'09 Baby #1 Of Many

As I've said in a previous post, we have a lot babies gracing us with their precious little presence this year.

Two Sundays ago I attended shower #1 of many for baby Noah. This little guy is Chris's cousin Derek's little boy. Amber had her "membranes stripped" the previous Tuesday and was having contractions that afternoon. We thought for sure he would be born anytime soon.

Derek and Amber


Opening Presents


Celebration Cake!



Finally, a week and a half later, baby Noah makes his appearance!
He was born on Tuesday, April 28th at 5:32 pm. He was 6 lbs. 10 oz. and 20 inches long.

I thought this hat was so cute, I loved it!


Noah Robert Paul S.



Noah and I


Derek and Noah



And I saved the cutest and best for last....he was holding his own pacifier, it was so cute!





At this facility they also put a monitor around the baby's leg so that no one could "steal him". I thought that that was interesting, I have never seen that before.

Well I can't wait to see how this little guy grows over the next coming months! It is awesome to have a new baby in the family. It's an exciting way to start the summer!

Our Family Is Growing

Yep it is true.

Many who know us already know this, but we love animals, dogs in particular. Especially my husband, I have never seen someone who loves animals so much. So naturally, after we bought our house we invested in our first furbaby, Niles. (Yes, his name is after the show Frasier, Chris LOVES that show.)

I know...cutest puppy ever, right? We got him at 6 weeks old, he was so tiny!





He has not been what I call a cheap investment, but it has been worth it. I have never seen an animal love two people more unconditionally. Even if we are mad at him, he forgets about it and still loves us the same. But yeah, the first couple years are rough. Between the vet visits for vaccines, and the neutering, and the heart worm meds and food and toys...wowza.



Totally worth it though. Not to mention he listens very well, and we can trust him. He is a great dog. Boxers are great dogs in genenal as they are incredibly smart, and good with children, which was a MUST for me. I love the fact that I can put my hand in his mouth, play with his face and do whatever else...and know that he would never bite me.

Well a couple weeks ago an aquaintence of mine casually asked me if we knew anyone who would want a boxer, or if we would want another. I was like uhh...maybe? We had toyed around the idea of getting another so that Niles would have a little friend to play with. We decided we would go and have a look at him and see if him and Niles would get along. Of course they played like crazy and we thought he was a really nice dog. We agreed that that weekend he could come and stay with us and we would see how it would go. Needless to say, he has been with us ever since. I felt bad for the family that had to give him away, but all they cared about was that he went to a great home. And the best part was that they gave us everything... EVERYTHING for FREE! They gave us the dog, his huge crate, his bed and toys, food, rawhides, bones...everything. We just couldn't pass this up, and we felt bad for him.

So...introducing...Siggy! (Chris wanted to change his name to Frasier..haha...I'm like seriously? We cannot do that to a two year old dog. That is just mean.) And yes, he is giving you the side-eye.



If I thought Niles was lovable...I was sooo incredibly wrong. Niles is more the type of dog that wants to play 24/7. Siggy on the other hang...he just wants your lovin. He would be totally content to just sit by you and let you pet him all day long. He is such a sweetheart.

And the best part is, him and Niles are best buds. It is hilarious. They are so cute!





Yeah, I even caught them snuggling on Nile's bed together. It's official, they are cuddle buddies.



Sooo cute. I love it.

Here we go again.

Today is officially Day #1, of Cycle #5.
Wowza.
Never thought I'd be typing that, that is for sure.
But, it's Ok. The more time I have had to think about it, the more OK I am with it.

We have a lot that we wanted to accomplish this year and so far it's going great. In a couple weeks we will be completely out of debt except for our mortgage and school loans (which I think is OK debt to have.) Our upstairs will be completed by the end of summer. Chris will be done with school in January (except for his Masters, but this is still a huge step in our future). This gives us more time to perhaps do some other things with our money, like maybe get our mattress the beautiful bed I've been wanting for a couple years now, accompanied by a dresser. I am tired of having our mattresses on the floor and my closet just isn't holding everything anymore. Plus a bedroom set will look fab in our new upstairs master bedroom when it's finished, we are so excited! Also hoping to get Central Air put in by next summer. We can suffer through one more summer without it.

So on to other big news, and things we can definitely celebrate. I've been wanting to write about this for a while but was waiting until I had the OK to mention everyone. Besides the fact that I am not getting pregnant, this is totally the year for babies in my family! At least I will get to enjoy everyone else's little ones at Christmas this year. =) There are four people in our immediate family alone... :

-Chris's sister Shauna is due with a little girl on August 6th. They are EXTREMELY happy as this will be their last baby....and they already have 3 boys.

-My sister-in-law Emileigh (adopted brother Nate's wife) is having a little girl and they are due August 8th. This is also their one year wedding anniversary.

-My little brother Joe's fiance Tiffany is due August 25th. They are having a boy, Aidan.

That is three people in August alone!!!

-Then there is my sister Megan. She is due October 9th, and they do not know what they are having yet (obviously because they are not far enough along).

-Also two of Chris's cousins girlfriends/wives are pregnant. Along with various other friends/acquaintances etc.

Needless to say I have a lot of showers to attend over the next couple of months! It is very exciting!

I swear, the oatmeal creme pie was calling my name.

Ok, so I have a huge lack of motivation and have been eating like crap lately. (This is so NOT cool, I am supposed to be training for a 5k?!?!!)

I blame it on the fact that I am like 99% sure I should be starting my period this weekend and also a little on depression.

I know for a fact I am at least 10 days past ovulation today. I actually took my temp this morning when I woke up, just out of curiosity and it was pretty low. I also tested and got a BFN (big fat negative). I know that people say it's not over until Aunt Flow shows but I know my body. And she is coming.

It was a rough morning. I started to cry sporadically a couple times, out of nowhere. In front of a someone at one point too and dang that is embarrassing. It's like hello, emotional meltdown anyone? It sucks because every month I think it will be different and I will able to handle being let down if need be, and every month I continue to prove myself wrong.
Why is this so damn hard? Trying to conceive has sucked a lot of happiness and joy out of my life the past four months and dammit I want it back. Sex is supposed to be fun.

Well our Managing Partner's Assistant emailed everyone earlier to let us know that we get to leave the office early tomorrow at 3 pm. I was like sweet, best news I've heard all day. Also, I'm getting my hair done Saturday morning. And I'm actually going to a salon. I am super excited, I haven't done this in forever. I am tired of having my friend do it at her apartment, yes it is cheap, but not always convenient. I am looking forward to the start of my weekend (minus my period).

Blog Slacker

That is me.

I have wanted to post but things have been busy, and I usually try to post at work sometimes when I am slow, but we have been super busy here as well!

There have been a lot of things that I have wanted to write about on and off, but also nothing too exciting has been happening, so I haven't been.
Regarding my doctor's appointment...my ultrasound came back completely normal. Then they wanted to do blood work. That also came back completely normal. Both good news for sure, but still doesn't pinpoint what was wrong with me. They put me on a 24 hour clear liquid diet. That was a lot of fun. Let's face it, I love to eat, and drinking liquids for an entire day just isn't my style. But I sucked it up and once it was over had a yummy dinner. Anyways ever since then I have been on Prilosec and Zantac. They seem to help I guess, I haven't had any issues ever since, so that is terrific. I am just wondering if this is something that I will have to take forever? Who knows...once my script runs out I will def. by calling and asking some more questions. We will see how it goes I guess.
He said at my first appointment that if it wasn't my gallbladder that he thought it was gastritis. I looked in up online and pretty much sounds like exactly what I was dealing with, the only thing that I could figure out what it may have been brought on by was stress.
Yep, stress.
Stress about TTC maybe?? Hmm....
So this month, I have been trying not to think about it too much. I have been working out normally again, which has been awesome. I have even been training to run in my first marathon. That has really taken my mind off of things. It will be the Fifth/Third River Bank Run in May. I am still debating whether or not it will happen depending on if I was to get pregnant before then. I am only doing the 5K so the training isn't too vigorous. I hate running. But this has been forcing me to do it, and I always feel so good afterward. The training schedule even allows days where you are either off, or just walking for like 25-35 minutes. So easy, I can do that! Usually on those days I will try to do a spin class though.
Also, no temping again, and no ovulation sticks. I know I am O'ing, we are doing what we need to do, so it will happen when it happens I guess.

So right now we are on Cycle #4. Another reason I have not been posting is because we are just in the same situation as the past couple months. Nothing has happened thus far, and I don't want to keep writing posts about when I start my period and how I'm emotionally distraught for a short time. It's just not fun reading. :)

And I am in the two week wait again. Honestly, as awkward as this may sound, I feel different this month. It almost scares me to say it. I am hopeful. It's like I just have this feeling, and wouldn't it be so typical? I was talking about this with my sister last night. Because in the past I made so many statements about how I just so badly wanted a baby in the Fall and how if it came to having one around Christmastime I wouldn't focus too much on that. I just really didn't want another December birthday to worry about, and it's too close to Christmas. But now I realize that that is just asinine. Not to mention that IT'S NOT IN MY CONTROL. But let's get serious here. Are we really going to skip a month because of a Holiday. Ummm...absolutely not. And especially not after trying the past couple months. But here's the thing...I will never live that down if it happens. And it was stupid to ever say anything of that sort. Like I said...things are getting interesting. I am trying not to think about things to much, not to get my hopes up. But it's too darn hard not to.