The Kraus Family: Wrapping Up 2013

There is just something about the end of the year that makes it hard for me to stay on top of blogging. Obviously, I'm SUPER far behind. Holidays have come and gone and our lives have moved on in a BIG way. But I would be remiss if I didn't document the end of 2013 before moving on to 2014.

The Bad New First

In the fall, Greg and I went through the IVF process again. Since Brody was born, we had thought we had 8 embryos left, but apparently this whole time we only had five. We didn't lose any, but there was a miscommunication. So, with five embryos left we went through the process and put in two. Apparently these two babies were not meant to be a part of our family here on earth because neither one took. After they tested my levels initially we thought we could be, but my levels were very low and they continued to drop each day which basically meant there was not a viable pregnancy. It was sad and we mourned the loss of what could have been, but are thankful we still have three embryos left and will try again at some point in the near future. It's a hard process with shots and medicine and appointments and it's hard to gear up knowing that's in your future. BUT obviously it's totally worth it and we are SO grateful for this process because it gave us our little man. Speaking of which...

Things To Be Thankful For

We had a great Thanksgiving spent with the Kraus Clan about a mile from our house. It's always great when we don't have to travel for Thanksgiving because Greg gets such a short amount of time off. It was relaxing and wonderful. Food was delish and we also got to spend a lot of time together as a family of three. We are so grateful every day for our little Brodster. God has blessed us in so, so many ways, but Brody will forever be such a huge blessing in our lives.

Entertaining himself with my slippers while I cooked on Thanksgiving morning.

Daddy feel asleep while on duty and he hadn't even eaten any turkey yet!

My boys on Thanksgiving.

Cousins!

We had a blast a Dewberry Farms!

Christmas

We were fortunate to spend Christmas with my ENTIRE side of the family...yes, all 12 of us stayed at Sarah and Marc's. It was loud and crazy and I loved every minute of it. Always thankful to be able to spend time with my family since they all live so far away. And since it was a Texas Christmas, we went to the Ft. Worth Stock Yards. Brody LOVED the animals and didn't want us picking him up AT ALL while we were there. He wanted to be wild and free to explore.