Is there sugar in syrup?

After years of being told he looks like Will Ferrell, I finally convinced Trey to dress up as Buddy the Elf. He's never embraced his celeb look alike status, but this year I practically forced it on him. And since I'm fat with child, I thought being Santa with a natural big belly would fit perfectly.
Our doctor/friend let Trey borrow this nice, velvet costume, while mine was of the homemade sort. Not quite as fancy, but it got the job done.
Jenna and her little family were perfectly coordinated. Cash's costume even had pads in the shirt and pants.
Ash and her two kids were jockeys, while Cam had absolutely no coordination with them and was a rocker of some sort.
I didn't get pictures of the other two families but we did take a group shot. We had a great time partying as much as we know how when Monday Night Football is on simultaneously.
In all honesty, I don't love Halloween and I hate the pressure of dressing up. I prefer to leave my house and turn the lights off to avoid trick-or-treaters. The kids are cute and all, but when the truckloads of teenagers show up, it's not so cute anymore. This annual party with my family, however, is actually something I look forward to since we can all make fun of each other and look ridiculous without actually going in public. Tomorrow night, however, Trey and I will be in public in our costumes and you better believe we are for sure not dressing like this. It'll be much more toned down.

The Relaxi Taxi

Recently, Trey's lease on his car ended and we decided to be a little more thrifty so instead of getting him a new car, he downgraded to my Xterra and I downgraded to one of the summer work vans! Minivans aren't necessarily considered cool, but they're probably even less cool when you don't even have kids to put in them. Here's what I'm cruising in these days...
It may not be cool, but it sure is hard to deny the convenience of a minivan. I can only imagine how nice it will be when the baby comes. If you're jealous that I get to drive this car around the town, just let me know because we have another one just like it (a white version) parked side-by-side in the garage that we will sell you! I know, it's tempting.

Last Vacation Before the Baby

My parents did something pretty awesome and took 5 of their 6 children (with spouses) on a cruise to the Caribbean last week. We had a great time and I definitely added some pounds to my 26 week pregnant bod. We ate ALL the time. Here's a shot of the group one night at dinner, minus my parents, who were nice enough to babysit the 6 grandkids that came on the cruise at the other table.
Of all the places I've been in the Caribbean, Jamaica is one of my favorites, only because of those waterfalls you see in the back of the picture below. It's about a 2 hour hike up them and so much fun. Other than that, Jamaica is dirty. So dirty.
This was our last port in Cozumel Mexico. My poor ankles turned to cankles after walking around so much through all the shops and on the beach, but luckily they went away a few days later.
These were the waitresses we had through the whole week. Ezgi on the right, Devvy on the left. They are the reason I look fat here. They just kept bringing out more food!
These boys are all smiling now, but maybe I shoulda taken another picture when their luck was running out.
This baby will be here before we know it and this trip was a great last one to have before she gets here. Thanks again mom and dad for hookin' us all up!

Furniture Refinishing Class

My sister Ashley is amazing when it comes to finding old, outdated furniture in the classifieds or at thrift stores and then bringing it home and refinishing it to make it look completely awesome. She's going to be teaching a class in about a month to help other people learn how to do this. She makes some pretty good money when she buys an old dresser for $25 and then turns around and sells it for $250. Not bad, huh? She's helped me finish an old cradle and I'm already trying to think of new things I can do.

You can check out her blog and see the info on the class and some of the pieces she has refinished or just read her info on it below:

Ok, it's official, the date will be Saturday, October 16th, 10:00am-12:00pm at my home for the small price of $35 :) . Please let me know if you're planning on coming as soon as possible. You can either leave me a comment on my blog, facebook, or call, text, or email me (ashleytreu@gmail.com) if you have any questions. I'll be going over pretty much everything you need to know to start refinishing furniture- or whatever it is that you want to refinish! It will be a hands-on class so you'll learn and get a feel for what you're doing and I'll teach you tricks and tips I've learned the hard way :) . Hopefully that date works for any of you who are interested, if not, hopefully this will be the first class of many! Thanks!

It's a Girl!

I totally forgot to blog about this but we found out last Wednesday that we are having a girl. We found out a little early so there is definitely still a margin of error but the doctor said he was 100% sure so we're taking his word for it. Trey was absolutely shocked. I think he had the deer-in-the-headlights look for about 2 hours following our appointment...he thought for sure it was a boy.

People told me I'd go crazy buying things once we found out what we were having, but for some reason I have no desire. I have not purchased one single baby thing. I would rather give someone I trust my credit card and tell them to get everything I need for the baby and then decorate a nursery. Any takers?

Multiples or Singleton?

Once upon a time we did In Vitro and transferred 3 embryos. Oh wait, I already told you that long drawn out story. Well, after we got pregnant, they told us that around 7 weeks we could find out how many embryos had actually implanted. We could be having triplets for all we knew. We moved out to New Jersey when I was just about 4 1/2 weeks along so I got online and found some random doctor under my insurance list to go to. I made the appointment for an ultrasound on the day I would be exactly 7 weeks. When I was about 6 weeks and 5 days, Trey decided he didn't want to wait the extra two days so I called our doctor to see if we could come in that day. I called over and over and every time got a machine saying they were closed. It was a Tuesday so I didn't really believe the machine. Being impatient as we are, we drove over to the doctor's office to call their bluff. They were, indeed, closed. Dangit.

So we drove back to our apartment and I got online to check the insurance list for more potential doctors. I called the first one but they said we couldn't come in until the next day because our insurance would have to be verified. Click. I called the next one and the receptionist said we could come in right away, no insurance needed, just pay upfront. You know if you can get in to see a doctor that day they probably aren't your best option, but we were too anxious to care.

We pulled up to the South Jersey Women's Center and went through the first set of doors. Weird, we had to be buzzed in through the next set. Oh well, the place smells gross and not at all doctor-like but I go up to the front window and pay for the ultrasound. The receptionist hands me a cup to pee in. "Is there a cabinet to put it in once I'm done?" "No, just walk it back out and give it to me, " she says. Gross. Lucky for me there's no one else in the waiting room. Nobody wants to see someone else holding a cup of fresh, warm pee. I do my thing, hand her the cup, and sit down, waiting to be called back.

As Trey and I are sitting in the waiting room, we're looking around and noticing this isn't a normal doctor's office. There are posters all over with Obama's face on them, promoting change. There are pro-abortion decals on the receptionist's window and "free to choose" stickers all over the place. Have I been sheltered living in Utah for 8 years? Is this a normal doctor's office?

The nurse calls my name and we both get up to walk back together. The nurse stops Trey and says, "Sorry sir, you're not allowed back here." Oh okay, maybe they'll come get him when they're ready? She takes me to another empty waiting room and I start texting Trey..."What is this crazy place? I am alone back here, go ask the receptionist if you can come back..."

Meanwhile, Trey has made conversation with a random man in the waiting room, asking him questions like, "So is that your wife back there? Are you guys finding out what you're having?" Normal questions potential dads might ask each other in a normal waiting room. He gets my text and goes up to the front desk.

He asks the lady, "Don't I get to be back there with my wife?"
"No sir, I'm sorry."
"But in the movies, the guy is standing next to his wife and they get to see their baby on the screen for the first time together, right? So why can't I go back"
"Sir, due to the nature of what we do here, we have to respect the privacy of the women back there and so that's why men are not allowed back."
Trey notices the decals on the window and sees a piece of paper taped to the wall which is in memory of some doctor who was murdered, who was still doing 3rd trimester abortions.
"Wait," Trey says, "Is this an abortion place?" loud enough for the 4-5 people in the waiting room to hear him.
"Yes sir."
Oh dear, Trey takes his seat.

I've now been called back to my room and am completely second guessing this whole thing. I have the darkest, sickest feeling in my gut. I don't remember a smile on any of the faces I'd seen. The doctor and nurse come in, completely expressionless. The doctor is rude; he can't understand why I wouldn't be using my IVF dr. for this ultrasound. Clearly sir, the insurance list didn't make a side note to tell me what this place really was. Can you just do the ultrasound and let me go? So he does the ultrasound. I have to ask him how many are in there and he just says, "One. You're about 6-7 weeks. Good luck." And out they both go. Wow, I think I dressed in 15 seconds and was out just as quickly as they were.

I walked out to Trey and held up one finger to him. We both smiled and got the H-E-double hockey sticks outta there.

So creepy. Glad I'm still pregnant.

In Vitro Part 3

After our first attempt at in vitro had failed, we decided we didn't want to waste any time before trying again. Every year, we move away for the summer for Trey's job so we really only had 2-3 months before we'd be leaving again. We spoke with the nurse and got things underway to be in the April grouping for the next round of IVF.

I felt extremely nervous from the beginning. I second guessed my gut feelings and intuition. With the first IVF cycle, I felt good throughout the whole thing. I felt like I was pregnant. My own intuition had failed me. This second time around, I wanted to really know if it was the right thing to do so we wouldn't be throwing away so much money again. I had more negative feelings this time, but I know it was coming from a more pessimistic version of myself, the bitter side of me that didn't think we would ever get pregnant. If it was up to me, we probably would've waited a while to try again. I felt like we were spending so much money and my stupid body was just going to fail me again. I relied completely on Trey to make this decision and without hesitation, he said the money didn't matter and we would try again and it would work.

As much as I didn't love the shots before, I was actually anxious to start them and get things going. I documented so much of the first IVF with pictures and whatnot, but the second time I did nothing. I didn't want to jinx it or have memories of it not working. My biggest fear this time around was actually a new shot I'd have to be taking everyday in my upper butt and the needle was much bigger than my usual half inchers. This would be a thicker, longer needle and if I did get pregnant, I'd have to continue it for 9 weeks into my pregnancy. Yikes.

Things were much better from the beginning and to make this story shorter, I'm going to jump ahead. When the retrieval was all said and done, we went in for the embryo transfer. This time, our doctor's lab was complete so we only had to drive 10 minutes instead of all the way to Boise. They brought us back and showed us what we had to work with...4 healthy embryos this time! Though there was a risk of multiples, I felt good about implanting 3 and nobody was going to change my mind about that. So they put in 3 and we froze the 4th and went home to rest for a few days.

Luckily for me, my mom was in town and made it so I never had to move a muscle. She cooked for us and cleaned when she got bored. It was wonderful. But she also had to wait out the 10 days with us. I hate that wait. By the first night, I had cramps already. Of course, I cried. This was a bad sign last time around and I was sure it was menstrual cramps this time too. Trey calmed me down and tried to help me stay positive. Every day I tried to notice symptoms, but it was so hard because I was on so many different drugs that had so many side effects, I didn't have a clue what was going on with my body. If I ever felt any bit of hope, I never told Trey because I didn't want him to get his hopes up. Around day 6, I remember sitting on my bed at night and telling Trey that I didn't think it had worked, I didn't think I was pregnant. I still, to this day, don't know if he was just faking it for my sake or if he really believed it, but he told me that night that he thought I was pregnant and I needed to stay positive. I didn't believe him so I dropped the conversation.

The next few days I was more exhausted than I had ever felt in my life. I took naps during the day and was in bed by 10:00...not my style at all. My mom and Trey would give each other suspicious looks as if they knew I was pregnant and I would just roll my eyes. Blame it on the drugs, don't get your hopes up, I'd tell myself. On day 8, I went in for a blood test and then had to return again on day 10 for another. I went in by myself both times and on the 10th day, the nurses were very giddy with me. They asked how I was feeling and asked if I'd taken a pregnancy test yet. I told them no way, I did that last time and it had backfired. I wasn't about to do it again. After nurse Brenda took my blood, she kept asking me all these questions. So I finally said, "Do you know something?" and she said smiling, "Maybe..." I said, "Does that mean the first test was positive?" She smiled and told me that yes it was. I said, "So unless something crazy happens, this second test will be positive too?" And again, she told me yes. I couldn't believe it. I drove to my sister's right after and didn't tell anyone. I was skeptical and wanted to hear the official phone call later that day before revealing anything. I did, however, call Trey and let him know. He was with the contractor working on one of our rental properties, so that guy was officially the first one to find out we were pregnant. How special!

Once again, the doctor's office took forever to call us with the results. Trey ended up calling them and asked Brenda if they had any news for us. She told him to hold on and came back a few minutes later. I have the whole conversation recorded because this time, I knew it was going to be good news. When she got back on the phone, she said, "Well...I have really good news for you. Yes, yes you are. It is definitely positive." On the recording, you then hear Trey screaming and laughing really loud. She went on to tell us some numbers and how great everything looked because those numbers were so high. We thanked her and hung up the phone. I think I remember Trey high-fiving me, kissing me, and hugging me. I can't believe I didn't cry at this point. But I sure did once we started making the phone calls. I called my mom first, who was over at my sister Jenna's house. I guess Jenna had a bunch of her in-laws over so when I told my mom the news, everyone over there started crying too. Called Ashley...cried again. And on and on with all the phone calls.

The road was long and definitely hard, but we are so happy now and closer as a couple than we ever would have been had we gotten pregnant right away. Trey has been the rock in our marriage by always staying positive and never once making me feel like I was to blame for the infertility. It was hard on both of us, but he was able to see the bigger picture and knew that we would get pregnant someday. I love him and I am sure glad he was right.