Dr. Suess

On New Year's Eve ... we took the kids to see Ice! at the Gaylord Hotel, featuring How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Suess. Yeah ... I am a little behind on blogging ... perhaps Christmas photos are next.

Ice! is a custom ice exhibit that is made by artisans flown in from all over the world. It is freakin amazing ... and takes a whole lot of talent, that I would love to have.

The exhibit is kept at 9 degrees ... um yeah, it is cold. They give you these huge blue eskimo coats to wear over your own coat ... Nika waddled like a penguin and could barely walk.

The ice slides ... all three kids went down ... brr!

Outside the exhibit they have these carolers ... err, performers ... to set the holiday mood. Love that.

And this enormous Christmas tree made out of Peeps ... how cool is that?

We meandered over into the Gaylord ... that is one awesome hotel. This glass Christmas tree hung from the ceiling.

And right under the tree was a train for the kids ... big and little ... to ride. I snapped pictures ... "Guys, look at me!"

Oop ... not good enough for this perfectionist momma. Try again. By this time, I had snapped maybe 20 shots and still didn't get them all looking.

Do you think Mason was frustrated with me? Ha ... just look and smile, kid.

"Thank you all for at least looking in my direction!"

We really had a great day. I love taking time to do things like this with just our little family.

My butt is numb.

Sitting here in my bed. Yesterday was pampered by my husband and today ... my mom and grandmother. I don't know how people do this for extended periods of time. I mean ... my butt is numb. And although I had all these grand aspirations of getting a ton of things done on my laptop ... I'm not sure any of that has happened.

My grandmother saw the picture of our little ice baby yesterday and proclaimed, "I am 80 years old and I learn something new every day!" Well ... she will be 80 years, on Valentine's Day. And of course she was horrified that people know we are trying to have a baby ... "Isn't anything private these days?!"

Ha ... love her.

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I snuck up on my girls a few days ago.



Oops ... caught red handed.



"That is quite the assortment you got there, Payton."

"Yeah."

She agreed.




Beautiful my babies. Beautiful.



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Mason came home from school yesterday and told me he broke up with his girlfriend. When I asked him why, he told me that he didn't know ... he just felt like it. Oh ... and the best part is he told her sister to tell her. Clearly I have a lot of teaching to do here.

Wait ... why does my 7 year old have a girlfriend?

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A couple days ago, I posted this on facebook and twitter ... Last night at 11:51pm, I came upstairs to find Payton still awake and laying in bed playing on her brother's iPod Touch. Little stinker! So I took it away and told her to go to sleep. Two minutes later, I hear the tv ... I go in and the little stinker had turned a movie on!! Inside I was cracking up, but I sternly told her to.go.to.sleep! All I could think of was ain't no Down syndrome gonna stop this chick ... SHE IS SMART AS A WHIP!!

::love her::

She has been pulling this kind of stuff a lot lately. The best of them have to do with her iPod Touch and hiding it behind her back real quick when I come into her room at night to check on her. The little stinker knows she shouldn't be goofing around on it ... devious little thang. And as much as I know I have to discipline her to her face ... I just can't help but smile. Never in my life did I think my child with Down syndrome would have the smarts and the wit to pull stuff like this ... I'll take more please!

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Payton just brought me this picture.



I asked her if she colored it for me and she said, "No ... birfday!" Guess it is her birthday today ... news to me, but whatever makes you happy, baby.

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Oh ... and the winners of the BusyBodyBook are ...



The Lehnick Family said... Ok...so if I don't win one of these...where do you get it???? I can't get enough of your sweet family...You are perfect in every way... (#10)

RK said... Isn't it funny how commenters come out of the woodwork for free stuff!?! But who can blame us? That looks like a pretty nifty little item, I admit. I told someone recently that since leaving the professional world, I didn't really use my PDA or smartphone for my life-brain like I used to. And I haven't found a replacement... dangerous. (#36)

Anonymous said... Bethany, I'm always on the look out for a great calendar that can handle a family of five-this looks like it might be it! I love a good calendar! Hope you're enjoying your snow days! Mindy Ripp (#27)

stephanie said... Love the new name, and your giveaway. Right now I use a calendar that is missing most of the time. if I don't write everything down I'm seriously in trouble. and I never carry the calendar with me so I am dependent on my steel trap of a mind to remember things until I get home. I always thought I was an organized person , but the truth be known I'm a mess! (#16)


Ladies ... shoot me an email at bethanybalsis@mac.com with your address and I will get these out to you. Hopefully tomorrow ... after bed rest is over.

And if you wanted to order your own BusyBodyBook ... click here ... it looks like the 2011 calendar year is 15% off.

By the way ... that giveaway was fun ... maybe we should do it more often!

Stick stick stick!

Sometimes ... when you are on 24-hour bed rest ... feeling anxious ... you might think that reading some inspirational quotes might help your mood. And sometimes ... instead of landing on a quote that spews wine and roses ... you find just what you need to make you laugh.

Millions of couples suffer from infertility, so why the *bleepity bleep* is everyone pregnant but me?

Ah, much better.

No really ... other people being pregnant does not bother me. At one time, it did. But right now ... I am super excited for all the people in my life that are pregnant ... my sister, my sister-in-law, two of my cousins, one of my best friends, a good neighbor friend, a long time friend.

Seriously, can I get some of that water ya'll are drinking?

Oh right ... on to today.

This morning my stomach was in knots. I took a whole lot of deep breaths to try to release some of my anxiety, but I am not sure how much it worked. I was so nervous that neither blast would survive the thaw. That would put us back at square one with no feet to walk on.

On our way to the doctor, my nurse called me with some information I had requested ...

Your blasts were frozen on day 6 and both were Grade 1 ... which is the best you can get. I really don't think you will have any problems with them surviving the thaw ... these are great blasts.

*tears*

I told Kyle that the two blasts we had transferred back in 2005 were rated equal or above to these two frozen blasts and one of them was rated below the blasts that were frozen. The problem was that the two that ended up being frozen were developing a little more slowly and they were not ready for my day 5 transfer.

Did I lose ya yet?

Anyway, Kyle said, "Well at least we know they are fighters! They are Payton's fraternal triplets and we know she is a bull headed little thing ... so these guys must be too."

Love him.

Unfortunately ... when we got to the doctor, we were told that only one of our blasts survived the thaw. I tried to hold it together, all the while knowing how our odds had just been slashed in half.

The surviving blast was rated at 80% ... and 80% and above is what they hope for. The second blast was only rated at 40-50% ... they discouraged us from transferring that blast, in light of the poor quality.

We agreed.



So we have one little blast ... stick stick stick!!

And seriously ... thank you so, so much to everyone for all of your thoughts and prayers. I have been moved to tears more than once ... and I swear I do not regret my decision to open up about this.

Infertility sucks!!

Please pray.

type type type. backspace backspace backspace.

I am here to ask for your prayers.

I have not been sure whether or not to put myself out there like this. But I have decided that I will. Because this is something that is weighing heavily on me. Because this is part of who we are. Because this is part of who so many people are.

Kyle and I have decided that we would like to have a baby. One problem ... we cannot just knock boots to make that happen.

The amount of stress ... anxiety ... emotion that infertility causes is dreadful. Unless you have experienced infertility, I'm not sure you ever really can understand what it is like to want a baby so badly ... but not be able to do a damn thing about it.  

Mason and Payton were both conceived through in vetro fertilization. This was after several years of trying the old fashioned way, taking Clomid and then going through four failed intrauterine inseminations. We were sure that each step we took was going to be it ... we were going to get pregnant.

Nada. Nil. Nothing.

To experience the big.fat.negative. month after month for years ... I can't even explain how it wears on a person's soul.

Until we moved on to in vetro fertilization. We were blessed with great insurance at the time, allowing us to financially afford to be able to do it. Not anymore ... no more coverage for fertility treatments. That sucks.

So for now ... we have one chance. One really small chance. 

When we went through treatment for Payton, we had a total of four blastocysts that made it to day five. Two were transferred ... one took. And that is my most perfect baby girl ever.

So we had two left over ... Payton's fraternal triplets, in essence. We froze them. They have been frozen for almost six years now. And the catch is that they were froze under ancient methods ... apparently. That sucks. We are told that our ultimate odds of having a baby from these two frozen blasts is 30%.

30% ... that is not ideal.

We have been doing injections ... or maybe I should clarify that *I* have been receiving injections. Ha. And Tuesday is the big day.

Tuesday we will find out whether or not our blastocysts can survive thawing. Step one. And I have to be honest and say that I am not prepared to have the thawing fail. I need to at least get the chance to have this work.

Step two. Both blasts will be transferred and in a couple weeks ... we will know whether or not it worked.

Gosh, please pray. This has to work. We cannot afford to begin a fresh cycle right now ... and we are so ready for this. We have waited until Addison was well adjusted into our family and until we knew that our bond with her was strong. The time has come.

Please pray.

monster jam.

monster jam.

instead of having a big birthday party ...

mason opted to take a few of his buddies to monster jam.

so we went.

and it was awesome.

14 people. 6 adults. 8 kids.

pre-show pit party passes.

excited boys {and girls}.

and chaos.

the show was in downtown DC.

did i mention it was chaotic?

each adult was assigned a child. or two.

but i am pretty sure all 6 of us felt like we each had 8 kids to watch.

it was good. great teamwork.

lunch arrangements for 14 people was hard.

restaurants were packed.

i want a cheeseburger!

i want a quesadilla!

i want a chocolate shake!

i want a brownie!

oy.

before the show ...

all service men and women were called to stand.

fire and police men and women too.

we had a cop with us.

it was very touching.

we stood for the star spangled banner.

our little cub scouts knew exactly what to do.

the show was loud.

i'm not sure what i expected, but it was deafening.

thank goodness for ear plugs.

the illuminator was our favorite monster truck.

actually, the lobster was pretty cool.

crushstation.

he got a flat tire.

he's wild like that.

who had the idea to change grave digger?

not nearly as cool.

that dude sure can fly though.

did i mention it was loud?

sometimes exhaustion overrides loud.

my nephew.

i could smooch those eyelashes all day.

mason and alex.

buds since diapers.

$10 snow cones.

worth every penny.

no?

a great day had by all.