Weekend

This weekend I drove to Salem, OR to spend time with my sister and go to the musical Wicked in Portland on Saturday. The drive down was OK, it took me an hour longer than expected, but not too bad. One of these times I am determined to plan ahead and take the train down so I can read/relax on the trip instead of stress about the drive. Once I arrived, I hit the local taqueria and got us some yummy Mexican food for dinner. We then hung out and talked. I convinced her to take me to the local Walmart (DH hates Walmart so we never go here) and I picked up a track suit (SHOCKING!) and a new sweatshirt. We then wandered over to the kid's area, and I got some barrettes for the girls' Easter presents and some un-pink clothes for K & J's little baby A. We came back home (hitting DQ on the way) and hung out talking until after 1 AM.

The next morning, we talked and lay around until lunchtime. We then got cleaned up and went to a diner that had fantastic burgers. After lunch we got pedicures. It was so great to have cute looking feet again! We came home and rested/relaxed then got ready for Wicked. On the way to Wicked we stopped at the outlet mall where I picked up yet another not-pink outfit baby A. We drove to Portland.... and then drove through Portland to WA. Our directions that had been downloaded from the theater's website were incorrect. We turned around and drove south through Portland. At this point we had about a half hour before the show started. My sis pulled off the road and I called DH. Unfortunately, he was still at a friend's housewarming party and was unable to look up directions. I called our dad and he navigated us to the theater. We found parking directly across the street (so much cheaper than in Seattle) and headed into the theater. We had great seats. We had both seen Wicked before when it came to Seattle, but our seats this time around were even better. The show was great. There were some new special effects and dance numbers that added a lot to the show. I really enjoyed all of the leads with the exception of the guy playing Fiyero. However, it was great overall. After the show we drove back to Salem and hung out/snacked (I ate like crap this weekend- but I figure I meet with the nutritionist this week so it's my last chance to eat this way) until 1 or so then went to bed.

This AM I woke up and read a bit before sis was up. I ate a quick breakfast and headed home. I made it home in under 4 hours (new record for me) and the drive was quick and painless.
I am so blessed to have my sister close to me now. It was so wonderful to be able to talk to her all about the IF and other things in my life and have her understand, support, love me and give great advice. She also was able to talk with me about her life, and I hope I helped her out the same way she helped me. She's the best and I love her.

The Best

Yesterday was Friday and my short day at work. After work I had an acupuncture appointment. It was a great appointment. She kept hammering home the point that I can't FORCE my body to lose weight and that I am doing all I can and have to just turn over the rest to my higher consciousness. I like that thought. The metaphor she used was something about a seed that needs "angry" energy to push it's way out of the ground and then is able to become a flower. I need to use my angry/frustrated energy to push and do all I can, but not worry about becoming the flower and blooming because that is what I was meant to be, so I don't need to stress about it. As she said "a seed doesn't worry about being a flower or blooming, because that is what it is. It just does what it can and then is itself." After my treatment which focused on a lot of liver, spleen, and digestive areas I felt great. On my way out the door I ran into her again and she gave me a huge hug and told me she was proud of me. She's the best!

I have the best best friend. I told her and her hubby about our upcoming IVF attempt over the phone since we haven't been able to see each other for a bit. We had them over for dinner last night and she brought me a gift. It was a willow tree figure for hope. I could have cried! She is so thoughtful. Her card that went along with it read:

" I am so excited for your upcoming IVF! Please let me know if there's anything I can do- even if it means an emergency Cold Stone run!! I love you so much!!"

I am so grateful to have such a loving, supportive friend in my life.

The list

I've worked with children in a professional setting as a preschool teacher, childcare provider, childcare assistant director and nanny for the past 9 years. Over the years I've seen many parenting styles. I've also received my degree in Early Childhood Education and done extensive reading on rearing children. I try to keep up on the latest information and subscribe to a parents magazine as well. I think I'm pretty well informed on child-rearing issues. Plus, since DH and I have been TTC for 10 years now, we've also discussed how we would raise our child(ren). I thought my child rearing style was pretty defined. However, this new family I nanny for is turning it on its ear. There are several things they do that I was planning on doing with my children that I am now rethinking. This has made me think. What do I want to do/not do while raising my child. I think this will be an ongoing list...

• Set a healthy eating example and insist my child eats the same
• Only cook 1 family meal- I'm not a short order cook and my child can either eat what I cook or wait until the next meal
• Breastfeed my child if at all possible until at least 6 months, hopefully longer
• Wean off of a bottle by 12 months
• Wean off of a sippy cup by 2 years
• Limit juice- offer only milk or water
• Limit sweets
• Teach my child to fall asleep on their own- encourage them to sleep in their own bed
• Be active with my child to encourage a life-long love of exercise
• Pray daily with my child from birth
• Teach my child the gospel of Jesus Christ
• Help my child to feel God's love for them & help them recognize that they are a child of God
• Limit the number of toys my child has- either through rotating through them, donating or asking family/friends to limit toys given to the child
• NEVER allow weapons as toys or allow violent play
• Foster a love of reading- place importance on reading to my child, with my child, and an importance on books
• Allow my child to foster imaginative play by removing toys that discourage that
• NEVER replacing batteries to noisy toys or providing them with batteries in the first place
• Dressing my child for their age- no age inappropriate clothing
• Limit the number of character clothing they wear (ie: Sesame Street, Disney, etc.)
• Dress my child in clothes vs. pajamas to wear in public or at any time other than bed time
• No words written in large letters across the butt of my child's pants (HATE THIS TREND- even for adults)
• Not overreacting to accidents
• Allow my child to solve their own problems when developmentally appropriate
• Choose developmentally appropriate discipline
• Let my child know how much they are loved through my words and actions

Now of course I've discussed this with my DH. He laughs and tells me I'll break all of these "rules" and I probably will at some time or another. However, I hope I'll be able to look back and remember why I thought these were good ideas at one time.

Support

We've decided to tell certain people in our life about doing IVF. I told my close friend last week and then over the weekend we told my family when we were visiting in UT. It's good that they know. They sound very excited and ready to be supportive. I have one more friend to tell and then they will all be informed. I just hope that we'll be able to make it through this journey in one piece emotionally. I'm glad that we did tell some people so that N won't have to shoulder the entire burden of my craziness.