And The Winner Is....

The winner of my Blogiversary Giveaway is....

A. From Remember All The Way!!!

Congrats girlie:) Send your contact info to: jhnorrell@hotmail.com and I will ship it out Monday!

I'm doing this from my phone, so I hope it works. Thanks to everyone who entered!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Awards and my Blogiversary Giveaway!

My sweet friends, Jen from What Would Jen Do, R. from One Egg Please, Christa from Fearlessly Infertile, and Tiffany from All Aboard the IF Train! nominated me for this award! Thanks so much ladies! Go on over and check out their blogs!

For this award, here’s what you do:

1. Thank whoever gave you the award.

2. Tell 7 things about yourself that readers may not know.

3. Pay it forward by nominating 7 bloggers for this award.

Hmmmm...7 things. I think I've done this before and I embarrassed myself, so let me see if I can have a little more tact...lol. Yeah right. Who am I fooling?

1. My dream job would be to work as a Disney Princess. I like to sing and dance around the house (and my job) like I'm Tinkerbell or something. Loser.

2. I LOVE to take pictures...my sisters call me the paparazzi. They're going to thank me in 30 years when we have pictures to reminisce over and laugh about! There are, however, quite a few that have been locked in "The Vault of Forbidden Eyeballs". Nuff' said.

3. I am the oldest of four children...I have two sisters and one brother. We are all very close and get along well for the most part.

4. I have two baby nieces born last year that I love more than anything in the world. One is my sister's baby who is 8 months old, and the other is Andy's sister's baby who is 11 months old. They make me smile!

5. Let's play the concerts I have been to game. Hmmmm. New Kids on the Block, Nelson, AC/DC, Lollapalooza '95 (Courtney Love, Cypress Hill, Sonic Youth, Beck, Coolio), Dave Matthews Band. Oh yeah, I saw Jordan Knight (NKOTB) play at a dinky bar in Auburn a few years ago when I lived there. He thought he was cool and was playing all of the old NKOTB songs on his electronic keyboard. There were only, like, 50 girls there and we were screaming the entire time...I got to touch his butt and hold his hand. I tried to get his autograph before he left, but he snuck out of the back door and drove off in a Geo Metro. I was scarred for life. I knew there was a reason that I always loved Joey Joe because Jordan SUCKS!

6. Andy stood me up on our first couple of dates. 12 years later and look who has the magic whip. Whooopachhh!

7. I've always wanted to write a children's book. I'm just having a hard time coming up with a character...and then there's that whole illustration thing. One day!

And now, 7 bloggers that I highly recommend you get to know! I would really like to nominate ALL of the blogs I follow...such an awesome IF community!

1. Julia from Adam and Julia
2. Michelle from No, I'm Not Pregnant, Just Fat
3. Kakunaa from Spermination Station
4. Waiting for a Baby Bump

5. T from Inconceivable Journey
6. Lisa from WANTED: One Good Embryo
7. Katie from from If to When

Don't forget to enter my Blogiversary Giveaway! Only 2 days left!!!

This T-Shirt Isn't Funny Tuesday

And now ladies, I present to you another edition featuring T-Shirts that your average woman who is having trouble getting pregnant would want to rip off of someone, cut into little pieces, and put a match to!

Listen cankle woman...you're going to know the true meaning of crabby after I show you what an ass kickin' feels like. You can either have childlessness and a plethora of medical bills, or SHUT IT and enjoy every second of your blessing!

Only 3 days left to enter my Blogiversary Giveaway!!! Hurry! Hurry!

This T-Shirt is Pretty Much Awesome Thursday

1. Hold on...I'm in my yoga pilates tranquil zen pose...............whew! I think that miraculously healed by endometriosis and fixed our egg and sperm quality! Let me go pee on a stick real quick. OMG!!!! IT'S......negative.

2. Well shit, I thought that standing on my head before we had relations was good enough. Why didn't we think of that?

3. Yes, unfortunately it is. We had him tested and he has spermosarcoidmalarianismitis. It's just so tragic.

4. Wow. Just....wow. You must have not relaxed enough.

5. Your kids are ugly. Why didn't you "just adopt"?

 Don't forget to enter my Blogiversary GIVEAWAY!

Blogiversary Giveaway!

I am so excited to be hosting my very first giveaway! In honor of my one year Blogiversary, I am giving away this very cute Willow Tree Figurine named "Hope". It is brand new and in the original packaging. As you can see from the picture below, it is of a small child holding onto a balloon with the word "hope" inside of it. I thought that it was perfect for most of the situations in our lil' blogging community! There is HOPE and we WILL be parents one day!

 These are the cutest, hand carved/painted figurines, and there is an inspirational piece for almost every situation. You can check out the website by clicking here.

Here are the rules:

1. You must be a follower of my blog. Leave me a comment telling me you are either a current follower or that you are a new follower. (Mandatory...1 entry)

Extra Entries: 

  1. Follow me on Twitter. Already following? That's fine! Just leave a comment if you want to enter. (1 entry)

2. Tweet about this giveaway and leave a comment with tweet link. (1 entry per tweet/1 tweet per day)

3. Blog about this giveaway and leave the link in the comment. (2 entries...please leave two comments.)

4. In a comment, tell me what your favorite blog post was of mine, and why you liked it! (1 entry)

Giveaway will end Friday, July 23rd @ 11:59 p.m. (EST), and will be announced Saturday July 24th!

(I will be using Random.org to pick the winner)

Good Luck!!!

Legal Disclaimer: I am not being financially compensated for having this giveaway. I purchased the above mentioned product myself. Winner must live in the USA not including Hawaii or Alaska due to shipping charges. Winner must contact me by e-mail within 48 hours of being announced or I will announce a new winner.

 

Bye Moonpie!

Our poor little Moonpie...we gave birth to her in 2003 and she has taken us on our adventures to NYC, Miami, and the Florida Keys...as well as our Wild West Roadtrip to Colorado, Vegas, and the Grand Canyon.

Yesterday, we said goodbye:( It was really sad! She will now be selflessly carting around a recent high school grad as he begins his college career.  I know that she will be good to him.

She knew what was best for us, because this sell gets us that much closer to EGG DONOR! Woot Woot!

We will miss her pretty little tires...her sunny complexion...and the way she let me plug my Ipod into her auxiliary port so that I could annoy the hell out of Andy on roadtrips. We will also remember all of the fun trips to the beach, mountains, camping, and the way she let us sit on her for endless hours whilst tailgating at football games.

In case you were wondering, we named her Moonpie because the dealership we bought her from gave you a Moonpie if you stopped by. Also, Andy has always called me that as a nickname because of my big forehead. Term of endearment? No?

And now, a photo montage of our baby who will help us to get a baby...


 

Moonpie

About to leave for our cross country road trip!

Flat tire on our road trip...she bounced back!

On top of Chimney Rock...see her waaaayyyy down there?

In the mountains right after we got her...Andy was so excited! Random stove, p.s.

It's My Blogiversary!

Can I get a whoot whoot?

Last Friday was my one year Blogiversary!!! I can't believe it has already been a year since I started blogging. It really has been therapeutic for me to get on here and pour my heart out. I think this was exactly what I needed to keep what is left of my sanity. It has led me to some awesome friendships, and it is comforting to know that I can come here and all of you ladies know exactly where I'm coming from. Plus, it has helped me to communicate better to the family and IRL (in real life) friends who read this blog. I feel like a huge load has been lifted off my chest since I have decided to open about our infertility! Everyone has been so supportive and I wouldn't have gotten through the last year without you guys.

So, here is a huge THANK YOU! We love you all!

Click here if you want to read my very first post!

In honor of my Blogiversary, I will be doing a giveaway soon...so stay tuned! First, I have to figure out what in the heck I'm going to give away...would anyone like my uterus? Eggs? No?

Let me go eat some chocolate and sleep on it. Holla!

This T-Shirt Isn't Funny Tuesday

And now ladies, I present to you another edition featuring T-Shirts that your average woman who is having trouble getting pregnant would want to rip off of someone, cut into little pieces, and put a match to!

Wha...wha...what? Nuff' said.

Stop and Eat Here...Now

Next time you are hungry, please go over and grab a recipe from my mother-in-law's blog, Sage Trifle. She has taken the time to give step-by-step and foolproof instructions, complete with awesome photographs of her creations.

Andy comes from a family of amazing cooks, and none of her recipes have let me down. As a matter of fact, the talent was passed down to Andy and he feeds me well.

Please note this picture of her homemade apple butter. Oh yeah, she gave me a jar. Score!

Finger lickin' good!

I'm Here I'm Here!

Sorry I have been MIA...it's been a crazy couple of weeks. I haven't had time to get on here and update, nor have I been able to really leave comments. I apologize! A coworker of mine passed away unexpectedly last weekend, and we've been moving to a new office where I work. Needless to say, it has been very sad and stressful around here lately.

We had the best time in Arizona! I was able to finally meet my blog friend in person, and we really clicked. It was like we had been friends our entire lives! We spent the majority of the time hanging out around her pool and exploring the Phoenix area. Her hubby is awesome too...he and Andy really got along well. It was a bittersweet visit because her hubby left for basic training the day after we left. She will be without him for five months, but they are planning a visit here when he graduates in November because he is stationed a few hours away from us in Georgia. Can't wait!

We have also been able to visit our new nieces who both live out of town. They're both doing good...one is almost crawling and the other is pulling up and almost walking. I think this past weekend was the first weekend that we haven't had plans or had to go out of town since March...whew!

I wish that I had more to say, but I don't! Everything is the same ole' same ole' around here. Wake up, work, go to the gym, come home, eat, drown my sorrows, and go to sleep so that I can do it again the next day! We did put one of our cars in the classifieds last week so that we could get a big chunk of cash to put towards egg donor. Still waiting for someone to bite!

I did start taking Zumba this past weekend...it was SO MUCH FUN! I highly recommend it.

I will try to catch up on all of your blogs this week. Once again, I'm so sorry for the lack of commenting. I hope all of you are well!

This T-Shirt is Pretty Much Awesome Thursday

Dear Reproductive System,

Thank you for not being very...productive. I would also like to give a shout-out to my uterus for basically falling out of my body every month. 

Love,

Jessica;)

Typical

I would like to personally thank the bitch for showing up ONE WEEK early while I'm on vaca in Arizona...wtf?

On the other hand, we are having an awesome time with my blog friend! We had a little trouble flying here because of delays, but finally made it here about 2:30 Saturday morning.

I'm trying to post this from my phone so I hope it works. We're off to the lake in a bit for some margaritas and fun in the sun! I'll be loading the beach bag up with pads and jumbo tampons.

Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Look Out Phoenix! Rednecks Are Coming!

Andy and I are so frickin' excited...this Memorial Day weekend, we are flying to Phoenix to meet one of my favorite blog friends! I know, you think we're crazy right? That is the spontaneity that is Andy and I. I wish I could say her name or blog link, but her blog is private and I do not want to reveal her identity on here.

Her family even thinks she is crazy for letting strangers sleep in her house...lol. No worries, we've been talking on the phone/texting/facebooking with each other for almost a year now, so we've gotten to know each other pretty well. She has been my rock through all of our crazy treatments this past year and I am so very thankful that we crossed paths and that I have her in my life!  I must say that she thinks I'm a huge redneck because of my southern accent:) Gotta love South Carolina! I'm sure that she will make fun of us the entire time.

I can't tell you how amazing this blog has been with finding support and lifelong friends...there are some awesome couples on here!

She and her hubby have a shenanigan-filled weekend planned for us...we can't wait to tear Phoenix UP! Plus, it will be nice to be around a couple that is going through the same things that we are. I'm sure that there will be plenty of late night talks!

I will tell you one thing that I'll be glad to get rid of for a few days and it's this dang humidity. Grrrrrr. I know Arizona is hot, but at least it's a dry hot. Hellllllooooo good hair days!

Hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday weekend!

9 Years ago today...

Happy 9th Anniversary Andy! You must REALLY love me. Besides, I heard that it is really hard to get a divorce in South Carolina anyway. Sorrryyyyyy ;)

Gosh, I can't believe we've been together for a total of 12 years, and already celebrating 9 years of marriage! It seems like just yesterday!

We both have to work tomorrow, but we've decided to head to the hibachi grill tomorrow night! I think I'll hit up some sushi...so dang yummy!

Guess what I get to do tomorrow at work? Attend an alllll day baby shower. Apparently this is becoming the new trend...having a baby shower during work instead of after hours. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy for anyone who is blessed enough to be pregnant. They deserve a celebration. However, I think I have every right to have a choice on whether or not I want to attend. Oh well. Let me go pull the infertility armor out of the closet and put on a happy face. It will be my turn soon enough!

Love you Andy! I hope that we can be celebrating our baby by our 10 year anniversary!

The man holding the door for us as we are leaving our reception is my Uncle Dave...he was taken from our world too soon. We were blessed to have him in our lives. We love and miss you Uncle Dave!

IVF Contract...Holla!

We sent in our withdrawal form for the shared-risk program today. This means that we are giving up our last IVF cycles and taking the partial refund.

Sigh.

It just feels...well...I don't know how to describe it. I guess, bittersweet? Sad that we won't be trying with my eggs anymore, but happy and hopeful that we may still have a chance at conceiving with donor eggs.

We haven't applied for the egg donor program yet...it will take a little while before we have all of our ducks in a row. Once we submit the application, it will take about 5-6 months to be matched with a donor. We can't apply for the Egg Donor shared risk program until we've been matched, so that's another hurdle we will have to overcome. They said it shouldn't be a problem as long as my uterus cooperates! We shall see!

This time five years ago I was sure that we would be parents in nine months. This time one year ago we were getting ready to do our first IVF cycle and I was sure that we would be parents by now. With my track record, I'm not even going to begin to make assumptions as to where we'll be this time next year. Let me just throw in a little T-Shirt to portray my feelings on that subject.

Now on to the next adventure...this should be interesting!