Fragile X

Just a quick update, I had a fragile X test done about 3 weeks ago, which is to see if I carried the gene that could increase our chance of birth defects but it was negative so that is a good sign, we just got the results back on Friday. Hope everyone is having a great holiday season, we will keep you posted!

3 hours of knowing December

Let me explain the title entry to this blog. Yesterday afternoon Michael and I went to Loxahatchee to buy some bamboo for our backyard. This was a adventure that we will never forget because we had never been so far out west, and because this is where we would meet a dog that we called December. Yesterday was a reminder that life is not always beautiful, sometimes it is just plain hard. After driving around for a while trying to find the nursery we finally headed down what we believed to be the correct road, except be got way more than we bargained for and learned that sometimes when you think you are on your way, it's just a dead end road at the end of the day.
As we came to the end of the dirt road and made a right turn, about a 100 yards to our left we heard a gun shot. We saw a big truck, a dog scampering around and a guy with a gun. As soon as we heard the gunshot I told Michael to stop the car as we tried to make sense of the situation. The dog ran around from the front of the truck to the side. I told Michael "this guy just shot that dog," but Michael was sceptical because it was broad daylight and the dog was running around. I then saw this guy flip his gun around to hit the dog with the butt of the gun but he ran under the truck. This all happened in a matter of about 10 seconds and we were pretty much stunned. While we were still sitting in the car trying to figure out what the hell was going on. The man and his wife get in the truck and drive away and the dog trots off after the truck. The situation didn't feel right so we decided to investigate. We turned the car around and head the other direction. As we passed the scene of this crime I think I saw blood stains on the ground, but Michael didn't see them. We took off to find the truck, but it is nowhere to be found. As we went back past the scene again, Michael stopped the car and said "yep there's blood." At this point we turned our focus towards finding the dog. It was a narrow dirt road with a drainage canal on one side, so there weren't many place the dog could have gone. At first glance we couldn't locate him. There was an entrance to another rural nursery part way down the road so, we figure he must have seeked shelter there. As we started to pull into the nursery driveway Michael says "look over there" and we saw the dog hunkered in the bushes. Michael couldn't tell, but I could plainly see that he was covered in blood. I got out of the car to help him. Worried about my safety, I grabbed a coat from the back of the car and approached the dog. I did this slowly and with caution, not knowing if he would try to attack us. I sat down on the ground and gently talked to him, and as is did this he came over, laid in the coat and I wrapped him up. He was bleeding everywhere and had bullet holes all over this shoulder, chest and ear because he had been shot with bird shot. Michael backed up the car and with our assistance the dog hopped up in the cargo area. His right front leg was pretty much not working, so I got in the back with him wrapped up in the coat and we were off to find a vet. Lucky for us there was one not far down the road.
We got there and the vet came out to help us get December out of the car, which took a little bit of time. During all of this the vet tells us that since we brought him in we are responsible for him, but they will try to help us find a shelter for him. Well of course we are going to treat him and not leave him in our car bleeding and full of holes. They allowed us to go in the back as they gave him some medications, ran some blood tests and started an IV. They tell us that December is a pitbull mix and about 2 years old. They find that he tested positive for heartworms. One of the assistants called Peggy Adams Animal Rescue but they could not take him because they can only have 20% of their population as pitbulls at the shelter, plus he was positive for heartworms, plus he needed to have orthopedic surgery and possibly his leg amputated to repair what the vet believed to be a shattered femur. We were left with the decision to either treat this dog and take him home with us or put him to sleep.
Never did we anticipate that we would have a day like this, sometimes life can knock you down and break your heart. We were faced with a decision regarding December's fate and our options were few. I'm sure he must of done something for someone to want to shoot him, but he had not been aggressive towards us, not even once. Who knows, maybe it could have been because he was injured, we don't know. There were to many unanswered questions about weather or not this dog was a danger or could be a danger to us, our dogs, and eventually our baby.
The vet said we were looking at about $3000-4000, to treat December and once he recovered we would have to start heartworm treatment which she said would be another $1000.00, so minimum we were looking at $5000. We knew that our situation didn't afford us the opportunity to keep this dog, but we were determined to find a way to save his life. We called my parents to say "hey if we fix December" would you be willing to take him? They said no, they could not. The vet told us that even if we healed him we would have problems adopting him out because of his situation. After much crying and heartbreak we decided that the best plan of action was to put December to sleep, we really felt we had no other choice. If he would of been a different type of dog, then animal rescue would of taken him. If we weren't in the situation that we are in, having 3 dogs already and in fertility treatment, then we would of taken him. This is one of the hardest decisions we ever had to make and I don't know if I will ever feel 100% sure that it was the right decision. I believe that in life our struggles make us stronger, and the changes make us wise, but we struggled to understand, why us, why this dog. We wanted so much to save this dog and give him something better, but life ain't always beautiful and it broke our hearts not to be able to. So we shall never forget this day that we met a dog who we named December. Rest in peace our four legged friend.

New IVF Schedule

We went to the doctor this past week and got our IVF schedule for January. I will start my stimulation drugs on the 2oth, retrieval is set for the 31st and transfer on Feb. 5th. These dates are give or take a few days earlier or later depending on how my body is responding to the medications. I have been tested for the fragile-X chromosome and should have results by the end of this coming week. ( If I am a carrier, then we sit and talk with the doctor about our % of having a normal healthy baby). Our doctor is increasing my medicine to the extent that he would give a 40 year old woman. He said my body does not respond as it should be, so hes really turning up the notch. If I have a cycle like a did before ( which was not that great) after giving me all these medications, then we will have to sit down and talk with the doctor because most likely it is my eggs. Our hope is with this increase in dosage I will produce the eggs and estrogen levels that he wants to see and we grow nice little embroys.

Pregnancy Test

NEGATIVE. Oh well, we'll circle the wagons and try again in January.

Another Nephew!

We have a new nephew named Avery. He's 6 pounds 11 ounces, 18" and was born yesterday afternoon. Welcome to the family little dude.

The Little Embryo That Could

I think I can, I think I can, our embryo kept repeating. Low and behold, this morning we received a call from our embryologist who told us that our embryo looked beautiful! Our last remaining embryo had fully transitioned to the Blastocyst stage and is "text book" in appearance. Both our doctor and embryologist are very much fascinated by this little embryo. I realize it is hard to grasp the drama of the situation without being in the moment, but our embryologist (who handles thousands of embryos a year) told us "this is one embryo I will always remember." There is still some concern regarding the fact that this little guy took 7 days to mature, but as best we can guess this emby is just a late bloomer. So we sent it home and transferred it back to the Pod (Denise). Let's hope it gets comfortable and sticks around for a while. Who knows what's next, so keep your fingers crossed and lets hope we get a positive pregnancy test on November 26th.

Still No Transfer

Upon viewing our embryo this morning, it was observed that growth is still happening but the desired stage of blastocyst has not yet been achieved. After much deliberation with both our doctor and embryologist it was decided that we would keep the embryo in the incubator for one more day and see how it develops. We should have a much more definitive answer regarding the health of our embryo tomorrow. This is somewhat uncharted territory because our doctor, who has performed thousands of these procedures, has never gone to a 7-day transfer. This is very unusual but should determine whether or not our embryo is viable to be transferred.

And Then There Was ONE

When the goin gets tough, the tough gotta hang in there and keep holding on. The embryologist called and said we lost another emby, and are down to just one. We were scheduled for the transfer this morning but are now getting pushed to tomorrow so they can monitor the progress of the remaining embryo. Our one remaining embryo has not made the jump to the blastocyst stage yet, so we will wait one more day to see if it can make the transition. If emby makes it to a blastocyst tomorrow we will transfer, if not, we will abort the mission and regroup.

Emby Update

We received a call today from the Embryologist who informed us that the development of one of our 3 embryos had arrested, but the other 2 seemed to be developing on schedule. We are scheduled for an embryo transfer tomorrow morning at 9:15am if everthing looks well in the am.

BUSTED!!

Kona was busted on hidden video, getting on the counter.

Grow Baby Grow

We spoke with the Embryologist this morning and 3 of the 7 eggs fertilized. Now we need these little guys to grow into strong Blastocysts. We've got our fingers crossed that the embryos grow properly for a 5-day transfer, which will be scheduled for either Monday or Tuesday if everything goes well.

Eggs Away!

We had the egg retrieval yesterday morning and everything went as planned. 7 eggs were retrieved, which is actually 1 or 2 more than expected based on the estrogen levels. The next step is to get the eggs to fertilize and grow into wonderfull little embryos. We should have another update later today when the embryologist calls and tell us how many of the eggs actually fertilized. Finger crossed!

Mondays Dr. Appointment

The egg retrieval is set for Wednesday a day earlier than we expected, at 9:15am. We had an almost disaster tonight thanks to me. I have been so flighty with the medications this time, I guess with all these hormones getting pumped into me, my brain is not working on all cylinders. My HCG shot needs to be given at 10:15pm tonight, this is what makes me ovulate and release my eggs, so its very important. Thank goodness for my SUPER HUBBY who at 8:30pm said "lets get the shot out and make sure its all ready to go", I'm like no no its fine, he said get it out, so I did. Well come to find out that I did not have the right stuff, I had the water that mixes but not the powder. This stuff is not easy to come by, so I had to beep our IVF coordinator who was not very happy with me and told her what happened. We searched like crazy, calling pharmacies to see if they had it. You have to order fertility meds through a special pharmacy. I came up empty handed but Ilene found a Walgreens that carried it and we picked it up at 9:30pm!!
I am tired and going to bed and am glad we are done with meds, for now...stay tuned.....

Sundays Dr. Visit

Things look good this am and my estrogen was 796!! Its never been that high before so we are very excited. I have about 10 follicles with 6 to 7 growing well, the others may catch up. They want us back in tomorrow to watch me closely and see if we can do the retrieval a day early, stay tuned....

UF Vs VANDY

We went to the Gator game this weekend with our friends Nelson and Tommy and had a great time. Nice weather, good company, good football what more could you ask for. Chris Leak was there signing autographs by the alumni building but we didn't realize what was going on until about 2 minutes before he was leaving, so I snapped a quick picture. OK so its not the best picture but its something.

1, 2, 3 little follicles, 4, 5, 6 little follicles

Recap for the week, we had a doctors appointment on Wed and Friday, and things are looking pretty good. We started off with about 13 follicles and are down to about 9 with 6 so far that are growing well, the others may catch up. They range from 14.6mm to 10.9mm. I am on 2 different injections and they started me on a 3rd this am, with an increase in my medications. Michael enjoys the mixing of the meds and sticking me in my belly, which is feeling heavy and full. The meds make me feel irritable and stupid, what a great combo, and I feel pretty tired later in the afternoon and evening along with some dizziness and headaches. This is new because I did not feel this way last time, guess that's what happens when your hopped up on hormones.
We are headed up and back for the GATOR GAME tomorrow with a few friends so we are looking forward to that. We are back at the doctors Sunday morning for another follicle/estrogen check, so we will see what happens. We are scheduled for the egg retrieval on Thursday Nov, 8th but should know more by Sunday. On another note, we lost one of our KOI fish tonight, Moe, and had a burial for him by sea in the bathroom, we are down to 3 fish. We also had another casualty Thursday night, our flat screen TV in our bedroom blew up!! True story, I was watching it and sparks came then smoke and POW, no more TV. This was right in the middle of Greys Anatomy so you can understand when I tell you this was upsetting, I had to go finish the show in the living room. And the best part, the warranty was up in May, this is now our 2nd TV in 3 years that has bit the dust. More to come on Sunday, stay tuned...

Let the fun begin!

After a few months of riding the pine, we are ready to get this show on the road. Let the IVF experience commence. We started with the injectables yesterday, so let's grow some eggberts (imaging little egg shaped creatures with googly eyes and funny noses).

Fins/Patriots Game

(the handoff) (coin toss)

We went to the fins game on 10-21 and sat in the executive suite. Pretty cool, free food and drinks, AC nice leather chair backs what more could a sports fan ask for? Can we get these for the gator games please? We scored these tix from a sub-contractor from Michael's work and went with a few other Suffolk families. The the Fins lost (again) plus I was rooting for New England, we had a great time.

Gators loss and Koi Pond

What the heck happened this weekend to our gators, they gave the game away to LSU!!! We have been in mourning but its passing, that's a tough one to lose, maybe next year. Have to say that the play calling was much better this game. Moving on, we continue to work on projects around the house, latest is a Koi pond, its pretty cool, I wanted to stick some pictures up but the boss man wants to wait until its all finished. We have 4 Koi, their names are as follows: Gator (hes the biggest, given to us by our rock star neighbor) then we have Cal, Bartalamual (not sure how to spell that one) and Moe. The girlies like to watch the fish swim, when they come out, hopefully they wont try to eat them!!

Dr. Manko Visit 9-24

We went to the doctors on 9-24 and had MORE blood drawn. They are now getting us prepared for our IVF cycle in November, here is the schedule they have laid out for us. I am on the pill and will take that continuously until Oct.23rd. On Oct. 15th we have to go to an injection class. October 28th I start my injections, Oct. 31st we go in for blood work and follicle check, back on the 2nd, 4th, 6th and the 8th we are scheduled for egg retrieval and on the 13th for the embryo transfer. Soooo with all that we are excited to get back on our journey to having a baby or babies!! Some of these dates may change just depends on how my body is responding to the medication. As far as the "MTHFR" goes, we saw a Perinatologist on the 17th and he said I should be fine taking the fultex ( extra folic acid, B9&12 twice a day) along with the baby asprin and prenatals. We may have to go back once we are preggers but only time will tell. He said he could not say for sure if this "MTHFR" was causing my miscarriages or not. So now all we do is count down the days until the end of October!! We will keep you posted.

Romp In The Swamp 9-15-2007

Its go time.......................... Players warming up

Chomp Chomp

If you aint a gator your gator bait!!

Gators got that rammer jammer!! We had a great time at the gator game on Saturday whipping up on those volunteers 59-20!! Michael and I went up with our friend Chad and it was HOT HOT HOT in those stands but theres no other place like it!! Here are a couple of snap shots! NO those seats weren't empty behind us, this picture was before the game started.

WE HAVE NEW TURF

Today was a big step forward in our backyard renovation project. We had 7 pallets of EMPIRE ZOYSIA turf layed down.

Blood Results

Michael and I had some blood work done, our first round was chromosomal testing to make sure that they were normal, we got those results back on our vacation and they were normal, which is good. I then had to have more testing, which I had when we got back from vacation and just got the results back yesterday afternoon. They took 12 tubes of blood from me and were testing all kinds of things that I cant remember, some blood clotting and autoimmune stuff. All of my tests came back nornal except for one. I have 2 copies of a genetic mutation, nice word huh? Is called METHYLENETETRAHYDROFOLATE REDUCTASE, for short its "MTHFR". From my understanding this is what has been causing my miscarriages. I am not sure what all of this means, they have me on baby asprin and foltex or something, which is just more vitamins and follic acid. They have scheduled me to see a Perinatologist on the 17th, I will have more answers then. I guess this doctor treats the fetus and complicated pregnancies. We are not sure if this is a big deal or not at this point, he will go over all my results with us and go from there. So feel free to brush up on your Biology if you like, hehe. Like I said we will know more on the 17th when we meet with this specialist. Keep you posted, we are still set to start IVF in November.

Theraputic Riding

Giddy Up!! My girlfriend Nichole and I have been going horseback riding once a week in Vero, for the last 3 weeks. I would love to go more often but living an hour away from Vero, I can only get there once a week. We both have a passion for riding and its such good therapy. I will only be able to do this up until the beginning of November and then we start back our fertility treatment. This is a nice break for me and allows me to focus on something other than fertility and wondering, is this going to be the month, I will get to start will all that again real soon. Also football season has arrived!!!! GO GATORS!!! I am riding Poco and she is riding Jiggy!!

Grammy, Crabbing, Hiking and Waterfalls

Hail to Queen Mag!! Happy 95th cant wait until 100! Crabbing big Willie style, Hiking and Waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge, Playing with Horses and Goats! What more could you last for.

Paradise RV

WOW!!! I saw this amazing recreational vehicle and just fell in love. We were driving thru the small town of Blue Rapids, Kansas and I couldn't believe my eyes. I could only imagine how great this would look parked in the front yard at our house.

Dream Car

While in the town of Waterville, Kansas I found this little gem. I was so stoked that I went ahead and purchased the beast. We are going to be the coolest folks in our neighborhood.

We're back from vacation!!

Our travels began in Kearney, Nebraska then we shot to Portland, Oregon and ended in Waterville, Kansas. We went to Kearney to celebrate Michael's Grandmothers 95th birthday!! Uncle Steve and Auntie Jan were our hosts and really outdid themselves, it was AC (action central) all the time and food, we ate like kings everyday, every meal! Thank you so much for taking such good care of us. We got to spend time with Michael's cousins, aunts, uncles who came from all over. California, Florida, Minnesota and Oregon; if I forgot a state, sorry!! There was not a whole lot of sight seeing in Kearney but we did manage to find some corn, horses and goats!! We then went to Portland to hang with Auntie Jules and John and they were also outstanding hosts. Can we come live with you, hehe. Michael's cousin Will took us crabbing our first day there, we didn't have any luck but we sure did have a good time!! John and Julie cooked for us a lot and we ate like kings again, damn I wish that Buttress/Casey cooking would come to my kitchen in Florida, hehe. We went hiking, saw some beautiful waterfalls and did some shopping. So much to do so little time, we will be back for sure!! Our last stop was Kansas but it was not a social call I'm afraid. My grandfather had been battling brain cancer and died while we were in Portland, so on that Thursday the 16th when we were suppose to come home, we flew to Kansas to be with my family and pay our respects and say goodbye to an incredible man. We finally made it home on the 18th about 1am, we were glad to be home and our doggies were jumping for joy!! Check out some of the pictures!! Thanks again to all the families everywhere, we love you all and cant wait to do it again, before grammy hits 100!!

Doctors Visit

We went to the doctor yesterday for a follow-up to everything that has been going on. He said he does not know why I keep having miscarriages could be bad luck or not. They are going to run a few blood tests to make sure there is nothing medically wrong with either one of us. We had the chromosomal test done yesterday and it takes 2 to 3 weeks before we find out the results, and then next week I will be having a blood clotting and autoimmune test, those results only take a few days. So we will let you know when we know something. We will be doing IVF in November, this is a forced break due to that is when the next IVF cycling is. We are bummed that we have to wait this long but know its what is best for my body. The doctor wants me to rest and get geared up for November, it is very important not only to be physically ready but mentally as well. We knew August would be out to do anything and I will get to start my meds at the end of October---so it should be here before we know it and we will have FOOTBALL SEASON to keep us busy!! GO GATORS!!!! The doctor said I was a bigger challenge than he expected and he will start me off more aggressively with the medications than he normally would a 31 year old. Figures its always something with me. Hopefully I wont become a bigger challenge and behave myself!! I have had a rough few weeks but am feeling better each day, still have a few crying spells but that is to be expected. We have a great support system with all of you guys and I know Michael appreciates all the help he can get, hehe!! Im not that crazy am I? So we will take each day as it comes and will be fueled up and ready to go full force in November!! Giddy-Up!!

Bad News

Hi all sorry to have to report this but my HCG levels dropped to an 18 and my progesterone only went up to a 7.9, so I will have a miscarriage. We are very disappointed, frustrated and many other things. They want me to come back Friday for more blood to make sure that my levels have dropped and return to normal. They are calling me tomorrow for something, dont rememeber what they said, I pretty much blocked anything out after she said it dropped to 18. So we will set up an appointment to meet with our doctor, most likely next week to find out where we go from here. Michael is my rock and such a wonderful person, I am so very lucky to have him as my husband, I don't know where I would be without him. We know we will get through this heartbreak and continue on our journey to be parents. Thanks to all of our friends and family for your support it means the world to us.

Baby Buttress Update

OK we are still not out of the woods but are cautiously excited. My HCG level went from an 11 to a 46 which is really good, however my progesterone level dropped and is only a 7.5 and my doctor likes to see it at a 20. I am on progesterone medicine and will go back Monday 7-23, for more blood work. The HCG will still need to rise, they say it should double every 48 to 72 hours, and if the progesterone drops they will double me up on my medicine, if its at a normal range or in the process of getting there they will leave it alone. So its a day by day thing and they told me to take it easy. We will keep you all posted and hopefully we will have some good news on Monday.

Weekend in Vero with Kylee and Cade

Alaina and Cade (New Buddies)

Kylee and Cade

Michael and I spent this past weekend in Vero babysitting our niece and nephew. They sure kept us busy but we loved every minute of it. Michael and JD played golf on Saturday morning, what happened to helping me taking care of the kiddos? Hehe. We went swimming, to the park, to the book center for story time and met some new friends. Alaina is the daughter of our friends in Vero, Liz and Matt. She is 1 month older than Cade so they got to play and are friends still after the first impressions. Cade pooped right when we got there and Alaina spit up all over the phone, ahhhhh love at first sight. Here are a few pictures of our weekend!! ENJOY!!

Jr's Open Picks

Henrik Stenson
Lee Westwood
Adam Scott
Darren Clarke
Padraig Harrington
Chad Campbell

Let's hope this works out better than last time. Chad, thanks for your support.

Pregnancy Test

Today I had my pregnancy test and it came back positive, however my HCG levels are low, higher than last time but still low. We are excited and cautious at the same time. I go back on Thursday for another HCG level and a progesterone level. This will indicate if my pregnancy will continue on or if I will have a miscarriage. We wish we had better news but this is what it is. We will keep our fingers crossed that my levels go up and this pregnancy will make it.

Backyard Bonanza

We have been working on our house as always and finally called in some reinforcement. I found a crazy man with a chainsaw in the backyard and took pictures just incase I went missing, hehe. We basically have no grass and the doggies are loving it, getting dirt in their paws which lead to dirt on the floors and in our bed, thanks KOMALU!! The guys will be coming back next weekend to finish the job. We took out our old fence and extended our yard by about 10 feet or so and put up a new fence. We hope to summit the plans for the addition in August and then once we get approval we will be on our way, FINALLY!!

Progesterone Results 7-11-2007

Hi all just a quick update I got my levels back yesterday and it was a 45.1!!! So that is really good, meaning that the doc told me that I ovulated 3 strong follicles. So now we are back to more waiting but it will be here before we know it. Stayed tuned and keep your fingers and toes crossed!!

HAPPY JULY 4th!!

2nd day insemination complete and we hope it goes off with a bang!! We get to take the pregnancy test in 2 weeks, on the 17th!! I stayed home to rest today, while Michael, Aaron and Jessica enjoyed most of the day out on our boat. We are still working on that jungle of a backyard with hopes to have pictures up soon of the finished project. Hope everyone has a great 4th.

IUI 7-3-2007

Insemination Day one complete. Things went well and we went in with my Estrogen level at 379, the highest its ever been for me, lining at 10 and 4 follicles 20-17.3. Fingers and Toes crossed, stay tuned.

IUI Update 6-30-07

We went to the doctor this am and I have 5 follicles now, I guess my ovaries woke up and are giving me more. They range from 17.7 to 11.6, so we are on our way. We will go 2 more nights on the 225 dose and go back Monday, for a scan and estrogen level, which was 276 this time!! So that continues to go up which is good. Insemination will most likely be Tuesday and Wednesday, keep you posted!!

IUI Update 6-28-2007

We went to the doctor this am and I have 2 follicles that are looking good and growing. They are at 14.5 and 11.4, estrogen 111! So we juice me again tonight and tomorrow night with 225 and we go in Saturday morning for another follicle and estrogen check, wish us luck and stayed tuned......

IUI Update 6-26-2007

Things went OK at the doctor this morning. I have 6 small follicles under 10mm on a dose of 150. This is not what we were hoping for, on our last IUI I was much further along, however, every cycle is different. Estrogen was only 35, no good, but they are bumping me up to a 225 dose for the next 2 nights. My follicles need a wake up call!! So they are juicing me up. We will go back on Thursday, where they will re-check my follicle growth and do another estrogen level. Feel pretty confident that the 225 dose will awaken me and things will start happening!! Stay tuned..........

The 2nd Annual "JB"

We road tripped to Sarasota for the 2nd annual "JB Memorial Golf Outing." The weekend/tourney was hosted by the family's West Florida contingent (Kathy and Sr.). They did such a nice hosting job, I'm afraid they set the bar quite high for future events. The official JB was held on a nice little executive course, but was not with out controversy. It was decided that we would take the opportunity on Friday to play a preliminary round of golf to establish some handicaps. The controversy came after the dust had settled from Saturday's round of golf and everyone realized the handicapping was a little unbalanced. Ricky ended up taking home the hardware after posting a 56 with his handicap.

I believe the next event is going back to the family's old stomping ground. It looks like next years tourney will be in Columbus, OH. I'm not sure they are going to welcome us Florida Gators up there, but we won't let that stop us.

Sean said it couldn't be done?

After a quick stop at the hardware store we were ready to re-do the north fence. We had Aaron's truck squatting under the load of 16 fence panels and all the fixins for the project. Aaron's work associate (Sean) told him there was "no way" he could fit it all in the Ford. I guess we proved him wrong. For the record, there was some minor damage to the truck bed.

June 14, 2007; 3rd Times a Charm

It looks like we will be doing another round of IUI starting this month. Our insurance company denied our IVF request and wants us to do a 3rd IUI. So we will think positive and hope that this cycle works. Keep you posted!! D&M

JUNE 3,2007 ;YEE HAW

Today was JB's 1 year anniversary so we decided to spend the day doing fun things. We went out on our boat with Aaron, Jessica and KOMALU ( Kona, Madison, Luca). They had a ball splashing and swimming around. That night Michael and I went to see Kenny Chesney, Flip Flop Tour!! It was sold out and we had a great time. Just what we needed to sit back and relax and be entertained. We recommend seeing his show if you like country music. Though this was a day to remember JB, we do that on a daily basis and miss him more than words can say.

Fertility Update; June 13, 2007

We went to the doctor last week and after a 2 hour consult came to the decision that IVF (in-vitro fertilization) would be our next step in our journey to having a baby. For those that do not know, Michael and I have been trying to have a baby for the last 18 months with no success. We did get pregnant on our 2nd IUI, however I had a miscarriage soon after. The good news was that we know that I can get prego. Fertility treatment as you may or may not know is a "Rollercoaster Ride" as I like to say. It is a very emotional and stressful process with many ups and many downs, but in the long run it will all be worth it when we finally have a baby. We are confident that by moving on to the most aggressive approach in fertility treatment we will be successful. If all goes well with the insurance company we will be starting our first round of IVF in August. We should know in about a week. I had to go in for a "mock trial" today, they showed me where they will place the embryos, all went well and I looked good. We have an IVF class tonight to learn more about it and sign our life away, haha.We want to thank all of our friends and family for their support. We could not do this without you.

June 5, 2007

Michael gets a CO (Certificate Of Occupancy) on the Landmark!!! Michael has been working on this project for 2.5 years , many hours and late nights but what a wonderful accomplishment!! I am so proud of him!!