Hello 2020!

Wow…2020 has arrived! I could not be more excited for this year. Before we can say Hello to 2020 though, I have got to say good-bye to 2019.

Let’s have a really frank talk about 2019. It was an amazing yet scary and so stressful year. I am very excited to say good-bye to it. In January 2019 we were informed that while pregnant with Evan, we were high risk. He wasn’t really growing much in utero. I started going to growth scans every few weeks. As the weeks went on, his growth got smaller and smaller each scan. Near the end of my pregnancy, he was showing so little growth at each scan that I was going to a scan twice a week plus seeing my OBGYN once a week. There I was getting exams as well as stress tests done. All of this was to insure that my placenta hadn’t died and Evan wasn’t at risk. February dawned and we started a new journey with my eldest, Owen. After 2 trips to the ER we found out that he is quite asthmatic. I saw my self freaking out from within. “Asthma??? What do you mean asthma? My son will have problems with getting oxygen for the rest of his life??” Well, to say the least, we took the bull by the horns. The next few months after that diagnosis were spent getting to know our amazing pediatric pulmonologist. He did wonders for Owen and for my freaked out mommy heart.

Now on to some great things about 2019 shall we? Alright…. in March we met up with my family in New Orleans for our annual Rosenkoetter Family Vacation! It was actually cold and soooo rainy while we were there, but that didn’t stop us from having a good time (yes my doctor approved for me to go on this trip. Even though in the middle of the trip I was instructed to get a growth scan done.) We did a food tour, a river boat cruise, saw alligators, ate crawfish, walked around Bourbon Street, and so much more. Maybe I should do a Rosenkoetter Family Vacation post every year…… What are your thoughts? We do go to different locations each year. Anyway, the next adventure was in April where we got to celebrate Owen’s 4th birthday. Wow! How is that boy 4 already? Adding it all up, I think he got 2 full weeks of birthday parties. Sadly, to put a damper on April, things were really scary with Evan. Thankfully, I was able to put down my pride and ask my parents to come and stay with us early. They come to help after we have a new baby but who knew when it would be decided that Evan needed to come out. The “Merry Month of May” came around…..Evan made it to 38 weeks wowwww! No one would have thought he would make it that long but how amazing! As you can imagine, May was so busy: Mothers Day, Evan being born, my big 3-0 birthday, and the end of the preschool year for Owen. Summer break was fun. We did park days, tons of pool days and swim lessons, took the trailer out and went camping and even strapped that baby to us and did some hiking.

September brought on a new school year. Preschool year 4. Owen thrived at school. We did have yet again, some more set backs. Owen became an even pickier eater, refusal to eat and even losing weight. It was so bad the doctor had us start food therapy. Yes it is a thing, I didn’t know it either! We did food therapy for months. I will do a post on it. I was given a wealth of information to help with my picky eater. Halloween was a blast, my sweet in laws were here to celebrate too. Then in November we got some really exciting news…….

Which now brings me to 2020!!!!

We are ringing in the New Year over seas. The boys and I packed everything we could fit in to suitcases and hopped on a plane. (Yes me and two small children alone on an international flight, just wait for the post that is coming!) We have been lucky enough to be able to spend a good portion of our time already traveling around. I have so many places I want to go, so many things I want us all to go and visit. I can’t wait to see how we grow this year. How we not just live but how we thrive. We have been here for less than a month so far and already our wanderlust burns strong.

I hope to see you come along on this new 2020 adventure with us!! Its going to be a great one!

Till the next mess,

Dana