Babies, Babies, Everywhere...

On Tuesday evening I got a call from the Foster agency telling me that they had gotten a referral for two children, and they wanted to place them with us. All he really knew when he called was their ages: nine months, and 21 months. He hadn't even asked if they were boys or girls. Of course I said, "Sure, we can take them." I now have three children under the age of two - Travis, and two foster daughters. To protect the identity of the innocent, I shall refer to the older sister as Big S and the younger as Lil S. I'm not going to post any photos of them publicly until I find out what the policy is for that. Trust me when I say that they are absolutely freakin adorable. They seem to be healthy, normal little girls, and I am happy to have them. The older does have some behavioral issues, but since she's not even two, I feel like we can work past that. They came to us with about a 45 minute notice on Tuesday evening, with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Since then, friends and family have really shown their generous natures and come together on helping get clothes and supplies to get us set up for these two girls. I have been inundated with baby clothes and supplies, and it is appreciated so much.

I, of course, have been running around on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I will say, it is getting better and better though. Brad has been a saint, helping me as much as he can while he's home, and giving me little breaks whenever he can.

Today, I managed to make it to bible study. I wasn't able to find my study book, but at least I was able to find my bible. The past few days, our house looks like a baby store exploded, and I'm having a hard time finding anything. Sarah, I had to follow along with Nathan's mom this morning. Pitiful, huh?

This afternoon I took the kids to my mom's for a family get together, and we all went swimming. There were plenty of people there to help me. So aside from being physically tired, I' have had a pretty good day. Now I had better go to sleep before I collapse.

Here We Go Again

Yet again, I'm going to try to get back to this blogging thing. It's time. I haven't posted much because things have been so good, but things have been stressing me out a bit lately. Travis is 10 months old now. Here are a few pictures.

 Here, Travis was about 7-8 months old, I think. I had my mom take pics of us in the bluebonnets.

 This is Brad, Travis, and me at the family reunion last weekend. We had a good time.

 This was also taken at the family reunion. Travis is a camera hound, and a ham.

I have been staying at home with Travis, and I am enjoying it. It feels strange to not be working, but I do like taking care of Travis. It has been kind of hard on us financially, but we'll get through. We recently went through the process to get licensed for foster care and adoption. We want to take kids ages 0-12. We are finished with the process, and just waiting for kids.

A few weeks ago, I had to have surgery to remove my gallbladder, but that went well, and I am recovered from that. The only lingering effect is about $2000 worth of medical bills. In addition, we got a nice letter from the IRS saying that we owe them $500 from 2008. And since I haven't been working, I have been paying for COBRA so that I have health insurance. So we are doing our best to stay afloat right now.

But if that wasn't enough, since the COBRA only lasts for 18 months, and I have already used up 7 months of it, if I want to have another baby while I've got it, I need to get knocked up within the next two months. And my deductible resets at the end of August, so I need to take advantage of what limited fertility coverage I have with the COBRA. So today I called the fertility clinic, and got set up to start treatments as soon as my cycle starts. They ordered the meds, and I'm supposed to call them on CD1. We're going to skip the clomid nonsense this time and go straight to what worked for us last time. The protocol should be about the same as last time, with follistim and IUI. While I have a sense of deja vu about all of this, I am able to approach it with a little more calm, since I already have a real, live baby here at home with me. Part of me feels very selfish to be trying fertility treatments when I've already got my gorgeous baby boy, but the other, bigger part of me insists that I have as much right to the family of my dreams as anybody else.

So, here we go again. Dear God, please let things go smoothly, and help me to keep the number of self-injections and strangers looking at my lady-business to a minimum. Also, I pray that the hormones don't make me too murder-y. Amen.

Back to the Blog

So I haven't posted in quite a while... oh, say six months or so, but I've wanted to. Really, I swear. It was just hard to post when everything was going so well, and then the baby was born, and I got kind of busy, to say the least, and now it's been kind of overwhelming to try to get back in after so long an absence. So I'm just going to jump in like I was never gone, and I will try to fill in the gap as time allows.

Here's a quick update - or summary rather, so you're not completely clueless. Weeks 35 - 40 of my pregnancy were long, hot and boring. Nothing happened that was really worth writing about. I think around week 37 they did an ultrasound that showed the baby's head as being the size of a 40 weeker. Nothing unusual there, as massive noggins run in my family. At 40 weeks and 2 days, I had the baby. Here's a pic of me as we were leaving for the hospital - the last picture of a pregnant Stacy.



Travis James Woodruff was born on August 13, 2009 at 7:00pm.



He weighed 8 lbs and .25 oz. and was 19.5 inches long.



I will post the birth story later. He was a beautiful healthy baby, and still is. He's now about 4.5 months old, and is getting to be more fun every day.

Exactly four weeks after Travis was was born, Brad had a heart attack. He's fine now, and in fact was back to work the next Monday, but that was certainly stressful. I'll post the story about that later.

In other news, I quit my job to be a full time stay at home mom. I'm enjoying it. I'm currently looking for an extra kid to watch during the day to make a little extra cash, but it's not a huge deal right now. I also paid off my truck finally, and rolled over the odometer to 100K miles shortly after that.



I'll be coming back to the blog, especially since I now have a laptop that I can move around the house. My mom was nice enough to give me her old laptop for Christmas, since she got a new one. Now I can actually get on the computer more than once every 3-4 days. I think most of the posts to fill in the 6 month gap will be picture-centric as the pics on my iPhone are the easiest reminder for me of what has happened during that time. It's all kind of a blur in my mind, but with the help of all the pics I've taken, and maybe going back to old facebook updates (I FB from my phone a lot), I think I can fill in the gap.

I'm excited about coming back to the blog, and looking forward to updating everybody with my adventures.

Yep, Still Lazy

So this week I am 35 weeks pregnant, and still lazy, hot, tired, and bitchy. I have been off work for the summer for a while now, and I am having a hard time getting anything accomplished around the house. I am totally unaccustomed to not working, and I don't really know what to do with myself. I started working when I was 16, and have never been unemployed since then. Not that I'm unemployed now - I still draw a paycheck, it's just summer. Summer before last, I took 15 hours at ACC, so I didn't have any free time, and last summer, I kept Shelley every day, so she kept me busy, but this year I'm kind of at a loss. I just kind of wander around the house, and hope I get a little something done. It's just that I'm tired all the time, so my motivation is really lacking.

I have been nesting some. We got a bunch of really great stuff at the baby shower, so I have been making Brad move furniture and hang new ceiling fans and all kinds of stuff to get the nursery ready. I have acquired lots of hand me down baby clothes, since a friend's baby is a giant monster baby, and has outgrown all of his stuff really fast. But as a result, I wind up washing and folding all of the baby clothes, and it reminds me how much I absolutely hate - no HATE folding baby clothes. It had been a long time since I had to do it, from when Jack and William (nephew & ex's son) were little, but now I remember. It is like folding a huge basket of nothing but socks and underwear that don't match. I hate even folding my own socks and underwear, and they are likely to sit in a basket until I notice my spastic cat has started dragging them all over the house, hiding them like they are her babies, and trying to nurse them. So to have to fold a huge basket of baby clothes is pure torture. I do not enjoy it. Maybe if they were little girl clothes that were cuter...

Anyway, the nursery, is mostly put together, but it is pretty bare. One thing I have not gotten yet is a lot of the decorative items that are on the registry. I guess those will have to come a little at a time, as we get the money. But for now, the baby does at least have a dedicated space of his own, so that will have to do. We can put stuff on the walls as time goes by.

The baby shower turned out really great. My mom and sisters did a good job of hosting it, and it was a success.

Lots of people showed up, and a good time was had by all. My little sister had the inmates  at the prison custom make a rocking zebra and a toybox for the baby. I am in love with the zebra. It is so adorable.

 

 After the baby shower, some of my closer friends and family stayed and we had a little pool party. Two of my friends have babies that were about 4 months old at the time, so the babies got to go swimming too, and they had a good time. The water was warm, and they enjoyed splashing. 

 

This is Misty, and her son Jax Danger.

  

This is me, with Jennifer's daughter Ella B

So anyway, I had better get going, and hopefully get some crap done around this house. Today, I get to work on addressing wedding invitations for Shannon, my best friend who is getting married in August, but is currently in India, so I get to do the invitations. I'm ready for her to come home!

Long Update

So it's been a while since I posted. What can I say - I've been busy/lazy. I guess the biggest news is that during week 19 (spring break), we found out that the baby is a boy, and is by all indications healthy. The video from the ultrasound is below, if you're interested.

 

Brad and I also celebrated our one year anniversary on March 18. Also during spring break, I went to San Antonio and visited a couple of my friends from high school. One of them has a brand new baby girl, and she is adorable. Then after I came back from S.A., we had the ultrasound, and it went well. After the ultrasound, Brad and I drove to McGregor, TX and spent the night at my Dad's house. We had a good time visiting there. Then we continued northward to Corinth / Denton, TX to visit Brad's little sister and my friend Shannon. I have known Shannon since elementary school, and she is my bestest buddy. We stayed with my s-i-l for three nights, and had a great time hanging out with her and her two girls and their dad. Then we came home and spring break was over. The next weekend I babysat for our friends, Jay & Misty. They have a new baby boy, and needed to get of the house for a while. I had a good time with the baby, and got a refresher on my newborn skills. And I got to lay on the couch and watch Dirty Jobs, which is always a crowd pleaser. (Mike Rowe is hot!)

 So anyway, back to the blogging. Last week, I missed 2.5 days of work because I was having really severe headaches and nausea. I went to the OB, and my blood pressure is fine, and there was only trace amounts of protein in the urine, which the doctor seemed fine with. He referred me to a neurologist, and said that the headaches were likely causing the nausea. My neurologist appointment is scheduled for this coming Monday. This week my allergies are kicking my ass. I've got a sore throat, a cough and congestion. Blech. But I am 22 weeks pregnant, which means I am more than halfway done. So yay! for that. We got our baby registry done. We are registered at Babies R Us. The baby's room will be done in a jungle theme. I saw this set and fell in love. It's perfect - masculine,  not too cutesy, and it will match the paint that is already on the walls so that I don't have to repaint. The set is called Baby Cocoa. I have also started crocheting a blanket for the baby from a soft, terrycloth-like yarn. It is in chocolate brown and forest green stripes, and is very cuddly.

For those of you who are thinking about asking - no, we have not picked out a name yet. We have a list of contenders, and will pick soon, but we don't know yet. We'll see. I have had a bajillion different people pestering me about the name, and I am starting to get a little annoyed. Anyway, that's about it for now.

How Did I Get So Lucky?

As everyone knows, it is football season. As not everyone knows, I am job hunting. How are these two things related, you ask? I will enlighten you.

Both of my adorable nephews, aged 6 & 10, play football. They both have games today: one here in Bastrop, and one in Round Rock. Once again, what does this have to do with job hunting? I own almost no nice business clothing. In the job I am at now, scrubs or jeans and T-shirts are my daily fare. If When I get a new job, I seriously doubt that my current attire will be appropriate. So I had planned to go shopping today for some business type clothes. Unfortunately, I have no taste. So in this case, a sister is required. My older sister, however, had other obligations: i.e. football games for two little boys.

So ho do we get around this? My wonderful husband, of course. He is taking younger boy to first game here in town, and then is going to drive in to Round Rock and meet us right before the second game so that my sister can take older boy to his game. That way sister and I will have all morning to shop without kids. Because as much as I might want kids, I do not want them while I am shopping.

The question I ask is, "How did I get so lucky?" I got a wonderful husband who is willing to take my nephews to their football games while I go clothes shopping with their mom and his money. I must be doing something right, I guess.

Fertility, Friends & Football

I went to the doctor on Wednesday, and had a baseline ultrasound. No cysts, so I started Clomid last night. The Dr. thinks I did ovulate, and we just managed to miss it somehow. She kept the Clomid dosage at 100mg on days 3-7. She did say that my ovaries have the classic polycystic appearance, though. Big surprise there. So I'm supposed to do the OPKs, and if I haven't gotten a surge by CD17 (I usually don't ovulate until CD16 or 17), then I go in for a trigger shot.

In other news, one of my best friends from high school is pregnant. I found out today through her mother, who is like a second mother to me. Her mom and I work at the same high school, so we see each other frequently. This friend of mine lives about an hour and a half from me, and we only talk once every few months, but I still consider her one of my best friends. I'm kind of hurt that she hasn't called to tell me, especially considering that she is already around 20 weeks along. If I were pregnant, she would be in the top 5 non-family calls I would make. I really hope that the fact that I am dealing with infertility is not what has kept her from calling me. I am excited for her and her hubby, whom I have known since we were kids. It's great news, and my infertility doesn't keep me from being happy for her. Jealous, yes, but it's okay. I'm not too fond of baby showers right now, although I never really was, and pregnant ladies do make me a little jumpy, especially when I see them doing things that are not good for their baby, but that's okay, too. I will probably call her in a little while, and tell her a little birdie told me she has good news.

Tomorrow, I get to take the younger of my two nephews to his PeeWee football game. Here in Texas, we start 'em out young. Jack is 6, and it is his second year playing football. And I'm talking full-contact tackle football, not any of that wussy flag football shit. It involves helmets and pads and cleats, and is so much fun. Hell, there are even little bitty cheerleaders. My older nephew, Cole, is almost 10, and he has a game tomorrow, as well, but his is out of town. My sister is taking him to his game, and Brad and I will be taking Jack to his here at home. This is Cole's fourth year of football. The boys love it. It keeps them in great physical shape, teaches them teamwork, and runs out all their energy. Their behavior is so much better during football season than it is during the off season. During the off season, they just have too much restless energy. This year, there is only one weekend (homecoming) where the two boys have their games at the same location, so Brad and I will be doing football duty quite a bit this season. While I love going to their games, these first few games are hell... literally. It doesn't start to cool off around here until at least October... or later. Tomorrow, we are going to roast. The high is forecasted at 97 degrees, and I think the game is at noon. What fun.

Still not knocked up...

It's official. I am still not knocked up. Today is Cycle Day 1. Aunt Flo has arrived, cramps and all. So here we go again, IUI with Clomid #2. What fun.

In other news, I took my two nephews to Schlitterbahn on Friday. Overall, we did manage to have a good time, but because we had to wait in the lines for so long, we only got to do 3 rides. In my opinion, it was not worth the $100 for the tickets. If we had been willing to spend the entire day waiting in line for the big rides, the most we could have possibly done would have been 6-7 rides. Max. Soooo not worth it. I guess they don't take into consideration that 1-2 hour lines are miserable for little kids (9 and 6), and absolutely unacceptable for their flustered, hormonal, infertile aunt. Uggghhhh. I went on a weekday, for crying out loud. It shouldn't have been that bad. At least the boys had a good time overall. I was about ready to demand my money back. They shut down the entire section of the park we were in, during the middle of the day, for 45 minutes, because they had to clean the water. Apparently, some kid puked in the water on the other side of the park, because he got too overheated, and they had to shut it down and make everybody get out of the water for almost an hour to clean the water. Do they not realize that: 1. little kids spend all day pissing in the water; 2. there is enough chlorine in that water to kill a horse; and 3. Nobody gives a fuck. It is a water park. People want to be in the water. I mean, did they never notice that the water is always warmer in the kiddie pools? That is not a coincidence. I'm all for cleaning up the chunks and letting the chlorine do the rest. Idiots. They let people swim in the water without blood tests, because of the chlorine. Do they really think that anything from a little kids stomach could be more resistant to chlorine than Hepatitis C or HPV, not to mention other bodily fluids? Oh well.

Yesterday, Brad and I laid around the house all day, being lazy bums. We watched TV most of the day. It was kind of nice. I needed to recuperate from Friday, anyway. Now I need to get up and call the fertility clinic to let them know it is CD1, and schedule a CD3 ultrasound. Then, we need to do some work around this house. At least, that is the plan for now.

I don't really feel any older.

So I'm 25. My birthday was on Saturday, and I'm now 25. I don't really feel any older. Saturday morning, I slept in. When I woke up, Brad had already gotten back with my favorite breakfast items - 2 sausage, egg & cheese McGriddles, 2 ham, egg & cheese croissants from the donut shop, and 2 big, gooey cinnamon rolls from the donut shop. Yum. He had also been out garage-sale-ing, and had bought a whole bunch of old Disney VHS tapes. I'm starting a collection. So then we sat and watched my favorite Disney movie, Beauty & the Beast. After that, we got up and got dressed, and headed into Austin. My birthday present from him was a $200 shopping spree. He was my chauffeur and purse-holder for the day. I dragged him all over Austin. One of the things I was looking for was a new pair of black sandals, to go with the dress I was wearing. It turns out that the DSW in North Austin has closed down. Crap. So we went to Shoe Pavillion, where they don't carry anything above a ladies size 10 shoe. I wear an 11.5 wide, but can sometimes get away with an 11, and usually a 12. But, no luck at any of the stores we went to. They discriminate against girls with big feet, big boobs, and big heads. I have all three. Shoes and bras are very hard to find, and forget finding a ladies hat if you have an abnormally large head (It all runs in my family). Bastards.

So after unsuccessful shoe shopping, we went to Ross and I bought new towels for my bathroom. They are a nice sage green, and they do not have that annoying woven band at the end. You know, the one that always shrinks more than the rest of the towel (it's called differential shrinkage). That band is absent. Now my towels fold nicely. Yay! I bagged up the old, mismatched towels this morning, and they are sitting in the donate pile. Woo hoo!

After shopping all afternoon, we went to The Boiling Pot on 6th Street, where we met up with my Mom & step-dad, and my Aunt Jan and her best friend Linda. First we had a few dozen raw oysters, with crackers and horseradish. Then we had a good cajun seafood boil with shrimp, crawdad, blue crab, stone crab, snow crab, king crab, sausage, potatoes, and corn on the cob. They boil all this stuff in one big pot, then dump it out in the center of the table (it's covered in butcher paper) and everybody digs in. No dishes or silverware, just crab mallets and your hands and a roll of paper towels. Oh, and a plastic bib. It's great fun. Expensive, but fun.

Then we came home and watched TV. Yesterday, I bought groceries, and school supplies for my two nephews. Last night we had steaks on the grill. Now I need to go write thank-you notes to my Mom, Jan, and Linda, for the gifts they brought, and for coming to dinner in the first place.

Waiting... again.

On Friday, 7/18/08, I finally got a positive OPK, so I called the clinic and scheduled the IUI for the next morning. Of course services are 20% more expensive on the weekends, but whatever. Saturday morning we got up at 5:45 so I could get ready and make it to the clinic by 8:00 for the hand-off of the little brown bag. Of course, we don't live within an hour of the clinic, so there was no collecting it at home. We had to drive up there and let him go use their facilities. Then we went window shopping for two hours while they did the sperm washing. At 10:30, I went in for the IUI while Brad napped in the truck. The doctor did the IUI, and I must say, her technique is flawless. Didn't feel a thing. I laid flat on my back for 15 minutes, and we were on our way. We drove to Marble Falls to visit Brad's parents (the most boring people in the world), and spent Saturday night there. I spent most of my time knitting and napping, while they went on and on about shit we couldn't care less about. His parents are both about 70, and have decided that they are old, so they sit at home watching TV, and bickering with each other. That's all. They don't do anything else, or go out anywhere, or visit anybody. Blech. My grandma is 74, and is far from being old. She is always keeping her great-grandkids, or volunteering at the elementary school, or volunteering to drive the "old" ladies from the local nursing home to their doctor and hairdresser appointments, or going out somewhere with her boyfriend. It's like she refuses to get old. And she is one of the most fun people to talk to. She's smart and funny, and sharp as a whip. I would much rather go visit my Grandma, if given the option.

So after visiting his parents, we went and visited Brad's best friend Jay, and his wife Misty. Misty is finally pregnant, after years of trying, and lots of fertility treatments. I'm happy for her, and hopefully I will get pregnant soon, too. For now, I'm back in the 2ww, and I hate waiting. Patience is not one of my strong suits. I may take forever to make up my mind about something, but once I do, I want it right then. Oh well. By nature, this is primarily a waiting game. But nobody ever said I have to like it.

Lucy & Ethel

I completely forgot to post about the results of the actual scan. When I did the scan, they checked for cysts, and I got to see my ovaries on the screen for the first time. There were no cysts, and they were behaving just fine, for once. In my family, all 3 of us sisters are very well endowed in the mammary department (think 36G or 34H). Our boobs are name-worthy. Mine are, even after a breast reduction. My older sister named hers Teddy and Freddy. My boobs are Eddie and Earl. When my little sister refused to name hers, we told her we would refer to them as The Odd Couple if she wouldn't name them. Needless to say, she eventually quit arguing with them being called Laverne and Shirley. In keeping with the family tradition, now that I have seen my ovaries, I feel the need to name them. I have decided that my ovaries shall be called Lucy and Ethel. Grouchy, prone to making odd faces, constantly getting in trouble, and up to no good - this suits my ovaries perfectly.

So we caught Lucy & Ethel on a good day, with lots of follicles (I think they said 7-8mm?) and no cysts. I think normally their mood is more like this. They gave me the go ahead to start the Clomid, and I took 100mg on days 3-7. No problems so far. Just a little bitchiness, but that's fairly normal for me.