the newest member of the pack

Once again, it has been an awfully long time since I last posted. School and life often gets the best of me and if we are being brutally honest I am the worst at trying to maintain balance.  There have been some big changes in our household since I last posted as we welcomed baby C to the pack! This may be a long post but I want to share my trying to conceive (TTC) experience to give hope to others who may be struggling with trying to have a baby.

First, let me back track a little bit.  From the get go I knew I was not going to be able to conceive B without a little assistance. It took about a year to get knocked up with B with the help of injectable infertility meds. 

{It was only appropriate to add an adorable Baby B photo here}

Already going through the whole having-a-baby thing, when the hubs and I decided to try for baby #2 we thought it was going to be easy peasy like B.  Well, what happens when you have that kind of mindset? Yup, it doesn't exactly go as planned.  We did about six rounds of injectable meds with no success and ended up doing an IVF cycle. Our cycle went about as good as it can possibly go and I ended up pregnant on the first go around with eight more embryos to spare.

I'll skip over the pregnancy part. All I will say is once again pregnancy is so not my thing. I was sick for the first 27 weeks with C, then became a wild, starving, bottomless pit for the remaining 14 weeks. If you noticed, 27+14 does not equal 40... That would be because I was a week overdue with C and had to be induced.  I think that the powers-that-be do me a solid when it comes to labor and delivery because both of my kids were pretty similar. About six hours of active labor and a whole whopping five minutes of pushing.

And now I shall introduce you to our newest member of the pack, hound terrorizer in training, and little love of our life: 

Claire Lily

{Born 01/12/2015, 8:05 PM, 8 lbs & 4 oz, and 21.5" long}

And now let me inundate you with ridiculously cute C pics....

{Lily honestly believes she is human}

{and just for good measure here is B & Big Tim... Only because these might be the cutest pictures of a boy and his dog EVER.}

[Disclaimer: I understand that not everybody's IVF experience is like mine and while some might find it insensitive of me to talk about my relatively 'easy' IVF process. You have to remember that everyone's experiences are different, however we are all in the same boat.]

Soccer

                                              

{First day of soccer.}

So when we got the fall sports catalog in the mail from our local city sports and recreation center I asked B what he wanted to play. His options were soccer, t-ball, basketball, and football; he told me that he wanted to play soccer and basketball. Dad is a football fan while baseball is my sport of choice so I tried to sway B's decision. About an hour later I ask him again and he tells me soccer. He then follows his selection by saying, "Barry plays soccer too..." Barry is the hubs' best friend and we had just visited him. During our visit Barry had a soccer game, needless to say B is pretty enamored by Barry.

B started tiny tot soccer about two weeks ago. Do you have any idea how cute it is to see about 10-15 two to three year olds attempt to play some soccer?!?! They don't actually play a soccer game, though that might be hysterical and mind-numbingly cute, but they do do some soccer drills and learn skills like passing and dribbling and throwing the soccer ball. B is pretty good for a three year old, he knows how to pass (kick the ball), dribble, and how to score. I wish this was a year long or least 6 month kind of thing but its not. 

Next sport on our list, Basketball! :)

                

{Working on some dribbling.}

{Listening to his coach give directions.}

    

{Learning how to do a big overhead throw.}

 {Taking a break.}

{My little soccer stud and I.}

lately through the camera roll

Forewarning: Since I have been gone so long this is going to be a little picture heavy... 

But, they are cute pictures. :)

{1. B at a hockey game looking rather studly.}

{2. Violet deciding that my head is a good place to sleep.}

{3. Typical small hound.}

{4. Mine & B's great thrift shop score.}

{5. Grumpy B at his friend's pirate themed birthday party.}

{6. The view in my rearview mirror a few weeks ago.}

{7. Target fun.}

{8. Cutest sign holder ever.}

{9. Two of my fave guys.}

{10. My first freshly picked flower from B.}

{11. B after a late night of partying.}

{12. Beach Day.}

{13. Backseat (well drivers seat) drivers.}

{14. I just found this... I am pretty sure B took this of my BFF.}

{15. Lil.}

{16. Morning with Big Tim.}

{17. Apparently pizza dough on your eye is fun.}

{18. Late night dinner with the coolest kid I know.}

{19. Me & B.}

{20. Catching the Octonauts at the mall.}

{21. B's first Subway sandwich...}

our week through the camera roll

Last week was pretty uneventful, but I caught some cute shots with my iPhone. :)

Enjoy!

{This is what happens when I try to lay on the couch.}

{I think B was watching Elmo... How cute are his doggie boxers?!}

{Violet is not a burrower... She uses pillows for blankets.}

{I made some new pillow covers for the couch in my front room.}

{I swear Vi sleeps in the most random spots. Here she is on the arm rest of the couch.}

{B & I on our way to my parents' 70's themed party}

{Us at the end of the night... It was super hot out.}

{I snaked my mom's party afro. It kinda matched my real hair.}

{How great is this print?! Totally wanted it but it was $150... On sale!}