We're on the move...

A week ago today, on February 15th, we bought a house! We had no intentions of buying a house this soon. We started looking last October and early November. We had decided that we were going to move to Kalona which is about 15 minutes north of Washington and would cut Steve's drive to work almost in half. We had looked at some model homes and decided on builder. We had actually decided on a subdivision that we wanted to build in and thought about August of 2013 was when we would start building.

Once we got pregnant, we realized that our plans needed to change. We could still build, but probably wouldn't be finished until after the baby got here. So we started looking and a found a house that we both really liked. Once we went and looked at it, I was sold, I just needed to convince Steve. That wasn't hard.

We took both of our parents through it and then decided to make an offer. It was a week of negotiations that Steve dealt with. I got nightly reports and gave a little input, but Steve handled it all.

Now we are packing because we close on April 1st. We also have to sell our house, so we are putting as many things as we can in storage and cleaning out. If you know of anyone looking for a cute rental property or starter house in Washington, we can hook them up!

I'm so super excited we are going from a little over 800 sq. ft. to over 2400! 1 bathroom to 3. I don't think I know what to do with all the room and storage!

We're PREGNANT!

Yes, we're pregnant. We.are.pregnant. I still can't believe it and there are times that I have to remind myself, but it's true...we are having a baby.

We tried for 2 years to be parents before we decided to adopt Jaxson. We had 3 IVF cycles, 2 miscarriages, and as a result of one of those cycles, we had 1 frozen embryo. In early fall, I got a letter from the University of Iowa that I needed to do something with our frozen embryo. We had paid for 2 years of freezing and either needed to pay up again or have it transferred. We decided to have it transferred.

On Nov. 19th, we had the egg transferred. I remembered being so calm. One of the doctors was part Korean and we talked about her wanting to adopt from Korea. Then our favorite ultrasound tech, Michelle, was there. She actually signed up for clinic duty because she saw our name on the schedule. Michelle is so good at her job and she was the one that was there for our miscarriages and helped me understand what was happening. 

On Nov. 29th, we found out we were pregnant, BUT my HCG was low. They want it to be 50 and mine was 34. My first thought was here we go again we're pregnant, BUT. I had to go in for a repeat beta test 4 days later. They want the number to double every 48 hours and since I was going 4 days later is should quadruple for be around 140. My HCG came back at 365. I was so excited. Hurdle #1 was over.

Then it was time to schedule our first ultrasound on Dec. 10th. With in vitro, there are lots of ultrasounds. Our first ultrasound was to see if there was a gestational sac and a yolk sac. Sorry, these pictures are not the best, but in the ultrasound we saw a two perfect sacs. Hurdle #2 done!

2 perfect sacs waiting for one perfect baby to form.

Our 3rd hurdle was the biggest one. This is when we (not really we because Steve and I have no idea what we are looking for) would see the heartbeat for the first time. To say we were scared is an understatement. We had NEVER seen a heartbeat before. We had come to this appointment before and were told your baby is not growing.

Our appointment was scheduled for Dec. 20th, but we were supposed to be getting a bad snowstorm, so I called to see if we could move our appointment to the 19th. I remember driving to pick Steve up at work and preparing myself for what could happen. I prayed and prayed and prayed and as we were walking to the clinic a sense of calm just came over me and I knew that everything was going to be ok.

During our appointment we saw the heartbeat, I'm going to be honest, I didn't see. I felt a little bit like Rachel on Friends because I didn't see it. I trust our ultrasound tech that it was there, but I couldn't see it myself. It was perfect 152 beats per minutes!

We were then released to a general ob/gyn, no more IVF doctors, no more waiting room 3. We picked a doctor and made our first appt.

Our first ob appt. was normal. There was blood work, patient history, and another ultrasound. For the first time, it looked like a baby! This time its heartbeat was 171 bpm.

Last Monday, we had our 13 week appointment. We had another ultrasound and everything is going great. The baby is growing well. I'm doing great. Our doctor said we are out of the danger zone and we could shout it from the rooftops and have we ever!

 

Everyone has been so supportive and happy for us! We want to thank everyone for their prayers and support. We are truly blessed by the people in our lives.

Looking forward to August 7, 2013 (or sooner) when the newest Brokaw makes their appearance!

It's been awhile....

It's been awhile since I blogged....like 4 months awhile. It's not like I haven't tried, but the words just haven't been flowing. In fact, it was my New Year's resolution to blog more and it's already the 23rd of January and I'm just getting around to it. But no more excuses. I am promising you (my faithful  blog readers) a new blog post AT LEAST once a month! Two if you're really lucky. To catch you up on what the Brokaws have been up to here are a few of my favorite pictures from the last four months. These first months had a lot of firsts for Jaxson! 

Photo Shoot for Jax's birthday invites.

Jax had a great 2nd birthday party with his family and friends and cupcakes! 

We went to his first wedding.

Jax cheered on the Hawks every Saturday, too bad it didn't help them! 

1st trip to the pumpkin patch

1st Halloween--cutest cowboy around

Jax is officially a citizen and a Brokaw

Christmas card photo

Very excited about his 1st light sabers

Matching Christmas jammies

My Wish

Someone should have warned me. I blame my adoptive parent friends for not warning me about the emotional mess I would be when I think of my son and the mothers he had before me. It all started about a week ago. I was driving back from Iowa City. Jax was in the back seat eating a Tootsie Pop. It was the only way that I thought I could keep him awake while we were driving. It worked for about a half an hour and then he fell asleep with the sucker in his hand resting oh so cutely on his forehead.

But I digress....this post is not about a sucker or how absolutely adorable Jax is or how much I love him or how blessed we are by him. This post is about a song. A song I heard on the radio that day: My Wish by Rascal Flatts. I had heard the song many times before, but something about that night and that song just struck me.

If you haven't heard it before here are the lyrics:

I hope the days come easy and the moments pass slowAnd each road leads you where you want to goAnd if you're faced with the choice and you have to chooseI hope you choose the one that means the most to you
And if one door opens to another door closedI hope you keep on walkin' ‘til you find the windowIf it's cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smileBut more than anything, more than anything
My wish for youIs that this life becomes all that you want it toYour dreams stay big, your worries stay smallYou never need to carry more than you can hold
And while you're out there gettin' where you're gettin' toI hope you know somebody loves youAnd wants the same things tooYeah, this is my wish
I hope you never look back but you never forgetAll the ones who love you and the place you leftI hope you always forgive and you never regretAnd you help somebody every chance you get
Oh, you'd find God's grace in every mistakeAnd always give more than you takeBut more than anything, yeah more than anything
My wish for youIs that this life becomes all that you want it toYour dreams stay big, your worries stay smallYou never need to carry more than you can hold
And while you're out there gettin' where you're gettin' toI hope you know somebody loves youAnd wants the same things tooYeah, this is my wish, yeah yeah

As I was listening and singing I started thinking. I thought back to that day 3 months ago when we met with Jax's foster family and they shared their dreams for him. They knew how smart he was. They wanted him involved in sports like golf and soccer. They talked about how much of an entertainer he was and how he loved to make people laugh. They told us of how he had picked the microphone at his Dol and how he was going to be a great important man. There love for him is something I didn't understand on that day, but now I appreciate it. I'm amazed by.

Then I was thinking of Jaxson's first mother, his birth mother.  The woman who selflessly chose life for her son. A woman for whom I have the most respect and gratitude. A woman that I pray for regularly. I wonder what her wish for her son is and more than anything I wonder and hope and pray that I can raise him to be the man that she wishes him to be! 

10 weeks today...

Tonight for supper we had Taco Bell. We had plans of going out for supper tonight, but a certain toddler decided not to nap and so going out for a meal was not in the cards. We got Taco Bell instead. As we sat down to supper, Steve asked me if I remembered the last time we ate Taco Bell. Of course, I could not and he said the night we brought Jax home. Exactly 10 weeks ago tonight, we ate Taco Bell. Exactly 10 weeks ago tonight, our son spent his first night home with his forever family.

Then I started thinking about how much he has changed in the last 10 weeks. How much he amazes me every day. How he is such a little comedian and loves to make people laugh. I love how he wants to help us every chance he gets. He makes sure that we have our phones close by at all times and if our phones ring or we get a text he yells, "Ma"  or "Daddy" to make sure that we heard it. I love how much he loves to sing and how randomly through the day I'll hear him singing, "All through the Town," or "e-i-e-i-o." I love how he loves Ally and how he'll stand between Ally and Devin when they are fighting and point his finger and say "No, NO." I love that he's a little sponge and repeats most of the words that we say. I love that at breakfast one day this week out of the blue he starts humming the Olympic theme song. This kid is pretty amazing and we are so blessed to have him in our lives!

We've been pretty busy lately. The last weekend in July we went to Des Moines for the weekend. We met friends that are preparing to go to Korea to pick up their children. I'm so excited that Jax's Korean friends are coming home.

Loving Monkey Joe's

Love that Smile!

Always driving! 

Last weekend we went to Riceville for Wapsi Days. It was raining for the parade, but we still enjoyed ourselves.

Sophie waves at each car that drives back. It's so funny!

This week Jax was sick. He had an ear infection and strep throat. Poor little guy was feeling so bad and I felt so helpless that there wasn't anything that I could do to help him. He did seem happiest when he was cuddling with his puppers!

Looking all dapper with his hands in his pockets.

Now I'm getting ready to go back to school. I'm excited for the start of the new year, but I'm nervous about being away from Jaxson. I know that he's going to love daycare and he is going to be getting the best care possible, but I'm still going to miss him!

Steering Wheel Fanatic

His name is Jaxson and he is addicted to steering wheels. Yep, our son loves them! Every park he goes to he spends most of him time at the steering wheel. When he is at either grandparent's house, he would sit for hours on the golf cart "driving" no where.

We were going to buy Jax a swing set for the backyard, but after much searching we couldn't find one we liked. Honestly, the only part of the playground he has liked was the steering wheel, so we thought it was a little pointless to buy the whole set this summer. We had the idea to buy a steering wheel and have my dad build some sort of pole for the wheel so Jax could play. Oh.my.goodness, it's his favorite toy. Every morning he wakes up goes to the living room and starts yelling, "Ma" and pointing to the wheel until I get it set up for him. He loves it!

He loves his indoor wheel so much that Grandpa Weida has built him another one for the backyard. This wheel has a seat and Jax's initials! I don't have pictures on that one, but as soon as I do I'll share, but until then here are some pics with his "indoor" wheel!

Well, I had more pictures to upload, but Blogger is really, really annoying me right now, so more pics will have to come later!

Happy 1st Birthday, Sophie!

A year's gone by,
How time has flown,
I can't believe
How Sophie's grown!

She's such a joy
And so much fun,
Oh my! Sophie's
Turning One! 

I know everyone says it, but this past year really did fly by! It seems like yesterday we were sitting in the hospital waiting for her to make her appearance (after many, many hours) and now here we are a year later celebrating a very special little girl!

I'm so excited for the next years. I love watching how Sophie and Jaxson interact. They really do love each other (as long as the other one does not have the toy they want) and I love catching them giving each other hugs and kisses. It's going to be so much fun watching them grow up!

On Saturday, we celebrated Sophie, the sweet little girl that has given our family so much joy.

Sophie and her parents

I would love one picture where they are both looking at the camera and smiling!

The party sure wore Jax out! He was sleeping within minutes!