Saturday, April 30, 2011

Swimming

This week we started infant swimming lessons with CJ! They sing songs and play games to get the babies/toddlers comfortable in the water. He did great! I knew CJ would love splashing based on how much he enjoys doing it during bath time! :) Me & my "Big Kahuna". Having lived on Oahu, when we saw this bathing suit, we HAD to buy it for CJ!! The trunks are pineapples!!!
We did infant swim with CJ last summer too...look at how much he has grown!!!
One of the games this week was throwing, then reaching for a toy!
CJ was loving playing football in the water!! And it was fun for me too! Can't wait for next week!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

NIAW-"When are you going to have another?"

This week is National Infertility Awareness Week. This subject is and will always be near and dear to my heart. Going through infertility has completely changed the person I am. This year's NIAW theme is "Bust a Myth". The Myth I wanted to bust was "You've had a baby, you're no longer infertile!" WRONG. I'm sure it may seem that way to a lot of people. But, just because I've had a baby, doesn't mean I've forgotten the physical and emotional pain that we had to go through to get here!
CJ is almost 16 months...so one of the main topics that seems to come up among the moms at playgroups lately is "When are you going to have another?" I'd say about a quarter of the moms with kids around CJ's age are already pregnant with their second. I thankfully haven't gotten that itch quite yet, and the timing really wouldn't be right for our family right now anyhow (driving cross-country in the summer, pregnant?! Umm, no thanks!). When I get asked about having another, I usually reply that "we had trouble getting pregnant with CJ" but then quickly try to deflect the question back to them "How about you?!". If I am being honest, I just don't enjoy "going there" in my thoughts and emotions...thinking about having to endure that path again for another baby...those battle wounds still seem way too fresh in my mind. And just like I knew we were going to have trouble getting pregnant the first time, I have a feeling it will be a struggle again. Probably TMI, but I haven't had a period since March 2009 (the one that the fertility protocol forced my body to have prior to my fertility meds that successfully resulted in CJ).
I was at a baby class last week and a few moms were discussing weaning our babies from breastfeeding. I chose to breastfed CJ for a little over one year, and then the time was right for our family to wean. When I mentioned this to an other mom, she remarked that it must have been easy for me to choose to stop breastfeeding since I could "have another baby and have another chance to breastfeed." I mumbled something like "not necessarily, but I hope so..." and walked away. Even the smallest things sometimes can bring that infertility pain back up to the surface.
I am able to talk about our infertility a lot more openly now than I was when we were going through it. I think because I am able to take a step back and look at it from the outside, seperate myself from the emotional aspect. I can easily rattle off terms and different procedures, and talk to people matter-of-factly about what we went through to have CJ. (Hystosonogram, countless ultrasounds and blood draws, 3 cycles on Clomid, 1 cycle on Femara, and 2 cycles of Gonadotropin injections with Gonal-F). But when I start thinking about doing it all over again...I just can't right now. And since we're moving, I worry that we'll be at a new clinic, new Dr...there are no guarantees that just because you had one baby that you can have two babies!!
Don't get me wrong, I would go through it all again in a heartbeat for my little CJ! He was definitely worth the wait. But that pain and hurt, those feelings, don't all just magically disappear when you have your baby. I continue to pray daily for my everyone who is going through infertility and all my blog friends still waiting to be blessed with their babies.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Playing in the sand and snow

Two weeks ago, CJ and I flew down to South Carolina to visit family! It was so nice getting to get out of this never ending Michigan winter for a little while! CJ had fun getting to play in the sand...
and then exactly one week later he got to have fun playing in the snow!
I thought it was so neat getting to watch CJ play in the different textures, but explore them in the same ways: Digging...
And of course by eating...
Let's just hope this is the last snow he gets to play with for a long long time...

Sunday, April 24, 2011

A Happy Easter

We had a wonderful last Michigan Easter today. The sun came out, and it was warm! We were so thankful for both of those things, because less than a week ago, we had 2.5 inches of snow on the ground! Living in Michigan has taught me many things, but I think the main thing I hope to take away after we move is to never again take sunshine for granted!!!

We went to church this morning. Our church always invites members of the congregation up at the end of the service to join the choir in the singing of the Hallelujah Chorus, which I so enjoyed getting to do! CJ did great in the nursery, didn't even miss us! After his nap, we had a mini egg hunt in our backyard. Despite being 15 months old, CJ has only been walking for about a month, so he is still getting used to walking on the grass! It is so funny and cute watching him stumble around putting eggs in his truck basket. It was a great Easter Sunday!

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

Thursday, April 21, 2011

It's that time again!

Well, we've been here in Michigan for almost 3 years now. Just the right amount of time to get settled: learn our way around, find all our "favorite" places to eat and shop, and just enough time to never want to see snow again for the rest of our lives! Ha ha! We'll be moving to San Diego at the end of June, and after the loooooonnnnnngggg winter we just endured, we are more than ready for warm weather, sunshine and the beach!!!
Welcome back any former followers of Lacy Lately...things sure have changed!! I took a long hiatus from blogging after I had my son, CJ. There were a number of reasons, but primarily because I was BUSY with a baby! I have really missed blogging though, especially the ability to stay in touch with my blog friends. I thought that the move would be the perfect "excuse" to get back into it. I can chronicle the roller coaster ride of a military move across the US, and our friends and family far away will be able to experience it, and laugh and cry with us! Hope you'll join us on our journey...