New Ob/Gyn

I had an appointment yesterday for my 'well woman' exam. It took me almost a year later than I should have because I just didn't want to deal with it. But I wanted to try a new dr. incase I do get pg since my previous OB left the practice and I don't like the other dr. she worked with (I think that's why she left too). So, on to the new Dr. She seemed nice. She's young and I don't think she has any kids. At first the nurses in the front were off putting, but when they started talking to me about 'desperate housewives' I figured it was just a weird start to the appointment. Here is what I didn't like...I had to pay for parking! It is $2.25 for each 30 minutes with a maximum of $10. Are you serious? There is some free street parking but it was all either 30 minutes only or taken. The office doesn't validate parking. So I asked the nurses if there was any other place to park and they pretty much said most people just take the gamble of the 30 minute spots. YUCK! I don't like to do that because I have a history of being the one who actually gets the parking ticket. There is a major blvd. nearby and across it there is free parking. It's ironicially the office of my RE. So I know where to park for next time. Sure, it'll be a bit of a walk, but geez, 2.25 is a lot of money if I'm fortunate enough to get pg anytime soon. That's a lot of appointments. So the important stuff was the initially I liked the Dr. AND, they didn't use the blood pressure machine they did it by hand (I really don't like the machine). And the scale is NOT digital, it's got the sliding scales and for some reason those don't seem as mean to me as the new digital scales. Do any of your offices charge for parking? Usually out in the suburbs of LA we never have to pay for parking. Only when you go into the city do you pay. Blech.

Weight Loss

I've been doing really well with weight loss. Since the start of the new year (well, Jan. 2nd) I've lost exactly 30 pounds. I am thrilled. I have officially lost all the baby weight. But what about the IVF and TTC weight? I don't blame IVF for many of my pounds, but TTC really took a toll on me. Even before we knew there were problems for us to conceive. Every month I would think "maybe I'm pg!" and I would spend the TWW eating 'healthy' things like granola and frozen yogurt. Do you know how many calories granola has!? It's delicious, but it's not low-cal. Rinse, wash, Repeat. So here I am, at my pre-baby weight, horray! But now I have many, many more pounds to go. Maybe I'll be brave and post the actual numbers. After all, as far as I know, no one IRL reads this blog. I'll have to think about that. Do you guys openly share your weight? Or like me, is it only when you're a size 8 that you feel like sharing (and if a size 8 is your 'freak-out' size, like you need to diet, stat!, then horray for you, but remember, for us tall girls - 5'9", a size 8 is very thin!)? I'm hoping for 8 more pounds by easter and about 40 pounds by fall!

New Camera

I think I mentioned that we recently went to the beach as a family. We got some unexpected money from work so we invested in a new Nik;on camera from Costc.o. It's been a great investment so far.
I took this picture and even as I was taking it, I just see this in her wedding slideshow. Lord willing I'll be lucky enough to see her smiling on that day and knowing how much we love her and how much fun she has been to have in our lives.

And this picture is exactly why we bought this camera. A moment that I also wonder if it will make her wedding slideshow. Ha! Maybe she's tired of how much I kiss her cheeks. That's not likely to stop anytime soon.

The crazy thing is that she was not afraid of the water at all!
Even when it knocked her over! Wait for it...



wait for it...Boom!
She didn't even cry. Just got up, shook her tailfeathers and headed back into the great blue sea. I'm hoping we'll get to spend a lot of time at the beach this summer (if gas prices don't get too bad!).
What are some of your favorite day trip locations?

Pit and Peak Friday

How was your week? This week was fine, just busy, busy.

My Pit:
My dad is in the hospital. He is a recovering alcoholic and has done tremendous damage to his body. They are doing an upper GI as I type. We have a bit of a strained relationship, and I just want to highlight that having a baby has only made things MORE strained. Children don't fix things, they make them more complicated. It's so tough for me to let ANYone babysit or watch my little one. But when I'm not sure if my dad has been drinking it's impossible for me to let him watch her. So a big part of the current strain in our relationship is that I haven't let him sit for her alone. I don't see that happening in the future either. I think he's so dissapointed though because when I thought he was still sober I made a few comments about perhaps him watching her, but shortly after she was born he was 'off the wagon'. So how can I trust that? I should probably save my post on my dad for a later time because there is so much baggage. Do any of you have strained relationships with your parents?
But before I share my peak, I've got to share that I have the best mother in the world. My parents are divorced. She is everything I hope to be for Macie.

My Peak:
Last night as Macie and I were waiting for DH to get home I was playing with Macie. We had the best time. She was just laughing and laughing and it was the belly laugh, the kind that just make me think I'm the luckiest momma in the world to be entrusted with such a sweet baby.

I know many of you are still waiting for your little ones, and I think about you often. I have no words of wisdom, just thoughts and prayers that our hopes will be fulfilled through Him.

What was your 'peak and pit' this week?

Things That Keep Me Humble

This year my husband (who teaches high school chemistry) has a blind student. He's told me a lot about her and I met her once while in DH's classroom (remember, we teach at the same high school).
She told me she has heard my voice before and I told her I'd say hi next time she walked by my classroom.
Yesterday I saw her while I was holding the door open for some of my students. I said "hi!" and she said hi and then asked me how my day was. I said great, and she said her day was going well. I said "That's great! See you later!".

Then I put my palm to my forehead and realized how inappropriate my comment was.

Peak and Pit

The peak of this week was getting rid of the 8 industrial dryers which were in our house for 6 days! Our tiny little leak has caused thousands of dollars of damage and will result in new paint for most of the house and new laminate flooring if they can't match the old. It's been a hassle, but how can I complain with all the loss in Japan and in other parts of the world? It's been a great reminder of how much I am blessed.

The pit of this week was Monday night. For some reason I always get bummed when we're driving home from Bible study on Monday nights. Maybe it's because it's usually around 930 and I'm tired and we're all tired. Maybe it's because all the moms at the Bible study talk about their 'mom's group' that meets during the work day on Wednesdays and I always feel a little guilty about working. Maybe it's just that I still have the whole week to get through and it's only Monday night...Anywho, I tend to get a little bummed out on Monday nights. I'm hoping this Monday will be different.

And this is mean to share! What was your peak and pit this week?

P.S. This is Macie. She has now found her hair bows and they don't generally stay in her hair anymore.

1st birthday ideas

At Kelly's Korner, today's Show Us Your Life is Birthday parties. Macie just turned 10 months this week (what!?!) so obviously I can't show you her party pictures, but I thought I'd share what I'm planning. Her theme will be 'CowGirl'. I'm telling, you go on etsy and search for cowgirl birthday party. There is some of the CUTEST stuff, and so far, this is what I've decided on:

I ordered this shirt from IzzyBTees on etsy. I haven't received it yet, but I just thought it was adorable.

I also found this skirt, but my mom is starting to be quite a seamstress in her retirement, so I commissioned her to make something similar and she was excited to try. So I'll let you know how it turns out.

And I've given myself a budget of $200.00 for this party. Is that too personal to share on a blog? It feels like SUCH a large amount of money, but most of that is going towards feeding our family and friends, so I'm thinking it's pretty reasonable (especially since I just partnered to throw my SIL a baby shower that totalled over 500 dollars!). But that means I'm making most of the decorations for Macie's party by myself. I found these dye-cuts here at work (school) and I'm going to try to make a banner myself. Something like this:

I'll keep you posted as I plan. Anybody watching that 'extreme child birthday parties' show on TLC? I watch the re.al housewives of beverly hi.lls and I noticed that one woman spent $60,000.00 on her daughters 4th party. I suppose by comparison my 200.00 is pretty cheap. Anybody brave enough to share their party costs? Yikes!

Womanly

I finally scheduled an oppointment for a 'well woman' exam. I've been putting it off since I had Macie, and finally It's just time. I'm mostly doing this because my dr. left the practice I was using and I don't like the other dr. there. So while I'm not necessarily hoping to get pregnant until maybe summer (like I have control over such things, ha!), this time, I'm hoping to already have a relationship with my dr. before hand. So thus, I scheduled my womanly exam.
For me, the worst part of the womanly exam isn't the womanly part. It's the blood pressure machine and the scale. I don't mind when they take bp by hand, but that machine actually hurts sometimes! And then the scale...do I need to say more? By the end of my pregnancy I was just turning around on it so I didn't have to look at the numbers. I've lost about 25 pounds since Jan. 2nd, so I know the scale won't be so bad, but it's still not so great. THat is for sure!
What part do you hate the most about the ob/gyn?

Peak and Pit

Every Friday for almost the entire year I've been teaching, I've asked my students what the peak and pit of their week was (the best part - peak, and worst part - pit). It has been a great way to get to know my students better. Everyone has to write it in their bell work, but only a few kids share (as it could easily take the whole period). All the ages of students I've taught, from sixth graders to 12th graders really like it.

So then I was thinking, why don't I do this on my blog? I'll try to do it every friday like in my classroom, but of course, today is Saturday, so I'm already behind.

Plus, we've had some homeowners excitement around here this week, so I certainly have things to share.

My Pit: Tuesday night, DH found a leak in the wall between our bathroom and dining room! I am so thankful he heard it, because if I was alone, I wouldn't have heard it and it would've gone on for a lot longer and done a lot more damage! So that meant that we were on the phone with st.ate farm and a 24 hour plumbing company. We ended up just shutting the water off until the next afternoon when the plumber could get out there. At first we thought it was a slab leak, (which means a lot more money..Yikes!) but turns out it was just in the wall.

But this has meant that since Wednesday night when the 'restoration' company was here, we've had about 7 industrial dryers going and we've had to spend the last two nights at my mom's house. I know my mom didn't mind, but we really took advantage of her. She insisted we sleep in her bed, and she watched Macie all day for the last two days while DH and I went with our church to the Catalys.t West coast conference with An.dy Stanley.

So the current status update is that we're on day three of the dyers, they tore out about 20 square feet of our laminate floor, and there is still a whole a few feet big in our drywall in the dining room. I'm sure I'll update that more as the problem gets fixed. And we have pictures too.

My peak: There are really a lot of things to chose from. Going to that conference was amazing. It was about taking courage as a Christian leader. We heard from two non-christians (the guy who started twitter and Soledad O'b.rian from CNN) and a bunch of Christians - An.dy Stanley, Dave Ram.sey, and about 5 other great speakers. Very motivating. But the best part of all was coming home to this adorable little girl each day. She is almost walking. She has taken a bunch of steps on her own, but she still falls down. Her current record is about 9 steps. Since she'll be 10 months on Monday (right!?) I'll probably say she 'started' walking at 9 months and hopefully became proficient at 10 months.

Here is a picture to end this post. Macie has recently started biting the spoon when she's done eating. I know she looks like a cowgirl here, it's just the way her bib is positioned. I promise she didn't just come from a train robbery, it's just how she looks. promo