Next steps

I miscarried the weekend of March 13th. Man that seems like a lifetime ago. The frozen transfer and the subsequent short pregnancy just feel like a bad dream.

After my follow-up ultrasound, the nurse said that I would get a period within 2-3 weeks.That period has gone missing until today. I'm fairly certain that I ovulated over two weeks ago which I thought was odd, but after the usual 10 day luteal phase, my period was still missing. 

Yesterday I headed to the RE to see what was going on. My hormones were quiet and my lining was still very thick. I was given a prescription for Provera to help induce my period and it worked rather quickly!

So tomorrow I will have an ultrasound and bloodwork done for my baseline. I have a consult with my RE on May 15th to go over the frozen transfer/miscarriage and to discuss the next fresh cycle. Hopefully CP will be able to make that appointment as well. I will have a saline sonogram to make sure my uterus looks okay on May 29th. It all depends on this period. We are hoping for a heavy flow to get rid of my lining so that I don't have to have a hysteroscopy (when the RE has to scrape the lining out of your uterus while you are under sedation. This is not a great procedure for those of us with endo so I'm hoping that we don't have to go that route.)

From there, who knows? Based on how long it took for me to get my period and how long it will take to get through all of these procedures before I even start any drugs, I would say I won't need to worry about the positive CMV test.....so that's at least a plus. So maybe a June or July fresh cycle? I know that tomorrow is already May but that seems so far away.

17 months!

Height: ?

Weight: 27+ lbs

New Tricks: Izzy is getting much better at using a fork and spoon to pick up food. Sometimes if she is getting frustrated she will pick up the food with her hands and put it on the fork and then try to shove it in her mouth before it falls off. She wants to replicate everything we do so when I spit after brushing my teeth, she tries to do the same (although she fails). She continues to push herself at the park and this past weekend went up a metal ladder all by herself (last time she tried it she put her feet through the holes and didn't get very far).

Playing in the sand at the park

Cute things: In past few months, bedtime has been the same routine and then kissing various stuffed animals and things around the room before I can put her in her crib. This month she doesn't want to kiss anything but as soon as she gets in her crib she takes her four items- a stuffed bear, a stuffed bunny, a dog lovey, and a pig lovey- and stuffs all of them one-by-one through the crib bars for me to kiss. The funny thing is that she has a different routine for CP when he puts her to bed!

Also, Izzy is obsessed with trains. We see them daily but whenever she sees them when we are at the park she flaps her arms (her cue that she is very excited) and runs over to the fence yelling "CHOO CHOO."

Language: New signs this month- please, thank you. New words- flower (fla-wa), book (bak), hi, all done (ahh dah), turtle (urt-ell), water (wa wa), dog, outside. She generally doesn't put two signs together but this month she said "more please" at the park which was awesome.

Playing drums at the kid's museum

Personality: When she wants to know where something/someone is she will throw out her hands and say "duh?" in a high pitched voice. She is definitely starting to test us as she knows that she isn't supposed to put things in the dog water bowl but loves to put toys, her shoes (while they are on), and hands in it all the time. She is starting to get a little bit of separation anxiety this month- ever since she has been at daycare Izzy has been VERY happy to see us when we come pick her up and indifferent to getting dropped off. But now the situations are reversed- now sad to see us go and wants to be picked up again before we leave, and rather indifferent when we pick her up.

Teeth: Four more teeth- all of her cuspids coming in this month!

Favorite Toy: I picked up a Tickle Me Elmo and a Cookie Monster toy from a local woman who was selling them secondhand. While it breaks my rule of only really buying "active" toys (ones that kids actually have to use their imagination and think instead of the toy doing everything for you- think blocks), the two together were only $5 and I thought she would like them. Turns out she is obsessed with the Cookie Monster toy especially. He comes with three cookies that you feed into his mouth while he talks to you. I've created a monster!

Such a little trendsetter- an octopus sand bucket purse.

Favorite Book: The Pout-Pout Fish. Izzy has become very picky about what books we read every night. If I pick one up and she doesn't want to read it then she will push it away and say "nah" and I have to find another book. I have started to say "one more book" and put my pointer finger in the air after we have read too many and it is time to go to bed.....so now she constantly points her pointer finger in the air to ask for "one more." I absolutely LOVE that she is so into books but I am starting to be able to quote most of them in my sleep so we may need to get her some more....

17 months is pretty early for road rage....may want to lay off the horn Izzy!

Sleeping Habits: Izzy generally falls asleep anywhere from 7:30-8 and most nights sleeps through the night. Most days she will take one two hour nap starting around 12:30 or 1. One night we had the fire alarm go off three times in the middle of the night (she has an alarm in her room) and she slept through each one of them (amazing!).

Eating: Getting better with her spoon and fork but man it is still such a mess. We continue to try to get her to eat more veggies without much success. She likes peas, sweet potatoes, eggplant (in baba ganoush), spinach (in quiche). I may start hiding things in her food..... This month she realized that sauces are lots of fun because we went out to dinner and ordered her BBQ chicken. She ate a lot of the BBQ sauce and not much of the chicken. :-/

Spoon work with yogurt

Diapers: Seventh Generation Size 4 diapers during the day. Halfway through the month we switched to Pampers Overnight Size 5. Moved into a size 6 shoe.

Clothes:  18 month clothes, some 2T clothes

Illness: Ruptured ear drum and an ear infection. Viral rash at the end of the month.

Other highlights: We have a soft serve ice cream place near our house and on the first nice Friday this month we headed there after dinner. Because CP and I were technically sick with CMV, we got Izzy her own vanilla soft serve cone. She LOVED it. 

First trip to a local farm to see animals in person!

First Easter Egg hunt.

You are not alone

This week is National Infertility Awareness Week. I may only have a few family members and friends that know about our troubles to get pregnant, but the more people I open up to over the years, the less alone I have felt.

I always had an inkling that it would be tough for me to get pregnant. My crazy heavy periods were my clue, but every GYN I spoke to about them didn't think that it was worth investigating. After a year of trying on our own, CP and I started to get some tests done and we found out that we have both male and female factor infertility.

Three years of timed intercourse, doctors visits, major surgery to remove fibroids and endometriosis, getting violated by the dildo cam more times than I can count, 3 unsuccessful IUIs, lots of expensive drugs, and one IVF cycle has led to my amazing daughter Izzy and a recent miscarriage. Unfortunately I'm sure I will continue to add to this list as we try to complete our family with a second child.

I may not talk about infertility quite as much these days because of Izzy but it doesn't mean that I never think about it and others that are going through similar hardships in an effort to get pregnant. The best thing I ever did was to find other infertiles on the internet. Reading about their journey, even if it was quite different than mine, and being able to write about my journey has helped me feel less alone.

If you feel comfortable, reach out to a few close friends or family to talk about what you are going through. See if there is a Resolve group near you and attend a meeting- meeting other ladies in my area that could validate my feelings and understand what I was going through was also very helpful.

Unfortunately because 1 out of 8 couples these days has trouble getting pregnant, there are many of us out there even if we are not completely open about it. I have been shocked with the number of people in my life that I have learned are also infertile.

Please know that you are not alone.

Yay me!

I did it! I actually woke up with CP at 5:30am this morning, got dressed while he jumped in the shower, and did Level 1 of the 30 Day Shred. I can practically recite all of the Jillian's speeches during the workout. 

I'm sad to say that it has been a while since I did any sort of weight training. I tried 30 Day Shred twice after having Izzy but I was still breastfeeding and the bouncing was hard on my body. I am sick of being so jiggly everywhere- especially in my stomach above my c-section scar so it's high time I work on my whole body- not just my legs! Since my only form of exercise these days has been a lot of walking and picking up Izzy, it was definitely a bit more difficult than I remember. But it felt GREAT to get my workout in before heading to work and I feel more awake this morning. Now the question is if I can keep this up as we all know that the first day is the easiest....

My goal is to do it every weekday morning while taking a break on the weekends. In the shower I could already feel tired in my arms and my legs were not super happy with me when I had to run to catch my train this morning. I assume tomorrow will be rough as well- we'll see!

Microblog Mondays

It's Monday and it's raining so it's a bullet kind of a day....

-On Friday CP went in for a follow up dr appointment- he also tested positive for Parvo/ Fifth's Disease. At this point it is just piling it on, but it is because his immune system is so shot. He is starting to feel better but still has a lot of fatigue. He went into work today (first time in three weeks!) because his fevers are gone- hopefully he lasts the entire day!

-I went bra shopping last week because the underwire was about to poke through on all of my bras. Sadly, I now measure as a 38H. Izzy didn't do a good enough job draining my boobs and now they are bigger. :-(

-On Saturday we took Izzy to a local farm to see some of the farm animals that she can make noises for. We saw horses, sheep, cows, pigs, and chickens. (She can't say oink yet but the rest of them she does great impressions of their sounds.) She looked a little dumbfounded to have them right in front of her which was hilarious.

Hi chicken!

-Yesterday we heard that it was going to rain all afternoon so we took Izzy to the park for about 2.5 hours between breakfast and lunch! She had a great time on the playground, running around the baseball fields, and playing in the large sandpit. Her afternoon nap then lasted over three hours and then she went to bed a little early as well!! It was pretty obvious that we did a great job tiring her out. :-)

First time on the teeter-totter

-Today we started a new weekday routine to see how it goes. CP is able to get out of work at the same time every day and doesn't have to worry about late trains. Recently I was having to call him to pick up Buster and Izzy at daycare a lot....so we are trying out switching up our roles. This morning he got up at 5:30 and before leaving for work took Buster out and feed him. I woke up at 6, showered, got ready for work, ate breakfast, and then went upstairs to grab Izzy. I then dropped her and Buster off and caught a slightly later train. CP will do the pickups on his way home today. Tonight I hope to set up the DVD player with 30 Day Shred and just wake up with CP to do the Shred every morning. I wake up with his alarm anyway....

-According to my PCP I should wait "a few months" before trying to get pregnant because I tested positive for CMV. She consulted with an infectious disease doctor and a MFM. I may ask to get another bloodtest in a month or two to see if I still have an active virus in me just to make sure. I pretty much feel almost 100% already....just a little tired.

Positive

You have got to be f*cking kidding me. That's right kids now I have tested positive for CMV! Hooray!

Thankfully I am just feeling a little tired and having stomach issues...no fever or rash so far and I'm still at work armed with Immodium if I have to take more. Please please don't let me get any more symptoms.

*sigh*

I have a call into the doctor to see what this means. Do I need to come in for liver testing to see if I have an enlarged liver like CP too? Do I need to get tested again in a few weeks to make sure that I don't have active CMV before getting pregnant? How long will we have to push off getting pregnant?

This is truly not what I needed right now.

Four

Today it's rainy in Chicago and my household is still sick so it's a meme kind of day....

Four jobs I’ve had:  
1.  Tennis teacher at a country club (summer between freshman and sophomore year of college)
2.  Sold tickets at the Philadelphia Eagles training camp (two summers at college)
3.  Promotional rep for various brands in clubs/bars in Philly (side job after college because I wasn't making enough money at my day job)
4.  Sales for Canon copier leases.

Four movies I’ve watched more than once:
1.  Goonies
2.  The 40 Year Old Virigin
3.  50 First Dates
4.  The Neverending Story

Four books I’d recommend:
1.  The Girl on the Train- Hawkins
2.  Devil in the White City- Larson
3.  1Q84- Murakami
4.  The Omnivore's Dilemma- Pollan

Four places I’ve lived:
1.  Connecticut
2. Illinois
3.  Colorado
4.  Pennslyvania

Four places I’ve visited:
1. Arctic Circle, AK
2. Argentina
3. Mozambique
4.  Bermuda

Four things I prefer not to eat:
1. Olives
2. Pepperoni
3. Honeydew melon
4. Dark chocolate

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Corn
2. Pineapple
3. Bananas
4. Salmon

Four TV shows I watch
1. Grey’s Anatomy
2. Orange is the New Black
3. Bloodline (new Netflix series that CP and I just finished- very good!)
4. The Good Wife

Four things I’m looking forward to this year:
1.  Trip to central WI with friends in August

2. Starting a new IVF cycle and hopefully getting pregnant again

3.  Fresh veggies from our garden
4.  Playing outside with Izzy this summer

Four things I’m always saying:
1. Don't stick your hand/foot in Buster's water (to Izzy of course)
2. In your mouth (as opposed to throwing it on the floor- again to Izzy during meals)
3. Lie down (to Buster of course)
4. I love you (to CP, Izzy, Buster, parents, etc)

Sick household

Unfortunately my "stomach issues" (to put it delicately) have continued so this morning I went to get a blood test to see if I have active CMV as well. Fingers crossed I don't have it and just ate something funny....

Meanwhile, CP was sitting with Izzy last night and saw a weird trail of somewhat liquidy-orange stuff coming out of her ear. Daycare said that she had been acting funny and didn't nap well- which is very unusual for her- so we called the pediatrician. Thankfully they were able to fit us in between patients at 6:50pm. Unfortunately, Izzy has a ruptured ear drum and her second ear infection in just over a month. I didn't notice her pulling on her ear or doing any extra crying this weekend but she must have been in pain? She is such a trooper!

Meanwhile CP still has fevers, fatigue, stomach issues, chills, etc. but the good news is that his fevers aren't quite as high and his full-body rash may be going away.

Basically Buster is the only healthy member of this household right now. :-/

Home!

First off, thank you everyone for your kind thoughts the past few days. It's been quite stressful but I do have some good news- CP is home!! He was so happy to finally get released late yesterday. The final verdict? He tested positive for CMV (cytomegalovirus) and mononucleosis. 

So clearly nothing rare that he picked up from one of his trips around the world for work but still odd for him to get either virus. He previously had mono after college and the general rule is you only get it once but CP is one of the lucky ones to have it reactivate (generally that only happens to people that are immuno-suppressed). I had mono in college so I hope I won't have a reactivation as well.

As far as CMV, 50-80% of adults age 40 have dormant CMV- Chris' blood tests show that he has had it for a while and it is active again (that generally doesn't happen in healthy adults). He will get weekly blood draws to see if his liver is getting better (it is enlarged) and he will continue to feel like he was hit by a train for the next 2-3 weeks. Lots of hand washing around Izzy for the next couple of weeks in hopes that she doesn't get it. He finally got a good night sleep last night- hooray!

The hospital had me listed as still pregnant (grrrr) so the doctor was very worried about me. If you Google "CMV" most of what is out there is about CMV and pregnancy. Once I set him straight, the doctor seemed to think that I may already have dormant CMV in my body since I haven't gotten sick but the past two days I have had diarrhea and aching joints (maybe from walking around so much this weekend with Izzy?) so maybe he is wrong.

We talked about the desire to get pregnant again and the doctor said that I needed to find out my CMV results before doing so. I checked with my OB and unfortunately CMV is not something they usually screen for so I am checking with my RE but I would guess they don't test for that either. I will likely have to get a blood test to find out my results. If I don't have dormant CMV or if I have active CMV we have to wait to try to get pregnant because CMV causes lots of complications. It is probably best to wait until CP is 100% before trying to get pregnant anyway. The other problem is that with two+ weeks of a fever and generally being sick, CP's sperm are likely fried. Once again I thank my lucky stars that we decided not to discard his frozen sperm last month even though it is not a fantastic sample!

It's great to have CP home although he is still fatigued so he can help, but not 100%. Plus it is important that Izzy stay healthy....

Microblog Mondays

It's really frustrating to not have any answers on what is wrong with my husband. We hope that some test results and cultures come back today but who knows? I get that you can't rush cultures but what about some of the other tests? Just because it is the weekend shouldn't mean that things at a freakin' hospital come to a standstill!!

CP went in for a cat scan last night to try to rule out some possibilities. Since I can't be at the hospital when the doctor is making rounds I don't have a chance to talk to the doctor. I'm sure CP is asking some questions but is he asking the right questions? CP never seems to have answers to the questions that I am asking and has blind faith in the doctors at the hospital. He also is sometimes in the middle of a high fever and hasn't had a good night sleep in days so he probably isn't totally with it.

Argh. This Monday I am tired, frustrated, and worried about CP.

Want to read more Microblog Mondays? Go here. 

Day in the Life- Spring 2015

It's Day in the Life Spring 2015 edition! If you want to take part document one day before April 14th- the information needed is on My Life in Transition's DITL post.

CP: 38 years old
Me: 36 years old
Izzy: 16 months old
Buster: 4 years old

Without further ado, this was my day on Saturday, April 11th.

6:51- I awaken. I don't hear Izzy so I ponder showering quickly before she wakes up. Before I jump in the shower, I check how I slept last night according to the Fitbit- 6 hrs 59 min of sleep, 1 time awake for 3 min, 11 times restless for a total of 20 min. Once I am in the shower I see that I really need to shave my legs but don't want to take too long in the shower. Maybe tomorrow.

I choke down my egg quality supplements. I'm already sick of taking them.

After I get out of the shower I text CP to see if he is up and how last night went for him. He didn't sleep much and had a fever at 3:30am. 

I get dressed and head downstairs to let Buster out. I get annoyed because he makes me walk outside with him in my socks. I don't need to help you pee dude. After he is done I run downstairs to feed him and then pour milk for Izzy.

7:15- Back upstairs to grab Izzy and change her diaper. She is happy to see me and hands me all of her stuffed animals before I am allowed to pick her up.

Handing me Bunny

7:30- We head downstairs to Facetime with CP. Izzy half pays attention while we talk, mainly chugging her milk and playing with CP's hat.

7:50- Time for Sesame Street. It is sad that I think that the show is really fun to watch? After only 5 minutes we are interrupted with another Facetime call from CP.

8:15- Facetime is over and Izzy is getting whiny which means she is hungry. I make her a cinnamon raisin bagel with a little cream cheese and cut up strawberries. While she is confined in the high chair I make myself two over hard eggs and put them between two pieces of toast & some cheese.

8:40- Breakfast is done when Izzy starts throwing food and her water cup off the high chair while also trying to take off her bib. We head back into the sunroom to finish the Sesame Street episode.

This girl loves her Sesame Street

9:10- I decide that we need to get out of the house so I get Izzy dressed in real clothes and we head to the grocery store for milk.

9:40- After we get back I throw Izzy in the stroller and we take a walk with Buster. When I am walking both of them at the same time it's harder to control Buster when he starts to bark at other dogs so today I run away from other dogs as much as possible.

10:10- Back at home for an applesauce snack for Izzy. She uses the spoon for a little bit and then decides to just eat it with her hands. Awesome.

10:40- I grab her diaper bag and Izzy and I are off to walk to the library for music class.

10:55- We only have to walk two blocks but it takes us 15 minutes...partly because Izzy wants to stop and check everything out, partly because we are Facetiming with CP again.

Chugging water after that long walk

11- Music class at library starts. One of Izzy's daycare buddies is in the class as well and his mom and I talk beforehand. The class is for kids aged 12 months-24 months so it's not surprising that there are at least three visibly pregnant women in the class with their kids. It makes me sad because I could have been one of them. :-(

Izzy putting rain drops on the felt board at class

12- Class is over so we thank the teacher and head over to the park to play for a few minutes.

Slide!

It's a train! Choo choo! Trains are my favorite!

Super impressed that Izzy got up this all by herself

12:20- We head home with Izzy stopping to point out all of the flowers along the way. She only tries to run into the street once. :-/

"Flah-wah"

12:40- Back home and setting up lunch. Izzy gets chicken, mashed potatoes, two cut up prunes and half a pear. I have chicken, mashed potatoes and corn for lunch with water.

1- My next door neighbor stops by and we formulate a plan for Izzy watching so that I can go see CP at the hospital (kids under 6 are not allowed).

1:15- Lunch is over so we head upstairs. I put Izzy's clean clothes away while she spills milk on the floor and then spits up. I change her shirt, wipe up the milk spill, check her diaper, read Giraffes Can't Dance, change liner of diaper genie, and sing my usual three songs (You are my Sunshine, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle).

Big fan of this book- it's fun to read!

Izzy doesn't look like she is ready for her nap....

1:30- I leave the room to let Izzy sleep. While upstairs, I gather items CP wants (razor, shaving cream, floss) but can't find his shorts. I take Buster out and check out the progress of our garden beds.

1:53- I check the monitor and see Izzy still walking around her crib. Go to sleep! I spend a few minutes tries to catch up on this post. Thankfully Izzy is asleep by 2pm but a few minutes later Buster starts barking and it wakes her up and I can see her peering over the side of her crib to investigate. Thankfully she is back sleeping in a few minutes and I leave the monitor with my next door neighbor.

2:15- I arrive at the hospital to see CP. Personnel are supposed to wear masks when in his room according to a sign outside his door but I kiss him anyway. He has been sick for two weeks now- if Izzy and I don't have what he has then he is not contagious. The nurse assistant comes in to take his temperature- 101.3. Nurse comes in with Tylenol a little later. There isn't much to do but talk and try to make him laugh.

3:45- Izzy usually takes about a two hour nap so I head home to relieve my neighbor.

4:15- Izzy is still sleeping so I take Buster out to play with him but he was not super interested. So instead I pick up his poop in the backyard.

(You're welcome for not taking a picture of all of Buster's poop)

4:25- As soon as I am done with the poop I hear Izzy on the monitor. I throw the poop bag out, wash my hands and head upstairs. I change her diaper and we head downstairs for snack.

4:40- It's such a nice day out I decide to take Izzy to the other park in our area. Izzy gets mad at me because I take her snack cup away from her when she is on the playground. Sorry kiddo. Lots of slides, swings, and sandbox fun. She pooped while we were there so I changed her diaper on the bench- is that weird? I didn't really think that there was another place to do it and I did put down a pad....

Super impressed that Izzy climbed up this all by herself too (I helped point out where she should put her feet but she did all of the work)

I love the park!

If there are wood pieces on the playground equipment Izzy has to "clean up." Hilarious.

5:10- I get a text from my next door neighbor that they are grilling out and inviting us over. We head home and on the way run into my friend that hosted Bunco the night before that I couldn't attend with CP in the hospital and no one to watch Izzy. Once home I feed Buster an early dinner.

5:30- Izzy and I go over to the neighbor's house. Izzy does her best to frustrate me by trying to write chalk all over the neighbor kid's playhouse in the backyard. I also have to keep her from sticking her hand in nasty rain water. She eats a piece of pizza and part of my pork tenderloin taco. I drink some Savingnon Blanc and eat tacos.

8- I walk Izzy home and we head upstairs. She gets her overnight diaper, we put on her pajamas, and she chugs her milk. We quickly Facetime with CP. Izzy spits up (again?!?). She runs into the bathroom to brush her teeth and then we read three books. I put her in her crib and we give each other kisses through the crib rails (CP and I like to call them "prison kisses"). She also gives me her foot through the crib rails so that I can kiss it as it makes her laugh. The whole time Buster is nudging me, which is his cue that he needs to go out. Sorry buddy but you are going to have to wait until Izzy is sleeping. 

Like every night, I tell Izzy that I love her and that I will see her tomorrow.

Kiss my feet mommy!

8:20- I leave Izzy's room and realize that I forgot to sing the usual songs but luckily she falls asleep quickly. I take Buster out and Facetime with CP again. Definitely feeling the two glasses of wine at this point. 

8:30- I head back over to neighbor's house with monitor in tow. Watch Bridesmaids, talk, and drink another glass of wine.

10:15- I'm really sleepy so I head home. Take Buster out and head upstairs to get ready for bed.

10:30- Watch a little SNL.

10:49- Turn off tv. Get text from CP that he had another high fever and was getting packed with ice again. :-( He doesn't feel like talking so we text a little and both head to bed.

The End

Admitted

2015 is continuing to not be a good year. I drove CP to the infectious doctor appointment today because he didn't feel up to driving since he barely slept (again) last night. I'm glad that I did because the doctor didn't have any answers and sent CP to the ER so that he could be admitted.

I called my boss to let him know that I was taking the rest of the day off and spent a few hours with CP while he got re-hydrated via an IV, received two different kinds of antibiotics in hopes that one of them gets rid of whatever he has, and waited for more blood and other tests to come back.

His liver and kidneys tests are a little off but his white blood cell count increased even more (it was just over 10,000 on Monday, today it was over 17,000- a healthy male is usually between 4,000 and 9,000). I feel safe with him in the hospital but they just checked his temperature and it was 103. Not good.

The doctor estimated that CP would be in the hospital 2-4 days while they ran tests and pumped him full of antibiotics. Unfortunately kids under 6 are not allowed in the hospital so poor CP will likely be there by himself a bunch because my parents are out of town and I will need to ask neighbors to watch Izzy for me to go see him.

Obviously we are hoping that these broader antibiotics kill whatever is going on in CP's body so that he can get better, come home and head back to work.....

Barcelona trip

I decided that it was high time to finally finish this post on our trip to Barcelona. The pictures were already posted, but this is more about traveling overseas with a 13 month old.

The flight over

• We were upgraded to business class which was likely a mistake since we used points to get our flights but we didn't care! The only problem was that there was some distance between me and Izzy while she sat in her car seat so it made it hard to tend to her if she needed something during take off/landing.

Business class baller

• Before we left CP went out and bought things that Izzy had never eaten before like crackers and peanut butter. We also brought a couple bags of what we call "baby crack"- Izzy was OBSESSED with these snacks and signed "more" like crazy whenever she saw the bag. She didn't eat much of the dinner or breakfast that was served so it was all about pouches and new-to-her snacks.

Baby crack

• We loaded some easy games on the iPad which we really didn't use.
• We walked a bunch up and down the aisle. Thankfully business class wasn't full and most people thought that what we were doing was cute.
• At this point Izzy wasn't watching any tv but we made liberal use of the tv in front of her with the large section of kids games and movies.
• Izzy was still in bottles at this point which helped with her ears on take off/landing. The flight crew was happy to give us milk and water for her.
• Diaper changes were interesting because she really was too tall for the pull down! She was completely freaked out the entire time she was being changed while the plane was bumping around in the air, but thankfully there were no disasters. We definitely brought more of her nighttime diapers for the plane in an effort to not have to change her very much.
• We forgot to pack an extra pair of clothes for the two of us in case a blowout disaster happened but thankfully there was no issue. Whew!
• We took a red eye over to Vienna from Chicago. Izzy didn't sleep as much as we hoped but also didn't cry. As long as she was happy, we were happy.
• The Vienna airport had a kids playspace in our terminal which was great for Izzy to get out and crawl around while we waited to board our flight to Barcelona.

While we were in Barcelona

• Most restaurants did not have high chairs or diaper tables in their bathrooms. This was pretty frustrating because for meals we either had to have Izzy sit in her stroller (which she tired of quickly) or in our laps where she would reach for everything on the table. We did a lot of CP eating while I walked her around a restaurant and vise versa.
• We learned where all of the elevators were- especially in the subways, although we did do a lot of carrying Izzy up and down stairs as well.
• Barcelona has a lot of family-friendly lines where strollers get in much faster. That was pretty awesome.
• Since Izzy was a fairly new walker at this point, she would hold one of our hands and have a great time walking next to us. It seemed everyone in Barcelona thought that was adorable.

How could you not love this adorable new walker?

• Europe uses shelf-stable milk so when we went to the grocery store or a coffee shop, that is what Izzy got. Thankfully she had no problems with it.
• Restaurants in Barcelona didn't have kids meals so we often brought pouches/fruit in case Izzy wasn't interested in our meal or tried to order something she would like. She loved Spanish sausage and cheese which thankfully was pretty easy to find. ;-)

Mmm Spanish sausage

• Restaurants also didn't start to serve dinner until 8pm or so which was crazy late. We easily fell into a schedule where we would get to bed later (more like 11 or 12pm) and not wake up until 9am or so thus pushing our eating schedule later. Izzy was flexible and it was only on the first night in Barcelona that she missed dinner because she slept in the stroller.
• Izzy did A LOT of sleeping in the stroller. In fact, she only got one nap in a pack n play (sorry Izzy!). She was a rockstar about it.

• Izzy loved all of the train rides that we took and also enjoyed watching the trains pull up to the station, pointing at every single one.
• Barcelona is full of dogs so it was very exciting for Izzy to see a dog being walked on the street. She also saw a lot of birds and would get excited when she saw those as well.

The flight home

• Right before we went to board our flight from Barcelona to Newark, the bottle that we had filled with milk BROKE and it was unusable. Of course the second bottle that we brought we had already stuck in our checked luggage so I ran around trying to find something that looked like a bottle to put milk in. I ended up finding a water bottle that sort of had a spout but not really and Izzy refused to drink any milk until we got our luggage back in Newark. It was quite a stressful flight because she would sign for milk and start crying, we would try to give it to her in the water bottle which of course she wouldn't take (along with just a regular cup of milk, glass with a straw, etc.), so she just drank water. Once we got the second bottle and filled it with milk Izzy DOWNED it on the flight from Newark to Chicago and then passed out cold.
• Izzy didn't sleep as much as we thought she would on the flight to Newark which was a shame because the winds were so strong across the Atlantic we had to do a random stop off in Maine to refuel the plane (8 other flights from Europe had to do the same thing that day)- which obviously added to the amount of time we were stuck in our seats. During the refueling stop we let her out of her car seat and she played with another little girl right around her age at my feet which was adorable.

Overall it was an amazing trip. We were so happy to introduce Izzy to CP's sister and her family. Despite the fact that Izzy's cousins are much older (12 and 10), they were constantly trying to keep Izzy happy and play with her. Izzy was quite a trooper for such a big trip and totally rolled with everything we did.