WAIT! Scratch that! It started much earlier than that.
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Ok, ok maybe not that early.. keep moving forward.
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Cute pics, but still too early.
Ok there we go.. Let us begin again.
Our story begins in January of 1996, at a mutual friend's house. Both Erik and I were in high school at the time, he at Bishop Miege and I at Turner High. We met one evening at our friend Pete's house. Erik played the role of the stoic, attractive loner, and I played the part of the tall, outgoing goofball. Somehow we hit it off. I'm sure it had something to to do with him never talking and me never being able to stop talking.. we fit together perfectly.
As the months went on, Erik and I quickly became best friends as well as a couple. We spent our time together exploring the outdoors, playing video games, playing sports and learning more and more about each other. He took me to the mountains of Colorado where I instantly fell in love with them, peaked my interest in anthropology even more, and introduced me to a whole variety of things I'd never experienced.
Erik graduated high school in 1997, a full year earlier than I did. Having been a bit lackadaisical with his college admissions, he decided to join the United States Marine Corps, where he served 4 years, most of them at Camp Lejeune, NC. I graduated in 1998 and went on to college at Colorado State University, in Ft. Collins, CO.
Although Erik and I were separated by nearly 2,000 miles, we still managed to keep in touch throughout the years. While in the Marines, Erik traveled through South America, fought forest fires in Idaho, and too many other interesting things to talk about now.
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I spent a few semesters at CSU before moving on to work at Disney World, backpack through Europe, and finally settle back down in Kansas City.
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When Erik's term of service was up he decided not to resign and instead decided to come back to Kansas City to live. At this point Erik and I were only good friends, but I needed a roommate and he needed a place to live.... so we began living together in a small duplex I had been renting for a few months.
Erik and I continued to live together as friends only for about 2 years, until I finally realized that everyone I ever dated was being compared to Erik.. and no one measured up. I mean really.. he was my best friend, he knew me better than anyone, and we just meshed so well together. So one day I popped the question to him... NO, no, no! Not that question! I just asked why we weren't dating. In typical Erik form he answered "I dunno". LOL! Thus we began dating, once again.
About a year later that other question was brought up for real this time. I wanted to know why we weren't engaged and if we were even headed that way. We lived together, we loved each other, we already lived as if we were married.. why not truly be married? So we decided to go ahead and get married. Not the most romantic proposal, but hey we got the job done, right?
In August of 2004 we closed on our first house together. It was a 3 year old, 3 bed, 1 bath house in a suburb south of Kansas City.
Now we're back to the good stuff.. the makings of a family. With an upcoming wedding in April of 2005, Erik and I decided not do anything to put a stop having a baby. We weren't really trying to conceive, but we weren't trying not to conceive either.
Our wedding went off without any big hitches.. although I would like to state for the record that it truly sucks when no on at your wedding will drink or dance... it's supposed to be a celebration people! We honeymooned in Mexico and came home to find out I was pregnant on April 13th!
Unfortunately our first pregnancy didn't last much longer than about 3 days after finding out. I miscarried at 4w and 3d. We waited the suggested amount of time and then started trying again. I happily tested positive on Nov 25th of 2005. However, I yet again miscarried at only 5w5d. By this point I was pretty devastated because I knew that miscarriages were common for a lot of women at least once in their lives, but to have 2 back to back was a bit worrisome. I was so upset thinking that I may never have children of my own.
Erik and I continued to live and continued to try for a baby for the next 5 months. Erik and I traveled up to Iowa for a job interview with the railroad on June 12th of 2006. We stayed one evening in a hotel and the next night at our friend Jeff's house while he was out of town. Erik was offered the job on June 13th. That evening after I had some crazy cramps and feelings I went to the store and bought a pregnancy test. I tested that night, at Jeff's house, and it came up positive! Go figure, I would be pregnant the same day our whole lives are about to change with a new job in another state!
Erik took the job and started working in Iowa on June 19th, 2006. I stayed at home in Kansas City and put our house up on the market, packed all non-essential things away, and cooked my new little baby in my belly. It took us about 5 months to sell our house and find a new one in Iowa, and I "supervised" the whole moving process while I was 7 months pregnant.
On December 18th, 2006 we closed on our new home, a 126 year old, 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath house.
