20 weeks 6 days

Ever wonder what someone pregnant with twins looks like at 20 weeks and 6 days? I did...I don't any more. This is me:

Just as an FYI, this is the same outfit I take all my pregnancy pics in. I like to see the difference in the same outfit, including me in the pants I made 4 years ago when we did our first IUI, and I thought I was pregnant for sure. The quality is horrid, but you get the idea :)

Missionary Updates

For any of you that are following Quinn's or Matt's blog, I have finally updated them. Matt's still has a long way to go, but there are updates through April of this year.
I am hoping to have Michael's blog up and running before the new year (my pre-New Years Resolution) We will just have to see about that!
The missionaries are all doing well. They are strong and happy and healthy. They are dedicated to the work they are doing, and loving every minute of their crazy scheduled lives.

So Blessed

I know Thanksgiving is long over, but I am sitting here today so thankful for the many blessings in my life. I am married to a wonderful man who loves me for me, and I couldn't ask for anything more! Plus I have the awesome addition of a great big family. Both the ones I grew up in and the one I married into.They are so great to us, to let us live with them, spend time with them, and more than anything to love us despite our faults and silly quirks.

Most of all, I am thankful to live in this time and age. As I look back in history over the centuries, I do not know how I would have faired. i don't know if I would have the strenght to be a pioneer wife, or to be a wife to a man who leaves on the Crusades. Not only that, but at no other time in history, would I be blessed enough to have the medical miracles to turn this...

into this!!!

We are so blessed to finally be pregnant!! Finally Mike and I will get to play the role of Mommy & Daddy.

Remembering When..

I set my computer to go through my picture when it is going into "Screen Saver" mode. It has been fun to get to look at all the pictures from the great things Mike and I have done over the years. But, I especially like looking at the pictures from our wedding. The last 6 years have been the best adventure I could ever imagine. Through apartments, houses, drama and infertility struggles, I would want anyone else by my side. He is my best friend and I am so glad 6 years ago we both said yes!!

A Day in the Life of Caly

Well, we decided to breed Caly. The vet (Dr. E) was super excited because she is so small (34 lbs) and has such a great temperment. We found the perfect stud, and we got everything all set up. Leave it to Mike and I to pick a type of dog that can't go through life doing things the easy way. I guess it must be a requirement to be a part of this family. So, to breed english bulldogs, you have to do surgical inseminations. She at least got to meet the male, but she was then put under anesthesia so the dr. could do the insemination. This took place on September 7. She had a few staples, and had to be on restricted activity, pain pills and antibiotics for several days afterwards.

That's when things took a twist as they always do. Mike left for China on September 16th. Before he left he noticed a little lump on the right side of her insision. Her staples were out, so he didn't think much of it. Infact, it didn't cross his mind to tell me. Well I noticed it, and over the next 7 days, the lump got much bigger ( 1 1/2 in across) and it was hard. After talking to my father-in-law I decided to take her to the vet. So we went in today. Turns out she had internal stitches, and she managed to pop one of those!!! The outer incision was great, but she poped the internal one! So, i left her there so she could be put under again, opened up again, and have the stich reinforced. Poor girl. Here are some pics of here after we brought her home. She does not like the anesthesia or the feeling of the pain meds. She tries to fight it, and she just acts so mad all the tim. I feel so bad for her. I feel bad that we are putting her through this.

The pills we made her take Twice!!!




We won't know if she is pregnant for a few more weeks, but the pills and the anesthesia won't hurt the puppies. She is so cute, and such a good fit for our family.

Pretty Sure We are Crazy!!!

Today we started the IVF process for the 3rd time. True we have only had 1 retrieval/transfer, but this is the 3rd time I have had to start the shots process.

The shots don't hurt yet, but I am well aware of the road I am headed down. So just be aware, if you see me wearing tent dresses, it is because waistbands and I don't get along.

The best part of this cycle is that we know how much medicine is too much (August 2009) and how much is not enough (November 2009) so this time it should much better.

It was funny this morning when Mike went to give me my shot. Although it didn't hurt even a little (thanks to a trick the nurse taught me, to flick the area before the shot to get it kinda numb), I got myself very worked up. It was silly really. After the shot (which was at 5am) it took me over an hour to get back to sleep. Hopefully my anxiety will go down in the weeks to come.

Thanks to everyone for your love and support in all this. You are all such a blessing in our lives.

Just a little fall...

Or so I thought. I was out to dinner with my lovely cousin at a very good establishment. In true graceful Nickie fashion, I fell. When I fell I managed to catch my side on the corner of their very hard counter. Mike was in New York, so I had to take pictures to make sure I didn't forget the experience I had. Lacey is very proud of my bruise. It hurt for a long time, but luckily it is gone now. Even 2+ months later the area is a little tender. Good thing I consider myself a tough cookie!!!

** Note the pictures below show the bruise...so if you don't want to see don't scroll down :) **

Day 1

Day 2 (ish)

Day 3 (ish)

Day 4 (ish)

Day 5 (ish)

After that it began to die and turned a even more yucky black/yellow mix, and eventually all marks went away.

It's my turn to do a little bloggen.

Me and Caly had some fun the other day in the backyard. We ended up with some fun pictures too.

These shots are not photoshoped. They were taken with a super wide angle lense.

Caly decided to be goofy.

102.174.104.111

No those are not 4 random numbers. Those are actually the total number of tacos we have eaten on our last 4 trips to Del Taco's Taco Tuesday!!! Thank you Del Taco for becoming a staple to the Wagner family diet. So the 2009 break down is:

Every boy has an excuse for why they did not take the highest number of tacos. And as you can see they almost always come within 1 or 2 of each other. They just eat and eat and eat, even though they have no desire to place another 33 cent taco in their mouth. Michael is amazing at how he eats them. He takes the hard shell taco (easier on the stomach than the soft shell), breaks it in half, and eats each half like a woodchipper. Someday I will have to take video of it and post it. You won't understand or believe it unless you see it

Fortunately we have only had 1 case of throwing up, but there have been lots of bad outcomes!! Especially when you have a taco eating contest then the next day shove all those boys in a car and drive to Jackson Hole!! Sorry Grandma.

We do have alot of fun. And I can't wait to have a contest in 2010.

We all save all the wrappers and stack them up at the very end. The people that work at Del Taco think we are AWESOME!!!

A fun Saturday

We had so much fun seeing Thad, Keisha & Kendalyn in Mt. Home a few weekends ago. We went to a lake by them and Caly loved the water. We didn't get any picture of the humans, just some fun ones of Caly.

Says it better than I could

I was blog jumping today and I found this video. This expresses what I am feeling with my life right now. It put me in tears, finally allowing me to cry for the first time in a while. I am sorry if it does the same for you. It was just so nice to finally find something that put into words what I have not been able to say.

Introducing Caly

She came to live with us on December 14th 2010.

She is the ultimate couch potato. She loves to sleep on the chairs and the couch. They are her territory, and if you want to sit there, you need her permission first.

This is how she sits part of the time. She doesn't like to get her bottom cold.

She has already made it through her first surgery. We had her 4 days when we had to take her in to get her "Cherry Eye" take care of. She is doing much better, now that she can see out of both eyes.

Mike has been working with her, and she likes to sit, stay, dance and play soccer. It is pretty cool. She is around 9 months old. She is very small for a bulldog. She is only about 37 pounds, and since we got her she has not gained much weight. She is loved by everyone around her.

Well..

There have been so many things that have changed within the past two months:

We did the IVF retrieval on Thanksgiving morning!! The retrieved 13 eggs. I don't remember much because I slept through it. Mike watched the procedure, so if you want specifics, give him a call. They called us on Saturday, and told us 2 of the eggs had fertilized. So, Sunday morning we went in for the transfer. I did not sleep through that procedure, but I did fall asleep on the table afterwards. We waited for a few hours before they would let us come home. Once home I spent the next 3 days in bed. It was so hard to stay down, and not do anything. I watched a lot of tv. Thanks to everyone who came to visit, and for the fun things that people sent to me, to play with. I love all the arts and crafts that I got to do during that 3 days time.

Mike went to NYC to give a workshop about travel photography. He had fun back there. The drive back and forth took the most time, and were the hardest, but he survived. He did get pulled over for being a drug runner!! Good thing he is such a good boy, and there is no way anyone would ever believe he would run drugs.

December 13th was Jamie & Dereks 1 year anniversary. They are such a wonderful couple, and I am so glad they have each other. They have taken the past year to really help each other grow and improve as individuals and as a couple. I love you both. I am so happy for you!

That is also the day we found out that IVF did not work. It was devistating, and maybe that is why it has taken me so long to finally post. I am ok(ish) now. It is still really hard. We are still talking about what to do next. We are not going to rush into any decisions.

Lacey came home for Christmas, and with us living here, Mike and I got to spend time with her. They had so much fun playing XBox 360 together. I am glad they did, because I am not a big video gamer.

I got a camera for Christmas, which is why there will actually be pictures from this point on in my blog. I am so excited. Thanks babe so much!!!

Playing White Elephant games and Dice Games for prizes with my family

Christmas was fun. We were able to tak to Quinn (see his blog for the call updates), after lots of trouble of course. I don't know why it is always so hard to talk to the missionaries that are out of the country. Luckily Trinidad is included on the North American calling plan, so it is not an international call, it is the same as a long distance pone call. We did not get to talk to Matt because he was in the MTC. It is too hard for the MTC to have them call home. We did get a letter on Christmas Eve, which was awesome.

Talking to Quinn on the speaker phone

New Years we spent with my family. We had steak, crab and shrimp at Grandma's House. We played Apples to Apples up until midnight. We almost missed it.

Yummy Food

Me and Jessie