Chocolates and Tots - get 'yer own!

My boss gets us all a box of See's chocolates for Christmas every year. If you are a midwest or east coastie, then you don't know about See's. Which is probably a good thing.

This year, just like everything else affected by our wonderful economy, the box shrank. It's usually the big, two-tiered, 25 piece box. This year? The 12 piece. Which is still great, and much better in all honesty for my ever expanding waist (who's kidding whom? there's no semblance of a waist left at ALL).

I successfully avoided said pitfall (white box with little gold ribbon) for an entire week. Until yesterday. Today, less than 24 hours later, there's one pecan turtle thing and three half-eaten truffles. I don't like truffles. I usually take a bite to see what's inside, and put it back with a big bite taken out, if its a truffle (or those crappy lemon things - who likes those, anyway?). Right about now, truth be told, I am eyeballing those defiled truffle outcasts with the slightly stale/crunchy bite-marked edges. Mark my words, by the end of the day they'll be gone, too.

What is going on? What happened to my scruples and die-hard willpower? I accidentally left my lunch at home today and it seemed as if the world had ended. What will I eat? Where will I eat? What will become of me? I'm sure that I will waste away to nothingness. Sure of it. My appetite has taken control of my body and I am just a pawn.

Cravings? Yeah. I have them. I'm proud to say that I crave salads. Less proud to say that I also crave tater tots. Those little round fried things you got in the grade school cafeteria alongside fish sandwiches and green jello. I dream about them. My mouth waters for them. I can't get the tiny, greasy, ground potato-like goodness out of the oven and into my mouth fast enough. Tater tots! I must stop or the obsession will drive me mad. Must think pure and taterless thoughts.

There's a Stranger in My Bed

There's a stranger in my bed. He takes up a lot of room. He's bulky. He's clumsy. I'd really like to kick him out. His name is Body Bo.ppy (BB for short). Apparently BB is supposed to help me sleep on my side (better for me and little tiny growing thing), but honestly, it is a big fluffy pain in my ever-increasing arse.

The picture on the package shows a preggo lady, all snuggled up and la-la-la-dreamlanding it. Just IN LOVE with her Body Bop. This is not what happens. I spend my nights trying to hoist it over me whilst keeping it under the covers (cuz jimminy its COLD this winter) and manipulating it into some semblence of comfort. Apparently its even better to have TWO of them, and put one on each side of you. I'm thinking that's a whole lot of pillow taking up crucial real estate in my bed. Plus its claustrophobic. And hot. Not to mention a major suppressor of anything in the romantic realm:

"hi honey...do you wanna give me a kiss?"
"Umm....where the hell are you?"
"Under this big pile of suffocating and heat inducing fluff."
"where the....what the...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz."


The whole sleeping on your side thing sucks enough. But throw in a couple of whale-sized pillows and you've got yourself a heckofa challenge for Uniso.m. But then again, take it away and I wake up with back pain that turns me into a crotchety ol' witch. Perhaps in time I'll learn to tame the unweildy cotton behemoths, and BigB will learn to navigate them.

Photo Treasure Hunt

I was tagged by AYKM for a Photo Treasure Hunt tag where you: 1). Go to the 4th picture folder on your computer. 2). Post the 4th picture in that folder. 3). Explain the picture. 4). Tag 4 more people.

I have avoided this tag before, because frankly, the photos on my work computer are anything but interesting. But, I'm going to take one for the team and show you how mundane my small little world really is:


This is a picture of my husband, BigB. Thankfully he was #4 in the 4th file. He is nowhere's near mundane nor small. We were camping at the Sand Dunes in Florence, Oregon. You will notice right away that he has a big skin tag on his nose. I implore him weekly to have it removed. It's like a bullseye...you can't not look at it. Especially when you're trying to get all romantic. Its got a personality of its own and he wont get rid of it. Yet.

BigB also has a big head. Very big head. I'm praying our baby takes after my side of the family and has a more manageable sized noggin. Cuz, dang. Like a camel through the eye of needle.

Here's my four tags (my sincere apologies if you've been tagged for this recently!):

Clio
Leslie Lane
Virginia
Faith

Christmas Reflections

Has it really been over a week since I last posted? Geesh...so much for trying to get my 100th post in before the new year. I guess its been pretty busy. We got so much snow that my work was cancelled...so I ended up getting a whole extra week of vacation (in addition to the almost two weeks I was already getting). I haven't driven my car in over a week, and we've been housebound for most of it. 

My family managed to brave the conditions and make it over to our house for Christmas Day Dinner. That was such a stressor. Our electricity went out the day before (Christmas Eve), so I couldn't clean or cook. That left Christmas morning...just three hours before everyone was supposed to arrive, to clean and cook for 15. Let's just say that dinner was three hours late. It all turned out, but it sure didn't seem like Christmas. Just too much rushing and stressing out. I was glad when everyone was out the door and I could put my feet up and just veg out.

I totally spaced on ICLW. Wellllll....I didn't really space, I just wasn't wanting to get online at all. It was nice to take a break. Hubby got me a NintendoDS, so now I'm cool like all the 12 year olds. He got me some game that's supposed to make you smarter. Hmmmm. It also has Sudoku on it which I love. 

We're taking the tree down today. We got a new couch for Christmas, and they're delivering it tomorrow. I'm sad to be taking it down already. It seems so final...so anticlimactic. The snow has pretty much melted, the presents are open, I guess its time to be thinking about new years resolutions.

Every Bird Should Get to Fly

This is one of my favorite commercials...I'm guessing unless you live in Washington State you haven't seen it. I don't know why, but it always makes me get all teared up. I think it has something to do with realizing a dream. Us infertiles go to great extremes to achieve our dreams...many times against all odds. Inevitably our journey isn't conventional and rarely one we'd pick, but hopefully brings us to a place that brings us a sense of fulfillment or realization.

watch it here

Celebrity Shot Recipient

Got the call around 11 a.m. that the medicine had arrived in Seattle. They had to have it transported from Canada. I went to the hospital, to the Birthing Center, of all places, to get the shot. When I walked into the nurses area, and told them that I was "there for a shot," all eight of the nurses were like, "ahhhh, yes.... the shot girl - we know all about you." I totally felt like a celebrity. I guess this was kind of a special case - my doctor had been working with all kinds of state and national offices to get this medicine. It created somewhat of a buzz in the hospital.

I actually had to be admitted - for a shot! It was crazy. They took me into a room, registered me in the hospital, got a fancy little wrist band and everything! Then they had to take blood and do some type of tests, get my blood pressure and take my temperature. Then I had to sign about a million release forms. After all of that, which took at least an hour, I finally got the shot. Or shots - one in each butt. It was awesome. Total tag-team with the nurses. One gave one, and another, the second. They were trying to tell me that it may hurt - I had to set them straight. "Ladies, I had 10 weeks straight of shots in my butt. This is nothin'!"

 Then I had to wait in my room, while they "observed" me. They had to make sure I didn't have any adverse reactions, like death or seizure. I had neither, and two hours after I entered the hospital, I was finally released. 

That was a fun afternoon. And I'll have close to a thousand dollar bill to show for it. Because the medicine is still considered "experimental," insurance wont pay for it. Who knows how much the hospital bill will be. But, better safe than sorry, right?

Special Canadian Chicken Pox

For whatever reason, I made it through childhood without getting the chickenpox. My mom probably should have made sure I got them, but seeing as I was the fourth, she got confused with her other kids and was sure that I actually had gotten them. 

Fast forward 30+ years. A blood draw back when we were getting ready for IVF revealed that I had never had the pox. I had the option of getting the vaccine, which would put our transfer off for a month, or just proceed. I couldn't wait another month, so I just went ahead. I figured I had made it 38 years without getting them, whats another few months?

Of course I tell my OB this earlier this week at my appointment. She didn't seem too concerned. Just told me to steer clear of daycares, elementary schools, and anyone who looked like they had a polkadotted rash. 

Today I get a rather excited voicemail from her to call her back "as soon as possible." This of course freaks me out. I call her back, dreading her answer, that some of my tests came back negative, or something weird. Come to find out, there was a woman who had an appointment 45 minutes after mine, who ended up having the chicken pox. This is where it gets interesting.

I probably wasn't exposed to her, but just to make sure, my doc wants me to take an immunoglobulin shot to block the virus. That wouldn't be so bad, except that the only company in the US that made it, discontinued production and so there's very little, if any, available. There's a company in Canada that makes it, but it hasn't been approved by the FDA. It's only available in a clinical trial situation. I can take it, but I have to sign a million release forms.

The whole thing freaks me out. It's only being tested in the U.S. They've been using it for almost a decade in Canada, but its just weird. I guess the alternative is taking a chance on whether I was exposed. If I was, it means major birth defects for the baby. I definitely don't want to risk this. Its hard to fathom that a silly little childhood virus could affect my little baby.