Versatile Blogger Award

Thank you so much Wifey for the nomination!! I'm surprised that I received this nomination as I've been a slacker blogger lately. None-the-less I'm honored, so thank you again. :)

Here are the rules:
1.) Winners- Put the above image in your blog.
2.) Include a link back to the person who gave it to you.
3.) Tell 10 things about yourself
4.) Award 15 other bloggers
5.)Contact the bloggers you awarded and let them know they won.

The award image is right there at the top of this post, and I've linked back to the amazing woman who nominated me (make sure you check her blog out). To post this image to your blog right click on the image and then select "save picture as." It should already come up named and save to where you store your pictures on your computer, all you have to do from there is upload it like you would any other picture to your blog.

Now, to tell 10 things about myself.
1.) I am pregnant with our second blessing. In case you've missed it in past posts we are also expecting a GIRL!!
2.) Speaking of our little girl, we have finally decided on a name. However, we're not telling until she's here on Earth, b/c it never fails someone takes our name before we get the chance to use it. 3.) I never thought I'd be able to say that after we have this bundle of joy that "We're done." From the very beginning of DH and my relationship we agreed on one boy and one girl, but once we found out about our infertility woes that slightly changed. We said after *B* that if we were blessed again and it was a boy we would try for a third, but if we ended up with three boys we were done at three regardless. Well, as luck would have it one boy, one girl... I'm getting rid of my junk female insides once she's here.
4.) Even though we've miraculously conceived both of our children naturally when we weren't trying beating alot of the infertility statistics and odds, I still consider myself an infertile. I don't think that that will ever change since we were trying it never happened and we spent thousands of dollars for hundreds of BFNs. To me I still feel broken even though alot of my fellow readers would consider it otherwise.
5.) I've been battling depression my entire pregnancy. Actually, I was dealing with it before I was pregnant, but mix in the addtional hormones and it's much worse. I'm not on any meds for my depression currently, but eventually I'll have to give in before she gets here and get a handle on things so I can function more normally.
6.) Things with my DH and I really aren't that great. We have been having our back and forth battles. We are striving and struggling as a couple to find each other again, and personally for myself fall back in love with him. Our past can not be just that... the past, and we struggle with realizing that and with realizing that we should turn to one another for support instead of other people. And, even though we are at a better place right now on the way to getting there we were thisclose to divorce.
7.) I consider myself a photographer. I love to take pictures (mostly of my family & friends right now) and I hope to one day once my little ones are a bit older make it a part-time to full-time profession. I still have alot to learn in the photography department, but slowly I'm getting there. Now, if I could just get a different camera and better lenses I'd be all set.
8.) I withdrew from college. When I found out I was pregnant I was getting ready to start my second quarter, and I wasn't very far along in my pregnancy. When I was pregnant with *B* I was super sick, and figured that I would be the same way this time around and I didn't want my perfect 4.0 GPA to suffer due to my illness, so I withdrew. After the Lovebug is here I intend to enroll again for Fall '11 quarter, though, so I can continue on to getting my Bachelor's degree in Radiology.
9.) I'm beginning to think that the rain will never let up here. I thought about having an arc building party b/c of all the flooding but figured that would make everyone's moods even worse. In the month of April we've had 2-3in of rain everytime it's rained for 18 days of the 26 so far this month, and the forecast doesn't appear to be changing for at least the next 2wks either. I'm really missing the sun and hoping it'll return and soon, before we float away.
10.) *B* was evaluated for pre-school last week. I thought before his eval that he might of had ADHD as he showed alot of signs of it. After his evaluation I was (and still am) the happiest most amazed Mama EVER! The behavioralist that sat in on his eval said that he doesn't have ADHD instead he's bored. He was ranging in levels of knowledge at the age of a 6yr old... he's only 3!!! They said that he'll have to really be challenged when he goes to school, but currently the pre-school we were looking at isn't the right fit for him as he's already exceeded above and beyond what they would teach him this coming year there. So, now I have to re-think what we're going to do for him in the fall for social interaction. Regardless, I'm just so impressed with my little man that I'm speechless.

Now, to nominate 15 other blogger that I think would be deserving of this award. (How do you nominate just 15, when so many are deserving? ARGH!) Any way, here goes and please don't take offense if I haven't named you, b/c you're more than welcome to do this to and take the award from my blog and pass it on to other bloggers as everyone deserves recognition.

1.) babyinterrupted at baby, interrupted
2.) RELH at Plans Change
3.) wifey at Semi-Fertile
4.) Tara at Our Journey
5.) Jill at The Averitt Fam
6.) J at Her Womb, Our Hearts
7.) Rachel at Operation Rosebud
8.) Jenna at Among the Blossoms
9.) Angie at Infertility Revisited
10.) pithydithy at Pithydithy
11.) Steph at As Told by Steph
12.) Rachel at Chasing Mommyhood
13.) Shana at Gorillabuns
14.) Kellyanne at Diary of a Miracle formerly known as Finding Me After IF
15.) This spot is reserved for YOU, b/c as I said everyone deserves a little recognition and a nomination/award. So, feel free to post your blog URL in the comments, and everyone else please don't forget to check out the other nominees and their blogs. :)

I've Got A Secret!!!

If you know me you probably already know what the secret is or you're guessing right now trying to figure it out.

Guess no more!! I'll spill the beans for you. LOL!

Yesterday, we had to take *B* to Children's Hospital for all the ailments that he had been dealing with to see an ENT. The Dr. said that he has to have a sleep study done since I mentioned things that point to sleep apnea. I was told that he doesn't at this time need tubes in his ears, but he will more than likely need his tonsils and adnoids removed. They are very enlarged for his age. So, after the sleep study to make sure he won't need any other sleeping devices we will go for our follow-up to see if surgery is eminent.

Any way, while we in the big city we scheduled ourselves for an elective 3D/4D ultrasound to see if our little lovebug would cooperate so that we could find out if we were having a boy or a girl. This is what we found...

A thumb sucking, finger pointing (already), little DIVA!!!

IT'S A GIRL!!!

Sorry To Keep You Waiting But...

I'm still waiting too. :( We went to the gender u/s & of course our little one wouldn't cooperate with revealing his or her bits. The Dr. went over everything and said that all perfect parts of our little Lovebug were just that... PERFECT!! In the beginning of the u/s he thought he saw little boy parts, but at the end of the u/s he thought the baby was looking more like a girl. I'm kind of thinking that my Dr's u/s equiptment might be from the Ic*e A*ge or something actually. I mean I know the TV we get to few the u/s on is since I can only get VHS tapes made of the u/s and I don't even own a VCR. But alas I took my camera and shot a video. Be fore-warned when you watch this video that it is VERY shakey at some points and may make you nauseous... the camera switched hands from mine to DH's at a point b/c I had to push on my belly and reposition my fat flap so the Dr. could get a better view. You can see the shots he did get from between the legs, and tell me what you think. And if you want to hear the commentary from the u/s turn up the volume. :)

Baby was in a breech anterior position for most of the u/s so it was hard to see things. Plus, the baby was in this knees to his or her chest with his or her ankles crossed in an indian style seating position. But, as I said you can watch the video and tell me what you think the gender is from seeing other u/s's. DH won't let me buying anything with a specific pink or blue color since we don't know. I'm bummed about that... but at least we'll get to try for a second attempt at the gender on April 11th. However I'm thinking about going to a 3D/4D ultrasound places in a week or so to get another u/s done, but this time in 3D/4D.

Enjoy the video and Happy Hump Day!!

Headed To The OB

We're getting ready to leave for the BIG REVEAL ULTRASOUND!! Please send some open leg with it all hanging out vibes our way this morning. Appt is at 9:30am, and I'll update with the gender of our Lovebug as soon as I'm home. Happy Tuesday ya'll!!

PS: Voting in the gender poll lasts until the time of the start of our appt. So vote if you haven't... we're curious to see how your votes weigh-in against what the gender really is. :)

Belly Shots

My first belly shots that I have taken for this pregnancy. I feel like I'm slacking on documenting this pregnancy with Baby#2, since I started with *B* at the moment I found out I was pregnant. Any way, everything has been going well (knock on wood). My belly is growing and I'm looking more round in the belly instead of that pleasantly plump look. Here are my 15w2d & 17w0d belly shots in order accordingly.

I'm starting to get really excited about finding out the gender of our bundle of joy. Actually more like anxious. I find out this coming Tuesday. (For those that haven't voted yet in my gender poll, it's over there in the right sidebar... I'm curious to know what you think we're having.) I can't wait to start buying baby stuff, and I can't wait to know if I can start picking out pink or blue instead of the gender neutral items that we've been buying for the baby.

Speaking of buying things for the baby, last weekend was the first time we'd bought anything. DH, my bestie *J*, *B*, and I all went for a day trip. We went to a child clothing consignment shop. We got a few sleepers & onsies, the diaper bag I wanted, baby monitors, and a cute little pair of airwalk flip flops in size 1. DH got so excited when we bought that stuff, and said that he couldn't wait to start buying other things. Of course first we want to know the gender, but I thought it is was really cute that he was getting excited about the baby since we haven't really showed that much excitement about him or her b/c of the fear of m/c-ing.

Cute Monster-isms & Milestones

My little man isn't such a little man any more these days. With him sleeping in a twin size bed now instead of a toddler bed, riding his big boy bike one handed with much grace, and being able to dress himself... He's growing in leaps and bounds.

Currently he's 3yrs 7mths 22 days old. He weighs 47.2lbs and is 3ft 2in tall. He's in the 90th percentile for both height and weight for his age. He wears size 5T in pants, 4/5 in shirts, and size 10 in shoes. His pedi. says he's the size of a 5yr old. A FIVE YEAR OLD!!! How can that be? He's supposed to be my little man, not my big boy.

He's such at such a great age, even though he still has his moments of tantrum and is as opinionated as ever. He's a great helper boy to me while I'm pregnant. He always asks me if I'm ok, and kisses my belly (what he's calling his baby sister) many times daily.

He's very passionate about learning and wants to go to pre-school in the fall. He can count to 12 without fail, and tries for 20, but skips numbers between 12 and 20. He can say almost all the ABC's without missing any letters, but his excitement while saying gets the letters flip-flopped here and there. He can recognize many of his ABC's written out, but has been having a hard time writing them out himself. He knows all 8 colors in a classic box of crayons, and quite a few colors that aren't in a classic box (ie: pink, gray, white, silver, gold).

He has a love for Sponge*bob and Toy Sto*ry (specifically Woody). He has a love for our cat, Mr. Kitty, and always wants to sleep with and snuggle him. He loves being outdoors, and loves to travel even if it's just to Wal*Mart. He loves to wrestle around and play many sports, but at the end of the day he's still my best & favorite cuddler.

He's been coming up with some cute saying lately too. A few of my favorites are:

• "Mommy, my toe sleeves are too long." (His pant legs are long.)
• "Will you please put cotton candy in my ears, they hurt." (Cotton balls.)
• "Them smelly bubbles tickle between my fingers." (Washing his hands with foaming anit-bacterial soap.)
• "I'm hungry for a sand-burger, Mommy." (Either a sandwich or a hamburger... maybe his combo of both... LOL!)
• "I just blew a hole... LOL!" (What he calls passing gas, and giggling uncontrollably about it.)

and my favorite by far even though it's gross...

• "Maybe if all the gold in my nose gets harder we'll be able to cash it in for more Play-doh." (This came about while he was sick. I went to the jeweler to get DH's wedding band fixed after he broke it at work. The jeweler told me it couldn't be fixed, but I could have the stones cut out of it to keep and cash in the gold for dough, b/c it's a hard gold. So, when of course he was picking his nose a few days later I told him to quit digging for gold, and this is what I got back in return. LOL!)
  

ICLW, On The Mend, & Other Stuff

Welcome ICLW!! If you don't know me or about me feel free to poke around my blog and find out. A good place to start would be above this entry in my header bar under "My TTC Journey." I also encourage you to follow my blog as well, b/c my motto for blog following is "I gain a follower, you gain a follower."

Briefly though... My name is Catrisha. I'm 27 years young, married, and currently 15w1d pregnant with #2. I've had recurrent m/c's and have battled infertility (specifically PCOS and hypothyroidism). Twice now I've beat the odds that my body has thrown at me time and time again of early m/c and non-conception to conceive my miracles... My son known as "The Monster" or "*B*" around here and our current bundle of joy that I'm carrying. We are anxiously awaiting our gender u/s which is scheduled for March 15th, and if you haven't already voted in my sidebar poll on what you think we're having feel free too b/c we're definitely curious to know what ya'll think. We're not particular on a specific gender, we're just happy to be adding to our family and hoping for a full-term pregnancy with minimal to no complications and a healthy baby.

Now back to my regularly scheduled blogging....

We're all on the mend from the cold & flu around here. Boy, am I glad about that. After the past few days with it being so nice, sunny, and warm here this is such a blessing. I was able to open our windows and air the germs out. My biggest concern was *B* who wasn't getting better very quickly. Finally he's on the mend too, but is only about 85-90% better. He still gets a tickling in his throat he'll tell you and start coughing... the bad part about that is it's at night when our heat has been on. So, I went on a clean sweep through thee entire house wiping everything down with Clo*rox and spraying disinfectant spray. I changed the filters in the furnace and I vacuumed out the vents. I'm thinking maybe this on-going persistent runny nose and cough he's been experiencing is allergies instead of a 3 1/2 month long cold. DH and I both have severe allergies and DH had to have allergy shots when he was little... now I think *B* might be following in our footsteps. I was hoping not, but with all this cleaning and things adding up to the causes of his ailments being dust, pollen, mold, & mildew (our basement recently started drawing in moisture with all the melting of the snow/ice giving it a horrid mildew-ish smell that it's never had before) related I'm think he is.

DH is going to be busy at work in the basement this coming week/end cleaning it better than I was able to, resealing it, and we've already gotten a dehumidifier/air purification unit down there to help. Hopefully we'll all be 100% in no time.

In other news... I've been feeling every once and awhile for a couple of days now the baby move. It's usually at night when I lay down for bed, and it's nothing I can feel on the outside but it's definitely there. It feels as best I can describe it like a little ball rolling across my belly from one side to the other and back again right beneath my belly button. It usually goes on for 5-10min before it stops and I can no longer feel it. I'm eager to start feeling more movement more during the day (and night), and to be able to start feeling it on the outside. That was my favorite part of being pregnant with *B*.

Also, speaking pregnancy related ever since I was sick with the flu I've been having morning sickness, which is more like wake up in the middle of the night and vomit my guts up sickness. I was sick like this with *B* while I was pregnant with him, but it started at 6wks to the day and ended at 15wks to the day and occurred EVERYDAY! I hadn't been sick hardly at all with this pregnancy and for it to start now at/around 15wks, sucks. I'm just hoping it's short lived, and passes quickly, and that phen*ergan continues to help when I'm able to take it.

**I hope that you've enjoyed this visit to my blog! Have a GREAT ICLW week & peace and blessings to you and yours!!**