Beach Bummed

Well, July just flew by.

As promised I present you with photographic evidence of my spray tan. It looked great (ignore my mean face). Even coverage, no streaks, and no orange glow. I methodically used the blocker lotion on my hands, feet, knees and elbows as directed... and it was easy. Would definitely do it again, and especially for a unique occasion. For those of you who asked, the tan was via VersaSpa (not Mystic) and I chose the medium tone. I am intrigued to try the dark tone, but a little scared. Maybe on a week I know I don't have to go anywhere just in case.

So, l took my new tan on the road to Hilton Head, SC for our 10 day vacation. Didn't you wonder where I went?

We had a great time, as usual. This is the 6th year we've made the 12 hour drive. Sure, there was bitching and moaning being trapped in the car and dreaming of an exit on I-95 with a Starbucks, but the pain is worth it in the end when we see the sign that takes us to our home away from home.

David was like a boy obsessed this year. For one, he couldn't wait until he got the opportunity to go crabbing off the pier at the resort. He and hubby caught five blue crabs (catch and release), and they were in heaven. I particularly don't get the enjoyment of standing in the sun over a creek with fish smell lingering in the air, but to each is own.

Secondly, after David spent a week trying to make friends at the pool, he met a girl (insert oohs and aahs and curious eye rolling here). Is this when it starts, age 8?? Really? Goodness. Unfortunately, their courtship was short-lived.. she left the next day. However, he had a ball and I got a new friend too... her mother is the same age as myself and through conversation I found that she had her daughter via fertility treatment. We traded war stories, and it was really unexpected.  It was like meeting a mirror image of me, and so glad I got the opportunity to chat with her. Thank goodness for Facebook to stay in touch. Sadly, David is left only with a picture of himself and his new friend-  plotting how he might charter a boat to see his southern sweetie. I am still trying to help him understand that TN is not on the coast. lol.

We spent most of our days poolside, and if you follow me on Twitter, I posted a few pics along the way.

We were almost too lazy to spend time physically ON the beach. Too much preparing and effort. Plus, I admit it, I hate getting sandy.  Hate it.  However, we did take walks and collected seashells.

The thing I love about HHI is the relaxation factor. It's the only place I've vacationed where I feel truly rested.

After all the turbulence this year, I wanted that feeling more than ever. Problem is, once I shut down it's hard to boot back up. We got home on Monday and I've spent the last 48 hours walking into walls and navigating my foggy brain through the day.

The reality of being home was kind of a downer. You all know the feeling. Back to the grind, and to-do lists.

Speaking of  to-do's, I am making a doctor's appointment for myself this week. Been feeling off for the last few weeks and some oddness going on with my fingernails looking weird and my hair falling out in bunches (has been for the last 6 weeks). The hair loss is worrying me.  Really bad.  I am asking for a thyroid panel at my regular doctor when I get in, among other things. Surely, five years of shooting up hormones hasn't affected my endocrine system, right?!? I can only guess the crap my body is going to give to me now after putting it though so much over the years.

For naught of course.  Another post for another day.

So, I am back, sort of. Give me a minute and a latte and I will be ready to rock and roll.

Reality bites

Vacation was heavenly. The weather was fabulous. I had that kind of loosey goosey feeling like after a good massage.

And then we returned to reality. S. got some upsetting news from work regarding his future employment, and I was stuck in e-mail hell at work.  Welcome back.

I was hoping that the vacation feeling would have lasted longer than 12 hours after we arrived back in town... really, is that too much to ask???

Anyway, we did have a great time and I will tell you that the healing benefits of 24-hour pool time is better than anything short of a butler standing next to me handing me an icy-cold drink every 30 minutes.

It was ungodly hot and humid, but I was too relaxed to care. The only decisions I had were where to eat and what bathing suit to put on.

David had the time of his life... he was racing down the water slide and catching crabs in the creek with his Daddy. He built sandcastles, and had fun swimming with his grandparents.

**Dude in blue shirt is not Daddy. A nice bystander helped us pick up the crab for fear it would snap off our fingers. (No we are not expert crabbers by any stretch of the imagination. We basically caught the crab and yelled "HELP!!")

The only downside was I couldn't use my nifty new SLR camera because it couldn't hack the quick transition from cold AC to humid and thick air.

But the point and shoot camera served us just fine. Many memories to hold dear...

Is this the look of happiness or what???

Toes in the Sand

One more day of work. At 5pm today my vacation really arrives, and it can't come soon enough. I just cannot wait to pack up the car and get on the road.

If you follow me on Twitter or FB, I'll be posting pics and tweeting my way across 7 states for the forseeable future.

See y'all on the flip side...

Almost Paradise

How many of you saw the blog post title and thought of the song?

Whoa-oa
ALMOST PARADISE!
We're knocking on heaven's door
ALMOST PARADISE!
How could we ask for more?
I swear that I can see forever in your eyes
Paradise...

Ann Wilson and Mile Reno. That is such a high school flashback. I remember slow dancing with my then boyfriend to that song and my heart nearly beating out of my chest. Plus, it reminded me that my alter teenage ego wanted to be a dance partner to Kevin Bacon in Footloose. What the hell ever happened to Mike Reno anyway? Did he lose the headband? Is he still "working for the weekend"? bwahaha.

I'm off track now, aren't I?

Yes, it's been pretty quiet around here, and I am sorry for that. The summer is still in full swing here in the Northeast. Many of the kids are back in school already in other areas of the U.S., but we just finished up tutoring classes and finally can start having fun.

David is quite happy, but I am realizing more and more that the power to curb boredom and burnout is keeping him busy, and thus far it's not been a problem. Now that he's home with me (while I am working), it is VERY hard to keep him in a schedule.

Most of the days now are like this...

me working in my office for 30 minutes, then tending to him to get him set up with an activity, me working for 30 more minutes, getting him a snack, working, activity, working, outside for 30 minutes, working, cleaning up Play Doh, working, finding him a movie on Disney Channel, working, sorting crayons, working, channel surfing (YES!  I am trying to find Phineas and Ferb! be patient), working,...

you get the idea.

Paradise? ...oh right, where was I?

Soon we leave for an extended vacation in Hilton Head, SC.  I may not come back.  Every year S. and I stop and look at houses while we are down there, and one of these days.....

So, no matter how busy or frantic I am right now, or how many times I have to say "Shhhhuuusssh!" when David interrupts a conference call for work (DAMN, I can NEVER hit that mute button fast enough), I know that there is an end in sight.

Almost there...

On my mind this week...

Oh, it's been awhile since I had one of those "all over the map" posts. This will be one, so be forewarned... I'm still coming off my vacation funk.

I told myself I wouldn't do it, but I am feeling the need to comment on the Jon & Kate thing. Yes, I am guilty of watching the show from last Monday (and past shows), and... ugh... I have so many feelings about it. I've been reading a varied bunch of posts, many that bash Kate and/or Jon, and curiously, many that are starting to come out of the woodwork that grant sympathy to Kate.

Here's my short comment... Making money off the backs of those children (fully knowing that this media frenzy will haunt them f-o-r-e-v-e-r) is wrong. I'm sorry. I don't care if it they are doing it to secure themselves financially. Not good enough. Plenty of people have large families and make it work and aren't television stars. And, don't get me started on the "you should have thought about that in the first place" trail of thought. It gets the infertile part of me all riled up.

Sell your books, use the profits for more teeth bleaching and fake spray-on tans... create a J&K+8 clothing line for all I care.. but take the damn cameras off those kids immediately... if you really care about their health and welfare.

And that's all I have to say about that.

------

David is graduating Kindergarten in less than two weeks! I just can't believe my baby is almost done his first year of school. That just flew by. Next Tuesday, I volunteered as chaperone to his school field trip to the zoo. I just can't wait to ride a school bus with a bunch of 5/6 year olds. The last time I rode on a school bus was to a Frat party back in my college days. aaaah, memories. AHEM... different type of bus trip... entirely.

-------

I am having a really hard time readjusting to work. Honestly, something happened to me on vacation that activated the "procrastination chip" in my head. I sincerely need to get back into the swing. Maybe I really did relax too much. Is that possible?

-------

I am catching up on the gazillion shows I DVR'd while I was gone. Shocked at some of the finales.

-------

And, I just realized that I have to get my list together for David's "official" birthday party (with the family) next Saturday. This time of year, everything just seems to take off and run at breakneck pace.

-------

Lastly, please check out my "last" 23andMe post up over at my review blog...here


...and have a pleasant weekend!

Vacation Recap: Water Between the Toes

It all started low-key enough...

We packed up the car and started our 12 hour road-trip and were happy to make it to Hilton Head Island, SC in record time with no traffic along the god-forsaken interstate that is I-95.

When we arrived, the sun was shining (sort of), but it was already dinnertime so we unpacked, had pizza, and went to sleep dreaming visions of the beach, the pool, and wearing my cute new sandals...

and then we woke up to rain.

and wind.

and COLD!

We figured, oh well, there's always a chance of a couple of duds when it comes to vacation days. We went to the movies wearing the warmest clothes we had and thought little about it (by the way, we saw Star Trek and it was AWESOME!!! highly recommend!)

Then the next day came, and it was pouring rain. And it was hellish windy. The thermometer never reached over 62 degrees that day, but it felt like 40. I rewashed the only pair of jeans we brought (each of us had one pair of jeans and one sweatshirt).

I washed those items for 6 days straight.

It rained every. single. solitary. day ...but one. It wasn't warm, almost hinging on downright COLD.

And on the day it didn't rain, we were in Savannah, GA. Not near the beach or a pool. We rushed back in the afternoon and relished in 3 hours of swim time.

That was it for the WHOLE 9 days.

Three frickin' hours.

We never went to the beach.. not once. We SAW the beach last Tuesday, and it was windy and cold so we left (notice the size of the waves).

We literally sat in the room watching the skies open up over and over, prayed that the "Heat Miser" would go kick Mother Nature's ass and provide warmth. We spent the days going to the movies (later in the week we saw the new "Terminator"... which sucked btw) or shopping in between raindrops. We ate. We slept (a lot). We were vegetables by Sunday when we left.

The locals that live on the island all said the same thing, "Gosh, I've never seen this kind of weather in my life here!"

Mind you, we go to HHI every year, the same week in May. The temperature always in the mid-80's to 90's, and maybe (MAYBE) one day of rain or an afternoon thunderstorm.

This was persistent, driving, cold, rain. On the "warmest" day it was 77.

We literally ran out of things to do. I even reached my shopping limit (made even more challenging since we had a small shopping budget this year due to our personal economic situation). GASP!!!

I don't even have very many pictures to share with you. The weather always made the camera fog up outside, and how many inside pictures can you take (or care to take?)

This is as close to a sunset that we could find.


Desperate, we started doing some touristy sites IN THE RAIN. Specifically, graveyards. Not that we meant it to be a metaphor for our vacation, but somehow we ended up at graveyards everywhere we drove. Most of the civil war era, depressing places made even more lonely and scary with the weather. Check out this headstone. Poor guy's grave is halfway grown into a tree hundreds of years old.


Everything was grey. This is the view of our deck from outside.


The upside to our vacation from hell... we rested. We worried about David not having fun, but that was all ridiculous in the end. He painfully wanted to take a few more runs down the water slide at the pool, but really, he could have cared less that it rained. Six year olds can have fun anywhere (plus, he did get his hands on "extra toys" bought because Mommy and Daddy felt bad for him).
Does this look like a happy kid, or what? (this picture taken in Beaufort, SC... we drove to look for sun that day and got about one hour of it)

I guess it could have been worse (better than being bored at home for sure), but what the hell happened? I bet we will talk about this vacation for years and years to come, because isn't it the bad ones that you end up remembering most?

When we got home to Jersey? Sunny and 83 degrees, I kid you not.

I wistfully put my sandals on the shelf for another (sunny) day.

Drying out

I had intended to post a video highlighting the theme of my vacation, but the 5 minute monstrosity is too darn big. I'm too damn lazy to research hosting it somewhere, unless one of my readers has any suggestions on a quick and easy way to upload it somewhere.

I have so much to say, but I'll refrain until I have time to do justice to probably the most heinous of vacations ever. Seriously, there are not enough words to accurately depict this last 10 days.

I'll give you a one word preview...

RAIN!

Disconnecting

Gone to the Beach...

See you soon!

Boring! I like it.

I have to post about my un-eventful appointment at the RE yesterday.

Primarily, because it was flawless. This is a good thing, because if you've been reading along, you know my cervix is sort of funny, and not in the funny HA-HA kind of way. Funny as in... hard to see, hard to get to...a pain in the ass.

The trial transfer went great. Dr. Nerd (nerdy as always, but very sweet) seems to think that my cycling while on follicle-stimulation meds is what makes my challenging cervix even worse.

The good news is I will not be on stims with the donor cycle (obviously), so perhaps a future transfer will be a non-issue, and just as easy as the test yesterday.

I had a sonohysterography as well. My female parts all lovely and accounted for. I said hello to my lazy ovaries and could care less that they were sleeping soundly. You two are officially off the clock ...for good. Sleep all you want.

Even the blood draw was a breeze. No hunting and pecking for a good vein. Just loveliness and a Dora the Explorer bandage for my trouble.

I even had a good laugh tricking the scale (and the nurse). I hadn't had my weight and BP taken there since last year, so how happy was I when they pre-set the scale with the weight I WAS. Only to have to move that large weight back a space, and the little weight back more and more. Many, many pounds less than they had last recorded, even with jeans and sneakers on. Take THAT you bad, bad scale!

If only every visit went like that.

As I knock on wood, I will hope that this is a harbinger of good news for the next couple of months. But for now, the week is halfway done and the only thing left on my radar for this week is packing my bathing suit and driving south. Escaping from all of the madness and spending some quality time with my boys (the big one and the little one).

Sunshine to cure the soul...

And time marches on

You know what stinks?

I am growing bored with my secondary infertility label. In fact, my lack in speaking about my upcoming donor cycle is directly related to the funk I am in.

I cleaned my Google Reader today. And I am a category lover, so it won't surprise you that of the 250 or so blogs I follow, I have categories so I know what I am looking at.

One of my categories, which was full for years is "SIF/TTC" or "IF/TTC" (Secondary Infertility/Trying to Conceive and Infertility/Trying to Conceive). The joyful part is over the years there's been a complete turnover. About 95% of my bloggy buddies passed through this category in my reader to "SIF/IF PG", "IF/SIF Adopt", "Off the Hamster Wheel For Good" (self-explanatory), or "Friends/Moms".

I have just two blogs left in my SIF/TTC category. One is a newer friend, the other... a blogging buddy who started TTC#2 the same time I did and curiously has had 5 losses as well (what are the odds, friend?).

While I am genuinely happy for all my buds who passed onto the other side (a few after a quest much longer than mine), or chose another path after much consideration, -the fact remains that I am still stuck in the same place.

And I'm still licking my wounds.

And some days I am fine.

And some days I feel like my heart could drop out of my chest because it hurts so bad. I don't want to reach the milestone of 5 years TTC. I just don't.

------------------------------------

Two weeks from today, I will be on vacation, far away from this situation... and honestly, it can't come at a better time. I am just exhausted talking about it. I don't want to talk about it.

So, just as a warning... my posts in the future specifically about what's going on with the DE cycle may be non-existent, or erratic at best.

Right now, everything is fine. The Donor passed my litmus test I talked about here. Donor is getting her Day 3 u/s and labs done while I'm on vacation (we missed the window.. her consult/interview was on Day 6 so we had to wait a whole month... figures). Basically, I should know a lot more after Memorial Day when I get home. Perhaps a June calendar if we are lucky.

I have an appointment next week for another trial transfer, sonohysterogram, and new blood cultures (mine expired from the last time I had them drawn). S.'s bloodwork expired too, so he has to go in for a redraw.

My mammogram is due, and my Pap is due (which means another visit to the place I can't stand).

Reminders that my journey just gets longer and longer.

For now, that is all. We now return you to regular programming.

I am an expert at waiting

I woke up this morning to the same headache I've had for 3 days now. Definitely allergy related. Now I am nursing a sore throat as well due to the post-nasal drippiness. Oh, I hate it when a cup of hot tea doesn't help. It's the pits.

News from my RE yesterday... the donor is scheduled next week for her consult. Pray she doesn't set off any alarm bells. Nurse Vicki likes her a lot, and randomly called me yesterday just to say the donor was excited to get going. This is positive. Let's hope that her Day 3 ultrasound and bloodwork timing works out to my benefit. Worse case scenario, her consult is on Day 5 of her cycle or something, and we have to wait another 4 weeks to run the Day 3 stuff.

Now that I have vacation looming next month, I am starting to want to get out of here really bad. This vacation will be a little odd in that we are trying NOT to spend any money (or as little as we can). Since the vacation is essentially paid for (because it's a timeshare we own) we only have to ante up gas and food.

With S. and my job's hanging precariously by a string, let me tell you... If this vacation was unpaid, we would have surely cancelled it. But knowing we can do this on a small budget, I am happy that we are. The STRESS is so HIGH in the BagMomma house, I can't think of anything but escaping it. Nine days to forget about e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. There hasn't been such a highly anticipated vacation around here for years.

Off to find some more tea.

This and that

Well, one more day of freedom before I am back to work. The time went so, so fast. Even though it didn't turn out as I had hoped, it was a great 4 weeks off.

=========

I giggled and giggled at the SNL skit from Saturday. Did you see it? I just can't fathom the turn of events through this political circus (still trying to actually). If I was Hillary, I'd be in a seriously permanent bitchy mood. I don't like to talk politics on this blog (how many times have you heard me say that?) but let's just say the thought of Palin "one heartbeat away" from the Oval Office scares the ever-lovin' crap out of me. And that's all the political commentary you'll get out of me.

=========

I have my RE consult next Tuesday with Dr. Nerd and Nurse T (they coordinate the donor program). The IVF Nurse called me on Friday to let me know that my file was reviewed, and the consensus was to try another IVF cycle with a slightly tweaked protocol. No, really? I asked her if the subject of donor eggs was spoken, and yes, she said... it is an option... Then she tiptoed into the conversation about it, as if she has been waiting for ME to mention it. I picked up on the bizarre boomerang in the conversation and she confided that it was suggested, but they are instructed to "tread lightly" when approaching the conversation with patients. Apparently, there is a subset of infertility patients that freak the hell out when the subject is brought up. I understand that it is a very rickety bridge, and I also understand that for some it is a deal-breaker of sorts. You know that's not me.

To put Nurse B at ease, I gave her one of my famous analogies... "Pretend I'm a dog, and there's a delicious bone in the corner, but I have to break my leash to get to it. As I pull on the leash you move the bone out of the house, down the street, and throw it into a storm sewer. I break the leash, chew out the door of the house, run down the street, and squeeze my body through the storm sewer opening. I want that bone, and nothing will stand in my way to get it."

==========

The bills have started to roll in from my recent cycle. Those pesky billing clerks pulled a fast one on me. Usually, my RE bills two months in arrears. For instance, I am supposed to just now get my bill for services delivered in July. I thought I wouldn't have to dish up major $$$ until October. But you guessed it, they sent me the bill for retrieval and transfer which I received over the weekend. The biggest one of course, and skipped over all my u/s and blood work charges from July/August. Losers. I'll probably get the other bill today, and can promptly sob on my credit card statements.

==========

David is doing much better with the new routine. He loves his classmates, and is getting really fired up about school. Yesterday was his first soccer game with the Township. Tuesday he starts school soccer. He's just learning the game, but having a lot of fun. It's funny to watch a bunch of five year-olds running on 1/4 of a soccer field. Half of them lunge for the ball, the others kind of run around in circles not sure what to do. Yesterday it was 92 degrees here in Jersey... way too hot to focus. Poor kids guzzled Gatorade in between each break. Hopefully the heat is over for the summer, and some cooler air is around the corner.

Vacation recap, or why I almost never came home

Vacation.

To sum it up in one word.... wonderful.

We had perfect weather... sunny and warm. Lots of excuses to do nothing but sit back and relax. I think this vacation was just the thing I needed to get back on track with life. I took about 400 photos with my new camera, so of course I have to show you them all.... I KID.... no, not about the 400 pictures, but I will show you a few.

This was part of the view from our room:

We had beautiful views of Broad Creek. And the DECK... oh, the deck. The rocking chairs are always the best part. If I wasn't taking this picture, I would be in that very chair with my Corona. And the beach? Magnificent. Perfect for building sandcastles.

David reprised his starring role from last year announcing (sort of) the start of dinner... The Lowcountry Boil. South Carolina style.



We visited Savannah and decided that we want to move there. Really. I've been to Savannah on business before, but this time as a tourist which is so much better. What a beautiful city. We took a trolley tour and ate at a real pirate's den from the 1700's.


David had fun catching fiddler crabs. Was he scared of getting pinched? Of course not.. he's a boy.

And every evening, this was the sunset in full view right outside our door.


This year, we didn't get stuck in an elevator and had to be rescued by the Hilton Head Fire Department. Although that was such a fond 2007 vacation memory.


Yep. we'll be back. Same time, next year.

Road Trip

Good weather forecast for next week at vacation destination? Check.
Relaxing spa service pre-vacation? Check.
Suitcases packed? Almost there.
Ready to disconnect from everything electronic? Heck yeah.

The only thing standing between me and my manicured feet in the sand is 11 hours of driving. Trust me, it's worth it.

See you all on the flip side.

Please be kind, rewind

Thanks to all of you who offered support during my meltdown last week. Yep, it's been like that lately. I think there are times when you just want to hide in bed under the covers all day, and Friday was one of those days.

I am anticipating vacation, trying to tie up loose ends at work, attempting to line up my next cycle... and you know when it rains it pours. Just when I thought I had all my ducks in a row, a slapshot out of left field knocks me down and I am left to start all over again.

For example, yesterday I had to pick up David from school early. He was sick, of the intestinal variety, and he went through his change of clothes in his school cubby. The teacher calls me @ noon yesterday to come pick him up, and adds "it's really bad, I think he needs a bath." Yep, I'm coming. By the time I return, I have 10 minutes until an important work meeting, so I put him into the bath, suds flying and take a conference call while sitting on the (closed) bathroom toilet while David sat in the bath moaning his tummy hurt.

Fifteen minutes into the call, I put myself off of mute to make a comment at the same time David declares "Mommy, I need to potty NOW!!!!"

Oh yes. That was the point I tried to bow off the call gracefully. The remainder of the afternoon was David sitting in the recliner in my office watching DVD's on the portable DVD player. And me, moving all my meetings to today.

I had my RE appointment scheduled for this Friday.. my intent was to talk about the "new" plan before vacation so we could think about things over next week. But I had an epiphany this morning and thought HEY WOULDN'T IT BE NICE TO NOT HAVE TO THINK ABOUT all of this ON VACATION, so I did what any insane infertile would do, I called and rescheduled my consult for when we get back. I just started another cycle anyway, so it was really no rush... hell, we might even wing it and actually try the old-fashioned way this month.

So here I am, with a full day of rescheduled work meetings ahead of me and wash/packing for the trip. David is feeling better and is over his Grandma's today. By bedtime tonight, I plan to be back on track.

And tomorrow? I have a spa day planned. That's right.. something just for me. This time tomorrow I will be in the middle of a mango pedicure and manicure.

Hopefully not thinking of anything but awaiting the beach, the sunsets, and a mighty stiff martini.

Disorganized

I am truly losing my mind.

In two weeks we leave for vacation in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Since it's a beach vacation (and we are driving), packing is a little more complicated since there's just stuff and gear that needs to go with us. And, the car we are driving down in this year is smaller, so S. is limiting my suitcases (he only wants to pack two for 8 days (3 people). The good news is there is a washer/dryer in our suite, but I hate to wash on vacation. And since we are packing light, we won't bring any of the usual stuff (case of water, soda, snacks, paper goods, etc)- we'll be spending our first day shopping at the Piggly Wiggly for groceries.

I have five lists for packing... mine, David's, hubby's, stuff to buy when we get there, and what to have in the car (things to keep David occupied for 12 hours and a cooler for the road).

Then there's work, which has been slowing down a little thankfully... BUT I have to make arrangements and delegate some of my work while I am gone for two weeks. Timely in the fact that my manager and I just reorganized our support team and totally changed how and with whom they work.... once again bad timing but we are limited to making big changes in the "slow" months of the business.... which is now. Sucks to be me.

David's 5th birthday is a week away. We decided to put off the party till June when we get back from vacation. But a party also involves PLANNING which I don't have time for at the moment. Initially we wanted to invite some of his school friends, but then we found out his best friend's party is the SAME DAY, and the invites already went out. So, he cried last night that he can't go to his best friends party... and I just felt bad.

Wait, there's more. I made my consult appointment at the RE, and honestly I am just cringing. I want to go, and I don't want to go. It is just a weird place to be. Wanting to move forward, but scared to do ANYTHING. That's a post for later.

If only the car was packed and we were on our way to vacation today...

All things random...

I found out last week that my hair stylist is moving to Florida. accccckkk! She is a good friend as well. I've known her for nearly 17 years, and it won't be the same without her. Now I have to find a new stylist (I'll probably stay with the same salon), which is a big decision. What to do, what to do.....

I've also been a little silent on something else I've been doing, which is losing weight! So far, I've lost 13 pounds. I figure there are so few things I can CONTROL in my life.. while I've been busy trying to wrap my arms around infertility and adoption I think I found something I can do that is positive and somewhat controllable...

Speaking of infertility... I haven't been talking much about it because I am still in a holding pattern. I need to make a consult appointment with the RE for next steps, but we are not in a rush. Reason being, we have vacation coming up in 4 weeks and I can't do IVF remotely from Hilton Head, SC. lol. So I am taking a little "infertility siesta". I just don't want to think about it right now. I figure we will do the consult before vacation so we can get the insurance and meds out of the way in the meantime. Or whatever we decide to do (or NOT do).

The adoption front.... is moving slow. Truth is we are in a weird spot deciding on an agency. Our country choice (did I mention this before?) is China... but because the waaaiting is draaaawing out so much on a China adoption, we are likely going right to SN (special needs). Still long, but not as insanely long. The question is, go with a China only agency that has a stellar reputation or another agency with other country options? You would think, duh, Shelli go with the latter... but there's some positives and negatives that don't make for an easy answer. So we think and research more and think some more. My goal is to get the wheels moving in the next month.

And lastly, but not leastly (is leastly a word? I think not), I am an Auntie again. My BIL and SIL had a little boy last week. This is my third nephew (first on my husband's side). He is cute as a button. J- I know you are probably far too deep in diapers and doctor appointments to read my blog, but a hearty congratulations (again) to you and C.

Greetings and Salutations!

I had almost decided to title this post "BagMomma's Back Biotch!" because I was so inspired by Britney Spears dramatic performance on the VMA's last night.

Please tell me you saw that washed-up trainwreck.

I happened to pop over just in time while I was also watching Big Brother (take that Evel and Daniele!) and I was completely horrified at the first sight of the back of Britney's head and those REALLY bad hair extensions.

Thank goodness I could then turn off the TV (I'm not into the MTV awards, I just wanted to see the crash and burn).

But anyway, HEY! I am back from a restful vacation. If you call 'restful' walking 10 miles a day in 93 degrees and 100% humidity.

I did get that mojito I wanted, and a few margaritas to boot. It actually was a nice getaway, and I can't tell you how much David LOVED this trip. Sort of like a non-stop sugar high all week. Rides, characters, swimming... he was 24/7 fun and the party member of the BagMomma Bunch.

My company sponsored a "pirate dinner and party" in Epcot and David was HOWLING he had so much fun. We danced and sang and it was THE BEST event I ever went to in my life. Thank you Big Blue.

We had to BUY an extra bag to pack David's souvenirs and bring them home.

Anyway, I am going to do a wrap-up post later about vacation. Unfortunately, today is my first day back to work. I have 620 new e-mails.

That's 77.5 I need to read every hour today.

Glad to be back.

I think.

Leavin' on a jet plane

This time tomorrow I will be arriving in Florida (pending no travel delays).

By noon I plan to be by the pool, and by 6pm dining at one of my favorite restaurants (preferably with a mojito or two).

Here's to getting out of Dodge to focus on the people that I love dearly, and leaving behind negativity (I think I got my emotions out with yesterday's post).

There will be no vacation blogging. Just a week to re-energize.

See you all on the flip side in September.

Vacation: all I ever wanted

So, the BagMomma family is leaving for vacation this Friday to visit the House of the Mouse. Disneyworld.

Florida in the summer, are you clinically insane? ...Yep, I know what you are thinking.

Actually, we do have a timeshare (Disney Vacation Club), but we are paying our way on this trip because it's really cheap.

Cheap? Disney is not cheap. ...Yea, I see you rolling your eyes.

Au contraire, Disney is very cheap over Labor Day weekend. In fact, it's one if the best times (crowd-wise) to go to Disney.

And my company, offered this week package for a ridiculously low price which includes hotel and park tickets.

So we couldn't resist. We are even bringing the Grandparents (my Mom and Dad) to join in the merriment.

We pretty much go every year on the timeshare, but we used our point allotment for our Hilton Head, SC trip back in May... so we are taking a second vacation this year (unusual for us, but damn do I need it).

I'm sure David will have a ball. He's now at the perfect age to grasp the entire Disney-experience.

So if you happen to also be in Mouse territory next week, and you see a bunch of computer looking geeks there, it's the vacation week for the 'Big Blue' employees.

I however, AM NOT bringing my laptop.

no way, no how.

You'll find me with my family screaming like silly children on the Rockin' Rollercoaster. Or drinking the super-size beers at Germany in Epcot.

As my Dad would say, 24 hours of non-stop fun!

David and Daddy, c. 2006