It's my birthday Saturday - random thoughts

First of all, Happy Birthday to my sister Jenny. Today is her birthday. Growing up as kids my parents always celebrated our birthdays separately even though the days were only3 days apart . They wanted to make sure we felt our birthday was a really special day. We might have had our grandparents over for a weekend celebration, but on each of our birthdays we had our own cake, own presents and our special requested dinner.

I'm having dinner with four of my best friends tomorrow night. I am really looking forward to our time together. They are the best group of girls. I don't know what I would do without them. We chat throughout the day via email and experience all of our ups and downs together. They are my rock and my daily laughter.

We are thinking about selling our condo in downtown Milwaukee. Don't get me wrong, we love it and we love living downtown, but it's time to make the next big purchase. We have outgrown our place and we are looking forward to getting a house out West (not California West, Waukesha County West) We are going to take it slow at first, no hurry. But if you or if you know anyone that wants to buy a great 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo in downtown Milwaukee for under $200,000 let me know.

Oh yes, and children. Still don't have any and we won't anytime soon. Our second IUI did not work. It was a very emotional month for me. The hormones have taken over my body, so we have decided to take a month or two off. We want to be stress-free and I want to feel like myself this summer. Am I being a little selfish? Some people may think so, and thats ok. Until they do what I have been doing to my body they have no opinion.

I will be able to continue my blog this summer as being married without children, and thats not all that bad.

I have not been good at this

I have not been writing as much as I should. No excuse. I actually have been writing all my fertility experiences in a journal, I guess I could post some of those entries, but they may be boring.
My husband and I are very excited for summer. We were teased with 89 degrees yesterday, of course it didn't last. But it gives us hope.
The husband is still in school and finishing a class. He hopes to finish it by June 7th, the start of Jazz in the Park. He has 3 more papers. I don't miss school at all.
We are in two volleyball leagues this summer, that will keep us busy. The days we are not playing volleyball I am trying to squeeze in some runs.
We have decided it's time to try to sell our condo. We love it here in downtown Milwaukee, but it's time to move West and get a house. We will start casually and see what kind of bites we get.
We also decided to take a couple months off of fertility treatments. It was getting very emotionally and physically draining. I want to enjoy the summer and be myself!
Thats the latest.....

It's almost summer in Milwaukee

Despite the rain and cold temperatures this week I am looking forward to summer in Milwaukee. I just looked up a couple of our favorite "festivals" in Milwaukee and I started to get excited.
Jazz in the Park starts on Thursday, June 7th. Have you ever gone? If not you must! Pack your own dinner or buy dinner when you get down there. There is nothing like sitting in a park in the middle of the city with your friends and family, enjoying some wine and great music. But before Jazz......Riversplash will take place June 1,2 and 3 this year. This festival is our official "Its finally summer in Milwaukee" festival. It's free, it's fun so come on down!
There there is Summerfest, 3rd of July fireworks, Germanfest, Festa Italiana, State Fair and so much more. I will try to get a calendar up and talk about all the different events! I'm so excited...... oh and the farmers market will open soon too!!

Dang it

Not pregnant this month. I'm ok, I thought I would be hysterical but I'm not. I think at this point in the game I have realized that this whole plan in in God's hands. We are depending on science in this whole process but ultimately, God is in control. So we are onto the next month. I am just not looking forward to all the hormones and needles!!

Celebrities that are or have dealt with fertility problems

I am so thankful to see more and more celebrities revealing that they have had problems with getting pregnant. I'm not thankful they had to experience the heartache of trying to have children; I am thankful that they are going public with their stories. They are in the spotlight and if they disucuss their fertility issues it creates more awareness of a large problem.
Some celebrities that have relvealed such problems:
Dixie Chicks
Trista and Ryan Sutter
Cindy Margolis
Courtney and David Arquette
Angela Bassett
Christie Brinkley
Jane Seymour
If you know any others, let me know!

Date night

My husband and I had a much needed date night this past Friday. He has wanted to go to the Daniel M Soref Planetarium for a while now and I have been craving sushi so we decided to combine both in one night. We had reservations at Izumis at 6:00 p.m. and were seated right away. We both ordered some wine and made our selections; Take sushi combination for me and a Godzilla roll for my husband. Izumis (I wanted to post their website but it's not running right now) is our favorite sushi restaurant in Milwaukee. We have always had great service and fantastic food for a good price. When I first met my husband he had never tried sushi. For the past 4 years he has been taking baby steps and he has come a long way. He enjoys Izumis because they have a nice variety of Japanese food. After dinner we headed towards the Milwaukee Public Museum (the Planetarium is attached to the museum). We got our tickets, popcorn and candy then headed to our seats. The "feature" was Wonders of the Universe. The first part of the show displayed what is currently visible in the Milwaukee sky. Then the feature takes the viewer in space through the eyes of the Hubble Space Telescope and explains how galaxies are formed and goes into detail about stars, the constellations, planets etc. I really learned a lot during this section of the feature. The show is only 45 minutes long and costs $8/adult. We will defiantly go back to see Stars of the Pharaohs and make a visit to the IMAX which is showing Roving Mars and the Deep Sea.

not sure how to post this.....

I have posted about fertility problems earlier and I indicated that I wanted to share information, struggles, support systems for couples etc that are experiencing fertility problems. I just wanted to report that we are in the heart of it all. We will be trying an IUI soon. This is good though. It's nice to have options and to start trying something that will hopefully allow us to have our own children. Science is amazing. I wish my science teacher from 11th grade could hear me say that. Again, I don't want to get into too much detail but I still feel this is something to be talked about, shared with others. Our doctor told us that 1 in every 6 couples will experience some kind of fertility problems. 1 in ever 6! Why don't we hear about it until we are that 1 in 6?
Anyway, I just wanted to post an update. If anyone has questions or wants to talk about everything we are going through let me know. Believe me, I have searched out many people asking them questions.

Spa day at Spargo

I was able to spend a wonderful morning and afternoon at the Spargo Salon in Pewaukee, WI this past Saturday. It was a much needed relaxation day after a very hard last couple months at work which included 30 hours of overtime in two weeks. I arrived at Spargo at 8:30 and was escorted down to the locker rooms to change into my most comfortable robe and slippers. As I waited for my facial one of my girlfriends arrived with the muffins, mimosas and gossip magazines. We toasted to a wonderful day and I was called off to my first treatment. My facial was so fantastic. Between the different masks they applied to my face they treated me with a hand message and a foot message. When I was done I went back into the waiting room and sipped some of my mimosa. Next was my 1 hour message. Heaven. Pure heaven. How else do I describe it. Once we were all done, we showered in wonderful Aveda products got dressed and we darted off to Jose's Blue Sombrero for lunch. We had a great time stuffing our faces and sipping on margaritas.
What a wonderful day!

It has been too long, I'm sorry

My job took over my life the last 3 months. I planned a large event (Women's Conference) that ate up all my free time. But it is now over and it was successful. I could brag about it and go into detail but I don't want to think about it right now.
So I will get back to writing, complaining, informing and just blogging.
Happy Spring!

Oh and I have a girl's spa day this Saturday at Spargo and will report back after my day of relaxation!

It's cold out

Has anyone else noticed how cold it is outside? Oh, sure, it's warmed up from -20, wind chill -35 to -1, wind chill -2. That's a heat wave. UGH! I can't stand this weather. Anyone else?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

It's my mom's birthday. Shout out to mom.

Infertility Blog

Infertility Blog
More support: From the Nest
And another: Fertility Treatment and Information

Fertility Issues

I use to think that it was easy to get pregnant. But I was wrong. I have discovered that there are a lot of couples who have or are having fertility problems. So why don't we hear about it more publicly? Is it such a private issue that people don't walk to talk about it? If so, why? Why are fertility problems any different that cancer, high blood pressure, heart disease, menopause or any other disease?
Yes, we are trying to have children, no we aren't going to go into details. But I will say this, it was almost a relief to find out that so many other couples are struggling to have children. It would be nice to talk these people and find out what they have done to be successful. I also think a support system would be helpful as we and others struggle though the roadblocks set before us. I will address these and other fertility issues in the future. Please, feel free to share.

I survived

My sister was in a jam this past weekend so I helped her by babysitting her two boys, 3 and 2, for a couple hours on Sunday. Honestly, I was scared. Hint number 1 to all, McDonald's will win the hearts of all kids. I walked in with a bag of chicken McNuggets, french fries and some pies and they were all smiles. Helpful hint number 2, make sure you know how to operate a DVD player and understand kids don't always want to watch the entire movie, they like the games or features on the DVD instead. Hint number 3, the computer is a babysitter itself. Disney, Sesame Street and even Barney have great websites that will keep children (and adults) entertained for hours. These websites offer educational games, coloring sheets, songs, stories and much more. The most exciting thing for me was that I made it the entire day without having to change a diaper.

We don't have that other couple to hang out with.

My husband has his friends and I have my friends. We have gone out with each other's friends and their significant others. But we don't really have that other couple that we hang out with. You know, call to do dinner, go for drinks, and watch the game with. We don't have children so that knocks out a lot people. We are both involved in sports and active in church. Not many of our friends share these similarities. Is it because we met later in life and our individual friends have come from different times in our lives? Anyone else in the same boat? Or are we just weird. (Stating the obvious!)

So my husband started school.....

On Tuesday my husband had his first MBA class at Concordia University. And now tonight, he is studying. I don't mind having my alone time but if I want to watch TV I have to wear headphones so he has silence. Hmph. I guess I should understand, I was probably the same way when I was in graduate school.
Now I feel like I need to do something, be more involved. I am running and training for a couple half marathons. But I still have more time on my hands. I guess I'm going to pick up some books this weekend. Please recommend some books.
Thanks!

Happy New Year!

I stated my new year by doing the Polar Bear Plunge. I still don't understand why anyone would do this but I guess it's to say "I did it."

Only in Milwaukee, Wisconsin can Bradford Beach attract more people on January 1st to jump in a freezing lake than watch some great volleyball on a hot August day. This was my second year jumping in the cold lake. My brother decided to join me this year. We were lucky to have warm temperatures of 40 degrees. There is a strategy to the jump: Don't wear a lot of clothes. Cold wet clothes on your body makes it worse. Before you jump in have your warm and dry clothes ready to put on. Bring a blanket and lay out your layers so you can get to them right away. Also, bring a lot of towels. Ladies, wear a bikini with ties if you can. Once you get your clothes on you can untie your suit and pull it right off, that way you don't have your cold wet suit against your body. Something new I learned this year from my fellow running buddies, bring big thermal bags full of hot water.... when you get out of the cold water you stand in the bag and it warms your body right away. Here are some pictures from my crazy morning.

Getting ready to go in

New Look

For the new year, a new look. My new year resolution is to blog more. Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Kwanzaa, Happy Holidays and have a great new year!

Culture Clash

I recently read this article Culture Clash: Beach Volleyball in Qatar on MSNBC.com. We really take things for granted here in the United States. But let me just say, how awesome that these women from Iraq are competing in sports.