Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you and your families!! We had a great Christmas with our families, the holidays can be a little exhausting but it was worth every dime and minute to spend times with the loved ones that we hardly ever see throughout the year....Moments with family are the times that I cherish the most as Christmas is truly a happy time...I just can't believe that it came and went so quickly like it does every year.

A family tradition has been going on in my family for over 20 years. Christmas Eve night, my parents throw an annual party where family members and close friends come over to celebrate the holiday season. After all the festivites and the guests leave, the family goes to Midnight mass and truly celebrate the true meaning of what Christmas is all about, the birth of our Lord and Savior...my mom sings in the church choir every year and it truly brings her happiness when she's up there singing on this amazing holiday..No matter how old I get, spending the night at your parents house does not get old because waking up to open up gifts makes me feel like a kid again..

There are no words to express how much my family means to me,the gifts that we receive every year never dissapoint and their love and thoughtful is endless. I am truly blessed to have such caring and considerate people in my life who know how to bring a smile on my face....My parents are such amazing people and always open their door to their home to have people come over so that they can have a good Christmas, my mom cooks the most amazing food and there is always leftovers to bring home and enjoy.....Now that Chrismas is over, it's time to focus on celebrating my bday and bringing in the New Year....It's kinda exhausting to have Christmas, bday and New Year all in a span of days apart, but I know that once the holiday season is over, it's back to reality and starting on New Years resolutions.

I hope that 2012 was a good year for all of you. I hope that you can reflect back on all the events and milestones that happened this year, maybe go into 2013 with a positive state of mind and hope to make better decisions that will reflect the changes in your life.

Wishing you all a Prosperous and Safe New Year!! Best wishes to you all in 2013!!

Happy Holidays!!

Wow!! I can't believe that the holidays are here again..This is my favorite time of year, not only is it the time to see family and celebrate but its also the time where I turn another year older...

Thanksgiving was a success as usual, we always end up doing 2 Thanksgivings. The first stop this year was Aunt Mickey and Uncle David's. It's the first one where Grandma McKee was here with the family as she currently resides in Atlanta now after her transition from Cleveland. It's great to have most of the members of McKee family in Atlanta, it makes the holidays that more special..It was also my first time meeting Will's cousin, Ramsey's baby boy Benjamin.  The little guy was giving me an evil look, but he was a lot of fun as he was crawling around and making all kinds of noise. Christmas for him this year is going to be sooo great.

                                                   Sweet Baby Boy Benjamin

the next stop for Thanksgiving dinner #2 was with my family. It's always good to be with them during the holidays, it gives us all time to catch up with life, just hang out and watch football...The turkey definitely can put you to sleep but the food never dissapoints.
We actually got our Christmas tree early this time so it's starting to feel like Christmas in our household...Now with Christmas comes holiday parties, which looking at my calendar the month of December is practically booked....
The hubby and I are soo thankful for all the blessings that God has given us and provided for.  hubby continues to be such a huge supporter and my ROCK!!
Hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving with your loved ones, till next time blog readers!

A little Update....

Hello blogger followers,

Sorry for being MIA, but there has been  a couple of changes that have happened.
Last week I started a new job at a medical hosting company, which by the grace of God is only 10 minutes away-HALLELUJAH!!!! My position is a User Administrator, which is not as stressful as what I did at my last job but its a little similiar...This job was truly a blessing in disguise as I was let go from my other job after being there for 5 1/2 years. I thought that it would take me months to find another job, but I'm blessed and appreciative of my husband for working so hard to provide for us while I was out of work.

 I applied for this position through Career Builder, got a call back in a few days, interviewed and was offered the position in a matter of 2 weeks. Talk about great timing!! :-) :-)
The job so far is going well and I'm getting the hang of things. My co-workers so far have been helpful and just really nice, I'm starting to fit in that place.
However, I do miss my colleagues from my last job...Those people were like my family and I developed lots of great relationships with them, it has definitely been hard adjusting but I definitely don't miss the commute.

Thank God for Facebook, email and technology where I can keep in touch with some of them and still plan on hanging out and spending them with some of my favorite girls.
Life is going well regards of this little obstacle in our life.
In regards to the baby making progress, it hasn't really been on our minds but we also haven't let it leave our minds either..It's getting towards the end of the year and now its about timing...We know that God does make miracles and I'm confident that our little baby will come into our life no matter how long it takes, we aren't going to give up. Don't worry bloggers, I won't be slacking off on the blogging..stay tuned for new updates.

The Baby Club

It seems the water has been intoxicated with the baby making juice as there are so many ladies in my life that are expecting precious miracles in 2013...To be honest, I'm soo over everyone's baby news, that's all everyone wants to talk about when there are gatherings, I mean I'm happy for those that have been able to conceive naturally with no issues, but I guess God just does not want us to be parents just yet... I think my time in the baby making world is almost over, every month the past 10 months has been in utter dissapointment and puts me in such a funk that I feel its time for us to "hang it up" and move on.
I would really like to do a lot more traveling and explore in what this amazing country has to offer..my goal is to travel overseas sometime next year, maybe finally go to Europe, visit the homeland or some of the countries in Asia. I have an itch with the traveling bug, my goals for kids will obviously not be meant, but I still have hope that we will bring a child into this world only on God's time which I feel he is testing me on and I guess he will give us a surprise someday soon.
As much as my desire to become a parent has been one of my biggest dreams, sometimes your dreams don't come true.
Thanks for those who have been such huge supporters as I went through so many hormone changes, mood swings, emotions, etc.. I hope that you all will continue to be a huge support and continue to pray for us..thanks for following our blog, I will have updates soon on any new adventures that we may experience throughout the next few weeks and months..We love you all and this is not the last that you will hear from us, stay tuned!

IUI Day

Tomorrow morning we will be starting our first round of IUI. After my doctor's appointment yesterday, there is currently a 24mm follicle on the right ovary that's getting to release an egg so it was suggested that I get an HCG to trigger multiple releases of my eggs in order for them to be ready for tomorrow's procedure..
We are needing lots of prayers and sprinke of baby dust as we are hoping that this procedure is a success the first time around. We have decided if this first round does not work, we will officially take a break. As much as my heart desires for us to have a baby, our finances have taken a toll so we have to focus on that, but if this procedure is a success..the finances will be a test in our marriage and we will have to truly budget in the amount of money that we spend.
I'm truly nervous about this procedure, actually I'm nervous about any procedure that has to do with catherers being up in my woo ha!!! hopefully there will not be a lot of side effects.
Please pray for us and wish us luck, we truly appreciate all the support and will keep you posted.

Great times in California

Our Labor Day trip to California was absolutely perfect!! The weather cooperated with us the whole weekend, the humidity was perfect but the heat was dry!!
It was soo great to see the family and spend lots of quality time with them....We ate delicious food, which both of us gaining at least 5 pounds...We got to experience the Pacific Ocean beaches, the weather is soo much colder than the Atlantic..Malibu and Santa Monica beach were simply gorgeous.
I got to experience my first beach boot camp, which was super hard but an amazing workout..running in sand is quite difficult. We got to experience LA County fair, which we were spoiled as fairs in LA last a month vs fairs in the south last about 10 days...Admission to the fair was $1, which was awesome but there was fried food goodness..I got to taste a maple bacon donut and a spam sandwich were both succulent.....I was really happy that I got to see some of my cousins and reunite with everyone, it seems everytime I come into town is when everyone sees each other..they all definitely made us feel welcome and at home especially those who met Will for the first time.
We hope to go back and spend the New Year along with my bday, it would really be something different for us to ring in the New Year on the West Coast, but we will just have to see how much time work will let me take off.

Here are some pictures below from our trip, please enjoy:

                                          Last night in LA, reuniting with the cousins

                                                  Famous Hollywood Sign

LA County Fair in Pomona

 

Griffith Observatory

The awesome maple bacon donut

Santa Monica Promenade

                                        Happy Birthday Mom!! Bday lunch at Panada Inn

California Dreamin'........

Tomorrow we are off to LA for the long weekend, to say I have been looking forward to this trip is an understatement..The weather forecast for sunny California is exactly that-sunny and no RAIN!!! We are just hoping and praying that there aren't any delays flying out of Atlanta due to some effects from Hurricane Isaac....I'm very much looking forward to reconnecting with my DH and seeing some family..They are all soo excited to have us be in town...Our trip is already planned with lots of f un things to do and great places to eat...I absolutely love California, the weather is always amazing, there's always so much to do and the dining is beyond overwhelming..Visiting with my family is always such a joy as they make me feel like I never left, which is why hopefully that I plan to come visit every year...Pictures will be posted throughout the trip of the awesome places that we will be going..

Update on our baby route: Letrozol dosage was increased to 7.5 mg 3 tablets a day for 5 days plus taking this "steroid" called dexamethasone-1 tablet a day which is supposed to help boost the start of ovulation, but quite honestly it makes me super hungry and I feel like I have gained some of my weight that I lost which is super annoying..I have to take this medicine till ovulation starts and will be seeing the doctor for a follow up with US of the follicles and blood work for estrogen level to see if I'm even close to ovulation time once we get back in town..I plan on working out at least a couple times when I'm out in the West Coast so I wont gain a whole much of weight...Please continue to send your baby prayers for us and following us on this journey...
Hope that you all enjoy the long and much needed weekend. Stay tuned with a blog featuring our trip!

Phase 3....

Our break with any type of fertility medicine is over...It threw my cycle off about 5 days so now this month we will start phase 3...Phase 3 will consist of me taking letrozol (femara) from days 3-7, this medicine's side effects wont be as bad as clomid and wont stay in my system as long either..This medcine has been used to treat women with breast cancer but its used a lot of ovulation problems..This drug will help the follicles in my ovaries be more stimulated-fingers crossed, than after the Labor day weekend when ovulation time occurs, we will be going through the process of IUI- (intrauterine insemination)..This procedure involves DH wanking in a cup, than putting in some type of catherer than having them insert the catherere inside so it will be closer to my eggs where they will hopefully meet, fertilize and produce our miracle...I'm hoping the first time works for us because if we have 3 attempts fail, than we move on to IVF..DH's busy season is about to end so he wants to mainly focus on us having a baby as fall starts to arrive so he's willing to do just about anything to make it happen, which makes me love him more and more....He's going to be an amazing dad when we do have our child and that child will have never ending love from the both of us..Please continue to pray for us on our journey..we are praying that this next phase in our baby journey will be a success...updates on the next blog!!

Losing weight feels great

Weight loss update: 6 pounds in a month and 9 pounds to go in 6 weeks..I have confidence that I will reach my target weight loss maybe lose more than that....Insanity workouts started today and it really kicked my butt, but totally worth all the pain I will feel in a couple of days..After running yesterday, I have decided to not run the 5K Run that I was trying to train for in August, physically my body is not ready..maybe the Tap and Run in October I should be good to go...I feel really good and feel like I have a lot more energy..my clothes are starting to fit better, my face is starting to thin out and things on my body seem to be more lean...Eating right has helped a lot to as well as cutting back on no alcohol, sugar, beef and carbs..Sometimes I tend to eat chocolate or have a fixing for some good carbs, but its about portion control and how much you consume per day. Though our main focus right is trying to get pregnant, I can definitely say not being on the fertility drugs has made a huge difference, even the hubby has noticed. Naturally my body just has to get used to the hormones and hopefully things will be back on track... We are still hoping for a miracle, but dont make it our main priority, trying to make the situation stress free as possible, hopefully losing good amount of weight will make things easier for us. Losing weight truly does feel great and I'm so glad to have such great motivators to keep me on track..Here's to shedding the rest of the unwanted pounds and getting back to my ideal weight.

Taking a little break....

So this month will be a little break from the fertility medicines..I have spoken to the nurses and ACRM to let them know that the 3 rounds of Clomid did not work so I wanted to see what other options I have..I'm scheduled to have a consultation with my reproductive specialist to see if we can go a different route..I discussed this with hubby a few days ago and his response: "do whatever you need to do" so pretty much the ball is in my court which is a relief because at this point, I will do just about anything to make sure we conceive right...I'm on day 4 of my cycle and its been on time at 35 days which has been good..it gives me a better estimate when I can actually count and expect it to get here..I will be checking out the ovulation calendars on when I'm supposed to ovulate and we can hopefully plan from there, but no need to stress and let it just happen on its own time..
The workout and losing weight is coming along nicely..this week I start the insanity workout which will put me in working out at least 4 days a week including tennis matches..people have noticed the changes in my face and I have gotten compliments about looking good and noticing the weight loss..I feel great and definitely have the adrenaline rush in working out and staying fit...The baby thing is not so much a priority like its been for the past few months, it's more now of if a miracle happens than we will be excited...We do hope that those following our blog will continue to pray for us on this baby journey...we can only hope for the best and look forward to see when God will grace us with a little miracle.

Happy 4th of July Eve!

To say this has been one of the hottest summers since I have lived in GA is an understatatement...This past weekend we reached temperatures in the triple digits..it was truly miserable and uncomfortable, just being out in the sun literally fried you..I was brave enough to survie the blazing heat playing a tennis match which went into 3 sets..the court surface reached 110 degrees and I experienced the joys of heat exhaustion for the first time..Body, shaking, nauseua, couldn't stay hydrated and sweating unstop..my body had to recover after the match to stay cool, hydrated and get my energy back..need less to say I stayed in most of the day till that evening. However, on Sunday I went to the lake and stayed in the water for a good bit, but totally am feelign soo much better...Though this heat can definitely take the light out of you, I somehow can manage to be physically active in it...Running during my lunch has been a great motivator and I'm starting to like the joys of running, I have also ran around my neighborhood. I'm currently training to do the Mangnolia Run 5K on August 25th so I have to been in tip top shape to be able to run 3.2 miles..If I survive this run and make it through most of the race, than my adrenaline rush will make me want to participate in more runs....It's the day before the 4th of July and we will be enjoying it with some great friends than back to work the rest of the week..Hope everyone has a safe 4th!

Weight loss, staying fit program

Today I start my running journey and my weight loss program...I think the effects of us not getting pregnant is problems with my weight, it's not the average weight for women who are my age and my height....I have a goal to lose at least 15 pounds before I fly to California and see my family for the Labor Day weekend which is alreay scheduled....I have never been a fan of running, but my co-workers have truly been such motivators that I wanted to try it..My goal is to run at least twice a week during my lunch break and hopefully have the strenght to run more distance miles, that would be simply amazing...My diet will have to change too, I will have to cut back on carbs, which is my weakness and maybe red meat.
I am currently playing singles tennis again and doubles so I'm out there at least 3 times a week being active, the running is just an extra bonus and cardio workout that I will need...I tend to "cheat" on these times of things, but with enough support and motivation I can hopefully maintain my weight goal..
I'm not a fan of weight scales, but I may have to invest in one to reach my target weight..I hope you blog followers will support me through the next 10 weeks and I will definitely keep you all posted on how the progress is going....Ready, Set, GO!!

A new blog!!

The old blog got deleted since I deleted my old email address..Therefore, I have to start from scratch, but no worries! I will be blogging more this time...
Updates coming soon!!