Livvie-isms

Olivia's at such a fun and hilarious stage right now.  She's learning new words and phrases every day, and her little brain's wheels are turning from the moment she wakes up until she lays her head down at night.  At the insistent advice of my mother, who says I should write everything down that she says, I decided to devote the next posts of the blog to what I like to call "Livvie-isms".

4/19/12 (18 months) - I was sitting in the living room reading a book, and Livvie was playing in her playroom.  I sneezed, and I heard a little voice in the next room say "Bless you Mommy."

4/29/12 (18 months) - Olivia and I went to Old Navy and got Livvie her first pair of flip flops.  She spent the rest of the day taking her "sloppa slops" on and off.

5/20/12 (19 months) - Olivia offers "knuckles" at the Sign of Peace during Sunday Mass.  In the same Mass, after Communion & during quiet meditation, Livvie says (quite loudly), "All done!  Bye bye Jesus!"

5/22/12 (19 months) - Olivia talks all about the animals she saw at the "Oo" (Zoo).

Happy Mommy's Day

Yesterday was a wonderful Mother's Day.  Livvie gave me a card that she picked out herself.  David said she wanted to get Mommy the "doggie card".  The grandmothers and aunts came to our house for dinner, and it was great having everyone together.

In other news, I'm starting to suffer from baby fever again.  I don't want to experience the envy again.  I didn't like myself the last time as I envied friends and family members their seemingly easy attempts to get pregnant.  We're not even really "trying" at this point, so I don't know why I'm feeling this way all over again.  My baby girl is so much fun, she's not yet 2, and I don't know why I feel as though my clock is ticking again.  I do know that I want her to be a big sister, but I'm also enjoying this "only child" one-on-one time with her.

Happy New Year

Every once in a while, I will go back to the very first post and reread our journey. I haven't forgotten a single step in the process, but sometimes it's nice to go back and remember just how we felt each step of the way. I went back this morning and realized that it has been 3 years since we actively started pursuing our family dream. Today, we have a healthy, happy, beautiful 15 month old girl that has completely captured our love and attention.

I have been thinking a lot recently about our frozen embryos in storage. They will have been frozen for 3 years this coming August. The last I heard from our fertility specialists, frozen embryos are viable for 5 years. I realize that they are not even halfway to that point yet, but sometimes I find myself worrying that time will get away from us and we'll not get to those embryos before they have to be destroyed. David and I decided from the outset of our IVF journey that no one would be left behind. We chose to freeze the two remaining embryos and have every intention of going back for a frozen transfer cycle before they expire.

We have been discussing recently about when would be a good time to start working on baby #2. I keep going back and thinking about those embryos. I feel as though we need to give them a chance first, then explore other options if we need to. Maybe we'll go back for the transfer some time this summer. If the transfer is successful, our children will be almost 3 years apart (a nice space, I think). If it's not successful, then maybe we'll get a repeat of our first miracle. Only time will tell.