Almost Wordless Wednesday

I assume it is from all of the readings of "Where is Baby's Belly Button?" but Izzy is now very good at showing you her belly button when you ask her where it is. We are now working on her feet but it is simply not as cute.

Izzy studies

This is a post that should have gone up months ago, but has sadly sat in my drafts folder for a while. While I am in Spain, I thought that I would schedule a few posts ahead of time so that those of you that are bored at work would still have something to read. Enjoy!

When CP and I took a few baby classes (infant CPR, breastfeeding, etc) there was always information about studies that Izzy could participate in at a local university once she was born. I was a sociology major in college and thought it would be pretty cool to help a few graduate students out with their studies so I signed us up.

Izzy participated in her first study when she was 3.5 months old. The study had her look at pictures on a big screen. The pictures were either of a dinosaur or a fish with sounds that made her want to look at the screen. The study was on whether at her young age she could put the animals in different categories (she could!).

Less than two months later she did two studies on the same day. One of the studies was listening to what looked like an M&M talk in a normal voice to what looked like old cell phone service bars which would move up and down when it spoke (in beeping sounds). After a couple of conversations between the M&Ms and the bars the screen changed to just the bars and their beeping sounds. The point of this study was to see whether Izzy at almost 6 months old could tell that it was a different language. She squirmed a bit during this study so it was hard to tell.

The second study that day was about impossible shapes. For instance- there would be a line that would move behind a square on the screen and you would only see the parts of the line that weren't blocked by the square. That was considered "normal" or "possible." But the screen then showed impossible things like the line going behind the square and missing a different part of the line that you should have seen (it's hard to describe). If Izzy stared at the "impossible" event longer (which she did), it was because her brain recognized that it was not normal. It's amazing that at almost six months she could already figure that out!

The final study that Izzy participated in was another language study after she turned six months old. I was sent four different instrumental songs- a jazz song, a piano song, a trumpet song, and another one that I can't remember. For a couple of weeks I was supposed to play any one of the songs the prescribed times per week to Izzy while she was calm and paying attention (I generally did it before bed while she was nursing). Interspersed into the songs every 30 seconds/1 minute or so were lemur sounds. It was a little jolting at first because you would be listening to this nice instrumental song and then suddenly you would hear high pitched shrieking, but Izzy didn't seem to mind it and would be very curious (especially in the beginning) at the sounds coming out of my phone. When we finally went in to do the study similar music was played with the lemur sounds. The purpose was to investigate the role of experience in how infants link sounds with meaning during language and conceptual development.

Each time Izzy and I went in to do a study she could get a onesie (we only took one once) and a free book. She also got a certificate that "earned" her a degree every time she participated in a study (for instance she received a Bachelor of Arts degree when she was only three months old)! It was really cute.

In the end, we had to stop doing the studies because it was a 30 minute trip to the school each way and it was always a rush to get there after work but Izzy got a few books that she loves and she earned the title of Professor after her last study! If a local university has a program like this I would highly recommend it. It was fascinating for me to learn how much babies really can figure out at such a young age and I was glad that I could help out the graduate program with their studies.

Have you every participated in a study at your local college/university? 

Christmas Eve

Tonight after singing to Izzy, I will kiss her goodnight way too many times, tell her I love her, and tell her that I will see her in the morning. It is a ritual that I perform every night I put her to bed. I am thankful every day that she is in our lives. This Christmas, like last Christmas, will be even more fun with her presence and I assume that she won't sleep most of the day away like she did last time! As I mentioned before, I have a new appreciation for the holidays now that she is here. They are simply going to be more fun.

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I am very excited about all of the pregnancies of people on my blog roll. And to everyone that is still trying- I hope that 2015 is your year!

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Despite starting the process to get my meds last week my insurance company couldn't get the Lupron order processed until 3pm yesterday. By that time my doctor's office and I made the decision to order from Freedom Pharmacy as we recognized that they would have no problems getting it to us by today. I am currently waiting for the package to arrive from FedEx and I will start the Lupron shots on the 30th while we are in Europe.

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We leave tomorrow for Spain so this will be my last live post for almost two weeks. I tried to schedule some posts while I was gone but only was able to put up two between getting ready for the holidays and being sick. Please think of us tomorrow and hope that we brought enough snacks and things to distract Izzy as we fly from Chicago to Vienna and then onto Barcelona! I hope that everyone has a great Christmas and New Years and I will see you guys in 2015!

Glad I am not the only one

Every time I heard Iggy Azalea's song "Black Widow" on the radio, I was so confused. Why is this woman talking about a black widdle baby? Why is she is using baby talk in the middle of a song? The lyrics are sort of offensive. Could she be saying something else? 

OHHHHHHHHH she is saying that she is a black WIDOW. Oh that makes MUCH more sense. 

Thankfully, I feel better that I am not the only one that thought this. Someone on YouTube put together all of the misheard song lyrics on some of the biggest songs of the year and Black Widow was one of them. They are actually pretty funny- check it out:

Did you mishear any song lyrics this year?

Microblog Mondays

I feel like the next month is going to fly by pretty quickly and suddenly I will be looking down the barrel of my frozen transfer. That's right- the saline sonogram showed a 1+ inch fibroid behind my uterus but everything else looked good so the January 28th transfer is a go!

I'm currently fighting with my insurance company to hurry up and send me the vial of Lupron prior to Thursday (when we leave for Spain) as I have to start giving myself daily injections on the 30th. The rest of the meds get to wait until I come back from our trip.

My body has cooperated so far....will my insurance screw all of this up?

Want to read more Microblog Mondays or find out what it is all about? Go here.

Back on drugs

Monday was Day 3 so I went in for bloodwork and an ultrasound. Everything looked good so today I started birth control! I am curious to see if the pills are going to make me crazy as I had one brand do that to me in law school....I guess we will find out soon enough? I told CP that I wanted him to let me know if I was acting "off" during the next month or so- which he then had me videotape and send to him so that he had proof that I asked him to do so. LOL.

Tomorrow I start three days of antibiotics to make sure that I don't get an infection from the saline sonogram on Friday.

Yesterday I got a call from the nurse asking if January 28th is an okay day to transfer. I thought that the transfer was going to happen a little earlier in the month but the 28th works out a little better for CP's travel schedule since basically as soon as we get back from Spain in January, he has to leave for Thailand again (for possibly three weeks). It's crazy that with a frozen transfer the office is able to pinpoint a day for the transfer so far in advance.

The next hurdle is the sonogram on Friday. I am not as worried about the fibroid because during my ultrasound on Monday, the ultrasound tech found it and it is only a little over an inch. I assume that is not big enough to trigger another surgery. The other cool thing that the tech found? She was able to see my c-section scar which she said is small and healed well. While I wasn't a fan of my OB's bedside manner, the fact that the c-section went perfectly and literally everyone that has checked out my external and internal scars said that she did an excellent job, I will be going back to her if I am able to get pregnant again.

Wish me luck on Friday!

Microblog Mondays- We have a WALKER!

Izzy took a few unassisted steps before her birthday but it was always when she was distracted- as soon as she would realize what she was doing she would plop down on her butt. However, after last night I would say that we have an official walker! We were just hanging out with Izzy in the kitchen and she stood up and looked at CP. Her look was a bit different than usual and something told me to start taping her. Sure enough instead of plopping down to crawl or knee-walk across the floor she decided to walk over to CP instead!

We are proud parents today!


Want to read more Microblog Mondays? Go here.

My current obsessions

The Mindy Project

A couple of months ago CP and I ditched our cable in order to try to save some money. We kept the broadcast channels and HBO (for Game of Thrones obviously) and dropped our bill more than $100. We miss Monday Night Football but for the most part cable hasn't been missed too much because we have Netflix and Hulu Plus. With CP being gone in China this past week I decided that I wanted to check out a new show. I had actually seen the first couple of episodes of The Mindy Project when it came out but dismissed it. My sister was always raving about it so I thought I would give it another shot. Well, I am now almost through the second season and I have stayed up way too late this week watching episodes. However, I am totally in love with Mindy's character and think that she is hilarious. If you are not watching this show you should be. 

Harney & Sons Hot Cinnamon Spice Tea

As an early birthday present after our 5k last weekend, my parents got me a massage. The spa asked if I wanted any tea beforehand and I happened to pick out a hot cinnamon spice tea that I ended up LOVING. I loved it so much I took another tea bag home so that I could mount a search for the tea myself. No need as I ended up finding it at the local grocery store- score! It's black tea so it has some caffeine in it which is great because it is a whole lot more "natural" than a Starbucks refresher (although I do love those) and doesn't have the pounds and pounds of sugar that a Starbucks Chai Tea Latte or a Dunkin Donuts Hot Chocolate would have. 

Mmmm delicious

Booties for Izzy

It sounds sort of funny that I would be obsessed with booties that are for Izzy but these things are seriously awesome. Izzy likes to take off any and all socks as soon as I put them on. We have given up on bringing her in socks for daycare and since she is not walking yet, she isn't required to wear shoes. However, it's 20 degrees out these days and although it's a short walk from the car into daycare, bringing my child in with no socks or shoes would make me look like an awful parent- I also wouldn't want her feet to be cold. The answer? These booties. I found them on Amazon for $8 and Izzy is unable to take them off. They are easy for me to put on and take off AND they keep her feet warm.

Sorry for the small picture

Rainbow Clips

Again, obsessed with something for Izzy? Well when your child has hair as long as Izzy you need to do something with it. Every day it either gets pulled up into a small elastic band or she gets a barrette. I also found these clips on Amazon and they do a great job of holding Izzy's hair back while also staying in place (we take them out before she naps).

Serial Podcast

Finally, is anyone else as obsessed with this podcast? After hearing so much about it I finally started listening two weeks ago. I ran through 9 episodes in three days thanks to my commute into work and long walks with Buster. Yesterday I listened to the second to last episode and I am truly wondering how the podcast will end. There are so many unanswered questions! Personally, I think that although I don't believe that Adnan had a motive to kill Hae, I have no idea why Jay would talk to the police and tell them all of that information if Adnan didn't do it. Although Jay got out of a prison time, he still has a mark on his record. OR Jay is the killer and figured that by telling the police that someone else did it (but admitted to helping the person a little) that he could get off for the major crime and not look like a suspect. But then what is Jay's motive for killing Hae?

I think that the other reason that I am obsessed with Serial is if Adnan is innocent, then he is living my worst nightmare. Maybe I read/watched too many stories about innocent people getting framed for crimes and then going to jail when I was younger but I have ALWAYS been worried that this would happen to me. Then there was the episode where it was mentioned that innocent people are not helpful in their own defense because they don't know anything about the crime and that would totally be me! Not to mention my memories these days is awful. Yep. Worse nightmare.

What are you loving these days??

**As always, I was not asked to review or compensated for writing about any of these products.**

Annual Pretty Princess Day

Yesterday was my annual Pretty Princess Day (want to know why I call my birthday my Pretty Princess Day? Go here). I'll be honest- it was a lonely day but in the end I couldn't feel too bad about my life.

I worked from home yesterday which meant getting to sleep in a bit. Izzy and I Facetimed with CP before I brought her into daycare...unfortunately CP forgot that it was my birthday until I reminded him (he is in China this week)- bad husband! I soon couldn't feel too sorry for myself because prior to a luncheon speech I had to give for work, I was taken on a tour of a homeless shelter. I have worked in plenty of soup kitchens but this was my first homeless shelter so it was very eye-opening. When I arrived home there were balloons tied to our front door and two cupcakes dropped off by my next door neighbor. It made my day! After picking up Izzy from daycare I did my best to encourage her to say "mommy" or even "ma ma" for my birthday but to no avail. 

Izzy also enjoyed my balloons

Mmmm chocolate cupcake

I realized last night that as my birthdays tick on, they are more and more like regular days....and I guess that I am going to have to get used to that. If that is the least of my worries then I have a pretty good life. Here's to year 36.

First time back at the RE

As I mentioned last week, I was nervous for my first visit back to my RE since they released me to my OB early last year. I pulled into the parking lot and had to take a few deep breaths before I walked in. I brought a picture of Izzy to show the front desk ladies and my RE and everyone gushed over the picture. After filling out a few forms, I was called back to my RE's office. She hugged me which was awkward and weird because I literally saw her a total of two times during our first IVF cycle- during our consultation and when she did my saline sonogram. She didn't even do my retrieval or the transfer! However, I always said that I didn't need any hand-holding as long as she could get me pregnant. Because she held up her end of the bargain, I decided that I could allow the hug. :-)

The appointment didn't last long. She asked how my pregnancy went and then went into discussing a frozen transfer. The embryo that turned out to be Izzy was an AA embryo (the best you can have); the frozen embryo is a BB (partially because it was frozen on day 6 because it was a slightly slower grower). She said that they behave very similarly. With a BB embryo the thaw is successful 95-98% of the time which is encouraging. My chance of getting pregnant is a little lower than two years ago but because it is a quality embryo, she gave us a 50% shot.

My RE did mention that although she doesn't see it too often, if my insurance company says that this frozen transfer will count as a retrieval (I get two more fresh cycles through insurance), then she recommended that I do a fresh cycle to make sure that I don't lose one. CP and I completely agree....although it would be really dumb for my insurance to do that. We'll see. 

The best news of all is that I got in to see her in the nick of time and if everything goes well we can do a January transfer (thus why the Santa Hustle 5K may be my last race for a while)! I should be getting my period any day now so I head in for my day 3 bloodwork and dildo cam ultrasound whenever that happens. Then on the 19th my doctor will do a saline sonogram to check out the contents of my uterus and the fibroid. If everything is okay with my tests then I will go on birth control to control my cycle, start giving myself shots of Lupron (the devil drug), inject myself for two weeks with estrogen, stick some progesterone up my vagina and have the transfer in mid January! The only annoying thing is that I will have to bring Lupron and needles on our trip to Spain, but I don't think that will be too big of a deal.

I left the appointment feeling SO hopeful which worries me. I am going to do my best to stay positive and hopefully we don't hit any obstacles along the way.

12 months

Height: 26"

Weight: 23 pounds

Milestones: This month Izzy starting standing on her own from a seated position for a few seconds before plopping down to her butt (not using furniture to help her up). With 6 days left of technically being an infant, she took three steps all by herself. Since then she has taken a few one or two steps by herself before plopping down on her butt once again. It seems like if she is only half paying attention to what she is doing then she will take steps...then she realizes it and sits down. LOL. She seems to be a bit cautious so although she can do it, it may be a little bit longer before we have an official walker. Otherwise her favorite way of getting around is shuffling on her knees.

She also learned to put stacking toys on a stick. Every time she does this she claps for herself which is so adorable.

Clapping for herself after putting the red circle on the stick

A random milestone would be that sometimes when she is sitting down she will use her legs to turn herself in a circle. It's hilarious.

Language: I'm glad that we have continued signing because Izzy is finally uses the signs a bit more. She consistently signs "milk", "all done", and "eat." She understands Izzy, milk, Buster, Daddy, water, Mommy, up, kiss, ball, book, and dog when we say them. Izzy says "uh oh" when she drops something on the floor. We also taught her to say "nom nom nom" while eating which is hilarious.

Personality: She has been quite clingy recently; holding her arms up in the touchdown position to be picked up a lot. I don't mind the extra snuggling even though she is getting heavy! She continues to be more of an observer of everything- other people, other kids, dogs, cars, etc.

She isn't quick to smile or laugh, but once you get her going, it hard for her to stop. She loves to give hugs to her stuffed animals and lots of open-mouth kisses. She doesn't give us as many kisses, but when she starts she then attacks you with open-mouth kisses. Hilarious and wet.

Going in for a juicy kiss with Winnie the Pooh

Teeth: A seventh tooth finally poked through this month. Now she has four on top and three on the bottom.

Favorite Toy: Most likely the "house" that was given to us from one of my high school friends. Izzy loves to push the doorbell, turn on the light, and open/close the mailbox. Unfortunately it has a few songs that I can't get out of my head so I often find myself singing them at work. :-/

Sleeping Habits: Still a good sleeper although she is having more trouble getting to sleep these days. Even if she is ready to go to bed as soon as we put her down in her crib she pops up to a standing position for at least a few minutes. We generally get her down around 7:30 and she sleeps through the night. If she is going to daycare she has a 6:30 wakeup, on the weekends we let her sleep as long as she wants (usually 7:30-8). We generally get one solid (1.5-3 hr) nap on the weekends. At daycare she usually only gets one nap for about 1-1.5 hours a day.

"Playing" the alligator xylophone 

Eating:  She is still obsessed with fruit. Her eating habits are a bit frustrating as one day she will love whatever we feed her for dinner and then the next day she is not interested. She is too young to be picky! This month she is still eating 4 6oz bottles of formula.

One-handed like a boss

Diapers: Seventh Generation Size 4 diapers during the day and Pampers Overnight Size 4 before she goes to sleep.

Clothes:  Some 12 month clothing, some 18 month clothing!

Illness: Izzy puked twice at daycare this month (same day), but didn't have any stomach issues and seemed normal. I got her home and slowly fed her Pedialyte which she chugged down (it smelled like nasty cough syrup to me- ewww) with no problems. With the colder weather her dry spots are coming out and we are needing to use more of her prescription cream, but otherwise she is doing well.

Other highlights: First Thanksgiving where she ate some turkey and mashed potatoes. Her grandmother from NH (CP's mom) flew out for Thanksgiving and her birthday and got to spend quality time with Izzy.

Microblog Mondays- Santa Hustle 5K

This past weekend my mom and I ran in the Santa Hustle 5K. The swag included a dri-fit sweatshirt, a Santa beard, and a Santa hat. It was pretty hilarious.

I didn't have much of an expectation for the race as I haven't been able to run too much since the 15K- preparing for my MIL's visit, Thanksgiving, Izzy's birthday, being out of town in NYC, etc. cut into my free time. I also didn't sleep well the night before. But, Izzy and I got up early on Saturday, drove down to the city so that my dad could watch Izzy (CP left for China that morning) while we ran our race. 

I would definitely do the race again. They let waves go every few minutes which was nice. My mom and I lined up at 11:30 although I thought that we would be fine lining up at the 11 minute mile marker. We headed towards the middle so that all of the other bodies would keep us sheltered from the wind! The race started at Soldier Field and headed south for the first half of the race, then we turned around and ran along the lake front. I appreciated the funny signs along the way (for example- a picture of the Grumpy Cat with the words "I ran once. It was awful."). For the "rest stops" they had chocolate chip cookies and tiny M&Ms (I grabbed both). :-)

I don't have my exact splits because Nike+ thinks that I only ran 4.91K and not 5K, but my time was 33:56 so my pace was 10:56/mile. Woo hoo! Considering I walked through eating the M&Ms, the water stop, and there was a headwind second half of the race I'm happy about my time.

This may be my last race for a while....

Lots of Santas

Want to read more Microblog Mondays? Go here.

Nervous musings

Today I am officially back on the infertility rollercoaster. In a few hours I have a consultation with my RE about trying for a second child. Although it is just a consultation, I am already getting nervous.

I was tremendously lucky to get pregnant and have Izzy through not only my first and only IVF cycle, but on my first transfer. Not knowing the heartbreak of a failed cycle or transfer is of course great, but it worries me that I am simply going to expect that this frozen transfer will go just as swimmingly and CP and I will be done with expanding our family in the next year or so. In reality, there are so many things that have to go well for this to happen. Can I really hope that lightening will strike twice for us?

Am I ready to ride the rollercoaster again? As much as CP is a fantastic father, he is not the most supportive husband while going through treatments. When I was in physical pain, for instance after my fibroid/endo surgery or after the retrieval, he was great. He took care of me and understood when I was not physically able to do anything. But the harder part is the mental aspect of the rollercoaster. You have hormones coursing through your body and you just feel different. Lupron made me depressed, not interested in working out, and just plain grumpy- and that was just one of the drugs that has now spent time in my body so far. Going through the two week waits after the three IUIs and the IVF transfer were difficult but he didn't understand why I was anxious and constantly thinking about it.

Maybe now that we have Izzy and he knows just how much is at stake he will be a bit more supportive while we go through this frozen cycle? But what if we don't make it to the frozen cycle for a few months? Now that our consultation date has been pushed back to today, a January frozen transfer will not be likely to happen. If it doesn't happen in January, CP wants to play God and push it off until May because fall is very busy with family birthdays, the holidays, etc. and he doesn't want a second child's birthday to be close to Izzy's birthday. I have argued that it is possible that I may need surgery based on the fibroid that is still lurking behind my uterus which would push us back a few months anyway. I have argued that if the frozen transfer doesn't work and we need to go into a fresh cycle we are now working with 36 year old eggs (as opposed to the 34 year old frozen egg in the embryo) and we already know that I am not a great responder to the medications. And really who cares if the birthdays are close together? So why are we unnecessarily pushing everything back?

*sigh* Maybe I should have a drink before I head into my consultation?

I am also disturbed

Yesterday I was reading through blog posts on my commute home and found a hilarious one (as always) from The Bloggess. I guess the new thing is to put your first name + the word "meme" into Google to see what comes up. So I decided to do it myself.

Awww that's sweet. Dos Equis is one of my favorite beers too!

While this is true, how does Dave Chapelle know this? Hmmmm that's odd.

Well, you don't have to yell but yes, I am pretty happy right now.

I'm going to pass Gene. I'm married and you are a much older man so I can only imagine how saggy your balls are.

Wow Ryan Gosling, how did you know that my birthday is coming up next week? I don't gush over you as much as other women...but if you turned into say....Chris Pratt this picture would make me very happy.

Thanks Most Interesting Man in the World. Again, not sure how you knew that it was my birthday next week but I think that you are trying to tell me that I need to drink some Dos Equis on my birthday, huh?

This started out kind of scary, but this is a good one. Too bad I don't play WWF anymore....

Whoa buddy! This is quite forward. Again, I think that I will have to pass but thank you for the painful offer.

This meme just makes me sad that whoever put it together doesn't know how to spell friend. I hope that the misspelling was done on purpose.

Why yes Ryan, I do...but with my husband....and only one more baby thank you.

I don't even understand this one. Don't be porn? The love misspelling? If you are worried about space why wouldn't you use luv?

Does your first name + meme bring up with any funny or disturbing memes?

Izzy turns ONE

Saturday morning Izzy slept in until almost 8am, not realizing that she had a busy day in front of her- her BIRTHDAY!

My rockin' hairstyle after waking up

Cuddling with bear prior to drinking her bottle

The night before I blew up some birthday balloons and after changing Izzy's diaper and feeding her a bottle, I threw her back in her crib with the balloons. She thought they were fascinating and so much fun!

The day was obviously all about Izzy so I took Buster on a quick run so that he wouldn't go nuts upstairs while the party was going on and CP fed Izzy all of her favorites for breakfast- banana, strawberries, and Cheerios. The whole time she couldn't stop staring at the big balloon on the back of her highchair!

Another balloon!

Checking out the birthday decor

I also printed out all of her monthly pictures and strung them along the mantle

Afterwards we played with her in the hope that she would get tired and go down for an early nap since people were arriving at 1pm. I snapped this adorable picture before her nap.

Spot, I don't feel like a toddler.

Thankfully Izzy fell asleep around 11:15 so I had time to make the cream cheese icing for the carrot cake I made the night before and then slap it on the cake. 

A cake decorator I am not....

We had to wake the poor little lady up a little over an hour later (she usually takes a 2-3 hour nap) to give her a quick bath and then get her ready for the big party. Everyone arrived and starting eating all of CP's delicious food. We then moved into the living room to open presents. Some of the older kids wanted to help open the presents so Izzy only really got to "help" with the last present. It didn't really bother her though because the first present was a truck that makes noises and drops balls so she was infatuated with that from the start. 

She was very excited to get this cheetah stuffed animal from my sister.

After presents we sang to Izzy and then ate some cake. Everyone enjoyed the carrot cake, including Izzy!

Mmmmm sugar.

Last picture of the day- Izzy playing on the stairs in her dirty birthday shirt.

First Turkey Day

Last year Izzy was born only one day after Thanksgiving so this year was her first Turkey Day! It was a nice, low key day with just my parents and my mother in law joining us for the holiday. Izzy enjoyed CP's mashed potatoes and some turkey but wasn't too excited about any of the dishes. 

After dinner and dessert we watched "Elf." Izzy was up for the first 15-20 minutes of the movie and surprisingly, she sat quietly and watched the movie before we took her up to bed. I can't wait for another few years when she will want to watch the entire movie (it is my favorite holiday movie and one that I have to watch at least once).

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I had a lot to be thankful for on Thanksgiving, but on Wednesday I got great news in the form of a phone call from my RE. The RE insurance person called and said that my referral FINALLY went through (we have been working on this since late September). I had to have lots of blood drawn to update all of my tests and two painful pap smears (I had my period during the first one and there was too much blood), but I am good to go with my RE consultation on Friday! The insurance person ended the conversation with "welcome back!" Welcome back indeed.

Want to read more Microblog Mondays? Go here.

Thanksgiving tomorrow

Turkey Day is tomorrow and as I have already mentioned, I can't wait! CP started cooking for the meal this past weekend while Izzy slept and while I drank my face off in NYC.

I love looking back on our various Thanksgiving menus to see what has changed and what we always have. For instance, I love that we always start the meal with a soup. This year CP and my mom will be preparing the following:

Brined Turkey (in the oven, not smoked like last year)

Gravy

Butternut Squash Bisque

Green Beans (I think CP is planning on making them unhealthy with bacon)

Mashed potatoes (I shot down CP making both mashed potatoes AND a sweet potato dish)

Stuffing

Salad

Pie/tart (not quite sure what kind my mom is making- probably pear)

It's a smaller meal than usual this year since it will only be 5 adults and Izzy but I'm okay with that. CP also decided to get a smaller 10 pound turkey which I'm kind of bummed about because that means we won't have a lot of leftovers.

It's so crazy to think that last year I was 39 weeks, 1 day pregnant on Thanksgiving! I know that I say this every year but man what a difference a year makes!!

Curious about our previous menus?  Here is 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, and 2009.  What does your menu look like this year?