Last time...

Last time the winter olympics were on, my life looked like this:

Time is such a funny thing.  One one hand, I can not believe I have 4 year olds.  How did they get so big?  And so smart?  And so sassy?  On the other hand, this scene seems such a lifetime ago that I can hardly remember how hard it was surviving those moments.

Fertility Land

Thursday I had another saline sonohystogram done, but this time we added a "bubble test," more medically termed the FemVue.  This FemVue was a totally new thing to me, not something I even knew existed.

For the sono they use saline to fill your uterus & essentially stretch it all out, so you can see it 3D via ultrasound.  The saline also spills out through your tubes.  The sono found that my uterus still looks snazzy.  No polyps.  Still slightly T shaped (not that uterine shape was something that was going to change), but all within the normal bounds.  Like last time, the procedure was slightly uncomfortable, but nothing 800mg of Motrin couldn't handle.

For the bubble part of it, they inject air, hence the bubbles & you can see bubbles going out the end of your tubes to your ovaries.  Literally looked like blowing on a straw in a cup full of milk.  And yes, we saw all the bubbles, on both sides.  So I do not fall into the 1% of people with blockage post c/section, and my tubes are clear.

I was prepared for the bubble test being much more painful.  The HSG I had done to check my tubes in January 2009 was about enough to make me pass out.  Honestly, I have yet to experience anything more physically painful.  Part of why I started with the OB vs going back to the RE was to hopefully avoid repeating it.  But you know what, this was easy peasy.  Didn't feel a darn thing.

So we just chalk up that fluid in my uterus found last medicated cycle in November as a less than typical response to being on Femara.  Overall in the business of fertility, I am usually less than typical, so I guess thats a reasonable answer.

She said, "On paper, you look like you should be pregnant.  Everything looks great & you stimulate great."  But she also said, "But on paper, from you cycle in 2009 I would have never guessed you would have end up with triplets either."

Its funny to go there & meet different nurses.  They hear me talk to Dr. Barton (who has more or less taken over as our primary contact there) & our discussion turns to concerns of stimulating more than 2 follicles & they get a goofy look on their face.  Then Dr. Barton stops, turns to them & says "she has triplets," and this big "Ahh ha" moment happens.  I'm apparently quite the odd duck there with my concerns of stimulating more than 2 follicles.

So what does all this mean.  Nothing really, other than now that we know for sure my tubes are open, next month will not be filled with hyperstimulation & follistim.  But I will re-enter the world of Clomid.  Which, strangely, I have never done with the RE & never done with a close following or IUI.  I do remember the Clomid hot flashes being horrendous, so there's that I get to "look forward to."  But that was also prior to enduring things like Mag, c/section recovery, the list goes on, so hopefully the side effects of Clomid won't seem as life altering as I remember them.

But here we go, onward to late- February!!

Bye-Bye Sippies

Yes.... at 4, we still relied HEAVILY on sippy cups in this house.

Yes.... I know, bad.
Don't judge.

Its not that the kids COULDN'T drink from "big kid cups."
They do at school, we do at home for meals.

It was just that, well, it was easier.  Pure parental laziness.  I'll admit it.

A sippy full of milk & a snuggle on the couch in the morning.  Who doesn't love that?

Plus, what are you to do with drinks in the car?  I'm not cleaning that mess up every time we go somewhere!


For Christmas, the kids got a variety of different non-sippy thermos cups.  As a pre-cursor to me getting brave enough to ditch the sippies.


A few weeks back, after cleaning up milk from a dripping sippy tossed on the kitchen floor, washing my bedding from a dripping sippy being snuck into my bed while I showered, cleaning up the kids' bathroom counter from a sippy left on its side dripping & THEN dodging a flying {thankfully empty} sippy being tossed down an entire flight of stairs..... it happened.

Sippies went bye-bye forever.

Just like that I said, "time to grow up."
{Which Olivia told Jeff immediately upon him walking in the door after work that day.  "Mom said we have to grow up today.}

We packed away the sippies.  {Read:  I chickened out on totally throwing them in the trash incase in 48 hours & was wishing for their return.}

And you know what, its been great.

A few times a not quite empty thermos has hit the floor & spilled.  But for the most part, they have adapted & caught on to the rule of putting cups on a table quite well.  {Which trust me, we tried & tried & tried to preach this with sippies, but they never caught on.}

I just said to Jeff last night, this has gone so much easier than I anticipated & had I known it would be such a mess-less transition, I'd of done it long ago.

And just like that, seemingly the last remnant of babyhood is gone from our abode.  And it makes me kind of sad :(

Blah

I don't know if its this winter weather & some seasonal affect disorder-ness.  Or if it can all be blamed on week #1 of working the night shift... but I'm feeling pretty lazy, tired & blah.  And its driving me nutso!

Ugh.

On to week #2 of nights.
Hopefully I can pull it together this week.

Soooo...tired....

Master Reno help?

Our master bedroom since moving in 1.5 YEARS ago, remains, well not such of a masterpiece.  The walls the same dusty, scuffed browns they were the day we moved in.  No art work adorns the walls.  No nothing.  

 Our bathroom, the same story, only in show home not-so-white.  

 With some fabulous accessories!

While Jeff takes on basement walls, wires & lights, I'm hoping to make the Master feel a little more Masterful.  Starting with the bathroom.  I have a few accent walls painted so far, but a lot left to do!  And I've come to a cross roads & need some input.  We are replacing {err, um, spray painting depending on budget} all the light fixtures as we go room to room.  All our brassy gold is becoming oil rubbed bronze.  Which was also my intentions in here.  Until...

Our shower door trim is silver & I panted this same black/grey color in there & the silver that once looked so blah & boring, looks renewed.  I had intended on painting that little bit of wall where the light fixtures hang grey & put up oil rubbed bronze lights.  However, I'm thinking maybe I should paint it dark instead & do this room up with Nickle finishes for lights?  

What do you think??

Winter Activities photo dump

Peeked at my camera today to look at the pictures of our roof & discovered a bunch of things I hadn't uploaded to the blog yet.  So here is a random collection of photos of the things we do in wintertime!

Bake cookies.  This was actually pre-Christmas, baking cookies for Santa. 

 They actually did really good this year with the cookie cutters.

 Decorating!!

 It was hard to decorate them, & not eat every last one on your plate :)

 Ok maybe not so hard to not eat this one :)

 Playing Santa & Reindeer

 We actually had a few days with a dusting of snow on the ground where it was warm enough to play ouside.

The kids got a ton of new games for Christmas.  So we've played games a lot of evenings.  Twister was fun.  Until they all decided it was more fun to spin the dial than to play.

 I ended up having to just say "put A hand on red" vs saying left or right.  They all kinda know & do ok with left & right, but it was exhausting answering 3 kids each time, "Is this my left?" And they had more fun just playing instead of worrying about if they picked the correct hand or foot.

 Trying to get Logan to eat Nutella..... fail.  Seriously what kid wouldn't try what mom coined a "Chocolate Smiley Face Sandwich!"?

 Put our Church family picture in a frame & behind a couple of other pictures I found an oldie.  THe kids had to be like 6 months?  I think the last few years have been good to us!  

Oh 2014.....

I haven't done much blogging this calendar year '14.

But this year, so far, well it can pretty much bite me.

Tonight, Jan. 19, I re-joined the dark side and went back to working nights.  Farewell normal sleep routine.  But that also means farewell to the 5 am alarm clock mornings, which are so not my style.  We'll see how it goes...

After Christmas began this whole cascade of things going on with my grandma.  Prayers for her abundantly would be appreciated right now.  Very, very long story short, she has a currently still unidentified large mass on her kidney.  She's been through the ringer already, & has a long journey ahead so please, please just keep her health & comfort in your prayers.

Wind storm almighty reeked havoc on our roof.  A 5x3 foot-ish stretch of shingles above Olivia's room bit the dust.  New shingles were on our 1-2 year agenda for this house of ours, but it sure wasn't on our January to do list.  So we await a visit from Insurance Agency Almighty to determine how much out of pocket this is gonna slam us with.  Prayers for a very generous insurance check would also be appreciated.

We've passed around nasty colds & 102 degree fevers.

And we're only 20 days into the year.

See my point?