Lilypie Waiting to Adopt tickers

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

A New Start

First of all, let me start by welcoming everyone visiting from ICLW! You can find out more about me by reading this post and this post. The Hubs and I are recuperating from the trauma of a failed adoption in January (although things started going wrong in November), but have recently made some big decisions and have had some good news. I hope you enjoy visiting with me!

Now - onto my update. Thanks for all your extremely supportive comments and suggestions about my song! We had a great weekend and I feel my audition went well. The producers will be giving callbacks beginning next week and going through the end of April, so I won't know anything for sure until then. I'll not be able to give any information out about though, as it is very hush-hush. Please just keep your fingers crossed for me and say a little prayer. Whatever the result, I had a fantastic time and will probably look to audition again next year if I don't make it this year.

It seems as though the last couple of weeks have held lots of wonderful news for The Hubs and I! In addition to my promotion/raise and our trying a cycle on Fe.mara, we got some wonderful news Monday afternoon. Thank you to all those who've been keeping us in your thoughts and prayers for The Hubs to find a job because he interviewed for one Monday afternoon and was hired on the spot! He started yesterday morning and he's loving it! This is excellent news because it means we can go ahead and ask for our referral to the RE and, hopefully in a couple month's time, start the process to adopt from foster care! I'm really, really amazed and humbled by the turn of events and how each moment that has seemed to be working against us has, in fact, been leading us to this path. It makes me hopeful that life will turn out the way in which we want it.

I took my last Fe.mara last night, so now the wait starts to the ultrasound next Wednesday to see if any follies have been produced. I'm eager to see what happens with this new treatment and, if nothing, then we have the RE referral to look forward to and, most especially, the adoption process to begin.

Please keep praying for us, thinking of us, crossing your fingers for us or a combination of your choosing! I'm so thankful for all the wonderful friends I've made in this community!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Show & Tell - Audition Material


As Mel says, Show and Tell is wasted on elementary schoolers. Why not join dozens of bloggers each week and show off your own item, tell your story and be the center of attention for a bit?!

As I stated in my last post, it's been a really great week so far. Good news on the work front, the IF front and also something to look forward to this weekend.

So, I promised you a video of my audition material for America's Got Talent (confused? Go read the last post!). I need your honest opinions! What do you think? Does it sound okay? Give me constructive criticism please (but please don't be too harsh.....my feelings get hurt easily!)! Hope you enjoy and please think of me on Saturday when I'm strutting my stuff for the NBC producers!



Be sure to stop by Mel's and see what the rest of the class are up to!

Good News & Big Decisions

Sorry I haven't blogged much lately, but I have lots of news! Where to start, where to start?

I'll start with the non-IF related news, I think. So, I posted a few weeks ago about the raise I received at work ($1.50 an hour more in a recession, remember?). Well, yesterday I got news of another change for me at work. I got a promotion! With another raise! This time, it's $3.00 an hour more than my previous raise (for a total of $4.50 more per hour over two months)! I'm super excited about this! It does mean more work, but that's okay. I can handle it. And I'll be supervising two staff members. Things seem to really be looking up for me at work. This is a very good thing, trust me!

Now for some IF news. I had an appointment with my OB/GYN today for my annual check-up and to make plans for our ongoing IF treatment. The check-up went fine; no problems anticipated with that. As for ongoing treatment, we've decided to do one final cycle with my OB/GYN and, if nothing comes of it, we'll do no more local treatment, but will simply wait for The Hubs to once again be among the employed and will move immediately on with our RE referral. So.....basically what we had already determined. However, we did get somewhere with the visit today. I have a prescription for Fe.mara for this cycle! AF has intermittently started and stopped today, so I'm not sure if she's actually here again or if it's more spotting. But, assuming she's here, I'll start Fe.mara on Friday. Then we'll see where things more from there!

In other IF-related news, The Hubs and I have also made a HUGE decision. While we are going to continue treatment to try to conceive a biological child, we have also decided to pursue adoption of an older child through foster care (again, dependent on The Hubs employment status)! I am very excited about this decision. I told The Hubs that, while I do want to experience pregnancy and mothering a baby, the main thing is I want to be a mom and I don't really care how that happens. I want to be the someone to give hugs and kisses or just motherly support when things go wrong or to be there to cheer them on during the good times. So, we feel foster care adoption is the right path for us. We plan to pursue this whether our fertility treatment is successful or not. If we do become pregnant before the process has begun, we may postpone for a bit, but we do intend to follow through with this path, assuming the Lord moves things that way.

Finally, in other non-IF related news (I know, I'm bouncing all over the place - sorry!), I'll be away this weekend. The Hubs and I are going out of town for something I think is pretty cool - I'm auditioning for America's Got Talent! What is my talent you may ask? I'm going to be singing! My song of choice is Crazy by Patsy Cline. I will try to post a video of me singing so I can get your opinion either later tonight or tomorrow. I'd appreciate your feedback on it!

So, for the moment, I'm signing off to watch American Idol! More later!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Show and Tell - The Day Hell Froze Over: Snow in Georgia!


As Mel says, Show and Tell is wasted on elementary schoolers. Why not join dozens of bloggers each week and show off your own item, tell your story and be the center of attention for a bit?!

It finally happened. Apparently, Hell froze over. Maybe not, but we have snow in deep South Georgia!!!! I'm so happy! Here are a couple of videos. Yes, I sound like a kid in a candy store. Yes, if it sticks I plan to go play in it. I admit it. I'm proud of who I am ;)


It's amazing! We haven't had snow down here since 1996!



Hehe! I'm like a kid in a candy store!



Don't forget to head over to Mel's and see what everyone else is showing!

Friday, February 5, 2010

March Secret Pals

I've been thinking about this for a while and I've decided I'd like to host a new monthly project. I think it would be really nice to have a secret pal project each month! I participate in Secret Pals at work, but ours is done on a yearly basis. I know that life changes for those of us online so quickly sometimes that we might not be able to commit to participating for a whole year at a time (you know, when we've had to write out a big fat check for IVF or adoption fees we might not feel like adding more to our monthly outgoings!), so I thought it would work to do it on a monthly basis so that those who would like to participate can drop in and out each month as life dictates.

Here's how it works:

1. You sign up by filling out this form (I'm trying Google forms one more time - for some reason I've not been very successful with them in the past, so please tell me if you're having a problem with it!). Sign up will be open until February 24, 2010.

2. Sometime over the weekend of February 27/28, I'll send out your Secret Pal name!

3. On March 1, the fun commences! You'll visit your secret pals blog (if you already visit - great! If not - you find a new blog! It's a win/win situation) frequently throughout the month, send them an email if they have good news, bad news or just need some support and sometime during month, you'll send them a gift to their home. The gift doesn't need to be anything huge, just a little something to say you're thinking of them.

4. On March 25, we'll reveal our secret pals!

5. Assuming all goes smoothly and everyone is enjoying the proceedings, sign-up for April will open sometime in mid-March.

So, without further ado, let the sign-up begin! If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments and I'll be sure to answer them!

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Show and Tell - New 'Do


As Mel says, Show and Tell is wasted on elementary schoolers. Why not join dozens of bloggers each week and show off your own item, tell your story and be the center of attention for a bit?!


I've missed the last few show and tells, what with life being so crazy lately, but I thought I'd get back into the swing of things this week.

A couple of weeks ago I decided I was tired of my hair in the style it had been in for the longest time. I chose to get it cut with some layers added, bangs and also have it thinned out some. It's super fine, but very thick. What this means is, with less hair, my natural curls come out! Today, I'm showing off my new 'do!


What do you think?


Now, head on over to Mel's and see what the rest of the class are up to!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Beginning the Healing

First of all, thanks so much to all of you who've posted such supportive comments! I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends and I want each of you to know how much I appreciate you! I will be getting around to visiting each of you soon. I'm still finding it difficult to balance work, school, life and my bloggy world, but I'm working on it. Please be patient with me!

It's been a week since the little one was born. I'm feeling better about things now. I know it will be a very long time (if ever) that the hurt completely goes away, but I'm moving forward with a better outlook on our own fertility possibilities.

The Hubs and I have discussed it and decided we want to tentatively begin our visits with my doctor, although they'll be limited for a while yet. To that end, I have scheduled an appointment with my doctor on February 17. I'll be having my annual check up and discussing our next steps with her. I know I need to have an HSG performed to ensure my tubes aren't blocked and I'd like to see about giving Fe.mara a try. I know a few people who've tried it and had luck. I really don't expect it to work for us, but I'm willing to try it while we're still in the (sadly required) twiddling-our-thumbs stage.

After those options, I guess we'll be looking at a referral to an RE to start planning for an IUI. The reason for the wait on the RE is that the closest one is 2 hours away, making it very difficult to get to him. Oh, and the fact that my insurance covers zero, zilch, nada towards fertility treatment.

For a little bit of fun, I've created a list of baby names The Hubs and I like and you can vote on the ones you like! If you're interested on voting on my list, just click on the box below:

VOTE on my Name List

You can also create your own list and have others vote on your names. If you create your own list, please be sure to let me know and I'll go vote on your names as well.

Currently, my FF Ticker has me at 21dpo, but its been bouncing back and forth between two dates and I don't think either of them are right. I think being sick this cycle and being on several different medications threw the soy out and I'm in the midst of an anovulatory cycle. Again. Certainly the HPT I took last night was negative (and at 20dpo, I would expect it to come up, even in the evening, if I were pg) and my temps haven't really been sustained at a high enough level to suggest a true O. So, if AF doesn't show up between now and my doctor appointment, I'll discuss that with her as well.

It doesn't take away the last week or erase the feelings I have about what's happened, but it does give me something to focus on and move forward with to start contemplating our own fertility again. I think that's important.