Kenny...Here We Come!!!!

Thanks everyone for your thoughts, comments and prayers for my cousin Alex. He had his fifth surgery yesterday to sew up more of his incision in his leg. He came through the surgery great, has now been released by the cardiologist, has one more surgery scheduled for Monday, and hopefully if all goes well, he may be home at this time next week. He will have to have three to four months of physical therapy but they're expecting a full recovery. He now has another baby on the way which will now make them a family of 8! Eight is enough!!!

Jay and I are in Pittsburgh this weekend for our BIG BIG Kenny Chesney concert tonight! Last year we went to Grand Rapids, MI to see him...but were in the very last row in the nose bleed section!! Tonight we will be in the 18th row YEAH!!! You can just feel the hype in the city! :) I hope we can get some good shots and I will post some tomorrow!

Last night we got to meet a special friend whom I've been talking to through NW. Ironically she's 13 weeks pregnant with the same doner we're using! We're hoping more than ever to be pregnant soon right along with her! So far Pittsburgh RockS!!

Update on Alex

Thanks so much, Everyone, for all your well wishes and prayers for my cousin. He is doing better today. Yesterday there was a rather serious scare, as his temp went way up and they discovered he had an infection. They weren't sure where it was stemming from, but they put him on very strong antibiotics. Today, his temp is down, his heart rate is down and thank God his BP is down also! Looks like his body is fighting off the infection. :) He's having surgery tomorrow (Wed) to sew up more of his incision. They don't want to keep him under for very long, so they'll only do a portion of it. His incision from Friday night is about 17". They've only closed about 4" of it so far. I may have already noted that. ?? If tomorrow goes well, they are hoping to do a final surgery Friday and continue sewing up or they may end up doing skin graphs. Looks like he's on the mend, but they are being careful not to say he's completely out of the woods yet. So thank you and please continue to keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers. We all really appreciate it.

Weekend from HE**!!!

What a weekend! Friday night turned out to be quite eventful and we've had a major family crisis the past few days. My cousin Alex, who's 5 yrs younger than me, and whom I consider more of a brother, is in critical care as I type. About 11 weeks ago he was pulling 4 of his 5 kids in a wagon and felt something "pop" in his knee. Over the coarse of the past 3 months, he's been going through vigorous physical therapy and to different specialists. This lead to him having orthoscopic surgery last Wednesday. Nothing big...outpatient surgery. (So we thought!) By Friday morning he was in so much pain that he had his wife take him to the ER. After many tests and as the day went on, they discovered he had 3 blood clots in his leg!!! Friday night around 10 pm Jay and I were driving my aunt (his mom) down to Columbus as they were taking him in surgery to go in and hopefully drain these clots. The surgery went ok, but they were concerned about his vitals when he came out. He was at stroke level with BP and heart rate. Luckily that went down and yesterday seemed to be a good day. Well, this morning at church my aunt got a call from his wife that they were taking him into emergency surgery because he was losing too much blood!!! She had his 4 girls with her, so immediately after church she brought them to us and her and DH headed down there. The prayer chain was long and wide today...he has so many people pulling for him! :) The kiddos just got picked up and thank God he's doing MUCH better. They were about to sew up about 4" of his 17" incision, and are planning to take him back into surgery Tuesday for some skin graphs to sew up the rest. He's had a couple close calls, and for being an otherwise "healthy" 31 year old, this has been a big scare to all of us. I would appreciate if any of you would keep him in your prayers. Alex is like a brother to me and we grew up together. I would simply be heart broken if anything happened to him. He has 4 beautiful girls: Jasmine (7), Alex (5), Tasja (4) and Jillian (3). Those kids mean the WORLD to me!! He has a new wife and a 4 yr old step-son. SO much to live for. He isn't out of the woods yet, but he's holding his own tonight. I would just really appreciate any extra prayers we can get for him right now. Thanks Everyone!! :)

YEA!!!!!!!

I'm so happy...our little furbaby Pendleton is back!!! We actually spotted him in the neighborhood Wednesday night and it took 3 hours, but we caught him! He's back safe and sound! Thanks so much for the prayers for his safe return! Life is good again!

Yesterday was my hottie's birthday! I went and had lunch with her, which was GREAT, and then I took her for dinner with my mom, my aunt, a friend and Liam of coarse! I'll have to post the picture from Casa Fiesta!

I just saw a DHL truck on my way home earlier, and it made me think about TTC again. We're debating now on still saving for the RE, which we're no where NEAR what we need, OR do we want to just start trying at home next month for another cycle or two? It's a gamble, but I'm sure my Ob/Gyn would give me the 100 mg Clomid again. ?? Any thoughts? Waiting to see an RE just seems so far out, where as doing another cycle or two at home is more within our financial reach. It's a touch decision. I really would like to be pregnant by the time I'm 37...that's 4 months away! I can honestly say my biological clock IS ticking...loud and clear!! I feel like it's now or never!

Very bad, bad day!!

It's amazing how life can be great one minute and in a flash it turns ugly! Last night around 11pm our beautiful fur-baby Pendleton (that we just adopted a couple months ago) ran out the door! It happened so fast ~ we don't even know why he ran out! He's never tried to get out before. We tried catching him, but he took off. Jay & I were out til 2 a.m. combing the neighborhood. No sign of him. First thing this morning we called the Humane Society, the local vet, the police station and I even ran up and put an ad on the local cable channel. I just made some signs that I'm going to go out and post later. I called one of our neighbors to have her keep an eye out as well.

Why do bad things keep happening to us? Why can't life just be easy and good? It seems everytime we take one small step forward, something happens and we go 3 steps back! I am so in love with my little Pendleton! Poor Liam cried his heart out this morning when we told him!

And then to make matters even worse, I just get a call that my cousin is pregnant...AGAIN! Let me just paint a pretty little picture here: She's 24, has 3 kids already (by 3 different men, I might add!), her and her husband don't work, they live off the government on subsidized housing and food stamps, they can't afford the 3 kids they already have and now here's #4 on the way! Why?

Life is just so unfair. I think I can officially chalk this up to a pretty crappy day!

Proud of my graduate!!

Well my sweet Jay is finally OUT of school and we got the diploma to prove it!! I had the most wonderful surprise party for her yesterday and it went off without a hitch!!! She was, indeed, shocked, to say the least! I wish I could go back and rewind yesterday to do all over again! Her parents and brother and S-I-L were there, along with some good friends and my family. She walked in, I led her to the dining room where everyone jumped out and yelled SURPRISE! She was speechless! I'll post a few pictures from yesterday. It was, by far, the highlight of our weekend. I can't even put into words how very proud of her I am! I have no doubts this degree and all her hard work will pay off soon and land her the job of a lifetime!

I love you, Jay, with all my heart and I am so very, very proud of you!!!

Day By Day

Well I thought I had better put something on here, as quite a few of you have been wondering what's going on. Thank you, btw, for caring and for keeping up! I appreciate all the well wishes and support and encouragement more than you'll ever know!

Life is hard right now. I have so many wonderful things to be happy for, and I am, but deep down my heart won't stop aching. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of TTC and still wanting so badly to have another baby. Everytime I hear of someone else getting pregnant or even just seeing a tiny baby out in public, it's all I can to hold it together! I feel as if I'm grieving. That's so crazy, but it is what it is.

Jay and I have every intention of getting back on the TTC bandwagon, but we're not sure when. Money is tight right now as we're trying to get some bills paid and she's trying so very hard to get another job. She officially has her Masters now, and I couldn't be prouder of her!! :) If only something good would come our way, it would be the answer to all our prayers. We have about half the money we need saved up right now. Even once we get the full amount, that's only one cycle's worth! Going to an RE is going to be expensive. That's why we thought we were saving money doing it at home. I checked the NW boards yesterday and seen someone else got a BFP after 19 cycles at home (I think). Wow! That's so awesome! I almost feel like we're missing our BFP by not continuing to try at home, but we can't do that AND save money at the same time for the RE. I guess the doctor assisted is our better chance. ?? Each day just passes by so slowly, and to think it could be a couple more months before we can try again...it's just very hard.

Right now I'm babysitting my cousin's 8 month old baby, Jaxon. I watch him Tues-Fri all day. He's a great baby and it helps pass the time a little quicker. In some ways though it's hard. I sit and dream that it were MY baby that I'm caring for. I know it will happen for us...it's just not knowing that's so unbearable.

Together we will get through it.

Liam is doing great in school, as always. I'm just so proud of him. Only a few more weeks of school and he's getting very excited for summer vacation! He seems to be really blossoming this year!! Growing into quite the little man!! :)

I guess that's all for now. I'll try to post every few weeks just to keep everyone up to date on what's going on. Please keep us in your prayers, as I will do the same for all of you.