The Story Of "Us"

We are Jessica and Steve. We have been together for almost a year now, moved in together May 1st, 2009, were engaged to be married August 1st, 2009, and plan to be married in September of 2011. Steve has a soon-to-be 3 year old daughter from a previous relationship named Gabrielle Marie (Gabby). I also have a son from a previous relationship who is turning one next month. His name is Brayden Michael. Damn, do we make cute babies!

I am a stay at home mom for now. Steve works 6 days a week for Triumph foods where he is a Quality Assurance and Food Safety Supervisor (BAHAHA!). I plan to start online classes (eventually). I haven't quite figured out what it's going to take yet but I want to eventually be fluent in Spanish and French so I can interpret at The Children's Mercy Hospital. I have wanted to do this for YEARS and haven't been able to yet. We'll see how it goes!

Gabby is a very tall, healthy little girl. She's very shy at first but hilarious once she opens up. She loves Dora the Explorer, Hannah Montana, and anything with Princesses! We can hardly get the girl to eat anything but we're working on it! We see her every weekend and have FINALLY started bringing her back to our house from St. Joseph where she lives with her mom and step dad. She's a wonderful little girl and I'm very proud to be her soon-to-be step mother.

Brayden is a chubby little monster. His favorite 'word' is "Ahdeh!" and no, I have no idea what it means. He is definitely a momma's boy and I love every minute of it (well, okay, every minute that I don't need to get something done and he isn't crying at my feet ;]). He was born with a blood clot clogging the major artery in his left arm, had to have surgery the same day, spend 3 weeks at CMH, and get shots twice daily of a blood thinner for the first 3 months of his life. There are also signs of multiple mini strokes that he had while I was pregnant with him. He has put me through a lot but he's been worth every tear! He is turning one on October 24th. We are throwing him, his cousin Kaitlyn, and Gabby a triple birthday bash on October 17th. We are renting a bounce house, getting a cake made by Jaque (the wonderful old woman who owns The Bridal Kitchen off of 291 and made my sister's wedding cake!), we'll have plenty of snacks, fun decorations, and gift bags for the kids! It's going to be a blast!

That's just about the gist of it. I'll be keeping you updated as often as I can! Thanks for reading!