Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day Gifts from Etsy

              handwritten bracelet                      watercolor painting                    initial heart necklace



I thought I would put together a couple things for the gals and gents for Valentine's Day from Etsy. I always have a hard time picking stuff out for my husband and Etsy really makes it easy. Whether it's just to get ideas to make him something myself or if I just go ahead and buy it from the stores. Etsy is awesome because you can find so many creative, non-traditional things on there. People are so creative.

I always love to give personalized, handmade gifts no matter what the holiday. There is always, always, something handmade under the Christmas tree, in an Easter basket, or on the Thanksgiving Day table. Love it!

So if you're struggling to come up with something to get that special person...husband, wife, mother, daughter, son, whomever...here are just a few ideas for each that might help!!

                     fish key chain                               stud muffin card                                  knife

Date Night fun

So last weekend we decided to just stay in for our date night on Friday. It was so nice! Hubby started back to school on Monday, so we don't get to see each other much, usually a hello kiss and goodnight kiss all at the same time.

 

It was freezing outside so we decided to rent some movies, get a pizza, start a fire, and camp out on the living room floor. It was much more fun to lay on the floor instead of trying to get comfy on the couch....do I sit up, do I lay down, hubby wants to lay down, should we put the recliners out or try and make it work with both of us laying down. It's awkward. Floor works much better. We gathered some fluffy blankets, laid 'em out, and we were set.

What's your favorite date night? Do you usually go out or do you stay in sometimes?

Our First Appointment=Postive and Good News

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heya! This might be a lengthy post!

 

Ok, so our appointment yesterday has completely changed my perspective on TTC {trying to conceive}. COMPLETELY!

 

Our Dr. and the staff are amazing. I'm in love. Literally. It's amazing. I feel 100 times better about the whole situation. Turns out I DO NOT have PCOS. He couldn't find any reason as to why I should have been diagnosed with it. AMAZING! This whole past year I have been so focused and my treatment has been so focused on treating that and trying to get pregnant with PCOS and all of that. I don't even have it.

 

Anyway...they did an exam and TONS I mean TONS of blood work. {14 tubes to be exact} He measured everything in there and said it all looks great and he has no doubt we will be pregnant with in the next couple of months.

 

I'm out this month because my cycle has already started and we would have to start right away and he wants to figure some more things out before we get in to all of that.

 

So, the plan is this...

I'm having a Sonohysterogram which uses ultrasound to look at the inside of your uterus. The images from it can help find the cause of bleeding or problems with getting pregnant. This test is Monday and can be done at the Dr.'s office.

 

Then on Tuesday, I'm having a Hysterosalpingogram which  is an X-ray test that looks at the inside of my uterus and fallopian tubes and the area around them. Dye is put through a thin tube that is put    into the uterus, the dye will flow into the fallopian tubes. Pictures are taken using X-ray as the dye passes through the uterus and fallopian tubes. The pictures can show problems such as an injury or abnormal structure of the uterus or fallopian tubes, or a blockage that would prevent an egg moving through a fallopian tube to the uterus. A blockage also could prevent sperm from moving into a fallopian tube and joining (fertilizing) an egg. It also may find problems on the inside of the uterus that prevent a fertilized egg from attaching (implanting) to the uterine wall. {source}. This will has to be done at the hospital but only takes a few minutes. Which is good. I hear its a little painful but I'll be ok.

 

Basically, this past year was a bit of a waste of time and money with all that we had to go through but it's ok. We are moving forward and not looking back. He wants to find out why I'm not staying pregnant. He doesn't think there is a problem getting pregnant it's staying pregnant that is the problem. So I had to have a ton of blood work done to figure out if my blood is or is not clotting which is causing restricted flow to my uterus and the baby. He's not sure what is going on yet but we will find out soon. They are so in depth about everything and never left me hanging about anything yesterday. I always knew what was going on and what the plan of action was. We were at the office for about 3 hours and not once did we feel like we didn't know what was going on.

 

Once he figures out what is going on with my blood he will know what medicine to put me on so that we can stop that from happening. Then I will do another round of Clomid with a trigger shot on ovulation day. Then we will do the deed on a specific day {how romantic right?} and go from there. The whole time I will be monitored and I will have tons of ultrasounds and we will make sure the baby implants and know for sure we are pregnant before I could even take a test to see.

 

I can't wait for the future. I'm so interested in everything that is going on in my body! I love it. May be a little weird but it's all so interesting to me. Maybe I should have been a Dr.?

 

That's enough for now. I will keep you all updated!

 

Here's to 2014 and the best year yet! {not just because of baby either!}

 

 

 

The Start of Something New

Tomorrow is the start of something new. Tomorrow is the day we start seeing a fertility specialist.

So far our journey has looked like this...

24 months of trying
22 negative pregnancy tests
1 large cyst
2 months of birth control
2 miscarriages
4 months of Clomid
730 stressed out days

I'm done being stressed out about this. I've come to terms with the fact that it will probably take us a little longer than some couples to conceive. And that's ok because I understand there are many, many, many couples who cannot have children on their own. And right now, I still have hope that we will.

I cannot believe the number of couples that go through this on a daily basis. When I started looking in to it and researching I was blown away. As weird as this sounds, it's such a relief to know that we aren't alone and we aren't going through this by ourselves.

I am so excited for tomorrow. My regular OB has been incredibly helpful, but I feel the time has come to move one. She can no longer help us, she is out of options, and in my opinion kind of giving up on us. Which is not ok, but it is. It pushed me to move on to someone else, a specialist that deals specifically with infertility and has an amazing success rate.

So tomorrow, we go and we figure out a game plan. Let's do this. I'm not sure what step will be first but I know that it will be a step in the right direction. I'm tired of just trying things and seeing if they will work.

My cliché 2014 goal is to be positive...in all I do. In every area of my life. It's hard and I have to constantly shoot down thoughts of negativity and some times a few things slip out that are negative and I have to remind myself that it's not doing me or my husband any good. It's just not. NO need!

I will keep you updated and let ya know how it goes tomorrow. I am going to start writing out our journey. If for nothing else, for Mike and me to remember the walk and path we took to get our sweet miracle(s).

 

PS...I'm going to be changing the name of this blog. I'm sure I'll lose some of you as I have already but that's ok. I will miss you but I understand.

Office Transformation...W.I.P

When we were in the process of redoing our office floor, we were both thinking, "what did we get ourselves in to"!?!? It ended up not being as bad as we thought it was going to be originally, but still hard enough. I can't really say much because my husband did all of the sanding, but it was still a pain staining and scrubbing!

 

Oh, and sorry in advance for some of these pictures. They are all cell pics and were taken at night.

 

 

 

This was the lovely orange shag carpet! I'm sure it would have come back in style eventually but it smelled. So it had to go!

 

The wonderful padding and nastiness that stained the beautiful, already finished, wood underneath. We were secretly hoping that we wouldn't have to refinish and we would be able to just take the carpet up and voila...new floors.

 

Not so much!

 

The lovely stains the padding left.

 

 

After scrubbing for HOURS. No change!

 

 

Here we go. Mind you...this is the first time we have ever done this so we started in the closet! Smart thinking right? Right! We rented the sanders from Home Depot. We didn't really think it was necessary to waste the money to buy them. They have really great prices and they were super easy to use! (no HD didn't sponsor me) We used the small sander for the closet and around the outer edge of the walls. What they don't tell you is that the big sander doesn't exactly go all the way to the edge of where you sanded, so this is where we ran in to problems. See, we returned the small sander and got the bigger one not realizing that we hadn't sanded out far enough. So we had to buy a small "mouse" sander and do it all my hand! Fun.

 

Using the big sander and making progress! We pulled all the baseboards off to make sure we got close enough to the wall.

 

 

All sanded

 

First coat of stain. I was debating on whether or not to leave it this color. I loved it but it didn't match the furniture I was going to put in there. The wood wouldn't absorb the stain at first. Not sure why....maybe the stain. So we opened a new can of stain for the second coat and it was sooo much easier and nicer to put on!

 

Second coat...see what I mean? It doesn't even compare to the first coat. Way darker!

 

All finished with baseboards on!

 

Nice piece of furniture that my in laws got us for Christmas!

 

New ceiling fan. The old one was the one that everyone has in their house...you know with the gold detail. Yuck.

 

Unfinished desk that my husband built me. It needs stained and glass put on top but its almost there!

 

My lovely World Market chair. I'm in love.

 

I went with an American theme. Not necessarily red, white, and blue, but American.

 

Don't mind my husband's riding boot box and the level. This is from the inside looking out. I still need to refinish the door, finish the desk, and finish my chalkboard calendar that I'm painting on the wall and we should be good to go. Oh, then there's the filing. We won't go there!!

 

This was a great project and I want to do the rest of the house. It's just convincing my hubs to get as excited!

The Covington Children {a little creepy}

 

So according to MorphThing.com this is what our children will look like. It's actually pretty cool but a little creepy.

 

 I used this picture to "morph" our faces.

 

I can see Mike in the top picture but I see no resemblance in the second one. I guess we will have to wait and see what happens. :)

 

You should try it. It's fun!

Our Journey Part 2

After I was diagnosed with PCOS I had to have blood work done to see what/if anything was causing it. I had to start taking progesterone pills to kick start my period since it wasn't coming on its own. My blood work came back fantastic so it wasn't insulin resistance or anything like that. She was a little baffled but decided that it would be best to start me on Clomid 50mg.

The process with Clomid is pretty simple but it requires a lot of planning and timing things just right.

Step 1: Start your period.
Step 2: Start taking Clomid on days 3-8 of your period.
Step 3: Start using ovulation tests on day 10 of your cycle.
Step 4: Do the diddly for 3 days in a row after you get a positive.
Step 5: WAIT
Step 6: Start taking pregnancy tests the day of your missed period.

Step 7: Which no one wants to happen...up your dose of Clomid and start all over again.

I am on my second round of step 5. Yep. Clomid didn't work for us the first time. Well...it actually did what it was supposed to and I actually ovulated. The egg just never fertilized.



proof

 

The bad part is that you can get a positive on an ovulation test and actually not ovulate with PCOS. The ovulation kit doesn't detect ovulation itself, it detects the surge you get before you ovulate. Women with PCOS will more than likely get that surge and when the egg is released, it doesn't go anywhere but right to the outside of the ovary. Sigh. So who knows if I really released and egg or not the first month.

So, when I started my period, I called the doctor and she increased my dose to 100mg. Let me tell you...I'm seriously hoping it works this time. If not, I'm not sure I'm going to do it again. Clomid gives you the worst...I mean the worst hot flashes ever. Plus when it's time to "think" you're pregnant you have every symptom you would if you really were. Sore boobs, cramps, lower back pain, moodiness. Yikes. Everything that indicates that there is a little peanut growing in there.

If we go three rounds and nothing happens then it's Mike's turn to get poked and prodded to see if there is anything wrong with his little guys. We are believing it won't come to that.

Opening Up about Our Trying to Get Pregnant Journey

Hello! Happy Monday Morning! Right? Right!

I have decided to be very candid about what's going on in our little world lately. {which is part of the reason I had to stop blogging for a while} I couldn't emotionally pour myself in to this little space. I haven't been very strong through this whole process. It can only get better from here right?

First of all...if you have been around here for any length of time you know that we had a miscarriage last April {you can read about it here} and ever since, nothing has been the same.

It took my period 6 months to start. Now, normally I wouldn't complain about that. 6 months without a period...can I get an amen? But when you're trying to get pregnant that doesn't really work. The doctor told us to wait 3 months before we actively tried to get pregnant. We decided to wait a little bit because I was overweight and thought it would be good for me to lose some weight.

I stuck with that for a little while and we started trying. Nothing happened.

My periods were becoming more and more irregular each month and each month I thought I was pregnant because my periods were always late. Test after test after test....NEGATIVE. I'm sure if you've tried and haven't been successful even the first month of trying you know how disappointing it is to not see that 2nd line or to read NOT PREGNANT.

There are so many women who are struggling with infertility it's crazy. Blog after blog I read and there is most of the time someone who is struggling with getting pregnant or has had to be on fertility aids/meds of some sort.

6 months of trying without success and it was time to go to the doctor. I hadn't been to the doctor since my miscarriage and d & c so it was time for my yearly anyways. I talked to her about the options and what to do from this point. She ordered an ultrasound and some blood work to see if I was ovulating and what my ovaries looked like.

PCOS. Yep...diagnosed with Polycystic Ovaries. Which meant I wasn't ovulating, which means no egg to be fertilized. Wow....talk about a ton of bricks. This whole time we had high hopes and each month was going to be the month and in reality there was no chance. Which also explained why I didn't have regular periods and why it took 6 months for me to even have a period.

My body hasn't been the same since my miscarriage...there were no signs of ovulation so I figured something was up. Plus my periods had been spot on before I got pregnant and now they were allllll over the place.

We are now on the next leg of the journey....I have started Clomid. This post it too long already so I will write more in a couple of days.

Please keep us in your prayers as we go through this hopefully not long journey. We need strength because it's emotionally draining. {which I'll talk about another time too} For now we're trying to stay positive and just enjoy this time of growing with each other. Of course it's stressful but we still have each other and that's really all that matters!

 

Friday Letters {6.7.13}

Oh, well hello there! It's been a long time. I know, I know. This is not how you take care of your little space of blog, but I have been having a lot going on lately. I can't wait to share it all with you.

I thought...what better way to start things off then with a Friday Letter....

Dear Husband...You are my rock. Seriously. You make me laugh so hard even when I want nothing to do with funny.

Dear Baby Lily {niece}...You are so stinkin' cute. I can't wait to hold you and squeeze you. Auntie Danielle loves you so very much little birdie!

Dear Work...I want to break up. Possible? Nope.

Dear Readers...Thank you to the ones that have stuck around. I didn't lose too many of you. You guys are the ones that make this all work! I can't promise I'll be very active around here but I promise to definitely blog more than NEVER!

Dear Weather...I'm loving that you're raining right now. It will make my grass grow. Mary Mary...quite contrary. Oh that's a garden not grass. Oh well...it still fits.

Dear Self....I know we have this conversation ALOT. I mean ALOT. But it's time you start losing weight. You were doing so very good and then you quit. We don't quit remember? Apparently not.

 

I will leave you all with a little piece of heaven. Meet my beautiful niece Lily...

 

 

Friday Letters {8.17.12}

Oh dear it's Friday again! Well this week it's super exciting for me because my best friend is here as you all know! So here we go...

Dear Husband, have I told you how much I love you? Oh, I have? Ok, well I'm going to tell you again and again and again every day of my life! You are my world hunny and you spoil me too much!

Dear Best Friend Jessica, I'm so glad you're here! I really think you should consider moving here. We could start our own side show and some day you could be the nanny of my children and I would pay you in Trident Layers. {commercial, remember?}

Dear Packing for Vacation, we are not on speaking terms right now. That's all!

Dear Vacation, I can't wait to meet you! I know we're going to be the bestest friends ever! Until next year when I meet a new vacation! We will be together in 8 days!

Dear Readers, I hope you're not getting sick of me writing about vacation. I am just so excited that I can't stand it. I love you all too much!

Dear Fat on my Body, guess you're here to stay for vacation. I tried so hard to get rid of you but apparently you don't leave after one day of dieting?! Hmm...I must take note of that!

Dear 4-Wheeler, right now, we are not friends. In fact, I would like to punch you but I know that you would hurt me again if I did that! {see the evidence here}

Dear Husband {who gets two letters}, you're too good to me to let me spend money even though we had a pact that we wouldn't spend any until after vaction. :) I love you!

Have a great weekend all!!