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!!!