The Coombs Family

I absolutely love Christmas time. I love to wrap gifts and leave them under the tree for weeks up to Christmas. I love to take gifts to people and the excitement that only a child can have this time of year. We stay up WAY too late every Christmas Eve making sure we didn't forget anything. This year was a little over the top from Santa. It's always pretty obvious when I am involved in the shopping for the kids and when Caleb is left to run to the store. He has a tendency to go a little overboard. Anyway, the kids always pass the tree on the way to our bedroom so I always try and wake up before they do so we can all have the surprise together. This year I heard Calvin coming upstairs because he walks so loudly that it's hard to miss. We waited for Shelby to wake up and then let the big kids open their Santa gift. And then Ronin came up and wanted nothing to do with his. Pretty funny, but he wakes up like Caleb, slow and cranky! After we shared gifts and breakfast we just...

Ronin had his birthday party two days after Christmas on his actual birthday. Each year I feel like I should do a half birthday, or maybe do it a week late. But the big kids always spoil it and this year they got Ronin so excited about it, that we couldn't wait. So I ripped Christmas down the day after again, cleaned my house, and then immediately decorated for Ronin's Paw Patrol party. We had family over, ate some cake, and had a great time. This boy loves his Paw Patrol, and all his cousins. Ronin talks all day long, every day. He says more words at 3 than any of my other kids. We have full conversations and he knows what he wants. He's obsessed with all construction vehicles just like Calvin was. He always points out trucks and trailers to me when we drive. He loves to watch Batman and Paw Patrol. He wants to read the same construction books every night, over and over. And he loves to snuggle. Every single morning he climbs into my bed and asks to "nuggle" ...

We went over to my sisters house for our party with our family the day before Christmas. I secretly bought Taylor Swift tickets for my sister and her girls, Shelby and myself. I wrapped up clues inside a box, one for each girl. They honestly had no idea! The last clue was tickets for each of them that I made with their names on it. The girls were laughing, crying, and completely shocked. Maybe one of the best Christmas memories I have ever had.

We got our Christmas tree early, the weekend of Thanksgiving as usual. It's enormous and we could not even get it into our house. Caleb and I both were pushing and pulling has hard as we could. We even took off more branches and it still wouldn't get inside. After adding tie down pull straps, blankets, and rope, we managed to get it in the house. We were sweating like crazy and scratched up our door, and the tree takes up half the room. It's so crazy and awesome! This year we had such a fun Christmas with the kids. We went to the Zoo lights for the first time with the kiddos. We've tried before but it was closed or too packed to even get in. This year it was also packed, but it did not rain on us. We visited Santa and the kids both asked for Kindles and Ronin wanted a motorcycle. Hope they aren't disappointed with what the big guy brings them! We had our gingerbread house making party. I wish I had a huge house so that I could invite more familie...

We went to my parents for Thanksgiving. It was pretty fun because my Grandma Walker was turning 80 so all her kids came to town. They threw her a party in Sweet Home and I haven't been there for years. It was great to see everyone and not as awkward as I thought it would be. I have social anxiety right now really bad so I get very nervous to go places. I love talking about Slater but only with people that I'm close to. It's very hard for me when I barely know the person and they don't know anything about the situation. Someday it will be easier but for now, I just don't want all the back story and details. It's pretty personal and  a lot of information. But my mother must have told everyone not to ask me, because nobody did at all. Which was honestly kid of weird too, but whatever. I guess I don't know what's better at this point. Here is the whole family standing in the rain to get a picture: My favorite part of Thanksgiving is not the food. I can...

It was hard to get costumes or motivation to get out and go trick or treating this year, but we made it happen. Luckily our friends invited us over for a low key pizza dinner and we went to their neighborhood to walk around. We went out for about an hour and the kids had a blast. I love how excited Ronin was this year to get out and get his own candy. Calvin and Shelby were dying to be Pokemon characters. They picked out the costumes online, they showed up the day before and luckily they fit! Shelby was Bulbasur. It has a cute skirt and shell on the back. We had fun putting on face paint. She wanted me to do it exactly like the character, but I am terrible at the paint so we washed most of it off and went to the shapes that the character has. She was happy, so it worked. Calvin was Pikachu, his favorite Pokemon. He had red paint on his cheeks and he kept wiping his face on his costume all night. By the time we got home, his costume was covered in red paint. Luckily it came off in...

We had our beautiful baby boy at 11:30 pm on October 21st. He was 1 pound and 14" long. He had perfect hands and feet, and a tiny little body. Caleb and I were the only ones in the room for the birth and it was life changing for both of us. Slater had the umbilical cord around his neck and was breech. He showed no signs of life. He just laid motionless. Caleb and I shared many tears, and we continue to share many tears. We held him for a couple of hours. Played with his little fingers and toes. His body was so tiny and weak, and he was just not meant to be. We struggled for months with what to do, and after our follow up appointment earlier this week, there was really no choice anymore. Slater was not surviving and there was zero amniotic fluid for him to thrive. We had to act quickly, but they did give us a day to go home and get our other children settled. We sat down the three kids at home and told that that even though we did everything we could, our little baby was u...

Every week I go in for ultrasounds and blood work, and so far the results are all over the place. Some weeks my fluid is up to 5 cm, and sometimes it's been as low as 2.9 cm. They want me no lower than 5 cm if possible. But the good news is that his heart looks strong and he continues to grow. We have been overly blessed with all the friends and family who have helped us. Every day someone comes to my house and gets my kids off to school, someone else takes Ronin, someone else gets them all home, and another person brings us dinner, and sometimes we even have an evening babysitter.  I cannot believe how many people have volunteered to help us. It is very humbling and brings me to tears on a daily basis. Love my friends and family more right now than ever.

On Sept 25, I got a fever of 101. They told me that if I got a fever over 100, I had to go into the hospital immediately. I was at very high risk of infection and my life would be in danger. I called Rhoda, she came and got me, and we went in. They took me to labor and delivery. They said I had to deliver the baby. I was at too much risk. I asked how they knew I had an infection, what if I was just sick? I told them Caleb had not been feeling well and maybe he just got me sick. They said the would run some tests, they drew lots of blood, and they would call Dr. Jason. They put me in a delivery room, gave me lots of Tylenol and said I would have to deliver in the next day. They got blood work back and my white blood cells were going up. They drew them days before and they were normal, and now they were high. All signs pointed to infection and I wasn't safe. They did another ultrasound and the baby looked the same. He was still alive, really low fluid, and that was about all th...

I am still pregnant and made it up to the specialist on 9/20. Dr. Jason sent me for a new ultrasound and the senographer couldn't really read the fluid levels because they were too low to measure. But she could see the baby was alive. She couldn't find the hematoma, but she couldn't find much of anything. She got pretty frustrated and tried many times before she sent us back to the doctor. I had Kim, my friend and neighbor come with me. I should have probably brought Caleb, but he had to work and I wasn't sure they would tell me anything new anyway. Dr. Jason was awesome. He had so much more information than anyone else. He spoke to Kim and I for an hour and went over all the conditions, the plan from here forward, what could happen, what may not happen, and gave us a wealth of information. He said he was more optimistic than when they called him two days ago when I was in the hospital. He said the fluid levels were about the same, so that's good. I didn't l...

I was still waiting for my appointment with the specialist and on 9/17, something changed. I felt sick all day, I skipped church and stayed home. I was just not feeling well. That night Caleb and I were laying in bed and I sat up with bad cramping. I stood up and there was blood everywhere, down to the floor, through my clothes. I went to the bathroom and it just poured out of me. Every time I tried to go back to bed, I leaked through my clothes. Caleb got towels, and eventually a bucket, there was so much blood. I called the nurse again and she said to go straight to the hospital. So once again, I called Rhoda and she met me there. This time I was 19 weeks pregnant and they called labor and delivery who got me right in for an ultrasound. After that test, they transferred me to labor and delivery where I met an actual OBGYN who read my ultrasound and said that my amniotic fluid was really low. He had me do a test and sure enough, they found that I was leaking fluid and my water broke. ...

I may have crammed too many activities into our three weeks off before school starts. But I can't help myself. Do you know what it's like to go do things in the middle of the week? No traffic, no crowds, it's so much easier!! We went to the beach, the zoo, the trampoline park, camping, paddle boarding, fishing, and watched the total solar eclipse. We had the best last month of summer ever!

The first day of school was September 6, and started like any other day. That night I went out with some girlfriends to celebrate a birthday. After ice cream, we went to our friends new office and helped decorate for their open house party the following day. It was around 11 pm and I started feeling hot and crampy, and I kept going to the bathroom. One of the times I went, there was a bunch of blood and I knew something was wrong. I came out and told my friends I need to come home and I couldn't drive fast enough. I got home and started telling Caleb what happened. We called the nurse advice line and they said I need to go straight to the hospital. I have had enough miscarriages to know bleeding is not good. I called Rhoda about 50 times and she wouldn't answer her phone, so I called Trevor and he woke her up. She just finished a shift at the hospital and I woke her up and asked her to meet me in the ER. Caleb stayed home with our kids who were asleep and I told him I would upd...

This year Jessica, Jocelyn, Rhonda and myself went to Vashon Island in Washington. We stayed at our aunt Debbie's huge house. Most days we spent on the water kayaking, paddle boarding, boating, and playing in sand. We ate tons of food, stayed up late playing games and laughing hysterically, and caught up on life. No matter how much time we spend apart, when we get together again, it's like nothing has changed. I absolutely love my cousins, their husbands, their kids, and I can't wait for next years adventures!

After many prayers, sleepless nights, anxious budgeting sessions, and long talks with my family, I have decided to leave my job at SAIF. I left my notice and will only work a few short weeks and then stay home with my three, almost four, amazing children. Caleb and I contemplated this move before we bought the practice, but I knew that it would be easier for him if he didn't have to worry about the family budget. He's been rocking his practice for 7 months now, and he's still working his other job two days a week. We have done a great job saving money, paying off everything we can, and now it's time for me to quit. I've had an amazing career and I'm very proud of all the things I was able to do in my 15 years. I worked to push programs and culture that others wanted. I was told no a lot, and I was told yes where it counted. I'm so proud of where SAIF has gone and all the great places I have been able to go. My most recent trip was to Chicago to speak a...

I had a speaking engagement for work scheduled in Chicago, so I decided to bring my sister with me and make it a party. Rhoda had her nursing boards to study for while I was attending the conference, and then we did touristy things in the evening. We extended the trip and stayed to hang out and get to see the city. We both fell in love with Chicago! There was so many amazing places to eat, places to visit, and things to see. The buildings are all so tall. It's hard to capture in a picture but they were gorgeous!  The pier was amazing. Lights and water fountains at night, fireworks every weekend, and it came alive with people all day and all night long. So cool! Had to get our Boboa tea to cool down. It was so humid! On top of a bus tour learning more about the city. Classic Chicago sign with my gorgeous sis! Our feet hurt after walking so much. Pedicures for the win! Had to get some deep dish pizza. It was good and so filling. On the boat tour I ha...