Hollywood Vacay

We're back! We had a fabulous time being tourists in Hollywood, California. We flew out Thursday afternoon and arrived to our hotel around midnight. We had already planned on spending Friday at Universal Studios so we got up and around that morning and hit the road. I had prepaid for our parking and tickets, so all we had to do was pull in and start the fun! We ended up spending about 6 hours there and the weather was PERFECT. It was overcast and breezy almost the whole time we were there, then the last hour the sun came out and warmed us up. It was like déjà vu because I went there with my dad in 2000 and loved it then too.

Nick's favorite ride of all was the Simpson ride! It was an interactive simulation ride. Very cool!

After that ride, we did the Studio tour that took us all through back lots where the buildings are that they use for city scenes in tons of movies. It was very informative, and they even played movie clips as we passed by certain spots to show how they looked in the movie!

^The gas station from Back to the Future.

^The clock tower from Back to the Future

 ^A subway scene inside a studio building that was used to film some scenes from Bones

 

 These are a plane crash scene that was used recently in a movie.

 ^This is the log cabin used in the movie The Great Outdoors

 ^A blue screen and a basin they can fill up with water for ocean scenes

 The Transformers ride was MY favorite! It was like a rollercoaster, a simulator, and a 3D movie in one!

 Nick was very excited about seeing the original car used in the Back to the Future movies!

 ^After we ate lunch, we ended our day there with the Waterworld show. It was just as enthralling as when I saw it in 2000!

As we drove around west Hollywood we realized our hotel was right next the huge Church of Scientology (which Tom Cruise goes to....)

 

 On Saturday we took a guided tour around Hollywood that took us all around the popular neighborhoods and sights. Some of the celebrity homes we drove by include Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake, Halle Berry, Harvey Levin, Michael Jackson (where he died), Playboy Mansion.....

 

  ^Room where MJ was found dead.

 ^Gate to and top of Playboy Mansion

 

^A Bugatti Veyron worth $1.7 million that is was custom made for the owner of the store it is parked in front of--Bijan (the most expensive store in the WORLD. Seriously)

 ^Grauman's Chinese Theater

 ^Drive in that was featured in American Graffiti. We ate lunch there :)

Saturday evening we ventured out to Santa Monica and took in the sights and walked all around the Pier. We rode the Ferris Wheel (only solar powered one in the world!) and got ice cream.

Sunday we headed out to Paramount Studio for another amazing tour. Our guide told us all about the history of the studio and things that have changed over time. He pointed out all of the little areas where scenes where filmed for movies and TV.

 ^Actual Oscars for Best Pictures, including Godfather and Forrest Gump!

 This is a special theater built just for actors and directors to have screening and movie premiers in--not for the public.

 Of course I had to take pics of the props from Glee that they are currently filming the new season of!

We got to go inside the studio on the set of a new TV show that is about to premiere called Instant Mom.

We ended our last day there with a tour of the Titanic exhibit where we got to see real artifacts that have been recovered from the actual shipwreck.

I leave you with some views from the window of the plane as we ended yet another journey!

Day at the Park

This weekend the weather here was not quite as hot so we enjoyed it! I take a lot of call at work on the weekends so it was very nice to be completely free and not have to carry my pager or phone! Brad loves going to the playground and climbing on all the toys.

 

It's back to work for me tomorrow. I work the next three days then we leave for our California vacation on Thursday! It will be a nice getaway for the two of us. My next blog will be about the trip with pics!

I will have some updates on the infertility front coming up soon. We got some bad news from the doc on Friday so it looks like our plans will be changing....stay tuned!

RE Consultation

Tuesday morning was our first consultation with Dr. Hansen! It was like déjà vu being back in that office again. We turned in our paperwork and had a cup of coffee in the waiting room until we got called back. Dr. Hansen took us in his office and reviewed our history with us and the details of our previous time with Dr. Haas. I was very prepared and brought all of our records and lab results so that he could see what Nick's numbers looked like with previous tests. We talked about our options and success rates, and what our plan is going to be. Nick had some interesting questions....like "Can we make sure it's a girl this time?" but God bless him for participating!

He had Nick turn in a SA right then so that he could start working on testing his current morphology and motility. He said that could take up to a week to come back. We are both very curious to see if there have been any improvements since he has been taking his supplements. I deferred my "v" ultrasound until next week because mother nature decided to arrive on Sunday. So I get to go back bright and early next Tuesday for that!

After he gets the results from both of our tests back, we are going to decide if we want to proceed with our plan which is = 3 rounds of IUI with Clomid and trigger shots. I have done several rounds of Clomid in the past, but never an IUI and never both. He said if they need to they can centrifuge the sperm so that the stronger ones "rise to the top" and it concentrates the sample for IUI.

Right now we are preparing to begin this with my next cycle! We are excited and hopeful on this new journey. We have talked about doing IVF again, but that will be our last option after we try other things.

I couldn't help but think back to 5 years ago how we were doing the same exact thing at the same office. So much has changed in our lives since then! We no longer have that deep void in our heart for a child. I had a perfect uneventful pregnancy and that helps calm my fears for another one. We survived the newborn stage and all of the hormonal/sleep-deprived madness that comes with it, and now we know what babies really need vs what you think they want. Our marriage has become so much stronger after going thru infertility and coming out the other side with a healthy and happy child. Nick is much more involved (and excited!) since he knows that we can do it together and it's not as scary as he thought it would be.

Basically we are in much better spirits this time around because we KNOW it is possible for us to get pregnant--the question is what will it take? It is not in our hands so we will pray for the guidance and strength to take whatever comes our way!

County Fair 2013

Last Saturday we took a family trip to our county fair! It rolls around only once this time of year for 3 days and we are always so excited to go enjoy it. We headed out in the late morning and started off with some rides. Brad is big enough this year that he got to ride 2 rides all by himself! He was very happy.

The city had a firetruck and an ambulance there for the kids to look thru and Brad had a blast climbing all over them. The firefighter was nice enough to take a family pic of us in front of the fire engine!

 

 After that we grabbed some nachos for lunch and cooled off in the shade. Then we checked out the car show and the petting zoo. Brad loved running from animal to animal petting their head and watching them.

 

 

It was about 100 degrees that day so by this time we were pretty hot and worn out! We ended with one last ride and gave our few remaining tickets to some lucky kid. We headed home and cooled off! Everyone had a fun time and we can't wait till next year. You can't beat free parking, free admission, and cheap fun!

New (Accidental) Recipe!

Yes, you read that correctly. I'm sure you've been there before--it's dinner time and you have no idea what to cook. You don't have any meat thawed, leftovers are gone, no frozen pizzas, and you DON'T want to eat out. That's where I was tonight! I started looking through my recipe book to get ideas and skipped to the soups. I started getting ideas and inspiration, then went to look in my pantry to see what I had. Slowly I started seeing ingredients here and there that would make a fabulous vegetarian rustic Italian soup! I call it:

Gnocchi and Fagioli Soup (Italian Dumpling and Bean Soup)

I made this mostly with fresh ingredients, but you could easily substitute for what you have on hand or canned. Amounts are approximate because I don't measure!

2c (or 1 can) rinsed white navy beans

16-20oz chicken stock

1 package potato gnocchi

1c diced carrots

2 diced celery stalks

10-15 chopped cherry tomatoes (or 1 can diced tomatoes)

1tbs fresh basil

2 minced garlic cloves

1/2 diced onion

1 chicken bouillon cube

EVOO

In a large saucepan heat 1-2tbs olive oil then add garlic, onion, carrot and celery. Saute until tender. Add stock, basil, tomatoes, bouillon, beans, and gnocchi. Bring to a boil, then simmer until gnocchi are tender. Will thicken slightly, can add more stock for desired thickness. Serve hot topped with parmesan and buttered bread!

I was able to use several fresh ingredients I had around. The cherry tomatoes were grown in a coworker's garden, the fresh basil was frozen in olive oil from the summer, the navy beans were cooked and stored in the freezer, and the homemade chicken stock was leftover in the fridge from a previous recipe!

It was a big hit at my house! There are lots of leftovers, and plus it's pretty healthy!

Infertility Revisited

It has been many years since I have been in the "2 week wait". But here I am! We are now officially TTC and along with that comes many hurdles for us. We have male factor infertility and our son was conceived by IVF in 2008. For those unfamiliar with all of this, I will put a list of commonly used abbreviations on the side to refer to, and as well here are some links to previous posts I have made:

Our infertility story...

IVF embryo picture

Preparing for #2

Nick has been on his vitamin regimen for 3 1/2 months now, and I purchased a bunch of OPK to pinpoint the day we need to dance. Yesterday my OPK was positive, so now we wait! Then funny thing is that I'm due to start the day before our appointment at the RE so I should know by then. Maybe we'll magically be those people who get pregnant when they go to see a doctor! HA yeah right.

Anywho, I'm anxious and excited to be on this journey again. I just hope we have as much success with an RE as we did before. I am really praying we do NOT have do IVF. I plan on trying many other things before that. If nothing else works by next summer then we might move on to that. But I have a few things up my sleeve!

Nick is excited and really wants a girl this time. I don't mind either way, except that we have no idea what we would name another boy!

For those who are interested in following this journey, please check back and read how our progress goes in this crazy ride called life!

My Preschooler!

 My little man has his first week of school under his belt and he has done great! No tears, no fits, and no phone calls from the school! We have a good routine down and found a quick route to bypass all of the other parked parents waiting in line to pickup/dropoff their kids. When it is not so hot we will be walking him to school. He loves his class and his teacher, and they have a snack every day after recess. He has already had a couple "homework" assignments, and next Friday he is the snack helper!

I won't claim full creative credit for these, but I replicated some cute ideas for back-to-school pics from Pinterest! I loved how they turned out, and now I just have to keep it up every year :)

For this one the idea is to wear the same shirt in the pic every year and you can watch as they get bigger and grow into it until the year they graduate!

His backpack fits him perfectly and he loves the responsibility of wearing it and putting his papers in it. In this pic it was his first day and he was literally running to the school to go in!

Full Steam Ahead

I blinked my eyes and 2 weeks passed since I last blogged! My little one starts PreK TOMORROW! Aggghh! I'm excited yet nervous, but I know he will love it. He is a such a social butterfly and just loves to be around other kids.

On Monday evening I worked an early shift so that I could get home in time for us all to meet his teacher! We got there around 5:30 and found his classroom. His teacher's name is Ms. Cottingham and she is very sweet and cheerful. Her assistant was also there and it sounds like about 20 kids will be in his afternoon class.

We brought all of his school supplies and put them in his locker, and he got to run around and check everything out. We get to walk him to his classroom as long as he needs us to. The school is only a couple of years old and the playground is very impressive!

We have just a couple more things to bring in tomorrow for his first day and then our routine can begin. We are going to walk him there together (I took off work!) and pick him up together for his first day! Class starts at 12:10 and ends at 2:50. He will come home for a snack, then it's nap time! Hehehehe.....quiet time for momma and daddy!

Today we took a roadtrip down to Foster to see my inlaws' new pet...a donkey! They named it Pedro, but we call it Trotro. That is the name of one of Brad's new favorite cartoons about a donkey named Trotro. He was very friendly and loved eating carrots from Brad and Nick. They are also getting a horse soon.

 

 

I got together a couple of "props" for Brad's back-to-school pics. I am going to take them tomorrow for his first day! I also wrote up an interview kind of questionairre that I am going to ask him every year he starts a new grade. I am going to make a school album for him with his first day pic of each grade and the interview for each year until he graduates!

 

Moving Right Along

Life in general is moving quite quickly! Here we are a week into August and my son starts school for the FIRST time in 2 weeks!!!! I am so happy I got his backpack done, and he loves it to pieces! He is very excited about going to school and making friends.

As of August 4 our house is officially off of the market and no longer for sale. We gave it 6 months to see if this was the time we were meant to move out of state. Evidently it was not! We had tons of lookers but no serious offers. Many other houses in our neighborhood are for sale also and priced much higher. I bet they are all wondering if we sold it since the sign is gone....

The Friday before the listing was up I went to a few banks to shop around for a good mortgage refi rate. I find a pretty good deal with Republic bank and the lady helping me put a lot of effort into getting exact numbers and different scenarios to show me. We are meeting with them today at 3pm to sign the papers! Our monthly payment will drop dramatically and our rate is dropping by 2 full points! We would have done this several years ago but we were always planning on moving so we didn't want to spend the money and not be able to make it worth it.

The plan now is to stay here for a few more years and make the house more the way we want it, go on some big trips, look for a vintage camper trailer to take on family camping trips, and my favorite--work on baby #2 (YAY!). That brings me to the next fact.....

Brad and I officially have health insurance! I signed us up for BCBS. Now that he is starting school I don't want to risk him breaking an arm or something on the playground and not having insurance. For a new Reproductive Endocrinologist I decided on Dr. Hansen. He is a colleague of our previous doc who retired, and his wife delivered Brad! He has great credentials and I made an appointment with him September 10. We are very excited to hit the ground running with this second journey of TTC.

As for our house, we have already started making some changes and getting "new" things to make it more homey: new washer/dryer, new bed, recliner in bedroom, breakfast table by kitchen, new rose bushes in front, decorations for walls, and curtains in bedrooms. Our BIG project will be updated the kitchen--we are planning on starting that next month! 

Check back soon!