Hawaii Getaway 2012. The backstory.

Jason and I got married on February 5, 2011. Quite honestly, the honeymoon abruptly came to a screeching halt within the first two weeks. 

Two weeks into our marriage, I was cleaning and rearranging the room that at the time belonged to boys #2 and #3 when (my skin still crawls typing this) I discovered bed bugs on the frame of their bunk beds. Yuck yuck yuck. I have never cleaned out rooms so fast. Jason was home from work within the hour that day and together we emptied that room COMPLETELY within the next hour. Their bunk bed was trashed. Mattresses out in the snow. Everything out of their closets and dressers, into bags. Boy #1's room was also completely stripped. We went and stayed at Jason's parent's house and had the exterminator in within the first 24 hours to spray the entire house. The house was quite literally torn completely apart. Every furniture item pulled away from walls and flipped over. All the beds disassembled, mattresses out in the snow. Pictures off all the walls. It was CHAOS. Within the hour we brought the boys back to the house, Jason got his first experience with a three year old with the flu while I was at the store getting mattress covers. Boy #3 did not break his new stepdad in easily, it was not pretty. Within 30 minutes that sweet little boy took out the minivan, Jason's jacket, and the entire upstairs bathroom. Like I said... the honeymoon stage was gone immediately. 

Two weeks later, on the morning of my birthday, came the positive pregnancy test. Now, I had three healthy uncomplicated pregnancies previously. That was not in store for us this time. At 8 weeks, I started having complications. Subchorionic hemorrhage #1 was detected. At 18 weeks 5 days, we found out our little boy's placenta was detaching due to the hemorrhages present in my uterus. My world felt like it stopped turning that day. I spent the next 20 weeks and 1 day terrified beyond belief for our son's life. Bed-rest all through our first summer of marriage was horrible, we were both struggling. Jason had to suddenly take on the role of doing everything for me. EVERYTHING. 

Thankfully November brought us a healthy baby boy. The sigh of relief that night cannot even be described. I still feel so very thankful every single day that we had a positive outcome from such a mess of a pregnancy. Declan brought our family together in a way that still amazes me. We don't feel like a "mixed" family, we are just a family.

The next trials immediately followed: colic, re-flux, and sleep problems combined with postpartum depression. All this during the worst winter I have ever experienced in my life. We hit the record snowfall in Anchorage by the time the winter ended.

All during this time, Jason completed his first two semesters of college, I continued to take a full load of classes each semester trying so desperately to finish my bachelor's degree. Avery was in 2nd grade, thriving; Payton in kindergarten, thriving. We spend our school years running around busy all the time. 

By February, we decided it was time to seize the moment. We booked our Hawaiian belated honeymoon for July, I would have a week off from my classes, the older boys would be with their dad for the summer, and we got an unbelievable deal on tickets. It was like the brightest green light I have ever seen. We needed to do this. We knew that if we didn't do this right then and there, life would take over. AND IT DID! Just a few weeks after we booked our trip, more news of another addition to our rapidly growing family. Baby #5 was on the way. A trip was either happening now, or not until our babies were bigger. Thank goodness the tickets were already bought (and nonrefundable)!

So that's how we ended up here, in Honolulu, Hawaii for fourth of July week. Relaxing, having quality couple time with boy #4 in tow. This is the getaway that we needed, the time we FINALLY have to spend together, just enjoying life and not worrying about puke, school work, bugs, or anything related to the chaos of our everyday lives. The chance to enjoy life after the challenges we faced (and got through as strong as ever I might add!) in the first year of our marriage. So here we are. Aloha from the island of Oahu! Time to document this trip.