HAPPY 59th :) BIRTHDAY LINDA!

Today is my mother-in-law's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDA! We had a great time celebrating at Chickasaw with a wonderful brunch and family. I am still stuffed from majorly over-indulging. My sis in law also made us a key lime pie which made my day! She is the BEST baker and seriously makes the best cakes, pies, etc. She has been incredibly supportive and sweet to me through these last several months of fertility issues.
I am so lucky to have amazing in laws and love spending time with them.

One last thing...
I have to say the dessert spread at Chickasaw brunch is the most impressive I have ever seen. We are super spoiled to have Pappy- a French pastry chef who is truly an artist when it comes to cooking. I had to include a picture of the dessert madness. Of course I had to try 3 things which were all to die for. Delish!

Keeping up with the meds...

After we finished injection training a couple weeks ago we were both feeling pretty overwhelmed. Then the huge box full of medicine was delivered later that week which added to our anxiety. How in the world were we were going to remember everything- times to take, how much medicine to administer, etc. every day for weeks?
My friend Marjorie had a brilliant idea she gave me from her recent surgery after getting her tonsils out on how to keep track. She said to chart the meds and put on a posterboard and simply mark off as we take. I put EVERYTHING we are taking (including blood work and ultrasounds) in 4 day cycles for the next 8 days on 2 sheets of paper that we can check the boxes each time we take a medication. The reason I am doing 8 days is because we know that our day to day injections and meds will be the same during the stimming process. We will get other directions after we have finished protocol these 8 days. The sheets are hanging on the refrigerator and it feels good to mark off as we go. Just means one day closer to the big day!
Here is an example:

First day of injections!

7 PM fun!

And 7 AM fun!
Who would have ever thought that I would be EXCITED to get a shot? Certainly not me! Today was my first day of injections and they were easy breezy. Luckily we are dealing with half inch needles. The real fun begins when we do the ones with a 1.5 needle!!!!!!!!!!!! I am scared to death. We have to do the shots at the same time every day, morning and night, so we chose 7 and 7 to keep it simple. Menopur is the injection I take in the mornings and Brian could have a job working in a lab as well as he did! He measured the solution into the powder, filled the syringe bubble free (which is hard to do) and all I had to do was inject! I told him he is the medicine maker every morning for the next few weeks. The shot at night is called Follistim, which comes pre-mixed and with a pen to inject the medicine- very similar to the Multiclix device I sell. Follistim is very easy to administer. Burned a little so I plan to let it sit out from the fridge for a few minutes longer before I inject.
I go in for blood work on Tuesday, then again for more blood work and a ultrasound on Thursday. They will keep a very close eye on everything which makes me feel much better! In my baseline ultrasound update from last week they found 18 follicles. What we are doing now is stimulating the follicles to assist them into growing big and producing great quality eggs! I am loving the number 18!

A few tries at a decent Christmas card!

Last year Brian and I had zero pictures that we liked for a Christmas card- even after traveling quite a bit and taking ample pictures we couldn't agree on one. We also wanted to include Sadie and Buddy, so we decided to have my sister come over and do a photo shoot. Needless to say, we were cracking up at these pictures and the ridiculousness of what we were doing. Our dogs hated their lives through this session and thought we were insane! You can see the enthusiasm from sadie and Buddy-haha!

One smart Doodle!

Sadie celebrated her 9th birthday yesterday. I can't believe she is already 9! I have a feeling she will still be kicking at 20 yrs old, mean as can be- brown teeth and all! She enjoyed her birthday walk last night, and another this AM. Clearly sadie was unimpressed when I put the birthday hat from Buddy's birthday last year on her in this pic.



On another note...I have to split walks as it is too hot for both dogs to go the whole way in this heat. So I take Buddy first, then come home and get Sadie or vice versa. Buddy is walking on a leash somewhat better now that he is almost 2, but definitely needs more work! Apparently Buddy has developed a crush on a Golden retriever with a pink bandanna (he has good taste) and goes absolutely crazy when we get to her house. Here's what happens: We get about 2 houses away from the girlfriends house and Buddy starts to act like a complete fool- definitely not impressing the crush. He cries, tries to drag me, barks and makes a complete scene! People look at me like I should really get control over my dog! So we get to the golden's house and my dog bullies me. yes you read that right- he does this every single time! Buddy gets behind me and jumps up on my back legs or actual back to try to push me down so he can get to the fence to see his crush! Even if she is not outside he still does it. It has been about a year and he remembers to do it every time! So if you see me on Gardenia being bullied by our goldendoodle, that's just part of our daily walk! :)here are some pictures of Buddy when he is being sweet-

In My daughters Eyes

About 9 years or so ago my mother gave me this song on christmas morning. Martina McBride has always been one of my favorites and this song made me an even bigger fan as she truly sings from the heart. I was glad I had Kleenex handy when I got in my car to drive home and listened to it! The words mean so much to me, especially during this difficult time of experiencing infertility. I always thought about how I couldn't wait to pass this song on to my child some day and how I would be pregnant at the exact moment I wanted to be. Never in a million years would I have expected it to be such a process. I love every word to this song and my reality of experiencing motherhood is within reach. I can't wait. Enjoy the song and send to your mama's! :)
I loved this also- At 2yrs, "mommy , I love you". 12yrs, " mom, whatever" , 16yrs "mom is so annoying" , 18yrs " I want to leave this place " , 25yrs " mom, you were right" , 30yrs "I want to go to my moms house" , 50yrs "I don't want to lose my mom", 70yrs ,"I would give up everything for my mom to be here with me". A mother is irreplaceable and I am very fortunate to have mine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLS0Y40WwlA

My grandmother "meme"

I wanted to ask for prayers for my precious grandmother. For those of you that know her, you know that she is truly an angel on earth. Her blood pressure has been spiking and she has had several visits to the ER. She has not been feeling well at all, which is not the norm for her at all. Please keep her in your prayers for a speedy recovery.