JAR

There's been a development!

2010-03-14T01:53:00.004-05:00

Guess what?!
I have a semi good excuse for not posting for.. heh.. a really long time! And she's in that picture right there ;)

Last post, I mentioned putting off the attempt for a baby. Well, two weeks after that, my OB/GYN was seeing me for my annual and asked if we might be interested in trying an IUI. Well, after some discussion with my dear husband, we did it. During that month I took some medicine to help my body do what it's supposed to do when producing eggs and getting ready for pregnancy. The Friday after Thanksgiving I had an ultrasound to make sure my follicles (contain the eggs) were looking good and reacted well to the meds. You don't want to have too few or too many! I had one great one and one smallish one, which was great news. I had a shot to induce ovulation and then Saturday morning.. IUI. That began a very long 2 week wait.

December 14th I had been feeling tired and achy for a few days. I suspected something was up, but after having my hopes up every month for years, I didn't really expect anything. I took a test that afternoon and had a very faint positive!! Over the days that followed I had blood tests and ultrasounds to make sure that it was in fact a viable pregnancy. And it was! I got to see her little heartbeat when I was barely over 6 weeks pregnant. I didn't even know you could do that! Exactly 8 months after that first positive test, on August 14th 2009, I gave birth via c-section to a 6lb 15oz baby girl!

Today she is a happy, healthy, beautiful, 7 month old! She loves to keep her mommy up all night long and also adores her daddy and big brother.

God has blessed my husband and me with this little daughter of ours. Sometimes I'm thankful that I had to go through what I did to have her. As hard as it was, it makes me all the more grateful for all those sleepless nights. I wouldn't wish this roller coaster called infertility on even the worst person, but I came out on the other side with a fabulous prize. My daughter.

November already!

2008-11-01T21:38:00.006-04:00

It's that time of year again when we start planning for the holidays and Mike finds some new hobby, this year it is trains. We built a table for his train today and he has been having fun putting it together. He has the wires all under the table so the top looks nice and neat.

James is growing like a weed. We keep buying him clothes and shoes, but they don't last long. I bought him shoes about six weeks ago, they're already too small, and I bought them at least a size too big! I keep telling him we're going to stop feeding him. He just laughs.

We decided to start homeschooling James last year, I think sometime in March. I know he's enjoying getting to be with mom all the time, but he really misses having kids to play with. So we've been participating in several activities that are made for homeschoolers. He loves them, especially the Pokemon group!

I'm still alive. Busy like crazy all the time- between the gym, homeschool, being a housewife, I've been run pretty hard. No luck in the baby dept. We have put it off for a little while. Everybody tells us "if you stop trying, it'll happen", I'm not sure how that works considering you have to try at least a little to get something like that to happen. Maybe next time.

Queen of the House

2008-03-06T22:03:00.003-05:00

Well, let's see. It's been a few months since I did anything with my blog. The one person who reads it has probably forgotten all about me ;).

I started personal training at the gym recently, haven't done much yet though. I'm sure that'll change once my trainer is no longer too sick to stay on me! I'm supposed to be keeping up with how much I eat. I do ok at that, but some days I eat too much, and ironically some days too little, so if you go by a whole week, it evens out. I'm not sure how to change what I'm doing, my hormones are always so screwed up because of that Clomid I've been taking. Sometimes I get really bloated and blue, and it messes with my appetite. So I pretty much feel hungry all the time now. Maybe the training will help, doesn't seem to be doing much so far. Shh, don't tell her, cause she'll kill me next week!

My hubby has decided to take some college classes. Right now he's taking calculus. He's doing quite well, not that I expected any different from him. He's very smart, and figures things out pretty quickly. I have problems with that type of thing because I don't have much patience for learning things. Never have. It's amazing to me that he can sit there and figure that stuff out, and remember it! I'm pretty good at math, but sometimes I just get lost. I have a terrible memory. Sometimes I get so jealous that he remembers things so well.

James got a compliment today from a guy at the Micro center, he told him he was a pretty smart kid. You should have seen that head swell. He decided to start telling me all about Mali and Timbuktu. "Did you know that mom?" No! He's got detention for fighting with some boy in his class. He says the other boy was pinching him, so he hit him in the stomach. I didn't say much, I'm sure if some kid was doing that to me, I'd punch them too. He's had a pretty rough week. Then he brought home multiplication problems for homework. He's ok with them going 4x4=__ , but when they say 4x__=16, he has issues, which I understand, he just has other things he'd rather be doing! Not thinking about math all evening.

That leaves the cat and fish to tell you about, the cat is the queen of the house as usual. She drinks out of my glass and stands on my keyboard while I'm working on things. She never does that when I'm just reading fark. She waits until I'm doing the taxes or some other such fun thing. I put her down, she gets back up, and sticks her butt in my face, darned cat! The fish are good too, we find that they really like attention from those giants outside the tank. Our algae eater died, so we had to get a new one, it seems to have settled in nicely, and is prettier than the old one, poor guy.

That's about it from here. I wish we had more exciting news, maybe soon!

I've got quite a few friends who recently had babies or currently have a bun in the oven, to all of you, (you know who you are) please let me babysit!!!

Julie

The best comeback ever!

2007-06-09T22:26:00.000-04:00

If you know me, you probably know my son as well. James is a great kid with a good (and slightly mischievous) heart. He has a diagnosis of ADHD, and for those of you who don't believe in ADHD, I would like you to meet my child. You will no longer feel this way.

This kiddo has had trouble academically his entire (short) life. I suspect he'll always have some problems. But, I have now found out, that he can try and succeed if given the proper attention, teachers, encouragement, etc. The teachers at his school wanted to hold him back last year. He wasn't ready for the second grade. His reading was very far behind. I chose to send him on. I didn't want him to be held back. I now know I did the right thing.

James' teacher sent home a note a few days ago saying he had tested exactly where he was supposed to. That might not sound so exciting, but he started out second grade with a DRA level 4. He ended with a 28! The note started out exactly how I felt, "What a wonderful miraculous day"!

The middle column here is the DRA levels. Notice what grade is level 4, and how far down 28 is. It's huge! I hope that everyone who reads this, sends him a note to let him know how proud you are of this huge accomplishment.

Since we're in a new house now, (yay!) you might want to get our new address for that note;)

love you all!

2007-05-22T10:05:00.000-04:00

Two weeks ago, I found a "lump" which was very painful on my abdomen. The next day, Wednesday, I went to the doctor. She says take antibiotics, come back Friday. Friday she says take two more antibiotics, call a surgeon. Saw the surgeon the next Tuesday. He says we need to take it out ASAP. It came out yesterday! (Monday) So the last two weeks have been very exciting. That would be fine, except there's even bigger things going on right now too.

Mike and I are buying a house on Thursday! We are trying to pack, which is hard when you have a hole in your abdomen with stitches... It's a great house, at least to us. It's a three bedroom rambler with "one" bathroom. Exactly what I wanted. Everyone I know says I'm crazy, "why would you want only one bathroom, you're going to regret it!" No, I won't. I am looking forward to having only one bathroom to keep clean.

I wouldn't mind a half bath, but not another tub. between the three of us. I can't keep up with keeping them clean. James' bathroom has blue "stuff" everywhere. I don't know what it is. Apparently he likes it like that because every time I clean it all up, it's back by bedtime. There's always hair everywhere in our bathroom, Mike is usually pretty good about cleaning up after himself, but not always. And of course I'm perfect. I never make a mess! :) (yeah right)

I said in the last post that I hate surgery. I now say it again. This time at least I didn't have to get knocked out. I'm not so sure that was a good thing. Being able to feel the tugging and the occasional cut outside the numb area, is horrible. At least to me. I nearly threw up all over those poor people. They get very confused about directions for patients. Some of them told me, NO Driving! Then I got to drive myself home. They said no eating, I got to eat. I get soo frustrated with these things. I have to say though, at least this was something minor. I'm so thankful that most of the things I complain about, aren't really that bad. I guess I'm just a whiner!

That's it for another episode of " what's going on in Julie's head"! Have a great day everybody, and make sure to spay and neuter your pets! Good night!

March 9th

2007-03-15T13:49:00.000-04:00

Did I ever tell you how much I hate surgery. Probably not, since before last Friday, I had never really had surgery. There was no experience on which I could base a real hatred, so it never existed before. This has now changed completely.
After having to wait 6 weeks because of a mistake, I finally start my fast at midnight to gain approval for anesthesia. They gave me a "happy pill" so I could sleep. I slept so it must've worked.
The problem is that the "happy" part wore off around the time I got to the office.
I usually don't have much trouble with needles, I don't like them, but I've never had to be stuck more than once. This time, was very different. It took three tries. I don't necessarily blame the nurse. At least not for the second try. I moved, because after the first attempt, quite simply, I freaked out. They tried to calm me down, they being my husband and the nurse. I tried to act calm, but it's hard to do when you're scared to death. I'm not sure what I was afraid of.
Shortly after they got all the paperwork done, it was time. I walked to the OR and they had me lie on the table. I was alright at first, but after they all introduced themselves, I lay back on the table and started to cry. My doctor is such a sweetheart, he came over and rubbed my hand and held the oxygen mask over my face. He talked to me for a minute, then a nurse came and did the same thing.
Then I woke up. I couldn't really feel anything. I could hear the nurse talking. She was saying that Mike had good timing. Then he was standing by the bed. They were asking me how I felt. I didn't really feel anything quite yet, except that I was warm and bundled up. After the nausea and dizziness mostly passed, they walked me to the truck and we went home.
The past several days have been interesting. Some times are harder than others. I'm honestly sick of sitting on the sofa! I had to stop taking some of the pain meds because they were killing my stomach. And now I'm just waiting for time to pass, healing requires patience.

This is life

2007-01-16T13:15:00.000-05:00

Well, I was going to have the surgery this week. Only somebody screwed up.
Now I have to wait until March so I don't get a blood clot. Seriously. I was ready to get the worrying over with, but now, I have several more weeks. It's a bit of a letdown.

Over the last few weeks we went to Wyoming for Christmas and to Waynesboro for Christmas/new years/James' birthday. I was sick for most of it.
As you know, in Colorado and Wyoming, they got a LOT of snow. So when we got there, there was still lots of snow. We made it all the way from the airport to my parents driveway. But.... their driveway is long.. very long. And Uphill. We got stuck, and had to walk it. I don't think we're gonna go back in the wintertime for a long time.

My brother bought a Wii and we got to play it. If you're wondering if you'd like it.. I think it's worth it. We loved it. My parents even had fun. It's a little embarrassing trying to swing the "golf club" when people are watching, but still it's fun!

Waynesboro is the same as always. We had a party for James for his eighth birthday! We got together at the Cracker Barrel. His cake had Superman on it, and he loved it! We all had a pretty good time.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Small town feeling

2006-12-14T09:09:00.000-05:00

It's funny living in the city. We live in the DC metro area, which is quite interesting. Sometimes it's fun, other times, not so fun.

I love the feeling of being in a small town in the middle of all this mess. For example, when I go to the post office, there are a couple of ladies in there that know me. One in particular knows about when I come in every month to get money orders and stamps. She remembers that I recently mailed out Wedding invitations. She remembers James from the very few times he has come in. It's great. Sometimes I feel like there can be no personal service from anywhere in a place this greatly populated, and then I get surprised. There aren't many places that I frequent like that, but it's nice when they can call you by name.

2006-11-30T21:58:00.000-05:00

Mike labeled this pic

"Our misshapen Christmas Tree."

I think it looks great!

This year has gone by so quickly! Where did all the time go?

It has been so much fun. I'm not going to say this year has been perfect. Sometimes it is far from it. But, it has been worth it.

In a few minutes, it will be December. We will start the countdown to Christmas, and James' 8th birthday. There goes that time going too fast again. It's hard to believe it's been 8 years!

Kids

2006-11-27T18:53:00.000-05:00

We're getting ready for Christmas, now that Thanksgiving is finally over! Not that I don't like Thanksgiving, I'm just glad it's done. We had My Mother-in-law and Sister-in-law over for dinner. It was fun, and my wonderful husband told me that it was the best turkey he ever tasted!

At Christmas, we're going to Wyoming to visit with my parents and brothers. My oldest brother recently got engaged, and plans to marry in August of 2008. Seems like a really long time! I'm really happy for him.

Those of you who know me, know that for some strange reason, I want another kid. I already have two boys to take care of, one is 7, the other 33. They are a full time job. Still, I want another one. Since I'm now allowed to get knocked up, it seems like it would be easy. Nope. After many very unpleasant tests at the fertility place, turns out, I have to have surgery and lots of medicine, in order to get a bun in my oven. Wish me luck!

2006-09-12T10:16:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the first post of JAR's blog. It's written by someone with no literary skills whatsoever. Enjoy!

Last night I had a dream. I dreamt that Mike went on some vacation, without me, and he was learning how to take better care of himself. One of the things he had to do was write a letter to his wife. It was a very nice letter, but I was mad that he left without me. I woke up and he was still there. whew! He gave me a big hug and then got up to take a shower. Makes waking up weird. I don't usually dream.

Another weird thing is, being newly married. That's why my blog is called JAR. Those are my new initials. JAR. I guess it's neater than JAH, but JAG or JAM would've been cooler. When people ask me what my name is, I still give them the old one. Then correct myself. I also laugh everytime someone calls me Mrs. Roetto. So if you wanna hear me laugh, call me that. It works everytime, really freaks out the people at the bank!