Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year,
I’m sorry
for the form letter, I know that it is impersonal but a lot has happened and we
don’t talk often enough to get the news passed around.
The last 13
months have been pretty crazy in our family.
As I’m sure most of you already know our little Madison decided she
couldn’t wait for her due date in January and came 10 weeks early. After 7 ½ weeks and Christmas in NICU she
finally got to come home the first part of January. She is doing great now and growing like a
weed. Looking at her now you would never
know she was a preemie. We did learn after she had a stay in the hospital in
July that she has asthma which they say is common in preemies. The doctor says that it is most likely
something she will grow out of.
We decided
to take advantage of the buyers housing market and great interest rates and
moved ourselves into something a little larger. Ok based on what we moved from, a lot larger. We knew a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom house, just
over 1000 sq ft, wasn’t going to last us forever. Our new house is just less than 2300 sq ft.
It is currently a 2 ½ bath, 3 bedroom house with a large bonus room in addition
to a living room and family room. The
bonus room was built in such a way that we only need to build the walls to turn
it into 2 more bedrooms. This will be
done in the near future.
The funny
thing about this next bit of news is we didn’t find out about it until we had
all but closed on the new house. As you
probably noticed on the card we are pregnant with baby number 4. If this comes
as a shock to you I guarantee it was an even bigger shock to us. Let me briefly
recap our pregnancy troubles. It took us 4 years and an operation to have Michelle. It took us 5 years, failed medical
procedures, and the starting of the adoption process to have McKenzie. It took us 6 years, a failed in vetro fertilization
procedure, and the starting of the adoption process to have Madison. So one
would think based on the established pattern, that if there was another one to
come, it would take 7 years and who knows what else to get pregnant. Well the jokes on us. Madison wasn’t even one yet and Amie was
still nursing and SURPRISE. So the
conversion of the bonus room to the 4th and 5th bedroom
will be happening sooner than we expected when we decided to buy the house.
The girls
are adjusting well to their new schools.
We are still trying to get used to the girls having to leave for the bus
at 6:45 when at their old school it didn’t start until after 9. McKenzie LOVES school and all of her new
friends. Michelle is so so about school.
She decided at the first of the month that she wanted a couple days off of
school so she fell off the seesaw at school and broke her collar bone. She will
be in a sling for about a month, but is doing well.
Amie is
doing well! She just tries to make it through the day without getting too
tired, nauseous or worn out. She has realized that a larger house is a double
edged sword. She, like the rest of us,
enjoys the extra space but isn’t fond of all the extra cleaning and upkeep that
is required, and of course the kids see it as more space meaning more room to
make a bigger mess.
So that is
the news from the Patton household. I
hope that this letter finds you well. We
miss you and wish that we got to see and talk to you more often.
