Our Little Swimmers

The boys have really taken off in the pool this summer. They had some swim lessons for 2 weeks in June. They learned some basics and really just got comfortable with the water. They have both come so far since last year. Last year we were looking at tantrums if someone got splashed in the face. Now the boys are diving in from the side, going underwater and swimming to us on their own. Here are some vids of whats gone on this summer...

Swimming Buddies
In the middle of July, we went up to visit our friends Brad and Kelly. There was a small sectioned off part of the pool that was perfect for the kids. It was too deep for them to stand, but there were seats all around and they just swam back and fourth. We didn't know it, but Jordan was developing a fever and was on the sideline for this video. This video is of Jeremy and Anna swimming back and fourth in the "kiddie" pool.



Water Slide
On August 11th, our church had a baptism party. The host had an incredible home that they opened up to the church and made everyone feel welcomed and comfortable. It was an awesome time. They had a water slide that was a little intimidating once you got to the top. I was pretty sure I could talk Jordan into sliding down with me. I didn't think I'd be able to talk Jeremy in to it, but he seemed excited to try. They both surprised me and slid down on their own.



Diving and Swimming
This vid is also from the baptism party and it is showing off Jeremy's diving and swimming skills. He takes a dive into the pool from the edge and swims a pretty long way to Mommy.



Jordan Dives Down
This one is from August 15th. Earlier that day I was cleaning up my study area and had some Star Wars toys on my desk. The boys were casually asking about them and gave them each a Storm Trooper. They brought them with us that evening when we went over to their Tia Cindy's pool. I put Jordan's Storm Trooper at the bottom of the pool in about 3.5 feet of water. I worked with Jordan only a few times trying to get him to swim down and retrieve it. The next time Holly gave him a little shove once he got head down and he swam down and got it. After that he was doing it all on his own.

Meet Isaac

World, meet Isaac. He just turned 25 weeks old last Monday and should be about 1 lb. and 9oz. A month ago (started a draft of this a month ago, just now getting to finish...no, i dont have ANY free time) Holly went in for a checkup and sonogram. We know we can call him Isaac because the sono revealed his dangly bits. Without further ado, we give you...Isaac.



Why Isaac? (Editor's note: Did not know there was going to end up as a mini-novel. Feel free to jump to the last paragraph for the Cliff Notes version.) It is a name that has always been around since we first started thinking about names for our kids. Jeremy was actually Isaac for a while. We had taken a trip to Oakland for a Raider game while Holly was preggers with the boys and we brought back Raider keychains with the names Jordan and Isaac. Somewhere along the way we switched to Jeremy and it now seems perfect. Back in April this year, Holly thought we should probably get a pregnancy test. A ridiculous thought, really. Our fertility specialist warned that after getting pregnant once, usually people who had problems have an easier time getting pregnant. However, in our case, she was confident on the "why" we couldn't conceive and had prepared us that it was pretty much impossible to conceive without jumping through all the hoops we did for the boys.

A side effect of all that hoop jumping was that after we had the boys, we still had 3 fertilize eggs frozen in carbonite. They were named Han Solo, Han Solo Jr. and Han Solo Junior. This unfortunately was something we never really thought of and hadn't fully prepared for. We were blessed with 2 healthy and amazing boys. It was perfect and were perfectly happy if they were all we ever had. On the flip side was, "uh, we still have 3 possible kids waiting." We didn't think we could raise that many kids...not just financially, but we didn't think we could possibly give each one all the attention they deserved. We wrestled with the idea of donating them and giving another couple suffering from inconceiveability™ a chance. At first it was hard, but we thought we could do it. When we finally started looking into it, there was no way we could sign the papers and let someone else raise our kids when we were capable of doing it ourselves. The biggest obstacle was putting their soul in the hands of a stranger and our kids possibly living their entire lives without ever hearing the gospel. We couldn't give them away.

We couldn't just leave them frozen forever either. We finally moved forward to have them thawed and then try to have another kid...or kids? We had been praying for the little zygotes, not knowing if they had souls yet, but hoping and trusting God that he was taking care of them if their souls were waiting on us. The closer we got to the implant date, the more excited we got. Our prayer was that God would make it easy for us and take all the decisions out of our hands. The possible scenarios we struggled with:

• If each zygote looked great, we would only implant one and donate the others. We didn't have the money for all this and had one last chance to do this through our health insurance. So if there were still good zygotes left over, even though it is not what we wanted, we were going to have to donate the other zygotes. This was the worst case scenario for us.
• The best scenario (according to us) was that only ONE zygote looked healthy and we could implant it and we would have one more child.
• The last scenario, and second to worst, was that none of the zygotes made it and there would not be another child for us.

Well, the way it worked was a combination of all three. We went in on implant day and they prepared the zygotes. Only one of them survived the freezing and thawing process and looked perfect. It was perfect. Not perfect that two of them didn't survive, but that God took the decision out of our hands and we still had the chance of another child. Shortly after, on October 28th, we'd get the news that the implant did not take and Holly was not pregnant. It was a bitter sweet day. We thanked God for the chance we had and said good bye to the kids we could've possibly had, and also praised God for taking any decision out of our hands and very thankful we did not have to donate any.

Hang with me a sec, I'm getting to the part about why this kid is named Isaac...

Towards the end of March this year, 2011, the bluebonnets were in bloom. I saw a social network update from a friend of ours and pics they posted of the flowers in Old Settler's Park in Round Rock. I made plans to go there for some family pics the very next weekend. So Sunday came and we packed up the truck, brought the fishing poles too, figured we'd make a day of it. Plan was to stop at Subway for some sandwiches, take some pics, eat, fish and be merry. On the way out Holly casually mentions it has been a while since her last period. First thought in my mind was, "oh no." Not because I thought we could be pregnant, but because the memories of the previous 8 years of struggling with infertility month after month, and watching her heart break again and again, month after month, came flooding back. I had to stop it quick before she got her hopes up. I planned to stop at CVS on the way home for a pregnancy test. Once on the road, I realized I forgot fishing bait. So I said we'd be stopping at HEB real quick for a can of corn for bait. I told Holly to grab a pregnancy test while we were there and sent her in. It was just a bonus that I forgot to bring any fishing bait and she looked funny going through the checkout with a can of corn and a pregnancy test.

The day of pics, eating and fishing was a success. That was April 1, 2011. We got home that night and Holly took the pregnancy test. It turned positive right away. Best April Fool's prank ever. We had a good laugh about it. Holly called her doc and they made a 9 week appointment with us. After a few weeks, Holly thought she should probably call her specialist to give her the news, and they had us come in right away. She had a sono and they confirmed we were pregnant and gave us a December 4th due date. Our doctor was shocked and once again said this wasn't supposed to happen to us. It was supposed to be physically impossible for us. We also had the age factor against us...not exactly Abraham and Sarah old, but we're getting up there.

So why Isaac? Let me 'splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. Buttercup is marry' Humperdinck in little less than half an hour. (You read that with the accent, right?) We are nowhere near the age of Abraham and Sarah, but we are up there and it was physically impossible to have kids. We wanted to use the name Isaac earlier, but it just didn't seem right. Then we find out on April Fool's day that we are pregnant and have a good laugh over it. Isaac (Hewbrew yitschaq, laughter) just fit perfectly.

FYI...we are still working on a middle name. Think we got it, but we're still open to suggestions.