Our Story

I have been married to the love of my life Sean, for almost 6 years now!

We met my freshman year at Kutztown University and before you knew it we were head over heels for each other, engaged in March, and married July 1, 2005. 

My husband is a soldier in the Army and the fears we had of deployment had come sooner than we thought. On Sunday July 9th I moved to North Carolina as a newlywed, Sean signed back in from his leave a few hours later..BOOM...bad news! Phone rings and he is told he will be deploying to Afghanistan on Wednesday! Shock took over me at that point and I don't think I snapped out of it until after he left. 

On November 7, 2005 I welcomed my husband home from Afghanistan and we could finally live together as newlyweds!

It wasn't long after Sean came home, that we found out we'd be expecting our first child together. Due September 3rd, 2006. We were so excited but of course 2006 had a few roller coasters in store for us.

In April 17th, 2006 we found out we'd be having a girl :) But then in May we found out that Sean would be deploying again...He would leave for Iraq on July 20th, 2006 and miss the birth of our first child :(
It was devastating and one of the hardest things I think I've ever had to do. But I always feel that the things in life that are the hardest you can either learn from and walk away a stronger person or you can be one of those people that whines about everything and blames all there problems on something that happened to them and I am definitely the type that walks away a stronger person and am proud to be that way.

We entered the life of parenthood after being sent home by a really rude nurse who told me I'd just have to deal with the pain because I wouldn't be back for days, and hmm I was admitted less than 12 hours later, it was a total of 39 hours in labor and my baby girl finally arrived on September 7th, 2006 at 11:18 p.m. my little princess, Chloe Elizabeth...never knew how much I could love someone until she was right there in my arms

Sean was sent a Red Cross message soon after her birth and called me at the hospital a few hours later. I couldn't wait til he could come home and finally meet our baby girl! I was so excited to share this life together with him. 

Chloe met her daddy for the very first time on December 9th, 2006. She was 3 months and 2 days old! It was one of the most emotional days of my life, I will never forget those                            feelings and how happy I was! 

Together at last! 

                                      
We got to spend the holidays together which was soo great but then Sean had only been home for about 2 1/2 weeks when we got a phone call over Christmas leave that everyone needed to come back early...they were deploying to Iraq...AGAIN! :/
They were the last unit there so they were needed to be the first unit back in as part of the 15 month surge.

By January 4th, 2007 Sean was getting on a plane again and heading to Iraq for an undetermined amount of time...I didn't leave the house for about a week. It was just Chloe and I. I needed us to get into a routine and start some planning to help make the time go by. There was no counting down because at that time we had no idea what to countdown to. So the waiting happened and we tried our best to get through each day and each week and each month. Until we were finally welcoming him home again.

I know that I would not have been able to get through this all without the love and friendship of one of my bestest friends!

ChrisAnn, or as we all like to call her now, thanks to Chloe.....CC! :) she is one of the best friends I could ever have and is the best godmother to my little miss Chloe  

On November 3rd we FINALLY got to welcome Sean HOME!! After a 16 month roller coaster we were finally done and could live life as the family of 3! Easier said than done when you come home to a 14 month old who doesn't know who daddy was but that was a challenge we overcame together and now you would never know they had ever spent that time apart. 

Sean re-enlisted during his third deployment and when he came home changed his MOS from Infantry to PSYOPS. So a good amount of schooling was involved, language school was interesting because now he is fluent in Idonesian. We wanted to get away from deployment in general but knowing that was next to impossible we wanted out of the long deployments and deployments to the middle east and thought if he did deploy again it would be to a country where he could use his language skills. Oh boy we're we wrong! 

Sean graduated from the PSYOP course in December of 2008. Then went to a tactical company due to past experience, rather than a regional company and the tactical companies deploy to the middle east. 

July 9th, 2009, Chloe and I said our "see ya laters" to Sean as he got on another plane and headed to Afghanistan. This was probably one of the hardest deployments for me. It was difficult to watch Chloe go through so much pain and hear everyday how much she misses her daddy and begged to know when he was coming home. She counted down with her hugs and kisses jars everyday he was gone until the last hug and kiss was gone :)

& ya know what else got thrown into this deployment mix...10 days after Sean was gone I took a pregnancy test and sure enough found out that we would be expecting baby #2!!!!!! Due March 28th, 2010. We were thrilled! :)




We we're hoping and praying that we'd get a little boy this time and in October I found out that it was definitely a little boy in there! I will never forget the phone conversation with Sean telling him I was pregnant and then the conversation telling him it was a boy!

We had agreed from the beginning what name we wanted for him. He was our Irish little man from that day on.. Liam Patrick Fennessey :) 

The 7 months went by and January came along and it was time to welcome him home one more time :) 

This time I sat back and watched our daughter run into her daddy's arms! It was absolutely perfect! :)

I got through that last deployment with the help and support of some great friends! CC and the fam had moved to MO early during the deployment but phone calls and a visit Chloe and I took out there was great! My BFF in PA had many of phone calls day and night and visits that all helped a ton! & I also met a good friend here in Fayetteville, and now Chloe plans to marry her son!! It is soooo funny and sooo cute how much she adores her Robert! :) 

We got to spend about 2 months together and then our family of 3 turned into a family of FOUR!! :) With the birth of our adorable little irish boy...Liam Patrick-- born March 21st, 2010 at 11:31 a.m. 7lbs. 8oz, 21 1/4in.
He came a week early which made this momma super happy especially after the long labor and delivery with miss Chloe. I was taking a test for one of my online classes on Saturday night and had been having contractions here and there but it was normal at this point. It had been going on for a little over a week that each night when I sat down and got comfortable on the couch or in bed they would come one and then eventually go away. 

They went away but then I was woken in the middle of the night around 230am because they were back and strong. I tried to go back to sleep but figured I should start timing them   so I did on the app I downloaded to my phone a few weeks earlier. They started at about 5 mins apart so I didn't even wake up Sean. There was no way I was ready to go to the hospital and be sent home for being there too soon. The odd thing that night was Chloe woke up. She was terrified of something in her room, which never happens so it woke up Sean and he brought her into bed with us. They got comfy and fell back to sleep while I found a comfy spot on the floor since the bed wasn't working for me and got a little more sleep. Finally around 730am Sean was like we should go to the hospital now but I said no I still had the last load of laundry to do from the day before and I needed most of it for my bag to take with us. He did the wash, got it dried, got everything and Chloe in the car and then almost had to carry me out because I was in so much pain I couldn't walk anymore. I'll never forget riding in the jeep on the way there hearing Chloe yell at me because I wasn't sitting in my seat the right way and I was being too loud! LOL. 

We arrived around 9:30am. They took me straight back and got things started while Sean waited with Chloe til our friend came to take her. 

They checked me and I was already 6cm and then came time for the epidural. It was all happening so fast but that was fine with me. They decided to check me one more time before doing the epidural and said I was ready to go, the anestesiologist was amazing and said I still had time and could have it. So he gave it to me, the dr said he'd give it a few mins to kick in and when he came back we'd be ready to push!! Sean was there with me and asked him for my phone because I finally had a min of relaxation to let everyone know baby was coming! The dr came back, a few pushes later and baby Liam was here!! :) 

Liam and I both had very low temperatures after he was born so they took him to put under a warmer. Sean went with him and Chloe was able to peak in and see Liam for the first time before she had to leave. Unfortunately, due to the hospital rules and the H1N1 scare, anyone under the age of 18 was not aloud to be in the Mother and Baby Unit. This meant Liam and momma didn't get to see her until daddy picked us up from the hospital. The day we took Liam home and I got to see Chloe's big sister skills in action was the best! She is a great big sister and absolutely adores her baby brother :) And now that he is 10 months old they can play together better and he adores her just as much!! I love it & I love the two of them more than anything <3

Each and everyday I look forward to what the future holds for me and my family...I look forward to all the things we will do together and all the memories that we will create...

thats our story for now... it just keep getting better and better :)