I realized yesterday it's been over 3 months since I've posted here. Sorry for that!

Since my last post, I passed my state board exam & am officially a Registered Nurse. I'm perusing the job postings, but still planning to stay home w/ Elias for as long as possible. If something comes up that's truly exciting & @ night, I may consider applying for it! :)

Elias is a little wiggle worm that's gone mobile. He's not what I would call crawling yet, but he definitely gets around the floor. He's pulling up on everything & trying to stand on his own sometimes. He has so many expressions & sounds... he is so entertaining!

I have gotten better w/ this whole motherhood thing. We understand him better. We can anticipate what he needs before he needs it, so if he begins getting slightly fussy... we are prepared.

We are still bre.astfeeding. Almost exclusively. Sometimes E gets a bit of pureed babyfood or a taste of our soup, but I'm really interested in pursuing baby led weaning. Also, E just sprouted his first baby tooth a couple of weeks ago, so I'm hoping we can progress in solids as his set of toofies come in!

We had to file an amendment to our tax return & are planning to use it to buy E's bigger boy carseat. It's a convertible, but I'm not sure what the official term is. Soon we will no longer be using the infant carseat/restraint. I've prepared myself to get used to this & leave the carseat in the car. We carry him in & out of the car since we'll have to do that with the new convertible seat.

E is officially 8mths old today. Estimating his weight, I would say he's about 20lbs or 9kgs. Maybe a bit less or more. I am not sure of his height; I'm hoping to measure him today or tomorrow to mark the info for his babybook. Yes, I'm trying to keep up w/ his babybook! I keep it stored in the living room, so I can add info when I think of it!

We are pretty much using cloth diapers exclusively. I have not ventured into using them during the night, but have recently purchased some that should work through the night for us. It's almost become addictive. So many cute options & they are so versatile. I actually love cloth diapering! :) {Following are a couple of pictures of E in some of his cloth diapers.}



What else? I'm not sure what I'm leaving out, but I will share some photos with you all!

Hope you all are having a wonderful week! We are enjoying the incredible weather! I love the sunny days & evenings!! I even just bought a bathing suit to help hide those ugly spots from post-baby body. I've gotten down to my prepregnancy weight, but hoping to get down to my pre-IF treatment weight by the end of the summer. About 10lbs left to lose. Maybe more if I'm lucky.

Already getting the bug to be pregnant again. My cycle has started back. Twice I've gotten my p.eriod, but @ 5wks apart. Not sure if it'll stay that way or not, but I'm going to count on it now... so I don't get my hopes up. We are thinking if we're not pregnant when E turns ONE, then we'll be visiting the clinic again & hopefully cycle by the end of the year. Has anyone else checked out their clinic for pricing lately? I'm shocked @ the discounted cycle prices now! Even ICSI is cheaper, the monitoring, etc. I can't believe it's gone down in price that much in just over a year; I've been stalking our clinic's website since the beginning of the year. Either way, we are blessed to now have insurance that covers IUI &/or IVF completely once the deductible is met. I'm sure we'll still have to pay the meds, but that puts our cost @ a fraction of what we paid for E's cycle. I feel like we hit the lottery w/ IVF#1 & am scared to tempt by doing another cycle that will fail. We'll see. Plenty of time to figure out our plans!!

Been A While

Sorry I've been such a slacker about posting. I guess now that I've had my baby, I don't want to post much about how each milestone is bittersweet... never knowing if I'll experience this with another child, but so absolutely grateful that I can experience it once.

Elias is just developing by leaps & bounds. He's so freaking hilarious & cute! Even when I'm @ my wit's end & just wanna cry, he somehow manages to melt me all over again with a HUGE-GOOFY-HALF-OF-HIS-FACE grin! It's awesome.

He's almost 4.5 months old now. Umm, seriously!?

He's been rolling over from his back to his belly for about a month now, but has just begun rolling from his belly to his back. And apparently this is out of the norm. They usually do this the other way around. He doesn't care for tummy time, so unless we hang out with him & cheer him on & smile @ him with lots of encouragement... he fusses on his tummy! Like tonight, he fell asleep on his side (his preferred position of sleep), flipped in his sleep, then woke up & cried because he was on his tummy.

We are still exclusively breastfeeding. In the beginning, I would say the first 6wks or so, I didn't enjoy it at all. I think I was half angry at the baby because b'feeding hurt so much. And I felt like he ALWAYS needed to eat. I was so sleep deprived & upset about having to wake up every 2-3 hours, take the baby into the living room, pump or latch him, deal with the screaming, etc etc. I kept pushing myself to do it just one more week... one more day... try another day...

Then, around 6-7wks of age, it started clicking. This was a collision of several factors that I attribute to this becoming easier: Elias began sleeping through the night; we began side-lying b'feeding; the lecture portion of nursing school was over; & b'feeding stopped hurting. Even when he latched.

Since then, b'feeding has become exponentially more enjoyable. I appreciate that I am the only one able to provide for his nutritional needs. I am marvelled at the fact that my body has been empowered to nourish & support another human being from conception to 4.5mths old. I mean, it's pretty freaking amazing, right?! I adore the giggles & coos & "talking" as Elias stops his feeding long enough to connect with me. I love being able to soothe him to sleep or calm his anxiety. I get it now... the overwhelming emotional, physical, & hormonal connection that accompanies b'feeding.

At his 4mth appointment, the doctor cleared him to start solids whenever we want to. I don't feel as though he's ready yet. He's not showing signs of interest & I've attempted giving him little bits here & there. I'm planning to wait until 6mths to start him on solids. We'll see how he leads.

"In the meantime", I completed nursing school! I am officially a graduate nurse & am studying to take the NCLEX to become a registered nurse!!

I have also recently found some mommy groups in the area that I'm excited about meeting up with. I've been thinking about creating my own group as many friends have had babies in the past year or so. I'll letcha know how it all comes out after the next couple of meetings... I plan to attend at least two in the next week and a half.

Oh, one more thing, I'm a MINIVAN MOM! :)


So, without further adou, here's some pictures of the little munchkin...

{He looks thrilled doesn't he? But, really, he loves his Bumbo!}

This was from today...

{He is definitely his Momma's baby; he has so many crazy expressions! He's even got a bit of a Blue Steele streak in him! LOL}

And just a picture that I thought was cute from last weekend of his diapers drying on the line. We do cloth diapers during the day, then disposables during the night & when we're out & about.


And guess what?! N's new insurance (kicking in around March-ish) has IF coverage! That means we may have another chance at a kid or two more! What a blessing, huh!? I'm hoping he'll agree to cycling this summer, but then we'll probably still be b'feeding, so maybe early 2011! How exciting! And, yes, I definitely still want more kids!

Just Checking In...

Had our nurse's orientation last Friday. Which, plainly put, sucked. Basically, if I asked a question, the response was "It's in the book, read the book." I hate that. Also had a ridiculous experience in the waiting room w/ a chick on the office phone for 30m calling everyone & their mother to tell them she's having her baby & needs a ride (hmm, the office is AT the hospital, but she needed a ride HOME to get stuff, cuz God forbid, she wasn't going to sit at the hospital). Ugh.

But, that afternoon, we "accidentally" met up with the most wonderful doula. And, she's hired. We're very excited about it. It's fun trying to explain to my g'mothers what a doula is, but we're very happy & relieved to be hiring her. And it's much cheaper than I thought it would be!

After speaking to our doula, I got more information about different practices in our area. Ours is pretty conservative, which can be good, but they pretty much monitor 50/60 minutes during labor, you don't have a choice in bir.thing pos.itions, & I wouldn't be able to labor in the jacuzzi tubs (which, yes, are completely sanitized between patients... I checked!), & they have a higher rate of C-sections. As much as we can, I want to be able to choose how to labor & bi.rth. Yes, I realize it may not work out how we like, but I don't want to have to fit into a cookie-cutter mold "only our way". So, I will still keep the appt next Tuesday w/ the doctor (same GYN that has done my laps for endo), but I plan to ask lots of questions.

Since Monday afternoon, I've been feeling pretty miserable... guess some sort of flu bug. I was relieved to talk to a nurse & discover I could take some cold meds. I slept most of Tuesday & lots of Wednesday & am back at work today. Hoping to make it through today & not be miserable.

And it's like fr.eaking 17 degree here. In Florida. If I didn't love our home & love living near my family... I'd be so motivated to move. At least somewhere south of us where it doesn't get AS cold. I've heard lots of comments about how miserable I will be in the summer pregnant... but I'm so looking forward to it. I hate being cold. I look forward to smooshing a big belly in a cute summer dress or top. Bring it on... soon, please!

Done w/ Shots!

This morning was my last PIO. So, 6wks+1day of those things. They didn't really start to be bothersome until 5wks, so I'm thankful for that. The RE had told me at the 6.5wk u/s that I could just stop the PIO + estrogen patches when I ran out of PIO, but I was nervous about stopping them cold turkey.

So, I called Tuesday & spoke to a nurse. She told me the main reason for tapering the hormones off is to avoid headaches. I just feel it's better to be safe than sorry. I know there's still a chance I could lose this little baby, but I don't want to wonder if it was because I dropped the hormones too quickly.

Which means, I'm on su.ppositories 3x/day until wk9, then 2x/day until wk10, & finally 1x/wk until wk11. Same with the estrogen patches, but not nearly as many! I think I continue the 2patches/2days until wk10, then down to 1patch/2days until wk11. {I have it written down somewhere...}

I'm doing pretty well over here, other than the below & in 20s weather we're experiencing in our part of Florida. Since it began getting cooler right in the beginning of the IVF cycle, I wasn't comfortable buying any propane for the heating. Now, we're out of the cycle, & I'm trying to save money by still not getting any propane, but these temps sure suc.k! We have a space heater + a wonderful heating blanket (that I learned almost as soon as we found out about the pregnancy, I can only keep it on a low temp during the night so as not to increase my body temp... had never even THOUGHT of something like that, but glad I found out early). But, the mornings getting dressed & out the door... are rough for me. I think I'm gonna grab some gloves to have just for that! :)

Enough whining, though. I'm looking forward to the spring & summer temps!

I still haven't thrown up & I'm feeling less & less nauseas in the past couple of weeks. I am very thankful for that. Except for being tired & the occasional cramp or pulling in my abdomen, I don't "feel" pregnant. I remember reading those kind of comments... that before, I was grasping at any kind of symptom to mean I was pregnant. And once it's here, not much of anything.

We have our 1st appt with the OB's office next Friday. This will be an orientation w/ the nurse just for Q&As &, I guess, getting info from us. I think our chart from the RE would have most of that, but I'm looking forward to asking questions. Then, a week and a half later, we have our 1st appt with the doctor. This is the same doctor that has been treating my endo. We like him. We were told we'll probably do another u/s at that time; we'll be 11 wks that day & off supplemental hormones.

Sorry to not be posting very often. I guess there's not too much happening. Thinking of you all... been reading, but not commenting as much. I will change that!! Hope you have a wonderful Thursday!