Week in Review - 9/8/14-9/21/14

A short back story on the blog this week....and I open it by saying that it is amazing how God brings people into your lives.  Back a couple of months ago, I had advertised a baby item on one of the Greensboro "Yard Sale" Facebook pages.  When a lady contacted me telling me she'd be interested in buying it, I didn't think much of it.  After all, I have sold quite a bit via FB and Craigslist, and yet I never had over maybe 5 minutes of conversation with the person buying the item when I'd meet them in person.  Sort of a "Here it is, thanks for the money, and have a nice life thing."  So I had no reason to think this meeting would be any different.  But oh, how different it was!  When we met this couple to do our deal, we chatted with them briefly and found out they were new to the area and had just moved here from TX.  We talked about Greensboro neighborhoods, school districts, etc.  We told them if they needed any more info to feel free to contact me via text.  Well that offer turned into a few messages over FB.  And that turned into us having them over for dinner.  And all of this turned into us finding out that they have walked an incredibly similar infertility journey to us, twice (like us), and have two beautiful, amazing children to show for it.  It has been wonderful to meet a couple that understands our situation so perfectly and can be an encouragement to us!  Praise God for divine appointments!

So anyway, early this week (Tuesday), David went with Mr. L (for security reasons, I'm always nervous to write the names of my friends on the blog unless I know they are okay with it or unless they blog themselves, so this is my way of preserving their anonymity :-) ) to a men's minstry "sportsmen's banquet and wild game tasting" at Life Community, a local church here that they have been attending.  Meanwhile, Mrs. L and I took the kids and went to eat Mexican food while our guys did their thing.  As we waited for them, Joseph ran around the fountain at the shopping center where the Mexican place is...

AND, after we ate, he and Addison L. (age 4) ran around the fountain some more!  It was after dark then, but goodness, did they have fun!  The funny part came when they were running so fast that Joseph's pants fell straight down.  Since we cloth diaper a lot, and cloth diapers are thicker and bulkier than disposables, most of his pants are pretty stretched out ("cloth diaper butt").  Thus, when he does wear a disposable, his pants have a hard time staying up!  And this is exactly what happened Tuesday night.  Of course, my camera is never on the appropriate setting when I need it in a hurry, so really, in these pics, you can't even totally tell what happened .  But it was certainly amusing!

I'm finding it hard to be consistent about taking pictures of our school stuff each week because I tend to be using both hands to help Jojo with whatever activity we are doing.  But I did manage to snap a quick pick of the very cute book we used for school this week - "One Duck Stuck."  So funny.

This weekend was the annual Winston-Salem Air Show.  We love the air show and go most years, but this year we were afraid it would be a little too noisy for Joseph's little ears (and we didn't have any little toddler headphones).  So we decided to skip this year.  We really miss the planes when we don't go, though, so we decided to try to see some anyway!  A lot of them, especially the military planes, fly to and from PTI in Greensboro to refuel or land.  So, we decided to grab some lunch at take it to a picnic table at the Farmer's Market (near PTI) to see if we could catch a glimpse (and at a distance that isn't so noisy).  The Farmer's Market was having a wine festival and was packed, and the sky was very cloudy, so we had no luck seeing anything.  But we gave it a shot at least (and we did HEAR some planes, just couldn't see them).

Cloudy day Chick-fil-a picnic at the Farmer's Market

Wine Festival happening in distance.

This is David stalking a bee that kept landing around our food.

And this was David and Joseph celebrating just after said bee was killed!

And of course, everyone has to take time to actually walk through the Farmer's Market while you are there!

Love seeing the pumpkins and gourds out...hello Fall!

Saturday night, we went with my parents and grandmother out to Country Kitchen on Hicone Road for dinner.  When David and I were dating/engaged and he was living in Gibsonville, Country Kitchen was a regular spot for us.  It is a casual little restaurant in a strip center - not very exciting on the outside.  But it's really yummy and the staff is always so friendly.  We have committed to making quarterly trips out there for dinner! 

Country Kitchen, in all it's glory :-)

David and Joseph practice some high-fiving while we wait for our food.

Joseph loved riding on GreatMimi's lap and playing with her cane on our way out

So there it is, our week in a nutshell!  We have lots of fun things coming up to document this week, too.  Love all the fun that early autumn brings!

Week in Review September 1st - September 7th

I didn't get as many pictures of our school time this week as I probably should have (I'm finding it's hard to take pics while doing a lot of these activities with him because they are very "hands on" for both Joseph and Mommy at this age.)  Truthfully, I wasn't as good about taking pictures in general this week as I should have been.  But one project I did capture briefly from preschool this week was making cards for "Grandparents Day" which was this past Sunday.  We used some markers and finger paint to make "handprint craft" cards that say "I have the best grandparents...HANDS DOWN!"  We gave these cards to Nonie and Papaw and Mimi and Poppy because they really are the best grandparents! :-)  **Disclaimer: I didn't have the phone on the right settings here and so admittedly the picture quality is pretty darn terrible.**

I did manage to get some pics of what our school area looks like this year.  I love it!  It makes me so happy!

Whiteboard and play mat

We converted the bar closet in our den to a school closet

Bulletin Board (The "Aunt Lindsay" poster is to celebrate my sister-in-law's birthday.  I decided that for each family member's birthday we would make a poster with their picture and some facts about them.  David's sister is the first of the school year to have a birthday, so she is our first poster!)

One day we went to Target with Nonie, and afterwards, she took us to Starbucks!  Joseph got a pumpkin sugar cookie.  It was pretty big, so Nonie and I may have helped him eat it.  ;-)  We sat outside, and he had fun munching on his cookie and watching cars.

This picture is deceptive because, while it appears that Joseph is not excited about this cookie from his facial expression, he actually NAILED much of the treat,

Yesterday (Sunday), the three of us took a walk around the lake, and, instead of the Boba or the jogging stroller, Joseph traveled via Daddy's shoulders this time.

Finally, I was able to get some surprise shots of Joseph napping this past week.  Joseph is pretty resistant to noise while sleeping and often doesn't even wake up when I turn on the lights.  Once he is asleep, he's usually pretty asleep!  So I was able to go in, turn on the lights, and take these pics on a couple different days.  Sweet memories!

This has long been one of Jojo's favorite sleep positions - on his tummy, arms down, on top of Blue Bear.  Silly toddler!

We also found out this weekend, unfortunately, that our 2nd IUI was not successful.  I have another ovarian cyst, which is making it difficult to even give the IUI procedure a good chance of success.  I go tomorrow for another ultrasound so we can see what the next steps are before our 3rd and final IUI.

Hope everyone had a great week!!!

Week in Review: August 25th-31st

I'm very excited to be starting my "Week In Review" posts.  I'm always saying that I want to be more intentional about taking photos and writing down memories of our everyday life, and I believe this is a good way to keep me accountable to those goals!

On Monday, Joseph and I met our friend Meredith, and her little boy, Isaac, for lunch at Rearn Thai.  We do this every few months and it is so much fun!  I totally meant to take pictures, but totally forgot.  Sweet Isaac is 10ish months old, and I had a ball holding the little guy.  He is precious!  Thanks, Meredith and Isaac, for making our Monday great!

On Tuesday morning, we had our friends Jessica and James over to our house for a play date.  James is 6ish weeks younger than Joseph and has always been one of Jojo's best buddies since they were teeny tiny babies.  These boys love to play together, and they just get funnier and funnier as they get older.  Jessica managed to capture a video of the hilarity.  We don't know what they found so funny about each other, but they were obviously having a good time!

Wednesday night, I gave myself my Ovidrel trigger shot to prepare my body for our 2nd IUI procedure on Friday.  I have no pictures of this, LOL, but I will say it is the easiest shot I can ever imagine.  I give it to myself each time in the stomach and I truly hardly even feel it.  So easy!

On Thursday, we started our homeschool preschool year with Joseph.  I am using a toddler curriculum and I think we are going to have a wonderful time!  In fact, I'm so excited about the next 16 years (or more, if we have more children) of homeschooling for our family...I know it will have it's challenges, but I also believe it will be an amazing journey!  The curriculum I'm using is very low-key, play-based, and can be done in about 30 minutes a day, which is really perfect for Joseph's 22 month old attention span...not too long, but not too short.  So far this week we have read some books, talked about some Scripture, built some towers with blocks, done some coloring, sang some songs, learned how to say "bear" in Spanish, and prayed together that God would give us guidance in our homeschool year.  We even talked about why God wants us to learn - for His glory!  I love how we have our homeschool area set up.  Since we are blessed with a large den, we've dedicated the entire back half to our homeschool room.  We converted the bar closet in that area to a homeschool closet where we can keep all of our supplies.  We have a desk, lots of toys, a bookcase, a whiteboard, and a bulletin board.  I'll try to remember to take a picture of the whole set-up next week.  Here are some pictures from our first day...

Here, we are building towers to learn which one is "tall" and which one is "taller."

Time for a little coloring, and Joseph is eager to get started!

Early Friday morning, we had our 2nd IUI procedure.  If this one fails, we have one more shot before we move on to exploring other options to further build our family.  We will know if I am pregnant within a few weeks.  I'm so thankful for a husband that takes off work for my IUIs in order to be with me and hold my hand as we go through our crazy infertility journey together.  I am very excited to see what God has in store!

Pre-IUI Selfie :-)

A little post-IUI rest before leaving the fertility clinic (this picture makes me laugh because it totally looks like I'm at the dentist office lol)

Sadly, David and Joseph both came down with cold Friday/Saturday.  This is only the 2nd time in his little life that Joseph has been sick, but he's handled it like a trooper.  I have no idea how I've avoided getting it from them.  Joseph looked like he felt so bad on Friday afternoon, and I was worn out after IUI, so I laid down with him for a little co-napping.  Joseph slept right up in my face, breathing on my constantly.  And of course, I've been smooching both of my sick guys.  But so far, so good for me.  Thank you, immune system (although I'd rather be sick than them).  Luckily, I think that today (Monday) they are both on the upswing as I am writing this (yesterday David was at his worst, but he is feeling a good bit better today).  I hope so.  We've really gotten into natural medicine over the past few years, and so for this cold we've used some natural remedies along with a few conventional ones.  The guys have been consuming coconut oil, using some peppermint essential oil to open their sinuses, David has been drinking homemade honey and lemon tea (with some ginger for immune support), and I rubbed Joseph down with a mix of coconut oil and peppermint oil to manage his slight fever on Friday.  Thankful for Western medicine, but also equally grateful for alternative medicine. :-)

Their illness didn't stop us from going to the Carolina-Liberty football game on Saturday, though!  Joseph took a morning nap and then we immediately headed to Chapel Hill.  The game wasn't until 6pm, but we wanted to get down there early to have most of the day in Chapel Hill.  Here is Joseph, sporting both Carolina AND Liberty attire, in order to remain neutral, right before we left home...

We got there and immediately ate a late lunch at Carolina Brewery.  One of our favorite places, so yummy, and a great place to go before a game...

After Carolina Brewery we went to University Mall to walk around A Southern Season, another one of our favorite traditions (it is a gourmet grocery and cooking store...sort of like a Fresh Market on steroids).  After that, we stopped by Walgreens to get some stuff.  While there, Joseph spotted a Carolina toy tractor-trailer truck that he was so excited about.  We couldn't help ourselves and bought it for him.  Here he is, outside of the Chapel Hill Walgreens, with his new prized possession.

We had a parking pass for this game in the School of Government parking deck.  I have to say, it surely beat parking on Rosemary Street and walking all the way across campus for the game like we usually do!

Joseph rode in David's camo Boba from the car to the stadium.  No strollers allowed in the stadium and so much easier than carrying him all that way in our arms.  Thanks, Boba!

We stopped at Tar Heel town before we went into the stadium.  I love Tar Heel town (although I admit I miss the days when I was at Carolina when it was on the quad - it was so much cooler and more shady there!  Still fun, though!).

The game itself was so much fun, but it was packed and it was, above all, HOT.  I'm pretty sure it was the hottest game I have EVER been to.  When Liberty was ahead in the 3rd quarter, we started to leave, and Joseph was past his bedtime and getting fussy.  So we watched the last two touchdown down in the mezzanine area of the stadium while Joseph walked around.  Here are some pics from the game itself...

If we look REALLY hot and sweaty in these selfies, it's because we were.

So there you have it, our week in review!  Looking forward to seeing what adventures this week brings!