Weekly Menu Plan

As part of the new stuff you'll see weekly meal plans. This helps us keep on track especially with my wierd work hours sometimes. It also helps with grocery shopping and budgeting around what we already have in the freezer and pantry.

So here is this weeks Dinner Menu

Monday ~ leftovers (Cart on his own, mine packed for work)

Tuesday ~ Hamburger Helper

Wednesday ~ Ham Steak, Mac-n-cheese, peas

Thursday ~ Pot Roast, sweet potatos, green beans

Friday ~ Country style ribs, sweet potatos, corn

Saturday ~ as of now is leftovers however it is the SEC championship game and we may have company

Sunday ~ Burgers, corn, beans (subject to change based on Saturday)

Blog Direction

I have decided to keep up with our blog. I like journaling about what we are up to with everything not related to baby making. So I will keep the blog as is same title and everything because one day we will have children. So the journey is our life up to children. I'll talk about home improvement projects, finances, couponing, working out, baby making (we are always trying/practicing on our own), vacations, Carts marathons etc. So enjoy.

What have we been up to other than Thanksgiving? Well we will be working on projects around the house. You remember the posts of all the projects outside completed in the last year? Well it is time to start working on the inside projects.

First on the list, creating my ultimate scraproom. I have really gotten into scrapbooking and making cards. With this scrap space I'll be making cards to sell on et.sy (I'll post my store once it is up and running). I hope to never buy a store bought card again. So this past week I have searched the internet for storage options, desk options etc. We went to Ho.me Dep.ot and I picked out a color called Bleached Denim. It is a darker blue which will make the room look smaller most likely but I LOVE the color. Mich.aels had the storage cubes I came across 55% off on Thanksgiving/Black Friday. So I got those and my fabulous in-laws bought the making memories shelf as my early christmas gift. :) All of it was half off which is great.

Then in searching for desks I fell in love with the Pot.tery Ba.rn craft desk but it is well out of the budget for this room. So I actually came across a blog of a lady who made one herself. All for a fraction of the cost. So Cart has said he would make me one. :) This will most likely occur after the holidays, maybe.

Cart and his dad this weekend worked on staining our deck. We've put this off for months and it is almost done. Just one section needs a second coat and it is done. I'll post pics of this in a future post. Need to take pics of it.

Now that I'm almost over this horrid cold I had, I'll be getting back into the gym this week. I have changed my availibility at work to Monday through Friday and my one required Sunday a month. This will allow better scheduling of my gym visits. I have missed Zumba so much and I'll be able to go to 3 of the 4 classes each week. I'm still in the 170 range which is great. Just about 35 more to go.

Christmas will be here before we know it and then Carts first marathon of the year. He will be running the Disney Marathon on Jan 10th.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all have a truly blessed Holiday with your families!

Today I am very thankful for

• my husband, who is there for me always no matter what. I am truly blessed to have met and married him.
• for my in-laws who are always there for us.
• for my mom and dad who I can always talk to no matter what is on my mind.
• for all my friends who are there when I need a shoulder to lean on
• for all my bloggy friends who have prayed for us, left kind messages and who have funny posts right when I need a pick me up.

Have a wonderful day!

Still Here

I'm still here. I've unfortunately been out of comission this week. I caught a cold while in Louisiana and it's hitting me hard. One of those you have to wait it out. So I'll be back with changes next week.

Picture Post

Pictures from my trip to Louisiana. All these were taken at Poverty Point State Park

We walked down this path. Very awesome fall colors.
Me and my best friend Sarah.

I love fall and leaves on the ground

Me and Sarah again

This is a beautiful view.

A Deal I have to Share

I love great deals! This one appeared while I was in Louisiana. Sarah needed to go to the mall to look for something. While we were there we stopped in Bath and Body Works. I noticed they had buy 3 get 3 free on their lotions and shower gels. I asked if they had this deal all over the country and was told yes and given a coupon. Have I ever said how much I love coupons. This one was for $10 off $30.

Yesterday Cart and I made a last minute trip to the mall so I could take advantage of this deal. So I bought 6 bottles of Lotions/shower gel and 3 bottles of anti-bacterial foaming soaps.
The total before discounts and coupon was $78.

I paid $33.71 after discounts and coupons. And they gave me another $10 off $30.

100th and other tidbits

Wow 100th post! I was hoping I would have better news than a tidbits post but this is all you get. How about bullets today?

• I am okay. Thank you for all your support and prayers!
• I had a wonderful trip to see Sarah. Louisiana has some pretty country.
• We have mentally started moving forward but are emotionally still broken.
• I will be focusing on a new project of creating my ultimate scrapbook room. As that is my happy place.
• Cart will be focusing on some projects we are planning. I'll be helping with things I can help with but for the building and such he'll be working on those.
• There are some other things in the works but at this time we wish to keep that to ourselves. Unfortunately I can say it doesn't not have anything to do with children.
• I'm not sure where to take my blog. I could leave it as our journey to a child which right now we leave to God. It could happen next month or 4 yrs from now. Do I keep the blog going and just blog about our life and what we have going on as it will lead to a child one day? Lots to think about on that front.
• Financially....hmmm that could be a direction to take our blog as money is the reason our journey to a child is at a stand still. We are considering trying the Da.ve Ram.sey Money Makeover or at least parts of it.

So stay tuned as to the direction we'll be taking things.

The Official Update

As I was laying on the massage table I thought man if they called me about the embies I wouldn't be able to hear the phone. So after the massage I was nice and relaxed, looked at my phone and thought no news is good news. I took the "valium" substitute.

We got to the clinic one of the nurses took me back to the room and said they just needed clothes off waist down. Then our coordinator knocks and says Breen don't undress. Dr. S wants to talk to you about the embies before we start.

We go in and they sit us down and explain that basically the embryos did not survive the thaw. There is more to it than that...but this is really all I want to explain to anyone who isn't family. We are shocked that both did not survive and are still trying to make sense of it all.

Tomorrow I will be headed to Louisiana to visit Sarah. I am already off and we feel that I would go crazy (not literally) being in the house by myself while Cart is at work. So I'll spend a few days with Sarah and her little man.

I want to say once again thank you to our donor couple for the chance you gave us to be parents. And thank you to all of my readers/friends/family for your continued support and prayers.

I will continue to update our blog with what is happening with us as we move forward to become parents...but may change the name or move to a new blog.

Update

I do have an update. However, I would like to wait until I have spoken with our donor couple before I post here. I appreciate your understanding and don't worry there will be an update.

Ouchie!

When we started the Progesterone injections on Wednesday we started with my "good" hip. The injection goes just into the muscle basically between the butt and lower back but a little more to the side. So I ice with 2 ice cubes until it is numb and I really don't feel the injection.

Last night same routine but this time we did the "bad" hip. There is a mark where the injection went and then it hurts like a bruise all the way around the side. I'm not sure we'll be able to use this side again.

The story behind this hip is a month after we where married I was rear-ended. When I slammed on the breaks it messed up the muscles in my hip and my IT band. I also have a herniated disc from it. I don't have problems regularly with it...but just the occasional flare ups. Basically the muscle back there tightens and then my IT band gets really tight. The IT band is I think a ligament band that goes down the side of your leg from hip to knee. Another term used to classify this injury is Bursitis.

Anyway, the "bad" hip now feels like a big bruise and hurts a little to walk. In the end this little pain will be so worth it.

Last Shift

Today was my last shift at work until the Monday after Thanksgiving. I could have worked tomorrow night as the shift manager but would rather spend the weekend getting the house organized and cleaned. So it was my last one until that Monday.

Sunday I'm going out for adult beverages with some girls from work as my last hurrah before the big day. :)

It has started to sink in today that in just a few days I'll be PUPO. I've had several people ask me if I'm nervous, excited, anxious etc. Up until today I have felt this calmness like God was putting his hand on my shoulder and all was calm. But today the anxiety is setting in. I keep thinking questions in my head and want to pick up the phone and ask our coordinator all the questions but I really want to be positive. So no phone calls.

We have a semi-busy weekend planned. Tomorrow I'm getting my hair colored and highlighted for the last time until the Doc says it's okay. I'll continue to get it cut but no coloring. Several months ago I made the decision to go back towards my natural color to avoid the every 8 week coloring. Anywho, on Saturday Cart has the end of season football party. I'll most likely go with him but not sure. We'll spend the rest of the day cleaning up around the house. Sunday hopefully we'll make it to church and I hope to get into my scrap room. We'll also make it to Block.buster so that I can get some movies for every day through the following Friday.

So just 4 wake-ups and transfer Day will be here.

A whole new World

No not the song from Aladin...my life is now a whole new world for the next 5 days :) Our new regime is

1 Estrace by mouth in the AM
2 Estrace Vaginally one in the AM and one in the PM
1 Medrol
1 Doxycycline twice a day
1 baby asprin
2Ml Progesterone injected into my muscle. For this shot I ice the area until it is numb, Cart does the injection, and then I apply a warm compress or use the heating pad. The needle used for the Progesterone injection is HUGE!

Lots of things to remember.

1 Week

It's now exactly 1 week until the transfer. I had a lot of trouble sleeping last night thinking about it. So I'm quite tired and have to be to work in a little while.

Today I've been thinking about our donor couple and their little ones. As the week progresses I'll be thinking about them more as they have given us an amazing gift, our little snowbabies. We are truly blessed to have met them and have them part of our lives.

I'll be working everyday this week but when at home I'll be preparing for the 3-4 days I'm laying on the couch. The house isn't a wreck but all the "deep" cleaning needs to be handled and I'm working on freezer meals for the next 2weeks. So we'll be busy with that.

And on a really nice note Cart is done with football. While I love that he got involved with our godson's team it was hard for him being gone 3 nights a week and for a good portion on Saturdays. It will be a different story when it is our children as I'll be out there too :)

Shopping Frugally

I've been worrying about Christmas this year and how we will afford Christmas gifts for our families. Not that we can't afford it but just the thought of me being out of work for 2 weeks I knew I would need to stretch the Christmas budget.

This week at Target (this sale ends today) they had Wii games buy 2 get 1 free. On Targets Website they had coupons for Wii games $10 off 2 games. So we bought 4 games, used 2 coupons and got one of the games free. We had coupons for 2 other childrens toys as well.

We spent about $50 for all 5 boys in our extended family for Christmas. In past years when I wasn't watching what we were really spending our "budget" per child was about $25. I can still get them a toy/product in that price range while on sale and with a coupon.

We also got a few other things. Cart's razors blades were on clearance from $13.50 to $6.50 so we bought 2 of those. They had their Brita pitchers on sale for $18 and I had a $5 off coupon. They also had another item on clearance but I believe that person reads our blog so we'll keep that a secret :) but is was a product normally around $20 on clearance for $5.

Cart and I still have each other to shop for and our parents. Other gifts I'm making this year. So we'll save some money on that part too.

PERFECT

Is exactly what the doctor said as soon as he could see my uterine lining! He said it was 12.4 and triple striped (I'm pretty sure that is what it's called). He even showed it to me with the 3 white lines.

Then our coordinator went over the meds with me and I have found out that I've been taking the Estrace incorrectly. The calendar says "Estrace 3/day" so I was taking the 3 per day all at one time. They were only 2mg tablets so I figured such a low dose that I was suppose to take them at once. Wrongo. So that has been causing my horrid headaches. Now I'll be taking them with Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.

We went over the rest of the meds and I do my last PIO shot the day of transfer! I switch to suppositories the next day but no more painful shots after the day of transfer.

With the embies being 5 day Blasts they will be thawed the morning of transfer and the transfer day is the 16th at Noon!

An Extra Day Off

I'm so excited to have an extra day off this week. I am suppose to be at work right now, however they would have sent me home after 2.5hrs due to overtime. So I choose to get my shift covered.

So today I'm taking advantage of this day. I'm going to get a desperately needed pedicure, going to the pharmacy, Home Depot to get more gas for our grill (we have 2 tanks, one on the grill and the back up and they are both out) and then home to do stuff around the house including my coupon book being organized (I shudder thinking about it). I may even try to sit at my scrap table and work on some cards. I love days off in the middle of the week.

As of now I technically have only 6 days left of work before the transfer. It is getting closer and closer. I'm nervous and excited all at the same time.

Estrace

I have been on Estrace since Friday. 2 pills per day and still 10 units of Lupron. Well today estrace was upped to 3 pills per day. I could really tell that the dosage was upped. About an hour after taking them I have got the worst headache. It has lasted all morning. I'm not sure I really like the daily headaches. But I keep reminding myself the end result will totally be worth it. Just get through the next week and 6 days!

We have no pics from Halloween. I forgot my camera at home. :(