OH Baby!

So as you have probably noticed - I took a little break from the blog. I felt like I really didn't have much to talk about anymore and since I sit at a computer all day long at work - I didn't really feel like doing the same thing when I got home. A break of a week turned in to 2 and then it turned into months. Everyone deserves a vacation though, right?? But, I think it's time I gave a little update - even if not blogging every day, a baby deserves to be talked about! :)

We finally did it. During Feb/March we did a double IUI with hormone shots and finally got pregnant! We have been over the moon ever since. I knew right away that I was pregnant, the whole experience just felt different and I was very positive about it. Instead of waiting the whole 12 days before taking a pregnancy test, I waited 9 and got a very faint pink line! After that of course I tested each day after and the line grew darker. A blood test at the fertility clinic confirmed our pregnancy and it wasn't until then that we finally believed it to be true. The first several weeks I was pretty sick with morning (all day) sickness but then my lovely doctor at the fertility clinic gave a prescription for Diclegis and I felt so much better! I was fairly tired too and really hated to keep such a big secret! We did let our families in on it right away though! 

Here are some bumpdate photos....(ignore the lovely work bathroom)

And this week.... full frontal!

Just about a month ago we found out that we are having a BOY. We didn't know what to expect and certainly didn't care! We are just thrilled to be expanding our family with this little one! Once I reached the second trimester, it was like a switch flipped and I felt more energized and could get off the nausea medication! Since then I have been planning for the nursery and having fun registering! We have also been doing a lot of traveling - last month we were in Europe, this month in Buffalo NY, and next month to New Orleans! We have also spent a few weekends in the mountains of NC. As I get closer to the third trimester I have been feeling the baby moving around more and more. What a crazy feeling! And as for cravings, it was watermelon and now it's cereal or just carbs in general.

So here we are, on our way to being a family of 3 (plus Brees of course!)

4 Years

Here we are 4 years later! October 2, 2010 was a great day and party that we will never forget!

Love my handsome hubs.

The blushing bride.

The happily married couple!

Throwback Thursday!

Check out this gem! The CR and PR team at Lowes all brought in their school pics to put outside our cubes. I couldn't resist bringing this one as the books in the background and the placement of my hands just cracks me up!

I other blogging news-I tried blogging my lunch break yesterday and apparently the internet at work doesn't like the blogger website anymore. Sad day. So I will do the best I can in the mean time! 

Happy Thursday ya'll!

New Job

Welp, I have almost survived a month at the new job. It has taken some time but I think I have finally gotten my schedule down. Sorry for being MIA - it's just that the last thing I wanted to do when I got home from work was get on a computer. I know, cry me a river.

So, Lowe's is good. The campus is beautiful. I am sitting outside right now in the fallish 70 degree weather. Here is a view from inside my building. There's a nice lake that goes around the building with a walking path, a bridge, a zen garden, a water fall, etc. I've been really bad at working through lunch and just eating at my desk. So this week I vowed to step AWAY from that routine and blog during my lunch breaks.... or go to Target, depending on the day and how much moolah I have in the bank ;) haha.

So starting a new job is hard. It's a whole lot of information and new people at once. You want to know how to do everything right away but that is not possible. People are already friends so you have to slowing inch your way into the circle. Everything is new. The drive, the hours, the building, the work attire, etc. I have been fortunate enough that I knoew a few people from one of my past jobs. They've stopped by and said hello and one even works across from me. I've been really fortunate that I've gotten a nice cube, a nice team, and certainly nice office supplies! I had to bring my own supplies at my old job. I even got a fancy new laptop that my team is really jealous of! Haha. One great thing is if you forget your lunch, they have an awesome and super tasty cafeteria. They have two salad bars and getting a salad and a drink will only cost you $3.50. That's a deal. Or if you are freezing cold in your cube and are going for stick to your ribs kind of food - they offer hot lunches like pizza, pasta, burgers, and my personal favorite last week, shepherds pie. Someone said to me "this food really put you in your happy place." Yep. It did.  It was SO good and just what I needed on a cold dreary day! Here is a photo, trust me, it doesn't do it justice because Shepherd's pie is one of those things that tastes good but doesn't look pretty.

Here's a pic coming in on campus one morning. Yes, I was driving and taking a photo at the same time. Woops.

There's top notch security here too. You get a "puck" to get through the gate on campus and then you have to wear your badge everything to move around the building. If you walk outside, good luck getting back in because you'll need your badge for that! :) I don't know WHO would be dumb enough not to know that their first week..... ;)

The drive is definitely new to me. I went from a 5 minute commute to a 35 minute commute which can sometimes be a 45 minute commute or even an hour on a super bad day. So this means earlier mornings and later evenings. To adjust, I made freezer meals and soups.... am listening to Today show on Sirius in the AM and Oprah in the PM.... and I'm doing the T25 workout when I get home to get energy out after sitting on my bum in the car for so long.  It's nice after my work out to pop dinner in the oven, take a shower, get in my PJs, eat, catch up with Dave and watch something on the DVR.

So, in a nutshell, that's life surrounding the new job. Nothing too exciting but definitely an adjustment!

Guess who got a new job???

THIS GIRL!!

I'm the new Community Relations Coordinator for Lowe's!!!  And if you can't tell already, I'm super excited! I start in 2 weeks!

Have a great week everyone!!

I'm Here!

Well I had my 3rd IUI on Friday. Everything went okay but it was more painful than I was used to. My acupuncturist suggested I relax and work from home the rest of the day - so I thought, why not? Might as well! I had major cramping all weekend and just tried to relax and now.... it's Monday again! It's a good thing though - I think I was falling into a lazy rut! LOL. I did watch some terrible TV over the weekend - the movie Gone - was, awful and so was the movie, Dream House. Also terrible was the show Real Housewives of Melbourne - I'm not sure where they got these women from but the 90's wants them back. I watched Baby Boom, one of my all time favorite movies so that was a guaranteed crowd pleaser! And I started the 3rd book from the Divergent series, Allegiant, which is set up differently from the other two books but still just as good.  Also, Charlotte just got a Smash Burger which Dave and I tried out on Sunday. I had the avocado burger and it was DELISH. Dave wasn't fond of their fries, they are rosemary and sea salt fries. I liked them though!

Shakeology

Today is my 3rd day on Shakeology and I LOVE IT. I have already lost 1.5 lbs! Hey, small milestones people! On Mon and Tues I mixed the Shakeology chocolate powder with almond milk, ice and a banana - it was delicious! It kind of tasted like a SlimFast.... but better! And then today I made a mix my friend suggested that tastes like a Butterfinger! I mixed ice, almond milk, butterscotch pudding mix, natural peanut butter together with the Shakeology chocolate powder. IT.IS.DELICIOUS.

Here's some info on Shakeology!

Why Drink Shakeology Every Day? It can help you:*

• Lose weight – especially if you replace a meal with Shakeology every day.
• Reduce junk food cravings – drink it in the morning to enjoy this benefit throughout the day
• Increase your energy and feel healthier.
• Improve your digestion and regularity.

More than 70 super-nutritious ingredients.

• Proteins, Vitamins, and Minerals – to help reduce hunger andfood cravings.
• Antioxidants and Phytonutrients – to help detoxify and protect the body against free radical damage.
• Adaptogen Herbs – to help increase energy and combat stress.
• Prebiotics, Probiotics, Fiber, and Digestive Enzymes – to aid digestion and promote regularity.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture was pretty interesting yesterday. I had a two hour appointment and the first hour was a consultation (going over the 10 pages of paperwork I had to do pre-appt.). The second hour was the treatment. Why on earth did I go and do this? I know of 3 infertile gals who got pregnant with the help of acupuncture while working with the infertility clinic. So I said, WHY NOT?!

The acupuncturist took her time with me on the treatment and explained everything to me and showed me the needles she would be using. Typically a visit takes only 30 minutes. It's your first appointment that's the longest. The needles are super thin so you really don't really feel them. The ones that I felt were those in my feet and the one in my forehead - yes, in.my.forehead. LOL. Most of the needles were in my belly which is flabby enough it wouldn't feel a porcupine. After putting the needles in, she turned down the lights, putting heating lamps over me and played spa music. I laid there for 25 minutes. Your body feels very heavy and relaxed. My muscles would spasm here and there which was funny. After the 25 minutes are up you feel very relaxed, slow moving and like you just had a good massage. Hopefully this will help do the trick! Fingers crossed!

Hola!

I'm still here! We have been so busy!! One weekend my best friend came to town, the next we were in New Orleans for a surprise 75th, and this past weekend I had a big work event and friends in town! Luckily, so you know I'm not lying, some of this was in the news!

My Father In Law's 75th Link

As for my work event, once a month for the past two years I put on a free over the counter medicine give away day. This was our first time having it outside of Charlotte... and the turn out was insane.... typically we get 250 people... in High Point we got 672!!! Here's some of the coverage.....

WFMY News (I am running around in back ground) Link

News & Record Link

WFDD Radio Link

Fshew, I think this week should be a bit more relaxing. In other news I am scheduled to have my 3rd IUI this week and I am having acupuncture done today. I have also started Shakeology. Both the shakes and the acupuncture are known to help with infertility. Sooooo, fingers crossed! :)

It's Monday again.

I definitely have a case of "the Mondays" today.

I did have a good weekend though! My BFF Elly came to town with some of her girlfriends to see the Justin Timberlake show on Saturday night (which they said was AMAZING). Anyway, she stayed with us and we had a fun time hanging out! 

While she was at the concert I went to see the movie Chef with some friends. IT WAS SOOOO GOOD! I totally recommend seeing it! It's basically about this great chef who gets burnt out working for the owner of a restaurant and with the encouragement of his family he gets a food truck. And that's all I can say! ;)

In not the happiest of news I have to mention that a fellow classmate and High Point friend of mine is not doing well. She was one of my mom's favorite students and although she was ahead of me in school, I still knew her pretty well - mostly because she was so outgoing and with her red hair, she was hard to miss! She was born with her disease and she has battled it her whole life. She's one of the strongest people I know and has continually been up beat all of these years. I would appreciate it if you all kept her in your prayers as hospice is now with her. Here is Rachael's Caringbridge page.

Hello, Wednesday!

Last night I read Gone Girl for about two hours and boy has it really done a 180! It is SO good! I highly recommend it!

Last night I also made korean beef tacos topped with cabbage and a greek yogurt sauce.... but, it didn't turn out nearly as great as it sounded.... ugh. So I won't be sharing that recipe with you all anytime soon!

Right now I am waiting for the power to come back on at my work. They sent us all home to work remotely, which I can't do because the server is down. The building closed and now they are saying it won't take all day for the power to be restored - instead, it should come back on at noon. Odd. The entire grid around us downtown is out - should be interesting. The worst part is the summer heat! Fshew, no AC is NO JOKE!

Fertility Update

So many people have been asking how my health has been and I would say it's on the upside. We are now working with a fertility specialist here in Charlotte and their knowledge has made a world of difference. It's more expensive, yes, but you get the answers you were looking for. Since going there I now know that I officially have PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) which caused my weight gain and my infertility. It's always a relief to get to the root of the problem. So they put me on Metformin and it seems to be working okay. After a couple of weeks on Metformin we decided to go ahead with an IUI (Intrauterine Insemination). An IUI costs roughly $800 (procedure plus medicine) so it's definitely a sizable commitment. The process is very interesting - they follow you closely, you got in for several blood tests and ultra sounds so that they can see where you are on your cycle. Once you've had your period they give a ($135) shot that makes you ovulate. In the next 24-48 hours you have your IUI procedure done. With that comes a nice lil estrogen patch that you change twice weekly. Both the shot and the estrogen have their own fun side effects like always being hungry, dry skin, tiredness, and of course, my personal favorite, mood swings. I got my blood work done this morning and will know my hormone levels later this afternoon. If my progesterone is low they will probably put me on a progesterone suppository (fun stuff). And then next week is when we find out if the IUI was a success. I have heard more stories of women getting pregnant on their 2nd or 3rd IUI - not many stories of them getting pregnant on their first. So we are not getting our hopes up but rather just keeping in mind that whatever is meant to happen - will happen.

Recently Read.....

Sorry I have been MIA. I honestly didn't know anyone really read my blog until I stopped blogging! Haha. It's tough to keep up because the last thing I want to do when I get home is get on the computer. BUT, it's worth it if people are actually out there following! Yay! So I will try my best to keep up!

I love to read some Emily Giffin and her latest book is good, a little odd, but good. If you liked Friday Night Lights TV show then you'd like this but just imagine Coach falling in love with one of his old students (in her 30s of course). So that was a little odd. And her BFF is his daughter, even odder. But, I still liked the book and read it in one weekend.

I had to see what all the fuss was about and this book only cost $5 on iTunes so, why not? It was..... interesting and sad as you can probably imagine when seeing the movie previews. The kids fall in love and both have cancer. But they are both very smart and babble on about weird things that I didn't really care about. The premise of the book was good and the story, minus the babble, was a good one. This was another fast read.

Derby Day

I got this email from our family friend DeAnn whose daughter hosted a Derby party today! My mom made such a huge impact on so many people and with Mother's Day coming up, this email couldn't have come at a better time. It made my heart smile so I just had to share.

"I thought you might like to see a FB post that Elissa put up today.  It's easy to see what a big impact your mom had on all of us.  She was more fun than anybody.  
Enjoy the Derby today.
Love,
DeAnn


From Elissa's Facebook post.

Yep, I think we're ready. Mint steeping, biscuits in the oven, and, of course, some Maker's to toast the late, great Kentucky lady, Mrs. Joan Conrad, who threw great Derby parties (in Southern California no-less). I think I was technically supposed to be babysitting at those parties, but all I remember was loving the Run for the Roses and all that came with it! Thanks Mrs. Conrad!"

Our Friends, Taylor & Jesse

I watched this video this morning and of course cried at my desk. These are our friends Taylor and Jesse who I've talked about before. Taylor is currently going through chemo. They are so inspirational and if you haven't started reading their blog yet, you should! They never once complain about their situation and are completely positive every day. Here is the link to their blog.

So behind!

Hello! Oh my goodness! Things have been SO busy!

We had a fun weekend last weekend! We tried out a new place in our good called pizza peel...it was DELICIOUS... Dave got the chicken sandwich with homemade chips and a yummy dip!

I got their gluten free pizza. It's the best I've had! I got the red and white pizza which had sundried tomatoes and ricotta cheese.

We also split the peel salad that was AMAZING.

Earlier that day my friend Ashley and I went to the Farmer's Market. They always have beautiful bouquets of flowers that are hard to resist.

This is a sign that summer is around the corner!

I got a TON of veggies for just $10! The prices are ridiculous.

Dave and I have been looking at plant options for the front of the house. While at the nursery I saw these cute fairy gardens! A girl and her mom were putting theirs together while we were there. It was sweet.

And on Sunday Funday I got up watch this lil lady! We had a good time!

Spring has sprung.... but only for a little while!

I can't believe the weather we are having! This weekend was very nice and yesterday it actually got HOT. Dave even got a "neck burn" while doing yard work! Temps will plunge later in the week but I am really enjoying the nice weather right now! Not to mention - daylight savings! Hurray for more light in the day! 

As I mentioned on Friday my parents came to town to do lunch with us on Saturday. We didn't end up going to Tupelo and instead went to Vivace. Our plans were really in the air because they were dealing with the power outage in High Point and hadn't had power since Thursday. So of course they decided to stay in Charlotte where power was not a problem and we were glad to have them! Haha. I called probably 15 places to make dinner reservations Saturday night no one had anything! So we ended up eating at a little place in our neighborhood called Intermezzo. Everyone really liked it! 

We had quite the busy weekend and I feel like I got a lot accomplished. Dinner is ready for tonight and the house is clean. Happy Monday!

Snowpocolypse!

We are snug as a bug at home right now because of the massive snow fall this week! I'd guess we got about 7 inches in 2 days... Plus ice! Both Dave and I have been working from home. I would share this macaroni recipe I made this week but it honestly sucked. lol 

I hiked it up to the main drag today and wasn't surprised to find it was a no man's land! 

Brees is obsessed.... OBSESSED.... with snow. She'd stay outside all day if we left her.

Here's a nice shot of our winter wonderland :)

Fun Dream

Last night I dreamed that I was a member of N*SYNC.... I realize there are no girls in this boy band but in my dream there were two of us. I dunno who the other girl was but that doesn't matter. What matters is that I had some serious moves and vocal ranges - and that Justin Timberlake gave me the nod that was I was doing great. My moves kind of resembled those of the Elf Yourself videos. Crazy good. We even went to an after party and well... best.best.dream.ever. Happy Friday!

Christmas Card Photos

Well let's just say this year's Christmas card came in the mail yesterday and someone (me) looks like a fat faced whale. I hesitated to send our card out this year but then I read this article and it changed my mind.