Yikes!!

Holly Cow!!! I added a ticker to the top of the page (as you probably already saw, LOL) to keep track of the days until we start the IVF process. I knew my 1st appt. was on the 13th, but I didn't realize that is only 2 weeks away!!

I had so many things I wanted to do first. Like loose 10 pounds.... Well that's not going to happen now. These meds I've been on all make me gain weight, and the new ones are meant to get me pregnant so I'll gain weight from that, too. Oh, well, at least we will get healthy babies from this and I can loose weight after they are born.

I still can't believe it... just two more weeks.

Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Raisler

I've been talking about them quite a bit with one of my cousins. So, I scanned this picture for her to see. I absolutely LOVE this picture. Probably because it's the only picture I have of both of them, and because Great Grandma gave it to me. There is a special place in my heart for everything they gave to me and everything I see that was theirs.

I loved them as much as I possibly could at the age is was when they were here. Great Grandpa passed away when I was 5 and Great Grandma when I was 14. Natalie Cole had just remade Unforgettable as a duet with her and her father about the time that Great Grandma passed away. Now, every time I hear that song, I think of them.

I still remember the layout of their house. Well, for the most part that is... My mind seems to completely forget about Great Grandpa's den. We were never allowed in there, so my mind doesn't even remember the door to the room existing. I remember their clocks, the coo-coo clock and mantel clock. I remember the special straw cups we all got to use when we visited. I remember her laundry line in the back yard and I remember picking lemons from her trees. I remember all the games and toys they had in the playroom that was originally set up for their grandkids and kept for all their great grandkids. I even put bubble lights on my Christmas tree, every year. It's not complete until they are on. I know they are watching out for me, and everyone else in our family for that matter.

So Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to both of you. Thank you for keeping such a good eye on us all. I love you!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!! We had a WONDERFUL Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. As always, I was awed by the creativeness and generosity of our family. We love all of you! Thank you for making this another great Christmas.

It was especially nice to be around Grandma and Ron. I've missed you guys, and I can't wait until our next visit with you!! Have a safe trip home.

I'll leave you with a very cute picture of Jaydnn. This is her saying "cheese" for the camera.

One more week

'Till Christmas!! I am so excited. I just love Christmas. I've got most of my shopping done and everything that needed to be mailed out has been sent. Now I'm just hunting for those last few special gifts.

That's about all that's happening around here. I did get a cute picture of Piper by the Christmas tree. Actually, I think she was trying to eat the tree. I told her no, and this is the look I got.

Fun day turnned bad...

Last Saturday I decided to take the dogs to the dog park. It was Piper's first time and I wasn't sure how she would do. I remember Shadow's first time he hid under the picnic tables.

She did play, but only with a teenage boy and a full grown dog that weighed less than 2 pounds. She was scared of all the other dogs. She got lots of attention from all the people though. They all felt bad for her and she lapped up the sympathy.

Shadow was grumpy and had to spend some time alone in the tuck because he was showing aggression towards the other dogs before we even got in the gate. He calmed down and was let into the small dog area with Piper after a little while. Towards the end I probably could have let him in with the other dogs, because he was being nice to them through the fence, but I decided to leave that for another day and head home.

We were almost home, stopped at a red light when all of a sudden I heard a crash. The next thing I knew my head was bouncing off my head rest. My first thought was of the dogs. I put the truck in park and jumped out to open the back and see them, but it was locked so a went back and turned off the truck and unlocked the doors, all the while trying to call Craig on his cell phone. I opened the back hatch and both dogs wagged their tails and seemed happy to see me. So I knew they were okay. This was while I was on the phone with the 911 operator.

Luckily we are all three okay. I'm having some neck and shoulder issues that I'm working with a chiropractor on, but that's about all. The dogs are doing good, running and playing just like normal. Shadow was definitely shaken up the first night, he slept on the bed touching my legs the entire night, which he never does. But he seems fine now.

The Blazer is at the dealership getting fixed. Craig is not happy with the idea of having a car that has been hit so hard and repaired. So once we settle with the insurance company and get the loss of value from them, we will probably sell it and get something else. He was very disappointed that they didn't total out the vehicle.

A quiet house.

I don't know what I'm going to do with myself this week.

We've had such a busy last two weeks. Craig's mom, Marilyn, came to visit us the weekend of the 15th, then went to Phx for work during the week and came back the following weekend. We had a great visit and she and I even got to do some shopping. During which I found a new store to frequent!!

After she left I started getting read for Thanksgiving. Originally Craig's dad and brother were going to join us, but his dad got a cold and didn't want to travel, but Dene still made it! My parents and my sister and her family also made the trip from Phx. We had a great day lots of food and smiles. There couldn't be a more perfect way to spend the holiday.

On Friday we went up the mountain to play in the snow with the dogs while Dene was here. We ended up driving down the mountain some where it hadn't snowed and found a back road. We took that until we were fairly certain nobody would come down the road and let the dogs out to run and play in the woods. They loved it!! And we loved that they were pooped the rest of the night.

Dene left to go to visit their dad on Saturday and Craig left today to go to Atlanta for work. Now its just me and the pups.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Picture Tag

I've been tagged by my friend Kelly to:

1) Choose the 4th picture folder on my computer
2) Choose the 4th picture
3) Explain the picture
4) Tag 4 other people

Oh, I so wish that I could've cheated on this, but it's just not in my DNA. The fourth folder on my computer is 2008 pics and this is the 4th, picture in that file. Yep, you guessed it, this is from when we were house training Piper. Craig thought it was funny that she moved while she was going and decided to snap a picture of it before I cleaned it up.

I tag: Laura, Amy C, Michelle W and Michelle T.

Here we go again...

It's official, I am now on birth control pills as the start to our next IVF.

With Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's the time is going to go by so fast. I'm actually really excited about it right now and very hopeful that a fresh transfer will give us the family we've waited so long for.

So close, yet still so far away.

I really thought this was going to be our lucky month. My cycle was 32 days long and I was about 18 days past ovulation. I was so bloated my jeans wouldn't zip and for the last two days I was having to go to the bathroom quite frequently. I took a home pregnancy test Monday morning and it came back negative. I was shocked, I was so sure this was it. Craig suggested I call the doctor, so I did and they wanted me to have a blood test done, which came back negative as well. Then the old hag showed her ugly face. I really hate it when mother nature plays tricks on me, and this one was especially cruel.

I do have good news though. We are all set for our next IVF in January. As of right now our egg retrieval is scheduled for January 24th. I start birth control pills on Sunday this week and will probably start my meds the week of Jan 5th. Slow and steady this time. We'll probably get fewer eggs, but they should be better quality and hopefully I won't hyper stimulate and end up in the hospital this time. Which means we'll be able to do the live transfer, not only a frozen one!! This is very exciting.... we could have a 2009 baby/babies!

Not Finally or For the First Time Proud, ALWAYS PROUD

One of my blogger friends, Amy, wrote this on her blog, and I couldn't have said it any better myself.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Although I am not happy with the outcome of this election I can say with all my heart I AM PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN. I am not "finally" proud, or "since the win" proud, or "for the first time in my adult life" proud...I am always proud to be an American. I have a real problem with people who only support their country and show patriotism when their favorite candidate has been elected.....I have seen ALOT of this and it's just sad. With that said, watching history in the making is pretty amazing. God Bless America!

I whole heartily agree with Amy. It is so frustrating to hear people say they have never been proud to be an America. When I was in grade school they taught us to be proud of our country, my parents reinforced it at home, and I still get goose bumps when I hear the song "God Bless the USA." I have always been proud to be an American and I always will be proud. Our country was laughed at in its beginning and now it is the greatest country in the world. How could you not be proud?

Whoopi Goldberg was on the Rachel Ray show today. She said she felt like she was an American but always walking around with a suitcase. Now since a black president was elected she finally feels like she can put the suitcase down, because now she finally belongs here. Her people are finally Americans. WHAT THE HECK?!?!?

How many other countries could a dyslexic woman born in Manhattan, drop out of high school, become a heroin addict, marry her drug counselor, divorce him, marry and divorce 2 other men, change her name to Whoopi because she farts too much, work as a bank teller, a bricklayer and a mortuary make-up artist AND STILL...

... Become the first woman to host the Academy Awards on her own, the second African American woman to win an Oscar, be one of only 7 African-American actresses to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination, be one of only 10 individuals (one of only 4 of which have been women) to win the quadruple crown of acting: The Oscar, Tony, Emmy and Grammy, have over 4 different action figures modeled after her, be part owner of a country store/kitchen, own her own production company and become a millionaire???? The people of this country made her who she is today, and it wasn't only the blacks who did it, it was all Americans.

Happy Halloween.

Happy Halloween to all the ghost, goblins and gouls out there.

Be safe and have a great Halloween!

VOTE!

I know that many people are pretty set in who they are going to vote for. I'm not here to change your mind. The reason for this blog is to encourage everyone to go out and vote.

I have heard many people say they do not want to vote for the "lesser of two evils." While I do agree that neither candidate suits my views completely, there is one who is closer to them than the other. That person is John McCain.

If you are undecided, choose the main thing you want to see for the future of our country and pick the candidate who suits that the best. If it doesn't work out for you, then choose the thing that you want to see the country head towards the least and don't vote for the candidate who will bring that about.

Whatever you do, just make sure you vote. We have fought too hard in this country to make every voice heard. Don't let all the blood shed and suffering of our ancestors count for nothing.

VOTE!

New Puppy Pics

It's hard to believe that we've had Piper in our family for 9 weeks now. In that short amount of time she has grown from a tiny little 5 pound baby to a 20 pound terror. She thinks the can do everything and anything she wants.

She has been going to puppy class, which is really just helping me to organize what order to teach her things in and to make sure I don't overwhelm her with teaching her everything at once.

It's even harder for me to believe that my baby boy, Shadow, turned 8 years old. Here are some more recent pictures of our doggies. Enjoy!

I have no idea what happened here, but this picture just cracks me up. It looks like he's laughing.
Here is a better picture of Shadow, at 8 years old. See the gray around his nose?

These pictures are flipping on me when I upload them to blogger. But here you can see that Piper is now tall enough to stand over Shadow when they are playing.

Ha, ha, ha. This one looks like Shadow is about to attack Piper and that she is running for her life. Really, they are just playing and she turned right around and jumped on his head.

Here is Piper puppy at 12 weeks playing with a stick she found in the back yard.

And here is our little miss at 15 weeks old. She just learned how to jump on the furniture. Something we did not teach her and that she is NOT allowed to do. Doesn't bother her one bit that she gets in trouble everytime she gets up there. She thinks it's fun to tease Shadow from up on the furniture and it's really fun to leap from the furniture onto Shadow.

Here is Piper chewing on one of Shadow's big bones. They are really heavy, but she carries them around the house and chews on them as if they were just her size.

Paint, Paint, Paint.

We have painted every wall in the main part of the house and the bathroom. Bye, bye white walls!! I thought we were pretty much done. Then Craig reminded me we hadn't done the office or spare room yet. I didn't realize he was planning on those being done now, too. I can't say that I blame him, I kind of want to get it all done as well.

So, I picked a color for the spare room. A very light yellow. We've also decided to paint the furniture in there white. It will look very pretty with our crib when we are blessed enough to need it, too. I'm very excited to get this done. The room will look so fresh and new.

I'll put up some pictures when he have it done.

It's been a while...

I'm surprised at how long ago my last post was. I'm very sorry to those of you who check in on a regular basis, how boring that must have been for you.

Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year. I'm so glad I actually get to enjoy it this year! We've had some cool nights and mornings that have been perfect for opening up the house and getting the air circulating. Plus I just love the fall foods, colors and smells!

I'm also very excited because we are going to have company for a good portion of November! Craig's mom has a company meeting in Phoenix and will be spending the weekend before it with us and the weekend after with us, too. Then his brother and father will be in town for Thanksgiving!

That has given us the kick in the pants we needed to get our house completely back in order from all the time we neglected it while we had the store. I've been tired of our white walls for quite some time now, and I was finally able to convince Craig that we needed to do something about them. So we've been doing a lot of painting. We haven't gotten to the two spare rooms our the master bathroom, but those will come in their time, too. It's amazing how much junk accumulates when you don't go through it as often as you should.

I also had an check up appointment with our fertility doctor. I was due for my annual blood work and for a liver function test from the medication I have been on. While I was there he also did an ultra sound to see how my ovaries and uterus are doing on the medications. I am happy to report that everything looks great and it looks like my body is actually functioning as it should. It's about time, if you ask me. Hopefully that will allow us to get some better eggs when we do our IVF next year.

I hope that everyone is enjoying the fall as much as I am!!

Hawaii Trip.

We had a BLAST while we were in Hawaii this year! It was a much needed vacation and one of the best most relaxing trips we've been on.

I definitely underestimated the value of going someplace we had already been. Even though it had been 4 years since our last trip, it was nice to already know where the basics were and the easiest roads to get around on.

We did a lot of snorkeling, visited a coffee plantation, Volcano National Park, a winery, did some shopping and beach hopping (including the black sand beach), but the best thing we did was a night time snorkel trip with Manta Rays. It was so amazing to watch these huge creatures glide through the water and turn just inches from you. They were really social and seemed to enjoy having the people around. Unfortunately none of our pictures turned out, but we did get a copy of the DVD that was made that night, we are both on it, Craig more so than me.

I have uploaded all the pictures to our shutterfly account, but haven't gotten the chance to add captions or do any editing. Feel free to check them out, if you do not have that address its: http://www.craigandreneeoconnor.shutterfly.com/ the password is: 091203

Here are a few to wet your appetite:

10 Wonderful Years.

No, we haven't been married for ten years, but five years ago we just happened to get married on the 5th anniversary of when we started dating. We chose September 12th because that is also Craig's Grandparents and Great-Grandparents anniversary. Here is one of the first pictures of us together (December 1998).

One year later we were still going strong. We had a great December! We were entering Y2K, and where did we decide to spend it??? The Happiest Place on Earth: Disney Land!

For our final spring break we took a trip to Cali! We wanted to go to Magic Mountain, but it wasn't spring break there, so it was closed. We ended up at Universal Studios instead.

Then came Graduation and our move to Tucson. It wouldn't be complete without a trip to the Grand Canyon while we were still in the northern part of the state. Wouldn't you know it, Craig tried to throw me over the rim!!

I was a semester behind, so I had to go back to NAU in the fall and returned to Tucson in December. That's when we got Shadow. He was my Birthday/Graduation/Christmas present.

In July 2002 we were engaged...

... and September 2003 we got married!

We've done quite a bit over the last five years. Trying to start a family, opening and closing a business, we even made time to take a few trips.

Kona Hawaii September 2004:

Scotland September 2005:Sedona April 2006:

New Jersey November 2006:

Kona Hawaii 2008:
I can't say that it has been the easiest road, but it has been filled with laughter, understanding, commitment and most of all love. I wouldn't trade it for anything else in the world. I look forward to seeing what the next ten years bring.

Hawaii Here We Come!!!

I am so excited I could jump out of my skin! We haven't been on vacation in 4 years! To top it all off we will be celebrating our 5th Wedding Anniversary while we are away.

We leave Saturday morning at 8:30 and won't be back until the 14th. I have all my clothes packed, our snorkel gear, digital camera, video camera and our new underwater camera (thanks Heather for finding that :) ) The only thing left is getting Craig's clothes packed, which I'll help him with tonight, then we're off!

I'll be sure to post pictures and maybe even some video when we return. Have a great week everyone!

Introducing Piper!

We had a very interesting week last week. Besides having time to actually clean the house and get things put away, we adopted a puppy! Her name is Piper and she is 8 weeks old. She got to come home on Wednesday after she was spayed.

She loves Shadow and thinks his toys are much more fun to play with than hers. I love it that she talks when she plays.

She even tried to lay down next to him to take her nap. You can tell from the look on his face that he is not too happy about this. He moved as soon as Craig snapped the picture.

All in all she is doing really well. She already knows what sit means and she scratches on the door to go outside. Although she doesn't always go outside to potty just yet.

Her big brother doesn't quite know what to think of her. At first he just ran away from her, which was pretty funny considering there is a 100 pound difference in their weight right now. He's coming around now though. He will play with her in little stints. Sometimes is scares her a little and she just lays down and watches him. I guess she is learning not to bite off more than you can chew.

Just for comparison, here is a picture of Shadow at about 12 weeks.

Our first REAL weekend!

This past weekend was our first 2 day weekend! Craig actually had Friday off, but we spent that doing deliveries and then I went out with the girls for dinner and a movie that night.

It was so nice not having to be anywhere by any certain time on Saturday. We spent the entire weekend watching the Olympics and cleaning up around the house.

We joined a new gym that has recently opened near our house. Craig is trilled to be able to go to the gym on a regular basis again, especially after not being able to go for so long. I never really enjoyed going, but I know now that I need to. It's the only way to keep away the diabetes that can come with PCOS. Having the knowledge somehow makes it easier.

Shadow has really enjoyed having someone at home to play with him all day long, too. Quite often I will end up with a ball in my lap while working on the computer or a wet arm from him licking my arm to get my attention. He has decided that he prefers his dinner between 5 and 6 instead of between 8 and 9 like he was getting when we had the store. Funny how quickly he can go back to his regular time after eating late for two years.

No news yet on the job front, but I am not pushing it. I still have a little bit of work to do to finalize out the books for the store. Then we will be in Hawaii for a week. I figure I can start the hunt when we get back. Craig is still working on getting me in at Raytheon. That would be ideal for both of us.

I would say we are adjusting back to a "normal" life quite nicely.

What's been going on?

The past three weeks have been a whirlwind. We decided to close our store and needed to move everything out by the 1st of the month. It was a very long and crazy week for everyone involved. Lots of sore and tired bodies, but we got it done. There is still a lot of paperwork to be done, which I am working on a little bit day by day. My goal is to have the majority of it done this week.

It is amazing how I was able to work so many hours for 2 years and only feel a little worn out, yet now that I am home just working on paperwork I am BEAT. Craig said he is feeling the same way. It seems as though the last two years is finally catching up with us.

We are still going on our Hawaii trip. We leave on September 6th, that's just 3 weeks away!! I thought I was going to be able to just pack and go, but now it seems I will have to do some shopping before we go. My 5 year old swim suite is starting to unravel on the bottoms and my best two bras gave out. One of them I might be able to salvage with new straps. So I will have to go shopping for a new swim suit and new bra both of which are my least favorite things to shop for. Why couldn't it have been my shoes that gave out? I love shopping for shoes!

Since I am now technically unemployed I am also looking for a job. Craig has given out my resume at work for a position that we both feel I would be a good fit for. Hopefully I will hear back from them soon. If I don't hear from them by the time we leave for Hawaii, I will have to hit the job search a little harder when we get back.

That is about all that is going on with us right now. Just trying to catch back up with having a real life again. It's an interesting transition, but one that we are both ready for.

New Proceedure

So this password thing didn't quite work out the way I wanted it to. It seems everyone needs to have their own log in and password.

Sorry for the hassel and THANK YOU for creating an account so you can continue to follow along with us!

Password Soon Required

Hi all!

Sorry I haven't been very good at updating everyone lately. We have had quite a bit going on with the store, all of which I won't go into on this post, but soon.

I wanted to let you know that we have been getting some interesting hits on this blog lately from some very far away places, like Israel, Italy, Australia. I have SiteMeter attached here so we can monitor who is seeing our blog and how they are finding it. I guess the blond side kick from Zena Warrior Princess is still pretty popular around the world, and wouldn't you know it, the actress and I share the same name.

So, we are going to have to password protect our blog. We like to share, but don't really want the entire world to know all about our private lives, just those we love.

I will give it about two weeks before I change it over. I'll send e-mails with the password to everyone I have an address for. I know there are some readers out there that check in on us via links from other friends' blogs, if you want to continue to follow along you are welcome, too.

Happy 4th.

Just a quick not to wish everyone a HAPPY and SAFE 4th of July.

A bad day...

I had my annual OB appointment today. That's normally enough to put any woman in a bad mood for the day. But this was the first time it was actually emotionally difficult for me.

I walked in, gave the receptionist my name and she gave me a form to fill out for updated information. I sat in one of two unoccupied chairs and filled out my name, address, phone number, marital status, etc, etc. Took the form back up to the desk, sat back down then scanned the room. That was when it hit me... nearly everyone in the room was visibly pregnant. They all had cute round bumps and wore stylish maternity shirts. They all looked perfectly happy, yet slightly uncomfortable from sitting for so long. I wondered how many of them understood how much they had been blessed with such a miracle growing inside of them.

There was a woman with her three children all excited to see the ultra sound to find out if they are having a baby brother or baby sister. During the wait she was patiently teaching the youngest how to play tic-tac-toe and reminding him to put an "X" because she was "O". Then her other son saying, "Mommy can I have a turn to play with you?" My heart melted, would I ever get the chance to teach my kids to play games, or hear my child call me Mommy?

A man came out of the back flushed red and talking a thousand words a minute. One of his co-workers (another pregnant woman) was waiting her turn and he rushed up to her to let her know his wife was being induced the next morning. Everything was ready for the baby, but suddenly he wasn't. Is this how Craig would look if he knew our child was going to be born the next day?

It took all my might not to run from the room crying. Finally 45 minutes later, my name was called. The nurse weighed me, took my blood pressure, and asked when my last period was. Then came the big questions:

How many pregnancies have you had... None... What prescription medications are you on... Metformin and Actos... Are you taking any over the counter medications or supplements... Generic Prenatal Vitamins and Follic Acid... Oh, are you trying to get pregnant... Yes (as I once again fight back tears)... How long have you been trying... 4 years (Why did she have to ask that?)... Oh isn't it crazy how some women can get pregnant at the drop of a hat... Yes (did she really ask ME that?)

She brought me to the exam room and gives me a gown to change into. Finally I was alone to wipe my eyes. At least the only thing I had to recount to the doctor was the hyper stimulation I had from our first IVF attempt.

I'll actually be able to sleep tonight!

Craig has been in Atlanta since Wednesday to meet a new vendor for his "real job." He said the weather was perfect and that it was a beautiful area. I'm very glad he is home because besides missing him, it means I'll actually be able to sleep tonight.

I know my Mom says she doesn't sleep well when my Dad is away, but I never really understood it until I got married and Craig started to travel. I get so used to the security of having him with me that it completely throws me off when he's not there. Shadow didn't seem to mind too much. He barked more at sounds he heard outside and on the TV before we went to bed, but once he realized Craig wasn't going to claim his side of the bed, Shadow was happy to fill the space. He was even snoring some last night.

Apparently we have the best airport to fly out of if you want to sneak hair gel, deodorant or shaving cream onto an airplane. He got to Atlanta just fine with them, but they were confiscated by security in the Atlanta airport on his way home. I'll have to remember to put all of that in our checked bags next time we fly.

Wedding Bells and Engine Noises

(Kind of a strange title for a blog, I know, but it covers it all!)

Wedding Bells:

CONGRATULATIONS to my cousin Dani who is getting married on Saturday in Ohio. All the planning all the stress and all the nerves, it will be over in the blink of an eye (or should I say in the blink of a camera flash???) I hope your wedding is everything you dreamed of and that you can look back upon the day with fond memories of the very special day that belongs only to the two of you. Even though we won't be able to be there with you, our hearts will be. Here's wishing you many, many years of happiness. Congratulations, again!

Also, I hope that everyone traveling to Ohio has a safe journey and that you all have a wonderful time. I'll be thinking about each and every one of you.

Engine Noises:

We were down to one vehicle over the weekend and today. Our SUV started making "ticking" noises. We're pretty sure it's a lifter. Our mechanic friend put some "snake oil" in and the ticking is starting to go away, but he warned us that he thinks the engine's life is limited. So we either need to put in a new engine or get a new but used car. Most of the time we are in agreement that we should just put in a new engine because we really don't want payments on a new car. Luckily as Craig likes to joke, we are a family with connections. So Uncle Dan is looking into it for us. (Thanks!!)

Just as I figured, we are going to have an entire week of very hot temperatures. Over 105 all week. We started getting some monsoon like clouds rolling in yesterday, so the humidity is going to start creeping up as well. Our average monsoon start is 4th of July here in the southern part of the state, so I'm expecting those "pre-monsoon" storms to start pretty soon.

I was asked to start helping out in the pre-school every other week at our church starting the first weekend in July. I'm excited about the opportunity to get involved with the kiddos. I'll be sure to update you as I learn more about my new position.

Just another day in Paradise.

Okay, well maybe not Paradise. It is just another day though.

We've had a pretty busy week this week. Two of our three employees have been on vacation. Luckily Craig has Friday off, so I only ended up working one day alone, that was today. Next week is going to be pretty busy as well. We're going to have a few orders come in, and Craig is going to be out of town on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for a business trip.

We've had a pretty mild June thus far here in town. We've yet to see a solid week of triple digits. Which normally starts at the end of may. We even got to see some upper 80's last week. I'm sure now that I've said it, we won't be under 105 for the next two weeks.

The next Furniture Market in Las Vegas is at the end of July. We normally only go in January, but we've had several vendors ask us to come in July, too, this year as they are introducing some new lines. They are also opening the third building of the World Market Center this July, so it's going to be a non-stop party. We are considering driving out for a couple of days, but we probably won't decide until right before Market.

Other then that we are just working our way through the summer. I'm going to try and add a countdown ticker to help keep track of when we are going to Hawaii. It'll be fun to see the days tick away.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Do you have kids?

It's the first thing people ask when they meet you. Then those who know you always ask, When are you going to have kids? Why shouldn't they? It is a natural progression for adults. Why is it then that nobody talks about when this doesn't happen? Well, that isn't going to be me any longer.

I've become very close with a group of women who have all suffered from infertility in one way or another. One of the many things I've learned is that it doesn't matter who you are, infertility hurts.

We've all learned how to grieve over the hope that is lost each cycle. We even learn to get through the unbearable pain of loosing a child, weather it be early in pregnancy or after birth. Women who suffer from infertility and the loss of a child are amazingly strong. It's the only way to get through the day.

We've all received the typical advice: Go on vacation and get drunk. Different positions to try. That we should stop trying, then it will happen. That trying is the fun part. Not to worry it will happen some day.

This all seems like innocent advice, but to the couple who has suffered from infertility it's like a knife through the heart. Not only have we more than likely tried all of this. (Yes, even not trying.) But the person telling us this has no clue what what all we have been through. If the answer was as simple as not worrying, getting drunk or trying a new position, infertility wouldn't exist.

Because We're Sisters

Growing up my sister and I were best friends and worst enemies. I'm sure our parents will tell you that this often occurred in the same day. No matter how even things were divided between us we were always trying to out do the other. When one of us got into trouble we always tried to put the blame on the other.

We argued over the dumbest things, which cartoon we would watch (Scooby Do or He-Man), what book we wanted mom or dad to read before bedtime, what record, tape or CD we would listen to, who got to sit in the front seat of the car, if we were allowed to use the towels in the bathroom or not, who's turn it was to do the dishes, who got which parking space in the drive way, who got to answer the phone when it rang, who's razor was who's, who's clothes were who's, and so on. What can I say, we were sisters.

Those around us the most would tell you that I was the quieter one and she was the out spoken one. In many ways this still rings true. So you can imagine my surprise when she told me what she had done.

I got a phone call one morning while getting ready for work. She tells me that she has written a letter and is sending it out, she wasn't going to tell me, but she couldn't get everything set up the way she wanted without me knowing. Before telling me what it was all about she reads me a letter that she had heartfeltly written to all our family members and friends about our struggles to have children, asking one and all to help us gather the money needed to try IVF again.

I can tell you that it was a good thing I hadn't put on any eye make-up yet because it would've been washed off. I must've cried for five minutes straight. After which I had a hard time finding my voice, I could not believe she would do something like this. Furthermore, I could not believe that she had already shared her idea with several people all of which were more that willing to help.

To this day I am still amazed by the generosity everyone has shown. I never would've imagined something like this would've happened. It has been less than a month since the account was opened and it is already growing at a steady rate.

With this post I want to say thank you to each and everyone of you. For we have always known we were loved, however I cannot even put into words how humbled we are that you care so much about us. We are truly blessed to have family and friends who love us so much that they are willing to help us fulfil our dreams of one day holding our precious little miracle in our arms.

Last but not least, thank you to my sister. Without you, our next round would not even be thought about for a long time to come.

Summer is here.

The High School and College graduation celebrations have ended, all the local children are out of school, the Memorial Day sales are over and our temperatures have hit the triple digit mark. That puts us in the slower summer period. We have a lot to look forward to this fall, so I'm anxious for the summer to be over.

Ty Pennington has designed a new line of furniture that Howard Miller will be producing call Home Storage Solutions. Since we are the largest Howard Miller Wine & Spirits dealer in Arizona, we have been given first right of refusal on the new line for Tucson. They are limiting the line to their current dealers for now and only two dealers will be chosen per city for their partnership program. After taking a look at it, we are extremely excited for it to hit the market this fall. We are going to take advantage of the slow summer to move our bar section to a less discrete section of the store which is also larger so that we can make room for the Home Storage line. We would like to keep it next to the Wine & Spirits so we can take advantage of the name recognition, with the bars too.

We are also very excited that we get to take a vacation this year! We will be going back to Hawaii in September for a week. This will be a little less than 4 months since I started the new medication to increase egg quality. So, we are hoping to be able to schedule our next IVF round once we get back. We know I will have to be on birth control pills for at least a month to get my cycle where it needs to be to coincide with the clinic's schedule, so it will probably November before I start the injections.

I also want to congratulate my cousin Michelle on her graduation. We're very proud of you and know you'll love NAU!

Follow up dr appt.

Not much has been going on around here. The store has been slow, which was good for me. I needed to have some time to clear my head. It has picked up a little bit this week and we're gearing up for a busy weekend. Our neighboring store is having a big Memorial Day Sale, like always. We'll take advantage of their advertising and highlight our clearance items and put some smaller items out on the sidewalk to draw some attention our way.

I had an appointment with the fertility doctor yesterday. He thinks the PCOS I have is causing some egg quality issues considering they were able to get 20 eggs but very few quality ones. He had me start another diabetic medication that helps increase egg quality in women with PCOS. It can cause liver issues though, so they only give it to women who have more difficult cases. I guess we now fall into that category. They'll check my liver functions every 3 months to make sure it isn't causing me any problems, though. It takes 3 to 4 months for it to actually improve the egg quality so, he wants me on it until we are ready to try another IVF.

As I mentioned before I was having quite a bit of cramping after the transfer. He said this was very good news and shows that at least one of the embryos did hatch and implant. He said my lining was really good and that the transfer couldn't have gone any smoother. He is confident that getting better quality eggs is the answer for us.

I told him I was a little concerned of hyper-stimulating again. He said that in my case it was a big surprise because even though my estrogen numbers were a little higher than they liked to see, they weren't so high as to cause any concern of hyper-stimulation. Also, most women don't get sick like I did until after they get pregnant. I will be on the same medications (so the crazy sayings will start all over again, ha. ha.) but a lower dosage, and I will probably take them for a longer period of time. All of this is supposed to support better egg quality as well. All in all, I would say it was a good appointment.

I hope everyone has a fun and safe Memorial Day Weekend.

Test Results.

Well, our little snow peas didn't make it.

I had a blood test on Friday that showed hCG (the pregnancy hormone that comes after implantation) at level of 25. So at least one of our little embryos implanted.

Today I had a second blood test to make sure the hCG levels were still going up. We needed a level of 75 to confirm they were still growing and developing.

Sadly, the level went down to 15. Which means it stopped growing. So now I stop all the medications and wait for it to pass.

Waiting… waiting… and waiting some more.

Our final blood test is on Monday. This will tell us if we’ve been successful this month or not. Only 1 day left.

I was actually very calm and relaxed all week. Then Friday came around, and now I’m nervous. This has been such a long road. I’m not sure I can imagine it ending. Yet, at the same time, I can’t imagine it not ending. One thing is for sure, I am ready to be moving on to the next phase in our lives.

I’ve had quite a bit of cramping this week. Rachelle has been my research queen this week. She looked it up and found quite a few people saying that cramping is good, but headaches are bad. Good news, I haven’t had any headaches.

I hope all the Mom’s have a wonderful Mother’s Day!!

Our First Pictures

Everything is going great! We couldn't be more excited or more optimistic! Both our little snow peas thawed out perfectly. Here is a picture of them.

It turns out that they weren't thawed until the morning of our transfer because our appointment was so late in the morning. This picture was taken about 2 hours before the transfer.

The bigger one is the one that was perfect before freezing. By this time, it had done exactly what they expected it to and was in the process of re-aligning it's self. Meaning that all the cells in the middle were moving around to the outside.

But it looks like we have some sibling rivalry going on already. The smaller one did everything it was supposed to do, and has already re-aligned it's cells and was already growing trying to catch up with the bigger one. The embryologist was very happy about this. Because the small one was doing so good, they upped our odds from 40% to 50%!

We also have a picture of the actual transfer:

The big black spot is my bladder (I had to drink a lot of water to get it to just the right size).

In the green squares you can see the tube they used to transfer the embryos.

You can't see the embryos because they are microscopic, so the lab puts an air bubble behind them which you can see. That is what I put the red circle around. The embryos are very sticky so they like to make sure the air bubble moves out very slow, which it did. This tells them that the embryos are very close to where the air bubble shows up. This was a perfect transfer!

Now we wait for a blood test to confirm implantation.

It's Time

I can't believe it is here. Tomorrow morning I will be 2 weeks and 5 days pregnant.

I'm excited, I'm nervous and I'm trying to be very optimistic. Even if this doesn't work, at least I will have two weeks with our little snow peas.

I am taking the rest of the week off to lounge around the house. Next week I'll take it easy. I've been transitioning myself into not lifting anything heavy. Sometimes that's difficult around here, but I will have to stop all heavy lifting now. One of our employees said he's not even going to let me lift the stapler! It's pretty funny, but he's right. We've come this far, we don't want to take any chances.

I need to get a new modem for the home computer, so unless I get that done before our appointment tomorrow, I won't be able to get back on the Internet until I come back to work. We'll update you guys as soon as we can.

We love all the comments you've been leaving and feel very blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. Thank you for your love and prayers! We love you guys!

Tuesday is Thaw Day.

Tomorrow is a big day for our little snow peas.

They'll be thawed naturally until they come to room temperature, then dipped in four solutions to remove any of the solution used during freezing. Then they will slowly be warmed up to body temperature.

We are continuing to pray that they both survive this process and will be there waiting for us on Wednesday morning.

Tagged

I was tagged to do this little survey by my friend Amanda!

What was I doing 10 years ago...
10 years ago was 1998. I was finishing up a semester at Paradise Valley Community College (PVCC) and re-applying to NAU. I was working at the snack shop at a golf course on the weekends, which turned into a position driving the beverage/beer cart during the week during the summer. I also worked Monday nights in the office at an auction. That fall, when I went back to NAU, is when I met and started dating Craig.

5 things on my to-do list today...
1. Meeting with sales rep for Stein World
2. Flexsteel Sales Training/Meeting
3. Look for a specific shirt at Kohl's
4. Go to the post office
5. Brush the dog.

5 snacks I enjoy...
1. My number one snack is Rocky Road Ice Cream with REAL Marshmallows (not the cream)
2. Anything chocolate
3. Fresh fruit
4. French Fries, I'm hopeless when it comes to potatoes (except when they have fake cheese on them)
5. Peanut Butter M&M's. Very addicting.

5 things I would do if I were a billionaire...
1. Purchase a home in every place I loved and travel between the houses.
2. Spend more time with our family.
3. Have a world renowned training facility for pets.
4. Create a charity or two that helped all the causes important to us.
5. Invest, so that the money didn't dry up.

5 bad habits...
1. Eating too much fast food. I really need to start bringing snacks and lunch with me to work.
2. Always running 5-10 minutes late, it's really annoying to always be rushing in the mornings.
3. Letting my mind wonder when people are telling me long stories.
4. Never taking out the garbage. I "let" Craig take it out all the time.
5. Cracking my knuckles. I started when I was in grade school. I don't do it as often anymore because it drives Craig crazy, but every now and then I do it without thinking.

5 places I've lived...
1. Phoenix, Arizona
2. Flagstaff, Arizona
3. Tucson, Arizona
4. Marana, Arizona (still Tucson, really, but technically a different town LOL!)
5. TBD

5 jobs I've had...
1. Beer Cart Driver at a Golf Course
2. Jewelry Store Salesperson
3. Advertising Media Buyer
4. Dog Trainer
5. Legal Assistant and Paralegal

Videos

Here are a couple of short videos for everyone.

This one is of our store. Sorry, it's a little blurry. I think I was moving too fast for the auto focus.

Then this one is of Shadow showing off a couple of his tricks. He usually gives us a long drawn out performance when we ask him to play dead. He must've realized that he had to be good for the camera because he didn't this time.

Good report.

I had another ultrasound this morning, and everything looks good.

They like too see the lining over 8mm, and mine was at 11mm. So we are set for the transfer next Wednesday.

Videos coming soon...

That is IF I can figure out how to convert the files from the DVD recorder to playable files. The disc that came with the camcorder doesn't seem to be working quite right. It doesn't have conversion software, and my CD Rom stopped working after I tried to install the software that it did come with. Grrr.

Anyhow, I have some video of Shadow and a quick tour of our store to share with you as soon as I get it all figured out.

I have another ultrasound scheduled for Wednesday to check the thickness of my lining. If I've responded correctly to the medication then it should be nice and thick and ready for the transfer next week. I'm starting to get nervous. I guess it's just seems more real now that we are so close.

Craziness!

I thought my craziness was due to the hormones I was taking to make me produce more eggs. Now I'm thinking it must have been my body's response to the increase in estrogen because I'm still saying the craziest things. Here are just a few:

Craig fell asleep on the stove last night. (should have said sofa)
Dinner has to go in the hour for an oven.
I can't watch bed in TV without my glasses.
Can you give this form to Brown? (should have said Robert)

If this is truly a response to hormone changes and I do get pregnant, it should be an interesting and entertaining 9 months.

It's a go!!

I had my ultrasound this morning. My ovaries are still a little large, but not enough to cause any problems.

So I started estrogen supplements this morning. I'm taking them in the mornings and at night. Then Craig will start giving me the progesterone shots on the 25th.

For right now we are praying for my lining to become thick and healthy, and for both of our snow peas to survive the thawing process. We'll think about the rest later. Just one step at a time right now.

Jury Duty

I had jury duty on Tuesday. Lucky me, I ended up getting picked for a DUI Trial. It was inconvenient, but I really didn't mind too much. It was fun for me to see the other side of the court room. I do have to say that the prosecutor was lucky the evidence was on his side. He was completely disorganized, almost like he was unprepared. It was pretty frustrating and confusing to follow along with him. But it's over now and I feel good that I did my civic duty.

Next week is going to be busy. We have Craig's birthday on Wednesday (which I still need to go shopping for), and I have a baseline ultrasound on Friday. That's when we'll find out if we get to go with the April 30th FET date or not.

We've decided to transfer both of our little snow peas. We have about a 40% of success by transferring both, which doubles our chances over everything else we've tried.

We have a date.

I'm feeling good and completely back to normal. I even lost the 5 pounds I gained from the fertility medications. I started back on birth control pills this week. Its so strange to think I have to take birth control pills to get pregnant.

The fertility clinic set up a protocol for our frozen embryo transfer, or FET. I'll have an ultrasound on April 11th to check on my ovaries. If everything looks good, we'll do the transfer on April 30th. I won't have to do all the medications this time around. Just some estrogen supplements to thicken my lining and progesterone to keep my body from shedding the lining and our little embryos.

Now we just need to decide if we're going to transfer both of our little peas or only one now and another later.

Hospital...

Well, I didn't make it into the dr's office Thursday morning. Instead, I ended up in the hospital.

About 3am my back was starting to hurt me, so I decided to go lay on the couch so I wouldn't wake up Craig by tossing and turning. After I got up and started moving around, I started to feel really sick and ended up getting dry heaves.

Craig got up to come and check on me and paged Dr. Huchison. He called us back immediately. I felt really bad calling him so early in the morning, but it was a good thing I did. He wanted me to go to St. Joseph's Hospital to be put on IV Fluids and be seen by a radiologist who could drain the fluid that was collecting in my abdomen.

Once in the Emergency Room, they took some information and brought me back to a room. Just that little bit of walking made me sick again. They started an IV and took some blood. By this time, it was about 4:30am. At about 6am the doctor came in and told us that they would be admitting me to the hospital. There weren't any rooms available so I would have to wait in my room at the emergency room until they had space for me.

They took me down to radiology once they opened and ended up draining 3 liters of fluid from my abdomen.

I was finally taken to a room at about 2pm. Craig called my Mom then and she came down to Tucson to stay with me while Craig went to our store to get things taken care of there then went home to get some sleep.

Mom went home that evening when I started to fall asleep so she could get things taken care of on her end then came back the next morning. She stayed the rest of the week with me which was a huge relief for both Craig and I. Thank you so much Mom.

I was taken back to radiology the next two days and had another 3 liters drained each day. The fourth day they didn't see much fluid so they didn't drain anything. The next day, there wasn't much fluid in my abdomen but the radiologist saw some fluid in my lung cavities. They could only drain one a day, so they drained my right one because it had the most fluid.

After that it was just a matter waiting for my body to stop holding onto fluids. I was released from the hospital on the 12th and was back to work on the 14th.

Of the 8 eggs that fertilized, only 2 continued to grow. They were able to freeze those two embryos, which they'll transfer at a later date. I'll start birth control pills at the beginning of my next cycle then I'll have an ultrasound to see if my ovaries have gone back down to size.

Heading back to the dr tomorrow.

I stayed home from work today because I'm not feeling very good. My abdomen is very bloated and I'm pretty uncomfortable when I stand. I mentioned this to the dr's office yesterday, and they told me to eat broths with lots of sodium and drink V8 Juice.

When Craig got home tonight he wasn't happy that I didn't call them today. So I called the embryologist on her cell phone this evening. She wants me to come into the office in the morning so they can take a look at me. She thinks I might be starting to hyper-stimulate.

I feel better when I'm laying down, so hopefully I'll be better by morning.

Fertilization Report

We got good news from the dr's office today! Of the 20 eggs they retrieved, 14 were mature and 8 of those fertilized. So right now we have 8 little babies growing!

I'm really bloated today and moving pretty slow. Craig is going to let me leave early tonight and get some rest.

Retrieval Day!!

The egg retrieval went well today. They were able to get 20 eggs! We'll get a fertilization report tomorrow or Wednesday. The dr said that most of the larger follicles on my right ovary didn't have any eggs in them. The big surprise what how many eggs were on my left ovary that couldn't be seen by the ultrasound.

All my bloating went away right after the retrieval, but has come back this evening. I'm being good about my 24 hours of bed rest. So far I've only gotten up to get food and go to the bathroom. I can go to work tomorrow, but I'll probably go in a couple hours late so I'll have given it a full 24 hours.

Craig did a good job of giving me my trigger shot on Saturday. For some reason, he's decided to video tape him giving me the shots. Since they are given in the back part of the hip, and I don't want my naked butt plastered on the Internet, we won't be sharing the videos.

He had to give me another shot this morning while I was in the recovery room. The nurse showed him everything he needed to do. Now he's actually excited about giving them to me. I like that he feels more involved in the process.

Final Monitoring Appointment

I had my last ultrasound this morning. I had 8 follicles left and 16 on the right. My retrieval is set for 8:45am on Monday. My estrogen was still higher than they like, so they dropped my follistim to 75iu for the last injection tonight. Tomorrow night Craig will have to give me a shot in my hip to trigger the follicles to mature.

The dr is expecting to get a large number of eggs, so right now they are planning on doing the embryo transfer on Saturday.

2nd Monitoring Appointment

The injections continue to go well. I'm still very nauseous. I'm told that's because my estrogen levels are rising because of all the follicles I have. Unfortunately, that's also a sign that I'm sensitive to estrogen changes. Which means I have a good chance of being very sick during pregnancy due to constantly changing estrogen levels. Lucky me! At least that will be forgotten once I'm holding our little miracle in my arms.

At my ultrasound this morning the dr measured 8 follicles on the left and 8 on the right. There were more on the right, but he only measured the largest ones. My estrogen levels came back even higher today, so they have me lowering my dosage to 150iu tonight and tomorrow night. I will go back for another check on Friday.

1st Monitoring

The injections have been going well. I've been taking 225iu of Follistim every night. Craig didn't want to watch at first. He was doing the dishes while I gave myself the injection. He's feeling more comfortable now. Which is a huge relief to me because he will have to give me shots of progesterone in the rear after the retrieval.

I can tell that the hormones are starting to effect me. I've been pretty nauseous and my brain isn't working as clearly as it normally does. Of course, I could just chalk it up to being blond. Ha. Ha. Ha.

I had my first monitoring ultrasound and blood check done today. My estrogen levels were a little high, but not enough to cause any alarm. So my dosage will stay the same tonight and tomorrow, but the dr. wants me to go back in on Wednesday for another ultrasound.

I have 6 follicles on the left and 16 on the right. Just to give you an idea of how cloudy my brain has been, I didn't even realize that have 6 on one side and 16 on the other meant that I had 22 follicles until a friend pointed it out to me! (Thanks Kelly!!)

Baseline Ultrasound

I had a doctor's appointment this morning for a baseline ultrasound. Much to my surprise I had to have blood drawn today, too! I knew I'd have to have this done at my next appointment, but I didn't realize it started today!

Everything checked out to be normal, so I will start my injections tonight! Here we go!!