Another birthday for my Sweetness

Well I think I am long overdue for a picture post!!! And no other perfect opportunity than the celebration of my Sweetness' birthday!!! So without further ado, here at some precious memories of this evening!!

We had an appointment at the RE, which I will elaborate on more below, and then we met some great family and friends at Sweetness' favorite restaurant called Mc.Cormi.ck and Schmick.s. It is a real fancy seafood restaurant here in the awesome new town center. So we opened a few presents first before the food arrived.

My parents gave him a tropical shirt and some great khaki shorts that he has been wanting. Here is he showing off his shirt.

And as all my frequenters of this blog know, my babe LOVES Sno.opy! Last year his cake was snoo.py, but I found some really great things at Hallmark. They are having a 50th anniversary celebrating Pean.uts so it makes some good shopping for him. Anyways, I gave him a cute Snoo.py stuffed animal and a cute Snoo.py figurine by a motorcycle, which HE LOVED!!!
And as I was trying to get out of him what he wanted for his birthday, the only thing he would tell me was a "real cool bamb.oo arrangement" to put in his office at work. Well I was able to find this one and I thought it was really nice to look at. Again He. Loved. It.!!!

And we capped it off with a wonderful carrot cake that the waiter put a nice candle on for him to make a wish!! (I think I know what that wish might have been...**wink wink***)

And another!!!

I just noticed we did not take any pictures of the people with us!!! Sorry guys, but we were so glad you were there to make it all the more fun!!!

I can not tell you how BLESSED I am to be married to this man. He truly is the most precious, kind, godly and all around amazing man I have ever been around. The Lord surely knew what I needed, and He fashioned him especially for me!!! I love you so much Sweetness and I pray the Lord gives us many many more years to celebrate life together! You make this journey so worth it!!!

Just quickly, we did have our IVF counseling appt today as I said , before we went to celebrate. Everything went well, we are now just waiting on my cycle to begin on June 25th or there about, and then we start BCPs and Lupron, and then we proceed from there!! I will be sure to keep you all updated as we inch ever so closer!

Until next time........

In the meantime....

Well I feel like we have been waiting forever to start our next IVF..... and finally tomorrow, we will have our first IVF consult at our new RE. WE are very excited, just nervous about handing them a check for $20,000!!! But we need to have a plan and tomorrow we will get it all laid out for us.

Also tomorrow is my Sweetness' birthday!!! So after our appointment we are heading over to his favorite seafood restaurant called McCormick's and Schmicks. We only go there on a big occasion, because it is quite pricey, but it should be great fun!!!

Then on Friday night we are going on a cruise we won, a evening dinner cruise on the Spirit of Norfolk to again celebrate his birthday. And thennnnnnnn, Saturday we are driving up to Washington DC to meet up with a old college friend of mine and hang out and tour museums and such. So we have an incredibly packed week ahead of us!!! I will be sure to post pics of our fun week, I know I have been slacking on the pics lately!

Thanks for all the prayers and messages, I know we will be pregnant by August with God's help!!! We can feel it!!!

A Progress Report

Hey ladies...... I am sitting here at work, about to fall asleep. I have so needed this long weekend we just had, but boy do I need a day to recuperate. I am so tired, and I have to teach another class in just 2 short hours!!!

But Sweetness and I were just thinking how wonderful our life is right now. I mean everything is pretty much perfect! We have a beautiful home, beautiful yard, two great dogs, an INCREDIBLE marriage, 2 good paying jobs, and money in the bank! The only thing we don't have is a baby- but we now have that so close on the horizon that we are really pumped about it!!!

So when my cycle begins on or around June 25th, then I will be doing the birth control pills for about 15 days, and then start stimming. SO after the whole cycle is done, we should be having a beta test at the end of July or early August. I am sooooooo sooooooo hoping we finally are able to get pregnant!!! I cant even imagine the joy after all this time, waiting, money and tears!!

I really dont have too much to say, we are kind of boring people but I just wanted to update you guys and let you know I did not fall off the face of the Earth. Sometime this week I am going to try to upload several of the pictures I have taken over the last couple months. I am so bad about uploading them, it takes blog.ger so long to do it and I get frustrated!!!

Thank you all for the sweet emails, they mean a lot to us!!!

Talk again soon!!!

Checking them off my list!!

Hey ladies!!

I wanted to let those of you who have been praying for me and were asking about me on facebook, that yes I did have my colonoscopy yesterday and everything looks fine. The doctor said that I have an internal hemorrhoid that is causing the massive amounts of blood, but it should not cause any problems. He eve wrote a letter for me to go ahead with IVF!!! CHECK!!!

Item two is my thyroid levels since being put on Synthroid 5 weeks ago. Sweetness and I went and got my blood drawn before we went to the hospital yesterday morning. I just got the results and my TSH went from 3.53 to 0.15!!!! That is EXACTLY where we want it!!! Wooooo Hoooo!! CHECK!!!!

And the best of all, I got weighed yesterday before my procedure, and I have seriously lost 16 pounds since March when I was my heaviest!!!! I think a little colon cleansing helped with some of it, but whatever I will take it!!!! So I am really on my way to accomplishing everything I was suppose to for us to have a successful IVF cycle.

Thanks so much for the prayers, the constant letter s and notes of encouragement etc. It really means a lot!!! And to have the MOST amazing man beside me on this journey, just makes it all the sweeter!!! He is the most precious thing I have, and I am so glad I do not have to make it through this life without him!! :))) Love you Sweetness!

Will update as we get closer. I am a day late already with AF, but no preggers..... hospital checked yesterday). So after AF comes, then wait for the AF in June and then we will get this party STARTED BABY!!!!!

Can we say in debt???

Well it's official. Sweetness and I signed the loan papers yesterday. We now are officially really rich, no actually really in debt!! But it will all be worth it if this brings us to our baby!!!

We were actually quite excited. And it's not as if we can not afford the loan payment, we have expendable income each month, but now we do not!!!

On other fronts, I am scheduled for a colonoscopy on Monday. Just one more thing to check off my list to get ready for cycling at the end of June. I have lost another 3 pounds, but it sure is hard. We have not been going to the gym regularly. I work so many hours, I just have no energy at all after work, and I have to be at work by 7 so there goes the morning!!! Ughhh, but every little bit helps.

And lastly, I am going this week to get my TSH checked again, now that I have been on it for 5 weeks, and hopefully it will have come way down!!!

That's about all the updates for now. We are headed to my grandmother's this weekend to help pack her up and move her back to my mother's place. She has really reached the point where she can not live alone any longer. But we don't mind her at all, in fact we LOVE her being around, she can play a mean game of cards too!!!! :)

Ya'll have a great week, and I'll update again soon!!

Things are moving right along!

Hey ladies!! Well I just wanted to stop in and give a quick update. I have been so unbelievably busy, work is killing me, and I am just exhausted. I have lots of pictures to upload, and have no time...... UGH

Well I am still trying to keep dieting, although I have not lost more than my original 6 lbs. Getting to the gym regularly is another story.

The colonoscopy we need to have done has now been scheduled for Monday, May 24th. I still need to find someone to fill in for my class, but I am sure I can do that.

And I have not yet gotten my follow up blood work done yet to see if my thyroid levels are now where they need to be, since being put on Synthroid 4 weeks ago.

And we also received a huge blessing!!!! One of Sweetness' very best friends from college called us yesterday and her sister-in-law had purchased all her injectible meds to do IVF. Well she actually got pregnant the month before they were to start IVF and now she has all these expensive meds that she is getting rid of. They don't expire until 9/2010 so they would be perfect for us if my doctor will let us use these particular meds. So I called my nurse today and asked her if my doctor uses these 2 particular meds, and she is going to call me back tomorrow to let me know what he says. This could literally save us between $3000-$5000!!!! God has really been with us on this journey, and I really feel that this is more conformation that this IS the right timing.

Well I have more to update, but I have to teach tomorrow from 8am-1:30pm and then 5-10:30 pm!!!! I am going to be dead by tomorrow night- but at least I have a job!!!

Thank you again for all the comments, emails and texts. We appreciate all you guys do to make us feel loved and not alone! Will update again this weekend with pictures from this past weekend.

Mother's Day

Well as you can imagine, Mother's Day is a hard time for an infertile such as myself. It is a very painful reminder of a barren womb and empty arms. But I am going to try not to dwell on what I do not have on this Mother's Day, but rather on what I DO have.

I have the best mother any girl could have ever wanted. She put me first from the day my father walked out and left us when I was 9 months old. She tried to be everything to me, and she was. She put off remarrying because she had a child to raise. SHE sacrificed her whole life, when she didn't have two nickels to rub together, I had new clothes and felt like all the other kids. I can never really convey what a godly woman she is. She brought me up in the faith, she took me to church, she showed me God's love in a very real way. I guess the best way to sum it all up is a quote I love by Abraham Lincoln in which he said, "Everything I am or hope to be, I owe to my Mother." So so so so very true. I love you Mom!!!!

And I found this poem about how hard mother's day is for an infertile, struggling to get through years and years of Mother's Days and I would like to share it.

"Happy Mother's Day”

It comes around every year;
but when you have empty arms,
it's very hard to hear.
It's a day to celebrate a mother,
for all the trials she overcame;
and a reminder to an infertile
of her loneliness and shame.
But what really makes a mother,
Is it just conception and birth?
Or is there something more,
that shows a mother's worth?
It's putting your child first,
in everything you do;
it's sacrifice and determination,
and love and patience too.
An infertile woman makes all her plans,
around a child not yet conceived;
she loves them even though they aren't here,
more than she ever could have believed.
She appreciates and understands,
what a blessing that children are;
she works hard for just a chance,
that motherhood is not that far.
All odds are stacked against her,
and yet she still has hope;
everyday is another struggle,
finding ways to help her cope.
So even though her arms are empty,
she can still be a mother too;
So say a special “Happy Mother's Day”for those waiting for their dreams to come true!