tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16575884038929593792024-02-07T17:08:48.465-08:00The VanDyck FamilyAll about the crazy and exciting lives of the VanDyck family!!!VanDyck Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04718497973031409415noreply@blogger.comBlogger292125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657588403892959379.post-85133483129564025732013-04-22T07:28:00.004-07:002013-04-22T07:28:58.323-07:00Colorado Trip Take 2Wow, well it's been a while since I have posted as usual, but for good reason!<br />
Last week Geoff and I headed to Colorado Springs (after being delayed due to a blizzard...in APRIL) with the help of some of our awesome friends who gave us rides, watched the girls, and allowed us to stay with them. The goal was for us to purchase our first home during the time we were there.<br />
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We looked at a total of around 14-15 houses within the first two days. We had quite a few favorites on the first day, one of which we knew would be our first choice. As we were putting in an offer on that house on Tuesday evening, we found out that the HOA is super strict, not allowing anything to be done in the backyard without permission (which the answer will always be no) because it backs up to a golf course. We couldn't even have a real fence, only a 3 foot tall rail fence with nothing attached to it to keep kids and dogs in our yard.<br />
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The 2nd day we felt very defeated as we liked a few other houses, but we really loved that one, so we agreed to look at a few more houses. We went over the details and we saw one house that stood out because it met all of our qualifications, including a walk out basement for my home studio...all within our normal price range, nowhere near our max of what we would have paid for the first choice house.<br />
Of the 4 houses we looked at on Wednesday we had it down to two houses that we both loved. We finally decided after about 3 hours of back and fourth on the first house we saw that day because overall, it had more things we loved about the neighborhood, school, area, and was in general cheaper.<br />
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We put in an offer that evening and heard back late that night with their counter offer, which we then accepted per advice of our agent. Apparently when we where in Colorado in October, it was a total buyers market, but as of January this year, it is now a seller's market and she was surprised they were willing to come down at all on their offer. Also, we haven't had the official appraisal done yet, but the estimated market value of the house is at least $10k more than what they are asking, so most likely, we got a pretty good deal.<br />
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Thursday was filled with lots and lots of paperwork, and since then, we have new emails full of paperwork to be read and signed everyday. Overall, the trip, even though super stressful, was an over all success. We ended up getting a house that was exactly what we wanted (or pretty dang close) for the price we were hoping for. <br />
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Here is a little bit about the house:<br />
6 bedroom (4 upstairs, 2 in basement), 3.5 bathrooms, approx 3,000 SF. <br />
Gorgeous mountain views from the upper back deck, eat in nook, and kitchen window. The house is set on a hill as a walk out lot, so we can also see a good portion of "city view". The yard is sloped and sectioned into 3 levels, with a few semi-mature trees, perfect for backyard exploring. Not a huge backyard, but probably at least 3-4 times the size we have right now. Originally we were hoping for a little more land, but it turns out, you have to be quite a bit out of the city for that, and it was way out of our price range for our first home. We will be doing different things with each area of the yard, including, a big patio with a built in firepit, a small garden, a large area of grass for the kids to play, and then fruit trees lining the back fence.<br />
The walk out basement is full of amazing natural light, even on super cloudy days, so I am so happy I get to continue with natural light (I was looking into switching to as natural as possible studio lighting when I thought a walkout basement was out of our price range). My studio will have a shooting area, prop closet, office, and a small play area for kids. Eventually we will put some sort of wet bar so I can have a fridge, sink, microwave, etc. The house is fairly new, only about 10 years old, but when they built the house, they didn't really do any upgrades, so everything is your standard builder grade, so we are looking at upgrading some things slowly such as the kitchen, some of the flooring, and the bathrooms. We also need to do some major painting as every single wall in that house is WHITE. I am not okay with that :)<br />
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I took quite a few photos for our own planning purposes, but I am only sharing a few, as they owners still reside in the home, so their stuff is everywhere still. I promise we will be posting lots of photos as soon as we move in, which will be June 5th! Please say a prayer that everything continues as planned!<br />
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Family room (again, not our crap)</div>
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Standing in living room/dining room looking towards family room and kitchen</div>
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Kitchen. None of the appliances match (and they are taking the fridge) so we will be replacing them eventually, as well as redoing the floor and re-staining the cabinets)</div>
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Standing in family room area looking towards living room and dining room</div>
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5 piece master bath and a huge walk in closet in Master</div>
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Love our front porch. We will be adding some railing around it eventually. </div>
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Outside of the house (It looked really small when I posted a iPhone pic on FB, and for some reason it still does here too. It's like a magic house that is small on the outside, but when you walk in you wonder if you went through a portal, LOL)</div>
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Back upper deck. You can not see them at ALL, but normally that entire view is mountains. You can also see a small portion of the yard.</div>
<br />Geoffrey vanDyckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04188820030379712080noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657588403892959379.post-21608080686534948542013-02-20T18:58:00.001-08:002013-02-20T18:58:51.469-08:00Family Update<br />
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Right now our family has so many things up in the air. We totally feel like we are "in between" so many different things right now. Our move to Colorado is getting closer with about 3 months until the packers come to pack our household goods. We have finally started to feel more excited about moving, and more okay with leaving Minot. We have always loved living in Minot, and no one has ever heard us complain, unless it was wishing for more snow :). But lately, so many negative things have been happening, that we feel ready to just move on and start our next chapter. We are probably the most excited about buying our first house in the next month or so...something we have been wanting to do for the last 10 years, but are now finally in a place where we can and not be stressed, as we are now 100% debt free! We can't wait until we finally have our own home and can make it ours. I am sure we will post a big announcement when we have everything finalized.<br />
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Update on Abby:<br />
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We just had the girls parent-teacher conferences and of course Abby did amazing. Her teacher refers to her as "the perfect student". She is reading over 2 grade levels ahead of where she needs to be and all of her other subjects are scoring well above average as well. She has been going to a "gifted and talented" program for the last two years which she LOVES. Right now her favorite subject is still science (mostly biology). She has no idea what she wants to be when she grows up. Most of the time she says she wants to be some sort of animal doctor or maybe a zoo keeper. <br />
As far as her health, it is remaining about the same. She still continues to sleep walk 2-7 nights a week (started as a toddler when she moved out of her crib). Her night terrors had completely gone away a couple of years ago, but have started to come back in the last few weeks. The sleep walking still remains, even after a 6 month time frame of it only happening once or twice...it started back up pretty often about a year ago. Her migraines are completely under control with her medication, down to 1-2 headaches a year. We did find out she might possibly have some sort of asthma or other bronchial issue as we found out she is having a harder time running and breathing at the same time. If she does, it's very mild and we are trying out an albuterol inhaler for a few weeks to see if that makes a difference.<br />
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Update on Jordy:<br />
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Jordy's conference went great as well. She is right around where she should be, and even excelling in a few areas. I think right now, her biggest struggle is reading (as it is for most kindergarteners) and we definitely need to work on it more with her. We read to her every single night, but I know we need to push her to sound out and read words more often. Last weekend we went on our trip to Grand Forks, ND to meet with a Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon. We found out that she does NOT have Perthes Disease, but she does have some sort of genetic disorder with her hips and possibly other places in her body. Usually these cases are presented with short stature, which would explain why she is so small. We really didn't get much information at all because he said we need to go to a genetic doctor to find out exactly what it is. She needs full body scans as well as genetic testing to find out which marker is showing up abnormal to know what we are dealing with her. Honestly, we didn't care for this doctor at all. He barely even looked at Jordyn. In fact, he thought she was a boy, after coming into the room (I get that she has a gender neutral name, but she is wearing pigtails and earrings, and he didn't even look at her). Honestly, how hard is it to glance next to you and see what your patient looks like? We do appreciate his knowledge and that because he is a specialist, he could tell right away looking at her hip x-ray that it was not Perthes (apparently, they look very similar, so our pediatrician still did a good job catching that something wasn't right!) This explains why she hasn't really had much pain as this condition usually isn't accompanied by pain. He suggested waiting until after we move to Colorado and have access to one of the best hospitals in the US (Denver children's hospital) to see a genetic specialist and find out more information. Either way, it sounds like nothing really will be done, it's basically just so we know what her condition is. He said most cases, once you hit your 40s, probably need a hip replacement. So as of right now, we are pretty much back to square one as far as what Jordyn has, but it's nice to know she will probably not need any sort of surgery or treatment during childhood.<br />
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Update on Geoff:<br />
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I think Geoff is probably more anxious to move than any of us. He has been working much longer hours with a much higher workload the past couple of months and he is getting burned out on always having extra work thrown at him non stop. We just keep repeating "3 more months". He is testing for his next rank in a couple of weeks, and we think he has a really good chance of making it this year. He has worked very hard to get where he is and I know he is excited to see what changes come with his AF career as he moves up in rank. Ultimately, his goal is to make Chief by 20 years. He is excited to be going back to his intell career and starting a new job in a new place. Right now he is taking a semester off of school so he has more time to study for his test. His hearing aid is still not working for him and at this point probably never will. We will probably have his metal stump removed and test out a brand new device that is pretty much his last hope of him ever being able to hear from his right ear. He doesn't really have much free time lately between his longer work hours and studying for his test, but hopefully that will be changing soon. He is very excited to buy our first home and all of the stuff that goes a long with owning a home (so many project ideas). With his new job in Colorado we are hoping to have more time to travel and do fun little weekend trips since there is so many more things to see and do close by.<br />
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Update on Me:<br />
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Well, after 6 weeks of weekly blood draws, my blood levels are finally back to pre-pregnancy and we are now waiting on blood work to tell us if I have any sort of blood disorder. 11 tubes...11 tubes of blood they took this week for these tests! Part of me hopes they find something, because then, I will have an answer. A reason why we lost him. Right now I am mad at my body. I am mad that my body formed a blood clot and made us lose our perfect little baby. I know I had no control over the situation, and I did nothing wrong...but we lost him because my body did something wrong. He was strong enough. He held on until the very end. He would still be safe and sound, growing stronger inside me right now. This is the longest it has ever taken my body to heal from a miscarriage, which is to be expected because I was much further along, but I just want it to be done and to feel back to "normal".<br />
Right now....I am just tired. Flat out tired. Emotionally and physically. I feel like I have just been going from one doctor appointment to the next between the four of us. I am the one factor that never changes in each situation, and even though I wouldn't have it any other way....it's exhausting. I am blessed to be able to be there for every appointment, every phone consultation, and every "Mommy, my legs hurt more today." Of course I would rather us not have to go through all of these trials, but I am thankful that we get to be together as a family, and that we are where we are supposed to be. I am thankful for the doctors and the knowledge they have. I am thankful for the Air Force and the medical coverage they give us so we never have to pay anything out of pocket. I am thankful for the family and friends who love us, pray for us, and support us.Geoffrey vanDyckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04188820030379712080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657588403892959379.post-7780773067764949632013-02-02T17:41:00.000-08:002013-02-02T17:41:00.038-08:00Perthes DiseaseI feel like all I have done lately is blog about not so awesome things going on around here. I kind of hate that...but it will be continuing with this post. I try to blog important stuff so family and friends can stay up to date to what is going on with our family. Usually it is all wonderful things, but lately, not so much. Most of you know I am 100% not a phone talker (plus I love you all, but I just simply do not have the time to call all of you), so blogging helps everyone know what is going on.<br />
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Yesterday, Jordyn was diagnosed with <a href="http://www.perthes.org.uk/what-is-perthes-disease/">Perthes Disease</a> (click for more info). In summary it is a condition in her hip joint that will need to be treated so it does not worsen.<br />
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For the last month or so, Jordyn has been complaining a little here and there about some stomach pain. We didn't think much of it, but I kept an eye on her and paid attention to how often she said something. She would say her stomach hurts (usually in a happy tone) but then run off and continue on with her happy, carefree ways of Jordyn. She started to say it more and more so I started to think something might really be wrong. Of course, I asked her if she needed to go potty, or felt like she was going to puke. Both answers were always no, and she was going #2 normally still. The strange thing a lot of you know about Jordyn (one of many strange things actually) is that she has a super high pain tolerance and she never gets sick. So when she complains of something more than a couple of times, it probably really is bothering her.<br />
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So I made an appointment with the pediatrician on base. We have been seeing Dr. Padial. If you are stationed at Minot and you do not take your kids to him, I highly recommend him. I don't take my kids in for random colds and stuff like that, and it is usually something pretty serious when I do take them in, and he understands that. He is always very patient and seriously listens to what I have to say. He right away thought she might be constipated (it can still happen even if you are still going regularly). He said we are going to try and give her extra fluids and if its still bothering her in a week or so, we will do an X-ray. Well...of course it wasn't really bothering her (it never really was) but she had still said a thing or two about it. So he said we are going to just do one and check so we can know for sure. Well we did the x-ray of her tummy and were shocked to find out she was COMPLETELY backed up. Like her entire digestive tract was FULL. He was honestly shocked she was not in serious pain all day long. So he prescribed her some Mirelax and said she would need to be on it a while to give her bowels a chance to heal and empty when they are supposed to. (This was on Monday of this week)<br />
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Fast forward to yesterday (Wednesday). I was sitting at the allergy clinic with Geoff during his lunch break. He gets shots twice a week. When you get allergy shots you have to wait 30 minutes after your shot before you can leave to make sure you do not have any sort of severe allergic reaction...so I go and with with him so we can spend time together. While we were there I get a call from Jordyn's doctor (the peds clinic and allergy clinic are next to each other and share a waiting area). He tells me that he was so shocked by the severity of her being backed up (and her not being in pain) that he didn't really look super close at the x-ray and was just seeing all the poop....and when he went back to look better at it he noticed something else wasn't right. At the VERY bottom of her x-ray, you can see the very top of where her hip connects to her femur and he suspected perthes disease. Of course neither Geoff nor I had ever heard of this so he tried to explain it to us. I got off the phone with him and told Geoff and we decided we should just see if he could come out and talk to us. He brought us out a hand out with info about perthes and said she needed to get another full x-ray, but of her full hips as soon as possible. As soon as she got out of school I took her to radiology and had her x-rays done. After, the girls and I waited around until he could look at them and let us know the results. About a half hour later, he confirmed that it was in fact perthes disease in BOTH of her hips. <br />
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This came as such a huge shock to us as she hasn't every complained about her hips hurting, like at all. But the space between that shows perthes, is pretty big so it seems like its advanced enough that it should be bothering her. I asked her if she has any pain in that area and showed her exactly where, and she said, she does. She said it hurts pretty much all of the time. She just never told us. I am not really sure how much it hurts, or if it even hurts her at all. She said she doesn't know why she never told us, and we tried to set up a time line to figure out when it started hurting...and from what she pointed out, it may have been around Thanksgiving, but who knows. Jordyn has NO sense of time at all, and even when we do explain it to her, she still just changes the time frame to whatever works in her favor. If she asks how long til her birthday and we tell her about 4 months, she says "you mean 4 days, right?" We say no, 4 months, which is over 100 days. And then the next day she says, yay its only 3 days til my birthday now! So we really do not know how long this has been doing on. We feel horrible that we didn't know and that for some reason she didn't feel like she should tell us. We always tell them they need to tell us everything, especially if something is hurting for a while. Honestly, we may have not found out about this for a long time, until she was in severe pain if it were not for Dr. Padial randomly finding this. We are so thankful that he took the time to go back and look for something he didn't even need to be looking at. <br />
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Jordyn very excited to have her mattress on the floor.</div>
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(and no, Jordyn does not wear glasses, these are fake ones but she wears them all of the time)</div>
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Right now the girls have loft beds (which I never wanted by the way, I was talked into them). We were going to be selling them when we moved, but decided to try to sell them a little earlier now with the news. We didn't like the idea of her climbing up and down the ladder anymore.</div>
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We found out that this condition is very rare for girls as it is 4-5x more likely in boys. She is in the normal age range for diagnosis, and if diagnosed before 6 years old, the outcome is usually awesome and with a full recovery. We have a referral for a pediatric orthopedic in Grand Forks. We are hoping to find out every last detail, from when this probably started, to how severe it is, to what the next steps are. From what we have read it can be as mild as bed rest and physical therapy, to as severe as surgery and months of braces and casts. We honestly do not know what to expect at this point. I will be sure to update when we find out more info, but for now we are taking precautions and are remaining more aware of what she is feeling. <br />
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<br />Geoffrey vanDyckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04188820030379712080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657588403892959379.post-13365959397563703412013-01-09T12:05:00.000-08:002013-01-21T18:02:13.278-08:00Two WeeksIt has been two weeks since we lost our sweet baby boy (yes, you read that right....we were having a boy! It IS possible for us McDonald women to conceive boys!). Right now, we are taking things one day at a time. It's still hard to believe he is gone. Some days, I still wake up thinking it was all just a horrible dream. Today I would be 15 weeks and getting ready for our big ultrasound. <br />
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13 weeks. It may not sound like very long to most people, but to me it felt like much longer. Apparently by your 6th pregnancy, you start to feel things much earlier. In 13 weeks I heard my baby's heartbeat, almost everyday. I felt little tiny kicks. I felt the misery of morning sickness, all day. I had food cravings, and food aversions. I saw our perfect little baby on an ultrasound, moving, kicking, and almost fully formed, just needing to grow. I had so many ups and downs during those 13 weeks. Every symptom giving me hope. And then something would make me take a step back and know we are never in the clear. In 13 weeks I had hope that I might actually get to hold this baby come July. But still, knowing all of the things that can go wrong, I knew the chances of probably not bringing this baby home with us someday. I will probably never know what God's plan was for him. But it's there and it's bigger than I can even imagine. God gives and God takes away. But even knowing all of that, does not make me miss our baby any less. It doesn't make the idea of trying for another baby scary as crap. I would give anything to have an innocent view on pregnancy. To fall pregnant and to instantly think everything is going to be okay and I WILL have this baby. I envy those who have that. That is long gone. That disappeared almost 10 years ago with our first loss. <br />
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I have not been very public about it, but for those wanting to know what happened, I will give a quick summary. My last blog post, I posted about the scare we had with a few bleeding issues that began on Friday the 4th. I was put on bed rest, and we thought things were going to get better. Over the weekend I was still bleeding but it wasn't severe. We checked for a heartbeat every few hours and every time it was amazingly strong. Early Monday morning, I woke up around 4am having mild contractions, no longer just cramping. Right away I knew something wasn't right. We checked for the baby's hearbeat, and there it was...beating strongly at 180bpm as usual. Little did we know that this would be the last time we would heart that precious heartbeat.<br />
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We called the hospital and the dr said contractions can be normal with my condition as the blood really irritates the uterus. At this point I still wasn't bleeding very much. But he said to call my regular OB and have him put in an ultrasound to do later that day. After hanging up the phone, 2 minutes later the contractions began coming stronger, harder, and faster. My bleeding increased to very heavy. I was in full blown labor by 5am. I was having severe active labor contractions from about 5am-6:30am. The contractions stopped around 6:30 and I knew it wasn't a good thing. We checked for the heartbeat, but we could not find it. Geoff had to go into work, so I was alone and continued to look for a heartbeat. Sometime between 5 and 6:30, our sweet baby passed away. I delivered the baby right around 7:30. Geoff came right home and I called my Dr to see what he wanted me to do. They set me up with an appointment for about an hour later. They said if we wanted to, we could bring the baby with us and they would do testing to see if there was any genetic issues with the baby.<br />
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Going to that appointment was hard. I did some major praying for strength before we even left for the appointment. There were new moms in the waiting room with their new babies. And of course, photos of babies everywhere. But I know I needed to go. I needed to know why this happened. I am thankful I have an OB doctor who cares and took all of the time we needed to answer our questions. Between my ultrasounds and a quick glance at the baby, he gave us a preliminary report. He said that the blood clot they found on Friday, was really small, but it quickly grew, and most likely, completely detached my placenta, and at that point, I went into labor because my body could no longer support the baby. I love that he was honest and told us he believes our baby was 100% healthy and it wasn't the baby that caused this. I have been reading a lot on the SCH during pregnancy. They are fairly common and It seems more often than not, they are harmless and most women go on to have full term babies. We are praying this was a one time thing.<br />
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For those who don't know much about miscarriages, most of them occur because the baby stops growing, or there is some sort of genetic defect and so your body sees that and stops it. This is usually sometime before 12 weeks. That was the case with my other 3 losses. My first loss was a "missed miscarriage" at around 11 weeks. The baby never developed properly, but my body just continued thinking I was still pregnant. We had no idea until we went in for light bleeding. I miscarried that night. My 2nd and 3rd miscarriages were both around 6-7 weeks, most likely due to "blighted ovums" which again, the babies never developed properly. But because this baby was alive with a strong heartbeat until I went into labor, my doctor believes it was because of the blood clot. Knowing that the baby was fine, and would have been fine if it were not for the clot has been the hardest part for me. I know nothing could have been done to stop this from happening, but at the same time, I can't stop reliving the whole thing over and over in my head. I just can't imagine those who do not have a relationship with Christ...how they can get through something like this? I know I could never do it without Him. Without the scripture to comfort me. Without prayer filling in the darkness and emptiness. Without his constant reminder of all of the blessings and love.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;">For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 This verse...it has brought me so much comfort....knowing everything is part of His plan for my life. </span><br />
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Telling the girls, that afternoon when they got home from school, was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in my life. I prayed so hard for God to give me the right words. But how do you tell your children, who are so excited about a new baby, that their brother/sister died? How to you protect their little hearts and help them understand why? This was the first time they have ever really had to deal with death. Jordyn was completely devastated. She immediately burst into tears. I just held her and cried with her. She has always been one that is so outward with her emotions. She is still having a hard time grasping that the baby is gone and not coming back. Pretty much everyday, she tells me she is sad that the baby is gone. Abby on the other hand, is a little bit more like Geoff. Her emotions stay more inward when she isn't really sure how she feels about something. It didn't really hit her until later that night at bedtime when she realized she couldn't sleep because she was so sad.<br />
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We have not gotten back the full lab results from the baby yet (waiting for the genetic testing that takes a few weeks), and I will be getting some testing done as well. The tests we have gotten back said that the baby was perfect. He was measuring the exact correct size and had no health issues. My dr. believes that I might have some sort of blood/clotting disorder that is triggered by pregnancy. There is a chance I could have another subchorionic hematoma if I get pregnant again, so I would be on blood thinners. Geoffrey vanDyckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04188820030379712080noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657588403892959379.post-70806942771344389922013-01-05T19:44:00.000-08:002013-01-05T19:44:50.578-08:00Because I suck at being pregnant....<br />
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We all know that. I do not like being pregnant, and being pregnant does not like me. I never have and never will, mostly because of all the ridiculous complications I have every single time. This pregnancy is proving to be no better than the others, possibly even worse.<br />
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The purpose of this post is to give our family and close friends an update on what is going on. I will try to explain stuff in the least graphic way possible, If you think you might not want to read certain things about pregnancy complications, then you need to just stop reading this and go back to playing Angry Birds or pinning random stuff on Pinterest.<br />
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This pregnancy started off normal for the first few weeks. But then right around 7 weeks I started having some spotting off and on. With my history of losses, of course I right away thought the worst. As annoying as it was, it was reassuring that through this all I feel miserably sick all day, everyday. Eventually, right around 9 weeks we were able to find the baby's heartbeat on our home doppler. It was a beautiful 180bpm. Then we made it to my first dr appt at around 10 weeks, when we got to see the baby via ultrasound and were reassured that everything was going well. This whole time, still having spotting off and on.<br />
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However, Friday morning (almost 13 weeks), I randomly woke up at 4am with very heavy bleeding. Much more than I have had before. Right away I pulled out my home doppler and found the baby's heartbeat, again beating away nice and strong. Finally when my OB's office opened at 8am I was able to speak with a nurse and after explaining everything from the last few hours, her and my dr agreed I needed to go and get an ultrasound, but my appt was not until 3:30. Longest.day.ever. Of course, because it was at the end of the day, I was warned that I would not hear any results until sometime after Monday. UGH. The ultrasound looked good from what we saw. Baby was moving like crazy and had an awesome heartbeat as usual. We assumed nothing serious was going on since they let me leave (my nurse told me if they let me leave without calling my dr, that it's a good sign and probably nothing serious). We left feeling a little more reassured everything was okay.<br />
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That is, until this morning, I started bleeding pretty heavy again, and now having mild to moderate cramping off and on. The cramping was really starting to worry me. Finally, I decided to call the "on call OB". I was expecting him to say "If you are worried, come to the ER, whatever". But I really lucked out and spoke with a very nice doctor who was willing to explain everything to me and answer every question. Right away he found my ultrasound and started looking it over and gave me the results right then and there. He said that the baby looked awesome and healthy. But, he did find a couple of problems that were causing the bleeding. First he said I have a <a href="http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/404971-overview">Subchorionic Hemorrhage</a> (you can click the link to read exactly what it is) as well as a Partial <a href="http://www.webmd.com/baby/understanding-placenta-previa-basics">Placenta Previa</a>. While waiting around all day for my Ultrasound, I did a lot of research and figured out it was probably one of these two conditions causing the bleeding, but I was a little freaked out when he told me I have both. Both of these conditions are usually not harmful to the baby at all, and usually both sort of "fix" themselves over time. I love that he took the time to explain everything to me and told me what will happen over the next few days and what I needed to do. He told me I need to be on pretty strict bed rest, and that will hopefully help the hematoma to heal and the bleeding to slow down (I have been on partial bed rest for weeks due to the severe nausea and the spotting).<br />
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Thankfully, I already had my next appointment scheduled with my regular OB for Tuesday, so I will be seeing him soon and will get more information and answers. I will also probably have more ultrasounds until they both subside to keep an eye on the bleed and to see if my placenta moves up where it should be. I am very lucky that this happened on a weekend when Geoff could be home so I could get true bed rest. Im hoping after two days of only getting up a few times the bleeding will slow down and can go back to partial bed rest on Monday, when I have to get the girls ready and home from school everyday.<br />
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The good news, we got to see the baby getting bigger and actually looking like a baby!!!<br />
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We will try our best to keep you all up to date on everything, and in the meantime, we always appreciate the prayers!<br />
<br />Geoffrey vanDyckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04188820030379712080noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657588403892959379.post-3754135002612561122012-12-19T16:29:00.000-08:002012-12-19T16:29:39.871-08:00Hopeful<br />
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We were planning on waiting a little bit longer before we announced our big news, but my friend accidentally let the cat out of the bag on Saturday night to people around here and I have been getting some questions. Haha. It's okay Jen, we still love you!<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">We are expecting baby #3!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> Due July 2013:)</span></div>
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Most of you know the history of my pregnancies and our babies, as well as the history of our losses, which is why we chose to not tell everyone for a little while, at least until our chances of loss significantly dropped.<br />
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On Friday the 14th we had our first OB appointment where we found out everything was going as it should be. We got to see our precious baby via ultrasound (it was the kind the DR just wheels in, so it was not great quality) and we saw her/him moving around like crazy and a beautiful strong heartbeat. Obviously we are not out of the woods yet (you never really are) but the chances of this baby staying get better everyday. We had considered possibly announcing our news this day....but after Friday's horrible tragedy, we knew it wasn't the right time.<br />
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Things are going as expected so far. For me, being miserable is a good sign....which is what I am currently experiencing. With the girls I had pretty much every negative symptom and side effect of pregnancy possible. (With all of my miscarriages, had very little pregnancy symptoms). So far, this pregnancy is lining up with my pregnancy with the girls, which includes all day sickness, vomitting, large amounts of stomach acid (what I eat or drink does not make a difference), acid reflux, and extreme tiredness (as well as some other issues that are too embarrassing to mention). And to top it all off, it is still continuing to get worse by the day, even as I near the end of the first trimester. As much as it all sucks, it is all a good sign that baby is still there. (And yes, I am on medications for the nausea and the reflux...they help some!)<br />
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We have a long road ahead of us still and we are trying to look forward and not back.<br />
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And just to be clear...we told VERY FEW people. Seriously, very few. If you were not one of the few that knew, please do not take it personally. <br />
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Along with not telling people, I have definitely pulled away from most people since our loss in early September, so I have been keeping more to myself. Some of it is on purpose, but most of it is, what I think, my own mind's way of coping. This is totally not like me. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a very social person. But looking back, I know I did the same thing when we almost lost Jordyn at birth. I avoided phone calls from family even. I was too much of an emotional wreck to see or speak to anyone. If I am not around people, I don't have to worry about talking about things I do not want to talk about at that time, and things can be more on my terms. There are very few people that I feel comfortable enough to just let everything out. These people accept me for who I am, and know exactly what I need, when I need it. I can say whatever I need to say, no matter who stupid, whiny, or selfish it sounds, and I know that I am not being judged and they will still love me and show me compassion just the same. They know that is not who I am, and it's probably crazy hormones talking. These people know who they are and how much they mean to me. <br />
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With that said, I am so blessed with so many people who love and care about me and my family, ...near and far, and we feel blessed to have all of you in our lives. We appreciate your love and prayers, especially these last few months.VanDyck Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04718497973031409415noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657588403892959379.post-47337469090986324472012-09-22T18:32:00.001-07:002012-09-22T18:32:52.383-07:00Minot Fall<div style="text-align: center;">
We are so excited that fall is in full swing up here in Minot. It looks like we are going to have pretty, but cold fall. We love fall almost as much as we love Christmas. We find all sorts of fun stuff to do around here. For those that say Minot has nothing to offer, you are SO wrong. People are always asking how we find so much to do...I am not sure exactly how, but we just look for fun things around the area. But I decided to compile a list of what we have found when it comes to fall. These are just the things that we have found along with a short review for each one. They all have websites you can check out if you google them. They are all very affordable for fun, family events, most of them costing less than $20 for a family of four. We enjoy doing all these fun fall festivities when it just starts getting colder out, usually in early October, before it's freezing. We want it to feel like fall and wear cute fall outfits, but not freeze our butts off.</div>
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Stuff to do:</div>
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Papa's Pumpkin Patch Bismarck, ND</div>
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Max Corn Maze Just south of Minot, ND</div>
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Berry Acres Farm Minot, ND</div>
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Angelic Gardens Minot, ND</div>
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Papas Pumpkin Patch. Even though this is a 2 hour drive, we have gone a couple of the years we have been here. It's a huge pumpkin patch with lots to do for kids of all ages. It's really pretty and has lots of good photo ops! Weekdays are quiet, but there isn't as many things to do there. Weekends are crazy busy but they have the most activities and stuff to do going. We probably won't make the trip out of this again.</div>
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Max Corn Maze. We have only been to this once because we just found out about it last year. It only takes a few minutes to get to from town. It's pretty basic....there is only a corn maize, but it takes at least an hour to get through with kids. The girls have fun getting lost in there and we pretty much let them decide where to go until everyone starts getting tired and then we help. When we went they had a small concession stand, some hay bales to play on, and a little barrel train for younger kids. It's a fundraiser for the FFA so the money goes to help support that program. Planning on going here again this year.</div>
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Berry Acres Farm. We have only been here once as well, a few years ago when the base chapel had a family day here. Last year it flooded pretty bad, and this year they opened back up. It has a cute little store that sells produce and homemade goods such as breads, treats, and jams. Outside they have lots of pumpkins and a smallish corn maize. It's good for something close by. Probably going to check it out again now that it's open.<br />
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Angelic Gardens. We found this place last year. We organized a "family night" where we got a few other close families together and all went together. They have a nice garden area, and a pumpkin patch where you can actually go pick the pumpkins. Their prices are amazing on pumpkins too. You can do a group reservation and do a hayride around the farm areas and then come back to a bonfire with hot drinks and treats. We loved it because we were the only ones there, because it's pretty much by reservation only unless you are just picking veggies. The kids could run and have fun with no worry of getting lost (it's not huge so you can see everything). We are doing this again this year.<br />
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On top of all of this stuff, there is lots going on when it comes to Halloween too:</div>
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Base Trick or treating night</div>
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Trick or treating at the base clinic</div>
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(perfect for all ages, inside and warm!)</div>
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Downtown Pumpkin Walk</div>
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(For preschool and younger, it's during school hours. Downtown businesses hand out candy inside their </div>
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stores. Jordyn loved this the last few years)</div>
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VanDyck Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04718497973031409415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657588403892959379.post-85549868682075119272012-09-16T15:31:00.002-07:002012-09-16T15:33:03.826-07:00The pain and the joy<br />
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ugh...I do not even know where to begin. This post has been a long time coming, and it has changed a few times along the way before I finally decided to actually publish it. It started out as something completely different than it is now. This is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. This is pretty big, and not many people know about any of this. Just family and very CLOSE friends. I am sorry if you didn't know, but we chose to keep this information private for many reasons, because it is very personal, and well, it's our choice :) </div>
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Have you ever wanted something so bad that it physically hurts? Like EVERYWHERE? Your heart mostly, but also your actual body as well. That is what I felt for the last 5 years. And the pain has increasingly gotten worse and worse. I thought eventually it would fade, but no, it continues to worsen. I feel like a part of me is missing. Not necessarily that I am incomplete, but that part of me missed something. I am sure that doesn't make sense to most of you, but that is the only way I know how to describe it. So here goes....<br />
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I.WANT.MORE.BABIES.<br />
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I know, this isn't a shock to anyone. But it's more real than most people know.</div>
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As most of you know we have two BEAUTIFUL miracle babies. We know how blessed we are to have these girls and we thank God for them every single day. We had a very long, bumpy journey when it came to bringing both of them home. 8 weeks combined NICU time. I am not going to lie....it SUCKED. BIG TIME. I would never wish having a NICU baby on anyone. Because two out of two babies I gave birth to had medical issues at birth, we decided almost instantly after Jordyn was born that we needed to be done. No more babies. The thought of this broke my heart into a million pieces, as I have always wanted a BIG family.... but my head rationalized it was what needed to be done. Pretty much right away, I regretted this decision. And the older the girls got, the more I felt I was missing a part of me. A mommy part of me that I missed out on.</div>
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About 8 months ago I finally realized the pain of NOT having more babies was far worse than would COULD happen if we did have more. Geoff knew I always wanted more, and he did too, but one day, I finally told Geoff how I had been feeling, and how this feeling wouldn't go away...I tried. It just wouldn't. Within a couple of days we decided to do something about it, started researching and making phone calls and do what needed to be done in order for us to start trying to have at least one more baby. It WAS possible. I needed to at least try...and if it didn't happen, then it wasn't meant to be. But I couldn't fathom living the rest of my life with regret and thinking What IF? </div>
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The fear set in. The fear of all the things that could possibly go wrong. Before Abbygail, I went through two miscarriages. The first one, I was almost 11 weeks, and the 2nd one, I was about 6 weeks. And then we had our perfect Abby. I had a horrible pregnancy....so sick I had to go into the hospital a few times to get hydrated. Yes, I am one of those lucky people who has "morning" sickness 24/7 from the beginning until a few days after the baby is born. Born at 34 weeks and 4lbs, she was this tiny, perfect baby. She was in the NICU for 6 weeks, 6 LONG weeks for prematurity reasons. Two years later, our precious Jordyn joined our family at almost 2 weeks past my due date. She got stuck in my birth canal and was taken emergency c-section. She was born not breathing and full life saving measures were used to bring her back. She was born with an APGAR score of 1. If you know anything about the APGAR scoring, you know that is BAD. It was probably the most terrifying moment in my life, hearing them working on her, trying to bring her back to life. She suffered some major brain injuries and all sorts of complications. The first few days, we didn't even know if she was going to make it, but she made it home with us after only 2 weeks in the NICU! So most people understood when we said we were DONE. </div>
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I felt like I was robbed of both of my babies first few weeks of life, that most people will never understand, so I will try to describe it:</div>
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I have never had a baby instantly handed to me after being born</div>
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I have never had a baby in my hospital room with me.</div>
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I have never been able to nurse my babies within the first 48 hours even. There were always so.many.tubes.</div>
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My phone calls to family after birth were always filled with tears of sadness, not tears of joy like most new moms. Those phone calls SUCKED, and I made my mom and Geoff do most of them.</div>
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When visitors came to see me in the hospital, they always walked on eggshells...not there to sit and hold a brand new baby, but to sit and pray with me that I would bring my babies home.</div>
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I had to ask to hold MY own babies.</div>
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I didn't get to hold Jordyn til she was 4 days old.</div>
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I had to "scrub in" every time I wanted to even go look at my babies.</div>
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I had to feed my babies when I was told...no more, no less.</div>
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I had to see my babies with a million wires and tubes coming out of them everyday.</div>
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I had to tell my very excited two year old that her baby sister was very sick and wasn't coming home with us.</div>
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Telling her that was one of THE hardest things I have EVER had to do.</div>
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I had to leave my babies every night.</div>
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I had to be alone as soon as both girls came home, because Geoff had to use all of his leave and then some when they were in the NICU. He had to go back to work right away. My mom's plane tickets expired before either of them came home, and had to leave while they were both still in the NICU.</div>
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And on top of all of this, I have such tainted views of pregnancy and the horrible things that can happen at any given moment. Living in fear that I could lose the baby every single day. That fear ruins almost any of the joy.</div>
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But even the worst of times can be forgotten when there is so much joy from what came of it. That pain gets put on a back burner and seems so minuscule when you take a step back and look at what is really important. Our girls are worth every second and more of the pain we had to go through to have them in our lives. I would do it again in a heartbeat if I had to.</div>
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In April we took a big step in order to start trying again....Geoff had his vasectomy reversed (This is probably TMI for some of you, but oh well, I figure you care enough to still be reading this at this point). The surgery went very well....and....</div>
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Well somehow, we managed to get pregnant in only 3 months! 3 months!!!! The average time for couples in our situation is 12 months or more, so we were completely shocked. To me, 3 months seemed like forever as it was longer than the other 4 times we were trying. It seemed too good to be true. Right around this time we found out we got orders to Colorado Springs for next summer, our first choice of assignments. There was just so much awesomness going on. But that fear. The fear of knowing how easily something could go wrong. It makes it so I can't even enjoy being pregnant, at all for the most part. I so wish it wasn't there. But it is, and it always will be. I would give anything to not have it. To not know all that I know.</div>
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When most people find out they are expecting, they are over joyed with the thought of bringing home a baby in 9 months. They broadcast to the world their good news. But with me, that isn't the case. I know that there is a chance I WONT be bringing a baby home in 9 months, or at all. It hurts, and I hate it. It makes it hard to be excited, because I feel like as soon as I get excited, something will go wrong. We were completely thrilled that we were expecting, and prayed that everything would go smoothly this time.</div>
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A couple weeks later, things came crashing down. We found out we lost the baby at almost 7 weeks after a trip to the ER. We thought this time would be different. I was having lots of pregnancy symptoms which we took as a good sign. We figured we had two healthy pregnancies since my two miscarriages, and that we were going to be okay. We had hope But God has a different plan for that baby. He or she is in heaven with his or her two siblings experiencing joy that we can't even imagine. And I can't wait for the day that I finally get to meet them.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11</span>
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The emotional and physical pain of a miscarriage SUCKS. And, it doesn't get easier each time. If anything it gets harder, because you start to a little lose hope each time. You start to wonder how many more times is this going to happen before I get the joy? I hate admitting to that. I think this time might have been the most emotionally painful one for me. Not exactly sure why. There are no words that can take that pain away. We know it happened for a reason. We know this wasn't the right time. We know all of the stuff that people trying to help tell us. It doesn't help, and it doesn't make the pain less. That is the main reason I chose to not talk about this with anyone. People have good intentions, but don't realize it's not helping in any way. <br />
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It brings so many questions of WHY? Why did this happen to me again? Why am I the ONLY one in my family to not only go through miscarriage, but also a premature baby, NICUs, emergency c-sections, babies needing emergency living saving treatments, and traumatic births? Everyone else in my family (and most of my close friends even) have never had to deal with any of those things...so why have I had to go through ALL of them? WHY? I will never know the answer to this, so I have to just trust that God has a bigger plan than what I can see. There is a reason why we have been through all of this, we just don't know why, except that so far, he has given us two precious gifts on this earth, and now 3 in heaven. If dealing with this pain is what I have to do to bring us another amazing child to our family, then that is what I will do. I pray for trust. I NEED to trust in HIM if this is ever going to happen. I need more trust and hope that he has this amazing plan for our family. </div>
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We do not know exactly what lies ahead. We pray that it is in God's will for us to bring another miracle into this world....maybe this time a healthy one that comes home with us right away!</div>
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The fact that we DID get pregnant gives us so much hope. So much. We know now that it is possible, and we might be blessed with another baby (or babies). And what we have right now, these two amazing girls, is more than enough. Geoff is the most amazing husband I could ask for, and my girls....they bring me more joy than I ever thought possible on this earth. I am so incredibly blessed. </div>
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Please know, I did not write this because I want people to feel sorry for me. I don't want that at all. I decided to lay it all out and write this because I NEED prayer....and support. I need the strength to not give up. We have been through to much to give up.</div>
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Like Clay<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Like clay in the potter's hands</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Mold me, mold me</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Like a child in her father's arms</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Hold me, hold me</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Like a sparrow afraid to fly</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Raise me, raise me</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">This is just between You and I</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">I love You, I love You </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Let this song be an offering of my love for You</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">I lay myself down upon Your throne</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">For whatever You want me to do </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">For whatever it takes</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">And whatever the faith</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">I trust You</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">For whatever the cost</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">And whatever is lost</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">I love You</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">I love You, Lord </span><br />
<br style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Let my life be an example of Your love for me</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">I give this world just to carry Your cross</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">And to be what You want me to be </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">If we call out Your name</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">We should see our face</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">If we sacrifice our lives</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">We will see that grace </span>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>Geoffrey vanDyckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04188820030379712080noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657588403892959379.post-37789965406537573022012-08-22T18:10:00.003-07:002012-08-22T18:10:36.020-07:00Back To School 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
For being a photographer, I am pretty bad sometimes about taking photos of my family and our daily life. I realize that sometimes I go weeks without touching my camera unless it's for a session. My family is way more important than my business and I need to remember to capture the everyday stuff that makes us who we are. So I had the idea to capture "back to school" for almost 24 hours. Starting with getting ready for bed the night before school started, until after they came home from school. It was fun, but also kinda stressful remember to make sure I got photos of everything, LOL. Anyways...taking more photos of our everyday life is something I want to work on more.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4vIqWyjYUySTIOlo08trLPALlXmlWNXwm2XgTquwHvNRGc3PKaGXuFBLkM-ZcdgsiwTJPiyjZPBtiGoRAtWLP2ZGl-xE2JwnuCgDJZtxcUOlKRbBlRpD-FZIiv-oY5gv1QcoV3qqVDow/s1600/DSC_2817.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4vIqWyjYUySTIOlo08trLPALlXmlWNXwm2XgTquwHvNRGc3PKaGXuFBLkM-ZcdgsiwTJPiyjZPBtiGoRAtWLP2ZGl-xE2JwnuCgDJZtxcUOlKRbBlRpD-FZIiv-oY5gv1QcoV3qqVDow/s320/DSC_2817.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Bath time feeties!</div>
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reading time</div>
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Story time with daddy </div>
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Sleepy Diva </div>
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Love these little chicken legs!</div>
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confetti from Abby's teacher. Supposed to help not make them nervous or something?</div>
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In bed before 7!</div>
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Breakfast</div>
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A couple of months ago, I started teaching my little curly haired girl how to do her hair.</div>
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My mom wasn't really able to help me in this department...as I get my curly fro from my Dad.</div>
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I am hoping Abby understands it's a blessing to have a mom who went through a horrible awkward time in Jr high thanks to my crazy hair. We are hoping to prevent this with my knowledge!</div>
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Love THIS.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirBcZqDz3xKbOpvadGePOD3cLnk-jicLeu89FhBjL1WojWb2wRNaaBAI4jXaBVuGfwbkeoe3zXZq9DlIQdlhdyldYMElMi8ZeXpC4WgAt5O1u1wFbylAvOnnfw3T8lE3IhHHGFuDIDtYI/s1600/DSC_2952.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirBcZqDz3xKbOpvadGePOD3cLnk-jicLeu89FhBjL1WojWb2wRNaaBAI4jXaBVuGfwbkeoe3zXZq9DlIQdlhdyldYMElMi8ZeXpC4WgAt5O1u1wFbylAvOnnfw3T8lE3IhHHGFuDIDtYI/s320/DSC_2952.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Walking to school!</div>
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Last year we walked home from school as much as possible with the weather.</div>
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This year it will be even better since both girls go to the same school now.</div>
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We live about a 15 minute walk from the school.</div>
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She is so stinkin tiny still!</div>
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Mommy made a special treat for the girls before they got home from school.</div>
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They were slightly excited.</div>
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VanDyck Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04718497973031409415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657588403892959379.post-34225447662672921012012-07-29T20:09:00.002-07:002012-07-29T20:09:15.842-07:00National Park Trip....aka pop-ups hate usSorry I have not been blogging lately. I lost interest in my project 52 super quick this year. Hoping next to year to figure out a photography project that holds my interest longer! Things have been pretty crazy around here with the girls being out of school. We somehow manage to be MORE busy during the summer than the school year...not sure how that works!<br />
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We just got back from an amazing family vacation visiting a couple of national parks: Glacier and Yellowstone National park. We were gone for a total of one week between the two parks. For those who do not know, Glacier National Park is located in North West Montana, and Yellowstone is located primarily Wyoming, but is also partially in Montana and Idaho as well.<br />
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We decided since we live up North (probably the only time we will ever be stationed anywhere near this area) that we need to take advantage of all that the North has to offer, which is why we have been doing lots of little mini trips. We thought that a week long family vacation would finally work out this summer. Most of the trip was amazing. Glacier is the most beautiful place I have ever seen...and the kids loved yellowstone for all of the animals they got to see! The even got become double park rangers, and help feed some bears! It really made me miss the mountains and living in an area that has mountains, beautiful blue lakes, and lots of green trees! We decided to use this trip as the chance to have our first big family camping trip as well. The two of us have realized that we both love camping and both did a lot of it before we got married, but not so much since we have been together...not sure why, but we realized we needed to change that. But we thought with Glacier and Yellowstone both being "bear country" that we would feel a little safer if we combined tent camping and cabin/trailer and rented a pop up camper from the outdoor rec here on base. So we got the towing package put on our van and hauled a pop up camper all the way to Glacier NP, and then to Yellowstone NP, and then back home...the van did great...for the most part.<br />
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Like I said, for the most part the trip was wonderful...except when it came to the camper. Let me start off by saying that I LOVE camping, and I am in no way saying this was a horrible trip....in fact...the whole thing is funny, so I thought I would share some of the ridiculousness that we experienced involving this camper. I love being outdoors, and sleeping outside. I have NO problem with primitive camping...no electricity, running water, heat, etc. But I was not expecting that sort of camping trip as our first time camping with the girls. We found out right away that the popup camper had all sorts of "issues". Our site at Glacier was a primitive site...no big deal, we have a camper that has propane heat, and a battery, and it was only for 3 nights. Well right away we discovered that the propane system was not working correctly. It was not producing heat, and the alarms for the propane kept going off, indicating there was some sort of leak. We turn the non working propane off completely, and said alarm continues to go off. This happens the entire 6 nights we have the camper. Sometimes it stops, and then starts back up. Sometimes it would go off in the middle of the night. It was anyone's guess how or why. Most places, no big deal...but when you are up north in the summer, it still gets to the low 30s and even upper 20s at night! Luckily, this over prepared mama brought enough blankets to keep about a dozen people warm. Next up...the battery. This camper came with a good sized battery, which it's basic function was to power the lights. The camper has 2 tiny dome lights, that are perfect size for the camper, but none the less, use hardly any wattage. The battery lasts approx 2 hours worth of use. So we have no lights for the next two nights at Glacier. At this point, we have a tent on wheels because we have no battery power, no propane, and of course no electricity because we have a regular camp site. As frusturating as all of this was, it wasn't a huge deal because this was only at night, and we were gone exploring the park all day. But when it came time for us to sleep and the alarms wouldn't stop, we wanted to cry. We had gone on a beautiful but vigorous 4 mile hike one day and came back exhausted (and I somehow managed to twist my knee the last couple of minutes coming off the hike and was in serious pain) and we just wanted all the beeping to stop.<br />
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After exploring as much of the park we could get to in 2 days, we packed up and moved onto Yellowstone. We had reserved a campsite a little ways from the park because everything IN the park was full. We pull up to Buffalo (that is the name of the campground) It looks deserted and sort of run down. We start driving through to find our site...which we find out is in the faaaaaarthest back loop possible, and our site is the farthest away site. This is another primitive campground...no big deal, we just did it for 3 nights, 3 more isn't going to kill us (although at this point realize we wasted money on renting a popup when we could have just brought our own tent, which is actually larger and more spacious than the pop up). Well when we find our campsite we both agreed it was NO GO. First of all, it is still in "bear country" and there are warnings everywhere. It is super far away from the ghetto looking "bathroom"...like a good 10 campsites away, which meant the girls couldn't go alone, which meant one of us had to take them, and the other had to stay back at the campsite...alone. The site was also all grass, and it was backed up to a bug infested creek RIGHT behind our campsite. We could see the bugs swarming when we pulled up. To be honest, we were terrified. It was the scariest, most creepy looking campsite either of us had ever seen. We tried looking for camp host to talk to, but none were around, nor were there any sort of park rangers. We hauled out of there and desperately tried to find a new campsite. Everything we could find was either booked up, stupid high priced, or only one night available. So, we decided to do something we never thought we would do...we started calling RV parks. That's right, we rolled our teeny little pop up camper into an RV park. We felt pretty lame, but we found a park that had a great price, full hook ups, a spot right near the bathrooms, clean showers, and we felt SAFE. It was here that we found out...that we now had electrical issues as well. We were super excited to plug the camper in, only to find out that alarms went off even more when we had electricity. And, the battery that had died 3 days before...yeah that refused to charge back up. So now we are at a fabulous little mom and pop RV site, paying for full hook ups...and we can not use any of them....BUT we are in good spirits because we have clean potties and showers.<br />
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By the last night of our trip...all we could do was joke about the specialness of all the things gone wrong...and every single one of them had to do with the camper. We are pretty convinced the camper hated having us borrow it and was trying to make us take it back early or something.<br />
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Last but not least was when we were driving back onto base. This has nothing to do with the camper being stupid now..... But of course, we get tagged for a "random inspection" coming onto base...I mean, why wouldn't we? So we drive away from the search pit, and as we are going through the line we here a BAM BAM BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM sound. I right away assume that we had hit one of the barriers but Geoff said he was watching the mirrors and KNOWS we did not. We jump out to look at the trailer and it had come off the hitch! Apparently the pin broke, which dropped the trailer. It was still attached thankfully because there are chains holding it on as well, but we were basically dragging the trailer. We were stopped in the middle of everything. Some nice airman came and helped us move the trailer out of the way while Geoff ran home and grabbed an extra pin. This was all the maker of the pin's fault, who got an email from us asking how they would like to help pay for the damage the bumper of our car because of this.<br />
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All in all, the trip was amazing if you take out all of the fun times with the camper. The good stuff definitely out weighs the bad stuff...but the camper did put a big damper and stress in the trip that could have been avoided. Luckily, the girls really didn't notice any of this stuff going on. Most of it happened at night after they had gone to bed and are pretty heavy sleepers. They loved it, so I am thankful that we were able to keep a positive attitude and not ruin the trip for them. I will be posting another blog soon with lots of photos about what all we did on the trip...I just thought I would post about the awesome camper experience we had in the mean time :)<br />
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Here she is folks:</div>
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<br />VanDyck Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04718497973031409415noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657588403892959379.post-46215124849309514972012-05-25T07:54:00.000-07:002012-05-25T07:54:00.927-07:002012 | P52 | Working things out<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">P52 | TWENTY ONE</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This week we are....</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">working things out.</span></div>
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Some days we love each other....</div>
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other days</div>
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....not so much.</div>
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About 30 minutes after this photo while getting ready for bed they wanted to kill each other. Sisters.</div>
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Their emotions are everywhere these days and I know it is only going to get worse the older they get.</div>
<br />VanDyck Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04718497973031409415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657588403892959379.post-42356066544000443892012-05-18T11:29:00.002-07:002012-05-18T11:29:34.504-07:002012 | P52 | Getting older<div style="text-align: center;">
P52 | Twenty</div>
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This week we are...
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Getting older!</div>
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It's so hard to believe that this little peanut turned 5 this week!</div>
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Enjoy the many faces of Jordy!</div>
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<br />VanDyck Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04718497973031409415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657588403892959379.post-62557399919247897342012-05-12T12:30:00.003-07:002012-05-12T12:32:26.080-07:002012 | P52 | Blooming<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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P52 | NINETEEN</div>
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This week we are....</div>
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blooming.</div>
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Every time I look at her</div>
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I see my first baby</div>
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and how she is growing up so fast</div>
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It seems like just yesterday I was holding all four pounds of her</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO5hhM12NWAQeah-JbZK7Xrbmwd64SsOOVXlhgAK5QzMiW5N-TPpUwkgiikXIZl75BRLiqlWsM1A6e3-coNAJGQ_DB3NK9IzYl-xsVGBIxBz1VcPbKLCTZMTOdpfedY37IXN3ANOTM-Fg/s1600/SVP_1441+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO5hhM12NWAQeah-JbZK7Xrbmwd64SsOOVXlhgAK5QzMiW5N-TPpUwkgiikXIZl75BRLiqlWsM1A6e3-coNAJGQ_DB3NK9IzYl-xsVGBIxBz1VcPbKLCTZMTOdpfedY37IXN3ANOTM-Fg/s400/SVP_1441+copy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Abby totally needed some blog love, so I decided this week needed to be all about my first born.</div>
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I can not get over how beautiful this girl is, inside and out.</div>
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She brings so much joy and love into our home.</div>
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The last couple of months she has started to seem so grown up to us.</div>
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She does so much more on her own and we are having a hard time giving her the independence she needs to discover who she is and who she wants to be.</div>
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With that, she is so much like her Mama:</div>
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She aims to please and to be the best. She is competitive but still a good sport when she loses.</div>
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She does everything she can to make others feel included, wanted, and needed.</div>
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She has an amazing thirst to learn, and to learn quickly and as much as possible.</div>
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She is the teachers pet...the one asking for extra work because she finished her assignment before anyone else even got started. </div>
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She gets bored easily because she wants to always be doing something. </div>
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She will be outside if its possible. Cold, rain, hot, snow, warm....doesn't matter.</div>
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She is quiet and shy at times, but other times she couldn't be quiet to save her life.</div>
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She loves science. </div>
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She loves the ocean...or any water for that matter.</div>
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She is totally scared to try new things, but still pushes herself to do it anyways.</div>
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I swear, this girl...she is my MINI ME!</div>VanDyck Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04718497973031409415noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657588403892959379.post-12610910706949433892012-05-04T07:45:00.002-07:002012-05-12T12:32:52.310-07:002012 | P52 | Anticipating<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">P52 | EIGHTEEN</span></div>
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This week, Geoff came home with this. Our EQUALS list. The list that tells us all of the possibilities of where we are moving to in 15 months or less. We were a little sad that some of the bases we were hoping for were no longer on our list of choices (Alaska, and 2 other Colorado bases). But, we can't really complain, considering most of our friends that are stationed here with us, pretty much have a choice of 3-5 bases. Geoff's job definitely has a good variety of places we can go...pretty much any area of the US, and quite a few places overseas. For those wondering, our first choice is Buckley AFB in CO. We have always loved the idea of going to Colorado because it seems like the type of area we would love. Outdoors, mountains, snow, views, etc. Our 2nd choice as of right now is actually to go back to Hawaii. When we lived there 7 years ago, we never really got to enjoy the full experience of living in Hawaii. We were newlyweds, brand new to the AF, and flat broke. We totally took advantage of all the free stuff their is to do (hiking, surfing, going to the beach...a lot) but there is so much more. Hawaii has an amazing SPACE A terminal (free military flights) and the only time we could take advantage of that was to go home (7-10 flights to Travis AFB per week so we went home a couple of times a year) even though there is flights pretty much all over the world that go in and out of Hawaii. But, we just couldn't afford lodging anywhere. On top of that, when we visited HI in Dec 2010, the girls just couldn't get enough of it. They totally loved it. We had a family meeting and discussed all of the different bases and what they have to offer, and all 4 of us had Hawaii and Colorado in our top 3 :)</div>
<br />VanDyck Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04718497973031409415noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657588403892959379.post-57163450881763889812012-04-27T12:01:00.004-07:002012-04-27T12:02:08.280-07:002012 | P52 | Wondering<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">P 52 | SEVENTEEN</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">wondering (where our baby went???)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcMMUVkf7KwbSX1K7w92hFkRpzO2aNnn6ORY1HRt-FQtaVhUtayWagTXwasBpQbYrrzIuNYVhXFzm_Cu-szWJEn6RIJ8E5WSnncVr80v1XuQ2Podkmch0KCZWg7PsXjgzDHrl9V8Ihglg/s1600/SVP_0347+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcMMUVkf7KwbSX1K7w92hFkRpzO2aNnn6ORY1HRt-FQtaVhUtayWagTXwasBpQbYrrzIuNYVhXFzm_Cu-szWJEn6RIJ8E5WSnncVr80v1XuQ2Podkmch0KCZWg7PsXjgzDHrl9V8Ihglg/s400/SVP_0347+copy.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
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I totally did not mean to make Jordyn the subject of my Project 52 two weeks in a row, but it just sort of happened. The other day I was all caught up with session editing, so I thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and do Jordyn's 5 year photos. My schedule for May up until after the kids get out of school is CAA-RAAZZZY. Jordyn had fun playing model, and of course getting a lollipop when she was done!</div>
<br />VanDyck Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04718497973031409415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657588403892959379.post-5596789160913504782012-04-20T08:48:00.000-07:002012-04-20T08:48:13.030-07:002012 | P52 | Sleepy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">P 52 | SIXTEEN</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">This week we are...</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sleepy.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIpYDiZWcHtHnB25GfRu1IWD3WKoJsdaR99pnvXJh8fWF6rEwaOE9B51TaL39ab2HPtEXAZ0SwYvSE4YWPyie6EgvgWcvpZXNYhARzeehHdRFIl1_Jm1M3OHANNbXfrjppupsFsmatQ_8/s1600/photo+(4).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIpYDiZWcHtHnB25GfRu1IWD3WKoJsdaR99pnvXJh8fWF6rEwaOE9B51TaL39ab2HPtEXAZ0SwYvSE4YWPyie6EgvgWcvpZXNYhARzeehHdRFIl1_Jm1M3OHANNbXfrjppupsFsmatQ_8/s400/photo+(4).jpg" width="298" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Oh Jordy....We decided about 2 months to finally drop Jordyn's naptime. She still very much needed it most days. Days she wouldn't nap after school, she was completely melting down by about 5pm...which is obviously too early to put her to bed. But then her taking naps made her have problems going to sleep, even though she would be up from nap by 2:30, and wouldn't go to bed til 8pm. She would be up til 11pm some nights saying she couldn't sleep. When Carolyn was here she suggested we try not letting her take naps since she was here to help deal with the consequences if it didn't go well. The first couple weeks were rough, we had to deal with a very cranky 4 year old every afternoon. But, it slowly got better. Some days you can see it in her eyes just how tired she is at dinner, but she fights it so hard. The last couple of weeks her behavior starts to be...ummm, not to our standards. So she will get sent to her room until she is ready to behave. About half the time when I go into check on her a little bit later, I find her like this. Passed out before bedtime (our girls bedtime is 8pm-ish, so this usually happens around 7pm). She sleeps so much better at night not taking naps, but the poor thing is just exhausted at the beginning of the school week and then at the end.</div>VanDyck Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04718497973031409415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657588403892959379.post-52929550084732733842012-04-13T11:35:00.000-07:002012-04-13T11:35:14.997-07:002012 | P52 | Exploring<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">P52 | Fifteen</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">This week we are....</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Exploring.</span></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">We just got back from a very fun filled family mini vacation a few days ago. We decided since we had been to Minneapolis a few times, we wanted to go, but do some different stuff then just going to the Mall of America (which we still did, as well as Ikea, for stuff I needed!). We checked out the new Sea Life park and a really awesome completely indoor park, as well as a few other things. Overall the trip was awesome, and the girls were pretty much perfect during the whole trip, as usual :)</div>VanDyck Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04718497973031409415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657588403892959379.post-9859755436871702962012-04-06T09:47:00.000-07:002012-04-06T09:47:37.134-07:002012 | P52 | On our way<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">P52 | Fourteen</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">This week we are....</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">On our way!</span></div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">Today we are on our way for our long weekend family vacation to Minneapolis, MN. We have lots of fun stuff planned to do as a family! I'll do a blog post next week of updates and then photos from our trip :)</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div>VanDyck Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04718497973031409415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657588403892959379.post-73414477423351577132012-03-30T13:48:00.000-07:002012-03-30T13:48:23.505-07:002012 | P52 | Getting Answers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">P52 | Thirteen</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Ugh. This photo pretty much sums up the last week or so in the VanDyck house. Jordyn had a followup with her pediatric neurologist in Bismarck this week. Not much new to report there. Her medication was adjusted and she will go back in 6 months for another follow up as well as another sleep study (yay). Abby is getting seen in about a month for her MRI results follow up and if there is any new information we need to know. Now for me. Ever since late summer/early fall my asthma and allergies have been out of control. In the fall I chalked it upto seasonal allergies. In the winter, I blamed the lack of winter and it not killing off all the spores like it should have. Now, it is the beginning of spring and its getting worse and worse to where I am waking up in the middle of the night needing my rescue inhaler. Finally got in to see a Dr today who gave me a whole new slew of meds to try and get it under control. This isn't even everything, and is in addition to what I already took for my allergies. (I would say this is maybe 1/3 of our families' RX's...I just snapped a shot of this while I was unloading my giant bag from the pharmacy and laughing at how ridiculous this was.) Everything had to be upped. Allergies being under better control will help my asthma meds work better to get my asthma back under control.</div>VanDyck Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04718497973031409415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657588403892959379.post-3831217518421893282012-03-25T16:16:00.000-07:002012-03-25T16:16:04.862-07:002012 | P52 | Taking it easy<h2><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">P52 | Twelve</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">This week we are...</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">...taking it easy.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijXmPTH3ZrxRUBw2VW9y96RuAGWdPLUIWsizOAMscptjhQItDZFS4madKtFpXvb7xN22dgd0UQ7pxhnn630QhaxSDTXjVqQ57BukTSZf25oF_TssZtmOsWs0mrYNJJrzNGCDmZAfXuBfs/s1600/530151_10150750140393582_677293581_11428700_2036807784_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijXmPTH3ZrxRUBw2VW9y96RuAGWdPLUIWsizOAMscptjhQItDZFS4madKtFpXvb7xN22dgd0UQ7pxhnn630QhaxSDTXjVqQ57BukTSZf25oF_TssZtmOsWs0mrYNJJrzNGCDmZAfXuBfs/s320/530151_10150750140393582_677293581_11428700_2036807784_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">After a crazy busy weekend in California for my sisters wedding last weekend, this week flew by. I am 2 days late on my project 52 this week, but I think I have a decent excuse. I finally had my foot surgery to remove the foreign piece of glass from my foot from over a year ago! That's right I have had some glass just chillin in my foot for the past year. After it NOT working its way out like it should have, I finally saw a podiatrist who decided it should just be surgically removed. It was a fairly minor surgery, but they did do it in an OR with me put under. They cut a decent amount of the bottom of my foot to get it out, and its on the ball of my foot (where most of the weight is placed when you walk). So now I am sporting an awesome walking boot :) I go in tomorrow for my first post op appt, and then I will go back the next week to have my stitches removed and then I should be good to walk around normal. Until then I am semi enjoying sitting around with my leg up....but it is pretty boring, and kind of hard for me to not do anything.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div></h2>VanDyck Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04718497973031409415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657588403892959379.post-2018666299567005382012-03-23T17:33:00.000-07:002012-03-23T17:33:39.420-07:00Jordy's Birth StoryI really thought that at some point I had typed up Jordyn's Birth story....but I guess it was not on here. Maybe it was back in my "myspace" days, but who knows. So I thought I would share it. All of our family and friends that have been around for years know most of the details, but some of our newer friends might only know some or none of her story...and quite a few people have asked since her seizure diagnosis came back up, as well as why we are constantly at appointments for her, yet she is never sick....so here goes.<br />
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First a quick review of Abby: Abby was born at 34 weeks weighing just over 4lbs. My water had broke and they decided to just go ahead and let her come rather than try to stop it. I got a few rounds of steroids for her lungs in my 36 hours of labor. She was in the NICU for 6 weeks for mostly a prematurity condition called "Bradycardia". When she left the NICU she was about 6 and a half lbs and still so fragile. All in all, she is a very normal 7 year old now. She has a very weakened immune system still and up until recently she was always still super tiny, being at least a size or two behind what she should be and hanging out in the 1-5th percentile for her age.<br />
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Fast foward 2 years....<br />
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After getting over our fear of having another preemie, we decided we would put it in God's hands, and we found out we were expecting again :) Right away I was super concerned with everything. Before Abby I had 2 miscarriages, so that was my first fear, was just to make it to my 2nd trimester. Next up we have my horrible pregnancy experience with now a 2nd baby. We are talking puking anywhere from 3-15 times a day. It was definitely not quite as bad with my 2nd as it was with Abby. They were nice and put me on Zofran from the beginning before it got out of control, which I truely think helped. I was still sick every day, but it was much more managble. At my first check up they told me I had a 50% chance or higher of having another preemie, so they decided to put me in the high risk clinic, where I got seen about twice as much as I would if I was not high risk.<br />
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For the most part my pregnancy was very uneventful. I was less sick and I was able to enjoy it slightly more than with Abby. We found out we were having another girl and were thrilled. We both wanted girls so we couldn't be happier.<br />
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I made it to my next goal of the 34 week mark and she still was nice and cozy inside of me. 36 weeks came and I was starting to get uncomfortable and nesting like crazy. My dr told me she said there is no way I would go past 38 weeks, and that she wouldn't let me. (I had trouble delivering Abby at 4lbs, so I was a little concerned at what a 7+ lb baby might do to me). 38 weeks came and went and they decided to let me go longer. I was still okay with it at this point, but something inside of me said it wasn't a good idea. My head kept saying "this is a good thing...you will have a big healthy baby to BRING HOME WITH YOU" but my heart kept saying she needed to come...now. After 40 weeks I pretty much stopped answering my phone, didn't sign on line, and pretty much started getting annoyed at everyone asking me if I went into labor yet. I was sick of everyone saying "Well at least you wont have a preemie". Yes I know that...and that is what kept me going, was that it would be different this time.<br />
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Finally they put in the order to induce me at 41 weeks...but there was no empty rooms. We called every morning at 4am, and was finally able to get in to be admitted at 41 weeks and 5 days!!!! Finally...I was going to get to meet my sweet baby girl. And I am full term..in fact OVER due, so everything will be perfect...right?<br />
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Well everything was perfect. They started my pitocin and I was actually already about to go into labor, on my own. I was already 3 cm when I got there, so the pitocin just gave me a little jumpstart. I was progressing so perfectly. At 7cm and about 7 hours into my labor, my water broke..on its own. At just over 8 hours (umm a fraction of the time it took for Abby!) I was just about 10cm and ready to push. The checked me one last time and the dr had a very confused look on his face. Jordyn was stuck. She was turned the wrong way, causing her chin to be caught on my pelvic bone. He told me right away, I now had a 50% chance of a cseciton, but she was just fine. Her heart rate was good and she didn't seem to be in any sort of destress, so they said they wanted to try to manually turn her. All of you moms can probably figure out what manually turning entails....but luckily I had already gotten an epidural (I was on pitocin, I wasn't trying to be super mom!) BTW, this Dr..had the biggest hands I have ever seen in my life and seemed to be the worst candidate possible to try and turn her. After about an hour, he said he wanted someone else to try...someone who had a really good success rate with turning babies. So he comes in...tries for about an hour...she just doesn't want to move. At this point they said she is still doing fine, and I really do not want a csection after going through labor and all of this. They left and came back with a teeny tiny dr who had the smallest, skinniest fingers ever...seriously, she looked like a skeleton. They said if she can't do it, we give up. After a total of 3 hours of them trying to turn her, we see that her heart rate is slowly starting to go down and we all said its enough, we need to get her out. I was considered an "emergency" so they had me back into the OR within about 20 minutes...and she was out about 20 minutes later. I got really sick and they needed to give me meds to make me go to sleep. I needed to make sure she was okay before I could though. She wasn't crying or making a sound...and there were probably 15 doctors, nurses, and techs surrounding her. Finally after about 10 minutes they walked her past me as they were taking her to the NICU. They simply said "she was having some breathing problems"...and then put me to sleep. <br />
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I woke up not too long later to no baby, and no hubby, and them still "working on me". They were having trouble stopping the bleeding and was about to get a transfusion when they were finally able to get it under control. That was pretty dang scary waking up all alone like that....but Geoff had gone to be with Jordyn. I had to go to recovery for a bit, and then finally to my room where Geoff is waiting for me. I was told I could see Jordyn in the morning. Of course I couldn't sleep for crap even on massive amounts of pain killers. In the morning a nurse came and taught me how to walk again. That was terrifying too. I just wanted to do it and go see my baby...<br />
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ugh, and here it is....<br />
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We finally get to go see her. We are met by a Dr while we are scrubbing into the NICU. They warn us that her birth was super traumatic and she needed help breathing so she was intubated. We were also warned how bruised up she looked. My heart was beating probably 200BPM at this point. I saw her and I just immediately burst into tears. A nurse was standing there with me telling me she was okay. But that didn't help me at all. Looking at her was the most heartbreaking thing ever. Her face (from what I could see of it...her tubes covered so much of her) was covered in bruises, welts, and open sores) They told me I couldn't hold her until she was extubated and stable. Later that day, 3 to who knows how many drs came in to talk to us about Jordyn. First we found out she was having seizures. Next we found out she was having possible random organ problems (kidneys, liver....). It just seemed to be one thing after another. I think at one point she was having trouble digesting. She was on IVs for the first few days, she even had one on the top of her head for a while that freaked out Abby. The first 4 days in the NICU were the LONGEST 4 DAYS OF MY LIFE. Finally after 4 days, she was extubated, and I was finally able to hold my baby!!!! She was still having breathing problems though...she had what is called "stridor" which made her sound like a little mouse, and she aquired the nickname "squeakers" for a while. Eventually after about a week in the NICU she had some significant improvements. Her face was healing up so quickly, and you could hardly see any trace of the marks (they told us she would probably have permenant scaring). This was the first time we experienced what we like to call "Jordyn's crazy healing powers".<br />
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Over the course of our 2nd week in the NICU, Abby was allowed to come in and visit more often as we got to know the staff more. Abby actually got to meet Jordyn that first morning, but she just seemed so confused. It was one of the saddest things ever when we had to tell her we couldn't bring her sister home with us that day. She was sooooo excited about being a big sister...she was more involved than any other kid I have ever seen, and she was only 2 and a half. Even with how smart she was, she just didn't understand. We had gotten her so excited about getting to hold her and snuggle her in the hospital, and then...she wasn't even allowed to touch her :( Ugh. This was when I completely lost it again. After the first week though Abby seemed to be a little more understanding that sissy was sick and needed to get better. Even in the NICU though, Abby was the most amazing big sister ever. She brought Jordy presents, wanted to hold her and never give her back every time, and was always kissing and loving on her constantly.<br />
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Finally after exactly 2 weeks in the NICU, they said she could finally come home! Before we could take her home we had to speak with tons of drs again. The main Dr we had to stay in touch with was her neurolgists at the hosptial. They tried their best to explain her seizures and how they were caused by blood on her brain. They said she will most likely have long term damage from this, ranging from small things like slight learning disablitlies to as severe as cerebal palsey. They just kept saying "Expect the worst, but hope for the best". Which is what we have done for the last 4 years. We finally got to bring our sweet girl home with us. She was completely tube free and just came with lots of paperwork, medications, and information on followups with several different speciality Doctors over the couse of her first year of life.<br />
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The crazy thing is...I actually didn't realize how scary/crazy/serious her birth actually was until the day we brought her home. We were enjoying having her home with us finally...and I was sitting on the couch, feeding her, and reading her discharge paperwork. It was then that I read the details of exactly what happened. First, it took them longer than a normal amount of time to get her out for an "emergency csecion". She was so far down and was one step away from crowning when her chin got stuck, so there was a lot of pulling and tugging to get her out. When she came out she was in fact NOT breathing...at all. She had an apgar score of 1. The only reason they even gave her a 1 was because she had a heartbeat of about 10bpm. Yes, that is correct. 10 bpm. Full life saving resuscitation measures were used to bring her back. She was with out oxygen for at least a few minutes.<br />
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By the time I was done reading her discharge report, I was bawling my eyes out (yes, I cried and prayed..A LOT the first few weeks) and in shock of what my baby girl had gone through. But we did it. There is no way we would have made it to where we are with her with out God and a strong loving family.<br />
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There you have it...Jordyn's birth story (spared a few details that most do not want to hear about)<br />
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It's still hard to believe what our family went through 4 years ago. We gave everything over to God because we knew he would take care of her...either on earth or in Heaven. But we couldn't help but be full of gratitude to Him for allowing us to keep her. I just can not fathom our life without her in it. She has been such a Blessing to our family. She brings us so much joy, laughter, craziness, silliness, and lessons of patience.<br />
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Very few people have seen photos from Jordyn's first few days of life. If people ask, we have always been willing to show them, and it's only been the last 2 years or so that I was able to pull them out and show people, without crying. Be warned, some are kind of graphic looking....<br />
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfcyuvCuw_qypRzU8exCu_aoJg5Q8SJVS45rO3fXiVj6YlAFFtdumVS_Kr1ugCndJBF-dnVPYCcvwg-zLKNny0FirEWourhW6ofee_JrzFRkjASo-rA-pbqU9K1y9y-_iMYZ49i5iOrQM/s1600/Nicu+%252832%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" nba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfcyuvCuw_qypRzU8exCu_aoJg5Q8SJVS45rO3fXiVj6YlAFFtdumVS_Kr1ugCndJBF-dnVPYCcvwg-zLKNny0FirEWourhW6ofee_JrzFRkjASo-rA-pbqU9K1y9y-_iMYZ49i5iOrQM/s320/Nicu+%252832%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"> First time I saw Jordyn</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOPa4wSBpcrlcZoX7uxvwV4ybL9rcvfm4n1w2ltyVY297C0En3quBnA4iYRKKYAHpcaafDSNebt9_n7Vf6HkJYrpXSWms6IamPhPqlOX7fI8aOmP-KMY2AR7tQtrL3Y9RMXmpKZtfJVMA/s1600/Nicu+%252853%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" nba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOPa4wSBpcrlcZoX7uxvwV4ybL9rcvfm4n1w2ltyVY297C0En3quBnA4iYRKKYAHpcaafDSNebt9_n7Vf6HkJYrpXSWms6IamPhPqlOX7fI8aOmP-KMY2AR7tQtrL3Y9RMXmpKZtfJVMA/s320/Nicu+%252853%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFEC0nNe4_x-8Qbdx1xntJgHJ6zfwE8F2FOs6DCuZxRqZ3PGd9VG46Rh9xalahGTM1xZ0vnQqgDOGT3Uh0OIee2XW7cjAIAvpAGeyFVGG_hk5VmojwjTx5KAeCNEu6wXg_wmxov_3Mvoo/s1600/Nicu+%252835%2529+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" nba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFEC0nNe4_x-8Qbdx1xntJgHJ6zfwE8F2FOs6DCuZxRqZ3PGd9VG46Rh9xalahGTM1xZ0vnQqgDOGT3Uh0OIee2XW7cjAIAvpAGeyFVGG_hk5VmojwjTx5KAeCNEu6wXg_wmxov_3Mvoo/s320/Nicu+%252835%2529+copy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR4j61bYdV9wHT2dZCDLJwh6bEBTK2g2VWwCrres9ORk55E4gCo8vSM8H_op_SHkDVyBd7ASBo0o-8ZD5ZTAln-oyNNQKEBFysESHIMKKbWo_V3DcPj72NmBRYGuHX-znfBbso0vOsLM8/s1600/Nicu+%252833%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" nba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR4j61bYdV9wHT2dZCDLJwh6bEBTK2g2VWwCrres9ORk55E4gCo8vSM8H_op_SHkDVyBd7ASBo0o-8ZD5ZTAln-oyNNQKEBFysESHIMKKbWo_V3DcPj72NmBRYGuHX-znfBbso0vOsLM8/s320/Nicu+%252833%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilQ15A_yTkj-4s5aQVgzfnSqSn56dqKo_mXyrOcZ3UQ_5N9tHeJ0TgSD1pa3nOUreYppiMw9Wao5UsGk59S3ZgLmqsHdOQ0OtRSH6YEO1qZvjcJEEMVC0hHYe1VFX5bYmUNfSxBvFmobY/s1600/Nicu+%252870%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" nba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilQ15A_yTkj-4s5aQVgzfnSqSn56dqKo_mXyrOcZ3UQ_5N9tHeJ0TgSD1pa3nOUreYppiMw9Wao5UsGk59S3ZgLmqsHdOQ0OtRSH6YEO1qZvjcJEEMVC0hHYe1VFX5bYmUNfSxBvFmobY/s320/Nicu+%252870%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">A Few days old...Abby is warming up to her being in the NICU now.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizgwgv6Gkzvz2kNEpZShCcVVRwWi4epw5SUqAY2nyp6Y0-NchSsx7vKuT8THiAmjIPkyHKOAJOhRZxaGiOESbf181dIUifbsXryNOPLAPQJJ9KiizHlNTNQCphXkE28FcG3A3EujC2Qvo/s1600/Nicu+%252867%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" nba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizgwgv6Gkzvz2kNEpZShCcVVRwWi4epw5SUqAY2nyp6Y0-NchSsx7vKuT8THiAmjIPkyHKOAJOhRZxaGiOESbf181dIUifbsXryNOPLAPQJJ9KiizHlNTNQCphXkE28FcG3A3EujC2Qvo/s320/Nicu+%252867%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">Off her ventalator and breathing on her own!!!!</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgswoFmf5-CpKYwSFRhAoyBHROZj_GP2t2x36j4np71oVfIcaFJWBA7yib7LoD1HVr5zxDF9vIb-8Z34nr05kRtQjdSgY0ChdL43DM5e-1XzytP2kdHzdu9ADcDRDyn1dJF9l67UssVYac/s1600/Nicu+%2528192%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" nba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgswoFmf5-CpKYwSFRhAoyBHROZj_GP2t2x36j4np71oVfIcaFJWBA7yib7LoD1HVr5zxDF9vIb-8Z34nr05kRtQjdSgY0ChdL43DM5e-1XzytP2kdHzdu9ADcDRDyn1dJF9l67UssVYac/s320/Nicu+%2528192%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">First time Abby got to hold her baby sister.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnwjEazSJcsz9G5ESDLRwhrbRmMr1wyQoe4ZUzNSKVmv7U2bq6r6XUrQ9UMEad9wNnC9cEo-PxhssSwjkdvRDA_jF3pLYgxO81amn8YovRvTfUZp4Pvt9gHeDOtKXRc40ntBcGsKc1LwI/s1600/welcomehomeparty+%252824%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" nba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnwjEazSJcsz9G5ESDLRwhrbRmMr1wyQoe4ZUzNSKVmv7U2bq6r6XUrQ9UMEad9wNnC9cEo-PxhssSwjkdvRDA_jF3pLYgxO81amn8YovRvTfUZp4Pvt9gHeDOtKXRc40ntBcGsKc1LwI/s320/welcomehomeparty+%252824%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">While I was pregnant...Abby was just so obsessed with her baby sister. She had planned a Happy Birthday Party for Jordyn for when she was born. She was so excited about it. She was going to bring cake and party supplies to the hospital. But things didn't go as planned we helped her change it to a Welcome home party for Jordyn. We had lots of friends come and celebrate an amazing day with us. (I think it was the day after or so that she came home)</div>VanDyck Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04718497973031409415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657588403892959379.post-87803037725885385222012-03-16T07:47:00.000-07:002012-03-16T07:47:17.024-07:002012 | P52 | Counting our Blessings<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">P 52 | Eleven</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">This week we are</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Counting Our Blessings</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">of our two beautiful miracle babies!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5jZz8tHNtk0M8hT8f2C-vZKJCg058eWJLKCw2q3PXTHP6uuP8KiTgndsFDxkTGsNIdTQa_YTISJwP9kqtQAI76xi24sVu_bucktYqxfgLRMg1VtvVjKGSV2mxouY5stctDakIstjL_cQ/s1600/SVP_9354.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5jZz8tHNtk0M8hT8f2C-vZKJCg058eWJLKCw2q3PXTHP6uuP8KiTgndsFDxkTGsNIdTQa_YTISJwP9kqtQAI76xi24sVu_bucktYqxfgLRMg1VtvVjKGSV2mxouY5stctDakIstjL_cQ/s320/SVP_9354.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie9Svr8Xasirpp0f31PmM_egEr8NyiJFjLci9okaHwXD6RGR5eXK2QgDMBpzKFwnEqR8zjjpKgktFFv0m3JVb9GuWBIMKiY2bcfmX7XMmPHGrxsnuGjLsrfhlAy-6aViaHjBP7S_IaUrk/s1600/SVP_9361.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie9Svr8Xasirpp0f31PmM_egEr8NyiJFjLci9okaHwXD6RGR5eXK2QgDMBpzKFwnEqR8zjjpKgktFFv0m3JVb9GuWBIMKiY2bcfmX7XMmPHGrxsnuGjLsrfhlAy-6aViaHjBP7S_IaUrk/s320/SVP_9361.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The last couple of weeks we have been doing a lot of work with the March of Dimes March for Babies coming up this weekend. The march of dimes is our favorite non profit organization, thanks to our sweet girls. Working with the march of dimes reminds us of how blessed we are to have our sweet girls. My good friend Chelsea made these adorable NICU Grad shirts for the girls to wear to the walk this weekend, so I had to get some pics of the girls in them. These photos mean more to me than I thought they would....they seriously show how far they have both come and how God has just completely over flowed us with such blessings. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">And for those wondering, I actually finally typed out Jordyn's birth and NICU story for the blog, and it's almost done, so I will be posting it soon.</div><br />
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</div>VanDyck Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04718497973031409415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657588403892959379.post-28788613787257996932012-03-09T08:21:00.000-08:002012-03-09T08:21:15.521-08:002012 | P52 | Outside<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">P 52 | Ten</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This week we are...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Outside.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">A LOT. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJMgyABhM0Ocs0DfNfs47UO2pCTFTRRZL5XUll9KOoK6m5FyNpMDGRRkihGF84W11Vjw2XyPCJIXrx0SrHN9r37H3u80sm-IAu9kUyjHl1iu5lvj2hBdpIwYfTDd0f8tnbkYNh6zU1zos/s1600/SVP_9204+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJMgyABhM0Ocs0DfNfs47UO2pCTFTRRZL5XUll9KOoK6m5FyNpMDGRRkihGF84W11Vjw2XyPCJIXrx0SrHN9r37H3u80sm-IAu9kUyjHl1iu5lvj2hBdpIwYfTDd0f8tnbkYNh6zU1zos/s400/SVP_9204+copy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Things are finally getting back into a normal schedule with Daddy being home, but normal for us means active and busy! We have finally had some winter here and have been out playing in snow, going on a walks, and last night, we headed out around 8pm to go see if we could see the Northern Lights which were reported to possible be visible last night and maybe tonight. We were not able to see them last night because they ended up not being visible until around midnight, but we had an AMAZING full moon last night (which is what made it even more difficult to see the lights). We are going to head out again tonight and watch. I love all of our adventures as a family, even these little ones :)</div>VanDyck Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04718497973031409415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657588403892959379.post-23474724018856698792012-03-04T10:26:00.000-08:002012-03-04T10:26:51.264-08:00Family Fun & Fitness<div style="text-align: center;">A lot of our family and friends comment on the fact that we are always really busy, and that we are always outside doing stuff and doing random trips and adventures. So some might say we are a VERY active family. We like to be out and about and we love for the girls to have all sorts of fun memories when it comes to family time. Myself, I have always been a very active person. I worked at a health club through highschool and collage, and in the summer I worked at an outdoor education camp in the Northern California Mountains. Before the girls came we did very little (in Hawaii we took up surfing and hiking ALOT.....because that was all we could afford LOL). When we became parents we decided we wanted our kids to experience as much as possible when it came to trying new things, and seeing new things.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">So, I thought I would do a post about what we do, and why we do it.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div><div style="text-align: center;">First of all, wee let them try out every sport they want. Some they like, some they don't. Sometimes one is good at a sport and the other is not. They know that it's not about winning, but trying our BEST and having FUN. We do not always love having to drive them around and take them to practices, and to be honest some days we flat out just don't do it. But they go to almost every practice for whatever they are signed up for. Doing sports at a young age gives kids all sorts of confidence (not just in their athletic ability, but in their body image, courage, and so many other ways), teaches them team work, and good sportsmanship. We have found that Abby tends to like the less aggressive sports (well except hockey, but at her age they are not aggressive yet) like gymnastics, and Jordy likes the more aggressive sports like wrestling. Sports where she isn't busy and having full contact she loses interest in much quicker (track) (she hasn't gotten to try a whole bunch yet because she is just now old enough to start trying them).</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"> During the summer we go to the base pool at least a few times a week, if not every single day. More than half of those days, we bike to the pool which is about a mile away. In the winter we play out in the snow, and not just the kids...we all go out and build snowmen, sled, and have snowball fights. Most people think we are nuts. I know that most of the people we know here have never gone and played with their kids in the snow. IF their kids even like going outside in the snow, they just send them outside. Going outside in the cold isn't for everyone, and we will admit, we are not outside with them every single time...but people who NEVER do...you are missing out big time. This is the sort of stuff kids remember. In a few years they will not remember me slaving over a hot stove and making that perfect healthy meal...they will remember us being with them and playing. When we have in between weather we love going on family bike rides and just being outside. So yes, we are definitely that "outdoorsy" family. But there is more to it than just having fun and creating memories for our girls. We are trying to set in them that being active is important. It keeps you healthy and lets you enjoy life. Real life, not the fake life you see on TV. The girls know that we need to be active, and they know there are tons of ways to make it fun. They see Geoff and I going on runs, or doing a work out video. We never say it's to lose weight when they are around. We tell them we do it to keep our bodies healthy. Eating healthy and staying active are very important to living a happy life and we try to lead by example. Our girls watch VERY little TV. Somedays they watch none at all. Most days they get 30 minutes at night before bed to help them sort of veg out and relax. In the summertime, we walk after dinner as a family every night that we do not have any other commitments (which is usually some sort of practice).<br />
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Also most nights we eat a healthy homemade dinner...at home...TOGETHER...at the dinner table. I know this isn't an option for many military families, but we are blessed that it is for us. It is VERY rare that we will all just sorta randomly eat dinner at different times. We have a set dinner time. Now when we are more involved with some sort of sport with the girls we are not able to do this as often as we would like, but if we are home, this is what we do.</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">With that said, here are some random photos from the past year or so. Most of them are pretty crappy photos because they are from a point and shoot or camera phone because I usually don't have a good camera with me when we are out and about. I have a waterproof/shatterproof/freezeproof point and shoot camera that can take a pretty good beating and take decent enough photos to capture the memories. It's not the best quality, but it gets the job done :)<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEs-uJCSGgvKnc7aSOspgxe1QvH_OkNpr8EGCdP43mNPgO_RXqVHF3fcuKR5cEuONmQqwL612Ihxg1NteqREjU-k6mvQlSGq892UpA4Uxpy6KwsXcv6zj3UeEGEN-9yaCrVijBDlwB2IU/s1600/P7030035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEs-uJCSGgvKnc7aSOspgxe1QvH_OkNpr8EGCdP43mNPgO_RXqVHF3fcuKR5cEuONmQqwL612Ihxg1NteqREjU-k6mvQlSGq892UpA4Uxpy6KwsXcv6zj3UeEGEN-9yaCrVijBDlwB2IU/s320/P7030035.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Swimming</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj769qtkMqo9w5oi-8gpAXpD_8UQ9lUlScEzr7ThlfjABk8NtLZfaOkinh7wzpRUuiivW3JuPmQxVYAYxlYObJ7isneGeETd4zboHxDE1R6Wd5ei33FIXkxEyOPKIRhXVVYtBpgdSaWPk/s1600/SVP_7376.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj769qtkMqo9w5oi-8gpAXpD_8UQ9lUlScEzr7ThlfjABk8NtLZfaOkinh7wzpRUuiivW3JuPmQxVYAYxlYObJ7isneGeETd4zboHxDE1R6Wd5ei33FIXkxEyOPKIRhXVVYtBpgdSaWPk/s320/SVP_7376.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">exploring the peace gardens</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3q5yMDCwU9LUMeJAVRHbOPIE5QZqv2838dtYcEkBDluTREOdx9LPptBRofX5ZwW3knCsQVZVDhhUFgq1cNyMTFXX27MWPFbGg734WWsfV2EG84_nOXDgUlbRKDwWWt8Zuj7GJkDp-QHI/s1600/SVP_1334.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3q5yMDCwU9LUMeJAVRHbOPIE5QZqv2838dtYcEkBDluTREOdx9LPptBRofX5ZwW3knCsQVZVDhhUFgq1cNyMTFXX27MWPFbGg734WWsfV2EG84_nOXDgUlbRKDwWWt8Zuj7GJkDp-QHI/s320/SVP_1334.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">playing at the park</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ7qIoN7_iWWE7oo0065cHPMbgu_34ownifzlbmiDs5SXCGZ_d15VuyO0UBYXr2sgRLDqktHysoCbwpxzo8jlmuQHApZRWUyOkc_kllvkdtA2vBeFTW4snjQ4oYNEEFBZ7atC95jv_cXE/s1600/P5260219.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ7qIoN7_iWWE7oo0065cHPMbgu_34ownifzlbmiDs5SXCGZ_d15VuyO0UBYXr2sgRLDqktHysoCbwpxzo8jlmuQHApZRWUyOkc_kllvkdtA2vBeFTW4snjQ4oYNEEFBZ7atC95jv_cXE/s320/P5260219.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Splash pad at Sea World San Antonio</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu6GzMzv_69gYALrBNYKw9otCptbxHqOcDvqwHecNcnZr2NFG7Dkv4_JMARRgH4CY3Iflh0SkM1Uma3PTDzfAV_SEknEGMWxE4gvUFWk9_dd-OmXgFSoa14bTN0MgUOGhyphenhyphen-V0TUaJ0094/s1600/P5220112.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu6GzMzv_69gYALrBNYKw9otCptbxHqOcDvqwHecNcnZr2NFG7Dkv4_JMARRgH4CY3Iflh0SkM1Uma3PTDzfAV_SEknEGMWxE4gvUFWk9_dd-OmXgFSoa14bTN0MgUOGhyphenhyphen-V0TUaJ0094/s320/P5220112.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Mount Rushmore</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ry4kkGupjRIF9kY9cKnW9skaZaeh7toN21BvN4kNdy8cp4omJ0Xcfm4z1YcsQp0CmUP0FnWcOHPMcQEpY-0bBQanJ5dFSQTNggCPSoxpLkNJA_nm13q0eJNdndWz2RNXwqKlzGgibew/s1600/SVP_4687.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ry4kkGupjRIF9kY9cKnW9skaZaeh7toN21BvN4kNdy8cp4omJ0Xcfm4z1YcsQp0CmUP0FnWcOHPMcQEpY-0bBQanJ5dFSQTNggCPSoxpLkNJA_nm13q0eJNdndWz2RNXwqKlzGgibew/s320/SVP_4687.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Climbing on rocks somewhere in South Dakota</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiakl1emX9F0Q3LUsWKi3RsOJL2GEdXklpx1kv5g9GQ0Ru3Cs_ycxQAAobn_ZPGjRdmi4xdVVwc1pzfAV6HnUWp1RPb5oJxTurvkZ8LVUbn_10JikF7eA_TuRiTqMJlhTka3AC85shLnB0/s1600/DSCF1508.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiakl1emX9F0Q3LUsWKi3RsOJL2GEdXklpx1kv5g9GQ0Ru3Cs_ycxQAAobn_ZPGjRdmi4xdVVwc1pzfAV6HnUWp1RPb5oJxTurvkZ8LVUbn_10JikF7eA_TuRiTqMJlhTka3AC85shLnB0/s320/DSCF1508.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Exploring Oahu, Hawaii...Windward coast.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC5I2QUAXeU1O_Tr_mRmWai7DP5FKAWg60QqQaWuz9AA3dhnjxl3uedWI2aHdUrcNRoK1jzNmEbx31o3K_iS40089hQtpxXfu6XGDtVno3mWgPWbH8qMiqez7IGAX98A61o_FwgiJEzsc/s1600/P5220126.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC5I2QUAXeU1O_Tr_mRmWai7DP5FKAWg60QqQaWuz9AA3dhnjxl3uedWI2aHdUrcNRoK1jzNmEbx31o3K_iS40089hQtpxXfu6XGDtVno3mWgPWbH8qMiqez7IGAX98A61o_FwgiJEzsc/s320/P5220126.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Hiking in South Dakota.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdvNoQdJUd2TtE_A30m3YIyMLWz6udCE96XEkM_FrjWZU0y-DDJA9-yK3_rQB2wymeIy6KDhVECgrdPwHmK097m-e_-kOkK2YShCaxJwoHw_eTm5h0eeb1RPuOGVuN4nzX3boLN4YPmto/s1600/DSCF1447.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdvNoQdJUd2TtE_A30m3YIyMLWz6udCE96XEkM_FrjWZU0y-DDJA9-yK3_rQB2wymeIy6KDhVECgrdPwHmK097m-e_-kOkK2YShCaxJwoHw_eTm5h0eeb1RPuOGVuN4nzX3boLN4YPmto/s320/DSCF1447.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Watching the boom operator refuel planes on a military flight to Hawaii.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">(Jordyn's 1st military HOP, Abby's 5th)</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhguV0t5VcxUpZK0PYGf5cLtXhAfpCHlQwwuXCJ94TdqvRKdPa7dszmoUNJNiiHHFEgc3RAUVJ8QPKF3NsoR7imLf_rMK2p7WxYgEv09zMSraVgPP17XQRTYObeZ8SA3QSQYtjk7loLBeQ/s1600/SVP_3425.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhguV0t5VcxUpZK0PYGf5cLtXhAfpCHlQwwuXCJ94TdqvRKdPa7dszmoUNJNiiHHFEgc3RAUVJ8QPKF3NsoR7imLf_rMK2p7WxYgEv09zMSraVgPP17XQRTYObeZ8SA3QSQYtjk7loLBeQ/s320/SVP_3425.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Learning the Hula...Waikiki- Honolulu, Hawaii</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijSputH6lvsYIQo-6AlyvRmlt_NKJ27npxRX8GX0_juoUQ15gJAJTBZSoQs44zPdLf4XI3cwcol0k8t42GAnsK8WOzsLK98HW-9GooIspixw9sFAnCredBuCw30hr88WvqC4WqPAIbhEI/s1600/SVP_3518.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijSputH6lvsYIQo-6AlyvRmlt_NKJ27npxRX8GX0_juoUQ15gJAJTBZSoQs44zPdLf4XI3cwcol0k8t42GAnsK8WOzsLK98HW-9GooIspixw9sFAnCredBuCw30hr88WvqC4WqPAIbhEI/s320/SVP_3518.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Turtle Beach...North Shore Hawaii</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-_TZqnZuSi0YrA_jJLDIJ1kxZpon49ksp0BF-fXaIgyI4fY5xrV11V1kyYnc4NO7mJhrIo3SUMhwYJjFQW85iaHE-I1OtgYiKWYkN0l-UKZONWfyTX1MBI7JGJH6rEo-fCAJSstSenGo/s1600/SVP_1531.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-_TZqnZuSi0YrA_jJLDIJ1kxZpon49ksp0BF-fXaIgyI4fY5xrV11V1kyYnc4NO7mJhrIo3SUMhwYJjFQW85iaHE-I1OtgYiKWYkN0l-UKZONWfyTX1MBI7JGJH6rEo-fCAJSstSenGo/s320/SVP_1531.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Hockey</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2o00r56X2RE9WZy1fGuWmE1BahXwDnxzQ8Vh2U0uVEY-HQ_GRDssvCS5ZVox7qri-9Z8jpJ8VBVXMpT7EqBC5xSveczb6gZbaihREj13BBCV1EJkFxlzdY9v7jomISIE5b-NLGkjGTIA/s1600/DSCF1847.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2o00r56X2RE9WZy1fGuWmE1BahXwDnxzQ8Vh2U0uVEY-HQ_GRDssvCS5ZVox7qri-9Z8jpJ8VBVXMpT7EqBC5xSveczb6gZbaihREj13BBCV1EJkFxlzdY9v7jomISIE5b-NLGkjGTIA/s320/DSCF1847.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Tubing in Bottinau, ND</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyZJoHJJt7d3Of-1CUdkTOx_OAEc5aIIXi_2vQQ6-qz8pF2Hb4zrhBwlaQQMZtA_lukmO40rcxbD_ZtuD2sV9Uqh2u5siBLe4Ot5TbXNsSj7nKcKRGfl4reFm_O2Lmn9xujLPMJnoXhxM/s1600/SVP_1200.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyZJoHJJt7d3Of-1CUdkTOx_OAEc5aIIXi_2vQQ6-qz8pF2Hb4zrhBwlaQQMZtA_lukmO40rcxbD_ZtuD2sV9Uqh2u5siBLe4Ot5TbXNsSj7nKcKRGfl4reFm_O2Lmn9xujLPMJnoXhxM/s320/SVP_1200.JPG" width="212" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Jordyn's first Hockey practice</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGAjBo99QY74wqoiaDoshuD5u-h9edXeT2sXsDWTTRR99Cl-_UFctETbrt9hyphenhyphenRZ84kMnV4vJ0_HCCIGbgUrj-GYM0wpvsOIpSPWYndNuRJskgrL1JZFZU38M5mMrjI4z_78g8QakEQ9eQ/s1600/SVP_9288.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGAjBo99QY74wqoiaDoshuD5u-h9edXeT2sXsDWTTRR99Cl-_UFctETbrt9hyphenhyphenRZ84kMnV4vJ0_HCCIGbgUrj-GYM0wpvsOIpSPWYndNuRJskgrL1JZFZU38M5mMrjI4z_78g8QakEQ9eQ/s320/SVP_9288.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Jumping in the rain puddles</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMmUC3Ta4CToYflWFctuKFGkuLOoeF51zEu4Dpo72TopiQQvanV1MBH3ADJa3lPNONoczeNmQ4dAND-SPUTtKJsdrBtlw54ou800MNob7jQm_oBobnKj61XyoH9asBUr3flJ-UYFKosj4/s1600/P8120131.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMmUC3Ta4CToYflWFctuKFGkuLOoeF51zEu4Dpo72TopiQQvanV1MBH3ADJa3lPNONoczeNmQ4dAND-SPUTtKJsdrBtlw54ou800MNob7jQm_oBobnKj61XyoH9asBUr3flJ-UYFKosj4/s320/P8120131.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Splash pad in Grand Forks, ND</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfwwgLy92gPGfvPdgKfzsj1-20fsgaBJLS9g5k261Em7TU3DyIoBC3VizQOwE5qDRtW9qUy7hLV_SPMnfw8pGDMMWU6grwiaSCdQr2uq42lElBzniiHB6oIfixQAgYT3rVzREb1c3r8b4/s1600/1000001161.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfwwgLy92gPGfvPdgKfzsj1-20fsgaBJLS9g5k261Em7TU3DyIoBC3VizQOwE5qDRtW9qUy7hLV_SPMnfw8pGDMMWU6grwiaSCdQr2uq42lElBzniiHB6oIfixQAgYT3rVzREb1c3r8b4/s320/1000001161.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Running Track</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4S3wb4jx7yshvZ-u5LWcrLfYp9CXOEX0sg5JbMbuTn3KS5aScCL9e-KlTKl4QTzLgtm51ix5SvZlBfKLbma0HjNBSdevjGGQDMlOXVQswddxOvKKRjiOHIzTjYovOJzYujKgu2W_ncKE/s1600/SVP_4217.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4S3wb4jx7yshvZ-u5LWcrLfYp9CXOEX0sg5JbMbuTn3KS5aScCL9e-KlTKl4QTzLgtm51ix5SvZlBfKLbma0HjNBSdevjGGQDMlOXVQswddxOvKKRjiOHIzTjYovOJzYujKgu2W_ncKE/s320/SVP_4217.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Gymnastics</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfZebEgfmtg5HwcwZerf61LQ-tHXWEmX1v_psRSdXW7aT15ythKEnucdaqQIKfiGWGKbh7osuJvvYJNKFbqXKfaQlWcCld-RPYc8EQlH5SvfjCEX1JeKEPHjkcrXawxZ5GVMljuajsnp8/s1600/P5050019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfZebEgfmtg5HwcwZerf61LQ-tHXWEmX1v_psRSdXW7aT15ythKEnucdaqQIKfiGWGKbh7osuJvvYJNKFbqXKfaQlWcCld-RPYc8EQlH5SvfjCEX1JeKEPHjkcrXawxZ5GVMljuajsnp8/s320/P5050019.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Gymnastics<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWTNvaFv8ZjkHLqU9d3mUrjmoFIteCV8HlM81cdxVg6Fmgo0nDgNwYt77z13XEc0LiXOwEBCCWHjVKyUurGWuApw_hqbyRtA6XgmYDfr5ihVvb_sMw4pN4E-TgZ1xZYCA75O-FbHKkrfo/s1600/SVP_6861.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWTNvaFv8ZjkHLqU9d3mUrjmoFIteCV8HlM81cdxVg6Fmgo0nDgNwYt77z13XEc0LiXOwEBCCWHjVKyUurGWuApw_hqbyRtA6XgmYDfr5ihVvb_sMw4pN4E-TgZ1xZYCA75O-FbHKkrfo/s320/SVP_6861.JPG" width="212" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Abby's first time without training wheels.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvoZmz70wB3EXfC8AJYfanKEVWxMb4FYgTbmKlH6pUs7j4eRJieD1GUx8CcUHB6kO9-GmHF2RGsvpzzzE6-lP_qsguWYR2aJKLVKdmBXkovKLzyRcAOSLu3zUQNRn5Fh03WZUqJ7Pkp58/s1600/SVP_5431.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvoZmz70wB3EXfC8AJYfanKEVWxMb4FYgTbmKlH6pUs7j4eRJieD1GUx8CcUHB6kO9-GmHF2RGsvpzzzE6-lP_qsguWYR2aJKLVKdmBXkovKLzyRcAOSLu3zUQNRn5Fh03WZUqJ7Pkp58/s320/SVP_5431.JPG" width="212" /></a></div>Tower climbing<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwim1FXI9RO4JQtTQh2SCRn7Qg7YCo5iePB90OIfB4kCuVhM5pIwed3TMgMRcbfZv6YdUpsgpXusZ2OvHPbJyXmLMLm0SOu-uOxbDHSyLTbNlX9Bcou3KZEqGtaHmi4oOM5j53cGFtRPM/s1600/SVP_5483.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwim1FXI9RO4JQtTQh2SCRn7Qg7YCo5iePB90OIfB4kCuVhM5pIwed3TMgMRcbfZv6YdUpsgpXusZ2OvHPbJyXmLMLm0SOu-uOxbDHSyLTbNlX9Bcou3KZEqGtaHmi4oOM5j53cGFtRPM/s320/SVP_5483.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Kayaking</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSxVNjFdHwufN1tlJqDX_uiqhUrhLlUODIZbrPfOfFv2dauq11x5gCKLwWW2MOHBhjRUBnHpFIYrEMTn70Vc4I6IIjHm8OfjvZHbyY8bUkQsaOTDcBfBCAi1NpxXhmMT9lyjbXmtnkEI8/s1600/P7300114+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSxVNjFdHwufN1tlJqDX_uiqhUrhLlUODIZbrPfOfFv2dauq11x5gCKLwWW2MOHBhjRUBnHpFIYrEMTn70Vc4I6IIjHm8OfjvZHbyY8bUkQsaOTDcBfBCAi1NpxXhmMT9lyjbXmtnkEI8/s320/P7300114+copy.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
Both girls were taught how to swim underwater last summer.<br />
This next summer is going to be even more awesome!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuiuVFtOz3TWcARJUnMiFcBFbtnXA6BxLPzrQYAvgkSJWISPeCx9V2B542v9Syz2Pw8s0Oct-pq5DFVhwI-4ucbNIrctGvHU6GgaUWyb5O4Hri3ie-99QOIQJcj7IEgVeWP9necpZcWUs/s1600/P7060002+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuiuVFtOz3TWcARJUnMiFcBFbtnXA6BxLPzrQYAvgkSJWISPeCx9V2B542v9Syz2Pw8s0Oct-pq5DFVhwI-4ucbNIrctGvHU6GgaUWyb5O4Hri3ie-99QOIQJcj7IEgVeWP9necpZcWUs/s320/P7060002+copy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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I know this probably seems like a lot to most people, but this is only a small handful of the stuff we have experienced and done over the past few years. Being busy and active isn't for everyone, but we love it and have no plans on slowing down :)</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>VanDyck Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04718497973031409415noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657588403892959379.post-59655747418401765182012-03-02T11:15:00.000-08:002012-03-02T11:15:09.891-08:002012 | P52 | Snowy<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">P52 | Nine</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">This week we are....</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">...Snowy.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNjnILKaG4qLm1Y3tTTOIUtgKHUcDULY8BZnl5gCFcnFfU_Xq6lXNRLNBwhX3c7tSQa-UQylpSkxkbX26Uzk5nloFIGgwq2zedt55fXSQyTTLL4r2WK1QGMImJqyMfExrxjii3BRQFDjg/s1600/SVP_8756.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNjnILKaG4qLm1Y3tTTOIUtgKHUcDULY8BZnl5gCFcnFfU_Xq6lXNRLNBwhX3c7tSQa-UQylpSkxkbX26Uzk5nloFIGgwq2zedt55fXSQyTTLL4r2WK1QGMImJqyMfExrxjii3BRQFDjg/s400/SVP_8756.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This past week has been pretty much CONSTANT snow up here. I guess winter has finally decided to hit us. We have gotten probably about 20 inches in the past week, when before this week, we had gotten less than that total the whole snow season. We are loving it...lots of playing in the snow...and of course Kota and Holly have been ever so happy to have snow outside to roll around and play in.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></div>VanDyck Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04718497973031409415noreply@blogger.com0