Quick FYI

Before I put up a pile of posts of the last month, I thought I would give a small update on how our FET (Fetal Embryo Transfer) went.

We ended up doing a transfer last Saturday. It did not go as well as planned. The blastocysts didn't thaw as well as we had hoped, but at least we were able to do a transfer at all.

Our odds at getting pregnant aren't great, again...it's better than no odds at all.

So, for the next couple of weeks, I'll be obsessing over every little thing. I promise I'll update when we know anything more. If the test is negative, I might not post it for a bit.

So, if you haven't heard, and are curious...just wait. I will post.

But...let's hope, and pray, that we will get a positive test.

That's what I'm doing...every day.

Winter Flowers

There are a few things about winter I do love...the darkness NOT being one of them.

My Christmas Cactus in full bloom is.

Granted it was pretty much done blooming by Christmas, these photos were from November 21st, but they were still beautiful and very much enjoyed. You can also see my African Violet. It blooms later in the summer and it keeps it's blooms until almost Christmas. I love it. The nice thing is my Christmas Cactus will bloom again in March.

It's so impressive when it blooms, last year Shayne asked me when I got the new plant. I'd had it for 2 years at that point. It was so bright it actually got Shayne's attention...not the most attentive to things around the house is he?! He didn't make the same mistake this year...I gave him enough crap about it last year he made sure to pay attention. :)

Have I mentioned I love plants? I have like 13 of them in my house.

Grammy Jo comes to visit. November 11-15

Shayne's mom, Jonette or Grammy Jo, came to visit us...and more particularly, Lachlan on November 11th. She only stayed about 5 days, which was too short of us. But, we were just glad to be able to see her. We love it when she comes to visit. The Bug is absolutely spoiled by her. She loves to do whatever she can with him, b/c she only gets to see him 2-3 times a year. This includes diaper changing, bathing, reading, playing, and bedtime routines. She also watched him one day while Shayne and I went out for lunch and just some alone time...she did this so she could get some one-on-one time with her little grandson.

She was also able to travel to Anchorage with us to attend the temple on Saturday November 14th. We went up the night of the 13th and stayed with Kaye & Jared Tuia. The Bug and Malia love to play...usually without screaming or hitting. :)

We loved having her come visit. The Bug warmed up to her pretty quickly, going to her about an hour after I picked her up. He loved having her around. She was amused by the little things he does. One of the things she loved was how after changing his diaper, he would pick it up, walk over to the garbage, wait for you to open up the cupboard, toss the diaper in the garbage, and then clap for himself. He does it every time! She thought this was great. I think it is too. He's such a smart little boy.

Anyway...we wish we lived closer so we could see all the grandparents more often. But...we don't so we make do with the time we do have.

Thanks for coming to visit! Love you Grammy Jo!!

Big Boy Carseat

So, Grammy Jo(Shayne's mom) came up to visit us on November 11th, and she brought The Bug's new carseat with her. I wanted a particular carseat, and couldn't find it anywhere in Alaska...minus one store in Anchorage and they were charging $30 over what anyone else online was offering. So, I found the Britax Advocate CS on Amazon for a killer deal, but they have stopped shipping larger items to Alaska...so frustrating! But...they do ship to Idaho...and for free! So, I had it shipped to the Pond's (Grammy Jo), and she checked it as luggage on her flight here. They actually didn't charge her b/c it is a carseat and they don't charge for carseats. So...we got this awesome new carseat for a great deal, and didn't have to pay for shipping! Yeah for us!

Yeah for Grammy Jo for bringing it with her. It is NOT a small carseat. It's a BEAST! But...it is the best, and we would have nothing less for our miracle Boy.

He loves it by the way. He thinks it's great to be facing front. I was convinced I would leave him rear-facing until he was two (that's the new recommendations from the American Pediatric Academy) and I did hold out for almost 2 months past the 1 year mark, but Shayne & The Bug voted to face forward sooner. So, while I'm torn on his safety...it helps knowing he loves his Big Boy Carseat.

How cute is that little man?

Good Doggie :)

These are just some random pics of The Bug taken November 16th and 18th. We recently got him a new pair of shoes...tennis shoes. He loves them. In fact, he brings them to us through out the day and wants to put them on. As you can see in the first pic, daddy obliged him...even though he still had pj's on. :) Gotta love running around with pj's, tennis shoes, and your sippy cup! :)

The other are of our very good dog Bo. The Bug has figured out how to straddled the dogs when they are lying down. Tipz usually gets up and leaves...Bo, not so much. So, he just sits there and lets The Bug pull his ears, hair, and stretch out his eyes. It's pretty entertaining. Bo doesn't do a thing...just sits there. Doesn't even act annoyed. He's such a good dog!! Good thing too...b/c The Bug thinks his dogs are the GREATEST things since sliced bread...absolutely loves them.

The last pic is when I woke up from a family nap we all took. The Bug fell asleep on his dad. They slept like that for almost 2 hours. It was too cute.

If a tree falls...

At near house at midnight...do you freak out?!

Only if you know it was a tree falling...which I didn't. :)

This Spruce Tree obviously had some root rot, and wasn't doing so well. Had we known we would have taken it down sooner. But...we had a pretty intense wind storm the night of November 12th. I had picked up Shayne's mom, Jonette or Grammy Jo, from the Kenai Airport that evening.

We had just gone to bed when I heard this very loud cracking and then loud crash. I thought it was snow and ice cracking on our roof and sliding off hitting the ground. We have an aluminum roof so this happens quite a lot in the winter time. However, this time it was way louder and scarier sounding. I actually wondered at the time if we had a hole in our roof or it had torn part of our roofing off.

But...I was already in bed, and was kinda scared to go and look by myself...Shayne was at work. So, I didn't go look. Is that bad?!

When I got up the next morning, and walked down the stairs, I could see the tree lying on the ground. As you can see, if the wind had been blowing in a different direction, we may have had a hole in our roof. I'm just so grateful it fell the way it did.

About 2 weeks later one of Shayne's basketball boys, Jo, offered to come and clean up the tree if he could keep the wood. He lives near us, and saw the felled tree. Shayne gladly accepted, and so Jo and one of his buddies, who has a chain saw, came over one afternoon after work and made short work of the tree. Shayne took care of the branches and the root about a week later...so know it's all nice and cleaned up.

We have a couple of trees we should probably take down for the same reason. Maybe Shayne will get a new chainsaw for Father's Day so he can go play on our property. :)

First Snow

Ok...we did have a skiff of snow earlier, but this was the first "real" snow we got for this winter season. It came the night of November 10th, but these pics were taken on the 11th.

I had to take The Bug out in the snow. He thought it was pretty cool, especially watching the dogs play in it. However, after falling and getting his hands covered in that snow, he didn't think it was too fun. :)

However, being the nice mother I am...I took pics of his terrible experience with snow. :) To say he was not a fan of having snow on his hands was an understatement.

Poor kid. He really should have a nicer mother. :)

It was funny...and he was still cute even when crying b/c his hands were frozen.

Playing Outside

On November 5th, I took The Bug outside to play with the dogs for a bit. We have had an uncommonly warm and wonderful fall. It's just been an extension of the warm and wonderful summer we had as well.

The Bug loves to go outside and play. He especially loves to watch the dogs play, and tries to get Bo to retrieve the toys he attempts to throw. Bo, though a Golden Retriever, is a terrible retriever. It's so sad. :) However, he will pay for a bit, then gets distracted. So, when the Bug was grabbing Bo's toys, Bo would run around him and eventually just grab the toy from The Bug. The Bug didn't mind though...he thought it was great fun, b/c Bo was playing. We really are so lucky to have such great dogs. They are very tolerant of The Bug, and actually enjoy the attention he gives them.

The pics of The Bug crawling, are of his solution to getting down the slight hill he was on. He had figured out how to get down stairs efficiently not long before this, so of course when he had to go down...he got down on his hands and knees and crawled backwards down the "hill". It cracked me up. But...he found a solution to his problem, which I thought was great. :)

This was one of the last days I was able to take the Bug outside...it snowed shortly after this.

Hormones

My poor Shayne.

I'm swimming in an overload of hormones right now. We are getting ready to "hopefully" do a FET (frozen embryo transfer) soon. To prepare my body for this, I'm getting three times the amount of estrogen, and a "pregnancy" dose of progesterone. Not a good combination.

As a result, I'm slightly emotional and over reactive. When I get a bit worked up over something fairly petty, Shayne just kinda smiles and nods and agrees with EVERYTHING I say.

Meanwhile, in his head he's repeating his new mantra, "It's just the hormones. It's just the hormones. PLEASE just let it be the hormones."

My poor Shayne.

End of Hawaii

I know, it's about time I finished up with Hawaii huh?

We took this pic on the airplane ride back to Anchorage. Luckily there wasn't anyone in the seat in front of him. He thought he was pretty smart looking over top of the seat at everyone. He did great on this flight. He did fine on the one from Lihue to Seattle too, just decided to spike another fever. But as soon as we got some ibuprofen in him the fever came down, and he slept like a rock for the end of the flight and in Seattle during our layover.

We said goodbye to my parents in Seattle, and that was no fun. It was so nice being able to spend time with them. That is the one thing that sucks about living in Alaska. We are so far from family. But, it was fun spending our week in Hawaii with my parents. We are already planning on doing it again. :)