Getting Ready to Get Ready!

It's that time again! Nick and I have always planned to have our children about 5 years apart. I use the term "plan" loosely since infertility is a huge speedbump in our life. Now that Brad is 4 we are working on gearing up to TTC for #2. I have done a lot of reading on male infertility and have read a lot of good things about herbal supplements to treat/improve his specific problems.

He has started on a vitamin regimen and has been on it for going on 6 weeks now. It takes at least 3 months for changes to start taking effect so we started around the middle of May to prepare to TTC around August. I call this Plan A. Plan B will be trying Clomid (for him, not me), and Plan C will be IVF. Plan D is to have an only child :(

 

We have added 1 more vitamin since this picture, so all of the ones he is taking are:

1. Vitamin C 500mg

2. Zinc 25mg

3. Vitamin E 400IU

4. L-Arginine 500mg

5. L-Carnitine 1000mg

6. One-A-Day multivitamin for men

I am planning on scheduling a consultation with a new RE (our old one retired in January) around August so that we can hit the ground running and not waste any time. Please pray for us that we are able to conceive WITHOUT doing IVF and that everything works out!

PS. There is a link to the right ------> for our infertility story if you haven't read it yet!

No Longer a Toddler

Today my little boy turned 4 years old! I am a proud and grateful momma who could not have asked for a better child. Every year on this day I think of everything thing that Nick and I went through to become parents and it amazes me how so many little things have to work together for a baby to come into this world. Feel free to read the stories of our infertility struggle, and Brad's birth story!

 

His party was on Sunday and although 8 people canceled, he still had his closest family there with him! The theme was "bugs" and the kids had a blast with coloring bugs, eating gummy bugs, and bug tattoos!

Today was more low key but he had fun nonetheless. We went to Burger King for lunch and let him play in the big indoor playground before we ate. Afterward we got ice cream then went swimming for a couple of hours!

Tomorrow he goes to the doctor for a checkup so I will blog then with his stats and growth progress. We have had several other things going on so I have a lot to blog about!

Summer Fun

 A few days ago we all packed up a picnic basket with homemade goodies, grabbed some chairs and headed out to the lake! It was a fun afternoon with family at Lake Overholser, and with the wind coming off the water it was almost chilly!

I brought egg salad, plates, ice, drinks and silverware. My mom brought chicken salad, pasta salad, potato salad, and my brother brought chips. We had a feast, then went down closer to the water and enjoyed the view.

 

This is called a Texas Redheaded centipede (and is poisonous!). It was passing by our picnic table! Yikes.

  

Remembering a Special Lady

Today Nick and I attended the memorial service for my grandma Margie in Vinita, OK. She passed away on June 1 and thankfully I got to see her about a week before she died. She was born in 1928 and I spent summers at her house in Guthrie when I was a child. We helped her move here to OKC over 15 years ago and she attended several holiday dinners throughout the years. Bradley was her ONLY great grandchild and she loved to see him. She will be missed!

This is from Thanksgiving 2012

 

She lived in OKC up until around May when her health declined enough that her cousin Ralph (who lives in Vinita) moved her up there where he could help her get set up in a nursing home with hospice care. She was given 30 days to live, and made it only about 3 weeks.

Today the service was performed by their local minister and cousin Ralph hosted us for lunch before. Here is Ralph and his wife Nancy, my uncle Del in the middle, and my dad Tony on the right.....

From L to R is Ralph, Uncle Del, dad, me, and my brother Eric.

I couldn't help but enjoy the beautiful rose garden they had at their house! I took several pictures because I knew my mom would enjoy looking at them.

In other news, I had a wonderful birthday on Tuesday! Nick had jury duty for most of the day but I got to enjoy a delicious home-cooked meal of chicken alfredo and carrot cake by my dear mother! Nick treated me to a spa pedicure and that evening we had a quiet dinner at Zio's.

2 New Recipes!

I have recently tried out two new recipes that were a big hit! The first is vegan (which I am not) and a healthier version of banana bread! Here is the link to the original recipe. I did mod mine a little so I put those changes as optional!

Banana Apple Bread

2 ripe bananas

1 apple, peeled and diced

2/3 c sugar

1 3/4 c flour

1/2 c applesauce (can use plain or flavored)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/3 c shredded coconut flakes (optional)

1/4 c ground flaxseed (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mash bananas with fork in mixing bowl, add remaining ingredients. Mix well and pour into greased loaf pan. Bake 60-70 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

You read that correctly! No oil, no water, no eggs....how does it work? I don't know but it's delicious and I will definitely be making it again. I just made it yesterday and we are already down to the last sliver....

My next recipe is much more relaxed in a thrown together kind of way. Somehow I have never made chicken salad until now! It turned out yum and I can't wait to eat the leftovers. I got the idea from my mom and added on to it. *****WARNING***** chicken salad is very forgiving so I didn't actually "measure" anything. For the sake of a recipe I will give estimates of amounts I used.

Curry Chicken Salad

1 c diced cooked chicken

1 c mayo

2 large celery stalks diced

2 apples diced

1/3 c raisins

2 tbs minced onion

1 tsp salt

1 tbs curry

1 tsp paprika

Mix all together and store in the fridge. Serve on sandwiches or with crackers. Makes a lot!

 

That is all for now! I hope you enjoyed the recipes, and please comment and let me know how they turn out if you try them! We have been busy in the Pierce house but I will blog about all that later. Tomorrow is my BIRTHDAY and I am excited!

 

June is Here

Where has the time gone?? June is already here and the year is half over. My birthday is in 10 days, my son will be 4 in a few weeks and starting school, Christmas is in 6 months.........eek!

I don't know if it's just me, but every year I feel like the first few months consist of getting used to the "new" year and new things, different weather, etc. When June gets here is when I realize holy crap--the year is almost over and I feel like we are just getting started!

Here in lovely Oklahoma our weather has been a bit crazy. If you watch much of the news I'm sure we have made national headlines with our many destructive tornadoes and flooding. Usually our crazy weather is in April/May then by June it is gone and we have temps over 100 thru August. Not so much this year! The temps have been much lower than usual--70s-80s so far--and our severe weather has come later on in May and is still going now in June.

If you are aware of my desire to move out of state, you already know how I feel about the weather here....recent events have only solidified those feelings. Fearing for your life, house, and safety every spring is no fun. And usually I'm stuck at work during all of this so I can't even be with my family in the hard times. Plus it is super hard to travel back and forth thru damaged areas with closed roads and out-of-towners driving 5mph to see the disaster zones.

Unfortunately this is something we must deal with in Oklahoma, and every day we are thankful that we can see another sunrise and sunset. Some people have had that privilege taken away from them by mother nature. We try to not get too crazy and succumb to all of the hype. In the end, if a storm comes there isn't much you can do except for take shelter and pray.

As for our house, it is still for sale and only has 2 months left on the listing. We still get frequent showings but no serious lookers. In fact, we have recently had some issues during showings so now Nick insists on being present with the realtor in our house. We have had such a disheartening experience with trying to sell our house, it feels like it will never happen. It is not in our hands so we will accept the path that is chosen for us!