A look back...

Hello there dear readers!

As you can tell I have been very consistent with my lack of blogging. Ehh! Sorry!

Here is a look back on the past few weeks....

Jon and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary on October 20th. I am truly the luckiest girl alive... and to prove it, I'll show you what he got me for an anniversary gift.....

He even painted the GMC symbols PINK! :) He loves me!!!

My oldest girl, Kasey is a senior in highschool this year.. I took her a few weeks back to get her Senior Portraits done.. Isn't she gorgeous!? ... and yes, to answer your question, we do have to beat the boys away with a stick! ;)

My Sister and I took my neices to the Taylor Swift Concert! It was so much fun! I loved watching my 9 year old neice Dayton's face as Taylor came out! The concert was late at night and poor Dayton was so sleepy she actually fell asleep in my lap for a song or two :(!

I traveled to Nashville for my neice Dayton's first competitive cheer compitetion. It was so much fun and I just adored watching all the tiny cheerleaders do their thang! Dayton's squad won 2nd place in their category and also "most entertaining" and "most spirited". She was tickled!

Here is me and her little brother watching her cheer!!

The Christmas Season is quickly sneaking up on us! I love the holidays so much! There is always a little dark cloud hanging over me because I don't have a baby to celebrate with during the holidays but this year that cloud seems a little less dark. I feel very confident that this will be our last year of babyless holidays. We have not proceded with our first IUI as of yet. We have already paid more than $500 to our fertility clinic and we haven't even started any procedures yet! :( BOOO FOR HEALTH INSURANCE NOT COVERING INFERTILITY!! My next apointment is in January and we will discuss when to start the IUI then.

I braved the stores on Black Friday for the first time this year. It was super crazy but very exciting too. I snagged some great deals and have nearly completed my Christmas shopping. I'm sure some of you have been done with your shopping for months now, but i've always been a last minute shopper so I think i'm doing good.

I would probably be able to find more time to blog if i wasn't so obsessed with...... can you guess...... yep.... PINTEREST!! Oh Oh Oh how I love it!
I've never been extremly creative but I'm very guilty of being a crafty copycat! Pinterest gives me millions of crafty ideas to copycat. ;) I've been working on creating a Home management binder... Here is a peek at it...

Iv'e got a page for Bible Verses I come across that I want to look over, Weekly Menu, Daily Goals, Calenders, Freezer Inventory, Freezer Cheat Sheet, A pocket to place bills, A Bill tracker sheet, and a Budget Sheet. I also have pages for all our important house information such as Emergency Phone numbers, Homeowners insurance info, medical and dental info, vehicle info.. ect. I catagorize everything under sections: Home, Daily, Food, Money, Holidays, and Baby --which I don't have yet but I'm working on making pages like a Cycle Tracker, Fertility Budget Sheet ect.

I hope you have a wonderful Holiday season! I'll post pics once I get all the decorations up! :) I have started but am not done yet!

Miracles.

Hello Lovely Readers,

Life is moving right along over in my world...

Here are some updates:

• My super wonderful hard working (and incredibly healthy I might add) Dad was having some chest pain and high blood pressure a few weeks ago. So he went for a check up and the Doctor scheduled some test and found out all 3 of his cardiac arteries were blocked. :( He has always been so healthy but apparently even the best of the best can have medical problems. The Doctors said he was lucky to be alive and he needed Triple Bypass Surgery the next morning! That was more than 3 weeks ago and he is doing WONDERFUL! I am so blessed and amazed by Gods grace. The surgery was very hard on our family and of course mostly on him, but each day he gets better and better and should be back to normal within a year! :) He is a miracle.





• My girls are now in 11th and 12th Grade! WHOA!! You should see the way people look at me when i'm handling the usual parent stuff in public. I'm 26 (and am constantly told I look younger) and they are 16 & 17. With a little "Im the big Sister and have temporary custody" (or something along those lines) People usual get the picture. Kasey had her senior portraits done today and is preparing for graduation and college! I can't believe shes almost all grown up! Kristin has started driving. It makes me life easier but I worry even more. They are both my miracles.



• Last week I kept my niece and nephews all week so my Sis and Brother in Law could enjoy an anniversary vacation. I loved every minute of it (well except the minutes around 3am when the baby was up). The are all growing sop fast. I know I say that alot but it is true. We took them to the pumpkin farm last weekend and they had a blast! 3 lovely miracles.



• Ive also been trying to organize my home even more. I have become addicted to pinterest, as I am sure many of you have. It has so many brilliant ideas for the home. If i can get my entire home looking pinterest worthy, it will be a miracle.





• Annnnnd.... for some exciting news in the babymaking category: We are gearing up for our very first IUI!!! I have been seeing a fertility specialist and have had lots of testing done. My ovarian reserve tests came back great (meaning i have lots of eggs). My HSG showed my tubes were both open. My ultrasound showed a large cyst on my right ovary, but the doctor did not seem concerned about it. So next step is an IUI. We will try one IUI with clomid first and see how well I ovulate. I'm not thrilled about the Clomid considering we have done 6 rounds of it before with less than great results, but I know going straight to injectables is risky for multiples. I will do my best to start blogging more and update on the treatment process throughout the next few months :) . Hoping for a miracle baby in 2012!!

Ya gotta start somewhere...

Doing improvements and organizing my home is forever on my to do list, but it seems to never get done. Well lately I have been in serious "home improvement mode". So I started small....

First was the Laundry Room.

I like to describe it as Blah, Uhh, Bland, and just plain Uuuggg Lee!!!

(I forgot to take a picture before I took down the awful wire shelf that was terribly ugly and useless, not to mention falling off the wall. Consider it a favor.)

But a fresh coat of paint, a new shelf and some pretty containers equals:

Crisp, Clean, and Puuurr Tee! It still needs some work obviously. I'm waiting on the hubs to install the hardwood floors. (we already have hardwood throughout the rest of the home but he hasn't put them in the laundry room yet) The shelf looks pretty but unfortunatly it does not hold much weight, so I'm brain storming on how I can make it more funtional and still keep the clean lines that I love.

The Deets:

Paint Color: Glidden - Soft Sage (The pictures give it a lime green tint, but its actually more soft)

Shelf: Ikea - Lack Shelf 19.99$

Containers: ContainerStore.com

Coat Rack: Lowes

Next on our home improvement list was the Kitchen....

(oh yes, I just posted that. Don't judge! I have two teenagers folks!)

So we took the plunge and bought all new matching stainless steel appliances.

It made a huge difference in the overall look of the (teeny tiny) kitchen.

Next I'm going to start tackleing all the messy overstuffed closets throughout the home... and also work on getting a desk put in my bedroom as my "home control center". :)

The Hubs is working on turning our current attic into a upstairs bonus room to add some more square footage to our house. (and hopefully make more room for future babies) .

So progress is being made :)

Where I've Been....

Well, Well. Hello There! That is if anyone is still out there. ;)

It has been a very long time since I have blogged so I thought I would stop by and give everyone an update....

Where I've Been:

• 
  
  Busy "raising" 2 teenagers. I use the word "raising" loosely haha. As I briefly mentioned last year, My husband and I decided to move my 2 teenage neices in with us. It has been a huge lifestyle change having a 16 & 17 year old live here. Going from a childless 25 year old to a parent of two teenage girls has been verrrry intresting. It has been a year of ups and downs but overall I think its working out well. There is certainly no shortage of entertainment here in our home, that's for sure!! ;)







• 
  
  Healing from my TOS injury. My arm has been a real pain in my life over these past few years, and I have had a few major setbacks, but I am finally seeing a improvement. I still can't lift much weight with my left arm, but I'm working my way towards lifting a few pounds with that arm.
  
  


• 
  
  Working in the yard. I've been trying my green thumb a little this spring. My wonderful husband has worked very hard to make our grass look outstanding, so I worked hard on the flower beds, which were non-existent prior to this spring.







• 
  
  Loving on my Niece and Nephews. My Neice Dayton just turned 9 years old in May. I can't beleive how grown she is. And her little brother are turning 1 & 2 this summer! Whoa! Time flys!







• 
  
  Reading Blogs. Yes, I am still reading blogs despite my lack of devotion to blog myself.

• 
  
  Getting close to the fork in the road. Life has thrown me a lot of major decisions lately and boy oh boy is this "being a big girl" and making "big girl decisions" a bummer!!



• 
  
  My husbands job has given us the opportunity to make a move to Nashville, but they are also giving us the chance to stay in Memphis. We had our hearts set on Nashville and putting our roots down somewhere new, but we are second guessing things a little. With the housing market the way it is right now, our home is near un-sellable. Not to mention the stress of finding (and agreeing) on where we want to live in Nashville. I think all the stress of moving has just gotten the best of us and we are hoping to stay put, at least for now.



• 
  
  A baby? Our dream of having a baby seems so distant. It has been 5 long years since we thought we were going to get pregnant and start a big family right away. God has given us way different plans. We have grown up so much in the past 5 years and I am really begining to feel like a stable adult. We have been saving as much as possible and have a small amount of savings set aside for fertility treatments (enough for a few IUI's, unfortunately no where near enough for IVF if needed). I had a check up with my GYNO last week. My insulin looks good, and although my cycles are extremely irregular at least I am still having a cycle. My doctor really wants us to see a specialist and try an IUI or IVF. We have been discussing it alot and I think 2012 will be the year for us to move forward. After 5 years I am more than ready to be a Mom, but I am still not sure if I am emotionally ready to attempt treantments that may fail. I dont know if my heart can take that.

• 
  
  Busy


• 
  
  Healing


• 
  
  Working


• 
  
  Loving


• 
  
  Reading


• 
  
  Making Decisions


• 
  
  and maybe letting go of enough fear to try once again for my lifelong dream to be a Mom.
  

I think that sums it up for now. Please leave a comment if you have any questions for me. I'm an open book.

Shutterfly Christmas Cards...

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Yep, 50 Free Christmas Cards from Shutterfly for all bloggers!

Just go here to learn more.

:)

Happy Holidays to Everyone!!

Super Late 30 Day Blog Challenge Finale

Just keeping it real and being late as usual ;)

30 Day Blog Challenge Finale - Days 27-30

Day 27-Pets Day

Meet my first baby:

This is Mike.

Michael Fitzpatrick Ramirez Dressler to be exact.

(Don't ask, haha... My brother in law helped create that full name somehow)

In 2003 Jon surprised me for my birthday with a sweet baby kitten. She was so sweet and adorable. I named her Mrs. Fancy. It was about 1 week later when we discovered Mrs. Fancy was a boy. haha! Somehow Jon picked the boy name, Mike. It stuck.

We had mike for 7 years. He was the best Cat you could ever ask for. Unfortunately he became ill last month with really bad bladder stones and we had to have him put to sleep. It was THE HARDEST decision we have ever made, but the doctors said he was in severe pain and could not be cured. :( I miss him every single day! It has been one month and i still think its sinking in.

He will always be my first baby!

Here he is being such a good big brother to his little sister Maddie Lou...

Meet Minnie.

Minnie Snowflake O'Ree Dressler.
Shes Momma's girl.

We adopted her from the shelter in early 2007.

She is the wild child of the family. Shes a moody lil' thing and is very particular about who she likes and who touches her. She's extra shy around strangers and has lots of really good hiding places around the house. She was Mike's wife ;). They were so in love, and it was so sweet to watch them together. She has been extra sweet and loving since he passed, I think she knows we need her extra loving!

Meet Maddie.

Madeline Pinka Louise Dressler.

Ahhh my sweet Maddie Lou.

She is the baby of the house. More spoiled than any Pup i've ever seen.

We got her in late 2007. She has filled a small part of that void I have from being Infertile.

She's a Mommas girl alot of the time, but has her Daddy wrapped around her paw!

She weighs 4lbs and sleeps in the bed, under the covers, with us every night.

She suffers from anxiety and hates being alone. She is far from an easy dog to handle, but I wouldnt trade her for anything!

and yes, beleive it or not this is her when she was little....

Meet Marley.

Marley Tampax Kramer Dressler.

We found Marley a few months ago at my Brother in laws apartment complex. He was teeeny tiny and stuck between a stairwell. He was all alone and hungry so we took him in.

We intended on finding Marley a home, but it hasn't happened.

He is wild wild wild. Oh, and he has an obsession with tampons. Un-used, yes... but still weird!

28-Something that stresses you out

My medical issues.

Day 29-3 Wishes

1. To have children.

2. To live in my dream home with my family.

3. To live a long healthy life.

Day 30-a picture

My husband is enjoying hunting season, so he is at the farm tonight and through the weekend. When he arrived at the farm there was a stray dog there. He text me and told me it was the saddest thing he had ever seen. He said it had long hair that was matted up worse than I could imagine. I had no idea just how bad it was until he sent me this picture.

I cried when I saw this. Have you ever seen anything so sad? My heart is breaking for this dog. Jon said it is nice but scared. He has given it water and food, and managed to find a collar underneath all that fur and cut it off. It was pink so he is assuming it is a girl, but there was no tag. I called a local animal rescue and left a message. I pray they call me back tomorrow.