Stupid Hormones...

First, a little back story.  Every year, Nick and I get each other a Christmas ornament.  It's fun to look for the perfect one, and it's fun to see the ones from previous years and reminisce about Christmases past.  We've been doing this since Christmas #1, so we each have 6 ornaments from the other on our tree.  (Of course, we also got married at Christmastime, so we have roughly a million "First Christmas Together" ornaments, a lot of which are ugly.) 

Anyway, this year, I've had a hard time finding one that I liked.  Then, I ran across some Willow Tree ornaments, which I think are gorgeous.  He got me one of them one year (2004?), and I love it.  I was thinking to myself, "Oh! Maybe they have a father and son one? That would be cute!"  Well, they don't, but they do have some figurines that are adorable.  That's when my hormones decided to kick in for some reason, and I found myself getting choked up looking at FIGURINES!  Figurines, for Pete's sake!

First, it was this one.

Then, this one blew up my screen.

As if THAT wasn't bad enough, this one hit me right in the gut.

The icing on the cake was this one.

I have one thing to say to you, Willow Tree.  You and I are broken up for the rest of the day.  Don't call again.

Decorating!

I was chomping at the bit on Thanksgiving night to put up Christmas decorations, so Nick and I made the trek upstairs and got all the stuff down.  We had thought about getting a real tree this year, because I think our tree is too short (or we're too tall?), but decided to just stick with our artificial one this year.  We were interested to see what Asher would think of it when he woke up the next morning, and he loved it!  He didn't want to leave the tree to get out of his pajamas.  Of course, he also wants to take off the ornaments and generally make a big mess of it, but I think he'll learn to not do that (I hope!).  He also has yet to discover the button on one of the ornaments that plays "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas," which is good. 

Latte, on the other hand, tried to climb the tree, and then gets stuck.  He also tried to pull everything off of the mantle.  We're really hoping that the novelty will wear off for him soon, too! 

Here's some pictures to enjoy!

Here, we were TRYING to get a shot for our Christmas card (which Nick designed and is GORGEOUS!), and someone wouldn't cooperate!  (It's ok...the one we ended up with is better, anyway!)

A little bit of cuteness for your holiday season:

(Ok...a lot of cuteness!)

...and some silliness to balance it out!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving this year with Nick's family.  They were combining Christmas and Thanksgiving, so we figured we should make an appearance.  Asher proved to be his picky-eater self, but loved running around and everyone thought he was adorable, of course.  Here's some highlights.

This is Asher and his Aunt Haley.  She lives 3 hours away, so they don't get to see each other very often.

This was before we ate.  Asher insisted that Nick sit in this other chair, and he would copy everything Nick did.

After eating there, we headed to my dad's house to be with the family there.  We ate some leftovers at supper time, and it was delicious.  You haven't lived until you've had my grandma's homemade chicken and noodles.  mmmm!

This is Asher and his grandpa (my dad).  He's the manliest man you'll ever meet, but he loves his grandson so much that he's willing to put pink glasses on just to see him smile! What a guy!

                                    

He LOVES his Uncle Caleb.  On our way there, we said, "We're going to go see Uncle Caleb!" and he cheered louder than I could handle in a car!

He also got to meet some family members that he hadn't met before. 

Here he is with his Great-Grandma Judy.

Here's a picture of Asher and I right before we left to go home.

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!

A Little Pre-Turkey Day Survey

I plan to post something in the next couple of days that somewhat resembles an actual post.  In the meantime, here's a meme (I just learned what that is during this ICLW) that I ran across.  I thought it might be interesting.


1. If you could build a house anywhere, where would it be? Right where my current house is!


2.What is your favorite article of clothing? Hoodies.  Lounge pants.

3. Last C.D. you bought? I don't recall.  I usually download on iTunes, so if that counts, it was the New Moon soundtrack.

4. Where is your favorite place to be? Home with my boys.

5. Least favorite place to be? Dentist.  Ugh...I go on Monday.  Pray for me.  I hate it with every fiber of my being!

6. Are you strongest in mind or body? Hmmm...depends on the day.

7. What time do you wake up? Either around 7:30am, 12:15pm, or 4pm, depending on the work schedule.

8. Favorite kitchen appliance? My new range! Oh yeah, baby!  (Pics below...)

9. What instrument would you like to play? Violin.  Or guitar.

10. Favorite color? Either purple or green, depending on the day.  Today, I answered purple to another quiz I took.

11. Sports car of SUV? SUV.  I'd love to have a Honda Pilot with the 3rd row!


12. Favorite children’s book? I like Goodnight Moon and Half a Moon and One Whole Star

13. Favorite season? Fall.

14. Least favorite chore? Most of them.  Dishes is close to the top.  Luckily, my awesome husband does those, usually!

15. Favorite day? Any day that I'm off work and so is Nick.

16. Favorite food? I like most foods.

17. Favorite drink? GOOD coffee (I'm a coffee snob) and Diet Dr.Pepper

18. Favorite word? Recently, I've been using "chillax" a lot. 

19. Favorite inspirational book? The Bible

20. Who would you like to play you in the movie of you life? Kate Winslet.




Here's some pics to enjoy while you wait (on the edge of your seat and with bated breath, I'm sure) for a post of substance.

Latte on my old range (Keep your cats-on-counters comments to yourself!)

Latte on my new Range!  (I was SO stinking happy to see that other one go!)

Asher killing time while waiting to be diagnosed with yet another ear infection!

My super sexy and hilarious husband trying to maker Asher laugh.

ICLW and Something Funny

Sorry my intro ICLW post is late.  (Don't know what ICLW is?  Click on the icon to the right!)  This is my second month doing it, and last month I made iron commenter.  I have the carpal tunnel to prove it!  haha  You can see last month's intro post here.  The only change to it is that I am currently mid-late cycle (depending on how long the cycle will last) on our final round of femara.  I haven't been temping, as working nights messes my temps all up, so it doesn't really reflect much of anything.  So, basically, we're doing a blind try at it.  Also, one of you needs to remind me to call and make an appointment for January with the RE.  I keep forgetting.  Anyhoo, I'm looking forward to reading and commenting on a lot of blogs this week.  I'm trying for Iron Commenter, again.  We'll see!  Have a question for me?  Just ask!  I'm not shy!

So, for my "something funny," I present to you these pictures:

 

(The above one reads, "Lovely Codacge. Please do not bury your love. Love is not love until someone recieve it."  Not my typos!)

 

(This one reads, "To My Friend: I wandered lonely as a clluodthat Floats on high o'er the vales and hills.  When all at once I saw a crowd.  A host of golder daffodils.  Beneath the trees.  Fluttering and dancing in the breeze."  And, no...those aren't typos on my part.  That's how they actually read!)

Hilarious, no?  Here's the story.  We were given these gift bags, and Nick was looking at them and noticed these weird poems and stuff on it.  We came to the conclusion that they must be Chinese or something.  Also, we don't think they're licensed like something with these characters on it should be.  I don't blame the person who gave them to us, they probably just saw the characters and thought, "Oh! Krystal and Nick could probably use these!"  lol  We plan to just cut the characters off and let Asher play with them.

Hopefully you find this as funny as we did!

This and That

I'm terrible.  I know.  No need to mention it.  I keep thinking to myself that I need to write an actual blog post, but I keep finding other things to do.  I don't know why.  Maybe I just feel like there's nothing really to say?  I don't know.  But, I'm sorry nonetheless.  Let's see...what's going on?

There's a lot of drama going on at work right now (one of the hazards of working with all women, I think).  It's seriously ridiculous.  It makes my shifts seem to go on forever and my days off go by in a flash.  I'm so not a fan. 

One of my favorite coworkers is going PRN (meaning she doesn't have an actual bid, she only works when they need her), and I'll miss seeing her a lot.  However, her leaving will, in theory, mean her bid will be open.  Here's where it gets tricky.  The long-term goal for our family is for me to stay home as much as possible to be with the children (well...child, right now).  We plan to be one of those freaky homeschooling families with all the kids (or maybe just one kid?)!  I'd love to go down to the 32 hour bid that my friend had, but it makes me nervous!  I mean, I currently make half our income, so the idea of so drastically reducing my hours freaks me out a little.  My mom will tell you that their finances never worked on paper, but it somehow always worked.  The problem is, I dig it when it works on paper, too! 

I know that this is what God wants from us, but it's so hard to make that step.  The devil, in all his wisdom, places things on my mind that I might not be able to do if I reduce my hours (or he brings up expenses all of a sudden as if to say, "See!  What would happen if you didn't work as much as you do now?!? huh?!?").  For example, my oven decides to breathe it's last breath, or my 18-55mm lens decides to stop auto-focusing for no reason at all, or it's Christmas-time, or I realize that I might someday want to have a house that wasn't built before there was indoor plumbing.  (Mama, if you're reading this, don't be offended about your house!  We love it!  I just aspire to someday have a bathroom that is too big to put a foot in the bathtub while on the toilet and washing your hands!)  Don't you just hate that crafty devil?  He's the worst.

So, anyway, that's a big thing on my mind right now.  My friend's bid hasn't even been posted, yet, so it may not be an issue at all.  Still...I'm a worrier.  I come by it honest.  I'd appreciate any prayer or real-world advice any of you could give me.  Perhaps one of you is rich and looking for a young family to adopt?  We're cute.  And awesome.  And I made a killer broccoli-cheese soup for supper.

On the infertility front, we're pretty much same old, same old.  I haven't been temping this cycle, because I get so tired of my temps looking super stupid as a result of working nights. (TMI Alert) But, mid-cycle, I always try to get us on an every-other-day schedule if at all possible.  I noticed some fertile cervical fluid the other day, and informed Nick to "think sexy thoughts" because I would be requiring his services when I was done in the shower.  lol  He said, "Uh...ok.  Let me change Asher's diaper and turn on WonderPets!"  I laughed and apologized that he had to deal with a broken wife who uses him for his sperm at odd times of day.  (Ok...I didn't actually say that last part aloud, but I thought it.)  Anyway, I haven't noticed any other signs, so we'll see if my body decided to actually do something right or not.  (TMI over)

We need to get our Christmas pictures taken so Nick can design our Christmas cards.  I think I'll have someone who I'd trust with my camera come over and take our picture by the Christmas tree after we put it up.  I'll be sure to post the pic and the final card design on here so you can see it.  (Completely off-topic, but why is James Pickens, Jr. from Grey's Anatomy doing a radio spot about getting your horses vaccinated?)

I think that's probably about it.  Congrats on making it to the end of this rambling post.
 

Show and Tell!

I've got a bit of blogger's block, so I thought I'd do a Show and Tell this week!





Show and Tell is wasted on preschoolers!  Head on over to Mel's and see what my other classmates are showing.

November is a busy month in my family.  My sister's birthday starts out the month on the 3rd.  The 11th was my birthday, and my mom's birthday is tomorrow (the 13th).  Of course, there's Thanksgiving.  Also, it's my mom and dad's date-iversary the week of Thanksgiving.  So, my mom and dad try to get away on a short trip every November to celebrate mom's birthday and their date-iversary.  All this to say: Nick and I are on child duty!  That's right, folks!  The hubs and I are camped at my parent's house with 7 of my younger siblings in addition to our two year old, Asher.  Fun is being had by all, I assure you!  Here are some pics.

Grace is 12 1/2

Jamie is 11 1/2

Hannah is 8

Daniel is almost 7

Mary is almost 5

 Mercy is 4

Finally, Sam is 3

Here's some random fun we've had!

 

 

 

Token Asher Pic!

The Witch Has Arrived

Well, she arrived in full force on Saturday.  Lucky me.  I'll be picking up my femara tonight in conjunction with some much-needed grocery shopping.  I feel terrible, because I just don't feel like it's going to work, but third time's the charm, right? *eye roll*  Nick maintains his ever-optimistic point of view, though.  I suppose one of us should.

Speaking of Nick, he called the insurance company today to inquire about a few things:

• Why are our bills from office visits with no procedures costing us more than $200 out of pocket?
• Why did a single tube of blood and it's subsequent lab-running cost nearly $300?
• What will we need to do when we go back to do our HSG/IUI/any procedure?
• Why do we have to spend thousands of dollars to do something that lots of women get to do for free? (He didn't really ask them this, but their answer would have been something like, "To keep us in business!")
  

I was on the edge of my seat...er...couch...to hear what they had to say.  I was envisioning an "Oh! We've made a mistake! Let us send you a bunch of money!" kind of conversation.  No.Such.Luck.

Basically, after we hit our deductible (it gets fuzzy after this because I literally understand nothing about insurance), they pay 90% until we've paid $1200 out of pocket for the year, then they pay 100%.  They said I've hit my deductible (yay), so they're paying 90% at this point.  This begs the question: Where, in the name of all that is holy, do they get off charging $2000 for 30 minutes in a doctor's office?!?  Unless I'm doing the math wrong, the fact that I've paid $200 for office visits, and Cigna is paying 90%, says to me that the office visits cost $2000!  Please tell me I'm wrong!  Nick forgot to ask them about the lab work, so he'll call them back soon to talk about that.

As for the procedures, we have to get pre-authorization on a procedure by procedure basis.  Is this normal?  I guess I was thinking/hoping/assuming that it would just be an umbrella pre-auth.  What I want to know is how long they're going to take to do the authorization once we tell them we are doing a procedure.  I mean, if I'm only given a week or two of warning beforehand, will that be enough time, or will I be paying out of pocket for the joy of someone shooting dye up my fallopian tubes?  I just don't know.  I mean, I guess I should be happy that we even HAVE infertility coverage, but it's such a pain in the butt, know what I mean?  They DO cover AI, IUI, and certain types of IVF (I've been putting off doing any overt research on IVF in the hopes that I won't ever need it).  However, we have MedCo for prescriptions and I hate them.  They're all about 30 day supplies of stuff, even though we keep trying to explain to them that I only need 10 pills or a week's worth of antibiotics or whatever.  ugh  It makes me wish I drank!

Anyway, this post is getting longer than I was expecting it to, and I'm sure it's bored you to death.  I'm very sorry.  Hopefully soon, my hormones will make me be in a better mood and all my posts won't be whiny.  One can only hope.