Embryo Adoption

Without meaning to, I was a little bit vague and a little bit confusing on my last post.  So to clarify: when I said we would be adopting Tucker as the tiniest of all babies….I was referring to the relatively new embryo adoption. 

And we are so stinkin’ excited we can’t even begin to contain ourselves.

Embryo adoption refers to the adoption of one of 400,000 frozen embryos worldwide, (many) of whom were created during the IVF process and were then frozen indefinitely once their genetic parents felt like their family was complete. 

Adoption of an embryo is a process very similar to that of domestic infant adoption, and yet uniquely tragic in that the actual embryo is viewed as property in the eyes of the law...not a baby.  At its core, legally speaking, embryo adoption is a legal agreement transferring ownership of the embryo from the genetic parents to the adoptive parents, and it carries with it none of the tax credits or incentives that traditional adoption allows.   

To us, this view of life is a tragedy. We believe that life begins at conception, we believe that these waiting lives are precious and worthy and our hearts are incredibly tenderized to them.  To us, these waiting embryos represent a population of innocent, precious lives that have no one to fight for them.  They have no advocates.

Each year, genetic families decide whether or not to keep storing their embryos, and from experience we know that the fee to freeze and store embryos is upwards of $500 a year.  Genetic parents who are done building their families and find themselves with ‘leftover’ embryos have three choices: (1) donate the embryos to science, (2) continue storing their embryos or (3) have their embryos destroyed. Destroying an embryo involves thawing that precious little life….and then letting it die right there on the table.

I can’t stomach it. 

This is where embryo adoption comes in.  There is no cost to the genetic family, and if they choose to donate their embryos to an embryo adoption agency, they suddenly find themselves in a situation very similar to a birth parent in a domestic adoption.  They get to choose the family who will adopt their embryos through a mutual selection process, and they get to specify what kind of adoption plan they want to write; open, closed, or anywhere in between. 

To adoptive parents, embryo adoption is unique in that the mama gets to carry her baby in her womb.   When the baby is born, the adoptive parents are the only names on the birth certificate.  Legally speaking, the genetic parents have no claim to any baby born after the embryos transfer hands.

So what does the process look like for us?

First, we complete a home study.  Our home study is the exact same study that would be completed for a domestic or international adoption, with the same costs.  After we have a completed home study, we will create a family profile to be shown to genetic families.  From there, it’s a mutual selection process.  Genetic families will be shown our profile, and if they choose us, their family/embryo profile will be sent to us.  In essence, we’ll choose each other.  Once a match has been made, the legal paperwork is completed regarding the adoption of the embryos, and we make arrangement to have them shipped to our fertility clinic OR we can travel to them.  It takes about two months to prep my body for a frozen embryo transfer, and a day for the FET to take place.  All in all, it’s a 5-13 month process to transfer day, and then….9 months to deliver a baby. 

Like I said, our heart are incredibly tender to embryo adoption.  In fact, the agency we are adopting through is the same agency we had planned to use should anything have happened to me/us and I hadn’t been able to go back for all of our own babies.   We had a plan in place for their safety through adoption, and now we find ourselves on the other side of the table. 

The obvious fear with embryo adoptions is that the embryos wouldn’t attach.  That the FET wouldn’t be successful, and we’d walk away at the end of the process with empty arms.  We aren’t naïve to that risk; we’ve been there before.  But God has so clearly and swiftly set our feet upon this path, and we are eager to walk each step with Him as He leads us to baby Tucker.  We are believing in expectation that God will be faithful each step of the way.   

I've long believed that one way God ministers to me in my own life is through music.  Truly.  In some of the biggest valleys of my life, God has spoken to and delivered hope and reassurance to my soul through song.  There are a handful of songs that bring me to tears in an instant; because they remind me of times that God clearly used them to speak to me.  The day after we found out we'd lost the twins, I was driving in my car as the song "Fix My Eyes" came on the radio.  I'm sure I must have heard it dozens of times before, but that day I really listened to the words, and this is what I heard: 
Hit rewind, click delete
Stand face to face with the younger me
All of the mistakes
All of the heartbreak
Here's what I'd do differently, I'd

Love like I'm not scared
Give when it's not fair
Live life for another
Take time for a brother
Fight for the weak ones
Speak out for freedom
Find faith in the battle
Stand tall but above it all
Fix my eyes on You
On You

I learned the lines and talked the talk
But the road less traveled is hard to walk
It takes a soldier
Who knows his orders
To walk the walk I'm supposed to walk

We're on it, Lord.  We're fixing our eyes on You.  This road is hard, and we're afraid of all the what ifs.....but Tucker?  So worth it.  

 

A New Beginning

Dear Tuck,

Hi baby, it’s your mommy.  You and I don’t know each other yet, but your face is already so alive in my heart, and my arms are already aching to squeeze you tight in a giant bear hug.   Someday I hope you’ll read these words and know that you have been loved in every moment.  I hope you’ll know that you were always wanted, and that you were prayed for by name with conviction and passion for years before your birth.  Buddy, your story is being written as I write this.

Your big brother Blake and big sister Lainey talk about you all the time.  Blake prays for you every single night, and we ask God to protect you wherever you are.    Blake says your name in his most precious 3-year-old toddler speak, and it comes out sounding more like “Tuckwer”.  It was daddy who came up with your name.  It was when I was pregnant with your sister, and we had taken a late family walk with your big brother in the stroller.  Daddy and I were dreaming and talking about future names for our babies….and daddy, with a glimmer in his eye and a grin on his face, blurted out the name Tucker.  It was completely out of the blue.  But when I heard it pass through his lips, it was almost like the name lingered there in the still breeze of that warm summer night.  Tucker.  I knew it right away.   You, my precious one, were meant to be part of our family. 

We didn’t know then what path would lead us to you.   God has given all three of you such unique stories;  such God-breathed, beautifully written masterpieces crafted by the Creator of the Universe.    I know that God has something great in store for our littlest Breitenstein; that the plan for your life will be as masterfully written as every delicious detail and plot-twist He’s written for our family through every season of life.  Tuck, know that we’ve been searching for you.  And for a little while, we thought we’d found you.  But before that path led us to you, our precious babies were born into Heaven’s gates.   We grieved that loss completely and intimately, but daddy and I also realized right away that our loss was really just a reminder that we hadn’t found you yet.  Those little loves are your siblings, and someday we’ll all reunite on golden street with incredible shouts of joy….but God’s plan for their lives was never on Earth.  We know that.  As much as we wanted and loved them….they weren’t you.  

And we’ve been waiting for you.

When God laid your name on our hearts, it was almost like he carved a Tucker-sized hole that was literally waiting for your life to fill it—to come and make our family whole.   When we lost our last pregnancy, we prayed.  We cried.  We asked God to open the door that would lead us to you.  And Tuck, he did.   God showed up in that moment and ever so tenderly righted our feet, dusted off our shoulders, and opened the door that we know will lead us to you.

And so now we walk.  Sweet love, we’re coming for you.   Today we were assigned our caseworker, who will walk us through the early steps of your adoption.   We are adopting you as the tiniest of all babies, choosing you and carrying you in the same way I carried your brother and sister.  My love, we are ecstatic to begin walking this road to you, and yet….we’re scared, too.  We’re scared that we might walk through this process and still not find you; that we’ll come home with empty arms.   It’s a terrifying thought because we want you so desperately.  

But Tucker, daddy and I have chosen courage.  Courage to go where led and to fight for you.   We know you’re worth it.  We know God has set our feet on this path and we will walk it for Him, and we will walk it to you.   

Sometimes faith means trusting that God’s view squashes our Polaroid.  Sometimes it means boldly walking where others might not choose to go, and always it means rejecting our humanity and choosing to yield control to the One who so intimately holds us in His hands.  Tuck, sometimes faith means jumping when you can’t clearly see the landing spot.   It's a little bit terrifying, but oh what a view on the way down…and what a reward when you find yourself standing with two feet planted squarely on the mountaintop.   I think that’s what it truly means to put feet to your faith.      

So Tuck?  We’re jumping.   

Just a few hours ago, I got hopelessly lost while trying to pick up a pair of pants for your brother from someone's front porch, and as I pulled u-turns in driveways and drove up and down the same street over and over, peering at addresses and clearly searching for something very specific....Blake piped up from the backseat "What are we doing, mommy??  Are we looking for Tucker?  Is he coming home today??"

Do you see?  It's you.  We all know it.    And we won't stop until we find you.    

Adam's 27th Birthday

Last year, we started a little tradition of celebrating Adam's birthday with a big brunch with the family.  So, true to form, I invited over my family for a delicious brunch in honor of my main squeeze!  The food was delicious.

We had cinnamon roll waffles, homemade Orange Julius', whole wheat banana bread pancakes, a sausage casserole, and homemade granola bites!  I made Adam a couple of special birthday banners, using old pictures I had of him on my computer being goofy (go figure...).  And, because the theme of this celebration was brunch, I wanted his cake to match.  So, I baked cupcakes inside of hollowed out egg shells (you can see the carton of 'cupcake eggs' underneath the happy birthday banner in the above picture.  It was so fun!  We cracked the cupcakes and peeled them just like you would an actual egg! 

After brunch, Adam opened presents!  He got lots of fun stuff, including a beer making kit (from me) an awesome power washer from my parents, and a new holster from my brother!  He did good :)  Love my family!!

Then, in the afternoon, Adam decided he wanted to go to the zoo!  Blake had never been, and we thought it would be a fun way to spend the day as a family.  We were right!!

Blake didn't really care about all the animals, but he loved the ride!  He's such an easy-going, happy little man.

About halfway through the zoo, we stopped at the pavilion area to let Blake out of his stroller to stretch and wiggle.  The above photo collage demonstrates what happens when Blake gets hold of something...in this case, it was the zoo map.  Oops!

We had such a wonderful day celebrating the most wonderful husband and daddy there is!  We love you babe!  Happy 27th!!

A Man After God's Heart

I posted here a little bit about Blake's dedication, which happened last Sunday at my home church.  I shared in my original post that the dedication was our opportunity, as Blake's parents, to publicly proclaim our desire and intention to raise this little boy in accordance to God's laws.  Moreover, to raise this little one with full knowledge that He is a gift bestowed upon us by the grace of the Father, as He has entrusted us with His precious child. 

That's a tremendous responsibility, and I take it very seriously. 

That Sunday, standing in front of the congregation, we made a promise before God to raise this child up in the way he should go.  And I want to be very intentional about that.  I want to be intentional in the things I do and say, prayerfully intervening on my son's behalf and striving daily for my walk to mirror the walk I want to portray to my son. Because I know that he'll be watching, and it will only be through the grace of God that my life will be used to mold his. 

So, in light of all that, I've decided to start something new on this blog.  Someday I'm going to take all of the entries from this blog and turn them into a book for my precious son.  Because this is his story.  I want him to be able to read my words and know, in this moment and in this time, that his daddy and I are madly in love with him, and more importantly, that we are purposefully and intentionally raising him up to know his Savior.   It's the best gift we can give him, and we want to do it well.  Raising a son is a special privilege and honor, because someday Blake will grow up and use his life and his relationship with God to lead a family of his own.   

And so I've decided to start sharing a Bible verse a week, each one depicting a characteristic of a godly life.  These are for my son.  These are the life lessons I want to impart to him, because they aren't truly mine at all....they're His. 

 _________________________________________________________________________

You received without paying; give without pay.

Matthew 10:8

Blake, this is so important for you to remember.  It is by the grace of the Father alone than you have received the most precious of all gifts: eternal life.  This gift was given to you, and all humanity, for free.  There's nothing you can do to earn it, and in our humanity we are simply unworthy of the blessing. And yet, none of that matters.  Your Heavenly Father loves you so much that He chose to pay the price for your sins.  He died so that He could know you, and so that you could know Him.  That's pretty incredible, and I hope you take the time to marinate on the magnitude of that love.  You'll never know anything else like it.  

I chose this verse in Matthew for you because I want you to always remember to use your life as an extension of the grace you have received.  Live it out loud.  Not for earthly rewards, not for accolades or admiration, but out of love for the Father.  Give because you have also received.  Do everything you do not for the glory of you, but for the glory of God.  And always remember, this earth is not your home.  Your reward will forever be in Heaven....your eternal home.  

I love you, and I'm proud of you.

Frugality

Frugality.  Is that even a word?

Well, if it’s not, it should be.  Because it’s 2012’s new motto in the Breitenstein household.

In the last year, we’ve had a lot going on over here.  I got laid off from my job as a teacher when the district I worked for cut over 100 first and second year teachers.  Our house value plummeted (thank you, economy) and we had our first baby. 

Just reading that, it sounds pretty lame (um, except the having a baby part). But in reality, each of those represented a tremendous blessing.  Let’s go down the line:

1.   I lost my job.  At first, it really was lame.  We definitely thought so.  But what it allowed was for me to spend a lot more time than we had originally planned at home with our baby.  What a huge blessing.  And it also allowed for me to earn money as a sub when I wanted.  I get sub calls every morning, and if I want/we need for me to take one, I do.  I don’t have to, but I can.  I never, ever thought I’d sub but what a huge blessing it has been in this season of life. 

2.   Our house value plummeted.  This one took a little while for us to be able to see the blessing, but it is there.  We bought our house in early 2008, literally right before the housing market crashed.  Since then, we’ve seen a steady decline in our investment money pit.  BUT, but, there is a silver lining.  We can afford to live here, even with our house value underwater.  We’ve never missed a mortgage payment.  We can pay our bills.  We have a beautiful home that we love.  Our neighborhood is perfect for Blake.  We live on a dead-end street, with a big backyard and plenty of room for a growing little boy to explore.  We would be foolish not to see the blessing in all of that.

3.   We had our first baby.  Do I even need to go into this one?  Biggest blessing of our lives.  The end.

So, basically, moving into 2012 we feel very blessed.  We’re happy to put 2011 to bed and lean into a new year, packed with new blessings and new opportunities to see God’s hand and His provision. 

Even so, we do find ourselves treading in unfamiliar water.  We’ve never really lived off one income.  We’ve always had two.  We’ve always been able to do whatever we wanted whenever we wanted.  Money just has never been an issue.  And, again, we’re blessed that (even now) it’s not.  We can pay our bills and take care of our obligations.  We are putting away money for Blake’s brothers and sisters (well, and Blake too).  We’re putting money in savings every month.  Our bank account is healthy.  

But, we can make a few changes/continuations in our lifestyle to save a few extra bucks, and since we can, we will.  Exciting.  

Here’s what we’re planning

1.   No credit card debt.  This is just a continuation.  We’ve never had any, and we never plan to.  My dad gave Adam and I an invaluable piece of advice when he told us to never charge something we didn’t have the money to pay for at the end of the month.  We never have.  

2.   Consolidate trips into “town” (we live about 10 minutes outside the nearest big city in a town of just over 3,000) to save on gas.  I feel like I pretty much already do this, just because Blake and I spend a lot of time at home anyway.  I keep my errands early morning (after we drop off Adam at work) or late afternoon (before we pick him up).  In between there, our days are filled with play time, naps, eating….you know, baby stuff.  HOWEVER, this will change in February, because Blake and I are signed up for Mommy and Me Swim lessons.  SO FUN.  But neither here nor there.  Sorry. 

3.   DIY whenever, and wherever, possible.  This one I am very excited about.  I have a couple ideas already cookin’ in that noggin of mine.  Not ready to share yet, but soon.  Promise.

4.   Find “creative” ways to bring in some extra bacon.  So far, this has included selling items we really don’t need on Craigslist, signing up for SwagBucks (uhh, how did I not know about this sooner??) and opening an Etsy shop (well not yet, but very soon)

5.   Buy secondhand.  Mainly for Blake.  This kid has blown through his wardrobe for (what I thought would be) the first year of his life.  His little four month self is currently wearing 12 month clothes.  When we realized this would be the case (at about 2 weeks of age) we decided that buying him new clothes/shoes was out of the question.  He just doesn’t wear them long enough to make spending $15-20 a pop reasonable.  Instead, we buy secondhand.  We have an amazing children’s resale shop here in town that I frequent all the time.  I rarely spend more than $3 for anything in Blake’s wardrobe.  Plus, they frequently have sales and I can score things for as cheap as .75 cents.  It also helps that Blake has a cousin who brings him big boxes of his hand-me-downs every time we get together.  LOVE that sweet family (and their little man, who has incredible style).  For us, buying secondhand extends all the way to baby gear.  Blake’s jumperoo, his walker, his Johnny Jump-Up, one of his play gyms…..all secondhand.  Anything that wasn’t gifted to us we bought secondhand.  And you’d never know!  I got out my Dreft and cleaned the living daylights out of everything, and Blake never knew the difference.  Doing this has saved us tons.

6.   Selling back baby clothes.  I don’t actually do this, because we’re saving our little boy clothes should there be an Isaac James Breitenstein coming on down the line (<-- you like that?  yeah, this my non-Adam-approved name for baby boy #2) but it would be a great way to earn a little extra money.

7.   Save money by being a frugal housewife.  Yes.  This means I’m cutting out coupons, planning menus in advance so grocery shopping is very efficient, and taking on new projects to save us money in the day to day stuff (like making reusable paper towels) 

 
Those are just a few of our ideas, but already it's been fun.  And exciting.  I love my new role as a (mostly) stay at home mom, and I love doing little things like those mentioned above to help take care of my family.  The older I get (uh oh, sounds like a cliche coming your way) the more I realize how little things matter.  I could live anywhere, literally anywhere, with my husband and son by my side.  They are my joy.  We are rich in things money can't buy, and that's all that matters. 

What's in a Name?

As you’ve probably noticed, Adam and I changed up our original choice for a boy name (Elijah James) and replaced it with something new.  I don’t really have a good reason why—Adam had kind of soured on the idea of Elijah and we both knew we wanted a name that we were absolutely sold on.  Duh.  This little guy is going to be stuck with this name his whole life through, and being given the chance to name someone is a pretty huge responsibility—not to mention an honor that we don’t take lightly. 

And so after much discussion we finally settled on the name of Blake.  There was no real rhyme or reason to it.  I was driving to work one day and the name popped into my head.  I instantly loved it, and once I got to my office I texted Adam and told him I was in love with a boy name and he wasn’t allowed to nix it right away without giving it some thought.  This immediate absolutely-not response had become his knee jerk reaction in the past few weeks, and I was pretty much positive that if he hated the name I’d be crushed.

Well, he didn’t hate it.  He actually really liked it. 

So then I did the next big thing when choosing a baby name: I googled it for meaning.  At first, I wasn’t impressed.  Blake is a Scottish name that literally refers to light/blonde hair.  It means “pale”.  Uh, lovely.  But I wasn’t to be dismayed, so I kept digging.  Most names have multiple meanings when you look hard enough, and sure enough, so did this one.  Finally, I stumbled across Blake’s Anglo-Saxon meaning, which (thankfully) is much more appropriate for our baby boy.  Blake means "Attractive, Forgiven: Redeemed: Forgiven through Grace"

What a perfect name for our little miracle baby.  Forgiven.  Redeemed.  A reminder of God’s grace. 

Ah, much better.

Satisfied that we had found the name, we started discussing middle names.  Louis was at the top of our list, because it is the middle name carried by my dad. 

My dad has been my number-one fan my entire life.  He’s been a best friend, a protector, and a role model for me my whole life through.  He’s encouraged me to reach for my dreams, to believe in myself, and—most of all—to never forget how loved I am.  We share such a special bond as father and daughter, and we are incredibly close.  I have precious memories of his whispered I love you little girl and his strong arms that were always there to hold me.  When Adam and I were married, he adopted my husband right into the family—immediately considering him a son and loving him in that same huge way.   His excitement to be a grandpa melts my heart, and I hope that Blake’s middle name will forever remind him of what a special relationship it is that exists between a daddy and his child.  I have been unequivocally blessed by the man I get the honor of calling my daddy, and that’s something that Blake and I will have in common.     

Louis is also the Americanized version of my Great-Grandpa’s name, Luigi.  We love that Blake will carry a little bit of both sides of the family with him as he grows.  His last name is wholly Adam, and his middle name is wholly my (Italian) heritage. 

Interestingly enough, Louis also means “warrior”….so if you put two and two together, we’re basically naming our son Pale Warrior Breitenstein.  Catchy, huh?

In any case, we love our little boy, and we think his name is perfect. 

 We can’t wait to meet you, Blake Louis!!!

Little Sisters and Big Brothers

Some of you may know that I am the youngest in a family of two—my brother being 18 months older than me. 

Being a big brother is a big job, and when we were younger, we definitely had our moments.  I played the role of little sister really well, i.e. I loved to get him in trouble.  Just turning on the waterworks and running for mom did wonders when he wouldn’t give me the toy I wanted.  I also loved to drive him up the wall in argument when I would scream at him: talking to a wall, talking to a wall, talking to a wall!  I still haven’t lived that one down.  In the car, he would get his revenge by slugging me in the left arm (he sat on the left side of the van and me on the right) and I had what I fondly refer to now as a perma-bruise.  Probably well-deserved. 

But the truth is I drove him nuts because little sister loved to be around big brother.  I wanted to do everything he was doing.  I remember wanting to play Star Trek with him and his best friend, and while they reluctantly agreed, they gave me the role of Doctor Crusher because she always stayed on the ship—never going on “away missions” with the crew.  Basically, this meant sitting on the bunk bed while the two boys were off on their imaginary missions.  Pretty clever, really. 

I also remember going on bike rides near our house.  My mom always told my brother that he had to stay with me, because I was his little sister and needed to be looked after.  I loved to gloat about that one, and while he’d always agree at mom’s insistence, once we were around the corner he’d speed off and only come back for me when he was ready to head home.  I’m pretty sure I told on him. 

Sounds like a pretty normal sibling relationship, yeah? 

Just wait.

My favorite memories are of playing on the backyard swings with my brother, taking the dog for a walk, laughing as we wrestled with dad on the floor in front of the TV, and making memories as only a brother and sister can.

And the older we got, the better it got. I started to appreciate my big brother even more.  I looked up to him more than anyone else, and the example he set for me was always good.  Whether it was in school, or at home, or with friends, there was never a time when I couldn’t look to my big brother for an example of the person I wanted to be.  He was my hero. 

I remember how Tony always knew what he believed in, and he was always willing to stand by it.  I saw that in him and it made me want to know what I believed in too.  I remember going to my brother and asking him questions about God, about politics, and about how to integrate our faith in the society we lived in.  His answers always impressed me and made me think. He knew the Bible and would point to passages that related to what we were talking about.  He inspired me to know more, to be more, and to grow in my faith. 

I remember one time in high school—I was a freshman and he was a junior---and it was one the first days of school. We were standing in a group of his friends and some other upperclassman.  Someone asked Tony who his best friend was, and without hesitating, he put an arm around my neck and said my sister is.  I’ll never forget that moment.  My heart soared with pride. 

I think it was high school that was the turning point for Tony and I.  Our relationship morphed into a deep friendship and appreciation for one another.  He became my best friend.  We’d have brother-sister nights at the movies, we’d talking about everything (even things we didn’t want mom and dad to know….solidarity!), he rescued me (and laughed at me) when I got my car stuck in the snow on more than one occasion, we were roommates in college one year, and when I interned at the US Embassy in London my junior year of college, he visited me and we went to Italy together.  Those were some precious memories 

We’ve seen each other through all the curve balls life has thrown our way, and he’s been a sounding board and listening ear every single time I’ve needed one.  I love him more than I could ever say.  I look up to him for the person he’s always been, for the person he is now, and for the person I see him becoming.  I am so proud to call him my brother, and feel incredibly blessed that God saw fit to give me the precious gift of a big brother. 

So why am I telling you all of this? 

Because, as Adam and I began to talk about starting a family, we talked a lot about how we wanted our little girl to have the special gift of a big brother.   Adam is a big brother, too, and he understands the importance of that role.  I know what an incredible gift I was given in mine, and I’ve always wanted my little girl to have that built-in protector, that partner in crime, and that best friend she’ll know her whole life through.  I’ve always wanted her to have a big-brother hero, just like I do. 

While Adam and I would have been overjoyed with whatever God had planned for our family, we always hoped that we’d welcome a little boy first, because we both know how important big brothers are, what an important job they play, and what a precious, precious gift they represent.

And so, it is with incredible joy that we share with you the results from Friday’s ultrasound:

It’s a boy.

Here we go IN VITRO: Week 7

I am feeling very content.

On Thursday, we enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving at my parent's house.  We are so blessed to have such an amazing family to be thankful for, and our day was filled with laughter and the company of some of the most precious people in our life.  I ended the day with a full belly and an equally full heart.  Family is such a tremendous blessing. 

Although my mom did the major cooking, I did do my part.  This was my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner:

Yumm.  That is a pumpkin chocolate cake with a brown sugar/butter drizzle frosting topped with toffee crumbles.  And around the bottom, I made dessert "acorns" (donut holes, frosted and then rolled in toffee crumbles with a pretzel for the stem) just to make it look pretty.  And no, the leaves are not edible.  It was a delicious, but after dinner I dumped what was left of it.  No way I'm taking that thing home to munch on over the next few weeks...!

Yesterday, I did not do any Black Friday shopping.  I didn't go to a single store.  This is a first for me.  Instead, Adam and I were up in Portland having some blood work and another ultrasound done to check on my progress with the stimulation medications.  More about that later.

After that appointment, we encountered a little bit of traffic on the freeway trying to get back to Salem.  Why?  Because the Ducks were playing Arizona at Autzen at 4PM....which we were profoundly aware of because we had TICKETS!  My parents surprised us and my brother with tickets to the game, and we were stoked.  Adam jumped around like a little kid on Christmas morning (...don't tell him I said that!)

Ready to roll!  They were trying to do a "stripe out" at the game, so depending on the section you sat in, you were either supposed to wear black or yellow.  We were in a black section, but because it rained, it totally didn't work at all.  I ended up wearing a yellow poncho. The game was a blast, but we ended up having to leave early.  More on that later.

Today, after breakfast with my parents (a Saturday morning tradition that is very, very precious to me) I headed home to begin working on my latest master bedroom remodel project: sewing a duvet cover!!  This is big for me, considering I don't sew.  At all.  But after searching in vain for the exact color of duvet that I wanted, I finally decided that I could bite the bullet and make the darn thing myself.   I looked up a couple "how-to" guides online, and then headed out to find my fabric.  Because I'm cheap (and lazy) I didn't want to buy 15 yards of fabric, and instead decided to just buy a king sheet set in the color I wanted and then use the flat sheet as the top for my duvet.  This worked perfectly, as I found the exact color I wanted at Fred Meyers on super clearance.  I sang a little bit of the hallelujah chorus in the aisle when I found it.  Then, for the back, my mom graciously donated an old king flat sheet that she no longer uses.  And I was in business. 

Once I had the makings of my cover, I dusted off the sewing machine (that my mom gave me as a shower gift over 3 1/2 years ago..and has never once seen the light of day) and set up shop in my living room.  It took me over an hour to figure out how to thread the bobbin (and that included that combined brain power of both Adam and I...and the assistance of several YouTube video tutorials) and another hour or so to figure out how to get everything set up so that I could actually reach the foot pedal.  Not a great start.

However, today went quite well and I am proud to present to you our newest addition to the master bedroom:

I love it!  Do you like our headboard?  Those are closet doors, that we bought off craigslist for $20.  I painted and distressed them, and Adam hung them on the wall.  You may recall my original color scheme was peacock blue, gold and yellow.  Well, that's changed a bit.  I was so in love with the peacock blue, I decided I might as well include the rest of the bird.  So I added in apple green and various shades of blue/teal.    This is my new inspiration:

The bed isn't quite done yet--it needs more pillows to pick up a few more colors--but I love it so far.  I also have big plans for our end table next to the bed....

I'm also over my head in art projects for the walls.  Here's a little sneak peak of my latest project:

It's not done yet, but so far I'm excited about it.  Stay tuned

(click the link below for my in vitro update....it's exciting!!!)