So here we sit, waiting for our daughter to come. We've been at the hospital since 8:30am and it's now almost 7pm. Get out here little one, we need to give you a name!!!

Pre-Approved Gift Selections

So over the weekend we spend a long while wandering up and down the isles of Babies R Us in Irvine attempting to create a list of crap we want our friends and family to purchase. It's been more than 5 years since the last time we registered for gifts, and just like then it was a really uncomfortable feeling. Let me break this down...we go into a store and pick out all the stuff we want. Then you, my dear friend or polite acquaintance go to that same store and buy something that we have vetted and pre-approved. When we unwrap your gift we will know exactly how much you spent on it, and we will apportion our love accordingly. Do we want the colorful stroller, or the one with elephants? Don't think, it's right there on the list (we went with the colorful Aprica by the way). It's such an odd tradition. Obviously we want the best for our baby girl, but do we dare ask for the $300 model? Can we reasonably expect people to be ok with spending that much money on someone else's kid? This is the exact reason that for our wedding registry I snuck off with the scanning gun (hands down the coolest part of the experience) and scanned a few items that I thought seemed more fair, not to mention practical. The most famous of these were the Sun Chips. I simply decided that since we were asking for things we might as well give our friends the opportunity to give us something that could be put to immediate use and would fill a need that we/I had. I remember watching the registry online (yes, we are watching you) to see if the chips had been checked off. A surprising number of weeks went by and I started to think that if I wanted Sun Chips I was going to have to buy them my damned self like some kind of commoner. It wasn't until a few days before the wedding that they were finally scanned. Turns out, a lot of people noticed them on the registry and purchased them, but never actually marked them off. They just gave them along side their "real" gift. Those people clearly missed the point. If you show up to the store and have the opportunity to purchase a bag of Sun Chips and call it a day...you win! It's a system that rewards those who are quick to the trough. My friend Tim understood that, and I smiled as I opened his gift and saw nothing but a back of Sun Chips. Needless to say, however, that with all those extra bags I ate like a king for that first month...at least as far as Sun Chips were concerned.

Back to my original point, it's a goofy feeling to register for something that costs what I would consider a boat load. That said...I really hope we get them.

Oh, and I don't know when you last ventured into a Babies R Us (or BRU as they are called on the parenting message boards), but it is a freaking racket! Baby monitors, no problem. Here we have the $350 video enabled model with a motion detector that can transmit a signal 1,000 feet and has an integrated LED light pattern to ensure restful sleep and pleasant dreams. Don't want to spend that much? No problem, here is the next level down for only $275...it's a walkie-talkie with a 6 foot range attached to a bear trap to keep the baby in place. Incredible.

Anyway, moral of the story, I expect anyone reading this to immediately drop what you're doing and go purchase a pre-approved gift.

Don't you dare venture off the list.

Be good.

- Lee T.

"I'm sick and my pelvis hurts"

If I had a nickel for every time I've heard that over the past few days I'd have quite a collection of nickels.

Crystal has some kind of cold which makes her feel like crap...and sound gross. I feel bad for her because she can't really take anything for it. We've pretty much got all of our eggs in the Vick's Vapor Rub basket.

Also, apparently there is some kind of pelvic action happening with her body. Things are realigning and, from what I understand, that hurts quite a bit. She has a fun new stretch to do that makes it feel better, and let's just say it makes her "hands hurt"...so try to figure that out.

Still no crazy food cravings, just a bad cough and a sore hooha. I hope it all gets better for her.

Be Good.

- Lee T.

How Christmas 2011 Changed Everything

Christmas this year was honestly one of the happiest days of my life. After months of keeping quiet and not being able to be excited with our friends and family, we were finally able to let the cat out of the bag. Now, we have Christmas down to a science. We spend the morning with my family at my sister's house having breakfast and opening presents. Then we head to Crystal's parents' place for more presents and dinner with her family.

Showing up in the morning we were so nervous and excited to finally be able to tell people the great news. We began opening presents and I was keeping my eyes on my mom to see when she got to our gift. We had wrapped a frame that had 3 spots for photos. We decided to use two of the spots for pictures of my sister's kids, their only grandchildren...that they knew of. Then we used the third for the ultrasound picture. I was able to get a great video of what ensued:

See what happened there? Apparently my mom, who had always lectured me on checking the tag before opening a gift, didn't follow her own advice perfectly. Because of the photos of my niece and nephew she thought it was an announcement from my sister. Pretty funny stuff there. It was truly a moment I'll remember forever, and I'm so glad I got it on video.

After all the hugging and crying and whatnot we made our way to Crystal's parents' for surprise number 2. No video of that one (I'm far sneakier with the camera that Crystal, plus, I have a natural gift for cinematography), but it's an equally great moment. Crystal's mom figured it out a lot quicker than her dad, which made it really funny. She had given him some more subtle clues to figure out - a graduation cap and a D-Day video hinting at the month of June. He was so focused on that that he was not paying too much attention when her mom opened the picture frame with the ultrasound and photos of our pups. Once they were both on board her sister tried to convince that she had figured it out long before. I still doubt it, but Crystal buys it.

So after the families were in the loop we were ready to take it to Facebook to make it official. Crystal posted it in a status update, but due to some confusion over her privacy settings no one saw it. She kept checking to see how many comments she received and was getting upset that no one was saying anything. Then I posted something and got some immediate responses and that REALLY pissed her off. It took us a while to figure out what was wrong, but she finally got her comment fix with a second post and corrected settings. Suddenly we went from being Crystal and Lee to Mom-and-Dad-to-be. We were public, and nothing would be the same.

So that's how Christmas 2011 changed everything. Fun times.

Be good.

- Lee T.

Holy kicks batman!!!

That is all. I return you to your regularly scheduled program. :)

UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT

You may notice some changes around here. In what can only be described as a hostile takeover I have wrestled control of this web log (or "blog" as you hipsters are so fond of saying) and will heretofore be posting my own rants and raves. No, this is not an alternate personality that Crystal has invented as a way of coping with the ever increasing madness of the world. This is, instead, her loving and devoted husband. Since she lost interest in documenting what eventually became an increasingly sad saga of misfortune, I have heroically stepped forward to carry the flag. So, to begin, a little housekeeping. Here's what you've missed...

After our fourth miscarriage Crystal and I began to wonder if this whole "procreation" thing was ever going to work out at all. We feared that hope may have been lost. Desperately we grasped at any straw we could. Crystal resorted to acupuncture, while I consoled myself with copious amounts of fried food. Weeks turned to months and it was truly a sad period of our lives.

But enough of that...

As you may or may not have figured out, this is the beginning of a happy tale. One that began on or around September 14. You see, once again I performed my husbandly duties to perfection and wouldn't you know it, Crystal was pregnant. And the secrets began. We couldn't tell people, not yet. Given our history we were far to cautious to get our own hopes too high, let alone those of others. So we waited. On October 26 at 1:38 pm we saw what we had waited so long to see: a beating heart.

Now at this point in 5 pregnancies we had seen exactly 1 beating heart, so this was kind of a big deal. For the first time we looked upon a life we had created. This little ball of cells with a pulse was going to change our lives forever. But, still, we had to stay quiet. We decided that night that we would wait until Christmas to make the news public for two reasons. One, by then we would be much further along and in a more confident place. Two, it seemed to us that if we could get away with giving an "announcement" to our parents it would sure be a money saver! Word leaked a bit, as it generally does when Crystal tries to keep a secret, but for the most part, it was kept under wraps. We decided on pictures of the ultrasound for our parents (by this point we had had a second one done, and this time you could definitely make out that distinctive "baby shape"). It was quite the ordeal finding frames that suited each set of soon-to-be-grandparents, but eventually we figured it out. The stage was set, all we had to do was make it through Christmas Eve...

AAAAAAND that's enough for today. Gotta go cook dinner. We're having chicken tacos.

Be Good.

- Lee T.

Heartbroken

I just feel empty.

Playing catchup....part one.

I have been absent and I apologize.  The holidays were uber busy for us and, quite honestly, I've never really felt like a "writer."  So it's super hard for me to think of something fun to blog about when nothing all that new and different is going on.  A little recap of the past month or so.....

We hosted our first Thanksgiving!  That was an adventure!  We don't have a super large place so we couldn't extend the invitation to the whole fam but we did invite my immediate family and Lee's parents (his sister and her family were in Hawaii).  His parents couldn't make it so we had my mom and dad, sister and brother, and one of my brother's friends from the Navy who wouldn't be able to make it home for the holiday.  It got quite cozy in our little condo!  Lee was entrusted with the cooking and I got to set the table!  This was the first time we could use our china, crystal and silverware from the wedding!

Since our china is silver I went with an outside the box color scheme of silver and burnt orange.

 

Lee did an amazing job with all of the food.  The turkey was perfect!  Cheesy corn tatoes-YUMM. Creamed corn-wow.  Stuffing!!!!!  Thanksgiving food is the best!

Next up. December and all of it's festivities! And our trip to Miami!!!

A little bit rant, a little bit rejoice!

Okay, a little background to both.  Obviously we're trying to have a baby.  We've had three pregnancies and three miscarriages (the most recent one the day before our anniversary).  With 3 miscarriages you are no longer someone with "bad luck" but now someone with an "issue" that the doctors start to take a little more seriously. 

Not to say that my current doctor isn't amazing, she is.  She's been very proactive since my first visit with her a year ago in October.  At the first visit she discovered my Thyroid issues and had me see a General Practitioner to get put on medication.  After the second pregnancy (and then miscarriage) she upped that medication and put me on Progesterone for a future pregnancy.  With the most recent pregnancy I was on Progesterone 2 times a day.  But again, it ended in miscarriage. 

At the appointment to finish everything with that up we discussed next steps.  Those being tests, and lots of them.  She mentioned some slightly scary words (Lupus) and told me to call the office when I got my next period.  Let me tell you, the next 4 weeks seemed to take FOREVER.  And Google certainly was not my friend during that time.  It should not be allowed to research medical topics on your own.  All it does is freak you out and make you think you have all sorts of horrible diseases.  I had convinced myslef that I had Lupus in that month.  I had all of the symptoms.

There, that's it.  Blood work not necessary Doctor, I've got it all figured out.

Or so I thought.  I had said blood work done on November 8th (8 vials of blood, people. 8.)  and was told to make an appointment to go over all of the findings for 2 weeks later.  So I made an appointment for the 23rd.  And I thought waiting for my period felt like forever. And then this past Tuesday they called to say they had the results and wanted me to come in the next day.  Awesome!  Although the urgency didn't help my wandering mind.  I spent Tuesday night convincing myself even more of my own Lupus diagnosis.

So, yesterday I met with the doctor. And a few of my fears were squashed! One, obviously, Lupus.  The second, was that they wouldn't find anything at all and we would have no answers. 

Well folks, we have some answers! I have a gene mutation called, get ready for it, Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase or MTHFR.  Lee is referring to it as Mother F*cker cause he likes the sound of that better.  So what does this mean?  My body doesn't metabolise Folic Acid the way it is supposed to and apparently Folic Acid is pretty important in the baby brewing process.  And, not only did we get some answers folks, we got some solutions!!! Double bonus!  I now have to take 4 mg of Folic Acid daily (the average dose is less than 1 mg-they don't even make 4 mg pills so I get to take 4 1 mg pills a day!).  Also one of the MANY tests for Lupus did come back a little bit on the positive side, which basically means my body has some issues with blood clotting that could interfere with the placenta and it's attachment to the uterus.  So, I also get to take baby Aspirin daily too! 

So, this brings my daily pill popping habit up to a whopping 8 pills daily! One for the Thyroid, 2 pre-natal vitamins, 4 Folic Acid pills and 1 baby aspirin!  Whew!

All in all, I am very excited to have some answers that come with pretty easy fixes.  The doctor was VERY optimistic too.  She wants a full month's worth of all of this in my system before we get to try again, and while I'm very anxious to get started again, I know waiting a little longer is only for the best.

Now, for my rant.  EVERYONE is pregnant.  And while the above news has taken some of the sting out of that, I'm having an especially hard time with the people (okay, one person in particular-but I'm not naming names) on Facebook who post CONSTANTLY about their pregnancies.  This person has one child already (and for some reason people who are already on baby #2 when I can't even get 1 down are really bugging the sh*t out of me) and her and I would have had the same due date before the most recent miscarriage.  She "outed" herself on FB a couple weeks ago and ever since she posts practically hourly updates on the state of her stomach or the fact that she's tired, nauseous and/or her clothes don't fit.  I would give ANYTHING to be exhausted and fat and barfing (though remind me of this post when I am and I may be singing a different tune).  She's not a Negative Nancy by any means and is genuinely excited about her pregnancy, as she should be, but I cannot stand being slapped in the face with it every time I log on.  I can't say anything to her, and I know this, but I just wish people understood that we don't need updates quite so frequently.  I'm sure to those out there who are not trying or anywhere near the point of children don't appreciate the "bump updates" either.

I mean, announce the pregnancy, great.  Let us know the sex when you find out, sure.  Post an ultrasound picture here or there, perfect.  Maybe you had a maternity photo shoot, throw some of those up for good measure too.  But I honestly don't need to know that your maternity jeans don't fit yet or that you're craving a slurpee today.  Nor do I need to see the weekly belly shots.  This is all what blogs are for, and you have one.  I know, because you posted that on FB too.

Now, I know I have a different perspective on all of this and things may have been completely different had I not had any problems in this department.  I may have been the one buggin the sh*t out of all of you on FB with pictures of my big ol' belly painted to look like a Jack O' Lantern on Halloween (true story-although different person) and hourly status updates on my ability or inability to button my pants (though, I could already start that one....currently, unbuttoned, but I just ate lunch!). So I haven't, nor will I, said anything to the "offenders." But I needed to get it out, vent a bit, and have something to remind me to keep it simple on Facebook WHEN we do have awesome news to share.

That's all folks.  Phew, I get wordy when I don't post much! :)

Dun dun da dun!

Here it is folks! the post you've been waiting for!  The wedding!!!! I'm not gonna lie, I have less than desirable pictures from our wedding.  This is one thing I will tell all future brides as long as I live: hire the best photographer out there.  If there is one thing to splurge on that is it.  So, I've tried to pick the best pictures I have on my computer and I now realize I don't have any of the ceremony itself.  I know somewhere we must.  It does make me sad that there aren't any truly frame-worthy shots out of the whole bunch, but the memories of the day itself will last a lifetime.  Hands down, the best day of my life so far!

I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking! Let's start with the decor.

 Our ceremony site.

 A cocktail table with a view of the aisle.

Some of our BEAUTIFUL centerpieces.



 One of the food areas.

 The mashed potato bar area.

 I think this was an hour'douvre (how the heck is that spelled?!?) area inside.

 The head table. One of my favorite parts of the wedding!!!!

 A view of the rest of the tables.

 My beautiful mom next to the gorgeous wreath that greeted guests as they entered the back yard.

 The awesome Sherry strutting down the aisle!

 How the food was set up.

 Our Grand Entrance and another view of how the food was set up.

 The cake area.

The dance floor.

Now for some fun photos! These are way out of order but I don't have the patience to fix them!

 First Kiss

 Bridal Party

 Looking at my old, borrowed, blue, new things.

 Adorable flower girl.

 Artistic photography???

 My brother and sister

 After cake cutting

 Toast with the bridesmaids

 Super cheese moment with my mom

 Final touches

 Father daughter dance

 Lucky catchers!

 Get it.

 First glimpse of my bouquet

 Telling her not to lose the ring.

 I married a HOT guy.

 The ladies

 The gentlemen.

 My sister made each of the bridesmaids their necklaces!

 Poppin' Bottles!

 Niece Ashley

 I was so nice!

Happily married!