Preparations

My Winter Break has started -- finally!  I'm excited for tomorrow, as my plan for the day is to work exclusively on getting my holiday baking done.  I have a few recipes picked out, but am always open to suggestions.  So far, the list includes peanut butter blossoms, cut-out cookies, Mexican wedding cookies, maple shortbread cookies, butter cookies, and chocolate crinkle cookies.  I realize I'm being optimistic in thinking I'll get it all done.  Even as I typed the list I see that this might be a daunting task.  I will give it my best shot.  And, as I said I am definitely open for suggestions to add to my list.  These aren't only for my family, I'm planning on taking a few with me for gifts as we travel this holiday season.

It occurred to me that when I started this blog, my main focus was fertility.  I realized recently that I haven't shared any updates about that part of our journey.  The main reason hasn't been to exclude anyone.  The plain and simple fact is there isn't any news.  I believe I mentioned before that we were told we have to wait until at least January to proceed with any IVF cycles.  After talking about it with Tony, it looks like we've decided to wait a little longer than that.  I really want to give a lot of the things that I've been working at a chance to work before we go forward with what may be our last cycle.  We've been told that to maximize the effect of the acupuncture, Chinese herbs, non-dairy diet (more on that little gem later), and yoga that we need to give ourselves at least 90 days to see results.  Some of these things I will have been doing longer than 90 days come February, I wanted to give them all the chance to work together for 90 days.

As for living dairy-free...that is becoming more and more of a challenge, especially with the holidays quickly approaching.  It's amazing how quickly dairy can creep back into your life.  I slip up once and think "it's okay, I will be back on track at the next meal."  Then when the next meal arrives, I end up telling myself "eh, you messed up earlier just go back to it tomorrow."  It's a wicked, wicked cycle.  I do have to say that for the most part in my day-to-day life I've been doing well at staying away from dairy products.   As for the next two weeks I'm going to do my best to be moderate.  I know that it would be unrealistic to think that I'll make it through Christmas and New Year's without consuming dairy.  And you know what?  That's okay.

Part of what Tony and I have been relishing about our decision to wait until February is how much stress it's taken off of us.  Stress we didn't even realize we were carrying.  It's so nice to just live our life together, enjoy being together and not worry about what step is coming next in planning this cycle or that cycle.  And, who knows - maybe this is the key to our success?  Only time will tell.  Either way, we're definitely feeling like we're living healthier and we're loving it!

Did you miss me?

Hey, you!  Over here!  You probably can't see me too well, but here I am tucked into bed with the covers up to my chin.  It's 9:00 p.m. on a Thursday night.  I haven't been home this early on a Thursday (unless you count Thanksgiving, but we won't) since mid-September.  You may have noticed I've been a little lackadaisical with my blog over the last couple of weeks.  I swear, it feels like days - but I know it's been longer.  This is because I've been busy.  Busy celebrating Christmas with my dad's side of the family, busy trying to finish up my Christmas shopping before Christmas gets here, busy finding the motivation to teach meaningful lessons the whole week before Winter Break, and busy wrapping up the semester-long courses I've been taking.

I finished my Psychology class last Sunday.  Tonight marked the end of my first semester in Anatomy & Physiology.  I'm happy to report that I finished with strong effort, and although I may not be getting the grade I was hoping to achieve, I'm darn close.  And, I'm proud of what I earned.  Sometimes I can be too hard on myself - I'm working on this (and have been for awhile).  In the end, the grade is what it is, and I am done with the course.  I learned a tremendous amount about anatomy as well as physiology.  More importantly, I learned some valuable lessons about myself and my capabilities.  Long ago, after my first semester in college, I stopped taking Science classes because of the previously alluded to "high standards" that I set for myself.  I'd decided that I wasn't "good" at Science.  This semester has proven to me that I do just fine when I put my mind to it.  What it made even more evident was that I now know a lot more about studying and my own learning style than I did at eighteen.  Who knew?

Now it's time to get back on track.  Time to buckle down and come up with some "new" material for this here blog.  And, time to hop back on my fertility yoga bandwagon.  Yes, you read that correctly.  I'm almost ashamed to admit that I took a fairly long break from practicing yoga.  It started out completely innocently, really.  We traveled up North to Crandon, WI to celebrate Christmas with my grandparents, my aunts and uncles, my cousins and their children.  While there, we were given the treat of caring for my cousin's little one, Jayden, overnight.  Jayden is five months old, and just a sweetie.  We so love our time with her, and really appreciate her mother trusting us enough to take her for the night :).   Anyhow...Jayden had a difficult time going to sleep - she fought it every step of the way.  When I finally sung her to sleep (she probably just decided it was better to give up and welcome sleep as opposed to continue listening to what I call singing), I realized that I probably should stay close by in case she woke up and needed me.  I realize now that this is silly, I certainly didn't need to stay in the very same room she was sleeping in, but I did.  I didn't want to turn on my yoga video and risk waking her up.  So, instead, I completed my yoga routine as best I could by memory.  It's normally a 32-minute routine.  I got done in 22 minutes.  Clearly I forgot some things or didn't hold certain poses long enough.  But, I did it.  Then came Saturday night.

We spent Saturday morning feeding and playing with Jayden.  She left to go get ready for the big party, and at 1:00 we all convened at Ben and Mel's for the celebration.  I cannot say enough about the food.  My cousin's wife did an amazing job putting together a spread fit for kings.  She is so darn creative, and this was apparent all over her home.  We had a "tree" of grapes, a wreath made of all different kinds of fruit, another tree made of mints...the list goes on and on.  Not only did it look spectacular, it tasted just as good (if not better) than it looked.  Not sure if you're reading this Mel, but hats off to you and your helpers!

It never ceases to amaze me how much I love my family.  Saturday was no different.  We have so many personalities and all of us seem to just come together and fit perfectly into place to finish off the puzzle that is the extended Conway clan.  We are so lucky to be able to have four generations of our family able to gather and celebrate each year, and I pray that this continues long into the future.  I think part of what makes the time so enjoyable is there is so much love bouncing around when we're together.  For example, here are my grandparents Steve and Bette Conway.

Photo courtesy of Valerie Niehaus  - To see more of here photos, CLICK HERE

Grandma and Grandpa are 89 and 90 years old and just as in love as ever.  In fact, I'd be willing to bet they're probably more in love because of all the years they've spent living, loving and learning together.  They are truly an inspiration.  And I feel that we are so incredibly lucky to still have them in our lives.
So there was nothing strenuous (at all) about the get-together on Saturday.  It was all laughter, hugs, games and smiles.

For some reason once 7:45 p.m. rolled around that was it for me, I was beat.  I was in bed by 8:30, and am almost embarrassed to say (but not quite enough not to share) that I slept until 9:30 Sunday morning.  I must have needed it because I sure slept well.  I had the most vivid, crazy dreams I've had in a long time.  I won't get into details, I'll just say that one involved me and @Valerie Niehaus trying to steal a million dollars (and then trying to hide while others hunted us down), and the other was a wild trip in which I was a villain traveling on roads similar to roller coasters.  I'm weird, I know.

All of that to tell you this:  I DIDN'T DO YOGA LAST SUNDAY.  Or Monday, or any other day since then.  And you know what?  I feel horribly about it.  Not guilty, I just miss it.  So, now that my final for  A&P is over, I'm going to start again tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow - there are so many good and exciting things in store!  It's the last day before Winter Break, woo hoo!  I'm starting my yoga again.  It's Friday, and I'm going to write another blog post, too.  Hehe.  I just love all of that not-so-important, but oh-so-fun stuff.

Before I sign off, I do want to say that the Conway clan I mentioned above got a little bigger today.  My cousin Shane and his wife Monica welcomed their third little bundle of joy today, little Miss Lennon Wren.  Can't wait to meet her, looking forward to meeting her and watching her grow.  Monica has her own blog, full of some amazing stuff -- if you care to, check it out HERE.

As I wind down tonight, I'm looking forward to all the weekend and upcoming holidays have in store.  Sure hope that all of you have plans to be surrounded by those you love.  Until tomorrow my friends...

Winding down...

It is really very strange to be teaching high school courses while fully invested in being a student at a post secondary institution at the same time.  It's been awhile since I have had to juggle two very different schedules.  Most of the semester I found it to be fairly easy (once my routine was established).  Right now, though, as the end of the postsecondary semester draws near I find myself needing time to slow down a little bit (or at least for me to speed up enough that I can get everything done)!

My psychology class ends this Sunday.  Luckily for me, I've got most of the work completed for the class.  I am very pleased where my grade is sitting, and could even opt out of completing anything else.  That sound like an amazing option -- but I'd have a really hard time just not completing the work.  We'll see how the rest of the week goes, and then I'll make that decision I suppose.

My Anatomy & Physiology class will be over a week from tomorrow.  I love the material and find it super interesting -- but I will be glad when I'm done and can say the semester is over.  As I've said before, I sometimes struggle with procrastination and lately it's almost gotten the better of me.  Somehow, I let myself take a "break" over the Thanksgiving holiday and then found myself behind.  It was my own fault...and it took awhile to get back into the swing of things.  As of right now, I'm done with my assignments for the week and let me tell you -- that feels great!

I've been up until at least midnight every night this week trying to get the work done.  I've had workbook assignments to complete, had to type them all into a document on my laptop so I could upload them to the professor, had a five-page case study to complete, and had a mini-test to take.  I can say one thing with absolute certainty:  I will sleep well tonight!

Speaking of sleeping, I wanted to update you all on how my fertility yoga is going.  I started on Sunday, November 24 (I think) and am very proud to say that I haven't missed a day yet.  No matter what time I finally am able to head down to bed, I take my 5 mg of melatonin (supposed to help with egg quality - and an added bonus is that it helps with sleep), and start my DVD.

The set I purchased, which you can find HERE, is wonderful.  It has four yoga routines.  So far, I've only been through two.  They appear to all be between 32-36 minutes long.  I was very concerned when I first began because I was a yoga novice.  When I'd looked at poses online (briefly) to research for fertility, some of the poses I saw were frightening.  I knew I was potentially in for some surprises (and disappointments when I couldn't do the poses) as well as some guaranteed laughs if the DVD resembled what I found online.  Lucky for me, it does no such thing.  The poses are relatively easy, though I can still definitely feel my body working.  The part I think I like the most about it all is how centered and relaxed I feel.  And, it totally holds me accountable that it's called "Fertility Yoga," because I feel incredibly guilty even thinking about skipping it! :)

It's currently "only" about 10:10 p.m.  I'm going to sign-off here and head down to center myself and relax.  So exciting that I might get to bed before midnight, ha!

Getting Acquainted

Little by little we're getting to know the personality of our little Coco Puff.  She's been a little less mellow today, and is starting to break out of her shell.

Tony was first introduced to her this morning around 5:45.  He was up, and I knew if he checked Facebook the cat dog would be out of the bag.  So, I asked him if he'd come upstairs with me for a second.  He immediately knew something was up.  Never do I willingly get out of bed on a weekend morning that early.  :) He was enamored from the start.  These two spent the majority of the day cuddling and getting to know one another.

Shadow did much better getting to know her little sister as well.  We started the morning off by putting Coco in her little crate in the living room.  Shadow was free to roam around and check her out as she pleased (which was more often than not).  Once Coco saw Shadow sniffing around she started to cry and whine.  It was like a switch went off in Shadow's head -- she seemed to suddenly realize "Oh!  This is a baby puppy!"  We didn't have any issues after that.  In fact, Shadow seems to look for Shadow every place she goes.  When she comes in from outside, she rushes around trying to find her baby.  They are absolutely adorable when they play together, too.  We do have to keep an eye on Shadow purely because she is just so much bigger than Coco.  The two of them want to play together so badly, and it appears to be the start of a great friendship.  I wish I had a picture to capture the moment, but unfortunately they were moving so fast that all my photos are blurry!

Even though things are going great between the two of them, we're still on the lookout to make sure Shadow doesn't feel like we're giving the new puppy more attention than her.  When my mom came downstairs earlier today, this is what she found:

It looks like we may be dealing with a little bit of jealousy, or sibling rivalry, from time to time.  Shadow's crate is much bigger than this one, but she spent quite a bit of time snuggled in on Coco's bed today.  Just. Too. Cute.  

In an attempt to make her more comfortable this morning, Tony and I took Shadow for a Sunday morning drive.  Tony and Shadow go for rides together on a daily basis, but I only get the privilege on weekends.  Today was no exception.  We'd given Shadow two of her ant-anxiety pills (for the first time) in hopes of alleviating any added stress of the new puppy today.  She was a little loopy as we headed for the truck.  Because I knew the meds might make her uncomfortable, I got her to snuggle in on my lap.  We had a great ride, and were able to see the beginning of the snowfall as we rode around.

Speaking of snow -- both our little ones got to romp around in that fluffy, white, cold stuff this afternoon.  And they both loved it!  We aren't at the point yet that we put them out there together.  That would be brave!  And, so, I leave you with these little treasures to peruse if you have time.  Enjoy the snow (if you're here in our white corner of the world), and stay warm!

The Best Laid Plans

Today was a whirlwind of a day.  And, although we didn't accomplish anything we set out to do, it was a wonderful day full of wonderful surprises.

My day started with the awesome gift (and surprise) of Tony allowing me to sleep in.  This is not automatic on the weekends.  It. Was. Awesome.  It only went to a certain point, and then it was time for me to wake up.  I won't say what time. as then I would have to admit how late I sleep when left unprovoked. :)

The plan was to go Christmas shopping.  We had a list.  We had a plan.  And then, we decided to make a quick stop.  We stopped at Tony's mom's house to pick up our St. Nick's gifts.  We received a warm welcome, and our "quick" stop soon turned into a nice, long visit.  We were able to celebrate Tony's sister Katie's twenty-ninth birthday.  Turns out her plans for the day fell through, so we were able to substitute in and help her enjoy her day.  I cheated a little bit, and we ordered Papa Murphy's stuffed pizza.  Boy did that hit the spot.  Katie received some wonderful gifts, and we were so happy to be there.

We'd arrived at Tony's mom's around noon, and left just before four this afternoon.  After all the laughing and eating there was no way I was going to get Tony out shopping with me.  I'd missed my window.  So, we headed home to relax with Shadow and do some online shopping.

Tony fell asleep early tonight, and I continued shopping online until my mom and Mike got home from visiting my grandma in Appleton today.  They got home around nine o'clock tonight.  I directed to hide while they came in, because they had some present for me that Mom didn't want me to see.  I complied, but not without a little complaining.  So, imagine my surprise when I walked out to find this:

Meet Coco.  She will be 7 weeks old on Monday

Mom brought Coco Puff home to be a playmate for Shadow.  I was so surprised.  And, she is just darling.  She is super mellow (especially compared to my little ragamuffin Shadow!).  Coco likes to cuddle and sleep.  She's a pudgy little thing, and doesn't move around a whole lot.  Although when you take her outside in 7 degree weather with much colder wind chills she moves a little more quickly.  :) 

Shadow and Coco's first meeting didn't go particularly well.  Shadow did some sniffing, then started growling a little, and finally started barking and pulling at her leash.  I just looked up "how to introduce your dog to a puppy," and found out we did nearly everything completely wrong!  But, you live and you learn I guess.  Things can only go up from here!  Each dog is tucked into her respective bed, and both are sleeping peacefully at the moment.  Our hopes are that these two will be the best of friends and I have a feeling it won't be long until we start to see their friendship develop.

Even though our plans didn't turn out how we'd planned them, it turns out we had a pretty darn good day.  I love my weekends, and so enjoy spending time with my husband and family.  Can't wait to see how this new adventure turns out!

Shadow, around the same age as Coco is now!

Is it Wednesday already?

I don't know how it happened that it's Wednesday already.  Somehow a week has passed since I was anxiously awaiting my four-day break, lots of turkey and lots of time with family.  Time sure flies. Wish I could tell all of you it's because I was having fun!  :)

I guess I can't say that I wasn't having fun.  The past few days have just passed in a blur.

I am feeling the stress of being a student taking seven credits while also teaching full-time.  Last weekend I spent a lot of my time writing an eight-page research paper for my Psychology class.  The longer I teach, the more interesting I find it to be on the student end of writing a paper.  In some ways I feel like I have an extreme advantage, but in other ways I wonder if it makes me worry and stress more.

Back in my college days, I was what some would definitely refer to as might call a procrastinator.  Particularly when it came to writing papers.  I remember one incident in particular.  Our assignment was to write a twelve-page paper in Spanish.  I apologize, but today some ten years later I don't remember the topic.  I do remember that I had about ten pages typed when suddenly, somehow, I lost it all.  I'll admit, I'd gone out earlier in the evening...putting off writing the paper as long as I could.  It was almost 3 a.m. at the time I lost the paper.  My dad was traveling on business, so I called him on his cell phone while he was fast asleep in a hotel somewhere in New Mexico to solicit his expert advice on how to get it back.  Well, it turns out that if you don't save something initially, there's no guarantee that Microsoft Word will save periodically.  Turns out I had to re-write the entire paper.  Although that experience didn't necessarily cure my bad habit of procrastinating, it makes for a fun memory and it DID teach me to save my work immediately so that the program starts automatically saving periodically as I work.

In addition to my paper, I've also got an upcoming exam in Anatomy & Physiology.  Tomorrow night I have a written exam, and the practical will be either next Thursday or the following.  Anyone who knows me knows that I am a little bit freakish about my grades.  It's an odd thing about me, especially because as a teacher I am encouraging no matter what grade my students earn.  I'm a little bit harder on myself.  I'm really, really working on not putting so much value on the "A."  But, I can tell you that it's an especially hard habit to break.  I'll even go so far as to tell you that when I got my first "D" on a test this semester I cried.  But, the good news is I got over it.  The world didn't end, and I am more motivated because of it.

The semester is winding to a close (well, at least my semester as a student is) and the holidays are fast approaching.  I find myself getting more and more excited as Christmas approaches.  Every week Tony and I have several reasons to drive over to the East Side of Milwaukee.  There is something so awe-inspiring about the driving down Lake Dr. at dusk, getting glimpses of Lake Michigan and seeing sparkling Christmas lights all along the way.

I hope to be more able to update my blog in a more timely fashion.  For all of you faithful readers out there, I haven't forgotten about you -- in fact, I'm constantly plotting when to write and what to write about :)  As I've stated before, it's a little bit addictive (in a good way)!  I'm so excited that we've made it through more than half the week.  Two more wake-ups and it'll be the weekend!  Have a great end to the week everybody!