My first "real" haircut!

Hey everyone! Hope you're all doing well. Things here are pretty good. Mommy went yesterday with Miss Kristina to visit our friend Drew and his parents following his open heart surgery. He's healing up well, but has some recovery ahead of him. While Mommy was in the Bay Area, I hung out with Isabelle and Dee Dee which is always fun.

Today was pretty mellow, but I did get to have my very first "real" haircut. Mommy has been cutting my hair since I was born, mainly because I don't have a whole lot of hair and Mommy is "frugal" (a.k.a. - cheap). But today she and Daddy took me to a real salon. Mommy even fessed up to the hairdresser that she's been cutting my hair with her scrapbooking scissors. Lucky for her, the hairdresser said she was pleasantly surprised what a good job Mommy had done. Yay Mommy! Unfortunately, my parents (being the quality parents that they are) forgot to bring their camera for my first haircut photo, so Daddy was forced to snap a picture with his cell phone camera. Good thing he has such a high quality phone!

School pictures...

Yesterday at preschool we had our school portraits done. They were done by this extremely talented photographer... my Mommy! (tee hee) She borrowed some studio lights from Aunt Dee Dee to do them. Mommy had a lot of fun taking pictures of all my little friends, but I was a little resentful about her focusing so much energy on them. Imagine Mommy sitting on the floor snapping photos while I cried and hung off her back. In fact, I was too upset to be in the class photo, so Mommy had to Photoshop me into one of the pictures. I didn't get enough sleep the night before... can you blame me for being distressed? Anyway, here's my school portraits (taken at home the day before)!

Otherwise, life is pretty mellow. Daddy's been super busy at work and has thankfully found some time to relax in the evenings. Mommy met a consulting deadline on Tuesday and has been able to relax a little since then. All in all, life is good! Hope things are good with you too!

My big sister Isabelle...

Just thought I'd post a quick note about my big sister Isabelle. She and I like to play together a lot and Isabelle totally acts like my big sister. She translates my babble and makes sure that everyone knows what I want. She helps Mommy change my diaper. And she even reads to me. She's a great friend and I love her very much!

Our friend Drew...

Hi everyone. I just wanted to tell you today about our friend Drew. He's four (a little older than me) and the brother of my friend Ava. On Friday he went into the hospital to have his THIRD open heart surgery. He has a condition called DiGeorge's Syndrome which has caused problems with his heart. You can read about him on his family's blog (Heart to Heart). Here he is the morning of his surgery:

I just wanted to tell you about Drew, so that as you're all reading this you can lift him up in prayer. I've been asking Mommy every day to pray for Drew and his "owie", although something tells me she's praying for him anyway. Please pray for his recovery, for the medical team that are helping him, and for strength for his Mommy and Daddy. We love Drew very much and are looking forward to him coming home! Thanks for the prayers!

Mommy's Post: Try, try again...

Well, some of you know (and some of you don't) that two weeks ago the Clomid actually ended up working and I ovulated. Good news. Unfortunately... this morning my cycle started. Bad news. So it didn't take. I think I'm just happy to know and be able to prepare mentally for trying another month. The waiting over the last 2 weeks has been the worst part. I'm not a good "waiter". I have a bit of the "I want it now" mentality. That could explain the FIVE pregnancy tests I burned through over the last week. Sigh... Anyway, I have recently dug out some statistics which are quite interesting:

- About 20-25% of women in their early thirties (that's me) have fertility problems. In your early 20's, only 1-2% of women have problems. And age 35 is when the fertility curve starts to plummet...

- IF they can get you to ovulate on Clomid, there's still only a 4% chance that you'll get pregnant that month. That statistic only goes up to a whopping 8% if you pair it with an AI treatment.

- Of those patients who successfully ovulate as a result of taking Clomid, around half of those will NOT be able to concieve within 3-6 months.

- If Clomid and AI doesn't work within 3 months, then you move on to taking hormone injections. The success rate for injections and AI is 18% each month.

- For women under 35, the success rate for in-vitro fertilization (IVF) is 50%. For women ages 35-37 it is 36%. For women 38-40 it's 25%.

- Average cost for AI ~ $300 a month. Average cost for IVF ~ $8000-14000 per month.

Thankfully, I know that God is much bigger than a pile of statistics. Can you imagine paying $8-14K for a treatment that only has a 50% chance of working? Pray we don't get to that point. We appreciate everyone's prayers so far!

Dr. Doolittle beats the heat...

Well... spring is over and summer is here. Today it hit 102F (39C) and let me tell you that it was hot! Now who out there doesn't believe in global warming? Anyway... thank God Daddy invested in a new wading pool for me to enjoy, for that is where I spent my afternoon. And thankfully Daddy has our air conditioning working in tip top shape because we sure needed it today! I miss Daddy! Today he hopped on a plane for a 3-day trip to Tennessee (just outside of Nashville). It's a work related trip and he'll be back Saturday evening. I miss him terribly and Mommy mumbled something about how being a single parent would be hard.

Today I convinced Mommy that I was Dr. Doolittle. While playing in my pool, a mourning dove perched on a chair about 3 feet away from me. It sat there for about 5 minutes while I screamed "BIRD! BIRD! BIRD!" in its face and Mommy repetitively reminded me not to touch it. It must be a young bird because it just sat there and looked at us and Mommy was probably 2-3 feet away from it snapping pictures!

Anyway, I hope everyone out there are finding ways to beat the heat! Stay cool... or come hang out in the pool with me!

Mother's Day Weekend...

Hi everyone and Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. According to my mommy... being a mother is a very difficult job so congratulations to everyone out there on surviving thus far. My Mommy decided to make a weekend out of celebrating motherhood. Saturday morning Daddy made french toast and we spent some time running errands as a family. Then she and Aunt DeAnna took off without us kids. They decided to get all dolled up and practice taking photos of eachother. That's all Mommy wanted for Mother's Day... some time away to feel girly and practice her photography. Thankfully, Aunt Dee Dee was able to show Mommy how to apply eye make-up for the shoot... something Mommy doesn't really do very often. And luckily Aunt DeAnna is an oober talented photographer and was more than able to make Mommy feel like a rock star! See for yourself...

And of course Mommy got to practice on Auntie Dee Dee. It's pretty hard to take a bad picture of DeAnna and Mommy was so excited to try out a new lens that she bought. She also wanted to try taking maternity photos because Aunt Dee is pregnant with Baby Calista! Here's some of her favorites...

Then Daddy and I made Mommy french toast AGAIN this morning (yes, she's spoiled) and we all went to church. And this evening we're all going to go out for Mother's Day sushi (Mommy's choice). So Mommy has basically been soaking this for all it's worth. Good thing we love her so much! Happy Mother's Day everyone!

I love Tom!

Tom... sweet Tom! Who is Tom, you ask? Well, it's Tom Bergeron - host of America's Funniest Home Videos (a.k.a. AFV)! No more Elmo, Mickey Mouse or Veggie Tales for me. All I want to watch on television is recorded episodes of AFV. And if Mommy tries to slip one by me and put on an episode hosted by Bob Saget, I will promptly throw myself on the ground and cry out, "TOM"! Mommy's hoping to catch it on video tape so she can send it in to AFV for me. Then maybe I can be on the show and see him in person! Mommy just wants to win $10,000.


Other than my recent Tom Bergeron obsession, life here is pretty normal. This week has been busy with gym classes and birthday parties and lunch dates with friends. We've continued to enjoy the nice weather, but Mommy is finding it hard on her allergies to be outside for long periods. If it wasn't for allergies, this would be the best time of year! Hope you're all enjoying the weather free of sneezes!

Art in the yard...

Hey everyone! Now that the nice weather is here, we've been doing some fun art projects in the backyard! Mommy thinks I can't paint responsibly in the house, so any messy art projects get relegated to the patio. I won't take it personally. She just doesn't appreciate my creative genious!

With the warm weather, most of our spare time is being spent in the yard. In fact, last night Mommy and Daddy did their part to support the economy by buying a small climbing structure for me to enjoy. Here's a photo of it from the Toys R Us website.

Mommy didn't get a photo taken of ours yet because by the time they got it together it was getting dark and I had to go to bed. But I've already enjoyed playing with it before church this morning and I'm sure it will be a lot of fun this summer! Hope you're all enjoying the great weather this weekend!

Mommy's Post: Attack of the Clomid...

Hey everyone. Well... we're waiting and seeing if the Clomid works. Every morning I get up and test myself and so far... no ovulation. And over the last few days I think I'm starting to feel the effects of this drug. I only actually took the pills for five days last week, and when I had finished my last pill I have to admit that I thought, "what's the big deal... I feel totally fine on this stuff." But the last few days, that's changing. My emotions feel totally raw and exposed and I think I've cried more in the last couple of days then I have this entire year. Apparently, that's pretty normal. So please be nice to me. I might cry. And please pray for Steve! (hahahaha)

Editted to add: Just wanted to add that Steve came home early today with FLOWERS! Alright, did I marry the most amazing man on the face of the planet?