10 Things About Little Ol' Me

   I thought I would share some random things about myself. And trust me, they will be RANDOM. I'm kind of a random person.

1) Since Matt and I have been married (almost 5 years) we have owned 6 dogs, 3 snakes, 1 turtle, 1 raccoon, and a quaker parrot. Currently we just have two dogs and two snakes.

2) I HATE Snakes. This is kind of strange since we have two snakes but those are Matt's. I DO NOT do anything with them because they scare me.  And their cages are securely locked down. I wouldn't be able to sleep if they weren't!

3) I used to be terrified of swimming in lakes. I still don't like it. I don't like the idea of not being able to see the bottom and of swimming with fish. I'm totally fine with swimming in the ocean though. (Yes, Weird I know.)

4) I HATE socks. I only own about 5 pairs.

5) I've always been fascinated by anything that deals with Richard Nixon and the Watergate Scandal. 
    (Yes, I'm a nerd!)
6) I can't sleep unless I'm covered up with both a sheet and a comforter. If Matt steals my covers I almost always wake up right away.

7) My favorite movie of all time is One Fine Day. Love George Clooney!

8) I can't make chocolate chip cookies. For some reason I always seem to screw them up!!

9) I could eat chips and salsa everyday!

10) I like visiting odd places...I've been to the SPAM musuem, seen the worlds largest ball of twine, and to Laura Ingalls Wilder's Birth Place just to name a few.

At the Carwash

What happens when you find old pvc pipe laying in the grass at the back of your property and a handyman for a husband who likes to build stuff?? Your child gets a carwash sprinkler!!

Matt constructed this using pvc pipe and fittings. He poked holes in the pipe and then rigged up a hose. Now Layne has his very own carwash to wash all his toys in. And boy does he love it!!

Washing his wagon in the carwash!

Catching drops of water on his tongue. Silly boy!!

(I'm slightly jealous that I didn't have one of these when I was little!)

Need a Tow?

Layne has a new obsession. He LOVES to tow things around with his trike. If I let him, he would tow anything he could get his hands on! He loves using Daddy's bungy cords as tow ropes so he can pull his stuff around the driveway.

Towing his wagon filled with toys and his bike hooked on the back. That was quite the setup he had going on!!

Posing for a quick picture.

I just love watching him play. He has such a good imagination. Some of the things he comes up with just amazes me. He is so stinkin' funny!! I love my little tow man!!

85th Birthday Party

Back in January, my Mom and I were discussing the fact that my Grandma would be turning 85 in June this year. We knew we wanted to do something special for her. She has always loved being surrounded by friends and family and loves socialize. The party was a success!! My Grandma enjoyed herself so much and loved that her whole family was together celebrating with her.

The food table. We had cake balls, cupcakes, fruit kebobs, fruit salsa with cinnamon pita chips, and chocolate chip cookie dough dip with graham crackers.

The photo/card table. We had lots of pictures of Grandma spread out on the tables too. 

The Birthday Girl with her Great Grand Children, Layne and Natalie.

The Birthday Girl with her grandchildren.

The whole family minus the spouses.

Busy, Busy!!

I've had every intention to blog but we have had so much going on that when I do have a moment to relax, I'm either catching up on tv, reading, or sleeping. Since the last time I blogged, we have done a lot of swimming, playing outside, had an 85th birthday party for my Grandma, spent time with cousins, went to the lake, etc. We have also had a few lows amongst all the fun stuff. Hopefully down the road I will be able to share but right now I'm not emotionally ready.

Pinterest: DIY Edition

I thought I would share some of my favorite Pinterest finds again. This time it's my DIY finds.

I love these curtains!! My mother is helping me make some just like this for my living room. I will also have something similar to this in my dining room as well. Can't wait to hang them up!!

Source: blackcopperdiy.blogspot.ca via Anna on Pinterest

I have almost all the supplies I need to make this. I think it's adorable and would be so cute hanging in my entryway. I love the idea of keeping track of all the places we have been. It would help Layne learn his states too!!

Source: kimboscrafts.blogspot.com via Anna on Pinterest

I have a wall similar to this in my kitchen and I believe that this is what I want to put on that wall. I would love an area that I
could keep mail, calendars,reminders, grocery lists, etc.

Source: landeeseelandeedo.com via Anna on Pinterest

I think that this looks so much fun. Layne and his friends would just love this!!

Source: cedarworks.com via Anna on Pinterest

Infertility Sucks

   Since I was little, I dreamt of being a mother. I had always dreamt of having a huge family with five plus kids. As a grew older, the number change slightly but the dream stayed the same. About six months before Matt and I got married, I got baby fever bad. And I mean BAD. I wanted kids NOW!

  As soon as my baby fever hit, I started paying attention to my body more. That's when I noticed something might not be right. I hadn't had my period yet. Was I pregnant?? I immediately bought a pregnancy test and took it. It was negative. I went to the doctor to see if something else could be wrong with me. The doctor dismissed it by saying I was just extremely stressed out from planning a wedding and the stress was causing me to not get my period. I believed that to be a logical answer and decided to not worry to much about it.

  Months passed and I still never got my period. Our July wedding day came and went and by August, I had finally got my period after eight months!! I believed that my doctor had been right. I had been just too stressed to get my period. Matt and I decided to start trying for a baby. After three months of trying, we were pregnant!! We were both extremely excited to be starting a family!!

  On July 15, 2008, we were blessed with our amazing son, Layne Matthew. I was in heaven!! I was so extremely happy to have been blessed with my son Layne. By the time Layne was about 5 months old, I began asking Matt when we should start trying for another child. (We both had agreed that we wanted our children to be close in age.) We decided to start trying again for our second child a month later. That was in January 2009.  Matt and I both thought it wouldn't take us very long to get pregnant again. We were both wrong.

Two months into trying for our 2nd child, I stopped having my period. I thought that I must be stressed again and tried everything to relax and ease my stress. For the next ten months I got my period three times. In December 2009, I made any appointment with an ob/gyn  to get checked out. Sadly I couldn't be seen until March 2010.

I was nervous to see my doctor the day of the appointment. I just knew that something else had to be wrong with me. It couldn't be stress that was causing me to not have my period.  I talked with my doctor and she decided to run some blood work tests to figure out what was going on. She didn't believe that stress was causing all of this.

After my blood work came back, we finally found the problem. My hormone levels were screwed up and that I had PCOS. I was so glad to finally know what was wrong with me. The doctor explained to me my options and started me on clomid. After taking clomid for six months and three dosage changes, nothing had happened yet. I wasn't pregnant. Back to the doctor's office I went. She decided to put me on Femara. My doctor told me that she had had good luck with Femara and that is how she had conceived all three of her kids. I took the Femara as for one month that's all it took. I was pregnant again!!

We told our parents over Christmas that Layne was going to be a big brother. Everyone was excited. Shortly after we had announced the news of our pregnancy, I started spotting. I immediately called me doctor because I was convinced something was wrong. The doctor saw me a couple days before my scheduled appointment and did an ultrasound. Everything was fine but the doctor told me to take it easy for a little while. The spotting eventually stopped. A week before I was to hit the 12 week mark, I started spotting again. This time it was a little different because it was heavier than the previous time. I immediately called the doctor again. The nurse assured me that nothing was wrong and that I could wait to be seen the following week at my scheduled appointment. I knew in the back of my mind that something was wrong. I ended up calling back and demanding that I be seen by someone in the doctors office. Matt and I headed straight for the doctor's office.

We sat in silence most of the ride there. I was so worried that something was wrong with my baby. The wait to see the doctor was excruitating. After waiting about 20 minutes to be seen, it was finally my turn. The doctor went over my symptoms with me and wanted to check for a heartbeat. She couldn't find it but assured me that that happens alot and sent me to have an ultrasound done. The ultrasound tech started the ultrasound but wouldn't tell me what was going on. I ended up flat out asking and that's when my worst fears were confirmed.

My baby didn't have a heartbeat.

We were devastated. I don't really remember much after that besides a lot of crying going on.  I couldn't believe that after waiting for so long that it was all done and over with. I had a rough miscarriage. I ended up in the ER because I was losing a lot of blood. Thankfully the doctors and nurses got it under control.

A couple of months later we started trying again with the same medicine. I ended up getting pregnant again but about three days after taking a pregnancy test I had another miscarriage. We decided to stop trying for a while. I was way to emotional and need some time to think about everything.

This past spring, we made the decision to start trying again. I'm hoping that things will work out better and that we can expand our family. Our struggle with infertility has really made me realize to not take anything for granted and that everything is a blessing.  I believe that everything that has happened has made me a stronger person. I just hope that our prayers will be answered and we can expand our family!!