining and barking and then goes and lays down. Well, the other night I heard him scratching and digging on his bed. It happens a lot so I didnt think anything of it. Suddenly I noticed that he had stopped and I leaned over and saw that he had taken his little mattress out of his bed. He had then proceeded to take his bed all the way across the room. He was sitting there looking at me like, "well now I dont have a bed so you have to put me in your bed." AHHH....I've created a monster!! His bed was very quickly put back in its place and he did not get his wish. His other personality trait is that he tattles on Kyle all the time. Whenever I'm in another room and Kyle gets him in trouble, he runs straight to me and whines. Anyways, I thought all of you would enjoy our Jack story.
PS. Ashley, I promise I will put new pictures up this week.

Long overdue update

2008-04-16T20:54:00.000-07:00

Finally an update from us. I started my new job about 3 weeks ago. So far so good. It can be trying and tough but it is so much fun working with the kids and watching them learn and their excitement over everything. One of the best things about my job is that I get every major holiday off and I get six weeks off in the summer. I am going to Mobile for 4 days to see Kyle and his family and then I will be going up to Washington and the Oregon Coast for a family reunion. After I head up to Washington, my sister, Johana, will be coming down to stay a couple weeks with me. That is about all I have planned for the summer. Thankfully, most of my time will be filled up while Kyle is gone. We all know how staying busy makes the time go by faster. The other big news is that Kyle and I bought a Harley. Kyle is learning how to ride it right now and hopefully soon I'll get to go for a ride with him. I am so excited that we got one and I cant wait to get on the back of it. Other than that we are all do just fine.Kyle is good. Hes been busy with work and learning how to ride the motorcycle. Our apartment is decorated and finally feels like home. Jack is being Jack. He is VERY spoiled and acts it. He is actually a very good dog for not having any obedience training. I will post new pictures of all of us and our apartment soon (I promise Ashley!!)

Fun stuff

2008-03-19T10:09:00.000-07:00

Well we finally moved last Thursday. We are still living in the middle of boxes but we will eventually get everything in its place. Jack seems to like the new place because he can actually bark and run around because we're not hiding him anymore! Our other new news is that I got a job!! I'm going to be a teachers aid at a preschool. I will be in a class with pre-k kids so 4-5 year olds. I start on the 26th. The best part of the job (besides the kids and all the time off) is that it is only 5 minutes from the new apartment. Not too bad.

We're whole again

2008-03-11T17:44:00.001-07:00

So yesterday I finally got to go pick up our puppy from the kennel. It seemed like it was such a long time since he had been home. He very quickly re-adjusted to being the spoiled baby of the family. I took him to the dog park yesterday and I realized that we have a really tough wienie of a puppy. He'll run up to the other dogs and sniff them and nip at them and as soon as they turn around he runs back to me to protect him. He wont go anywhere to explore unless I'm standing in the middle of the park and even then he'll adventure out and then realize I'm not with him and run back as fast as he can. He is such a mama's boy.

Us

2008-03-05T18:51:00.000-08:00

So here's a small update. Kyle and I are getting ready to move. We were supposed to move on the 19th but because of Jack, we are now moving next Wednesday. We aren't allowed to have a dog at our current apartment and we kind of got caught. So now we're moving a week early. And since we aren't allowed to have our puppy here he is now staying at a kennel for the next couple days :( It was a lot harder dropping him off then we thought but we get to pick him up on Sunday. The countdown begins!

Poor Jack

2008-03-05T18:48:00.000-08:00

I hate my life!!
Please help

Ge me outa here

One year ago....

2008-02-23T16:44:00.000-08:00

So yesterday I came home from work and was met at the door by my loving husband. He surprised me with these. Why you may ask? Because one year ago today (Feb 23rd) he proposed to me!! They are so gorgeous and of course, my favorite flowers. The other thing I got was this thing pictured below. His name is Jack and he's a year old. He is a pure-bred chihuahua. He is actually an awesome dog. He loves to play with his toys and he loves to go on walks. It took him about an hour to warm up to us but once he did its like he's been here forever.

Just a little update

2008-02-05T18:24:00.001-08:00

Not much has changed since we got home. Kyle has been back to work for a week now. He found out that he will be leaving around May 16th for Georgia and he will get back around August 19th. We're excited about his class but not so much about him being gone. Hopefully I'll get to see him at least once while he's gone. As for me, I've been looking around for a job but so far I havent found anything. We put our names on the base housing list today so hopefully we'll hear something soon.

SNOW!!!

2008-02-05T18:22:00.001-08:00

Kyle getting ready to go sledding for the first time

Kyle's first sledding experience. Look at the smile!!

Me being attacked by Boo-boo

More Wedding Pictures

2008-02-05T18:17:00.000-08:00

My favorite picture of Jae.

Love it

Wedding Pictures

2008-02-05T18:09:00.000-08:00

Home sweet home

2008-01-24T10:37:00.000-08:00

Ahhh....We are finally home. We had a great time in Alabama but now its time to get back to our routine. Kyle goes back to work on Monday and he's REALLY excited about that (not really). We should find out sometime in the next couple weeks when he heads to Georgia. I'm not really excited about that but its such a good opportunity for him and us. I know that he's going to do so well at his school. He's hoping that he doesn't have to go until around August/September time so he will be around for football season :)
As for me, in May I'm going to be done with my Associates degree and I'm so excited to be done. Except for the fact that I've decided to keep going to school to get my Bachelors degree in Business Management. You would never know that I really hate going to school since I've been going for 5 years now.
Anyways, that's our update for now.

Alabama

2008-01-17T13:15:00.000-08:00

I finally have a little time to write another post. As of last Friday, Kyle and I have been in Mobile, AL. We flew in Friday night to Pensecola. Kyle's mom picked us up and we've been staying with her since. On Saturday, we drove up to Birmingham, AL to spend some time with Wanda's family. It was nice to get up there. I love it up there because it reminds me of home without the snow. Since then, we've just been running around seeing family. Tomorrow, his mom is throwing us a wedding party. It should be a very good time. Most of his family will be there and I'm a little nervous about it seeing as its HUGE!! I'll be ok though. On Sat, we're having a little (when I say little, I mean Perez little) birthday party for Granny. She's going to be 95 this year!! That woman amazes me. She is so tough and so sassy. I love it. We're hoping to get to Gulf Shores sometime before we leave. That's about it for us right now. When we get home next week, I'll put up some pictures I promise.

All about us

2008-01-10T18:56:00.001-08:00

So Kyle and I decided to jump on the band wagon and become bloggers. Since our families live in multiple different states, this a way for us to keep in touch with them.

Ok, a little about us. Kyle has been in the Marine Corps for almost four years. He is stationed at Camp Pendleton in San Diego. We met in San Diego on Nov 25th, 2006 at a weddding. We both knew from the beginning that there was something different with this relationship. Kyle proposed on Feburary 23, 2007. It was the most romantic thing that has ever happened to me. It really was a scene right out of the movies. On April 13th, 2007, Kyle left for Iraq for 7 months. It was the most gut wrenching exprience I have ever been through and I have never felt so many emotions all at one time. Thankfully, I moved home to live with my mom and my siblings. If I didnt live with them, the deployment would have been so much harder. Thankfully, Kyle came home safe and sound on November 7th, 2007. I am so thankful everyday for the blessings I have been given.

On December 16th, 2007, Kyle and I got married. Our wedding was amazing. Everything went perfect and I couldnt have asked for anything more. As for what we're doing now, Kyle is going to a school for three months in Georgia. As much as it sucks for us to be separated again, it will be so god for us in the future. With this job, we will be able to stay in San Diego for at least three more years. YAY!! I'm starting to look for a job right now and I have know idea what I'm going to do. I'm also finishing up my AA (finally) through University of Phoenix online. I only have 18 more weeks to go.

Thats about it for us right now. I'll post pictures soon.