Moving on...

Well, I know it’s been a LONG time since I’ve last posted. I probably don’t even have anyone that reads this blog anymore, but if anyone is still out there, I thought I’d give a brief update and send you over to my new blog!

So early this year our family got some exciting news…my husband Jacob was given the opportunity to take a position with his company Solutia over in Brussels Belgium! We decided this was one opportunity we just couldn’t pass up and had plans to move end of April/early May of this year! As you can imagine this threw a wrench into our plans to continue trying to expand our family early this year, but more on that in a minute. The plan is still to move to Brussels (we hope), but now it will not be until the August time frame. You can hear all about Brussels and what is going on with that on my new blog by clicking here.

Now, back to baby making…since that is the main point of this blog :o) So we decided with traveling all over Europe and without the support of family and friends close by we would put trying for number 2 on hold for now. We were thinking of maybe trying to do a frozen cycle a year or year and a half into our two year stint in Brussels, but wanted to get some professional advice from the lovely Dr. Ahlering. So we went for a visit and told him our plans/concerns/etc. He was very helpful and optimistic that we could easily come home to do a transfer (even an un-medicated one) whenever we felt ready. When I brought up the concern of my “biological clock” ticking and he looked back at my file and saw my elevated FSH levels he decided we may want to do a “fertility check” on me to ensure my fertility is not declining rapidly. After a fluid ultrasound and some blood tests though, he was confident that at this point in time everything looked good. He recommended getting re-tested every 6 months to a year just to be sure things don’t start heading south. His main concern is that although we feel like we probably already have all of our kids ready to go…referring to our 5 freezer babies just frozen and waiting to be implanted…that realistically the chance that we get one or more live births out of those 5 is VERY low! That was a bit of a shock! We always joke that our maximum kids right now will be 6…assuming all 5 would “take.” But he reminded us what he has learned from years of practicing in this field…that just because you transfer and embryo…that does not automatically equal a baby. Case in point…Autumn would have a twin if this were true as two embryos were transferred at the time she was. So unfortunately the likelihood that we will have to go through another full up IVF cycle someday to achieve our family of 3-4 kids is very high! Bummer! :o( Hopefully though my fertility levels will stay up and if he is right, we will have time to do another fresh cycle before it is too late.

So for now I’m going to leave you, but if at anytime our baby making journey starts back up, I will be back! And of course I couldn't leave without posting a recent picture of my little cutie...she's such a sweetie and we just love her so much!! So enjoy :o) Au revoir...

3 Months & Back to Work

So last Friday was my first day back at work. It went pretty good...partially because I knew I just had one day and then the long weekend...and partially because Grandma (my Mother-in-law) came to watch Autumn instead of having to take her to daycare for the first time. Autumn did great as always and had a great time with Grandma & Grandpa.

And then Tuesday was the first day of daycare...it was tough for sure. Jacob and I both decided to take her that morning...to make sure we remembered to tell her teacher every possible thing we needed to to ensure she had a good day :o) Her teacher Miss Anita is very nice and I know she gives Autumn a whole lot of attention...probably because she is the only baby in the room right now...haha!! I sure hope it stays this way for awhile because with Autumn being such a good baby I would worry about her being neglected a little if other babies are more demanding. So for her sake hopefully she'll get a month or two more of the one on one! It was great too...when I went to pick her up the first day Autumn greeted me with a great big smile and was super cuddly! She even did her first art project and put her hot pink handprint on a letter telling us how much she loves us and what a great time she's having at daycare...too cute! She hardly slept at all that day at daycare...I think she just wasn't used to the environment so was likely busy checking everything out. So that night when we got home she slept ALL evening and ALL night! She was worn out for sure. Even the next day at day care she slept half the day. I think having this new environment every day combined with a growth spurt it is really making her sleepy!

Being back at work is going well too. I am officially going part time on a permanent basis...meaning I can't just go back to full time if I wanted to...which is fine with me. And it worked out great for Boeing too...as they were having to do some budget cuts...and with myself and another girl both coming back from maternity leave part time, we saved them one full time head...so they don't have to worry about reducing headcount else where...so we may have saved someones job. I love it when it's a win-win.

Autumn is doing wonderful. She is getting so close to rolling over...is experimenting a lot with her voice (still hasn't quite figured out how to talk consistently though), drools like a fountain, and just lights up our lives! Jacob and I fight over our snuggle time with her...especially on nights when we've both worked all day! We are loving the new cooler weather and are trying to take advantage of taking those walks we've been waiting to do all summer! Life is just wonderful!

We also sent a note to Dr. Ahlering to ask his opinion about when he would recommend us doing our first frozen embryo transfer. Not that we're in a huge hurry...we're really trying to enjoy being a family of three, but just trying to plan a little and figure out what will work best for Autumn and our family. He, true to form, didn't exactly answer the question...just said whenever I stop "nursing" and have a regular cycle again. I was hoping he would advise us on if there is a certain amount of time we should wait...i.e. is there more success if you wait a year...or is it the same if it's only six months. I may try and probe him a little more to see if I can't get a more firm recommendation...so more to come! Not that we can totally plan it because as it was the first time, it's totally out of our hands, but I'm thinking getting pregnant next January or February would be wonderful because that would be a fall baby and would put them about 18 months apart. I want to have our kids close together so they will hopefully be best friends growing up...especially if we have another girl.

Here's another couple pictures of the two of us at Autumn's cousin Sophie's birthday party!

2 amazing months!!

Autumn is officially two months old today!! It's hard to believe two months have passed already...time certainly does fly when you're having fun!! Autumn is such a blessing and it's such a joy to watch her grow and learn new things every day. Like just now...I'm sitting outside her room after putting her down in her crib for her first nap in the "big girl bed"...up until now she's been sleeping and napping in the bassinet in our room. I've been considering moving her up to her crib for awhile, but kept putting it off because I just love having her down close to us (we have a 1 and 1/2 story house...so our room is on the first floor and her nursery is on the second. But as she is quickly out growing the bassinet it is time to start transitioning her to her crib. And so far so good. Maybe we'll start putting her to bed up here too...she's been sleeping about 8-9 hours a night so coming up here to do her 4:30 or 5 AM feeding would be an easy switch. I'll just miss having her right next to me as we sleep :o( Since I've last updated you she's grown 2 pounds and was 11 pounds 9 ounces at her two month appointment!! She's great at lifting her head and looking around and can even support her own weight on her legs when we pull her up!! Jacob is convinced she's going to be walking way early...we will have to wait and see though.


Her eyes have started to turn a lighter shade of blue that look gorgeous with her long eye lashes. I'm really hoping this means that she's going to have her dad's pretty blue eyes!!



Autumn is such a happy baby...give her a pacifier and a pair of arms to cuddle in to and she is just as happy as can be! I don't think we could have asked for an easier little girl to help ease us into the role of parenting!! We are so very lucky! She's learned to laugh and coo and even sing along with mommy occasionally...there's nothing like it in the world!! It definitely makes everything we went through to get here so worthwhile!!




The feeding issue never really improved...she never was quite able to latch properly so we've basically decided to just pump and bottle feed. It's not ideal, but thankfully we're doing well with it...and pumping so much extra we even invested in a deep freeze. My goal is to pump until atleast six months and hopefully have another three months frozen to give her.

We also had an issue with our daycare...they didn't hold a spot for Autumn and when I went back to register her they were full!! I was really upset, but it has worked out for the best. We found another day care close by that I actually think I like better...so God was looking out for us once again.

I'll try and keep the blog updated more frequently with how she's doing, but no promises. We're trying to get in to more of a routine, but she still pretty much drives our schedule everday so getting online for any amount of time becomes a bit of a challenge. I'll do my best though :o)