After Christmas

After Christmas was planning to be just as busy for us as before Christmas. We were planning to head home from MIL's house on the 26th and be home/pack. The 27th (the boys birthday) at 430am I was to get up, pick my mom up, drive an hour to the train to pick up family, drive home, spend the day with the family, put the boys to bed for the night, drive back to where I picked the family up, get on a plane and fly to NYC at midnight. Busy right? Well the first part of that plan went off without a hitch. The problem came when a HUGE snow storm decided to hit the east coast shutting down the airports. Erick spent all day off and on the phone with Jet Blue trying to rebook our flights. Finally we had to admit defeat and stay home.

Today is New Years Eve. We should have been in a hotel just Erick and I but instead we are at home with the boys (alone) while the family that came to watch the boys while we were on our trip is off visiting other family. We now have these lovely vouchers for Jet Blue. Hummm where to go where to go. They have to be used this year.

Laundry

now that is how you do laundry!

Merry Christmas!

The boys had a great Christmas! They were spoiled rotten. We started off Christmas with my sister, niece and brother-in-law coming over Christmas eve. The kids opened their PJs and we read all of our Christmas books before bed.

Christmas morning I got up early and while everyone was still sleeping I put breakfast in the oven. We have coffee, coco and cinnamon rolls. My mom joined us. When all the kids were up presents were passed out and opened. We ate our yummy rolls and then went to our in-laws.

Once at Erick's moms the boys got more gifts. Then off to G. Grandma's house for more gifts. This gift opening went on for 2 days.

More you missed

So I have a secret. The reason I hadnt been blogging was because a large portion of life was a secret. In May Erick and I tried to get my IUD out. There was an insurance snag and I couldnt get it out until July. From there we started Testing all over again to try for number 3. After the testing was done I was told I was still broken. I ended up having to take provera. The Dr put me on Metformin. Then when we were ready we started Clomid again. Our first cycle was a bust. I didnt even ovulate. So they upped the dose.

Cycle #2 on Clomid was interesting. 100mg is a lot harder on the body than the 50mg. I did everything I was told to and on cycle day 21 I got my blood work. My progesterone was 18.6 indicating that I ovulated and strongly (if you remember the cycle I got pregnant with the boys my progesterone was 13.1). So on cycle day 26 I had a quant. HcG it came back less than 5 (cycle a bust).

Well 5 days later there were still no signs that the cycle was ending. I took the last test I had in the house. BUT at that exact moment the boys decided to wake up and make something crash so I put the test down and ran out of the bathroom. I had to feed, change and do the other morning duties so I didnt get to read the test. 30 min later I finally get back into the bathroom to read the test. I see 2 lines. Well crap! 2 lines and they dont count because it was after the time limit on the test. I call a friend and she rushes over to bring me another test. As it happens when she went to the store digitals were cheaper so she got them. I take the test and there is no not. I leave to go get a blood draw. 4 hours later I get the call. My beta came back at 149. IM PREGNANT. Two days later I go in again, get the results. My double time is 39.34 hrs my new beta is 341. So far so good.

Ketchup

Pumpkin patch. We took the boys to look at the pumpkins at this huge farm. They have a train and a tram. A petting zoo, tires to climb, a corn maze and much more. We went because Ethan's EI vendor was footing the bill. They gave all the kids free pumpkins and we got to ride the train (the boys love trains) and the tram. It was still hot here so we didnt visit the petting zoo for to long because we were melting.

Speaking of melting after thanksgiving they have a snow hill there to go tubing on. Well they were testing it out. The boys and Chloe got to throw a snowball.

Halloween was so much fun. The boys understood what to do and were excited. They were the lion and the scarecrow. Their cousin came with us and was Dorthy. So cute to see them walk up to the house, ring the bell, say trick or treat then thank you, welcome. Many people thought they were so cute they gave them more candy.

Shortly after Halloween we went to Disneyland for 3 days. We had an amazing time. The boys loved it. They jumped out of the strollers to run to hug Goofy. Mickey they wernt to impressed with but Goofy they loved. I cant tell you how many times we rode the train. We timed our trip with the start of Disneylands Christmas decorations. OMG it is wonderful. They go all out.

While in Disneyland the boys got to sleep in a big boy bed. They also got to meet Santa, see "snow fall" and meet Mater and MacQueen.

After Disneyland we had Thanksgiving then the boys birthday party. They had a cars theme and We had a great time with friends and family.

My birthday was next. Erick sent me to a salon to get my hair and toes done. My mom took me to breakfast and the boys took me to lunch. It was a great day.

Then came getting ready for Christmas and all the parties that came along with that. I hosted 2 Christmas parties after the boys birthday party one of which was the next day. As soon as all the guests were gone the birthday stuff came down and Christmas went up. First off was the tree for the annual ornament exchange with my family. I couldnt resist putting the boys in their holiday outfits. Santa even showed up at the party to pass out gifts to all the kids.

So now it is almost Christmas and you know just about everything that you missed while I was away. I promise to be better about blogging.

Time files

They say it takes 21 days to break a habit and 66 days to create one. Well if that is the case I am out of the habit of blogging. When I took my little break I meant it to be just that a little break. I needed some time to myself. Things wern't good. The busiest time of the year was coming up on me fast and this was just one more thing to do. Something had to give and it was blogging. I cant tell you how many times I sat at the computer and opened blogger then thought nah XYZ is a better use of my time. Now I have come to realize that I missed it. The break was great but I missed showing off my boys. So my promise to you is that before the end of the weekend I will get you up to date with pictures and stories of the boys.

Still infertile

Every infertile hopes that pregnancy "fixed" them. I was no different. What a joke. Our first cycle off IUD was long and needed to be chemically started with Provera. The second cycle I called and got in on CD 21 for blood work. Then the next morning AF showed. Then the next day my blood work came back. My progesterone was .09 NOT EVEN CLOSE to ovulating. So now here I am back on Clomid. Yeah probably on not the best timing but it is what it is. This sucks.

Things I love

I love so many things but right now here is the top 10 on my list of things I love in no particular order.

10- Avery. She is beautiful and such a fighter.

9- Chloe. She is smart as a whip and sassy just like her mom. She reminds me so much of my sister. The only problem is I am sure she is smarter. I think Laura and Phillip have their work cut out for them.

8-Swagbucks. I am seriously addicted. All you have to do is use it rather than google and you earn points for gift cards. And when your friends sign up you get points too. click here to sign up

7-My boys. After spending a few days in a row with Chloe I am thankful I married a man that makes boys. (Laura I feel bad for you now for what you will start dealing with in 10 more years). Now i know boys have their own issues and complications but at least i know there is a lot that I get to answer with "I think that is a question for your father"

6-The weather. It is finally nice enough to have the windows open for most if not all of the day. The house was starting to get stale. We went from must have the AC on weather to must have the heater on weather. Now it feels like fall.

5-Amazon universal wish-list. I know no one wants to think about it but as you can see from just about any store you go into as of late- :::whispers::: Christmas is coming. Amazon's universal wish list allows me to add anything from any site to one wish list. It also allows me to edit and send a single link to anyone who asks. Or I can keep track of what I have told people and things friends have suggested for the boys. (Erick and I have our own wish list where we are listing what we need/want for our future house).

4-counting. It is so cute to hear Ethan count 1...2...3....5...7...9..10 yeahhhhh! :::clap clap clap:::

3-Colors/coloring. Both boys are really into coloring and colors. Owen can name purple, blue and green.

2-Erick. He has been great. He is always great but he has been really great lately. He got me earplugs so on my days to sleep in I really get to actually sleep in.

1-Friends. I have some awesome friends. I couldnt do it without you guys. You know who you are.

Escape artist

Owen is an escape artist. He loves to see what he can get into or out of. It is no longer safe to buckle him in his highchair/booster because he can twist and get out. It is sad to say it is safer to leave him unbuckled so he can just get down without the fight or fall risk.

This need to escape is also in the bedroom. First it was his crib now it is the room itself. The problem is that he wakes before 6 and he wants to come in our room. This was all fine when he was trapped in his room by the closed door. Now the game has changed because he can open doors. So mommy thought she was being slick and got a knob cover. I thought those damn things were kid proof! Owen opened the door and tried to get in our bed the very first night.

Now what? He can knock down/ climb over gates. He can open the door (even with the safety knob on). I think it is a safety hazard to physically lock them in the room. So what do I do?

Avery June

I know I keep having excuses for not writing. Truth is life is getting in the way. There is always an excuse. There are things going on that I just an not ready to share (I am blogging them just not publishing). Then there is every day stuff that is just plain dull. And with things arnt dull or private they are BUSY. And I mean super busy. Like this last week my sister gave birth at just over 27 weeks.

My new niece is Avery June. She was born 2lb3oz and 14 inches long. She has a long fight ahead of her but she is a fighter. She is strong. So needless to say things have been busy. I need to tell you about pumpkins and all that and maybe I will load the pictures tomorrow. But for now please stay with me things will get interesting soon.

Home buying for ...

For some time now I have been asking Erick to talk to a professional about what we need to do, really need to do, to be home buyers. I asked and asked til I was blue in the face. He just wasnt ready. I looked online and did some research. I showed him my numbers but that didnt work for him because I only had the internet and a book we bought ages ago as a guide. I am not well versed in buying a house. So once again I would suggest we speak to someone who is. This little back and forth has gone on for MONTHS.

Finally, after talking with friends. I mean really talking openly about money with friends Erick listened and decided that just talking with a professional wasn't going to cost us anything more than a little time. Erick called and we set up a meeting. Erick had given the consultant some details on us and the consultant told us what to bring in. We left the boys for the morning and had the talk. The man we met with was very nice and personable. He explained EVERYTHING (even the things I had said I had researched). He walked us through every option. In the end the option he thought would be best for us was the exact same option I had told Erick about. He did tell us that we could be approved for more if we wanted but we decided to stick to the numbers we had already discussed. We let him run the numbers and actually put us in the computer. We found out that all of our credit scores are AMAZING (think right at or over 800). In the end we walked out with a letter of pre-approval and Erick feeling much more comfortable. We decided to hold off on actually entering contract or buying anything. We could but we dont want to be house poor and would perfer not to touch our current savings because you never know what could happen. So for now we are putting savings into high gear (without becoming bitter about it). We hope that after our taxes are said and done we will be all set to actually aggressively look in the spring so we will be able to close in the summer of next year.

We talked to a buyers agent just a few days ago. They have a really cool site and it allows me/us to make comments on houses and they agent to see them. I can save searches and he can see that too. This is what we will be doing for the next few months while we save so that next spring when we actually go to look he will have a great idea of what we want in addition to what we have told him.

I know to you all this may seem like an very boring post but to us this is a very exciting time. Now to go roll some more change LOL

Lots of pictures

Whew now I am all up to date again on video and pictures