Important PSA

I feel like infertility is such a taboo subject. Infertility affects more than 7.3 million people! And the only reason that I can be so open about it and talk about it so much on my blog is because I have actually been diagnosed with a condition that causes infertility. For many women, and men, it's something that isn't discovered until after months of trying to conceive.

It is such a hard journey. Drew and I have gone into this knowing that it isn't going to easy, knowing that there will be many challenges, knowing that God will bless us when it's time. Words can't even describe how hard it is.

I have tried to be very open about it. If I'm having a hard day, I want people to know, and become educated, on just how hard this is. Drew and I are so anxious to become parents. And I want everybody else to be anxious for us too. Since we both know that this is something that will be challenging, it will make the reward, a healthy, full term pregnancy, even better. We want everybody to be able to rejoice in God's blessing when we announce that we're finally pregnant.

It's so important to become educated on infertility. It is too easy to say the wrong thing to someone who is struggling with infertility. And while that person may act like everything is fine on the exterior, inside they're dying.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. And say a prayer for all of those who are struggling to get pregnant.

Another Girly Weekend

I had an unbelievably awesome weekend. Friday night, Drew and I went out to dinner with our friends, Donny and Khristy. They brought two of their kids. Jett is 2 1/2 and Dex is only a little over a week. And Khristy looked fabulous for just giving birth! We ate dinner at Chili's and then went to Menard's to do a little home shopping. We were going to get some of the supplies that we need to DIY a mirror project that we're going to do, but then we remembered that there is no way that a sheet of plywood would fit in Snowball (my Cavalier).

Saturday started out uber boring with me cleaning the house while Drew worked. I loathe cleaning! Absolutely loathe it. But, the end project is so, so worth it. I vowed that I would never let my bathroom get as dirty as it was again.

My sister came over and after I finished getting ready, we headed out to meet our mom and our aunt for dinner. We met at Backyard Bar and Grill.

After dinner, we decided that we weren't ready to be done with our little girl's night, so we headed to Burlington Coat Factory to do some shopping.

We couldn't pass up the opportunity to make fun of the hats! I ended up purchasing a really cute lime green strapless dress to wear to Angela's rehearsal dinner.

After shopping, Rachel and I decided to drop by Josh and Angie's house. I haven't seen them in ages!! I know, I know, it's not good manners to just drop by unannounced, butit was such a fun surprise. And they were really happy that we did.

Josh just had to show me his brand new purchase!

He drove by a garage sale and just had to snag it. He says it was the best $15 of his life! And I have to agree. That grill is simply awesome.

Today, my sister and I practiced our shopping skills. I picked up a bunch of cute things. I'm sure you'll see pictures soon.

I told my sister that I would make lasagna tonight for dinner. Except that I've never made lasagna. And Drew was going to come home tonight to eat and bring his coworkers. The pressure was on. And, if I may brag, I made an amazing lasagna! I couldn't believe how good it was. And it was very easy too. Just sorta time consuming. Everybody else loved it too. Drew's coworkers volunteered me to make dinner every Sunday night. We'll see about that one!

My Favorite Time of Day

Some people are morning people. Some always have been, and some certainly develop into one. They always get right out of bed when the alarm goes off and never snooze. I'm one of those people. By the time I get out of the shower, I am very, very awake! But I loathe getting up early. Mornings are most definitely NOT my favorite time of day.

Some people may love their morning coffee. That first sip of caffeine is just what some people need to start their day and start it in the right way. I am not a coffee drinker and usually stick to water in the morning.

Some people may like the moment they get off of work. The freedom that they feel knowing that they have the entire rest of the day to themselves is wonderful. I love punching out at the end of the day, but that still isn't my favorite time of the day.

Some people may love dinner time. Some people eat alone, some people eat as a family, some people eat while watching their favorite shows, and some people eat a dining room table. I love being able to have dinner with Drew. When it's just us, you can find us parked in front of the tv. I always love to have people over and eat at the table. There's only one thing better than that.

My favorite time of day is the moment when I crawl into bed and turn the lights off. Drew and I usually spend a few minutes and simply talk. We chat about our day, about our goals, about funny or interesting things that have happened. I love those moments together, in the quiet darkness. Sometimes we spend those moments wrapped up together, and sometimes we prefer our own "sides of the bed". I spend all day longing for the moment when we climb into bed together. Pure bliss!!

So tell me, what's your favorite time of day?

I Think It May Be Working

Time for another round of cycle talk!

I've been doing acupuncture for about 3 weeks now, twice a week. I am very, VERY happy to report that I'm finishing up my period and I was hardly sick at all. I started my period Wednesday afternoon, and I woke up about 4 AM on Thursday morning with some pain. Drew got me some Tylenol and I laid in bed until the dreaded alarm clock went off.

I was in some pain during the day at work. Morning was difficult, but nothing that I couldn't handle. Once the afternoon rolled around, I wasn't feeling too bad at all. A few sharp stabs of pain here and there, but completely tolerable. I never once felt the need to be confined to the couch writhing in pain, I never once threw up.

Friday dawned and I took some Tylenol again, but mainly to just be on the safe side. I had a little bit of pain, but nothing that I even felt the need to complain about.

I had an appointment with the doctor on Friday morning. He was very, VERY happy to hear about my progress. He adjusted me again, like usual, but this time, he also took me into a room and did some moist heat therapy. After that, he did the acupuncture again. This was the first appointment that Drew was able to go with me. He took a picture so that he could show me what it looks like.

Not gonna lie, I was really amazed! I knew that he put a decent amount of needles in me, but I never really count when he's doing it. I had no idea that there were that many. Plus there were 4 in my head. Oh, and don't worry, he says that the fact that it's all red is very, very good. That means that my body likes it and is needing it.

After he removed the needles, I was trying to hurry up and get dressed because I had to pee really, really bad. I pulled my hand up and noticed that there was a decent amount of blood on it. Not enough to worry me, but enough to know that I needed to figure out where it was coming from before I got it all over everything. I looked at Drew and told him I was bleeding and asked him where it was. He said nowhere. I showed him my hand and told him it was coming from somewhere. He told me nowhere again, so I just figured that I had already wiped it with my hand. Then, I dashed off to the bathroom.

I looked in the mirror and realized where I was bleeding from. MY HEAD!!!! I had a pretty little trail of blood running down from the spot where he had the needle at the top of my head and down my forehead. Awesome! I cleaned up as best I could and then went to find Drew to have him help me finish cleaning my head. I could do nothing but laugh. The doctor said that it happens sometimes. The needle hits a blood vessel and sometimes it bleeds. I'm just glad I saw it before I walked out in public.

So, I'll be continuing the acupuncture. I'm so happy that I felt better this cycle and hope that by next cycle I'm pregnant.

Anything But a Mini Van

Drew and I have been talking for a while about replacing "Snowball". Snowball is my car. She's a 2002 Chevy Cavalier. I bought my car in December of 2004 after my car at the time died a quick death. Basically, I ran into a bridge on a snowy night. It had everything to do with weather and nothing to do with my driving. Besides the fact that I stupidly took a country road instead of going through town.

Anyways, Snowball has been a fabulous car! I haven't had any trouble with her until January or February when we had to replace the water pump. And she just rolled over 100k miles.

We drive Snowball everywhere. Drew's truck sucks gas like crazy, so he only drives that to work and back. We're both ready for something with a little bit more room. And since kids are in the future, we need something that accommodate car seats and strollers a little more easily.

We went car shopping tonight. I have known that I wanted an SUV type of vehicle. I originally thought that I would want a smaller SUV, something like an Equinox or Escape. After some thought, I think I might want something a little bigger to grow into too.

We first went to a dealership and was immediately drawn to the Chevy Traverse. I think I may be in love!
This car is beautiful. The one that we were looking at has a black exterior with black interior. There are so many features to this car. There are three rows of seats, and the 2nd row has bucket seats. Behind the 3rd row, there is a decent amount of cargo room; enough for a stroller or groceries.

The Traverse had a backup camera, OnStar, blind spot mirrors, rear entertainment package, digital dual temperature control, and many more. It was a beautiful car. I wanted to drive it off the lot immediately.

But, I can't buy a product without looking at some other options. So we went to the Ford dealership. After discussing what we were looking for, we were shown a Kia Sorento. We took a quick drive in that and realized that we weren't crazy about the ride. Then, we moved onto the Ford Edge.

This car offered basically the same options as the Traverse, but only had one row of seats in the back.

I just can't say that I like the Edge more than the Traverse. When I think long term, if we have more than two kids, especially if we have two in car seats, it'll be a tight fit in there. I would rather buy a slightly larger vehicle now, then have to stress about finding something to fit into then.

So, dear readers, do any of you have either of these? Do you have something similar that you love?