Can't think of a title!

I started taking metformin again. Again. I started back in September in hopes of regulating my cycles. When it didn't, I just quit. It sucks. First of all, you have to eat with it. I am supposed to take it three times a day. I know, I know, I should eat three times a day - but I just don't. I am at the gym by 9 for my group class and there is no way I have time to eat before then! It is normally at least 12 before I sit down and get something to eat. And if you take it without food...watch out! I will be hugging the toilet for at least an hour. Not exaggerating on this.

Anyway - all of this got me thinking last night about just how much I sacrifice. Well all moms in general...but I was really just thinking about myself : )

I have to prepare my body for months to get pregnant. We want to get pregnant this summer, and yes, I am starting now. I have to. I have to have metformin in my system. I have to be on birth control pills for at least 6 weeks. I have to have another HSG (for the non infertiles of the bunch, this is a pretty painful test that checks your uterus and fallopian tubes. You lay on a table, and through a catheter in your vajayjay, the doctor inserts dye and watches, via X-Ray, it pass through your body. It checks the shape of your uterus and if your tubes are open). I have to have another mock transfer. I have to have cycle day 3 blood work. I have to go to OBI and be tested for AIDS. This is all before the actual IVF cycle starts!

I am being sluggish on making all these appointments and taking my metformin, so it looks like we will start later than I had hoped. But I know that God has His hand in everything, and it is all going to work out in the end.

I just can't believe that we are going down this path again. My excitement is still there, don't get me wrong, but some of the old familiar feelings are creeping back.

Whew! I actually feel better getting all that out. I think typing it out makes me realize how stupid it is for me to complain. We are so lucky to be able to do this. I don't forget that for a second.

In Paige news:

She is cruising now! She loves to pull up on our ottoman and go back and forth on it. She is a crawling machine. She is obsessed with the dog bowls and we are starting to tell her 'no'. She just smiles and goes right back to the dog bowl. Eating is going very well. She eats table foods with ease. Her favorites right now are: grilled cheese, mac n cheese, chicken, yogurt melts, carrots, bananas, and scrambled eggs. We break everything up into little bites and she enjoying feeding herself. She also loves water from her sippy cup. Seriously - she acts like water is the biggest treat in the world! It is so funny! She babbles all the time now. I feel like she is really thriving and am excited for our nine month check up on Wednesday. I hope the doc confirms my assessment that she is doing very well : )

Happy Monday!

Cuteness!!

So these aren't the best quality as they were taken from my iphone...but I can't handle how cute this little bug is!!

BAD hair day!
My cute little monkey. She gets staticky hair in the morning and it is just awful...
...so we are experimenting with the ponytail!




This is Evyn Cannon - one of my friend's new baby. She is just so precious. Tell me...does she look like Paige or what!!?? I feel like she resembles Paige's newborn photos so much.
Fun with solid foods! We are still feeding her just two solid meals a day. It works for us. She gets a bottle when she wakes up. Then she eats a solid meal for lunch and gets a bottle. Bottle before nap time, then after waking up from her nap, a solid dinner. Bottle after dinner, then a bottle before bedtime! So that is still 5 bottles a day. We will see what the pediatrician has to say about this on Monday. I can't believe it is time for the nine month check-up!
Construction on our house! It is almost finished now, and looks great! We added a bedroom on our upstairs. This is will be our guest room.
Spike loves the boppy.

Baby yoga on the laundry basket.

Sleeping on momma on the plane. I love this sweet baby!!

Fun times!

We had the Frasiers and the Pittards over for dinner last night. It was so much fun - except I learned the hard way that cold meds taken all day plus 2.5 glasses of red wine don't mix : ( I know they say on the package to not mix with alcohol. But I figured, as long as I don't have too much, I should be fine! I was wrong. And considering the fact that I hardly ate anything all day, I'm sure it was just too much for my little tummy.

I felt AWFUL last night starting around 1 AM. Sheesh! I am sure glad Paige is going to the grandparents tonight so momma can have a night off and get some sleep!

But I did wake up to a wonderful surprise this morning...drumroll...

Paige got her first two teeth!!! I figured that she had been teething for weeks, and those two little things finally popped through. She looks adorable. She seemed to be having some discomfort this morning, so I gave her some Tylenol and orajel, and she went down for a nap. Sweet little baby!

It is just amazing to me how fast time is passing. I have this kid who crawls, laughs, plays with other kids, stands, babbles, eats food, and now has teeth. I just want to press pause for a little while. I am trying so hard to cherish this time. I take my time when I rock her to sleep, and fight the urge to wish she would fall asleep faster. I know these days will be over far too quickly.

Being Paige's mom is the greatest pleasure of my life.

Went to the RE today

That is Reproductive Endocrinologist. He sat down with us for a good bit to review my history and talk about our options in expanding our family.

As a young, healthy woman, it is disheartening to him that my last IVF cycle went so poorly. Yes, we did get a pregnancy out of it (and a gorgeous baby!!), but the cycle in and of itself was not good. He would expect to see 70% fertilization rates with 3 or 4 embryos able to be frozen for future cycles. I had a 40% fert rate with none to freeze. For those not familiar with IVF, this is pretty bad. Especially considering that we got 18 eggs. Out of 18 eggs, only one was viable for pregnancy. Paige is such a miracle and I was reminded of that today.

He feels like IVF is the best way for us to go. We will be starting this spring! I am excited about the prospect of having a sibling for Paige and experiencing pregnancy again. I know I need to keep my emotions in check. Just because it worked the first time once, doesn't mean it will again. I need to keep a good balance of optimism and realism. This will be a huge challenge for me.

David is excited. He is such a rock for me during everything. Thank God for my amazing support system!

Just for fun - one year ago...

This is from one year ago! I was about 25 weeks along here.

Poor Spike had no idea how much his life was about to change.
My belly!
Love it!!
At first I was going to do a before and after...January 2009 and January 2010. But I am not going to expose my poor blog readers to that. I am working out like crazy but eating horribly. This is my own fault. But french fries taste too damn good.

Craziness

I have an appointment with my IVF doctor. Soon. I am being vague about this on purpose, as I am not sure how much information I am going to share this go around. Last time, I was very open with some people, and not with others. I feel like this isn't fair. If I am going to be open, then I just need to be open.

My blog was such an amazing outlet for me last time, and I want to keep it that way! That is why I am leaning towards being open. Because if I decide to not share, then I would need to make my blog private. I mean - lives would be destroyed if they couldn't get updates about the Griffith family! (inset sarcastic tone here). I realize that no one would be effected either way...but I digress.

So stay tuned for some potential big happenings in our household!

Random.

Miss Paige loves bath time! We had a big suite in Las Vegas that had this huge tub. Paige was in heaven!

Now that she can crawl she loves to move around the tub.


Sweet baby girl!
Crawling on momma is fun!
Except when she tries to wipe my snotty nose : (
Okay all better!
I love to stand up!!
Random note: poor Spike has to get put under next week and get his teeth cleaned. We are horrible pet owners who didn't clean his teeth and now he has dental disease. So hopefully things will be better when he gets them cleaned.
Fun with finger foods! Paige hates to be fed. She wants to do it herself. If I put something in her mouth - like a piece of cheese, a puff, etc...she spits it out. But if I set it on her tray, she will pick it up and eat it! Paige marches to the beat of her own drummer, that is for sure. She has never been "by the book" which caused me a great deal of stress in the early days. Now I just know that she will do things in her own time.

2010!

We rang in the new year in Las Vegas! Wait, back up...first Christmas! We had a massive snow storm this Christmas which kept us inside for pretty much 3 straight days. Not fun! Here are some pics from Christmas!

Her new chair from Pottery Barn Kids. LOVE it!!

Pat the Bunny : )

With my niece, Ava.
New little lady bug
Gift from Santa.
It was a blizzard out and we couldn't go to church on Christmas Eve. We couldn't even open our garage door. So we decided to walk down to my grandparents house. The goggles were needed! Trust me!!
My Christmas Eve outfit.

Christmas was wonderful, despite the weather. We are so blessed by Paige.

New things: Paige is crawling! Not her belly flop, inch worm crawl, but fully crawling! I am so proud of her! She is pulling up on everything. She can even pull herself up to standing. She did this for the first time on vacation in Las Vegas (we got back last night) and hasn't stopped since then! She is so brave and curious, which can be a dangerous thing! David and I are now scrambling to get our house baby proofed! We need a gate on our stairs ASAP!

We still aren't able to feed her purees, so I just skipped them! I have been giving her small bites of whatever I am eating, and she is loving it! However, I am not the healthiest of eaters, so this might be problematic! For instance, in Las Vegas, I gave her: pizza crust, sips of my milkshake, a french fry...you get the point. I need to go to the grocery store and get more baby-friendly foods. But it is such a relief to see her able to move food around in her mouth and swallow like a normal kid!

Las Vegas: a blast as usual! I shopped waaaaaay to much! But we had a blast. My parents and grandparents were there so we had someone to watch Paige at all times. My favorite part was when someone in the elevator said, "Oh! Is this baby's first trip to Vegas?" and I said, "Nope!" Haha...oh well!!