Girl Scout Cookies

I haven't allowed myself to have girl scout cookies in my house for over a decade. This morning, after church, we went to the diner with Mom, Dad, Grandmom, and Aunt Bobbie. As we were walking out there they were! Those yummy cookies. Mom said, "do you want some?" I didn't turn her down! I stared at all the boxes, wide-eyed, trying to decide if I should get Tagalongs, Samoa's, Thin Mints, Trefoils, or Do-si-do's. Yum! Brian didn't pick any because he was trying to display some will-power but I wasn't! I decided on Tagalongs and a new cookie...one that wasn't around in my girl scout days. Having said that, what happened to the names of the cookies? They aren't called their "proper girl scout cookie" names. What marketing agent was on that job? Don't they know that those names are well known throughout America? Or....am I showing my age? Have the names been changes for years now and I didn't know it? Thankfully the Mom there helping the girls selling the cookies knew my "code words" as I was placing my order. Yum....these cookies are heaven. As a matter of fact, 1/2 way through typing this post I had to get up and grab a yummy peanut butter cookie....better known as a Tagalong. Remind me....how much longer is cookie season??

Update on our embies

Thursday morning, despite the 13" of snow, Brian dug out our car for our Dr. appt. We were determined to get there because it's been 2 weeks since we've seen our embies. We made it to the Dr., 1/2 hour late, but we made it there. We had an ultrasound and it was amazing to see them! Baby A (1st 2 pics above) wasn't very co-operative. It wouldn't move around too much and the tech had me lay on my side to see if it would move. It still didn't. The lady took the ultrasound camera and poked my stomach a few times to see if it would move. It did put up it's hands, as if to say "whoa!" Ha! At the same time Baby B was spinning in circles...haha! Baby B was such a camera hog! (3rd and 4th pics above) That one moved and did anything the tech wanted it too. So cute! I'm curious to see if Baby A will continue to be our trouble-maker and B will listen to instructions. Only time will tell. We are so excited and feel so extremely blessed for our miracles. We can't wait to hold them in our arms. As per the Dr, it sounds like we will be holding them in July and not August. He told us that with our kind of pregnancy, since they are sharing the placenta, we will deliver any time between week 34 and 37. That is pretty much any time in July. As the time progresses we will see if that changes but as of now we are focusing our minds on July babies. (the 5th and 6th pics above are of both of them.)

Snowy January

It has been such a snowy January! We've had it all...snow, sleet, ice, rain, etc.. It's actually getting quite annoying. Brian and I have had to re-schedule numerous client appointments and re-arrange our work schedules. The first couple days were fun but now it's just crazy. Jadie, on the other hand, has been in heaven. She absolutely loves the snow and loves to jump & play in fresh, fluffy snow.

Check out this snowman. It'll really tell you how much snow we have gotten in the past 2 days. It's huge! Joe, Tyler, and Ryleigh made him to send a "get well message" to Jen whom has been in the hospital. We miss you Jen! Hurry up and come home!

mIracles oVercome inFertility

I was watching Good Morning America's "3 word segment" today and I saw those 3 words and started to cry. I took it as a sign to finally blog about our miracle.

Brian and I have been trying to have a baby since the day we got married, 1 yr and 9 months ago. I knew I was going to have trouble getting pregnant so after 3 months of trying on our own I went to the Ob/Gyn for some assistance. They tried to help us for about 6 months until they advised us to go see an Infertility specialist. So, 12/4/09 was the date we first met with them. It was a VERY long road with them....many tears but LOTS of hope. We went through 4 IUI procedures before we decided to try IVF. We had our 1st IVF in 6/10 but it unsuccessful. We waited until 8/10 to use our frozen embryos, to only find out that they didn't take either. We were crushed. We started to wonder if we would ever have a baby. We discussed if we should even try another round of IVF. In the Fall of '10 we decided to start investigating adoption along with trying IVF one more time. Brian did a lot of research and made calls to some agencies while I focused on preparing my mind and my body for another go at IVF. So, I started taking the needles again, every morning and every night and prayed after each needle that it would work this time. The day before Thanksgiving was my egg retrieval and it went better than the 1st time. This time the Dr. retrieved 13 eggs from me! Thanksgiving morning they called to tell us that 10 of the 13 had fertilized with Brian's specimen. Woo hoo!! We had 10 embryo's forming!! They called the next day, Friday, to let us know that my transfer would be the next day, Saturday. We were concerned that it was a 3 day transfer and not a 4 or 5 but the Dr. assured us that it was still ok and that he's had pregnancies on a 3 day transfer. We went in the office, very hopeful but very nervous. We watched on the ultrasound screen as they but 3 embryo's back in me. We got to see them come out of the syringe...it was amazing! We went home and I layed on the couch for the next 3 days. Brian waited on me hand and foot and Mom stopped by a couple of times to spend some time with me. Luckily I was pre-occupied with studying for the SPHR (an exam for my career) during the "2 week wait." I was able to totally focus on that and not obsess over every little feeling that may or may not mean something.

Wednesday, 12/8/10 was the day that we were to find out if it worked. I woke up, went into the bathroom, and peed on 2 tests. Almost immediately they came up positive and I stood up, ran out the door, and said "Brian! I'm pregnant! I swear! I'm pregnant!" He looked at me in disbelief as I showed him the sticks. We hugged for a long while after that while I was shaking. I could NOT believe it was actually true! Brian teared up and kissed me and was just stared at each other, with no words but with every emotion you could imagine. It was a priceless moment....one I'll never forget. I went to the Dr. office after that to confirm with bloodwork and it was in fact true!!




On Thursday 12/23/10 we went in for our 1st ultrasound to see the baby. We did see it and heard a beautiful heartbeat. We were still in shock but very happy. We went out to breakfast after and started to talk about our future and were all smiles throughout the whole conversation. That whole week, Christmas week, was the best week of our lives...so far. I don't think we came off cloud 9 the entire week.

Wednesday 12/29/10 we were in for yet another surprise! We went in for a follow-up ultrasound. The Dr. was showing us and explaining what we saw on the screen. Then all of a sudden he stopped talking and the nurse grabbed my arm. Fear overcame me as I was thinking something was wrong......then the Dr. said "there is another heartbeat!" I said "shut up!!" I looked at Brian and he was a deer in headlights. We asked how that could be and he said that they are identical twins....that the one embryo that implanted split! We have twins, NOT due to IVF! My body split the one embryo. What a miracle God has given us. It has to be all the prayers that everyone we love has sent in for us. Brian and I walked out of the Dr's office not really talking. We didn't know what to say. It was amazing!!! When we got in the car I called Mom and said "Mom, it's twins." She said "what? what do you mean?" As I explained it to her....that the twin is 2 days behind...she started laughing and screamed to Dad to tell him. I could hear him through the phone saying "what? you're kidding?!?" What a surprise! I'm sure it's only the 1st of many surprises that they will be giving us over the years. (ultrasound pic below is from 1/5/11.)

We are so thankful and feel so completely blessed that God has answered our prayers. We have been praying just about every day since and been thanking him for our miracles. We are so excited to experience the next 7 months with our "embies." They are due 8/17/11, unless they decide to come into the world earlier, as most twins do. Until then, we will continue to pray.

Winter Weekend Getaway

We haven't been to the shore in about 2 1/2 months so we decided to head down this weekend. It was a relaxing weekend, which is just what we needed. We did go car shopping yesterday to prepare for my lease ending in May and watched football all afternoon. Jadie has been on guard all weekend, waiting for Pacie, Corriah, or Gracie to walk in....every noise she hears she jumps up in excitement, only to be saddened that no one is walking in the door. As a matter of fact, I think we are the ONLY people here this weekend....it's pitch-black on the streets, with very little cars driving by. We've caught up on sleep and pigged out all weekend. What better way to spend a winter weekend getaway?

Christmas w/the Grace's

Last Sunday we went to Corinne & Ryan's for a Christmas visit with the Grace family. Corinne & Ryan spend xmas day with Ryan's fam and we spend it with Brian's fam so we don't get to see the Grace's. Corinne has started a great new tradition of having them over to celebrate the holiday. Livi & Char had a blast playing with Hailey. They are such good 'lil momma's. We watched the Eagles game and were very disappointed that we lost....the house got really quite after the game. Despite the Eagles loss, we had a blast with the family!

Christmas w/Rob & Ida

We were supposed to see Rob & Ida last weekend for Christmas but the snow storm changed our plans. Brian and I were off from work today so we had them here for lunch. We ordered in hoagies and exchanged presents. Brian had gone through old pictures of Rob, their Mom, and himself this week so we showed them to Rob. He enjoyed looking through them. The rest of the afternoon we hung out and got caught up on the happenings of each others lives.

Wacky Christmas Sweaters

Today was our Grace-Camarote Christmas get together, which was hosted by John & Jeanna this year. We decided to make it fun and had a wacky Christmas sweater contest. It was hysterical! Brian and I bought ours on ebay but next year we really need to step it up because Kevin & Korrin and Scott & Kim made their sweaters...they were great! We laughed a lot at each other and just had a blast. We ate a lot and were all stuffed by the time it was over. The kids had fun running around and wrestling with Uncle Scott on the floor. Our family just keeps on growing and it's so cool for our parents to see because it all started when the 4 of them met in Bermuda. Who would've ever thought that we'd be family and still having as much fun 30-some-odd years later.

New Years Eve

New Years Eve we spent at Jen & Joe's with our friends in the neighborhood. We all brought munchies and pigged out all night long. The kids played their new games that Santa brought them for the Wii and the adults played a few rounds of LCR. It was a fun night w/everyone, as usual.

Playin' in the snow

The day after Christmas we got a big snow storm and Jadie has been having a ball! Brian has been walking her every day and told me that I had to go with them to see how much fun she has....before the snow disappears. We went and it was adorable to watch her play! It's like she never saw snow before...it was too cute.

Grace-Pescatore Christmas

Thursday night we headed into Philly to meet the Pescatore's for Christmas. We had a great dinner at Dante & Luigi's. We were having a great time, and were noisy as usual...probably made the other guest unhappy but oh well! Ha! Scott was home from Italy so it was nice to see him. Livi and Charlotte had a blast playing w/their new toys from Uncle Chuck & Aunt Susan, while the rest of us chatted it up. We always love this get together because it means that we are just about 1/2 way back to summer-time and seeing each other every weekend.