I Think I'll go to Boston

I've decide I'm going to run the Boston marathon. On Monday I was sitting on the couch nursing Evan, trying to eat lunch, and was watching the stream of the marathon on my phone. KJ's cousin was running it and I was watching him finish. He's an awesome runner. He started with the first group (read: fastest runners in the world) of runners and finished in the top 400 out of 3500. Seriously awesome. But then I thought... Why couldn't I do that? Not at that world class level I mean, just in general... What's stopping me from running a marathon? Nothing. So, I'm going to do it. Not this year, not next year... I have a ways to go to get in that kind of shape. I know a marathon would require a lot of serious training. But maybe in 5 years? Why not? 

I'm turning 30 this year... In just a couple weeks actually. (How the hell did that happen??) I keep thinking about what I was doing five years ago... I was about to turn 25 and was trying to get pregnant for the first time. Then I spent the majority of the next five years trying to get and stay pregnant. That's all I really did. It was all consuming. I wanted two kids by 30, and I'm blessed to have reached that goal and am happy to close that chapter. Now I'm thinking... What about the next five years? What about the next ten years? What do I want to do by the I'm 40? I certainly don't want to be sitting on the couch thinking 'why can't I do that?'...

So, I'm going to do it. I realize it's very competitive to get into Boston, but what's to stop me from at least trying to make qualifying time? Both the Erie and Pittsburgh marathons are qualifying races, so getting to those would be no problem. I already had the goal of doing a half next year. I had planned on doing 5ks and 10ks this year and then start training for a half next spring. I actually had just decided to train for a half last spring, then the next day I got pregnant with Evan, so that had to be put on hold. So in two years, 2017, why not start training for a full marathon? This is doable!

I've had a lot of dreams, most of which I've realized are unattainable, but this, this marathon goal, is totally attainable. I can do this. I will do this. In five years I will be running marathons with the goal of getting to Boston.

"I think I'll got to Boston, I think I'll start a new life, I think I'll start over where no one knows my name... I think I need a sunrise, I'm tired of the sunset, I hear it's nice in the summer, some snow would be nice... Oh yeah..."

Here's to the next five years!

Lots of Love, 

KJsbabe

Best Freakin Day Ever!!

I am on a streak of good luck like no other! I don't know what I did to deserve it, but I'll take it!!

* Last night I won both eBay auctions that I had my eye on. Between the two I got 3 brand new Kissaloves hemp/cotton fitteds for $29 shipped! They normally retail for $18 a piece! Hello new night time diapers!!  

* This morning I got my but out of bed early and went for an awesome run. 5 miles in 44 mins! 

* This morning I also fully expected to wake up to AF... But no sign of her yet! I'm 9dpo today!! That's crazy!! I don't even care about the BFN I got! If AF holds off until tomorrow, that will be the longest LP I've had in YEARS! 2010 before I got pg the second time is the last time I had a 9 day LP.

* Cotton Babies finally posted their Seconds Sale yesterday, but I was disappointed because they didn't have any 4.0s. But wait! They posted them this morning! 6 snap 4.0s and 3 velcro Flips ordered!! Baby shower gift ordering complete!

* After Lexi and I came out of story time this morning, it didn't start raining until after we were in the car!

* My order from The Nurture Center came in today. Supper fast shipping, and free at that! It just so happens that they made a mistake on my order. I order two 2oz bottles of California Baby Bug Repellent on clearance for $3.50 each. But they actually sent two 6.5oz bottles! That's 9oz FREE!! Jackpot! 

I know I'm pushing my luck, but it would be really nice if that BFN turned into a BFP tomorrow morning! 

Lots of Love,

KJsbabe

Testing a 5k Curtain

Wait... What?? Lol make that testing, a 5k, and new curtains. :)

Last Thursday (the 27th) I had an app with my OB and it went really well. I love my doctor and his staff! Seriously, it's like they know what I'm going to ask before I even get there. I have a new IF nurse this time around and she's really nice. She really knows what she's talking about. And actually, I remember she preformed Lexi's NT scan and was very informative. 

So, I took my charts in and my doctor and nurse agree that I either O late or have a weak O. The plan is to do cycle monitoring with some testing. I did cd3 b/w on Friday, I have a cd14 ultrasound on the 8th to check my follicles, and tentatively cd21 b/w to confirm O. But, since I don't O until cd20 usually, I'm expecting to need at least one more u/s before we do b/w. Then next cycle they want to do an SIS to check for scaring, polyps, and fibroids. Scheduling didn't work out to do it this cycle. They also want KJ to redo his SA. Last time his numbers were good, but he had high counts of white blood cells. He was supposed to have an app with a urologist, but then I got pg with Lexi, and he didn't want to go if he didn't have to. I'm waiting on a call back from the lab to schedule that. 

So that's the plan so far! I feel really good about it. I feel like we're another step closer to heathy baby #2. Back on the testing train we go! 

In other news, I ran my first 5k of the year on Saturday. It was a really small race, but I finished 8th overall, 3rd female. My time was 24:10 and for being the first one I've ran since Thanksgiving, I'm happy with my time. It's a good starting place for the year. The weather is finally getting nicer, so I think I'll be able to get back to running at the park with Lexi soon. Time to start getting my mileage back and shaving that time down! The next race I'm going to do is this Saturday.

The past couple weeks I've been working on new curtains for our front room. I had shears up, which I like, but KJ kept complaining that you could see in the windows at night. So I starting looking for something to replace the old valences I still had up, left by the previous owners. I never really liked them, but I couldn't find anything that I really liked enough to replace them with. 

Before

I found some nice curtains on Overstock and thought about ordering them, but damn, curtains are expensive! I needed enough for six windows, and of corse you have to buy each panel separately at $30 each... That really adds up!! I just couldn't justify spending $200+ on something that's going to hang over the windows. So, in my google searches shower curtains kept coming up along with regular curtains and some of them were really pretty...

And then it hit me, BAM!! Shower curtains as window curtains!! Why hadn't I thought of that before? It seems so obvious now! We have a nice fabric shower curtain in our bathroom, why couldn't I hang one (or four) in the windows. They come in so many fun patterns and nice colors. They're the perfect size, 72x72, and they're soooo much cheaper than regular curtains. 

I found a nice curtain I really liked at Walmart and picked up two of them for the front four windows. I cut them down the middle and finished off the edges to make four panels. 

Then I folded over the top tab to make the rod pocket. They're about 6" short on either side, but I'm ok with it.

 Voila! 

And yes... Yes that is snow you see outside...

I found another coordinating curtain at Target and got two of those for the side two windows. I folded the top tab over for the rod pocket, and the one side needed hemmed a bit. So, for under $75 I covered six windows and I'm really happy with how they all turned out! 

Lots of Love,
KJsbabe

Other Things in Life

I know all I really wright about is Lexi, but she's basically the center of my world right now! But let's talk about what else is going on...

I've had two sinus infections in the last two months. Sucks ass! I blame all of the snotty nose kids who run around the playground and my not being vigilant enough with the hand sanitizer. I'm currently on day 11 of my second round of sickness and it doesn't want to leave. I always seem to get sick right around this week every year. It's always right before, during, or right after ALF. ALF was actually a week early this year and good thing too or else I would have been miserable! 

Sept 27-29 was ALF (Clarion U's homecoming festival) and KJ, Lexi, and I had a good time this year. It was kind of cut short because we didn't have anyone to watch Tucker and Colby. MIL was letting them out for us, but that really doesn't cut it with them. Aussies need attention and exercise, and we didn't want to end up with a hole chewed through our wall. But other than that, we had a good time at the craft fair. There's always so many cute things to see. I got some cute winter hats for Lexi, and also a new purple tutu. The parade was fun. It was Lexi's first and she slept though it! Haha ALF was definitely different with a LO. Instead of drinking the night away like we did in college, KJ went for some drinks with our friends while I put Lexi to bed in our hotel room. It was actually a really nice night. She went down without much trouble, I had a bottle of my favorite wine, watched "Say Yes to the Dress", and was asleep by 9:30.

The week of Sept 23-27 we had new siding put on our house. Well, the bulk of it was done that week. The construction guys are still actually finishing up some little things here are there. Our house was in desperate need of being resided and we finally saved up enough money to get it done. This project was a big reason why I continued to work for as long as I did. We needed the extra money in order to save up enough. But, after a week and a half straight of men pounding on the house all day long, it's finally done and it looks great! We no longer have the crappiest looking house on the block! Yay! We are also getting a new front door put in, but it had to be special ordered, so it's not in yet. We have an older house and so none of the doors or windows (or anything else!) are "standard" size. That should be in next week, though.

Before...


And After!!


 Sept 22 was mine and KJ's 6 year wedding anniversary. MIL watched Lexi for us and we celebrated by spending a day in Pittsburgh. An Ikea trip was in order, of course. I got a nice new display case for my ALF glasses as my anniversary present, and we picked up some Christmas gifts for Lexi. We went to lunch at Steak and Shake and dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Yummm!! We had a really nice time just the two of us. It's hardly ever just the two of us any more and it was really nice to reconnect. We needed that.

 Sept 21 I ran a 10k in Clarion and did really well. I crushed my old time and had a new personal best of 47:02. 6th female finisher. Really, really proud of myself!! Three years ago when I ran this particular race (the 5k) for the first time, I made it my goal to do the 10k one year. It feels really good to have met that goal and get a PB in the process!

Sept 15 was mine and KJ's 10 year dating anniversary. I can't believe it's been 10 years! We met my freshman year at Clarion, I was 18 and KJ was 21. We actually met my first day at school when I moved in. I still remember the first time I saw him, and no joke, I said to myself, " I wonder if I'll marry him?" I completely believe that when you find your sole mate, you just "know". We officially started dating three weeks later and have been together ever since. A week into dating I made my mind up that, yes, I would marry him. He didn't actually ask me until three years later, but I knew it all along! :)

Anyways, I ran the Sharon PD 5k that morning and did really well. 22:14 which is a new PB! I was also the 2nd female finisher. I got a nice plack... it'll got nicely right next to my dear rack... haha! Yeah, it's just a little "woodsy" for my taste. I hung it in our "rustic room". That afternoon, the three of us went to a weeding of our good friends. It was beautiful, but it was right in the middle of when Lexi usually naps. She was fussy the hole time. I didn't even get to see the ceremony because I had to take her outside. It was an outdoor reception, but it was very crowded. We tried to make the stroller work and it was just a great big mess. I really wish I could have enjoyed it more, but it was just not a good time for us. We left early and chilled out at home for the rest of the day.

I was having really good hair one night, so here's a good old bathroom selfie :)

Lots of Love,
KJsbabe

Summer Running

Since becoming a SAHM I've gotten to do a lot more running this summer and I love it! Lexi and I go to the park every morning. I run and she naps in the stroller, and everyone is happy. :) I've been doing 5k's throughout the summer and have even ventured into a couple 10ks. My first two ever! Very proud!

Here's a summery of my summer racing:

May 15 - "Run Like an Animal"      27:06
May 19 - "Mission of Love"            26:11 First in my age group
June 8 -   "Friends of Buhl Park"     25:19 Third in my age group
June 22 - "Summer Fest Sweat"      24:59 First over all woman! Only the second time I've ever won a race!
July 13 - "Run for Your Heart"        51:10 My first 10k! Third in my age group
July 14 - "Hermitage Arts Fest"       25:05 First in my age group
Aug 18 - Hamot Mayor's Cup"        51:02 My Second 10k! Second in my age group
Aug 24 - "Race at Piston's Place"    25:04 First in my age group and ran with Lexi in the stroller


Next up, I'm doing a 5k this weekend. Then in September I have both a 5k and another 10k. There's one 5K I have my eye on so far for Oct. I'm still not hitting the 5k time that I'd like to be at, but I guess I'm more concerned with mileage at this point. I've been doing between 6 and 7.5 miles each day (depending on how many times Lexi got up during the night haha!). My goal is to do a half marathon at some point, but I know it won't be this summer. The Pittsburgh half is in May every year. So, while I would love to be pregnant again with #2 by that point next year, if not I'll be training for a half. I know I can do the mileage. Back when I ran XC in HS we'd do 10 miles in practice, so really at that point, what's another 3? I just need to get myself back up, both physically and mentally, to doing that kind of mileage. And I know it's a few years down the road, but after (and I hope am blessed with) kid #2 I'd like to do a full marathon. But, that's a long term goal. Right now I'm really enjoying dabbling in the 10k's.


Lots of Love,
 KJsbabe

The Last Weekend of the Summer

I feel like I've been on summer vacation and school starts tomorrow. :( This sucks! I have to go back to work tomorrow and I am not looking forward to it. I've enjoyed my time and home with Lexi so much and I don't want it to end. I love being home with her, just the two of us. We've made our little daily routines and I'm really going to miss it.

We went over to MIL house on Saturday and got her all set up to watch Lexi during the day. I feel pretty confident that she'll be well taken care of. MIL is a bit of a pack rat and I was a little concerned about clutter and there not being room for her and her things. They cleaned the house up, though, and there was plenty of room for the PnP. She's going to be fine there... I just need to keep telling myself that.

Anyways, since my knee has been feeling just about normal, I decided to go ahead and run the Buhl Day 5k. I had already signed up, so I figured why not. MIL watched Lexi and KJ and I ran. His time was 28:33 and mine was 28:35. Definitely not my best, but for just having baby, still being up 17lbs, and only running for two weeks prior, I was just glad to finish!

Next up is the Sharon 5k in two weeks!

Wish me luck tomorrow... I'm not looking forward to this going back to work thing.

Lots of Love,

KJsbabe

More on the Knee Saga

So, Murphy's law, as soon as I made a doctor's appointment to get my knee looked at it started feeling better. I wasn't going to get it looked at at first, but my MIL made a good point. I've already reached my insurance deductible for the year because of Lexi, so anything I would have done to it (tests, x-rays, etc) would be covered. It was still hurting a week and a half after I initially hurt it, so I figured I might as well call.

I got up bright and early this morning for my 7:00am app and got checked out. They took an x-ray and my bones looked fine. The doctor squeezed my knee a few times and that was that. He wants me to have an MRI to see if any of the cartilage is torn. Other than that I really didn't get an answer as to what could have happened.

I don't know how I feel about all of these tests. I saw a different sports medicine doctor back in HS when I was running XC for my other knee, and it was a very different experiance. I told him where and when it hurt and he was able to feel my knee and tell me exactly what was wrong. No fancy tests required. I guess I feel like this new doctor is pulling out the "big guns" prematurely. He has a very nice office. It reminded me of a resteront or hotel lounge. How much do you want to bet he runs a lot of unnessisarey tests in order to pay for his fancy office? The more I think about it the more I'm annoyed. Since my knee is feeling relitively normal now, I feel like if I do get this MRI done it won't show anything anyways. I've been reading online about getting one done while BFing and there's conflicting information. Some places say if you get an MRI or CT you should pump and dump for anywhere from 12-48 hours. That would really put a wrench in things! Other places say it's not nesisary and that you can BF normaly. I guess the concern is if you have to take a contrast dye injection it contains iodine and can get into your BM and then baby ingests it. I don't know if I'm comfortable with that. I guess if it was for something really inportaint it would be one thing, but since it's for something that's practically a non issue... I don't know

Lots of Love,

KJsbabe

On the Injured List

So, only one week into running and I hurt myself. :( I hurt my knee pretty bad and it sucks! I ran 4 days last week,, 3.5 miles each time. It was a little sore over the weekend, but on Sunday it was feeling ok. I hurt my foot last fall and I was able to tape it up and it made it feel 10x better. I was able to run with it just fine, so that's what I thought I'd do this time. Well, my tape job didn't do crap. I went out running Sunday night and my knee throbbed the entire time. I, like and idiot, kept on running, though. After I got back home I could barely walk it hurt so bad. :(

So, now I'm wearing a knee brace and taking it easy this week. I've been taking Lexi for walks at the park to stay active. I'm really hoping by Saturday or Sunday I'll be up for a short run. As luck would have it, too, I just sent in my registration fee last Friday for a 5k on Labor Day. I hope I'm still able to run it. There's another race two weeks after that I was hoping to do, too. I guess we'll just see what happens. My half marathon training has started out really well...

Lots of Love,

KJsbabe

Back to Running... Finally!

I had my 6w pp app with my doctor yesterday and I am cleared to run!! So excited!! I took Lexi out last night to the park and we went for our first jog together. It was my first time running since the day before I found out I was pg with her. I remember I had already started what I thought was AF and ran really hard that night because I was upset to be at the beginning of yet another cycle. If I had known then what I know now.... (that the next time I would be running it would be with my baby in a stroller!)

Being out of shape sucks! Ugh! I went 3 miles and boy was I hard. I couldn't even make it running the whole time. But, you know what? I'll take it. I will take the suck and the hurt and the sore muscles. This is the hurt that last October I said I would gladly take in exchange for a healthy baby. I said I would gain the weight and get out of shape if it meant I could finally have my take home baby. Well, I have my healthy little girl,  I gained the wight, and now I will happily take all the suck of losing weight and getting back in shape. Bring it on! It hurts sooo good! Give me more! :)

I ran 3 miles again today and I hurt... a lot. I have this bruised feeling on my back right about where I had the spinal, my abs (or lack there of) hurt from my flab jiggling when I run, and then of coarse I have the normal muscle soreness. My body is different then it used to be and I don't seem to be bouncing back as quickly as I usually do. I know it's only  been two days, but it just feels different. I'll keep plugging along, though. The only way it gets easier is if you keep at it.

Lots of Love,

KJsbabe


My power song on the week "Ugly Truth"

Where to Start?

Where to start? So much has been going on! Busy busy. You had better grab your popcorn now, because this is going to be a long one!

 
 
On Sept 20 I had an appointment with an infertility nurse at my new OB's for a consultation. She was really nice. I explained to her everything about trying, MC #1, the whole MC #2 debacle, and my short LP's. She was really wonderful about everything. She knew exactly what I was talking about and jumped right in to talking about testing and Clomid. She said that because we've been trying for a year and a half and have had two MC's, I qualify for testing with them. When she said I should start charting my BBT, I got really excited and said, "I love charting!". She was very open to looking at my charts (my old OB pretty much rolled his eyes at my charts) and even complimented how neat and organized FF was. The plan we came up with was on my next cycle to do CD3 blood work, a HSG on CD7, and a SA for KJ. The app really could not have gone better.

Mine and KJ's 4th wedding anniversary was on Sept 22. I was really sick all that week, so we had a low key celebration of take out, a movie, and FWP. I, of coarse, was O'ing while I was sick, but I wasn't about to give up on a perfectly good month just because I wasn't feeling well. We ended up going out to a nice dinner that weekend to celebrate properly.

I had made up my mind that I wasn't going to test until Monday, Oct 3, because I was planning on running two races that weekend. If I did happen to get a BFP, I didn't want to be thinking, "OMG, I'm PG, I'm so scarred to run!" I wanted to be able to run well and not have any emotional distraction. Well. I didn't even make it to my test date. AF came Friday (Sept 30) night and gave me another 7 day LP. Joy. Another reason I didn't want AF to come on that day was because last year my last AF before my BFP started on Sept 30. Now I'm lined up to O and possibly get a BFP exactly when I did last year. This is the one and only month I hope I don't get pg. It would be really hard go through the same time line again. I think I would be twice as worried as any other month. *Le sigh*




Saturday, Oct 1 KJ and I drove over to Clarion for the start of ALF week 5k. It was rainy and cold and all around gross outside. I ran anyway, but I didn't have a great time. I got 24:00 and came in 59th. I just wasn't pushing myself and was kind of disappointed because of it. Also, that day we went back to that yard sale from a few weeks ago and bought the rest of the ALF glasses that sweet old lady had. I have them all set up in my cabinet now and they look great. The search is back on for more!



On Sunday Oct 2, KJ and I went to the next town over and we both ran in the Clark Vol FD 5k. It was still cold and rainy (high of 49 degrees!), so there was hardly anyone there (42 runners!), but we ran anyways. It was KJ's first race and I was very proud of him. I also redeemed myself from the day before. KJ came in 22nd over all with 25:47 and I can in 12th over all and 1st female with 22:19, and new personal best. I was pretty proud of my time and that I won! I've never come in first before. I won a fruit basket and everything!




Monday, Oct 3 I did my CD3 blood work (even though it was cd4).


Wednesday, Oct 5 I took a half day of work and drove with my sister to Cleveland. We saw Hanson at the House of Blues!! I had such an awesome time. They are such great live performers. You know, sometimes you go see acts live and they don't sound anything like what they're supposed to. Hanson is nothing like that. They sound exactly like they do on their CDs and they're so energetic and fun to watch! The concert was by far the best I've ever been to! Life changing!




 

On Thursday, Oct 6 I had my HSG. It went pretty well. When they put the catheter in and blew up the balloon, I had a pretty bad cramp, but other than that it was fine. Everything looked good. My ute had a good shape and my tubes were clear, so that was good news. Also, I got my b/w back that day. Everything looked good except for my FSH and LH levels. They were out of balance which can be an indication of PCOS. I was pretty surprised by that. I've read over the symptoms a few times before and it's never sounded like something I had. My IF nurse sent me for more b/w and I also had an u/s done that day to check for cysts. It showed I have a small cyst on my right ovary. I'm not sure what that means. I thought I've read before that a cyst now and then is normal. I honestly haven't had time to look anything up about it.

Friday, October 7 I went in for my extra b/w and KJ had his SA drop off. He was kind of nervous about it, but got through it. After that, we headed over to Clarion for ALF. Every year on the Friday of ALF there's a huge craft fair down main street. it stretches for 12 blocks all the way from campus to the stadium. On years where the weather is nice (like this year) there's been up to a quarter of a million people all over this little college town. I officially started my Christmas shopping! I found some nice gifts for my sister and MIL. I got a cute little sign to hang in my kitchen, also.



KJ and I had a really good time catching up with all of our old college friends at ALF. A lot of KJ's friends are starting to have kids now. Last year at this time I was so sure I would have a baby to show off this weekend, or at least a nice bump. It was hard seeing everyone ooo and aww over all of these adorable babies. I tried to stay positive, though. It helped to know we're at least moving forward with the testing. Maybe someday I'll have a LO to take to ALF.



"Someday. Say it's coming soon"

Yesterday, my IF nurse called with KJ's SA results. She said he has good motility, a good amount of normal sperm, and good morphology. She did say, though, that they found white blood cells in his sample. She said it probably means that he was sick or is getting sick, and that's probably nothing. They do want him to see an urologist, though, just in case to check things out. KJ wasn't too happy about seeing a specialist, but is going to go for me. I really hope the nurse is right and it's nothing.

Today I got a new iPhone! I'm excited! This is a really big step for me. I've had the same LG flip phone since before we were married. It's still in pretty good shape, so I really didn't feel the need to upgrade. I have an iTouch, and between the two, it did pretty much everything I needed. Lately, though, I've been seeing the need more and more to get a smart phone. I wanted the GPS, camera, Internet anywhere, touch and phone all in one pretty package. I really like it so far. I'm just trying to transfer everything over now. What a pain!




Phew! That was long! If you made it all the way through, that deserves some cheese cake!

 


Lots of Love,
KJsbabe

And I waited for you...

This weekend was pretty busy. On Saturday KJ and I drove over to the Peanut Butter Festival and I ran the 5k. It was a chilly morning, but it turned out to be a good race. My time was 23:32, which I was really happy with. Only 9 seconds off of my personal best. I came in 22nd over all, 4th woman, and 2nd in the 20-29 female age bracket. I got a silver medal!

On our way home from the race we saw a sign for a yard sale, and since we both love a good sale, we stopped. The town we were driving through was close Clarion where KJ and I met and went to school. Every fall for homecoming they hold the Autumn Leaf Festival. It's this huge thing where a quarter of a million people come to this tiny college and swarm main street in search of crafts, fried food, and of course, leaves. We go back every year and we love it. Also, every year since 1959 they have made a commemorative glass to go along with the theme that year. I started buying them half way through school and thought it would be cool to collect them. So, whenever I see an old one I pick it up. Back to the yard sale,  we hit the jackpot! This sweet old lady was having a sale and had a ton of old ALF glasses. It was awesome! I only had $12 on me so I bought six glasses: '01, '99, '98, '96, '95, and '94. We got to talking and she obviously knew all about the glasses and how people collect them. She offered to keep the rest of what she had back for me for later. I couldn't believe she was willing to do that! We'll be going back to Clarion for a 5k on Oct 1, so now we also have plans to go back to this woman's house and buy eight more glasses (much older ones) for $30. Plus she said she'd keep an eye out for any more for me. It was an awesome day!



Sunday I ran the Sharon PD Five-O 5k. It was another chilly morning, but that's September for you. The race went really well and I made a new personal best! I had a time of 22:44, 22nd over all, 4th woman, and 1st in the 25-29 female age bracket. I can't believe I'm in the 22's! I never thought I'd get that fast. I'm very proud of my new time! I got another medal, too.



Sunday night I stared feeling like I was coming down with something. This morning I woke up with a full blown sinus infection. I feel like poo... There's a race on both Saturday and Sunday that I haven't signed up for, but could still do. I guess I'll have to see how I'm feeling towards the end of the week and decide if I feel up to them or not.



I hope I feel better soon...

"Maybe some day..."

Lots of Love,
KJsbabe

Running for Fun!

"Maybe. It's a vicious little word that could slay me."

I ran in the Saxonburg Arts Festival 5k this weekend. It was a much harder course than last weekend, but went pretty well. I improved my time from last week and that's really my main goal when racing. My official time was 23:45, but the photo evidence begs to differ. KJ took a picture of me crossing the finish line and you can clearly see the clock at 23:52.



Even still, it was a whole minuet faster than last week. Placing wise, I did much better than I though I would. 61st over all, 12th over all female, and 1st in the 25-29 year old females. I won a medal and everything! There wasn't a lot of competition (only three other girls in my age bracket), but I was still pretty proud of my self.



Next up this weekend is the Peanut Butter Festival 5K on Saturday and the Sharon PD Five-O 5K on Sunday. I've never been to the PB festival, but I think it's pretty amusing they have a whole celebration just for peanut butter. I bet poor jelly feels a little left out!

"Someday. Say it's coming soon."

BT-Dubs, I'm loving Sara Bareilles' CD "Kaleidoscope Heart"

Lots of Love,
KJsbabe

2 DPO

Ah the 2 ww... So full of hope and promise! Happy thoughts run around in my head, "maybe I'll find out I'm PG in a week or so!", "maybe my little eggie is making it's way down to implant!", "maybe this will be an awesome winter!". I'm trying to not let myself get hyped up... It's so hard!

Let it be.

I decided today that whether I get a BFP or AF at the end of the month, I'm going to call that new doctor and get the ball rolling. I'm just going to plan on getting AF... I'm going to ask about my short LP and possibly cd3 and 7dpo testing. From the looks of it, my LP has gone from 10 days down to 8ish. My last four have been 10, 9, 7, and 10 or 8 (I had conflicting O days last month. I'd like to think 10, but I know it's probably 8). I'm still taking the Vitex, and I know it can take three months to work, but I'm a month and a half in and am not seeing any difference at all yet. I'll stick it out, and continue to take it, but I'm starting to feel like it's time to take up the fight again. It's time to be proactive again and make my concerns heard. I hope with this new doctor that won't be an issue like it was with my old OB. I'm not going to let myself get worked up about it yet, though. I'm just going to ride out this cycle, hope for a BFP, and if not, we'll go from there.

Let it be, let it be...

In other news, KJ and I have been adopting a new active lifestyle, which I'm loving. He's not naturally motivated to exercise like I can be, so I've been trying to get him moving more. We started doing the C25K program together and it's been a lot of fun. We did w2d3 tonight. I've continued to run on my own, too. I signed up to run a 5K on Labor day. This will be my first race since HS (9 years ago, whole crap!) and I'm nervous! It's been my summer goal to get back into 5k's and I feel ready, just nervous.

Lots of Love,
KJsbabe

First 2ww

So, I'm in my first two week wait since October. Well, really it's a ten day wait for me. I'm 4dpo today. Next Tuesday (6/14) I'll either get AF or a BFP. I'm hopeful.

"In a little while surely you'll be mine. In a little while I'll be there. In a little while this heart will hurt no more."

I've been shaking off my best stress busters: running, music, and my new fave, tea. (as usual, I'll work my way backwards!) I'm in love with Yogi teas! From AF-O I drank Women's Energy with this Chinese herb, dong quai, that's supposed to help regulate my cycle. However, it says on the package not to drink it while PG... So, none for me in the 2ww! Then, all month I've been drinking Raspberry Leaf tea, which is supposed to help "tone" my uterus and make it nice and healthy for baby carrying. Tonight I'm going to try this new tea sample I got, Relaxed Mind. It's supposed to be calming and relaxing. If I like it, I think I'm going to stock up. I might drink it in the afternoon since that's normally when I feel most anxious.

"Ooo...Slow down my beating heart... Slowly, slowly love.."


"It's been a little while..."

This is my new fave running song, a resent Hanson discovery:
"Won't you watch me bleed rock and roll razor blade"
It has an awesome beat that's perfect to run to. I've discovered quite a few random Hanson songs lately, and I'm loving it! Sometimes I feel like a bad fan, for the fact that I didn't already know about all of these unreleased songs. I'm so behind! I should have been a fan club member all along... Don't tell anyone, but I'm saving up for a year's membership!

So, the 5k I mentioned before didn't happen. I'm just not up to par yet. I've been running 2.5m a day and will work my way back up to the true long distance. If I don't get PG, by the end of the summer I'd like to be back to running 10m once a week, with 4-5m on the other days. Then again, there's a big part of me that really hopes I don't get to that point! Like I said, I'm hopeful...

Lots of Love,
KJsbabe

Good Day Sunshine

I guess I haven't written in a while (or that's what it seems like, anyways). Probably because I haven't been feeling down lately! I've been feeling really good and really hopeful. So much has happened, but it's been mostly really great. I guess I'll start with the most resent and work my way back.


"Today is never too late to be bran new"

The weather was beautiful this weekend! After what seemed like months of nothing but rain, we finally had some sun. KJ and I were able to get a lot done in the yard. There's still more to do, but at least we've made progress. I really hope it's nice next weekend, too, (memorial day) so we can get some of the big things done. We have a "cabaña" (a patio with a roof over it) that has outdoor carpet on it currently and it's gotten really gross. We want to pull that up, power wash the concrete under it, and re-paint it a tan-ish color. We also have to power wash the deck and re-stain it, same with the pool deck. So much to do...

Sunday we went to church and had a much better experience than last time. In the bulletin there was a flyer for the next town over's Memorial Day events. They are having a fun run 5k. When KJ saw it he got really excited and was like, "You should totally do this!!" It's only a week away and he wants me to run a 5k! Yikes! I've been running on and off for months, but not steadily and not long distance. I told him I would give it my best shot, though. I went to the park where I could map out 3.2 miles. I tried, but I could make it the whole way running. I felt like such a fail. I'm going to try again tonight and hopefully I'll make it further. We'll see...

Friday, May 20 was Tucker's 2nd birthday. I can't believe he's two already! He is such a good dog and I love him to death.

My work has a program where it will cover a cretin percentage of medical bills on top of what insurance covers. I got two big checks on Monday and Friday of last week. They were for all of the B/W, the U/S, the chest x-ray, and a few of the tests I had done last month. It's such a relief to have the money now to pay these bills. They were really starting to pile up there for a while. God has really taken care of us!

Monday started out really good. I got my first AF since September!! I was so excited! FINALLY time to TTC! Then, I had my F/U appointment, and we all know how well that went. As I said before, we will not be waiting yet another cycle. I'm not going to let that douchebag get me down any more. I need to be hopeful. I need to be able to try again. We're planning on starting FWP on Thursday. Can't wait!

"It's simple, but some how letting go is the hardest part."

Last Sunday, May 15 we picked up our new furbaby, Colby-Jack. He's such a cutie! We've had him for a little over a week now, and I'm completely in love. He's not quite there with the potty training, but he starting to pick somethings up. He can sit and is starting to recognize his name. He's so different than Tucker was at that age. Tucker was a huge chewer and chased the cats a lot, but he caught on to the potty training really quickly and was super focused. Colby has really only been chewing on the toys and hasn't had much interest in the cats, but he's had a number of accidents and gets distracted pretty easily.

Lots of Love,
KJsbabe