Christmas is coming

These next two weeks will be full of Christmas tidings and business. I'm at home (love the schedule of a teacher!), and even now, I'm enjoying a southern california rainshower while the little one takes her naps, dad's at the gym, and a christmas movie is playing on TV. We have a few small excursions to look forward to but mostly I am thankful

for how different this year is from years' past.

I don't want to take a moment for granted and so I'll be off the computer quite a bit for the next two weeks. I mostly blog from work (during my lunch time of course), as when I get home I love to spend as much of my free time as possible with Macie.

So this is Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and I'm praying for a great 2011 for us all.

And b.t.w., these people are my two favorite in the whole world. Daddy and daughter.

Soooo Big!

Macie and an appointment on Wednesday to get the first part of her flu shot and we weighed her while at the office.
Um, my daughter is not hurting for size.
My little 7 month, 1 week old daughter is in the 95th percentile still for weight! She's 20.12 lbs! There are two year olds that size!
The good news is she's tall too, (28 inches - 99th percentile), so she's at least proportional. But wowzers.
Just to ask, how much were your little ones eating at 7 months? Right now she's on about 25 ounces of formula, 2 veggies (stage 2), 1 fruit (stage 2), and 2 1/4 cup bowls of cereal.
That's all she eats in a 24 hour period.
It's amazing how much genetics play into size (so I think). I was always off the charts as a baby, and Dh was also.
This from the same child who once had dropped all the way to 6 lbs 10 oz. a week after she was born!

We had said January

It occured to me the other day that DH and I had said (in my pregnant state before baby was here) that we would not prevent pregnancy (ever again!) in the fall, but not 'try' until January, and then if there is no luck, maybe this summer we'll see about our two frozen embryo's.

I just realized it's December.

Am I really ready to start trying again next month? Does this mean I need to buy OPKs and start timing intercourse?

Or should we just blow the wad and see about the two frozen ones sooner?

Geez...I guess I need to start praying about these big decisions!

Lord, what would you have us do? How can I thank You for how blessed I already am!

This is quite a journey I'm we're on these days!

I am so excited, only 1 more day of work tomorrow, and then I get to stay home with our little one for two whole weeks! (minus a 2 night stay in La.s veg.as for our 5th anniversary!).

This is the face I think about everyday while at work...

Pictures

It's always hard for me to post pictures because my computers seem so slow, but these are totally worth it. We had six month pictures taken as a family (it was DH's 35th birthday). There was a little facebook controversy, but other than that, we have been sooooo excited about these pictures. A friend of mine from church and her husband are wedding photographers who have expanded to family photos. Some of these are on our christmas card, and I put together a shutterfly book for our parents as Christmas gifts.
We have been so blessed this year. It's been a difficult and amazing 2010 for many reasons. But when I look at my little one, I just can't imagine how life will continue to change in 2011. Love to you all!

11 Days until Christmas

I just thought I'd put it that way in case some of you didn't realize how quickly this holiday is sneaking up on us. 11 days.
Wow. Time has been going fast for a few years now. Sometimes I absolutely can't beleive this is my 10th year of teaching. How did that happen? I just turned 32 last week. How did that happen?
But then yesterday I got a treat in the mail. A package from my Grandmother. My 85 year old Grandmother made a Christmas Stocking for Macie. I almost cried. Not because it's so beautiful, but because time goes so fast. I love this woman. She always tries to make things as nice as possible for everyone. But it breaks my heart to know that Macie has a very short window to know her GG (great grandmother).
Time goes so fast. I wonder if GG thinks about that type of stuff. Or if she can share it with anyone. She is the primary caregiver for my grandfather (he's 84 and has parkinsons amoungst other health issues).
This is why I don't pay money to watch sad movies or dark movies. Life is full of enough pain as it is. Sometimes the pain is natural and healthy, but still painful.

11 days until Dec. 25th, 2010.

We have a bond

Have you ever met someone, and within a few minutes of conversation realized that this person probably went through IF too? That happened to me here at my new school site.
I had been a part of a few conversations with this woman who is married. I didn't know if she had kids or not. But then I heard her say something about waiting for adoption.
And wanting to be as healthy as possible.
Now to ther 'average' person, you might think, oh, she decided to adopt!
But of course, I went much further than that.
I wonder how long they've been trying to have kids. Maybe they couldn't have kids and maybe they've been through IVF. Maybe they already have kids and now they're adopting. Maybe IVF didn't work and now they're moving on to adoption.
So I got a chance to talk to this lady one on one, and I shared a little bit about Macie (not IVF, just that we tried for 3 years to have her). SHe didn't open up right away, but as soon as I said IVF, she lit up and told me she and her husband have been trying for years, and after 3 IVF attempts they decided to be done with that road and persue adoption.
I just knew it!
We decided to have lunch sometime to get to know each other, and even in those few minutes in the copier room I felt a compatibility. She even said, it's so great when you meet someone else who has been through this because no one can truely understand unless they have done this too.

So around every corner, you never know who you might bump into that knows the meaning of 'pupo', 'opk', '2ww', and 'bfp'.

Is she breastfed?

Okay, so randomly, people have come up to me and asked me, "excuse me, but is your daughter breastfed?". One was at a burger joint and one was at cos.tco. Seriously.
I'm used to getting questions like, "well she is adorable, what aisle can I pick one of those up?!", and "did you get her at the counter?" (it sounds cuter when a 70+ lady asks you these questions, not creepy like when I just re-read this). But two different people have asked me if I am breastfeeding her.
The first time I was shocked. So shocked that all I could say was, half breastmilk, and half formula. She responded, "oh, I can tell. I'm a baby nurse and she just looks so healthy".
The second time I said, mostly formula. The lady responded, "oh, she just looks so healthy!".

Okay, begin rant...

What does a formula fed baby look like? Benjamin Butt.on? Formula is milk! A very special milk makes babies healthy! Formula fed babies thrive just as well as BF ones.
I wanted to breastfeed exclusively. I cried for two days thinking I was completely inept at being a mommy when I realized I wasn't making enough milk. I now believe I didn't stimulate my nipples enough in the Hospital and this is why I didn't produce enough milk, but still, I wanted to BF. But I had to suppliment. So of course I feel very strongly about formula. It made my daughter look as healthy as she is today! I'm grateful for this kind of technology! But there is so much propaganda about breastfeeding that I think society (or two women that came up to me) think that we are hurting our children if they have to be on formula.
Now of course there are benefits, I'm not debating the importance of breastfeeding. I'm just ranting that these women seemed to think it would be a crime, or at least make my child look sickly if I gave them formula.

Well, since about 5 1/2 months Macie has been on formula, and when the next woman says something, I'll just say something cute about how I'm raising her on rainbows and butterflies.

Sorry I've been such a blogging slacker lately, but with the holidays, DH's bday, my Bday, and a lovely little one at home, there isn't much time. I do keep up with goog.le reader though, so I'm keeping tabs on those of you going for #2 or still praying for #1.

Enjoy the day, and happy birthday to Feli.city Huffman, Donn.y Osmand, and me!