A story to tell...

Infertility is not fun. I know, I have been there and it was always one of my worst fears. Obviously this story gets better so just stick with me. See I was always one of those people who had a plan and set goals to accomplish this plan. So when life doesn’t go according to my plan I tend to get frustrated. I have learned and am still learning to get over this.

It was never part of my plan to teach school for four years. I wanted to start a family and becoming a mother was what I always wanted. After a year of being married, Kev and I decided it would be okay to start our family. A year went by and nothing happened, just as I was beginning to worry we found out I was pregnant. Exciting news for us! The excitement soon ended with an early miscarriage. Sadness, loss, pain, and eventually moving on all took place. I remember telling a friend its okay because at least I know I can get pregnant.

We moved to Washington that summer and I began my second year of teaching in the fall. I saw my new doctor in November and expressed to her my desire to get pregnant. She put me on some fertility medicine to help the process as well as ran a few tests to rule out some causes. Three months later and two years since we began trying she said the dreaded words “time to see a fertility specialist”. She did not have an explanation as to why I wasn’t getting pregnant. With tears running down my face I took her list of recommendations and left. My worst fear come true.

I saw my first specialist six months later who right away wanted to start the process of doing IUI (insemination). This is how Kate Gosselin got pregnant for those familiar with who she is. After a couple tests we began the process. I won’t go into details other than we tried this four times with no success. One of the attempts was a complete failure due to not responding at all to the medicine I was on. I was ready for a break, it had been three years since we began trying.

My break soon ended when I wanted to try a different specialist. The name of another specialist kept coming to my mind. I made an appt., met with him, told him my history, and I loved him. He said we didn’t have enough conclusive data to know the cause, and therefore couldn’t choose an option. Duh, that makes complete sense! So we did some testing and much to our dismay, no surprise it was concluded we had “unexplained fertility”. Nothing was wrong with us, yay! On the other hand, no quick solution. He gave us four options to choose from and he knew from the look on my face I was done messing around and ready to discuss IVF or In-Vitro Fertilization.
So, just as my third year of teaching school ended in June, I began the IVF process which would carry into the middle of July. Now the whole process itself is grueling and a story that could be told in another long post. My doctor was extremely confident and their lab had extremely high success rates. We of which are among those success rates. At the end of July, after 3 and half years of trying we learned we were pregnant. A few weeks later we had our first ultrasound and saw we were expecting twins. Tears of joy, relief, and peace! With God all things are possible.

Why do I post this story now? Well, I have been wanting to for a long time and just never did it. Infertility is one of those things that isn’t talked about and it should be. A lot of people out there are going through it and feel alone. Some things I will never say to someone who is trying to get pregnant, “Just relax” “Stop trying and it will happen” “Don’t stress about it” “You’re so young and have plenty of time” “Why don’t you adopt” to name a few. My point is I understand, because I have been there and it is hard, I never thought I would be that girl.

Currently I am another girl I never thought I would be.

Because we did IVF to get the twins, I came to accept that there was a good chance we would have to do it again if we wanted more children. We had unexplained infertility so there is always the chance we could get pregnant on our own. And people always said that it would probably just happen if we weren’t careful. Well I wanted to be one those lucky ones so I figured it wouldn’t happen like that for us. However, much to our surprise and excitement…

I am Pregnant!

We were shocked and once we got past that, we laughed a little and have been really excited. After telling a few people my favorite question has been, “So was this one cheaper?”

We are due February 14th…our little love baby. And it is just one baby. Miracles do happen.

My favorite saying since high school has been, “Life happens when you’re busy making other plans”. And that is very true.

Some pictures from Idaho.

Gracie and cousin Allyson playing Grandma's piano.


Daddy and Ty checking out the splash park in Rexburg.


"You want me to do what Mama?" "I don't think so!"


Love it!


More water for Ty!


Gracie's favorite ride!


At the zoo with Daddy.


Riding the tiger with Uncle Steven.


Wee! Having so much fun swinging in the trees.


Riding with Grandpa on the tractor.

Time for some updates

Where have we been you ask, well maybe you don't, but we have been gone!

Actually we have been back for over a week but getting my life back in order has taken some time and energy. Sometimes I just wish I were Mary Poppins and all the little messes that seem to get made so quickly could be cleaned up just as quickly. Oh well, I will keep working on that one.

First, my most wonderful Grandma came to visit for three weeks. We love her so much and miss her even more. Ty and Gracie loved having her here. She plays with them, reads to them, talks to them, feeds them lots of sugar, and comforts them when they don't feel good. She really is the BEST.


The day my Gram left, was the day my mom and I drove to Montana with Ty and Gracie. We stayed with my mom and stepdad for two weeks. Ty and Gracie did exceptionally well on the long drive over thanks to lots of snacks and their favorite movie "Yo Gabba Gabba". In Montana, we played outside, went for walks, played with Grandma's dogs, ate out, went shopping, tried to eat rocks, went to a few parks, went swimming, went to the hot springs, played with friends Ross and Ridley, but mostly tried to play in the dog's water dish.

Kev flew in to Montana 10 days after we had been gone. Ty and Gracie were so excited to see him. Ty wouldn't let him out of his sight and everytime Kev left the room Ty would throw a fit. I guess he missed Daddy. After spending a couple more days in Montana we all left and headed for Idaho. We stopped in West Yellowstone on the way and ate lunch, along with getting some yummy treats for the road.

We then stayed at Kevin's parents house for a week. All of Kev's brothers were able to come too, so it made it a family reunion. The highlights for Kev were playing golf with his dad and brothers almost everyday, floating down the river, seeing friends we haven't seen in awhile, eating homemade ice cream and zingers (which I won't buy) and having a campfire. He had a pretty full week. I too enjoyed floating down the river when I wasn't running into the trees, catching up with sister-in-laws, watching Ty and Gracie play with their cousins, going to Rexburg and remembering all the memories there, and most of all seeing friends I miss seeing all the time. Ty and Gracie had a great time too, playing with Kaitlyn and Allyson, playing piano with Grandma, getting tickled and chased by Uncle Steven, swinging, playing outside and jumping on the trampoline.

Then we made the long trek home from Idaho. Ty and Gracie did even better on the way home. What traveling troopers they are. It was a fun vacation and so good to spend time with family, but we were all excited to be home.

So, lots of pictures to come, but I need to go through them first.

California Trip Day 2 and 3

On Thursday we went with our friends Rick and Sarah to Laguna Beach. This was the first time the twins really got to play in the sand. Laguna is just beautiful and it wasn't even too crowded. We got food and had a nice little picnic on the beach. The boys went swimming in the ocean, Sarah took some great pictures, Ty wanted to go in the water with Daddy and Gracie girl was content sitting on her beach towel playing with the sand toys. I was extremely happy that neither one had a desire to eat the sand. It was such a great day. After we got back my brothers took us out to dinner at a place called Islands. A great end to a beach day.

On Friday, we headed south down to the San Diego Zoo! This zoo is massive! When we pulled up we could not find a parking spot in the parking lot anywhere. We were a little nervous as to what this meant for the crowds inside the zoo. However, the zoo is so huge I never felt like it was crowded. We saw all the great animals and Ty and Gracie enjoyed all the sights. My personal favorites were the giraffes, rhinos and elephants. I was impressed by how much room there was for each animal. There were so many elephants to see but they had tons of room to roam. We took the skycab across one side of the park and went to the petting zoo. Ty and Gracie loved running around all the goats and I even got Ty to feed one. Another awesome day!

After the zoo we drove to my aunt and uncle's house in Murietta. My cousin Meganne had just graduated from high school so we got to go to her grad party. It was so much fun to see all the family including Keni!

California Vacation Day 1

Last month we went on our first official family vacation. We decided to go to California for numerous reasons, one being Disneyland! We flew out on Tuesday and then stayed at my brothers place that night. They spoiled us with lots of good food and Ty and Gracie LOVED their cat Peaches. Peaches I think may be the sweetest, gentlest cat ever.
So on Wednesday we went to Disneyland! Our friends from Pittsburgh who we hadn't seen in two years happened to be at Disneyland the same time we were and so we met up with them. It was a great day full of rides, a parade, good food, and fireworks. We even got to see my aunt and my cousin's kids who were there as well. Gracie and Ty loved Small World, Gracie kept waving at everything. They both loved Dumbo, and the carousel. They did well on all the rides even falling asleep on Pirates. The Haunted Mansion was not a favorite for Gracie but they both enjoyed meeting Mickey.

Here are a few pics from our day.

Love...Love

SAW IT...



LOVED IT...



AND LOVE THEM!

My favorite one so far and now can't wait for Breaking Dawn.

15 month check-up

I can't believe these two are already 15 months! Where does the time go? They had their check up last Friday. They have both decided they do not like to be measured, poked or really even touched by the nurse or doctor. Ty gave the doctor some pretty fierce kicks.


Ty: weighs 23 lbs. 14 oz. 32 1/2 inches
In the 90th percentile for head, 85th percentile for length, and 50th percentile for weight. Ty had a huge growth spurt and has moved on to 18 month clothing. He loves to run and is very good on his feet. People always comment on how happy he is, always smiling. Very friendly, my little flirt. His molars are getting ready to pop through. He loves fruit, especially berries, grapes and bananas. His favorite is still his milk. He loves to jump up and down in his crib, splash in the bath, throw things in the toilet, get into the cupboards, read books, and of course loves to play with Gracie. Ty loves to be chased and tickled.He wants everything Gracie has. And my favorite he is a cuddly boy and will give me loves everyday.

Gracie: weighs 18 lbs. 2.5 oz. 30.25 inches
In the 25th percentile for head, 50th percentile for length (the only thing she has ever been average in!) no percentile for weight :(
Despite her weight being low, she is a healthy little girl! The doctor isn't too worried about her weight since she grew so much in length. But I am still advised to give her high calorie foods. She loves sweets, but I won't let her have too many just because she is little. She is our good natured, sweet heart of a girl. She can entertain herself and has become quite the walker. She has gotten very good on her feet and loves to dance. She is much more shy than Ty and is definitely a mama's girl. She seems to warm up to family though. She loves to ride the carousel, play with any animal, especially her uncles cat, empty out containers and fill them back up, climb into things like suitcases and boxes. She of course loves Ty and loves to wrestle with him. She is ticklish and has the cutest little laugh.