The Streaker!! - June 10th

His little desk in the bathroom. He sits here often...just not often in his birthday suit. :)

I yelled, "Don't look Lois!!" But it was too late.

Ever heard that song? I loved it when I was a kid.

I'm always a bit leery of putting up naked kid pictures...there are a lot of wierdo's out there. However, this was too funny.

Just like any toddler his age, running around in the buff is a favorite thing to do. The poor kid rarely gets this opportunity, it's always too cold to run around in your birthday suit (at least in my estimation it is...it's never too cold in his.)

But...he's been showing interest in using the toilet, and I'm not gonna stop him if he wants to pee in the toilet! So...as any mother who's potty trained will know, it's WAY easier to pee on the toilet when the kid is naked. Hence...our streaker.

I will say though...he does pee in the toilet every time he requests to use it. This is a good sign right?! :)

Can I just say, he has the cutest little bum in the world (is it inappropriate to say it looks just likes Shayne's...just miniaturized?! Ha!!) And his little Buddha belly just adds to the cuteness.

Casting Just Like Dad - June 9th

So, remember the previous post where Shayne was casting with The Bug? Well three days later after Shayne had gone to work The Bug found his fishing pole in the house. The door was open and he proceeded to grab his pole, walk out the door to the lawn in the exact same place Shayne had been casting a few days before. He then proceeded to try and cast his pole. It was so dang cute! I wish I had gotten it on video, but these pics will have to do.

When I called Shayne to tell him, he thought it was pretty cool he was wanting to do something dad was doing.

Casting with Dad - June 6th

They caught one of the iris plants...I know, you were hoping we had some fish in our lawn?

He's so excited about the whole deal...I love it!

In the summertime when Shayne hasn't had an opportunity to go fishing quite as much as he'd like (which is pretty much all the time), he'll grab one of his fly rods and cast on the yard.

Anyway, as you might imagine, The Bug likes to do anything dad's doing. So, while in the garage getting a popsicle (read previous post), he saw his fishing pole and had to get it out and cast like dad. So, the first few pics are of he and dad casting their own rods, then of dad helping him cast his own fishing pole, then of dad helping him cast the fly-rod. Shayne said he could feel him starting to mimic the same casting motions as Shayne, which made Shayne's day. And of course, The Bug LOVED it!

But then again so did I. I love watching Shayne play with his little boy...aka: fishing buddy.

Popsicles!! - June 6th

Yes...The Bug has discovered popsicles! Thanks to dad of course. :) We had some Otter-Pops in the freezer in the garage and Shayne thought it would be fun to give him one...cut in half.

Now, the kid knows exactly where they are. When we are outside, he'll walk to the garage, yell until you open the door, walk to the freezer where the otter-pops are and ask for one. He has a funny little word for them that actually sounds a little like 'sicle, but I can't even recreate it with letters. Anyway...sometimes after he gets is popsicle he likes to walk to the dog run off the side of the house and chill in there and eat his popsicle. It's pretty comical.

The even funnier thing is after he's done he knows he has to throw it in the trash, so he'll walk behind the garage to where we keep the garbage until Shayne takes it to the dump and put it in the "'rash!" and he says.

What a good boy!

The Tuia's Visit - June 5th

So our good friends the Tuia's came down with their camper trailer and stayed for a few days. We had a bunch of stuff going on, and they were so great to come down and help us out. They are awesome friends.

The Bug and Malia decided to hang out in the little bunkhouse/cabin and watch Nemo. They usually play really well together, but The Bug got a nasty cold and wasn't in the best of moods. So, poor Malia had to deal with a grumpy Bug...no fun for her.

Shayne & Jared went fishing one day on the Kasilof. I don't think they caught anything, but my husband did find some bugs to photograph...and I had to share so others would know what my life is like. :) Seriously...he should have been an entomologist. Who'd a known fly-tying would create such a bug-loving enthusiast?!

Anyway...we are grateful for the Tuia's and how much they do for our family.

Thank you!!!

Our IVF Chronicles

During this last round of IVF, I realized I needed to put all our IVF experiences in one post. So for sake of journaling, I'm putting all our experiences in one post, and will add to it as needed...or not.

January/February 2007 - Plan on first round of IUI. Canceled due to Shayne's diagnosis of PCD.

May 2007 - Successful results with HOS (Hyper-osmotic Swelling) test at U of Utah.

July 2007 - Doc successful performing individual HOS. OK to start IVF process.

September/October 2007 - First round of IVF. Canceled due to OHSS (Ovarian Hyper-stimulation Syndrome) due to Follistim and Repronex on Flare Protocol. Had over 40 follicles maturing with estradiol levels at around 4000.

January 2008 - 2nd round of IVF with Long Lupron Protocol. Successful stimulation. Harvested 15 eggs. 13 viable size. 7 fertilize successfully. 6 mature to blastocyst stage. Transfer 2 above average "perfect" day 5 blastocysts. 4 remaining blastocysts frozen for future use in FET (Frozen Embryo Transfer). Start Progesterone injections daily.

February 2008 - BFP (Big Fat Positive) on HPT!! See single heartbeat via ultrasound at 7.5 weeks. Finish daily progesterone injections at 8 weeks.

April 2008 - TAC (Trans-abdominal Cerclage) performed at University of Chicago by Dr. Arthur Haney for my insufficient cervix, to prevent miscarriage.

September 29, 2008 - Successful C-section of a 6.14 lb baby boy!!

November 2009 - FET (Frozen Embryo Transfer) with estrogen patches and supplemental progesterone. Thawed 2 blastocysts. Look good initally, but after 1 1/2 hours start to collapse. Thaw last 2 blastocysts. Poor quality upon thawing. Transfer all 4 blastocysts.

December 2009 - BFN (Big Fat Negative) on HPT. Negative on blood HCG as well.

May/June 2010 - 3rd round IVF. Successful stimulation with Long Lupron Protocol, minus Repronex. Serious concerns on transferring, b/c TAC has changed shape of cervix. Very difficult to insert catheter. Doc pinched, clamped, tugged and pulled on my cervix for 30-45 minutes before harvesting to ensure proper catheter insertion. Very difficult and painful, but possible. Harvested 14 viable eggs. 9-10 successfully fertilize. By day 6 only 3 average quality blastocysts, with 3 more still possible. Transfer 2 average blastocysts on day 6. Eventually, 4 blastocysts mature and are frozen for future FET. Begin daily progesterone injections.

June 18, 2010 - Very faint positive on HPT. Blood HCG = 20. Very low, but still viable pregnancy. Retest in 48 hours to determine if HCG levels are doubling indicating viable pregnancy.

June 20, 2010 - Very very faint positive on HPT. Blood HCG = 6. Not viable pregnancy. Bio-Chemical pregnancy. Stop progesterone. We are not pregnant. Success rates for FET are very poor. Not encouraged or hopeful we will get pregnant.

Beautiful Day!! - May 29th

My flowers in my little greenhouse...both are my birthday present. Yeah!

Flower garden "before" pic.

Shayne planting the golden raspberries.

Hard at work picking dandelions.

This picture I will frame. Makes me cry. Enough said.

Signing "flower" again. This boy loves to communicate with his sign language.

My big boy walking up the steps.
I used to post things like the first time he grabbed his toes...so I thought I would post a new milestone. So sad how fast they grow up...but so fun at the same time.

"See Mom...picking weeds!!"

He's just too dang cute in his shorts and hat to not take a pic.

Chillin' with the dogs by the bunkhouse/cabin.

Shayne hard at work in the hammock in the backyard. :)

My "after" pic of the flower garden. It looks much better 3 weeks later...the flowers are actually blooming, even though they haven't seen the sun... :( ...at least they're getting plenty of water, right?

See him signing "flower"?

Helping dad pull grass out of the iris plants. I'm pretty sure he pulled more iris leaves out than grass. :)

Can you see the yellow pollen from the dandelions on his mouth?

So for 2 weeks toward the end of May we had GORGEOUS weather!! I'm talking 80 degrees on some days. Ya...it was way warmer in Alaska than it was in Idaho at the time. We were LOVING it!! We went outside everyday for most of the day. It was awesome. The Bug was loving life. He was even wearing shorts as you can see from the pics.

We would go out in the morning after breakfast and hang out for awhile. Then he'd take a nap and we'd go out again, but with a hat, b/c I knew he'd get burned if we didn't. I'm glad he likes to wear his hat.

He was very into picking dandelions, which was ok with us. It was so funny, b/c he'd pick them and put them up to his mouth to smell them. So, he had yellow pollen all over his mouth. He would also sign "flower" as he picked and brought them to me...how cute is that?! Never thought I would get to see a toddler of my own pick and bring me flowers. I'm so lucky.

The Bug would just wander around while Shayne & I were doing yard work, attempting to "help out" here and there. Shayne got me some topsoil to plant a flower garden in the yard, which I loved! I have before and after pics. Shayne got some golden raspberry starts from a coworker and he planted them, and we got a topsy-turvy planter for strawberries that is doing well too. Our regular raspberry patch is doing awesome, and we should have a pile of raspberries this fall. Yeah!

I can't even tell you how much we loved having such nice weather. I took all these pics on the same day, and this wasn't the only day like this. I just wish we could have another 2 weeks like it...it's been raining and overcast for the last 2 weeks. Ick.

We did love it while it lasted. *Sigh*

Skyview Graduation - May 19th

We attended Skyview's graduation to see Shayne's basketball boys graduate. The program was long and boring...as usual. But, it was fun to see his boys graduate. They were a good bunch of boys, and Shayne has a lot of memories, both good and bad, with them. :)

We couldn't find Cameron to take the group pic, but were lucky enough to have taken one with him before he disappeared into the masses. The group pic has Chad Oaks, Joe Malatesta (The Godfather), and Derick Parham.

Shayne put together a little gift for them. He tied up a couple of purple Royal Bucktail Coachman, put a pic of their senior night, and the poem, "If" by Rudyard Kipling, wrote a little message for them and had it all framed. It turned out really nice.

King Shayne - May 10th

Ok...maybe not King Shayne...but here's Shayne's King. :)

He went fishing on the 10th of May on the Kasilof for Steelhead, but caught this smallish King Salmon instead. He wasn't complaining. It put up a pretty dang good fight and he had the kid fishing down river watching him, and wondering how big the Steelhead he had on was. :)

The fishing's been slow this year...especially for Salmon. For whatever reason, they aren't coming in the rivers...not a good thing. So, Shayne considers himself lucky he caught (and released, he couldn't keep it according to regs) this one.

Yeah for King Shayne!

Tyin' Flies - May 14

One of my favorite things is when Shayne and The Bug hang out and do "guy" things. It's my fav, b/c I get some free time. But...more than that, I love seeing my boys do stuff together. Shayne loves showing The Bug the things he loves, and hopes as a result, The Bug will love them too. So far, the plan is working. :)

The Bug already knows what he's suppose to be doing when dad is tying flies. He tries to grab the bobbin of thread and wind it around the fly. It's not so easy for Shayne, but he's such a patient dad it's not a big deal for him. He just likes the time he gets to spend with his little boy.