Test

I'm testing out my new iphone and the ability to blog from here. Garth got a new saw on black Friday and I got this phone.

Exciting stuff

Last weekend we went to my cousin Justin's wedding. It was beautiful and we had a good time. We had my cousin Lea and her boyfriend and daughter Raya stay with us last weekend while they were in town for the wedding. This weekend is a surprise birthday party for Grandma Hess. And next weekend we have "Pub Night" at our friend Pam's. Lots of fun stuff ahead.

We also have a meeting this Saturday, well an orientation really, with an adoption agency. So we're hoping to learn a lot and get started with some classes.

I was also approached about a new position at work. I was asked to consider becoming the assistant director of resident services for our facility. It is one step under the director of nursing basically. It was a huge honor since I was asked on only my 60th day of employment. The other nurses who have been there longer, years longer in some cases, were not even asked. It would be less hands on nursing and more of the business side of things. Our executive director gave approval and they were supposed to meet with corporate today to get the go ahead. On the bright side of it, no more holidays, nights or weekends. I choose 4 days a week to do 10 hr shifts, flexible to what I want that week or what I need.

Garth is ready to jump into Christmas light decorating mode already, he wants to start this weekend. I'm not quite ready to take down my fall decor yet so I'm a little hesitant. We are going majorly all out on lights outside this year. We are aiming at winning "Best Decorated House" in the neighborhood. And you know Garth....he's ready! He recently bought 2 bags full of lights at a garage sale he drove past while working.

Pictures of Garths Birthday Surprise for me

Lawson's Fall pictures

I've been told I should do this as a side business...

Fall around our home

Touching base

We have been busy bees around here lately. We have been working on several projects around the house. Garth is building the beams for our patio addition that we are planning. We have had LOTS of homeowners association business to take care of and we had a community yard sale this weekend. I always feel so much better to clean out what we don't need/want/use.

The house is decorated for fall and I LOVE IT! I have decorative pumpkins everyone and a bail of straw with a scarescrow and 2 light up pumpkins outside the front door. I am even more excited to decorate for Christmas in the not so distant future. We are having a contest in the neiborhood for the best outdoor decor. As you already know, Garth's brain is working a mile a minute to figure out how to outdo everyone.

My new job is going well. I am enjoying working only 3 days a week. I have been switched to 2 day shifts and 1 night shift a week. Hooray! I just know that one day of the week I will be sleep deprived.

We joined Gold's gym this week and we now have annual Disney passes- super exicting!. A lot of financial things have turned around for the better and I'm so glad to have that weight off my shoulders. It allows us to do more fun things together.

Call me crazy but we started making our own dog food today. It really is in supplement to the dry food that we buy. The girls will now get half dry food and half of the "wet" mixture. It is oatmeal, potatoes, carrots, peas, squash, zuccini and chicken. Believe it or not it will actually be cheaper to feed them this way because it makes sooo much food. And the benefits to the girls regarding their coats and weight are plenty worth the 30 minutes of cooking.

Stay tuned for fall pictures soon!

Baby Blake

Sarah (my best friend that I sewed the quilt for) had her baby on Tuesday morning- Blake Parker Rodriguez, and he is beautiful.

Garth and I are currently seeking out adoption. It's a daunting task and there is a lot to it. We first have to decide if we will look for a private infant adoption (extremely costly) or there is one agency that is 4 months-4 years (again, really pricey). Or we could go with a child older than 4 years and it is quite affordable at that point. It's hard to let go of the infant idea though. So we're doing some research to find a good agency and then we will need to start the classes. I think its like 8-10 weeks for the classes. It's almost a weight lifted off my shoulders to not be doing the IVF anymore. It's so stressful wether you try and avoid it or not. We did try a second time and got all the way to the surgery. I was sedated and the surgery was performed only to not find any eggs- I had already ovulated. Thats the thing with IVF meds, you really can't predict how well they will work. When we went on Labor Day to get my scan the follicle was very large and I was nervous about them waiting until Wed. to do the procedure but I really dont know much about it. Unfortunately, that was the last try we could afford. I then found out only 3/10 couples in the study got pregnant. Not so great odds if you ask me for thousands of dollars spent.

I'm just hoping all these medical expenses this year will help offset the homeowners credit we will owe back in taxes this year. We've been taking extra steps to try and help with that so it's not so daunting.

Adjusting to nights....

Not so easy! Its really hard to sleep during the day no matter how dark I managed to get the bedroom. I went into work Tuesday morning to watch training videos. I was asked to come back and work that night. Being the sucker that I am I agreed. I had a one hour nap and worked by first 12 hour overnight shift. The shift itself wasn't bad, I stayed busy except for 3-4am. Went home, got a two hour nap and another 2 hour nap in the afternoon and I'm off to go in again. And the next night. Garth was a trooper and hung in there with me. Friday night I got a good 12 hours sleep and was much more refreshed Saturday for my dads birthday and visiting baby Blake.

What a weekend

Garth and Dad

Garth, Me, Dawn and Dad

Last weekend was my step brother Kris's wedding. We had a great time! We spent Labor Day out on the lake and had some fun in the sun. I have also started a new job..hooray! It was a much needed change. I am now only 15 minutes from home instead of 55. We will save money on gas and tolls and I will be making $4 more an hour than my current job. I am now working at an assisted living and memory care residence. I am over 100 residents on the 6p-6a shift. It will be an adjustment but it's going to be good. I have the oppurtunity for lots of overtime, which is much needed, and I will only work 4 days a week. With my extra time awake at night when I'm not working I have decided to do some major working out. Since we are unable to get pregnant and will most likely be looking at adoption as our chance at a family then I want to get in shape! Some major dedication and determination is coming my way.

Quilt

I made my first quilt- all hand sewn because I do not own a sewing machine. It was for my best friend Sarah who is due with a baby boy in just under 2 weeks. It took about 2 months of working on and off but I was really pleased with the end result. Now I just hope that none of the stitching comes out in the wash!

St. Augustine

We spent the weekend in St. Augustine this past week and had a wonderful time. It was a very much needed getaway/time together.

IVF CANCELLED

Rearranged living room

Nearly finished library shelves, just need to bring in the piano and comfy reading chair

Our cycle was cancelled due to a fall in my estrogen levels. We dont know what will be next, time will tell. I strongly believe that my levels were thrown off by the birth control they had me taking and the 2 menstrual cycles I was put into in less than 2 weeks.

Moving on...

Weve spent alot of time in the pool/lake trying to compensate for this heat!

IVF Started

We started our one and only round of IVF a couple weeks ago. I have completed the oral medications and have went for 2 follicle scans so far. We should be doing the egg retrieval surgery friday or saturday (my best guess...cant tell for sure yet). After that we wait for 3 days for insemination. Then we just hope and pray for the next 8 weeks that everything goes well. So send your thoughts and prayers our way because it is beyond stressful and scary.

Library shelves

A sneak peak at the progress...

Whats next...

We have a definitive answer on the infertility front...having children for us will always consist of IVF/ICSI. The Clomid that Garth was on didn't help at all and the doctor has run out of ideas. It was pretty hard to hear, I had kept a hint of hope in the back of my mind for so long. But, the doctor did have some good news to go along with that. The group of physicians is currently doing a study called the "Tokyo Project" and we qualify to be a part of it. Basically they are adoptiong the theory that Japan has with IVF...to only take 1-2 eggs from a young, healthy woman instead of the normal 10-11 that we do here. They then inject those eggs directly with the male counterpart and reimplant them in the woman. The good news for us is that because they are trying out this study it will only cost $1,500 instead of $18,000. It should have about a 50% success rate for us...and we start next month. We are trying to be as optomistic as possible but working in a high risk OB/GYN office I see a lot of what can go wrong so early in the pregnancy and the percentage of woman who miscarry early on is so great.

We are starting some big projects on the house. First off is finshing the shelves that Garth is making for our library. Its coming along great and he always exceeds my expectations with his building/design. Then he is putting in a french drain in the backyard to bring the spouts away from where we are going to put in a new brick paver patio. It will run the length of the back of house and be home to our firepit and newly covered chairs that I got at a yard sale. It also will keep much of the dirt the dogs track in from the yard..in the yard! and not in the house.

It is brutally hot down here and making me dread July and August already. We are also in desperate need of some rain and they're predicting for us to have a highly active hurricane season to get some of that rain.

We have two sets of company coming down in late June/early July. Then we are planning a D.C. trip in August for a long weekend with my cousins from Virginia. We are so looking forward to that! Garth has never been and I went in 5th grade...so itll be fun and exciting for both of us. I'll get more enjoyment watching him in his element than anything else I think.

Whats new

Boy have we been hard at work in our yard. Our once beautiful grass decided it had enough of the heat and wanted to lay low for a while...a very dead looking low. So we've been doing our best to spruce up aggrivating St. Augustine grass because thats all you can have in our HOA. The yard work never ends!

In other news Garths final test at the doctors is next Monday to see where we stand after 3 months of Clomid. I have a good feeling this time so thats encouraging.

We are surely getting the heat down here and plan to take advantage again this weekend by going to the beach with our wonderful neighbors. We have made great friends with them and are so lucky to have good neighbors. Two weekends ago we went to a water park and last weekend we held a 2 day yard sale. Great to get rid of things you arent using anymore and pocket some extra cash. Just in time for Mothers Day! :-)

Front yard

We have finally finihed the front yard. The flower beds are done-complete with numerous plants from the Ponder yard. And Garth built the flower bed edging.

Ava & Wyatt

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Weekend work

We did some major yard work this weekend and feel very accomplished....8 yard bags of leaves and weeds later and a stack of branches waist high. The garbage men are going to hate us tomorrow morning but I love the outcome in the yard. We also had over 6 cousins for a cookout/firepit/games on Saturday evening. We are still working on the front yard but will gladly show off the back yard. Our orange tree is very pelntiful but you have to get the oranges before Dakota does!

The plan is to put in a brick paver patio off the screened porch before the summer for our firepit/chairs and the grill. It will be 12 feet long and 8 feet deep. Very exciting!

House

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House pics BEFORE

First meal in our new house- the night we started taping off for painting after closing
BEFORE: the library

BEFORE: the dining room (bright green!)

Kitchen

BEFORE: Living room

We are in!

We moved into our house on Sunday and spent our first night on Monday night. Its been good...nice to have our own space and place again. We brought the dogs over yesterday and they love the yard. We still have painting to finish and then we can unpack those rooms...everything else is coming along nicely.

Tomorrow night we head to the Brad Paisley concert.

Our plan

Today our doctor put Garth on Clomid and expects to see great results for him. He's a prime candidate he says. So thats the good news. It will take 3 months to see if it works...not too bad.

The bad news...we dont even have a closing date yet for our house. The underwriter has been EXTREMELY difficult and I'm hoping after today he has everything he needs so maybe we'll get a date soon. Keep your fingers crossed for us to be in our own place next weekend maybe.

Our 1st nephew- lawson

Born January 25th, 2011

Closing

We FINALLY have a closing date...February 10th. The loan person we are working with has been the most incompetant person I've ever dealt with in my life. We didn't have near this hard a time with the last house we bought. But, when all is said and done we will be in our own house again in 2 weeks! I'm having a painting party February 12th and we will move in the 13th. Happy Valentines Day to us!

We also started building our dining room table today..hopefully it turns out good.

Inspection

We had the home inspection and termite inspection for the house we are going to buy. Everything went great- the worst he could come up with was a GFI needed to be replaced and some squirrels had started chewing on a pipe on the roof so it needs some putty. Piece of cake! Just waiting for closing now, hopefully it will be the week before Valentines Day. Then we can make a trip up to AL sometime soon after that.

And GO PACK!

Rock of Ages

Was sbsolutely the best musical I've ever seen and would HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend you see it if it comes near you!

Infertility doc appt

We went to the Center for Reproductive Medicine for our first consult today. Doctor is very nice, has lots of ideas. Going to check all of Garths hormone levels, not just testosterone like the other doctors have done. Then he can determine where things are going wrong, in his head or other areas. From that he most likely will be prescribed Clomid...its not just for girls! He said that increases testosterone and sperm whereas the injections Garth was getting was only for testosterone and actually can decrease sperm. He wants to see his levels 800-900 and not 200....maybe Garth will get some more energy finally! I am getting a hysterosalpingogram done in about 2 weeks just to make sure everything is clear for when we do get pregnant. We get all of those test results and then consult again. If it looks like Garth is a candidate for Clomid then he takes that and we recheck in 3 months. Maybe we can get away with no help or just insemination instead of IVF. Wouldnt that be nice?! And less expensive...

Our renter has not been able to close on the house in AL because hes been stuck in the driveway since Sunday with all the ice. Keeping our fingers crossed he was able to get out today and sign the papers so we can close by Tuesday next week.

As for the home we're buying here- there is some serious miscommunication going around. The underwriter says the apraisal was supposed to be done the 11th, our realtor has not been told anything (and shes supposed to be there for it!) and he has yet to verify for me whether it was done or not. And I defintely don't remember having to submit the amount of information 1 1/2 years ago for the other house that I have thus far for this one. It's insane! Hopefully we'll be in our own place by Valentines Day.

Garth also found out that despite his lapse in employment with USIC he was able to keep his vacation so he has 3 1/2 weeks of vacation this year which is wonderful!