Merry Christmas! - From the Bucklens!

                    THE BUCKLENS

Man oh man, what a roller coaster ride 2013 has been for us! JANUARY – I turned 23 at the beginning of the month and shortly after found out we were expecting a baby mid September! MARCH – Darren began racing his 12^th year of racing. We had a new car, a new rig, the whole sha-bang! It was going to be a good year! I could just feel it! APRIL – We found out we were expecting a baby girl!  Darren found out and surprised me with the news by setting up her room! I was ecstatic! Tutus and hair bows were in our near future! And I couldn’t wait! JUNE – was the worst and best month of our lives. Mid June, I got really, really sick, resulting in 2 trips to the ER, a visit to my OB and one last trip to the ER which ended in being Air Lifted to Denver to deliver our 28 week daughter. I had a serious condition called HELLP syndrome and the only cure was delivery. I had had it for about 3 weeks prior, but somehow it slipped by all the tests and doctors, which I guess you could say was a blessing in disguise because she was able to “cook” that much longer.  On June 30^th, 2013 at 4:32 pm, we welcomed our 2 lb. 1 oz. miracle, Brynlee Jo, into the world.  We knew Brynlee had a long fight ahead of her but we knew she could pull through! JULY – Darren won his first race of the year the week Brynlee was born! What an awesome treat after such a crazy week.  We moved into the Ronald McDonald House for the next few months so we could be close to Brynlee.  It was only a couple blocks away.  I was in Denver 24/7with Brynlee while Darren commuted back and forth to work. Darren turned 26, we celebrated our 3 year anniversary, and I, once again, ended up in the ER due to a brain bleed, all on the same day. While the hospital scene wasn’t exactly how we pictured celebrating, we made sure to make time later that week to go on a special dinner date.  We also had our families come up and went to the Spaghetti Factory for Darren’s birthday. SEPTEMBER – September 1^st was the day we had been longing for!  After 64 long days (9weeks) in the NICU, and 20 days before her due date, it was finally time to bring our sweet girl home.  She weighed about 4 ½ pounds! Still so tiny, yet she’s come such a long way!  Then, Colorado got hit pretty hard with storms which caused lots of flooding.  Darren’s parents, his sister, brother-in-law, their daughter and the three of us all ended up moving in with my parents for about 5 days because we were in the flood zone. Luckily, there was no damage done. What a crazy thing to experience, especially in Colorado.  Darren ended his racing season finishing  3rd overall and only 2 points away from 2^nd place.  It was his best season thus far! I am so proud of him. Especially with the crazy summer we had. NOVEMBER – We took Brynlee on her first road trip. We went to Iowa to be with my dad’s family for Thanksgiving. It was so good seeing everyone and it was a chance for Darren to meet some of them for the very first time. DECEMBER – at Brynlee’s last doctor’s appointment, she weighed a whopping 8 lbs. 12 oz.!  That’s already 4 times as much as she did when she was born!  She’s getting so big and doing great!  We are 2 proud parents! We are also in the process of remodeling our kitchen!  We cant wait to have people over!

We hope you had an amazing year consisting of lots of time with family & friends, and lots of laughter.  This will definitely be a year to remember for us! We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

                                       Love, Darren, Stephanie & Brynlee Jo