We're having a baby!!

Russ and I attempted IVF (in vitro fertilization) this past summer. I will leave out all of the little details of this process since I'm doing that on a different baby blog.

August 14th was the date of the egg retrieval and August 19th was the day of the transfer. The picture below was a picture taken at the moment the embryo was transferred from the lab to inside of me! Crazy! (There is a little white line towards the left side of the picture where it was placed.)

 

August 28th was the day we found out from the doctor that the process worked. YAY!! Russ and I found out together at the same time while on the phone with the doctor's office. I was shocked & SO excited since I had talked myself out of getting my hopes up, and figured the test would be negative. We kept it a secret for a week before telling anyone.

 The doctor had done a blood test to get the results but a few weeks later I did a home pregnancy test just for the fun of it. So exciting to see 2 lines!

 

This was the moment we told the kids

 

At 6.5 weeks we had our last appointment with the fertility doctor before being turned over to my regular OB/GYN. We got to see the cute little heartbeat flickering on the screen. That's when it became a little more real and also when I started getting sick.

 

At 8 weeks I had a little scare and was worried I was going to miscarry. Dr. Huish's office did an ultrasound and the baby was measuring exactly as it should and the heart was beating as it should.

 

Around 12 weeks I did the first-trimester screening and got some really good pictures of the baby. The ultrasound tech thought she knew what the baby was too... but I will still call the baby him/her because I want to be more sure. These pictures are a little freaky but still so interesting to look at! The baby was only the size of a lemon at this point.

I also got to take home a DVD of the ultrasound and have watched it a few times. It's so fun to see the baby move around!

 

 Something I didn't do with Noah and wished I would have... the pregnancy progression pictures! Here I am at 1) a few days before the egg retrieval; 2) 4 weeks; 3) 8 weeks; and 4) 12 weeks

 

We are SO excited for May to get here. Right now I'm just counting down the days until I feel better on a consistent basis, and then after that I will be fine for time to slow down a little. I'm more than 1/3 of the way there and that's a little bit scary. I have so many things I want to get done before the baby gets here, so I can focus on the baby and nothing else when that time comes! This baby is such a miracle to me - I am so thankful to be pregnant despite my complaining about being sick!

August / September

Random pictures of some cute little people:

Lucy

Otto - I thought it was funny how him and Uncle Russ were similar in the way they were laying with their arms resting above their heads!

 Sophie & Noah after attending some friends' baptisms - they are excited for their upcoming baptisms in October & November!

Labor Day weekend - Russ and I did a stay-cation at The Princess resort in Scottsdale. We invited family to come hang with us on Monday but Noah and the Baldwins were the only ones who made it.

September 7-9: Auburn & the Heatons (Kerry & Cassady) participated in a triathlon in San Diego... so my mom, Suzanne, Alisse and I followed them over to California to cheer them on!

We got there Friday afternoon and didn't do much that day except find a Sprinkles (cupcakes) which happened to be right next to the San Diego temple. It is one of the prettiest - if not THE prettiest temple there is!

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to be there at the start of the triathlon. The weather was perfect and the hours flew by as we watched for Auburn, Kerry, and Cassady at their transition points. 

The swim was first. We found a great spot to sit and watch all the swimmers get out of the water - we spotted Kerry and Auburn but somehow missed Cassady.

Suzanne made the funniest signs to cheer on our athletes... she took Olympian pictures and inserted Auburn, Kerry, & Cassady's faces. 

 

 

After the swim was the bike. We found another great place to sit and watch for our "team" - It was Auburn's bright shoes and Cassady's bright shirt that helped us spot each of them...

 

Finally, the run! The runners did a 5k loop twice to make up their 10k run. So we got some pictures of them passing us the first time and the second. This part was so exciting since they were almost finished!

  

 

Finishing the second loop of the run - and the entire race:

After the race... they all did so awesome! Auburn & Cassady's motto for the race was "in it to finish it" but they beat their goal by over 35 minutes! They did great, I can't even imagine. They trained really hard for close to 6 months - in the Arizona Summer. Crazy!

A few hours after the race we met up at a tasty Mexican restaurant.

Mom & Sisters shot in front of the beach! (We missed having Danielle with us)

We also missed having Auburn in our car but we love road-tripping together!

A few more randoms:

Babysitting Lucy is always entertaining. She found a few binkies and a baby to cuddle on the couch when she was ready for a nap this day...

She also danced along to the "hot dog song" on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse... which I replayed several times for her as I cleaned my house!

This picture makes me LOL every time I see it. I started to play with Lucy's hair one day and ended up doing a french braid down the middle, leaving the scraggly sides hanging. Scott said about the braid "No offense, but that's ugly" hahaha!! The big fat pony tail holder on her thin hair was just as funny to me as the hair hanging down on the sides.

Finally, this is a picture of Noah learning to pump gas. We pulled into the gas station and Russ said to me "I'm gonna teach my man how to pump gas for the ladies". Noah was so excited. He was coached by Russ who never got out of the car. I of course had to get out to take a picture and helped him use the credit card, but he did a perfect job and might be able to do it on his own from now on.

 Russ was maybe more excited about this moment than I was. He said to me "this might be the best thing we've ever done - we won't ever have to get out of the car again!"

Last month of Summer

We took a last-minute trip to California for a weekend (July 6-9)

Our first stop after a long jog / longboard ride / scooter ride was Citi Donuts. Yum!!

Russ & Noah got some much needed haircuts - Noah's was cut by a transvestite!

It's hard to see here but that's Russ in the distance on his long board. I wish it was as easy to exercise outdoors in AZ as it is in CA! We enjoyed this 4-mile route from our hotel to the beach a few times.

My family was staying in Newport for the week so we spent about an hour on the beach with a few of them...

Lucy

Noah & Jax - they LOVED boogie boarding!

Brad & Danielle

Megan & Matthew's new baby Otto was blessed that weekend, our main reason for the trip. He's the cutest baby boy!

We also enjoyed a dinner at El Torito Grill. The tortillas and honey butter are SO delicious! We couldn't get enough!

Russ and I came home after the weekend and Noah stayed with my family for the week. We missed him a lot but Suzanne kept me updated with pictures of Noah...

 

We came home after the weekend in California to find some skunks living in our neighborhood. Yuck!! One day it rained really hard and I think they were forced out of the hiding spots they had found for the week. We got some pictures and video footage of the mom and her 4 or 5 or 6 babies following her around! Crazy!

  

Random - but I love taking pictures of sleepy people!

  

It was a miracle one Saturday in July when the weather was not actually too bad! We took a bike ride to get a cool treat!

  

  

Russ's latest drawings: 

(speaker; balcony; sandwich; tebowing; Russ dreaming of drawing; shower; windmill; Bieber; organ)

I'm still amazed at his skills!

Noah and I had a date-night one weekend and went to see Brave, then to IHOP (random I know), then school shopping. This picture at IHOP was the only one I took but seeing it will always remind me of the things we talked about at dinner that night. He is such a sweet boy on the inside.

Russ took a trip to Mexico with his business partners and friends to go scuba diving and deep-sea fishing. I loved having pictures texted to me throughout his trip because I really miss him while he's gone! Here are the pictures I got...

Lucy turned 2 and had a little birthday party - I still like to claim her as mine sometimes!

The summer has been filled with a lot of slumber parties (mostly with Ellie) and also hitting up different public pools...

Russ took my sisters an I out for a day on the lake last week for some surfing time. Auburn brought her wetsuit to swim in open-water since she is training for a triathlon. It was so much fun - we were dying when we saw a little Cadillac towing a boat as we were leaving the lake that day!

August 3rd - Russ and I celebrated our 3-year anniversary of our first date. What a great day August 3rd 2009 was! On our first date we went to Oregano's and then to F1 Race Factory but when we got to the race track we were too late to do any races. So this year, we re-lived that date and actually got to race. Russ placed 1st and I placed 4th. I was pretty proud of myself. My favorite part of our date was pretending to be on a 1st date again, and asking each other questions as if we didn't know the answers. To hear each other's answers was hilarious!! Russ makes everything fun, I love that he's my husband!

To live up the last weekend of summer before the kids started school - we planned a Sherwood Family lake day. Unfortunately Allise and Scott, Brad and Danielle, and Bryan and Jaxen were not able to make it. The rest of us had a good time at Canyon Lake!

Finally... the last day of summer came. Ellie, Noah and I went swimming and then to Bahama Bucks. It's always bitter sweet to send Noah back to school. It's been fun spending time with him but I seem to keep my life more organized during the school year.

First day of school!!

August 8, 2012