Masters Arrive In O.C.

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Kaili and I drove up to OC as soon as traffic let up Tuesday morning. Doesn’t this look like the perfect weather for a tennis tournament?

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We got to the tennis venue a little before David’s first match. The place is really nice, decked out with a lot of comfy seating, food and drinks.

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Wags kept us on our toes the first set of his match, finally winning it in a tie-breaker. My pictures of him playing have not turned out well so I will give you a glimpse and then carry on.

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He killed it in the second set 6-0 kicking off his winning streak. Kaili gave her uncle a celebratory hug after the match.

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The nice thing about this Mission Viejo tennis center is that center court is really open, allowing me to watch the match while Kaili wandered around in circles. She wasn’t going to sit for more than the allowed time it took to eat a fun size bag of skittles. Bribing them with candy will buy you at least 5 minutes. WINNING!

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The second day kicked off almost the same way. With warmer weather and  a more stressful first set, our fat heads came in handy. Each day I see the venue getting more and more crowded. This weekend should have a good turnout.

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My dad came with me helping me wrangle the kid. He wandered around with her allowing me to actually sit and watch the second set. Thanks dad!

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Wags once again killed it 6-0 in the second set reminding us all why he is the best!

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We can’t make tomorrows matches but will be up there for the evening doubles match on Friday. I feel another win coming!

Go Away I’m Sleeping.

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It’s taken a couple of weeks but Kaili has finally come to the realization that she can get out of her bed any time she wants. I was woken to the pitter patter of feet then she demanded I “get up” at 6 this morning. I knew it would happen but I hoped it wouldn’t, at least that early.

I am going to give this Ok to Wake clock a try. I was explaining to her that her new clock will turn green when she can get up and leave her room. Well I didn’t realize that the light on our bedroom clock is green so now I have screwed myself because it’s “time to get up” all night long in our room. She comes in a says, “green, get up”, so I think she will grasp the concept but will she actually follow it?

Speaking of following directions. I got her progress report yesterday…yes they do that in preschool. It’s more of a developmental checklist and since it’s the one I chose for the school I can’t complain. She is right where she should be, not behind, not ahead.  There are certain things she knows but doesn’t master consistently and it’s time she learns how to hold and use scissors, hopefully with all her hair in tact.

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After school we took a stroll along the bay.

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We stopped at each playground and chased some birds for good measure.

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Swings, can’t forget the swings.

view from a swing.
view from a swing.

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In Case You were Wondering

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I haven’t forgotten to tell you how my Dr. appointment went, it’s just nothing really happened. My lining is at a 6, they like to see it at an 8, if that means anything to you. I now have 6, yes 6 birth control patches decorating my lower abdomen. Side effects? You betcha!  Headaches, breast tenderness, and bitchiness. Those are the side effects for 1 patch, so multiply it by 6 and that’s how I have been feeling.

Shane escorted me to my appointment to sign my life away  our procedure consents. Along with with our FET they will also be doing something called assisted hatching, not sure how I feel about this yet but it’s supposed to raise implantation success, but it can also split the embryo resulting in identical twins <— not a joke.

Once again I will be on those wonderful PIO {progesterone} injections. This gives me a knot in my stomach to think about so lets not talk about it yet, mmmkay?

Next appointment is Thursday morning, my optimism tells me my lining will be good and we will schedule the transfer day.

Tomorrow, the wheelchair tennis masters starts in Mission Viejo. David plays everyday starting Tuesday, twice a day starting Thursday. Do yourself a favor and catch a match if you can. We will be heading up Friday morning for sure, I am still debating on taking Kaili up solo before then.

Halloween in Photos

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Along with Kaili’s early rising she has also lost her taste for breakfast. Before heading to school I asked her if she wanted to eat something, “yes chocolate!” Damn kid, it’s 8 in the morning.

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Our school had a Halloween party and I went to watch help. I walked in and caught K “playing” a game.

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Her and her bestie had fun together playing the piano, dancing, playing and I led the kids in The Spooky Walk….It’s like I never left.

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Kaili was highly intrigued with the story time/ puppet show set up. So much so, that she inserted herself into the show.

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After a gourmet lunch of pizza, I dragged her home for a much needed nap.

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We took Kaili out trick or treating with some friends and she outlasted us. She wasn’t quite sure what was happening in the beginning but she quickly caught on. All said and done I think she liked the free candy thing but every dog she came across was way more intriguing.

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I vow to retire this outfit now.

Goodbye Crib

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So apparently we aren’t supposed to let our children sleep in cribs their entire life, who made this rule?

I was in no hurry to make this transition, she slept like a champ, hasn’t fallen out and cracked her head open, or let alone successfully made an escape. However Shane has been chomping on the bit to make the change…<—-he will be sorry when she’s bringing boys home, gonna wish she was still in a crib.

I talked to Kaili about her big girl bed for a few weeks before the transition. Sunday morning she watched Shane convert her crib to her new toddler bed and then we all went to Target to get her a night light for her room. The other idea was to make sure that the first night in her bed she was exhausted and that plan was successful. She went right down, a.m.a.z.i.n.g. We were expecting her to hop out of bed and come on out a few times, but nope, she fell fast asleep.

"I wake up"
“I wake up”
"I get down"
“I get down”
"I"...well you get the picture
“I”…well you get the picture

Transition successful? Mostly, she woke up at 5:30 am I heard her hop out of bed and chit chat with herself but she stayed in there quietly and gave me another 20 minutes to stay in bed. She’s used to sleeping in the dark, no nightlight, door closed. I was concerned that she might need some light if she wakes in the night so she can see what she is doing. But I fear that the light in the room gave her the sense that 5:30 was an acceptable time to start the day…it is not.

Night two, again she went down just fine. When I checked on her before turning in I unplugged the nightlight hoping if she woke early she would just go back to sleep. Wrong. This time she woke up earlier and wasn’t going to go back to sleep. So in and out of her room I went until 6 am and then we got up, 3 cups of coffee later I was semi ready for the day.

Since Daylight savings time is coming up I have been keeping her up 10 minutes later each night and the third night she went down 30 minutes later than normal. She had a bit of a hard time going down but once she did I didn’t hear from her until 6:30 am. Making progress people.

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Night night
Night night

So I must say the transition was smooth and a whole hell of a lot easier than I expected it to be. Phew!

October Dinner Theme {Halloween} In Pictures

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This months dinner theme was to make a dish that has to do with Halloween, I am actually surprised in all these years we haven’t done this yet.  I made Jason Vorhees’ ribs, pumpkin patch hummus and ginger pumpkin cheesecake bars.
Somehow I screwed up the cheesecake bar crust, I must have measured wrong and I over cooked it. The outcome, flavor wise was good but  hard and chewy. The cheesecake part was delish.

MENU

Pumpkin + black bean chili

Shrunken head roast surprise

Mummy bacon

Cheesy fingers

Severed fingers

Jason’s ribs

Creepy egg eyeballs

Guacamole pumpkin surprise

Spider cupcakes

Ginger pumpkin cheesecake bars

Kitty liter cake

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The girls had fun playing together aka destroying the house.

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Kaili wasn’t too fond of Chris’ costume.

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Cutest couple goes to these two.

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Friends don’t let friends give their baby toy guns.

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Another successful dinner party. Culinary wise, this wasn’t our best but we sure had fun.

Would You Like Some Wine With Your Pumpkins?

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Friday,we hit Bates Nut Farm in Valley Center. I was wrong to think it wouldn’t be overly crowded on a Friday, wrong I tell ya. We started with the petting zoo, Kaili was slow to warm up to the animals but I ended up having to bribe her out of there with a pony ride.

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She had no fear on her first equine, she quite enjoyed herself. Grandma and Grandpa, we would like a pony for Christmas.

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After grabbing a pumpkin, taking the obligatory pumpkin patch photos we hit the road. We had some wine to taste.

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We brought our growlers to refill at Triple B winery. Sat, sipped, and nibbled away while Kaili enjoyed the great outdoors.

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We found our stomachs rumbling and our palates teased so we headed on over to another winery for more sips and some damn good pizza.

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Don’t Take This The Wrong Way

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I’m about to bitch, complain and worry. Ready, set, go!

I thought these estrogen patches were going to be a breeze to deal with, however now I think poking myself with a needle twice a day would be easier.

1. They are expensive.

2. They don’t stay on. I am supposed to change them every 3 days but they are falling off daily.

3. My stomach looks like a tar pit.

4. Did I mention they don’t stay on? So now I need a refill and it’s only been a week. Bullshit.

Now I have 4 damn patches taped to my stomach so I can hopefully keep them on until tomorrow. Yipee!

This whole experience is completely different than the first. Now don’t take this the wrong way but I am not concerned about getting pregnant. I feel confident that we will get a BFP on the first try. Is this foolish? Am I over confident? Will I eat my words and feel like a shit head? Maybe. I am older, so maybe my positivity is arrogant.

Getting pregnant isn’t my worry, being pregnant is. This time I am really worried about all the what if’s that weren’t even an after thought the first time. I know, I know, don’t say it. “This time will be so much easier”. “How can it be any worse?” Let me count the ways. Yes it can be worse. This time I have a 2 year old. It can be worse and I am scared. There, I said it. Judge away.

Worst Day Ever For a Dr. Appointment.

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The one day, ONE DAY I don’t give myself extra time to get the the Dr. all hell breaks loose in La Jolla. Three accidents surrounding the one place I needed to be. One was a biggy and closed down the main street in all directions. One was in the intersection of the hospital entrance, so no one could even get into that area and the third one closed the entrance to highway 5, down the road. So I sat with all the other cars for a good 45 minutes until they sorted it out.

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Made it into the office one hour late, sat in the room and waited another 20 minutes, why are there so many infertile people? Then once he came in, it was a wham bam thank ya ma’am sort of thing.  One quick ultrasound and 3 minutes later he was gone with the wind. So. Awesome.

Who reads this?
Who reads this?

So how did it go? Good! No cysts, “carry on good sir“. Next Friday is a big appointment. Shane must come with to sign papers, they will check my lining and if it looks good then we “should” be able to schedule the BIG day. The nurse said anywhere from 5-14 days later.

“Rules, there are no rules!!” I don’t have any restrictions until after the transfer. “Party on Wayne“.

Actually, It’s my coffee that I can’t live without, am really worried about stopping. If you were reading this blog from the beginning than you might remember  how bad my headaches were in the beginning of round one. We never did figure out if it was caffeine withdrawals or the Lupron injections.

I also had an estrogen blood draw to see how my levels are. I will add 2 patches if my estrogen is low or remove a patch if it’s too high, I think I can handle that.

I've had a many of these. Blood draws and code receipts.
I’ve had a many of these. Blood draws and code receipts.

By the time this was all said and done I was running late to pick up Kaili. That one big accident was still detouring traffic so it took me awhile to get to her school. However, after all my bitching I don’t want to seem heartless. My problems are nothing compared to whomever was in that vehicle and their family,so even though I was pulling my hair out and cursing myself for not leaving earlier, things could be worse. I am not blind to that.