The Adventures of Steph and Dom

2011-09-16T21:51:00.000-07:00

It's been a rough couple of months since my last update. We have been pretty busy. Dom is still working lots of overtime every week and I've been working overtime for the last 3 months of so. I'm really tired and burned out, but I like the money, so I'm going to keep working it. After months and months of talking about it, Dom and I finally joined a gym. We drove around all afternoon on a Sunday because Dom wanted to see all the different gyms and find out how much it would be and whatnot. He finally decided on a gym that isn't too far from our house and along with joining the gym, we decided that we were going to get a personal trainer to help us with our weight loss goals. The gym also has a nutrionist who put together a meal plan for us so that we can lose even more weight and start to eat healthier. I'm prefectly fine with what we are supposed to be eating, but Dom has been struggling a bit, although it is getting better. We are both doing well with our workouts. I totally kick Dom's butt when we are working out with the trainer, it's kinda nice!
I was able to go to Idaho for a long weekend in August and it was a lot of fun. I flew into Boise and mom and Kailee picked me up. Then we had a bbq at D's house. Kai is just about the cutest little girl ever. I love her so much and she is so stinkin cute. She's also incredibly smart, it's amazing! Saturday morning we got up and drove over to Ririe for a Ririe family reunion. It was held at my great grandparents house that my aunt and uncle have recently finished restoring. They have done an AMAZING job on the house and it is just beautiful. It was really nice to be able to see a bunch of my family in Idaho. The last time that I was in Ririe and saw most of those family members was at my grandma's funeral 6 years ago. It was fun to stay up and talk with family and have my uncle Ron's fabulous pancakes on Sunday morning. Uncle Ron makes the absolute BEST pancakes ever! Hopefully I will get to go back to Idaho sometime soon and Dom can come with me. I really miss southeast Idaho, it will always feel like home to me. Mom, Andy, Amber, Austin and I were all flying out of Salt Lake City and so we stopped at Mrs. Cavanaugh's Chocolates before we got to the airport. I have been very good about the chocolate and I actually still have some in my freezer. I've learned that if I put chocolate in my fridge or frrezer I'm less likely to eat it!
Other then that, not much has been going on. I'm still working at home and just found out that I made the cut to stay home for at least another 3 months. Dom has been carpooling with a friend for work so we both wake up early. He gets up and gets ready and I make his breakfast. Then I usually go back to bed. We don't really have a lot going on in the coming weeks either. I've been struggling with some stuff the past week or so and am just throwing myself into work and working out...and hopefully that helps!

My Oh My

2011-07-06T13:16:00.000-07:00

It's crazy how fast things in life change. So I went to Disneyland with Dom's family and it was fun for the most part. I got irritated with his mom, but that isn't anything new. The girls had a lot of fun going on all the crazy rides. Dom was very sad that he didn't get to go and told Serena and Aria we should all go next summer. Serena will be in either China or Italy with Dom's parents, so Dom told Aria we would take just her. I was not a huge fan of going since it was summer and it was way busier then when we usually go during the winter, but we'll see what ends up happening.
Over the last week, our plans to continue with fertility treatments has come to a streaking halt. We are no longer going to be doing 3 more fertility treatments. We aren't pregnant, since it's an impossibilty for us to get pregnant at this time. We are off the baby train for probably about 3 years, then hopefully we will be able to do an IVF cycle that will work, but who knows. So Dom and I are both feeling that we probably won't ever have any kids, and we are both coming to terms with it.
We are just working like crazy, Dom is going to a million doctor appointments, and our puppies continue to be spoiled rotten. It's been almost a year since we've been in our house and time sure has flown! I am going to Idaho for a long weekend in August for a family reunion. I'm very excited to get back to SE Idaho since I haven't been there since Sept 2005. I LOVE Idaho and I'm really excited to get to see my family, grandma's house, the Ririe house, and to go to the cemetary. I told Dom that I will also be stopping at Mrs. Cavanaugh's, which makes me a very happy girl!

Crazy Busy

2011-06-14T10:41:00.000-07:00

Life the last few weeks have been kinda hectic, and it's not gonna slow down anytime soon. Over Memorial Day weekend, Dom went to the Indy 500 with my dad, 4 brothers and 2 brothers-in-law. He wasn't that excited about going, but he ended up having a good time. He has since decided that he is going to go every year and that auto racing is his new sport of choice since it doesn't look like football is going to be coming back this year. (I don't know if he's joking or being serious, and it's kinda scaring me!) While he was gone, D and Kailee came down from Boise and we spent the weekend at Amber's house floating in the pool. Kailee is such a cute little kid and she's so much fun.
We got to hang out with Desi again this past weekend, which is always fun. She and Dom had a couple of tea parties, we took her to see Pirates, and she cracked us up while we watched her play the Kinect. She and Dom also did some fighting with their light sabers, and she got a kick out of him letting her jump on him to wake him up from his nap. Then they kept 'fighting'. Dom called me yesterday to tell me that he finally realized why he was so sore...he got beat up by a 4 year old. It's adorable to see the two of them together, it just makes my heart melt.
This coming weekend, our nieces, Serena and Aria, are coming down from Seattle for a little over 2 weeks. We're excited to see them. We saw Serena last summer since she went on the Europe trip with Joe and spent a couple extra days here, but we haven't seen Aria in 3 1/2 years. Joe and Richard have a lot of activities planned while they are here, one of which is Disneyland. Joe asked Dom and I to come along, but Dom doesn't have anymore vacation time available, so just I'm going with them. I'm pretty excited about it cause I know I'll be spending a lot of time with Serena, Aria and Celine since Joe and Richard don't like the roller coaster rides. Plus I can run around with the girls if Joe and Richard need a break.
In 2 weeks my brother Rob and his wife Allison are coming to town for Allison's Dirty 30. I'm very excited to see them since I don't get to see them often enough. We get to stay at a resort here in town so it should be lots of fun.
Then it's 4th of July and the month of birthday's begins. We have 8 birthday's in July, it's crazy! David is the 4th; mom is the 7th; Benjamin, Randall and Pierre are all the 15th; Dom is the 19th; Amber is the 24th; and Andy is the 26th. I think even if we weren't doing fertility treatments, I would always try to plan on NOT having a kid in July.
We will be starting the 1st of our final 3 fertility treatments in July, so hopefully one of them works!

The fun never stops...

2011-05-16T16:52:00.000-07:00

Dom cracks me up! Dom always likes to go bowling...and I suck at it! I think he likes to go because he knows that he can beat me. So we took Desi bowling on Saturday because there is a cheap bowling alley close to our house. I did really well for me the first game...I got my highest score ever of 112 AND I beat Dom. Which is a first...and will probably never happen again. Then everything crashed during the second game...I bowled a 68...and Dom bowled a 164. Desi even beat me, and she's only 4! Dom and I have often said that we should join a bowling league...but I don't want to until I'm a little better. I think instead we are just going to go bowling a few times a month. The alley by our house has really good summer specials so it's cheaper then us going to a movie!

Dom and Desi

2011-05-11T08:09:00.000-07:00

So Dom and I had most of last week off since he has vacation time to burn. Desi came over on Thursday night and Dom planned for it to be a Star Wars night since Desi wanted to watch the movies with him. I have always refused to watch Star Wars but Desi asked me to watch with her, and I can't say no...so I've finally watched them. While we were watching, Desi crawled up on Dom's lap and told him that he's her favorite friend. It was so cute! We went bowling on Friday and it was hilarious that Desi wanted to bowl just like Dom. Dom seriously throws the ball down the lane, so Desi kept trying to throw the ball, so funny! Desi is coming over again on Friday and she's excited because the Justin Bieber movie comes out and Dom promised to buy it for her since he refused to go see it with her in the theater. He is all into it! It's hilarious becuase he's trying to make it something special for her. He is so adorable with her, I love it!

The Little Things

2011-04-28T11:13:00.000-07:00

So yesterday Desi called me. I love that little girl. It's only the second time I've gotten to talk to her since she went up to Utah. She used to get so sidetracked when she was on the phone, and now she doesn't stop talking! After I got off the phone with her, I called Dom to tell him that I got to talk to the little one. He was incredibly jealous. When he got home last night he told me it wasn't fair that she calls me and not him, but it's not my fault. He misses her like crazy. She's going to come spend the weekend with us in 3 weeks and Dom can't wait.

So...I married a vampire...

2011-04-20T19:44:00.000-07:00

Dom has always liked the dark...he hates having lights on and he's always wanted to have our room super dark. I think that it's because he spends all day outside in the bright sun. I like light and I like to have them on. Ever since we got our house, Dom has wanted to get blackout curtains for our room so it would be nice and dark. I've been wanting to get blinds for our sliding door just because there was nothing there. A few weeks ago, Dom started talking about how he wanted to get blinds and curtains soon before it started getting to hot. I started looking for curtains and found some really pretty chocolate brown ones that are supposed to help keep the heat out as well. Since we are in AZ and it's crazy hot, I figured that would be good. We also went and got blinds for our sliding door. We were looking at all the different blinds at Home Depot and they were all room darkening ones. Dom was so excited! We got home and I installed the blinds, not the easiest thing to do, but it got done. Then last weekend I went and got a curtain rod so that we could put up the curtains in our room. My house is now super dark! Dom is so happy about it. It is nice that Dom actually sleeps in on the weekends now, but still. I'll walk out of the office during the middle of the day and it's still pretty dark in the house. Dom now wants to replace all the vertical blinds that were already up with room darkening ones...I'd rather put in wood blinds, but Dom will probably win. I've always teased Dom that he was a vampire, but now I'm even more convinced about it!

It's gettin hot in here...

2011-04-01T09:33:00.000-07:00

Summer is upon us in AZ. It's starting to get HOT! I hate the summer, I don't do well with heat. At least this summer I'm not going to be looking at houses that are blistering hot...so that's nice! Dom has started complaining about it being hot in the house, we haven't had the AC on in a long time and it was set a little high, we've just been turning the fans on to cool the rooms down. I ordered some blackout curtains for our room that are supposed to help keep the heat out, we'll see if they work. I'm very excited about getting them because then maybe I'll be able to figure out how to decorate my room. Now I just need to convince Dom to let me change the door knobs and handles on the kitchen cupboards! Dom and I just had our 6 year wedding anniversary. I can't believe we've been married for 6 years, it seems like it was just yesterday. He spoiled me, of course, and bought me a treadmill. I've been wanting one for a while. We used to walk when he got home from work, but then we ended up not eating until about 8:30 or 9, which isn't good. Plus with it getting hot, it makes me not want to be outside to walk. So now I walk when I'm done with work and then I make dinner. It's rather nice! I got Dom a Nintendo DS and a couple of games, and I'm trading his xbox in for a new one since his is broken. He has a bunch of games that he hasn't been able to play and he's looking forward to playing them. Dom is taking some time off the week of my birthday, and we need a vacation, so I'm trying to figure out where we are going to go. No clue yet, but I'm sure that I'll soon figure it out!

Decisions

2011-03-14T07:36:00.000-07:00

So I was thinking about it this weekend and I just don't know how much more stress that infertility brings I can take. We are taking a 3 month break, and then we are going to try 3 more times. I can't bring myself to keep trying if after 6 procedures nothing has happened. Once we hit our 6th procedure, our chances of getting pregnant never increase anyways. So if we aren't pregnant by August, we're going to move onto something else, I just don't know what yet. Hopefully we won't have to move onto anything else, but who knows what will happen.

2011-03-10T05:49:00.000-08:00

Once again, not pregnant. I haven't cried yet, but I doubt I will. I was expecting it because really, what else would the result be? We're taking a 3 month break from treatment because we are traveling at Christmas and I don't want to be in my 3rd trimester. So yea, kinda just numb right now and feeling down about the whole thing.

Boy oh Boy

2011-02-24T18:32:00.001-08:00

So this month we moved to a new fertility treatment plan. Since I wasn't responding to just the hormone pills very well, my doctor decided to add injectable hormones to the mix and hope that would work. Because we are doing higher levels of hormones, I had to have an early ultrasound to make sure that I didn't have any cysts. That ultrasound came out clear, but the nurse did ask me how I felt about twins, I said twins would be great because then I'd be done having kids. Then she asked me about triplets...Triplets scare me! I think that I'd be okay with 2, but 3 is just too many, thankfully our chance or triplets is only like 6%. Since I checked out cyst free, I got to give myself 3 hormone shots. The needles are tiny, but they hurt!
I went into the Dr. office last Friday for an ultrasound to see how I was responding to the injectable hormones. Thankfully I responded a little better then on just the hormone pills. Instead of my normal 1 follicle, I had 3 that were growing nicely. They weren't that close to being big enough, but since we did an extra ultrasound last month, we knew how fast my follicles are growing. The nurse told me that I could trigger on Monday and catch 1 egg, or wait till Tuesday and hopefully catch all 3. So we decided that we were going to wait the extra day because 3 chances is better then 1, but she did make sure to ask me if I was okay with triplets.
I had the IUI done today and now I"m super crampy, more so then the past 2 months. When the doctor was leaving, he said to prepare myself for the possiblity of twins. He said that it's normally a 20% chance of twins with injectables, but since I have a family history or twins and I had 3 follicles, I have a 35% chance of twins. Now it's just time to sit back and wait for the next 2 weeks to find out if it worked or if we are taking a 3 month break. I really hope it works cause I'm so ready to be pregnant, AND I really want to have a baby this year!

Aside from baby stuff, Dom and I both have strep throat, and it's kicking my butt! He's responding really well to the anti-biotics, but I still feel pretty bad. I even missed 2 days of work this week which sucks cause I work from home, but Tuesday I couldn't even get out of bed and then yesterday and today I kept getting dizzy all day long. Hopefully I'll be able to work tomorrow. And hopefully I'll be feeling well enough to go on a date with Dom this weekend! We got to take Desi to the Renasaince Fair last Saturday and it was a lot of fun, until it started raining. But we did find pirate duckies for the pirate bathriim!

The little things

2011-02-09T16:40:00.000-08:00

So about a week and a half ago, Marina asked if Dom and I could watch Desi for her. We love Desi to pieces and will take any chance we can to watch her. The plan was for her to spend the night and then just hang out around the house the next day while I worked. Last week, Dom called me one morening and asked what day Desi was going to be at our house, I told him and he informed me that he was going to take the day off so that he could spend the whole day with her. Then he kept telling me that I needed to take the day off so the 3 of us could spend it together. I haven't been wanting to take time off for anything so that I have time to use when/if we have a baby, but I gave in and said I would spend then day with them. Monday night when I picked Desi up, she informed me that she needed a baby at my house, and her baby needed to be a big dog. Dom has been wanting a big dog for a while. (He says it's so he can run with the dog, but it's really his way of dealing with not having a baby.) I don't really want another dog because I don't think Daisy and Patton would handle it well.
We took the puppies to the park on Tuesday morning and then we went to the pet store to get Desi her baby. She and Dom agreed to get a hamster or gerbil because they are easier to care for then another dog. Desi had a hard time deciding which hamster to get, but she ended up picking a Winter White Russian Dwarf Hamster who she decided to name Rocky. She picked out a fun cage for Rocky and then we made our way home. She was so excited about having a baby. She held Rocky the whole way home and wanted to put her in her ball as soon as we got home. Once Rocky was in her ball, Desi followed her around the house and made sure that the puppies didn't hit the ball and that Rocky didn't get stuck. We went out to do some grocery shopping and as soon as we got back, Desi ran inside and said she had to check on her baby. She did the same thing when she woke up from her nap. It was very cute. Dom and I can't wait till we get to do all the fun things we do with Desi with our own kids.

In baby news, we are starting another cycle this week. We are moving onto injections this month, which ups our chance of having multiples, but if I have twins, I'm done for good. I have to go in on Friday for an ultrasound to make sure that I don't have any cycts, and if I'm good to go, I'll start the hormone pills. I'm not sure what days I have to do the injections, but I'm really hoping I react well. Dom and I are beyond ready for me to be pregnant. I really need to find something to keep myself occupied this month so that I don't get my hopes up so much. I'm going to try and not think about it and analyze every little thing, I just don't know how well that will work!

Results are...

2011-02-06T08:28:00.000-08:00

NOT pregnant. I'm not a happy camper.

And so it goes...

2011-02-01T16:03:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure how I'm feeling about this cycle. Last month I started getting queasy the day after starting the progesterone, this month I didn't start getting queasy until yesterday, which I'm totally cool with. But I was crampy all last weekend...and I haven't been able to sleep through the night since last Thursday...I wake up about 3 or 3:30 because I have to pee and then I can't go back to sleep, I just kinda drift in and out of sleep. I'm super exhausted and feel like I could sleep all day, I just can't sleep at night. I also can't sleep on my side like I normally do because then I feel sick...and everytime Dom flips around in the night and shakes the bed I feel sick. I am always super hungry and thirsty, but I'm totally craving apples and salad. Plus I'm peeing every 2-3 hours which sucks. I've been getting headaches too, which is really uncommon for me. I'm totally over-analyzing every little thing and driving myself crazy...so hopefully I don't get disappointed on Sunday...or Saturday if I can convince Dom to give me my test (he hid them!)

On a non-baby note, Dom told me that he wants to go on a vacation since our last vacation with just the 2 of us was Paris in Feb 09. I'd say it's about time for a vacation, but I don't know if it's gonna work. He got sick earlier this month and ended up using 3 days of vacation. He also has 5 days planned in December and 2 in May, which only leaves him with 3 or 4 days which I want him to use when/if we have a baby. He has 8 float days available, but he can only use 3 in a row...so we are running into issues. I might have him switch some of the vacation days he already has scheduled to float days, but we'll see what happens. If we don't get pregnant this month or next, we won't need to worry about it, but I'm trying to be positive about being pregnant. Also, I don't know where to go on vacation. Dom wants to go to Hawaii, but plane tickets are so expensive. Plane tickets anywhere are expensive and so I've been thinking about going somewhere we can drive. I was thinking it'd be really fun to go to Colorado since I haven't been there since I was a kid and he's never been there, but he doesn't seem too excited about it. I just want to go someplace out of the way so that we can just chill and relax, but who knows what will happen...

And now we wait...

2011-01-25T17:26:00.001-08:00

So I gave myself my trigger shot on Friday at 8:30 pm and went into the Dr for our IUI at 10:30 am on Sunday. Everything went good and it was super fast. I came home afterwards and laid down because I was already starting to cramp up. I was expecting cramping considering I had an incredible amount of cramping last month. I had to start progesterone last night and now we wait for 2 weeks to find out if this is the month we get lucky.

And now...

2011-01-19T19:43:00.000-08:00

Went back to the doc today...I get to give myself a shot on Friday night! I'll only have 1 egg this month, but I'm totally fine with that! We have our IUI on Sunday morning, which is nice because that means that Dom can come with me. It also means that I will be spending the rest of the day in bed because I'll be cramping like crazy, but whatever...sometimes this is what you have to do to get a baby. I would laugh if this is the month we get preggo because this is probably the only month that Dom will be able to come to all my appointments. Fingers crossed for Sunday!

Boo

2011-01-16T11:02:00.000-08:00

So I just went in for my follicle check to see when I'll be ready to give myself a shot. Apparently I didn't respond very well to the hormones this month. I only have 2 follicles, one is 12mm and one is 10.5mm. They need to be at least 20mm before I give myself the trigger shot. Since they are still small, I'm going in on Wednesday afternoon for another check to see how they are growing. Hopefully they are bigger and I can give myself the shot and then have my IUI next weekend, which means Dom would be able to come with me. If they still aren't very big, I don't know what they are gonna do.

I did find out some good news though. Since we changed insurance companies, they had to verify my benefits. I knew that I had a $2000 plan max for infertility, which I had assumed meant IUI and IVF. I was informed today that it is only IVF, I have unlimited IUI's! I still have to pay the specialist co-pay, which is $30, but it's nice to know that I have unlimited IUI's, cause thinking that we only had $2000 a year meant that we only got 4 tries a year without having to pay anything extra. Dom said that since we get unlimited tries, we should just try every month until we get pregnant, but we'll see because after attempt #6, our chances never go above 50%.

And so it starts...

2011-01-09T20:09:00.000-08:00

So I had to start taking my hormones today to prepare my body to get pregnant. Let's hope that it works. If we don't get pregnant this cycle, my doctor wants to move to injectables next month, which is a month before we planned, but hopefully we won't have to and this will be our month! If we aren't pregnant after next month, we are going to take a 3 month break so that we can de-stress!

The results are in...

2011-01-05T14:06:00.000-08:00

Today was testing day! I didn't sleep well last night (I had figured I wouldn't). Dominic woke me up at 5 when he got up and he went and got my box of prenancy tests (he hid them from me so I wouldn't take any early). I waited the required 3 minutes and found out that we aren't pregnant. I had kinda expected we wouldn't be as we only had a 14% chance of it working on the first try. Now we just have to wait for my cycle to start so that I can go back on the hormone pills and we can start all over again. I am rather excited to have a week without extra hormones coursing through me. I didn't get mean, but all the extra hormones make me queasy and tired, which I don't like. We are going to try the same treatment this month and we now have a 25% chance of getting pregnant. If my follicles aren't where the docs want them to be this month, we are moving to injections next month, provided I don't get pregnant.

So I've been doing a lot of reading about PCOS and trying to figure out what it is and what all it means and so forth. When I saw my doctor last week, he went over all my lab results which helped to explain part of why we've not been able to get pregnant. Two of my main hormone levels are backwards. My body also doesn't break down insulin, which causes fertility issues and puts me at an increased risk of getting adult onset diabetes...which I've been told since I was a teenager I would probably have, so no surprise there.

I wish that more doctors knew about PCOS. I've always had an irregular cycle and when I was a teenager and in my early 20's, the solution I was always given was to go on birth control to regulate my cycle, no one ever wanted to run tests to find out what the problem might be. It wasn't until we had been trying to have a baby for over 2 years before we even had any tests run to see what the problem might be, and even then, my doctor said that I didn't have PCOS, but they couldn't give me an answer as to what was going on. It wasn't until we started seeing a specialist that we got any answers. There would have been a lot less heartache and doubt had I found out when I was a lot younger that I would have an issue having kids someday.

Infertility is such a wide spread issue these days. Women are told to be so careful when they are pregnant, but it used to not be that way. Women were given all kinds of medications while they were pregnant that we now know contrbute to all kinds of health and medical problems. I wish that more insurance companies and employers would add more to their insurance plans to help with infertility. We're lucky that our insurance will pay for $2000 per year, but they will only cover hormone pills, absolutely no injections, because according to the insurance company, pills are all you need, injectables are elective. I can kinda see the point of that, but at the same time, our chances of getting pregnant are much better on injectables then on pills. Also, $2000 doesn't cover much. I'm trying to find out right now what all is considered Advanced Reproductive Technologies (ART). What is considered ART greatly affects how many tries we get each year. We can't afford to pay for very much out of pocket because I'm already paying for a number of things out of pocket...so we only get as many tries as insurance allows.

Infertility is very frustrating and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I'm doing my best to handle it all and I am lucky to have a great support system, but I know that isn't the case for everyone, which is sad.

Update

2011-01-03T16:35:00.000-08:00

So apparently I got really lazy about updating my blog...I'm going to try and be better about it, but I don't promise anything!
Dominic graduated in November and it was very exciting! I of course cried like a little baby because I am so proud of him. He actually cried afterwards when he saw me and I was crying and told him I was proud of him, but he'll never admit it. Now he is considering getting his Masters since none of the criminal justice agencies are hiring. He's taking a little break, but I wouldn't be surprised if he starts soon. Dominic wanted to go to Disneyland for graduation, and he wanted to take the adorable Miss Desi with us. We had a lot of fun! Dominic will do anything for that little girl, including stand in line to see all the princesses (and take pictures with them!)
We were told about 2 years ago that we wouldn't be able to have kids, and we've been trying to figure out what to do ever since. We kept going back and forth between infertility treatment and adoption. We were pretty set on adoption when Dom changed his mind after finding out that we would most likely have an open adoption. He wasn't very comfortable with that, so we went and got all our tests done and started seeing a reproductive endocrinologist at the end of November. The RE mapped out a plan for us that is going to be most economical. My insurance covers a little bit of the cost, but not much. I was diagnosed with PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome), which means I don't ovulate correctly, which has been one of our major issues. PCOS has also caused a number of my hormones to be out of whack, so we are working to correct that. I started taking hormones while at Disneyland so that I would be ready to get knocked up! After we got back, I had to go in for an ultrasound to make sure that my body reacted correcly to the hormones, and thankfully it had. I then had to give myself a shot to trigger ovulation so that we could do an IUI (intra-uterine insemination). I was very proud of myself for giving myself the shot as I HATE needles and don't do very well with shots. We went in for the IUI 1 1/2 days after I gave myself the shot. That was December 22nd and so now we are just waiting to find out if it worked or if we are going to have to try again. It's frustrating because I am still on hormones, just in case it did work, and they make me not feel very well and give me all the early pregnancy symptoms. I think that I've been very good about not getting my hopes up, while still remaining positive.
We are both very excited to become parents and can't wait for it to happen. We would love for it to happen now, but considering nothing else in life is easy, we don't expect this to be either. I'm going to try and keep my blog updated with what is going on, but I'm not making any promises.

It's been awhile...

2010-08-18T20:57:00.001-07:00

So it's been awhile since I last posted. We've moved into our house and we LOVE it! We have the inside of the house unpacked, but the garage is still full of stuff that needs to be put away. We both have the first couple days of September off and so we are dedicating those days to getting the garage done so we can be 100% in the house...and then I'll need to decorate...and I have no clue how to do any of the rooms other then the bathrooms. The puppies have finally adjusted to being in the house. They don't bark as much, but they no longer sleep in the bed with us, now they sleep on the couch or recliner.
My little brother drove out here from Texas this past weekend and so I don't have to go to get my china hutch from my mom cause he brought it out for me. I'm way excited to get all the china unpacked and put away cause I love it. It was my grandmother's and is super old and delicate and soooo pretty. Plus, I am excited to have something of my grandmother's in my house.
I have been very proud of myself since moving into our house. I've made the bed everyday...I've kept the house clean...I haven't let the laundry pile up...and I've cooked dinner everynight but once, and except for our date night. My whole life I've been saying that once I had a house of my own I'd keep it clean, and no one believed me. I've been telling Dom for the past few months that I would keep the house clean and that I'd be making dinner every night...and he always laughed at me...and now he's amazed cause I actually have dinner ready when he gets home. He's been working A LOT. The past 3 weeks he's worked over 15 hours of OT...and there have been some nights where he hasn't gotten home until after 8 PM. It's been crazy but the OT is totally helping.
Dominic has 1 class left before he is a college graduate. He also has a week and a half of vacation time he has to use before the end of the year. There wasn't a lot of days available to take vacation, so we are doing what we can with it. He is taking Sept 2-3 off and then he has a day off in October so we can go to the state fair. One of his friends at work is going on a cruise with his wife in December, and Dom has been wanting to go on a cruise for years. I told him I would take him somewhere for his graduation present, and he decided on a cruise! I've been looking at cruises and today we found out from our realtor that we get a free vacation...one of the vacation packages we could choose from was a 2 for 1 cruise...so we decided to do that so that we only have to pay for 1 of us to go on the cruise. I'm now way excited cause that means I'll have a little bit of money to go shopping with! I can't wait to have some vacation time with Dom so that we can relax!

YAY!!!

2010-07-22T13:35:00.000-07:00

It finally happened! Dominic and I are homeowners! Now scary real life begins...So yea, we signed the papers last week and we were supposed to close and get the keys on Monday. Dominic packed up all our stuff on Sunday since I was going to have to move by myself on Monday/Tuesday...and I mean he packed EVERYTHING! The only shoes I have are flip flops cause I was wearing them. Monday morning I went and picked up a uhaul to make it easier...and then I waited and waited to get the call that I could get the keys...it didn't come. The lender said they would send the prior to funding conditions by 3...they didn't send them till Tuesday. So we unload the uhaul and take it back...and I sit around and wait all day Tuesday to get the keys. Around noon on Tuesday, we find out that the lender has issued the wire transfer and everything has been sent to the title company...around 4 we find out that everything has been recorded and it's our house, we're homeowners...we still didn't have the keys cause the seller wouldn't give them to us until the funds were in their bank account...so that was another day wasted. Wednesday morning I wake up feeling like crap because Dom packed my meds and so I hadn't been able to take any. I decide I'm going to start work late and at 7:54 AM, I get a text telling me that I can finally have the keys. So I leave the house to go and meet the seller and then go onto the house so that I can turn the power on and turn on the air since we were planning on moving stuff over. After working the rest of the day, Dom and I took 3 loads of stuff over to the house. And we also took the puppies who loved it! They ran all over the place and sniffed everything. They didn't want to come back inside after we showed them the backyard! The funniest thing was when Daisy ran into the closet door. The master closet has the mirrored sliding doors (which I'm getting rid of). The door was open and Patton ran into the closet and Daisy went right into the door. She fell over and was stunned for a minute, but she's fine now. I'm just such a bad mom that I couldn 't stop laughing! Dom and I are going to take a few more loads over tonight and then tomorrow we are going to do some unpacking. Then bright and early Saturday morning, a whole bunch of guys are coming over to help Dom move all the stuff out of the storage unit. Marina and I get to stay at the house and unpack because I have to wait for the DirectTV guy to come...oh darn, I don't get to be out in the heat. Hopefully the move goes smoothly and it doesn't take too long to unpack...but I have the feeling it's going to take forever!

Cookies!!

2010-07-13T11:07:00.000-07:00

Baking always seems to calm me down. I don't know what it is, but I love to bake. I started baking when I was like 7 and I used to hate making cookies. I always thought they took forever to make and it just wasn't worth the effort, so I always made brownies instead. Now I LOVE making cookies. It seems like every Friday night, Dom wants cookies, so I usually end up making them...and usually I have Desi around to help. Lately I've been making cookies more often then Friday nights...but that's okay. I don't usually eat many of them, but I sure like to make them. Because I love to bake, people have always told me I should open a bakery, but then I don't think I would like it that much, I'd get sick of it and never want to do it.

On the house front, things are looking like we might actually close. As the last closing date came and went, the lender said they wouldn't fund the loan because the house had never been listed anywhere...and so it wasn't eligible for a government loan. So needless to say we had to sign a new contract after the house was listed on the market. It sure has been a pain in the butt trying to buy a house, but I got an email yesterday saying that the papers are going to be at the title company tomorrow, so until then, I'm a nervous wreck! Once I hear that the papers are at the title company, I'll be good cause the lender won't send them if they won't fund the loan. So hopefully we'll be signing on Thursday and moving on Saturday. Dom was a little upset that he isn't getting his normal b-day present, but he needs to get over it. His birthday is on Monday and I usually take him to a resort in Scottsdale for his b-day weekend, but this year he's getting a house, and I think that's an even better present!

Dom has been incredibly cute lately. Monkey (Desi) has been hanging out with us a lot and he has so much fun with her. He takes her swimming every chance he gets. He loves having her around and she has him wrapped around her little finger. Every time he calls me, Monkey runs over and steals the phone from me to talk to him and she won't give it back till he has to get off the phone. Yesterday she talked to him for about 45 minutes while he drove home. He always gets frustrated with me because I always want to buy stuff for her, like last weekend we got her a bike to have at our house...he says it's her b-day present, but I've already got her something else and I'm pretty sure that he'll get her something else too. When they were swimming on Saturday, he told her if she jumped into the deep end of the pool, he would buy her a Justin Bieber poster, and so of course she did. Yesterday when he was talking to her on his way home, she asked if she could have a surprise, and of course he said yes...so he came home with a bunch of stuff for her. And he told her that once we move into our house, he'll get her some Justin Bieber posters to hang up in the guest room whenever she's over at our house. I love watching him with her because he is so cute and I just know that he's going to be a great dad someday!

YAY!!!

2010-06-08T12:38:00.000-07:00

I get to meet Kailee this weekend! I'm so excited that I finally get to meet the newest little Loosli....cause you can't get much better then being a Loosli. She's going to be 6 months old next week and I can't believe I haven't met her yet, but I finally will. I'm flying up to Boise on Friday morning and then flying back home on Sunday night. So it's just a quick trip, but it will be fun!

Will the day ever come??

2010-06-04T15:23:00.000-07:00

So we still haven't closed on our house. Some things came up as the paperwork was getting ready to send to the title company...so needless to say, we are still waiting. Thankfully the sellers gave us another extention, but I think it'll be the last one cause they are just as frustrated as we are about the house not closing. Our new closing date is June 22. We'll see if we actually get to close on time.
Richard and Joe left for Europe this week with Celine and our niece Serena. I'm sure they are having a blast, but while they are gone, Benjamin is having the house redone. We moved all the furniture out of the house on Monday, Tuesday we ripped out the carpet and I got to play with a jack hammer to get tile up. It was a lot of fun and a great stress reliever! Wednesday we had to use a blade on the jack hammer to get all the tile glue up...and the house has been dusty as anything. It was pretty bad on Tuesday, but even worse on Wednesday. The dust has been settling and then Benjamin has been vacuuming it up which just kicks it up more. I swear the dust is everywhere! It got inside the closed cupboard and everything. I've been keeping my door closed but the dust still managed to get into my room through the air conditioner. Finally today there isn't much dust in the air. Yesterday the painters came to paint the downstairs, so it smelled like paint all day. On Monday the tile guys are coming and they should be done by Wednesday afternoon and then we get to move all the furniture back into the house and unpack and clean. Hopefully soon after that, we will be moving all of our own stuff into our own house...

Some News

2010-05-17T09:30:00.000-07:00

So Dom and I have been doing a lot of thinking about the options available to us to have a kid. I've always been all for going to a fertility doctor and doing whatever we had to in order to have a kid...but Dom has always been a bit hesitant about that course. About a month and a half ago, he told me that we should just adopt so that we don't spend everything we've been saving on fertility treatments and then if they don't work, we wouldn't have anything left to use towards adoption. I wasn't very happy about that because I've always wanted to be pregnant...but I started thinking about it and I decided that if we can't have a kid that is both of ours, I'd rather adopt a baby that needs all the love and attention and care that we can give it. So, needless to say, Dominic and I are starting the adoption process. I'm actually really excited about it. I'm just starting to research adoption agencies and I want to have our agenct picked out in about a month. I am planning on having all the home visits completed towards the ends of the summer so that we can start waiting for our baby. We are really open to the child we get. As much as I would love a newborn, I'm okay with a child that isn't a newborn, or even a toddler. I know that the older the child is, the more difficult it can be, but Dom and I are willing to put in the work and we are excited about all the possibilites. We are also okay with either a boy or a girl and race doesn't matter in the least. We both get adoption reimbursement from work and so once we get that and have had our child for a while, we are going to work on adopting a second child so that we can have our 2 kids. We've even been playing around with the idea becoming foster parents while we are working on adopting a child and probably even beyond that. Dom is of course scared that with adopting a child, they will someday want to find their birth parents, and I keep telling him that is a possibility, but that no matter what, we'll support our kids and help them in anyway that we can. I think that he is most nervous that no one will pick us, which scares me too, but I know there is a kid out there just waiting for us to be their mommy and daddy.

GRRRR!!!

2010-04-27T16:00:00.000-07:00

There has been good and bad news lately. The house appraised above our offer, and the inspection came in fine, and the sellers ended up replacing the carpet in the house. However, we were supposed to close yesterday and we didn't. Apparently, the sellers are idiots and they went under contract with us before they were the owners of record on the house. The didn't close until a week and a half after they accepted our offer...so now our closing has been pushed back and we don't know till when, but it's supposed to be before May 15th...now let's just hope that we do get to close! I'm so sick of this waiting game, it's such a pain!

On a bright, non-housing issue note, Dominic found out this morning that the pay teirs have been changed at his work and he's going to get a $.25 raise. The base has also been doing so good that he's getting a $500 bonus. If for some reason he's already within the new pay range, he get's $1000 instead of the $.25 raise...or maybe it's just an extra $500 so that with the bonus it's a $1000...but either way, I'm okay with it cause it will completely help out with getting a house right now. We're supposed to find out later this week what he'll be getting.

All this housing crap is totally putting a damper on my excitement about my birthday. Dom and I were going to take Desei camping this weekend, and after finding out all this crap about the house, I just don't feel like it. Now we might take Desi to Vegas, but who knows, we might just stay in town. I'd really like to go to Disneyland since it's the happiest place on earth, but that's too expensive, so I'm not even going to tell Dom that's what I want to do. Oh well...

Update

2010-04-09T17:50:00.000-07:00

Most of my blogs lately have been about trying to buy our house because it seems like that is all we are doing, but I promise it isn't! Dominic and I got to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary on March 25th. We had decided that we weren't going to buy anything for each other since we were supposed to be closing on a house the next day. Of course Dom didn't listen and he bought be a pair of diamond hoops, they are beautiful and I love them. We went out to dinner on our anniversary and then we went on a date again that weekend. We have been really good about making sure we go out every week and we usually end up going out twice a week.

Work is going well for both of us. Dom is working like crazy, as always. He leaves at 5:45 AM and he usually gets home about 7 PM. I don't like having him gone for so long, but I know it won't be much longer till he is done with school and hopefully he'll be able to get a job with ATF or at one of the prisons in Florence. I'm still working from home. I just had my review today and I got a bigger raise then what I expected. My numbers at work are slowly improving, so hopefully I'll be able to keep improving on them so that I can stay at home. My work has been backed up and so we've been back and forth between voluntary OT and mandatory OT. I've been doing some of the voluntary OT, but not as much as I've wanted to because I've been so sick, but I know that every little bit helps.

We were planning a camping trip for my birthday this year. We usually only get to go for 2 days but we were planning a 5 day trip...however, we are under contract on our 3rd house in the last 6 weeks and we are set to close on April 26th, which means my birthday weekend would be spent moving...so camping got cancelled. I'm perfectly fine with moving for my b-day instead of camping, I'm just not getting my hopes up that this house is going to work out. It would be nice if it did, but who knows what will happen. This house is about 5 minutes down the road from where we are now, which would mean Dom wouldn't really have any extra commute time and I wouldn't have to find all new doctors or anything cause I like all the doctors I see. It would be really nice if this house went through because if it does, we would get the first time home buyer credit and if we get that money, it is all being used for the fertility doctor. I would love to end the year pregnant, but we will just have to wait and see what happens. Even if we don't get that money, we are still going to go to the doc, it'll just be a longer process as I'll have to save the money as we go....but who knows what is in store for us.

Our puppies are still good. We took them in to get shaved this week because they were starting to get too hairy. They look so cute when they are shaved...I love it! Plus they tend to not stink so much. Patton is so low to the ground that any amount of hair gets all nasty everytime she goes for a walk, Daisy doesn't get near as dirty as Patton, but Daisy also tends to avoid any puddles or wet grass while Patton runs right to puddle and wet grass.

BOO!!!!

2010-03-31T14:02:00.000-07:00

So yea, we didn't get the house afterall. The appraisal came in super low cause apparently the house was like 200 sq ft smaller then the seller said. Needless to say, the dude won't drop the price down to the appraisal price, which makes no sense because he won't be able to sell it for more then the appraisal. So now we are back to square one. We went out last Saturday and found absolutely NOTHING!!! I was so mad at the lack of choices available to us. So we decided that we are going to raise out price, AGAIN. Now that we've raised our price, there are more options available to us, and they are closer in and not just in East Mesa and Queen Creek. I went out yesterday and looked at some new builds, but they were all small. I'm going out today to look at some more new builds and then a couple of other houses in Queen Creek. Tomorrow I think that I am going to focus on houses in Gilbert. I just hope we find something soon. I am so sick of looking for a house and then getting a house and having my hopes dashed because something happens...it's frustrating. Dominic and I are ready to be in our own house so that we can start working on growing our family. I always thought it would be so much fun to go and look at houses, but it hasn't been fun at all, it's been one really long, drawn out, stressful, painful, and expensive process. AND because of all the stress from the house crap, I've made myself sick and I'm having crazy, crazy dreams. Dom isn't sleeping through the night either. He's falling asleep fine, but then he wakes up around 1 or 2 and then he is in and out of sleep until the alarm goes off at 5:50. We are both so ready for the stress to be over with so that we can have a peaceful nights sleep!

YAY!!!

2010-03-06T17:15:00.001-08:00

Our house passed the inspection!! There is hardly anything that needs to be fixed. There is ONE lose tile and ONE flashing missing! The last house had a ton of problems with the roof so I was really happy when we found out this roof was good! The front door frame needs to be sanded down in one corner, some more insulation needs to be added to the attic, and we need to add some rocks to the front yard so that water doesn't collect next to the foundation. I'm so excited because I LOVE this house. It's so cute. I've had a lot of fun buying stuff for the house...and I can't wait to move in. Thankfully we don't have to wait too long because we close on March 26th and we get to start moving that day!

Once again...

2010-03-02T17:25:00.000-08:00

We are once again under contract. This house came on the market late Friday afternoon, we went and looked first thing Saturday morning and I fell in love. We found out yesterday afternoon that our offer was accepted! We have the inspection in Saturday morning and I'm hoping that everything is good. This house is beautiful. The inside was just redone and everything is brand new and ungraded. It's a little smaller then the other house, and it's a little farther away, but I like it a TON more. I'm feeling really good about this one. The builder of this house has a much better reputation then the builder of the last house, so that's a positive sign. I've actually never even heard anything bad about this builder. As long as everything goes good on Saturday, we will be closing March 26th, the day after our 5 year wedding anniversary. I can't believe that we've been married for almost 5 years, it's crazy! Fingers are crossed that everything goes well and I'm in my own house by the end of the month. Oh, and since I'll have a house, I'm going to Texas with Marina and Desi for Easter so that I can get the rest of my stuff from my parents house before they move. Well, everything but the hutch...I'm too scared to move that cause I might break it...

Sad day...

2010-02-23T10:30:00.000-08:00

It was too good to be true. We got the inspection done on the house yesterday and the roof was put on incorrectly when the house was built. We would have to replace the entire roof and add stuff that should have been put there in the first place. We would also have to have some of the tresses replaced and others secured correctly because they weren't put in right either! And the electrical system is screwed up. The previous owner apparently did some work himself and didn't do it correctly, and there are several wires that are fire hazards in the attic. So now the search begins all over again. I'm really not looking forward to it and I'm almost tempted to say forget it and go back to renting...

Patton Update

2010-02-17T09:46:00.000-08:00

Patton had her surgery yesterday and everything went well. She was completely out of it when we picked her up and she was walking around like she didn't know what was going on. I accidentally hurt her when I went to pick her up so that I could put her in the car, I felt so bad cause she cried the entire way home...and then she kept crying when we got home. She was hardly moving, she wasn't my normal baby. She ended up doing really well last night and slept through the night, which I wasn't expecting. She is already feeling better this morning, but I think that she's outdone herself already. She jumped off the bed this morning and then back on, but now she doesn't even want to walk up and down the stairs...so I think the bed jumping wore her out! I'll have to post a picture of her from last night because the bandage on her arm was camo, which made Dom smile!

Totally avoiding schoolwork....

2010-02-15T17:43:00.000-08:00

I totally don't want to write my psych paper right now, so I'll write another blog instead! Dom and I signed all the paperwork for our house on Saturday and we are officially under contract!! I'm so excited, I can't believe that we are actually getting our house! Our closing date with the bank is 4/6/10, but our broker said that we should be able to close sooner then that. He wants to make sure that we close in 30 days, which would put us at March 14. I just want to be in our house before our anniversary on March 25. We took Dom's parents over to see the house today and so that I could make a list of all the stuff that I am going to need to get. I need a washer/dryer, fridge, blinds, shower rods, and I need to paint the family room, the hallway, and the porch beams. I also need to have someone come out and put a doggie door in the master bedroom for Patton, she has the tendency to like going outside in the middle of the night, and Dom doesn't like to sleep with the bedroom door open, so a doggie door in the bedroom is a must. I also forgot how big my closet is going to be, it's HUGE!!!! And I have a lemon tree, orange tree, and rose bushes in the backyard already, we're just gonna have to start watering the grass cause it's all dead and dry. I'm really excited to be getting our house. Neither one of us can wait to move in and begin to make it ours. Dom is most excited about the 3 car garage and that the house is pre-wired for surround sound. I'm most excited to have my own kitchen again!

Could it really be????

2010-02-11T12:55:00.001-08:00

Could it possibly have happened? Dom and I started looking for a house in September. We've gotten very aggressive about it the past couple of months and have submitted countless offers, only to never get the house. Last night, our realtor called me and told me that we got a house!!! It's a super cute house that we both really love and we're really excited about it. So now we just have to get all the paperwork done and the house is ours! There is very little that has to be done to the house, just paint in the main room, paint on the porch, and a big ole tree in the middle of the backyard that will have to be pulled up. I can't believe that Dom and I are FINALLY going to be on our own again. I'm so excited to have some privacy with my hubby again. And the puppies are very excited about having their very own backyard and being able to sit on any furniture in the house they want! I'm very excited to have my own kitchen again and to be able to cook whatever I want. I'm just excited. So fingers are crossed that everything goes through and we are in our house before our 5 yr anniversary!

The New Jersey Sloppy Joe

2010-02-07T14:55:00.000-08:00

This is one of the BEST sandwiches EVER!!! If you have ever been to a deli in Northern New Jersey, you will see sloppy joe's on the menu, and this is what you will get! My dad grew up in New Jersey and he used to eat these all the time. When we moved to PA and started visiting NJ, we would always get platters of these and take them back home. I even had them at my wedding brunch...I just totally love them. We went to numerous deli's and tried to have them recreate them...and it never worked. Finally this past summer, my mom was thinking about it and we figured out what all needed to go into them and we started making them. I just made a TON of them for Superbowl and Dom couldn't be happier cause he loves them too! I even made an extra one just for him to take in his lunch tomorrow. Sloppy Joe's are probably the BEST thing to come out New Jersey!

My little baby...

2010-02-07T09:09:00.001-08:00

So about 2 weeks ago, I was laying in bed with my little baby Patton, rubbing her tummy like she demands, and I noticed that she had some small, squishy lumps in her lower tummy. I pointed them out to Dom, freaking out, and he said she has always had them and not to worry about it. So I calmed down and kept an eye on them. Last week, anytime we touched her lower tummy, she whined and cried...which I don't like to hear. I started feeling around for the lumps, and they were bigger and harder then they had been and they obviously hurt her, so I started freaking out again and called the vet to have her checked out and to get her current on all her shots. We took her in yesterday and the lumps are smaller and softer then they were, but she was freaking out when the vet was feeling them. They decided that they needed to stick a needle in them and pull out fluid to see if they could tell what they were. They had to take her in the back and when they stuck the needle in her, I could hear her cry, I almost lost it! They brought her back in, scared out of her mind after being stuck with 5 needles, and said that the lumps were so sensitive that they couldn't get very much fluid out of them, so they didn't know if they would be able to get a good idea of what it was. They came back in and said that the red blood cells are all inflammed and so they want to treat it as an infection and see if antibiotics will take care of it. The vet said if the antibiotics don't work, we can have a biopsy done, which scares me! After hearing all this, Dom and I decided that it was time to get her fixed, we've been meaning to for a while, we just haven't done it. She also needs to get her teeth cleaned, so we decided to schedule her for those two procedures since they can be done at the same time and it's just time. So now, my little baby girl is going to have surgery in a week and a half. If the lumps aren't gone, I'm going to tell them to just take them out. Having my puppies in surgery scares the crap out of me. I was a nervous wreck when Daisy had surgery. My baby is going to be gone all day...I have to drop her off at like 7:30 AM and I don't get her back till around 5:30 PM. It also scares me because I know that things can go wrong and I don't want anything to happen to my baby. I also don't want her to be in pain. So now, for the next 2 weeks or so, I'm going to be a worried mama.

Good News!

2010-01-04T20:10:00.000-08:00

So Dom got some good news at work today. He has worked for Corporate Express since shortly after we got married and last summer, Corporate Express was bought by Staples. Since then, things have been kinda up in the air and from Sept-Dec of last year, Dom was required to take a day off every week...and he was told the drivers at Staples had to as well...only they didn't. So in December, Dom started getting sent to Staples to work since they were so busy. They really liked him over there and last week, 3 positions became available at Staples. Dom wasn't going to put in for the jobs because he didn't want to lose his $.50 back-up driver pay. Well, today when he got back to base, the HR guy called him into the office and told him that the Staples supervisor has requested that Dom be transferred. So Dom is now officially at the Staples hub starting tomorrow. I'm not worried about him not getting his hours, but his schedule is going to be weird. He is going to work Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. They told him that even though he is only working 4 days a week, the route he is assigned to averages 50 hours a week, which is good. And if they have a lot of stuff on Tuesday's, he'll get called in...which means even more hours. I know that Dom is gonna be super tired, but it will be nice for him to get some really good paychecks again, especially with STILL trying to buy a house!

Bit of a downer...

2009-12-30T15:54:00.000-08:00

So I've been sick ever since we got back from Texas and I've been doing nothing but laying in bed...which isn't always a good thing for me. As I was laying in bed today, I started thinking about the fact that Dom and I have been married for almost 5 years and we still don't have a kid. I'm really sad about that. For as long as I can remember, I always said that when I grew up I wanted to be a mom, it's the only thing I've wanted that has stayed constant...and here I am, 26, married for 5 yrs, and no kid. When Dom and I first got married, I always said that I wanted to wait 5 yrs before having kids, but I never really meant it. After our first year, I was ready to try without trying, we both wanted a baby. Then to be told that you can't have a baby, it's absolutely devastating. I know that we "can" have a baby, but not on our own and maybe not even both of ours biologically. There have been a bunch of people I know that have had babies recently or who are pregnant, and I'm truely happy for all of them, but at the same time, it's really hard for me because I feel like I deserve a kid just as much as anyone else. I guess that I feel like it's a hopeless situation and that whichever avenue we take (infertility or adoption), it will be a really long time before we can afford it and it's never a sure thing. I guess another thing that makes it so hard is that in the mormon religion, you are expected to get married and start having kids. I'm always asked when we are planning on having kids and it kills me. I've told everyone that we can't have kids, but they still ask. I'm just scared that Dom and I will never have the chance to be parents, and that is really sad because he'd make an amazing daddy. And what are we supposed to do with our entire lives if we don't have kids and grandkids? It just seems like a very lonely existance...

New Addition

2009-12-19T15:45:00.000-08:00

So this past week on December 15th, my big sister gave birth to a beautiful baby girl names Kailee Frances Nydegger. She is a beautiful little girl who looks just like her daddy. I'm very excited for this new addition to the Loosli family, I'm just sad that I don't know when I will get to meet her for the first time.

It's been a while...

2009-12-02T06:22:00.000-08:00

I really need to get better at updating this thing! So in the past month and a half, Dom and I went to Utah and helped Marina move to AZ, which I am way excited about! We've had a lot of fun hanging out! Marina came over for Thanksgiving and helped me cook dinner and then we went midnight shopping at The Disney Store and then we were off to Walmart...we got there about 1 AM and were there till about 6:15 AM. It was a crazy morning full of crazy people, but we did get almost all of our Christmas shopping done. I only have a few people to buy presents for. I got Dom's XBox and in return, he bought me the absolute BEST hair straightner ever! I love it!
So nothing much has changed on the house front, except that we still don't have a house. The bank is being really stupid and we are tired of waiting, so we have started looking at other houses. We have put an offer on another house that I like better. It's smaller, but it has a bigger backyead and it's closer to in then the one we already have an offer on. So now we are waiting on the two houses, and Dom wants me to go and look at houses again this Friday, but we'll see.
Desi is finally down here with Marina, and since I don't work on Friday's, I get to take her! I'm so excited to spend the day with her cause she is so much fun! We are gonna make some cute Christmas ornaments and then Friday night we are having a girls night at Marina's house. Saturday we are going to the Zoo with Dom and then Dom is gonna take Desi on a date while I go to Marina's Christmas Party with her. Then next weekend we have my Christmas Party at the Biltmore, which I'm way excited about cause they are always really good. Dom and I decided that we are going to stay at The Biltmore for the night as a treat for ourselves.
That's about all for now...I'm just crossing my fingers that we get a contract on a house before April 30th so that I can still get my baby money...but we will see what happens, just like always...

2009-10-21T23:16:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend I was able to go up north...and by up north I mean Utah and Idaho. I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Boise for my big sisters baby shower. She is having a little girl and she is due on Dec 15th. I decided that it would be a wonderful time to also go to Utah to visit my two favorite people ever, Marina and Desi. I drove to Utah on Thursday and Marina, Desi and I went to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs in 3D. It was hilarious and my very first 3D movie. After that, we drove around for a while since I wasn't allowed at Marina's house until Austin had left (long story). So when we finally got there at like 11:30 pm...I made breakfast burritos for us, and they were yummy! The next morning I drove up to Boise for a weekend with my family. Diana has gotten so big, she has a belly! I was so excited to feel the baby (whom we all call Billette) kick, but everytime I put my hand on D's stomach, Billette stopped moving. I got the feel her jumping a couple of times and I got to see her move around a whole bunch, so that was cool. Saturday morning we had D's baby shower and there was tons of food, people, and presents. Needless to say, D won't have to buy any baby clothes till the girl is about 9 months old! She got lots of cool stuff and I totally went overboard and bought a TON of clothes, so many clothes in fact that Dom was starting to get mad at me! After the baby shower we went back to D's house and I sorted out all the clothes. Then on Sunday we put her stroller and pack-n-play together. I got to see my mom and both of her sister's, neither of whom I have seen since my grandma's funeral 4 years ago, so it was nice to see them. The only Loosli girl who was missing was Rob's wife Allison, but I'll get to see her at Christmas.
Things are moving along with our house. The selling realtor is very hopeful that we will be able to close by November 30th, if not a few days earlier. All I can say is that I can not wait for the house thing to be done so that I can get in there and paint and move! If things keep moving the way they are, I should be in my own house by Christmas! We are both really excited about the thought of being in our own place. We love Dom's parents and appreciate them letting us live with them for free, but we are ready to be on our own and in our own space! I am going to be driving to Texas at Christmas so that I can bring back a trailer full of my stuff...I don't even know what my mom has of mine other then my grandmother's china. I know there are boxes from when I was little and in high school, but I have no clue what is in them, so it shall be fun to unpack and see what I thought was important! I also have an antique hutch that all my china goes in, but I think that is going to have to be moved by professional movers, cause it scares me to think about moving it myself! I'm scared enough about making the 17 hour drive by myself...I'm thinking that I will have to stop somewhere along the way, I just don't know where and if I really want to since I wasn't planning on taking more then 1 day to drive each way...we shall see what happens though.

2009-10-11T22:35:00.000-07:00

So Dom and I have put in an offer for a house. The house we found is a short sale and so it is taking some time to get a response. It is a gigantic house, which means that we would have lots of room for when we have kids. There is a 3 car garage, 2 master bedrooms plus 2 other really big bedrooms, a large loft, good sized kitchen with lots of cupboards, 3 1/2 bathrooms, lots of closet space, and a backyard big enough to put in a pool if we want. The house is at the edge of the development and there is state land behine it, so we know that probably nothing will be built behind the house. The inside needs paint and eventually we will need to replace the carpet, there are a few ceiling fans missing and there is only one hole in the wall and it isn't that big. If we get the house then I plan on buying one color of paint and painting the whole house the same color and then I'll paint each of the rooms as I save for the paint, but I figure that I can take my time. We do know for sure that we are going to have someone come and put a dog door in the wall in the downstairs master bedroom for the puppies, that way Patton won't keep waking up Dom in the middle of the night because she wants to go out! We are keeping our fingers crossed that we will hear someting soon because we know that our offer is at the bank and they have gotten everything they need, so now it's just a matter of when they are going to look at our offer and if they will accept it.

Last weekend we went to Disneyland with my best friend Marina and her daughter Desi. It was Marina's b-day and Desi's first trip to Disneyland. It was a lot of fun but Desi was like 1/4 inch short for the majority of the rides...so I guess we will just have to go back next year when Desi is a little taller. I got to go on a lot more rides then when I just go with Dom because he is scared of roller coasters and any crazy rides, but Marina loves those rides, so we went while Dom watched Desi and took her on rides! Desi was obsessed with the Matterhorn and we went on it a million times! We always asked Desi who she wanted to ride with and she kept saying me. She also loved the Haunted Mansion and Pirates. Dom was very happy to take her on Pirates since that is his favorite ride too. All in all it was a really fun weekend and I can't wait to go back next year. They are doing a volunteer for a free ticket promotion and we are trying to get Dom's whole family to do a day of volunteer work so that we can all go, I just don't know if it will work. I think that it will be a lot of fun to go with the whole family since there hasn't been a family vacation with everyone in over 15 years! We will see what happens, and maybe it will just be me and Dom again, which is always a lot of fun!

Dom loves the travel channel and anything supernatural/scary. He was watching a show about the best haunted houses in the country and 2 of the top 10 are in Salt Lake City. Once he saw that, he decided that we are going to Utah for Halloween so that we can go to really good haunted houses. I'm way excited to go up to Utah to spend a weekend with my best friend and her adorable little girl, so it will be way fun! It's going to be freezing up there, but I'm going to get a taste of that this weekend. I'm going up to Boise for my big sisters baby shower. I'm really excited for her and her husband because they were trying for almost a year and a half and they are finally having a baby girl on Dec. 12th! I have already gotten a whole bunch of really cute outfits for their baby, but most of them are for next summer since all that stuff have been on clearance lately. It'll be a quick trip but it'll be a lot of fun!

Didn't realize it's been so long...

2009-09-10T19:38:00.000-07:00

So I'm a total slacker and haven't been keeping up on this thing...but not much has happened!

A few weeks ago Dom called me and told me that the Arizona Cardinals were going to be playing the Green Bay Packers at UoP Stadium. Dom and his dad have been life long Packers fans and I told Dom 2 years ago that if the Packers ever came to AZ...I would take him to the game. We couldn't go to a Packers game without his dad, and so I started looking at tickets. I told Dom that they would only be like $30 each...and there were tickets for that price...but I found some great tickets on the 50 yard line...Packers side....25th row....and they won't too horribly priced...so I got them and Dom was really excited. He decided that we wouldn't tell his dad and his dad was SOOO surprised when we walked down to our seats. It was pretty funny to see his face. The game was incredible and the Packers won. When we got home I decided that I would go online and try and find Packers jersey's for our puppies...and I was very happy to find them and to see that I could even get their names on the back! People may laugh...but my reasoning is that we don't have kids to dress up in jersey's...so we will dress our dogs in jersey's cause they are my babies until a medical miracle happens.

Dom's family decided to take off on a family vacation...and not invite us...so I decided that I would make a wonderful dinner for my husband because I love him and I appreciate all that he does for me and our puppies. I spent most of the day in the kitchen. I made him steak, twice baked potatoes, shrimp, asparagus, rolls and peanut butter balls. He knew something was going on because he called to tell me that he would be done with work at 3 and I told him he wasn't allowed home till 6 and he would need to find something to fill the time. He ended up working late anyways because someone needed help and Dom is the guy that everyone turns to. When he finally did get home, he came home with a present! I figured that he would come home with flowers since he knew what was going on and when I called I could tell he was at a store, but he completely surprised me and came home with emerald earrings! It is the first time that he has been able to surprise me with jewelry and I love them! I'm a big fan of natural emeralds and they are not that easy to find, but there is this one little mom and pop jewelry store that always has them. So that was Friday night, Saturday we went and saw All About Steve, which was hilarious, and then we had to go and buy a new computer cause my old one died...and now I've been given the other old computer and Dom has taken over what is supposed to be MY new computer...the same thing happened when we bought me a new car...when do I get to actually use the cool new toys we buy for me?!? After we came home we just chilled while waiting for Marina and Desi to get here. And of course as soon as they got here, Desi just HAD to go swimming and she didn't want to get out of the pool. The next day we went to a local waterpark and it was so much fun! I used to go to this park all the time when I was a kid...and let me tell you that Desi had a blast making us go down the water slides with her, that little girl is fearless! We didn't do much on Labor Day but cook some bbq and go swimming...all in all it was a nice relaxing weekend.

Nothing has really changed with work. I'm working from home and loving it. Dom is back full time, even though his work is kinda slow right now and since he has available vacation and sick time they keep having him stay home one day a week. He's getting pretty frustrated with it but once he is out of available time, it won't happen anymore. My work is super backed up and so they are currently offering overtime, which I am going to take advantage of! I mean, I don't have to leave the house to go to work on Sat...so I might as well work since I'm just gonna be hanging around the house anyways. Plus we are going to Disneyland with Marina and Desi the first weekend in October...and I need some spending money...so I figure I can use the OT pay to buy our tickets and any food and anything else I want while there. The next couple of weeks are going to be busy because of OT, but it will all be worth it. Plus I have two papers to write this weekend so that I can finish the class I'm currently in.

We are definatly looking forward to the cooling of the weather and the beautiful fall that is in store for us. Hopefully I will get better about updating this...but ya never know!

2009-08-10T21:34:00.000-07:00

Well, Dominic is finally up and moving around after surgery. It took a bit of time, but the doctor says that he is doing well. He is still in pain, but that is to be expected. He only has two more weeks before he goes back to work. I'm pretty excited about him going back, but a little worried that it will be too much too soon, but we will see what happens. I'm still at home working, which I still love. I get to take naps on my breaks, which is always a plus!
Marina and Desi came down two weeks after Dom's surgery so that we could celebrate Desi's third b-day. It was pretty fun to go and get mani-pedi's together. Desi was stinkin adorable while they were doing her nails.
In other exciting news, my big sister D is having a baby girl on Dec. 13th. I am way excited for her and can't wait to meet my new niece. I'm going up to Idaho in October for her baby shower and can't wait to see her with her big baby belly. I've only gotten to see her with a little baby belly...and she is so tiny to begin with that I know she will be adorable.
So, my mother in law keeps having a dream that I have twin boys with black hair. She is absolutely convinced that I will have twins, and I just hope she is wrong. I don't think tha I could handle two babies at once. I'm good with one...but two the same age, that is a bit much! And since two is all I'm having...Dom doesn't want them at the same time. But we shall see what happens when the good Lord decides it is time for us to have a baby. I'm hoping that it is after Dom is done with school, which should be next September, and then I'll still have a year left, but that's okay...I don't want to wait till Dom is really old! ;)

Dominic's surgery

2009-07-19T20:36:00.001-07:00

I have to say, I was really freaked out on Wednesday when Dom had the surgery. They said that it would only be about 45 minutes and that he would have 3 incisions....instead it took an hour and 45 minutes, and he had 5 incisions. It ended up being a lot worse then they thought it would, which is why it took so much longer. So then they decided to let him wake up on his own, which was another hour and a half, and then it was another hour and a half before they released him to go home. I got him home and the pain killers really weren't helping. He was up almost all night and so I stayed up with him. He's been having some trouble getting in and out of bed, and sleeping and it doesn't help that the dogs want to jump on him and play. I've been trying to keep the puppies away from him, but it doesn't work to well. They have only jumped on him a couple of times, but they refuse to leave his side. So today the pain killers finally started working really well for him! He has been passed out all day and when he does wake up, he has no clue what he is talking about or what he is doing. A couple of minutes ago he told me that his face was melting off and that I needed to help him hold it in place. Then when I just laughed, he asked for the gorilla glue so that he could glue his face in place....and then he grabbed Daisy's paws and said that she needed to help him since I wouldn't...and then he put her paws on his face. All in all, I'm pretty entertained! Dominic is usually really funny, but this just takes the cake! I am totally enjoying him being stoned out of his mind, which probably isn't a good thing...maybe I should cut back on his pain killers....

Vegas!!

2009-07-13T18:23:00.000-07:00

So Vegas was a blasst with my siblings...lots of laughs and lots of time spent watching my brothers gamble. It was pretty entertaining to be the sober one most of the time. And I was pretty proud of myself for not gambling. I'll post more about the trip later, but I'm tired right now!

Here are a bunch of pictures from the last couple of months!

2009-06-25T18:01:00.001-07:00

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=85168&id=814803995&l=527e86474e

It's been a while

2009-06-25T15:47:00.000-07:00

So...I'm almost all set up at home for work. I still need to go and get a desk from IKEA cause the table I am using annoys the crap outta me! I love working at home. I wake up 10 minutes before I have to start working....I can go down to the kitchen every few hours to get a snack....my music can be as loud as I want and I can sing horribly as loud as I want! I love it. Dom and I have been having a lot of fun taking pictures of the puppies lately...including after their bath last week. Dominic taught them to get in the linen closet after their bath to roll around and dry off. I thought that it was hilarious and so adorably cute! They just hung out in the closet and kept rolling around and tossing the towels on top of themselves. I realized today that it is Daisy's 4th birthday. It seems like we just barely got my little 5 month old puppy...she shouldn't be 4 already! If this is how fast time flies with my puppies, I can't imagine how fast it is going to go when I have a kid...

2009-06-14T15:36:00.000-07:00

So Utah with Marina was way fun! We got to dye our hair...do face masks...fall asleep watching really cheesy chick flicks...eat a TON of crap...and go to Des's wedding. It was alot of fun and I totally miss that girl! Her daughter Desi is a crack and a half. Des (the old college rommie) couldn't stop making out with her new husband, which was hilarious! Des was practically attacking him...and she said breast in church without even blushing...man she sure has grown up! Now that I am back home, things are kinda crazy. Dom went to urgent care the other night cause he has been feeling so sick and found out that he as a bacterial infection, but they don't know what kind of bacterial infection. So he is on anti-biotics hoping they will clear it up. His side has also been bothering him for a few weeks now. He had his appendix out like 7 yrs ago and it has always been kinda big with scar tissue, but now it is sensitive to the touch and swollen more then normal. The dr ordered a CT scan to make sure that nothing is growing under there, but the place can't take him till the 23rd, they said it takes that long to verify insurance...which I don't believe. I tried to get him to let me take him to the ER...but he refuses, so we shall see. Other then that, I have one more week in the office and then I am working from home! I can't wait and I hope that I can handle it so that I get to stay at home. It will be kinda nice to not have to drive anywhere! I also can't wait to go to Texas for a few days for 4th of July. It will be nice to see my parents and my nephew get baptized. Hopefully, I will get to see fireworks too...I don't think that I have really seen them since I was in Idaho for D's wedding in 04...and I LOVE fireworks!

YAY!!!

2009-06-04T13:10:00.000-07:00

I'm going to Utah today! I get to see my Marina and my Desi!!! I'm so excited for girls weekend and for Desree's wedding on Saturday!!

EXCITING!!!

2009-06-03T17:01:00.000-07:00

My big sister D just called to tell me that she is 12 weeks pregnant!! I am so excited for her, I just wish she lived closer. She is due on Dec. 14, so I will get to meet the new little one at Christmas!

Fun Times

2009-06-01T14:31:00.000-07:00

So, Dominic's parents are in Europe for 5 weeks celebrating their 40 year wedding anniversary. Yesterday was Celine's birthday and Chris made her hamburgers and brats since hamburgers are her favorite thing in the world. Celine got in on the action of cooking. Chris made real beer brats for us...We thought it would be funny to send this picture to Joe in France...she didn't find it so funny.

This week is going to be great! I get to go to Utah on Thursday night to see Marina and Desi. My old college roommate Des is getting married on Saturday, which is the reason for the trip! Dominic and Celine are driving up on Thursday night just to have a long weekend with us. And, I get the BEST chocolate in the world!! I love Utah, but only Mrs. Cavanaugh's...and Marina and Desi!

Weekend!!

2009-05-30T09:56:00.000-07:00

I love weekends! I'm glad that Dom and I get to spend every weekend together. Not much is going on this weekend though. We are gonna go and see a movie and then I have a little bit of shopping to do, and then I have to write my talk for Church tomorrow, and Dom has to write a paper for school. Hopefully, we will get done with all that quickly so that we can just relax tonight!

Hmmm...

2009-05-28T13:35:00.001-07:00

I figured that since almost none of my friends live in AZ, I would start a blog! I know that I am way behind the curve on this, but that's pretty normal for me! Let's see...so Dom and I have no kids and probably won't for a few years. We found out about 6 months ago that we won't be able to have kids without help, we were getting ready to start with all the Dr. appointments when we decided that we were going to wait until we are done with school. (Dom is in school for Criminal Justice and I am starting back for Elementary Education.) We both feel really good about the decision to wait to have kids, but if it happens before then, then it's all good! We are also getting ready to buy our first house! The goal is to be in a house by the end of the year. There are so many houses for sale down here that it is just crazy. We are hoping that we can stay in Gilbert, and I'm trying not to be too picky about the house. As long as it has a gtood kitchen and a decent sized backyard for our dogs, I'm good.
We have a pretty busy summer ahead of us. I am transitioning to a telecommuting position at work which I am really excited about. We also just went to Las Vegas this past weekend. My best friend in the world Marina came down to meet us there so that we could go to the Taylor Swift concert, which was amazing! Dom and I also went to see The Blue Man Group which was a really good show. I am going up to Utah next weekend for one of my old college roomies wedding. Then we are both going to Texas over July 4th for my nephews baptism. Then the next weekend we are going out of town for Dom's b-day, I just haven't figured out where we are going to go yet. I'm going back up to Utah in August (hopefully Dom can come with me) for Desi's (Marina's daughter) birthday! It is going to be a fun summer and hopefully we will be able to go tubing, go to the water park, and get a few camping trips in as well!