Potty Training Adventures

So we are FINALLY Potty training Lucas.

I'm not sure if we are way late, he didn't seem to interested in it last year and we didn't think it would be a successful attempt though this year things were different he seemed much more interested in it and talking about it. So as of August we took on the Potty Training Challenge.
His very first time was on August 29th :)

I think about it and I laugh! That morning we came back from droppin' the boys off at school and I was going to change Lucas' diaper and I decided to ask him if he wanted to go in the potty so he agreed, I sat him on his little Elmo potty seat hoping that something will happen but wasn't really holding my breath.
After a couple of minutes he asked to get up and told me he wanted to stand up like his brothers, so he lifted up the toilet seat and stood up right next to it, at this point I'm thinking he just trying to get out of it, so i went back to the kitchen to finish breakfast and all of a sudden it happened! I heard trickling on the water!!!! I rushed to the bathroom and Lucas' was standing right next to the toilet pointing at the bowl happy as he could be tellin' me "I did it mommy". I couldn't remember the last time I felt that happy, tears were rolling down my eyes! LOL!!!

You would think I'm an expert on this but I so totally aren't since I had help with Liam and Marcelo so now with Lucas feels like this is the first time I do it.

So far so good though, he is wearing underwear when he is home and he is asking to go and he is not having as many accidents, so he has been progressing over the past 3 weeks and with a lot of encouragement, a potty training chart and lots of stickers when he makes it to the bathroom on time he has been doing great.
I feel like he has grown up a lot over the past month, he had been sleeping with us (yeah on our bed) since we brought him back from the hospital until a month ago. Beginning of September we got him a new bed and now he sleeps in his own room and wears underwear! My baby is growing up!! Next time I check he'll be starting Kindergarten **sighs** :)

Quitting Smoking takes Girl Power!

So I made the decision on Tuesday September 16th. After 17 years of smoking off an on I have realized that I need to stop smoking. Smoking is one of my favorite things to do. I turn to smoking when I'm bored, when I'm stressed, when I'm hungry, when I have long hours of homework ahead of me, and when I go out to concerts, there is nothing more satisfying that lighting up a cigarette and taking a puff (I can almost taste it!) *sighs*.

Why am I giving it up? Because I kind of have to, I wish I could say that it is because I understand the health risks that smokin' entails, well I understand them it's just that I have always chosen to ignore them I guess.
This year I turned 30 and things have changed, we have new plans and new goals and I want to make changes, changes that mean something, changes for the better and quitting smoking has to be one of those changes.

Besides the fact that I could get lymphoma if I don't stop smoking I'm guessing that smoking almost 10 cigarettes per day won't be to helpful now that I'm trying to lose weight and have decided to start an exercise routine, I can only imagine me trying to run a couple of blocks right now, I would probably pass out half way there ....

I mentioned that I quit smoking on September 16th, well my last cigarette was on Monday 15th so Tuesday I was officially smoke free, I failed miserably on Friday though when I couldn't take the cravings any more and I caved in and bought a pack of cigarettes! I smoked 3 cigarettes I hate to admit but I'm back on the horse and I'm now 2 days free of smoke and I'm hoping that I'm able to fight the urges and make it to a week and then a month and then a year...

It'll be a tough road but I've done it before (3 times actually while I was preggies), so I'm sure I can do it again :)

Watch my ticker to follow my progress!

Urs,

Changing our plans

Well I thought the next time I would make an update it would be when I had news on a BFP (big fat positive) and I would be talking about the due date, and ultrasounds, etc ...

Well things have changed a little bit. We are still planning on trying to have another baby but we have decided to postpone it for now.

It was a tough decision to make, I'm still feeling somewhat sad about it, after our loss on April the hope of being pregnant again sometime this year was something I was really looking forward to.
Yesterday night was like an epiphany, while thinking about homework I started thinking about how much we want to be able to buy a house in the near future and how much we are looking forward to relocating to Washington State within the next 3 years.

I don't necessarily think that having another baby will make it impossible for us to reach those goals but it would for sure make it that much more difficult.
After a long talk this morning we both agreed that for now we will concentrate on saving money to be able to relocate. We will be FINALLY graduating school on 2010, about 1 year 1/2 away so our chances at better jobs look more promising (at least that's what we hope for- LOL!)

So as it stands right now 2011 will the year we jump back in our TTC journey again.
This would have been our 5th cycle actively TTC so I'm thinking that things happen for a reason and if it didn't happen up until now maybe it's because it's not meant for us at this point in our life, but maybe in the future.

Many of you know already that I've about had it with Miami and nothing would make be happier (besides winning the Lotto of course) than moving out of here! Once Mike and I finally agreed that Miami was not really where we wanted to stay and raise our family, Washington State was the place we chose but it had been left at that, just a choice. We haven't been planning or saving towards that goal, so that's what we are planning on doing now.
We are hoping that we will be able to pack everything up and move for good at the latest by the end of 2010.

The second change is that as of today I'm on diet! (this time is for real though) not a crazy diet and definitely not a crazy exercise routine, probably something I can fit in between working full time, going to school full- time and being a full-time mom and wife... I haven't really paid much attention to my weight lately and I've definitely gained more than I wanted to and I can honestly say that I'm in the worst shape of my life, going up and down a flight of stairs gets me exhausted!! - LOL

So I'll be posting periodical updates on how my weight loss journey goes, I'm hoping to lose about 30 lbs within the next 6 months so wish me luck :)

xo
Urs,

Pearl Jam onesies give me a sence of urgency! :D

I got home tonight and since my Pearl Jam Message Board is blocked at work I can't really get any of the updates...

I was pleasantly surprised though to see a post by Santos announcing the brand spanking new additions to the Goods Section on the Pearl Jam Fan Club webpage. Onesies!!!! I've only waited for official Pearl Jam Onesies for like almost 10 years?

Now all I really need is get a BFP!!!! :D

...oh and btw if you'd like to get these for your little one you can purchase them Here
(in the "Other Wearables" section).

The 2WW is certainly the longest *sighs*

Well, I guess we can say that we officially started TTC on the month of May, we were planning to wait until June, once we had come back from our summer Pearl Jam shows, but there was an unexpected change of plans and according to my OPK , I got a + on Sunday morning May 25th, which means we have a very good chance of having conceived earlier than we were planning to.
This has got to be the most draining wait ever though, I am now 9DPO, it feels like I have been lingering on the same day for that past 3 days...

I have decided to wait until CD33 to test and see what happens(I'm currently on CD28...this is cycle #1 TTC so I don't want to get overly excited at the thought that we might be expecting again.

I go back and forth though on whether I should test sometime this weekend or whether I should hold until the weekend after **sighs** we should be able to find out whether you are or not pregnant the minute it happens or it doesn't IMO!

The wait in between the "O Day" and the "Testing Day" seems like an eternity when all you wanna know is if you will be getting a BFP..

For now I'm going to gather up all of my patience and keep on counting my days down....

Before we go any further....

This will be my first time actually planning to have a baby...

Most of us would think, "well, how hard can it really be?"

I found out that when you are actually planning it, you gotta TCOYF what that means is that now I have to take my temperature, chart my cycles, take OPK's, etc ,etc in order to recognize all the sings and time everything to perfection so that I can finally get that BFP!

When I started my research on the internet I was as confused as you probably are unless you are too TTC and are familiar with the million acronyms there is on the subject.... well since I will probably be using them as well as we move along in this journey I picture I'd give you a list of the most common acronyms...

2WW: Two-week wait (until you can take a pregnancy test)
AF: Aunt Flo(w), your period
BBT: Basal Body Temperature
BD: Baby dance, sex
BFN: Big Fat Negative (test result)
BFP: Big Fat Positive (test result)
CY: Cycle
DPO: Days past ovulation
hCG: Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (pregnancy hormone)
HPT: Home Pregnancy Test
LH: luteinizing hormone
LMP: Last Menstrual Period
LP: Luteal phase
O: Ovulation
OPK: Ovulation predictor kit
PG: Pregnancy, pregnant
S/A: Sperm/semen analysis
TCOYF: Taking Charge of your Fertility (book)
TTC: Trying to conceive

Urs,

Mourning is ok...

Starting a new blog has been particularly hard for me this time around.
I've never had a problem putting down in writing what I think or what I feel, but after our loss on April it was hard to talk about it at the beginning and I found it even harder to be able to put it in writing.

There isn't much I can say about it, it was all very sudden and unexpected. The whole experience left me feeling empty and helpless for a few weeks....it was one of those situations where you are part of it but can't do anything to change what's happening around you.

Mike and I weren't really looking into expanding our family, as 3 boys already seemed like enough, but we welcomed the idea of being parents again when we were told by the Dr. that I was pregnant again. Needless to say losing the baby hit us both really hard.

I'm really happy to say though that we have decided to TTC again and go with the flow and hope that we will be holding a new member to our family sometime next year....