Wherein I Apologize for Not Posting...

Really, my only excuse is lack of anything exciting to say. Mostly, my days go: nausea? Check! Tired? Check! Working or chasing an almost 3 year old? Check and check!

Basically, my life's pretty boring.

I have my first OB appointment this week, which we're pretty excited about. I'm hoping to get a glimpse of little blackberry again. I'm nervous about the whole pap smear thing. I mean, I've had them before, so that's not it. But a coworker of mine had a miscarriage at 9 weeks as a direct result of an over-zealous pap smearer. I'll probably go ahead with it, as that was probably a fluke, but it still makes me nervous. My question is: why do they even bother doing it when you know they won't do anything about an abnormal one while you're pregnant anyway? Seems strange.

My summer calendar is filling up like crazy! This coming week alone, I work 32 hours in 3 days, then have an OB appointment, then all 3 cats go to the vet (explain how I'm going to manage that?!), we have a surprise party to go to, a wedding rehearsal and a wedding Saturday afternoon followed by work that night! Ugh! No rest for the gestating, I guess.

Asher's birthday is coming up. We're getting him an easel and art supplies. I'm thinking of getting him an old school plastic swimming pool, too. One that won't pop like the one we got him last year, you know. We're having his party the 3rd, weather permitting. We're planning on going to the park to play with family in the morning and having cake and stuff before it gets terribly hot. Then, that evening? ECLIPSE, baby! Oh yeah!

Well, my fingers are cramping from typing this whole thing on my blackberry while Nick sleeps, so remind me to tell you about our upcoming meeting with Asher's mother. Ugh.

We Love May!

Hair cuts!

What a cheese-head!

Barefoot and (almost) naked!

The joy of living in the middle of nowhere!

Someone didn't want to go inside to take a shower!

(By the way, the trigger is mostly out of my system.  There was a VERY faint line still present, but it was super faint.)

A Contest

My mom and I decided to enter a mother-daughter look alike contest one of our local newspapers is having for Mother's Day. 

How do you think we'll do?

 My Mom and Me

My Mom, Sister and Me

It really is a shame that it's not a sound-alike contest.  My mom and I sound EXACTLY alike.  We confuse my dad, my grandma, my siblings, my husband...EVERYONE!  It's pretty awesome.

Adoption Day!

On Wednesday, March 31, 2010, this little dude

OFFICIALLY became Asher David!

(And, yes, I think this judge was a hobbit.)

We had LOTS of family there...

Like my Dad's side of my family (except my Dad)

And Nick's family (except his sister and her husband)

And my Mom's side of my family (except my sister, her fiance and my niece.  And Brenda.)

And my grandparents

And another of my grandmas

(who wouldn't open her eyes in either picture we took!)

Unfortunately, Ash popped a high fever that afternoon and required a trip to the doctor.

We are SO happy that it was finalized!

Here is our first OFFICIAL family picture!

A Couple of Quick Notes

1.  I don't plan on my weight loss being spectacular this week, after my weekend of eating whatever I wanted. lol  If I break even, I'll be happy.

2.  The homeschooling conference ROCKED!

3.   Continued prayers that AF would show her ugly face soon would be appreciated, otherwise I'll have to cancel my Thursday appointment.

4.  TOMORROW IS ADOPTION DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thinking Thin Thursday

Thanks, Jamie, for the idea for my weekly weight-loss post!

This week's total...*drum roll*...3.2 pounds!  Not too shabby.  This puts me 2 pounds from my first mini goal of the year, which I think was like 26.8 pounds.  This is wasn't the goal the culminates in my green chucks (that will be the next one), but I'm still pretty proud of myself.  Hopefully next week, I'll hit it!  Help me think of a reward for myself when I reach it!  Should I move the green chucks up, or do something else?

Here's my critique of the week...

Things I did ok with this week:

• Counting points more reliably
• Increasing my water intake
• Exercising (but I only got it done twice

Things I need more work on:

• Continuing with my increased water intake
• Making the time to get exercise in (I'm still aiming for 3/week at this point, which I know isn't great, but it's better than nothing.)

 In other news, we leave tomorrow for an overnight homeschooling conference through APACHE.  Nick and I are going with my mom and younger sister, Grace.  It should be awesome.  We plan to home-school Asher and any other children that might make an appearance after him, so I think this conference will be great. 

Asher will be staying the night at my dad's house.  I'm getting the typical "Mommy" nervousness about being away from him.  He's never stayed there before, so I hope everything goes smoothly.  Prayers appreciated for both Mommy and son!

Gasp! A Non-Thursday Post!

Well, I'm just sitting here with Asher, watching Dora.  Team UmiZoomi just got done (he loves that show so much!).  We went to a tiny town near our house to go for a walk (since I told you all last week that my goal was to get to the Y three times this week.  I think the walk counts.) and play at the park.  That's right, folks, we have to drive to get somewhere we can walk!  You try pushing a stroller on a gravel road that's been largely taken over by mud! No thanks!  Anyway, he was SUPER good during our 30 minute walk.  He was just content to sit in the stroller and talk to me and look at the houses and birds.  It's probably a novel idea to him to see houses so close together, since we live in the middle of nowhere.  We started our walk at the park, and I told him if he was good, we could play when we were done.  Since he was so good, we played for about 30 minutes at the park.  He had a great time sliding and climbing and playing with ginormous leaves...

Except when he face-planted in the dirt...

He didn't cry or anything!  Needless to say, he took a bath when we got home. 

In other news, today is my niece Jayla's 2nd birthday.

We'll be heading to her house tonight for her birthday party.  She and Asher love each other, even if neither of them are to the stage yet where they get the whole "sharing toys" thing.

We're getting pretty excited for the adoption next week!  That reminds me, I need to go tomorrow and get Asher's papers served to him.  lol  It will be great to finally have it behind us!  The day after, I have my RE appointment.  I'm really praying that the provera will come through and put me on the correct CD for it.  It would suck to have to re-schedule it.  I think Nick is actually going to come with me to it, since he decided to take his 2 week paternity leave that his work gives for births and adoptions.  lol  I think it's kind of funny, since it's not like we have to travel or anything, but he said, "Honey!  It's 2 weeks paid vacation!  For free!"  So, it will be nice to have him around for a couple of weeks, including the visits to the RE that are sure to ensue.  

Anyhoo, I'm sorry to ramble.  I'm trying to keep my mind off of how hungry I am after that walk and park playing. 

We Have An Adoption Date!

March 31, 2010 at 9:30am, or little man will officially become ours!

We are SO excited!

That is all.

Going to the Chapel...

In Which I Ramble About Randomness

First and foremost, I forgot to post on Monday about my weigh-in.  Actually, that's not true.  I knew I needed to, I just kept not doing it.  I lost 2.4 pounds last week!  It makes me less than half a pound from where the fat-focusing PA wants me to be to start the femara/follistim protocol.  Pretty nifty.

Also, my younger sister, Kayla, got engaged on Valentine's Day!  Ryan, her fiance, is a great guy and we all love him!  They're getting married August 13, 2010 and I've been asked to be the matron of honor.  I'm pretty excited.  I've never been a bridesmaid, except for being a junior bridesmaid when my mom and dad got married.  Hopefully it won't be too hot in mid-August in formal wear! lol

On the adoption front, we went last week and signed a million papers with the lawyer!  Really, it was just a million copies of like 4 different papers, but it sure seemed like a lot!  Hopefully they got the papers sent to Chicago this week, so they can get sent back quickly.  My favorite part of the whole thing is that we have to take Asher to the sheriff's office to get served the papers! haha  We saw the paper and it literally says (his birth name) vs. Nicholas and Krystal Carlson!  lol  It's like he's suing us or something!  Anyway, they're hoping that April will be our month.  We can't wait!

I noticed I lost 2 followers, then gained another one this past week or so.  Whoever my new follower is, feel free to say hi! I love comments!

An Asher Anniversary!

Today, we have had Asher for one year! Can you even believe it?! 

Here he is a year ago...

 

And here's the best pic I could get of him today... 

 

We love you, Ash! We can't wait to see what the next year brings!

Chicago and Rude Produce

Nick and I spent Wednesday-Friday of last week in Chicago.  We had a blast!  We caught the train in Galesburg Wednesday morning and were in the windy city by 10:30am.  We then caught a metra to Deerfield where we spent the afternoon with some friends of ours, Jimmy and Cassie.  Jimmy was best man at our wedding.  We had a GREAT time with them!  They made lunch (and it was DELICIOUS!) and we sat and talked theology and life all afternoon.  Before we knew it--and way too soon, I might add--it was time for us to catch the metra back into the city.  We checked into our hotel and ordered pizza and swam.  We had the pool area to ourselves for awhile, but then some old ladies showed up.  The first night, neither of us slept very well.  I think we've decided that our bed has ruined us for all other beds.  It used to be that I slept great at hotels because their beds were so much better than mine.  Now, that's not the case.  Also, I sleep with a fan on for background noise, and I didn't have one at the hotel.  So, the combination of the bed, the quiet and the thin walls made for a less than awesome night of sleep.

Thursday, we went shopping and out to lunch with one of my "internet friends," Heidi and her husband Josh.  We had never met before, but we had a great time at Water Tower Place and shopping on Michigan Ave.  We had lunch at Cheesecake Factory in the bottom of the Hancock Tower.  I'd never been there before, but it was good.  I didn't even have any cheesecake! lol  That night, we had delicious Italian food for supper at Rosebud, followed by a long walk and subway ride to see the Blue Man Group.  It. Was. Awesome.  We were in the first row and were issued ponchos! haha  I didn't really get all that wet, but it was super cool.  I highly recommend seeing them!  Afterward, we went back to the hotel and rented a movie on the tv, which I have also never done!  We watched "The Time Traveler's Wife," which I read awhile back.  As usual, the book is much better, but the movie was ok.  Maybe not worth the $15 we spent to rent it, but ok all the same.  That night we slept a little better, but I was definitely looking forward to sleeping in my own bed!

Friday we packed up and checked out of the hotel, leaving our luggage with the concierge until it was time to catch our train home.  We did some shopping on State street (which houses the more budget-friendly stores).  Old Navy was having some super clearance and we got Nick a pair of flannel lined jeans for $6!  We decided on lunch at Weber Grill.  We HIGHLY recommend it!  It will change your life!  I got a burger, and Nick got a meatloaf/pulled pork combo.  It was SOOOOOOO good!  They cook on actual Weber Grills, and it is delicious!  We caught our train home at 3:15.  My mom and dad had upgraded us to a roomette for the short trip home, so we had a little room all to ourselves.  It was fun, and much better than being herded in with all the other people. lol  We got back to Galesburg and went and picked up Asher.  He seemed decently happy to see us, but I think we were happier to see him than he was to see us! haha  We slept in our own bed that night and it was heavenly!

I worked the weekend, and was having serious withdrawls from having been with Nick for the last 3 days.  I absolutely LOVE spending time with that man.  It never gets old.  I'd rather do nothing with him than do something uber exciting without him.  He is truly my best friend.

Well, as you may have guessed from my Chicago trip menu, the weight loss wasn't at all awesome this week.  I had to weigh this morning as opposed to yesterday, because I like to weigh first thing with an empty bladder and I had worked all night Sunday night, so I didn't really have an opportunity.  I only lost 0.2 pounds, which, I suppose, is better than gaining.  I just need to keep at it and realize that we don't go to Chicago all the time, so the number should be better next week.  Oh well.

While I was grocery shopping yesterday, I bought bananas for Ash.  Check out what they said.

Rude, right?!  Jeez! I can't catch a break! lol

Random 50th Post

So, a few random things:

I'm in the throes of babysitting my 3 year old brother, Sam and my 4 year old sister, Mercy.  That's right! I currently have a 2 year old, a 3 year old and a 4 year old and 3 cats roaming around my house in various states of consciousness.

We started back to the WW points-counting last week.  I'm trying to get back into going to the Y, but it's proving to be more difficult that it was when the weather was nice.  Now, I'm all concerned about Ash being in the child care there, what with all the H1N1 and seasonal flu.  (He did get his vaccines, but still, I SO am not a fan of sick children!)  In nice weather, I'd just throw him the car and we'd drive to a paved road so I could walk while pushing him in the stroller.  Now, with more than a foot of snow on the ground, that doesn't work very well.  Not to mention the sub zero temps we've been enjoying the past couple of weeks...lovely.

Anyway, I'm going to try to post a small update on Mondays as to how the weight loss is going.  Maybe trying to keep myself accountable...we'll see how well that works.  I've decided Mondays are my weigh-in days, which is partly because I started the dieting on a Monday and partly because it will (hopefully) keep me on track on the weekends.  I won't tell you the weight I see on the scale, but I will tell you that I lost 4.8 pounds since last Monday! Woo!

I'm supposed to go to the RE on Thursday morning (more on the supposed to momentarily), and I'm kind of loathing it.  On one hand, I'm looking forward to getting going on doing something resembling anything on the infertility front.  However, I'm sure it will go something like, "oh...you gained some weight back since we saw you last." "Yep.  The holidays (and my general laziness) will do that, but don't worry, I'm back at it!"  "Hmmm..."  "You said you wanted to schedule an HSG, anyway, so I figure I still have awhile to lose some more before I would feasibly be housing a human being."  "True.  When do you want me to shoot dye up your hoo-haa?"  That's how I figure it will go.  I have a hard time psyching myself up for the 1 hour 40 minute drive when I usually end up spending more time in the waiting room than I do with the doctor.  ugh

I got word last night that my step-grandpa passed away.  It didn't overtly come out of left field, as he was getting up there in age, but he went pretty quickly from just being in the hospital to passing away.  We don't know when services will be, yet, but my step-mom guessed probably visitation Wednesday with funeral Thursday.  That, of course, means I'll need to reschedule my RE appointment, so I hope to find out pretty soon.

Finally, this is my 50th post! Yay, me!

Potty Training!

Well, we started on the potty training New Year's week.  The first day was terrible and we prayed for death.  The second day was improved, but still not awesome.  Then, he spent 3 days rocking out at using the potty!  We're talking few accidents, good attitude and even going in public on a big boy potty!  We was wearing underwear at home and keeping them dry for the most part.

Then, Monday rolled around and he started throwing a big baby fit every time we suggested trying to potty.  Then he'd only go a couple of drops and demand "jum jums!"  (We were using M & Ms as reward, which I know we're not supposed to do.)  He has gotten a little better, but we're still not back to how we were a few days ago.  I will seriously pay good money for a potty training fairy!

(Can you handle how cute little tiny boxer briefs are?)

 

He LOVES playing with theses letters and numbers!

 

 

This is SNOW much fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas!