Long Time No Post

Well, I'm still in a blogging slump. I can't think of anything, or I don't have the desire, or maybe both to blog right now. I'm still having fun reading everyone else's though. Here' are a few pics from the last few weeks of our lives. We are busy as ever. Luke is doing great at preschool now. He has made some friends he talks about a lot, and he tells me he and his friends chases girls at school. Jer asked him what he did when he caught them, and he said they didn't because the girls were usually too fast. I know part of it involves pretending he's a tiger--what a ladies man. Seth is growing like a weed and except for the case of the runs he's had for 2 weeks now is doing great. He is so snuggly and cute and makes everyone happy with the big, sloppy kisses he gives. I am feeling kind of tired and frumpy, but we did have an ultrasound last week and saw our baby--and it actually looked like a baby! That was great. I'm almost through my 1st trimester and almost have no jeans that will button up. Bring on the elastics. Here are a few other things we've been up to....

Luke in a rare crafting moment. He is rarely interested in stuff like this--and only if it involves mess.

Seth gives me this look I thought was reserved for teenagers.

Luke at the zoo...is he growing up on me?

Chilling with the tigers...Luke's favorite.

Seth and I on the train. We were right behind the conductor and ate exhaust the whole way.

Luke thoroughly checking out all of the zoo merchandise.

Our attempt at a picture featuring all four of us.

Take 2.

Take 3. We give up. I'm not sure who was worse...Jer and I or the kids. We will not be winning any prizes for our photegenicness. (That may not be a real word).

That's all for now. We had snow here this morning. Luke was bundled up and out there first thing. It melted quickly, but I guess that means winter is coming.

No More Shots For Me!

I thought I'd do a quick post in honor of the fact that I am officially done with my IVF injections today!!! I have been doing them since July 6th, so I am pretty excited. It was so worth it, but I can't say I'm going to miss getting a big shot in the bum each morning. Now I'm just hoping that area can start to return to normal. Tomorrow will be kind of weird. It's just become part of my morning routine to have Jer give me a shot before he goes to work. I always say "thanks" when he's done. He has assured me that I really don't need to thank him for it, but it seems like I should say something.

This was my setup for the week or so I was doing the stims (3 different injections each day). Yes, I have my own sharps container. Not many people can say that--or want to. These shots I gave myself but when it came time for the big needle I had to enlist Jer. By my count this process involved 104 injections, 2 IVs, and 4 blood draws. I had to have my blood drawn at my OB appointment the other day, and I told them to go for it but warned them about my terrible veins. Well, 35 minutes, 2 nurses, and 3 attempts later they had what they needed. My arms look like I'm a junkie or something. I could go awhile without seeing a needle. On the other hand, I've kind of gotten used to it and it worked---I'm pregnant--so I really can't complain.

There he is--what a pro. He can give a shot with the best of them.

Busy Boy

I have not had the time, desire, motivation, inspiration...to blog lately, but I'll give it a shot. Seth has become quite the busy boy. If I leave him alone for a minute he gets into some sort of trouble. He is also very industrious and quite the little problem solver. Whether it's rearranging the kitchen or filling dishes with cars he really gets after it. In order to see the frogs and crickets better (yes, they are still alive), he hauls any stool or little chair he can get his hands on in there and climbs up. While he's up there he removes the tubes from the cricket keeper releasing live crickets into the house. Now that this has happened several times I am catching on and have moved them higher.


This is Seth's "who me?" face.


This is his "I know I'm cute" face.


The "100 cookie cutters" are a constant source of entertainment.


As seen in the picture above, Seth has some chunky feet. He has what Jer refers to as "cankles" when your calf and ankle just merge together. This has made finding shoes for him pretty hard. Most shoes do not even begin to go on his little block feet. These poor sandals have been worn every day and to every occasion the entire summer. I'm happy to say that we found Seth two pairs of shoes for the winter. They are extra wide width and actually fit. It's still a half-day's work to get them on but once they're on they seem comfortable. Somehow his cankles are cute, but when I have some in 6 months they won't be.


Seth's "belly laugh" makes everyone laugh. Right now he is a snaggle tooth--two actually. He somehow managed to chip his two front teeth. I'm not picturing a trip to the dentist going very well.

Fun, Frogs, and First Day of School

Over Labor Day we went to Park City with my family and had a great time. I actually took quite a few pics this time, so here are a few. Luke and Seth had fun at the playground at our condo. Seth is quite a handful at the playground. He climbs anything and everything but seems to have no concepts of edges or gravity.



Luke and Jer used the last of our freebie passes from the time share again to ride the Alpine Slide and then along with grandpa they did the Alpine coaster. Luke loved all of it--he loves rides and going fast. Luke was also so excited to take Seth on the airplane ride. Last time Seth was sleeping in his stroller. Luke thought that was pretty cool to be the pilot for Seth. Seth had a hard time figuring out where I was for pictures. I was just glad he didn't try to stand up and bail out.



Luke's first day of preschool was last week. I guess this is his 2nd first day since he went last year. He was excited about the first day and his Batman backpack, but in general he is a pill about school as usual. When he's home all he wants to do is go outside and find friends to play with, but when it is time for something like school he never wants to go. We went through this pain last year and it was only once a week! Fortunately, he always has fun and does great once he's there. He is going to a different school this year for three days a week. We carpool so I'm hoping that helps ease the separation. He won't throw a fit for someone else's mom, right?



Luke has been potty trained for a long time, but he has still really struggled staying dry at night. I just don't think his body was ready--slow bloomer I guess. The last 2 months or so he has finally started showing signs of staying dry. We promised him that if he could be consistent for a month or so he could get a pet--I said specifically fish. Well, he has really been patient and done great and finally that battle is over. He has not had an accident in over a month. We are all so excited. Last week it came time to pay up. We went to the pet store, and I lobbied hard for a fish. By then he was set on a lizard. Lizards need light and temperature...blah blah blah...so I was not too stoked about that. The girl at the pet store suggested frogs, and he went for it. They didn't even have the right size aquarium, so we had to wait 2 more days. He was great about it and so excited! Saturday we became the proud owners of 3 fire-belly toads. They are kind of cool little pets. Luke named them Fred, Stitch, and Jo-Jo. Here's the kicker though--they eat crickets! Yea, I just signed myself up for a weekly trip to the pet store to buy crickets. Like I said, I was pushing for the fish!!!

One Bun

Well, it's official--we have one bun in the oven. I had my ultrasound on Wednesday and the doc confirmed that we've got one baby growing in there. We are so excited. It is starting to seem more real. There's not much to see at this point, but they can tell it's a uterine pregnancy and they could see the heartbeat. They printed pics off for me of my little, tiny bean. I had an ultrasound at this point with Luke as well. I compared the pics when I got home and they both looked like little blobs with a halo (the yolk sac) at this stage! We haven't really told the kids yet. Luke talks about having a brother or a sister, and I think he will be excited. Seth won't understand and the addition of a baby might rock his world a bit. Right now he is such a mama's boy. Oh well, we'll figure it out. The more the merrier, right? I'm feeling more and more confident each day that everything is going to work out alright. I had a really hard time believing I was pregnant with Luke my whole first trimester and I had some moments of disbelief throughout the adoption process as well, so I guess feeling like that is just part of the whole infertility thing. I did find a doc I like. I have been unable to find a doc since we moved here two years ago. If you are not pregnant or in need of surgery, there is not a doc in this town who will take you. Both Jer and I really liked him. Well, I guess that's about it. I'm having another ultrasound in 2 weeks for added reassurance. I thought of putting one of those little pregnancy countdown things up on the blog but since it would say I have like 230 days left or something I think I'll wait on that a bit.

August Rush

This month was totally crazy! Between trips to the doctor, two new stay-at-home jobs I've started, a masters course I'm taking, and of course my #1 job--the kiddos--it has been hectic! I have been a slacker about blogging, but we've actually done some pretty fun things this month. I don't want this to turn into a travel log, but here's a quick rundown of what we've been up to and tons of pics. Warning: you don't have to look at all the pictures if you don't want to!!

Three weeks ago we made a really quick trip to Twin Falls to see the Wards and go to the temple open house. I thought this was a great experience for our kids (and us too). We had a fun time. The Wards, as always, were great hosts and took really good care of us. I was a slacker and took no pics. The next weekend we went with a huge group of our friends and their kids to Park City. It was one of those time share deals, so we had to listen to a presentation. We all showed up to the presentation with our kids, and I think the salespeople wanted to die. They had a room for the older kids to play in. We took Seth in with us to the meeting but that did not stop our guy from making a 90 minute pitch! It was so hot and I thought I might pass out. Needless to say we did not buy. The rest of the time was great, but I totally slacked on pics and only took a few.


We had a barbeque by the pool with the whole group one of the nights. The kids had so much fun. There was a giant checker and chess set there. They just threw the pieces around and no one got knocked out so it was all good.


Luke is into dressing up lately. He likes to choose his own clothes (those red shorts are a fav), and he puts on all sorts of other stuff too. He also gets in his Dash suit from last Halloween all the time. He also always has a ton of weird, little toys with him. Wherever we go his hands and carseat are full of "treasures."


This is Luke and our neighbor Blake. We see him numerous times per day. I'm not sure how Luke was going to see with this one.


Seth can get into trouble faster than I can blink. He is the messiest kid! He needs several new outfits per day, and he is constantly taking stuff from drawers, cabinets...and leaving it all over the house. When I took the garbage out I came back in and he was helping himself to the cleaners (I forgot to put the child lock back on)--not my best parenting.


Seth got a litte more than he bargained for on this one. Our friend was testing our sprinklers and as soon as Seth heard the water he went booking around the house. I followed him to watch the sprinkler start up and shoot him directly in the face. He turned around and was just letting it hit him in the back of the head before I could rescue him. The look on his face was priceless. I don't think it was exactly what he expected.


This is my cute boy, affectionately known as "Big Baby." Sad thing is he's not much of a baby anymore, so we might need a new nickname.


Sunday afternoon we went up to Tony Grove and had such a great time. We didn't get there until evening, but the kids were so good on the drive and it was so fun. I'll admit it--there are days when being a mom is frustrating and I struggle with patience and wonder what I am doing wrong. Days like this totally make up for those. I could not stop looking at my cute kids and feeling so grateful for them. Their pure joy at being kids and being outside with their mom and dad was awesome. It was just one of those magical mom times when I couldn't get enough of squeezing my kids. Now I'm a realist--the magic didn't necessarily stretch into the next week, but it was a great time. Times like these make up for the sometimes frustrating, monotonous days--nothing makes me happy like my kids do!

Last but not least--the kids have had lots of fun swimming different places this summer, and they really like our little backyard pool. All of the water on Seth's head is from Luke dumping it on him, but he is a great sport about it. Luke was so excited to find this tiny caterpillar.

This was our best effort at a picture "together." Neither of them are super cooperative.

That's all for now. I guess summer is basically over. Crazy!

The Results Are In...

We are pregnant! I'm so excited I've got to just get right to the point. It's crazy to be announcing this when I'm 4 weeks along but when you do IVF you can't exactly withold the results from people. I feel so grateful that this worked. I still am finding it hard to believe. I've only been this excited twice before and their names are Luke and Seth! It's just hard to believe it's true after over three years of trying this second time around that I really am.

I have a confession to make. Despite my initial resolve not to--I have been doing home pregnancy tests this week. I wanted to try and prepare myself for a negative if that's how it turned out. The first test I did was faintly positive. I was annoyed I even did it because I knew it could still be the hcg trigger shot, so it didn't really tell me much. I waited a few more days and tested again and it was much darker. A BFP (Big Fat Positive) in infertility lingo. That gave me some hope, but I've been really scared to get too excited. I tested every day leading up to my blood test today with straight positives, but I still wasn't sure. I was worried they would call back with questionable numbers or something.

Jer and I headed down this morning for our test. I was a nervous wreck. Then we had to wait almost three hours for them to call with the results. I thought I might go crazy, but then the nurse called. She said it was good news! They want your hcg to be over 100 at this point and mine was 646, so it was a definite positive. My due date is April 23rd--I know that's forever away--again crazy that so many people will know so soon. We called Jer's parents on the way home and then went back to my parent's house and broke the news to them. Needless to say, they are all so excited! They have been on pins and needles just like us. I have had a permagrin on all day!

I am definitely still a little cautious about this whole thing because it's so early. This is now basically a normal pregnancy other than I continue my shots through September. We will have an ultrasound in 2 1/2 weeks to make sure it's a viable pregnancy, and they should be able to tell if it's one or two babies. I will feel much better once everything checks out okay. I am just so grateful to a loving Heavenly Father that answers prayers even though sometimes the answers come in unexpected ways and time frames. I think each of my kids are such a gift, and I feel incredibly blessed that we are going to be trusted with another sweet baby. Thanks so much for all of your prayers on our behalf. Keep them up. We are so lucky to have such great friends and family! Thanks again!! Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!