It's beginning to look alot like Christmas

We got our tree up and decorated on Monday. Our living room smells so good.

Here is our bannister. Please excuse the mess of coats in the back.

Stockings from left to right:

Obi, Amy, Jared, Princess

This next picture is mainly for my inlaws. Here is Obi and Princess in Princess's bed that we keep in the living room. He seems to have taken a liking to her bed. I think he will be getting one of his own for Christmas.

Tomorrow is my last pill!!! AF should start on Saturday and my appt. is on Monday. THIS IS IT!!!

The Brown Family shoot

Maybe I should start a separate blog for my photo shoots so I can share the blog with my clients as well.. hmmm.. anyways, as I think about that, I will post a few pics of my most recent shoot which was on Sunday. busy busy busy





See the entire album here.

My Saturday

Yesterday was a bit busy for me. I had a photo shoot at 10:30 with my friend Laura's kids. It turned out great. Here are just a few from the shoot. See more here.

Right as I got all of those images off of my memory card, a friend from work came to pick me up so I could go watch her ride her horse. I took photos there too, but haven't sorted through them yet, so I just picked my fave so far.

This is Theo, isn't he Gorgeous??

Later on, after I got home, Jen and Chris came over and Jared and Chris played with Chris's new Playstation before the big college football game came on. We made pizza and my friend Lesley came over. While the boys were watching the game, us girls went shopping at Target and Kohls and then came home.

It was a busy day, but I had alot of fun and took around 900 pictures! haha

Home-Work

Today I am working from home. I don't do this very often, even though my manager does allow me to work from home 1 day a week. I was really excited about it when my manager first allowed this, but once I tried it, I realized I'd rather be at the office. For 1, my system at home is really slow. 2, all of my manuals and work guides are all nicely organized at my desk and I don't realize how much I use all of that until I don't have it.

But, I am at home today because I have some of my meds being delivered and someone needs to be here to sign for it. It is nice to just wake up and come downstairs without needing to get all prepped for work, and to be home with our dogs, and to do a load of laundry, etc..

Jared and I moved our home office from one of our spare bedrooms to the basement about a month ago. Our office and basement were both well organized until after we combined them together. Now, it's just a mess, haha. It's a little cold down here too.

I have 2 photo shoots this weekend, but 1 of them may be cancelled due to the weather. The other will be indoors, so that one should still be able to go. I will be sure and share pics!

A week from tomorrow, AF should be here and we will be on our way to a BFP!!!

After the Thanksgiving Feast

Better late than never I guess. Here are me and the pugs after our Thanksgiving Feast..

The pugs normally are not allowed on the couch, so this was extra special.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Christmas in the Park 2007

Our house is located right next to a large county park and lake. Each year before Christmas, they set up a display of Christmas lights and they call it Christmas in the Park. It is quite an attraction for other towns around us. On our way home tonight, Jared and I decided to take a little detour and view the display. We tuned into a Christmas station on the radio and had a romantic little drive through the Christmas lights. Here is my favorite display:

And here is the park that put it on

Happy 4th Birthday, Ashley

Today was my niece, Ashley's 4th Birthday. We went to Smokehouse BBQ for dinner then went over to my parent's house for cake and presents! I still remember the day Ashley was born. It has been such a joy to watch her grow. Being an Aunt is one of the neatest things. Ashley is such a funny, sweet, smart and generous little girl. I love my Ashley very much!

This might be a little picture overload. I also posted these same photos on our picture album, so Lisa, if you want to share these with anyone, please send them to our album link!!

Ashley at Dinner
This cake was delicious!!

Uncle Jared and Andrew

Aww, my brother (Brian) and his little girl




And here comes the best present...

What is it????


Uncle Jared has to fix the bike

Another of Ashley's favorite gifts

Andrew likes it too

Bri had to get in on the fun too... hahaha This is Ashley's old bike

Coco

This post is for Jenny. This is my pug niece, Coco.




I took these shots after I did a shoot for the family that owns the farm where Jen lives (where we used to live). I've been getting a little more interest in my photo business. What I have now is just right.. I would like to get a little more shoots scheduled, but I still have my full time job as well. I've really been enjoying it so far and everyone seems to be happy with what I have done for them.

Un-Pregnant

AF is here. I'll be calling the nurse as soon as they open (at 9) to get everything set up again. I imagine I will be on the pill for another 3 weeks. I was looking at the calendar and it looks like our next IUI will be around Dec. 19'ish.. so maybe I will still get to be pg at Christmas, it would just be too early for me to know it.

Update:
Talked with the nurse. I am not even going to go in for an u/s this time, they are just putting me on the pill for 3 weeks and I will start a new cycle around Dec. 9th or 10th. Jared was scheduled to be in Chicago for training from Dec. 17-20th, but it looks like that trip will have to be cancelled because that is when our IUI will be.

I also asked the nurse about setting up a consult for IVF (Invitro Fertilization) and she said we won't do that until we know if this next cycle works. Jared and I have talked more about IVF since now it looks like it could be a real possibility and we came to the agreement that if this next cycle does not work, we will wait at least 6 months before we go onto IVF. That will give us a little time to try and get pregnant on our own again.

So, that is all I have for now.

Fun in the Leaves

Jen took these pics of Jared and I playing in the leaves. Happy Fall!

cycle update

Well, it's not looking so good for this cycle. I have had some great symptoms goin on, but it is all the meds that I'm on that are tricking me. I am seeing a bit of pink in my CM tonight which is never a good sign.

I just don't understand.. I know it is in God's hands and he has a plan, but why is it so darn hard? I don't know how much more I can keep going on with this stuff. Physically, I know I can do it, but mentally, I am just getting sick of it. I guess I only get 1 more time on our current treatment plan before it's on to IVF. A part of me just wants to do IVF and get it done with because I know that we would most likely get pg with IVF, but sheesh.. I never thought I'd ever have to consider IVF.

Besides losing Abby, this is seriously the hardest thing I have ever had to deal with.

Sorry, I know I sound like I'm losing it, lol.. I'll be ok, I'm just tired.

Alexanders

Today I took some photos of some good friends of ours, Nathan, Angie and their boys Zane and Tate. Jared has known Nathan since they were little boys. Here are just a few. I will get them all posted to my AJKphotos website soon.

Chicago

This past weekend I got to finally meet with some girls that I have known for 2 years, but never met. This great group of girls started chatting online in late Summer of 2005. We all started TTC at the same time and all wound up getting pg very closely to eachother.

I didn't get to meet everyone, but I got to meet 4 of them: Kim, Staci, Laura and Sapphire (and Saph's baby, Karalee).

We had such a wonderful time and it was amazing that we had as strong of a friendship in real life as we do online. I'm so glad that we got to meet and look forward to annual get togethers!!

Here are some pictures of our weekend:

Kim, Laura, Staci, Amy

YUMMY Chicago pizza!

Downtown, infront of "The Bean"

Downtown again. Staci, Amy, Laura, Kim, Sapphire and Karalee

Big Horsey

Well, about another week to go before I can test!