Our 1st Real Trip to Chicago

Yes we have lived in the Chicagoland area for a year now. Since then we have been to Chicago twice for touristy type things: we went to Navy Pier and we went to the Field Museum. Other than that Michael drives through Chicago sometimes for work but we've never really took the time to be a tourist. So on Saturday that's what we decided to do!!

We started out by taking the train into the city. It took 1 hour and 20 minutes. Not too shabby. Then we walked a mile or so and went shopping. If any of you know me, you know I hate shopping, but we were with Kristin who loves to shop so she wanted to look for some stuff.

We went in to Macy's and they had a beautiful store inside! There were decorated trees everywhere (there had to be at least 100), they had huge ornaments that hung from the ceiling, and they had their windows decorated with ornaments designers made and other fun Christmasy stuff.

We then decided we were hungry and Michael and I went to P.F. Changs to visit my friend from Vegas Briana! She is one of the managers at the downtown P.F. Changs. This was the 1st time we'd ever been to eat there. The food was delicious! The service was great! And the restaurant was pretty cool looking. We had a blast hanging out with Briana. Our friends and I got done eating at different places at the same time! Weird.

So we headed off to Navy Pier to look at their Christmas lights. We walked for a while and then got there. They had a winter wonderland with an amazingly enormous tree! It was pretty cool looking! They also had a plethora of smaller trees that were decorated by different professions. Example: The landscaping company had huge flowers in their tree with different colored hoses acting as garland. It was pretty cool!

Once we were done it was time to head back to the train station. It was only 2.3 miles away! We got there at about 6:15 pm and our train was to leave at 6:40. So we had enough time to stand in the long bathroom lines and then hop on the train. I was pooped when I got home! 

It's In Vitro time!

Michael and I found out that his work is getting rid of our insurance plan and starting January 1st we'll have just a PPO. This plan doesn't cover all infertility processes. So we are speeding up our infertility by starting in vitro. We just had a visit to the doctor today and learned about the medicine process for the next few weeks. Oh my is all I have to say! Here's a picture of all the stuff I will need:

AAAAAAhhhhhhh!!!!

As my Dr. says, it's time to Hans and Frans you up. Lol! So here's an outline of what I need to do:

*I started birth control 2 weeks ago to ready my follicles for mass egg production.
*Monday Michael and I start an antibiotic so we don't get me sick. I also start Lupron - an injectable hormone. This will be once a day.
*In about 2 weeks I start another injectable that I will give myself 2 times a day. I will still be taking the Lupron so I will have 3 shots a day.
*I will be monitored 3 times a week at this point to check which day will be best for egg retrieval. Once things look good I will take a shot of Ovidrel to help make sure the ovulation process will happen. This helps loosen the eggs so that they can retrieve them.
*The next day I will start the progesterone pill 2 times a day.
*The next day they will retrieve my eggs. I will start Medrol (2 tabs twice a day for 4 days). I will also take a few antibiotics to make sure I don't get an infection.
*A few days after this I will get my embryos transferred into my uterus. Sometime around this day I will take another shot. The day after the transfer I will use Crinone which is a vaginal progesterone liquid.

After all this, hopefully I will be pregnant!! Our fingers are crossed!

Infertility Update

I think it is amazing that anyone actually even gets pregnant. It seems like one thing after the other doesn't work out for us. We have tried insemination 4 times now, all without any luck. We met with our doctor and he said the medicine I'm on, Clomid, is an estrogen blocker. This means it is helping me produce FSH so I can have eggs, but is blocking my estrogen production so my tubes may not be picking up my eggs. Now I will trying a new medicine which is the natural form of FSH. So hopefully this will kick my estrogen into gear.

I have to skip this month of trying because one of my eggs did not drop and grew a little too large for my body to absorb it as quickly as normal. Apparently I can't start the medicine unless my eggs are perfect.

If this doesn't work then I may have endometriosis, which is a form of scar tissue on productive organs that makes it hard to get pregnant. So they might have to do exploratory surgery and if they find any endometriosis then they will laser it out of me and then I should get pregnant easier.

We've waited 4 1/2 years to get pregnant, we can wait a little longer right? 

Cheapskate

I went to get my hair cut the other night, and somehow we got on the subject of being cheap. Tammi, my hairstylist, said she was the Queen of bargain shopping. I told her I was cheaper because I only cut my hair once a year. Then she laughed at me. But then I started thinking about it and these are reasons why I think I am a cheapskate:

1. I cut my hair once, maybe twice, a year. Usually when I have an under $5 Great Clips coupon.
2. We don't want to pay for trash tickets so Michael takes our trash to his work dumpster.
3. It takes me 6 months to buy a pair of pants when I actually need a pair because $20 just isn't cheap enough. Question: why is it a pair of pants? It's only one.
4. We don't turn the a/c on unless it's going to be more than 95 outside.
5. We almost never use the a/c in our car to save gas.
6. We use grocery bags for Tippy's poo bags.

That's all I can think of for now. We're cool, but we're crazy...

New Food Pyramid

The USDA changed the food pyramid into something called myplate. They have left behind the food pyramid and brought in a more conceptual idea. Find more info at:

choosemyplate.gov

It now shows what your plate should contain. I LOVE this new concept! I hope this will help everyone understand more of what the ratio of food intake should be. Good job USDA!

Board Games!

As many of you know Michael and I LOVE board games! We now have almost 200 games in our collection. Since games are one of our passions, we decided to start a blog about them.

boardgameaddicts.blogspot.com

Enter the world of board game addicts and prepare to learn about different games, what we like about them, and if it would be a game you would want to buy!

Freezer Paper Projects!

For activity day girls we had them make their own canvas bags. They were super fun and easy to make! Here are the tools you will need:

*Something to put the design on (a bag, a shirt, a onesie, etc.)
*Freezer paper
*An exacto knife
*Something to cut on (cardboard or a cutting board)
*Fabric paint
*Paint sponges
*Paper plates
*An iron and ironing board

Here's how to do it:

Take clip art from the internet that you want to use. It needs to be simple. Something like this:

So, now trace this picture onto the rough side of the freezer paper. Then cut out the meat of the picture (the petals and the middle stem of the flower). You should have a square piece of freezer paper with a flower cut out of it. Now take this paper with shiny side down and iron it onto your bag or shirt. Then take your sponges and paint! 

 This is what it should look like. Now just wait until it dries (it shouldn't take too long). If you're in a hurry you can blow dry it dry. Then peel it off and behold the results!

Beautiful! 

School's out forever!!

I finally got my Bachelor's degree!! Yay for me! I finished in May 2011 and got my Bachelor's in Communication that I started oh so many years ago. Now, I want to become a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist so I can be a personal trainer but also coach people about their nutrition. One day I would like to become a registered dietician! That's my goal. Anyway, Michael threw me a surprise party for graduating. Isn't he so sneaky? Except I knew about it, I just didn't know when it was :)

 This is my cool sign!

 These are my cool friends!

These are my cool presents!

Hooray for graduating!!

Cake decorating class!

So I started taking a cake decorating class for fun and here's what I've done so far!

The 1st week I decorated some cookies, basically just learning the star tip.

The 2nd week I filled and decorated a cake! It was super fun. This week we only learned to use the round tip. Can you see my fish, bubbles and seaweed stuff?

And fish don't live without water so I had to add it to the sides!

How to Make Sushi!

At the request of many of you, here is how to make your own sushi. This will save you tons of $$ and you can get super creative.

To make the rice:

I use a rice cooker. It is super easy.
If you use white rice, use 1/4 C less the amount of water as normal. Example: For 2 C rice you would only put in 3 3/4 C water.
If you use brown rice (which I do) cook the rice normal. Example: For 2 C brown rice use 4 C water.

When the rice is done, add about 1 tbsp white or rice vinegar per each cup of rice. I like mine a little more vinegary so I do one extra tbsp. Then I add 2 tbsp Chia seeds but you can use Sesame seeds. Stir all this together.

To make the sushi:

Cut up anything you want in your sushi. Examples:

-Carrots
-Avocados
-Cucumber
-Zucchini
-Green Onion
-Cooked Eggs
-Crab
-Tuna
-Pickled Daikon (a delicious Korean radish)
-Red, Green or Yellow Peppers

Here is a picture of everything I used:

Now, take your toasted/roasted seaweed and place it shiny side down. SO, there is a shiny and a rough side. You want the rough side up and shiny side down. OK?

Now take some rice and spread it over about 1/4 - 1/2 of the seaweed like this

Now put your fixins in the middle of the rice pile like this

Now it's time to roll it up! Start at the side with the rice and fixins and roll it up once and try to shape it roundly.

Then pick up the top part of the bamboo mat and pull it so you can roll the sushi roll one more time. If you do not pick up the bamboo mat, you will roll it up with the sushi roll. Tasty.

Spuish down the roll and shape it roundly. Then pull the bamboo sheet again and roll the sushi roll up one more time.

Repeat process until the sushi roll is completely rounded and done.

Then cut the rolls with a serrated knife because they work the best. Then enjoy the beauty of your homemade sushi!!

We didn't start the fire!

So today we went on an afternoon walk with Pete and Kristin in their neighborhood. Their neighborhood has a yearly day when the trash company will take any amount of trash for free (or just the normal price paid per pick-up). So we perused the unwanted items for anything fun.

We came across a fire in the front of someones house where there "trash" would be and asked Pete and Kristin if it was legal to have fires like that to which they replied, "I dunno." We thought it was strange especially since no one was by the fire. So as I ran up to the person's house, a lady driving by was like "Should I call 911?" To which I said, "Ya, that'd probably be good." I got to the door and rang the doorbell twice until they answered, saw the fire, and ran around like mad people. As I came away from their house, their neighbors were just watching the fire grow. One man told me not to run by it as he didn't want it to explode and hurt me. Gee, thanks buddy. The guy's friend asked him if he had a hose and so they got their hose ready as finally the owner of the fire finally got outside and had his hose out too. There was smoke everywhere!! It was crazy man. My question is what was in the trash that made it catch fire and gave no worries to those who threw it out??

Our Fave Pizza Recipe

I feel like our blog is turning into a recipe book, but I have nothing else to talk about :) Food is a part of our everyday life. So here is our new favorite pizza recipe!

Dough:

-3/4 C Warm water

-1 tbsp Yeast

-1/2 tsp sugar (or honey)

Put these 3 items into a bowl together and let sit for 5 minutes or until bubbly.

Meanwhile,

-2 - 3 C Wheat Flour (I almost always use 2 - 2 1/4 C)

-1/2 tsp Salt

-2 tbsp Chia Seed

-1/4 C Olive Oil

Put these into a mixer. Then pour the yeast mixture into the flour mixture when ready and knead for 8 minutes.

Put into a 15" pizza pan or a cookie sheet.

Then add toppings. These are our favorites:

-pour a little olive oil on the top of the crust

-put on some shredded parmesan cheese

-add chopped (about 3) roma tomatoes

-add 1/2 of a chopped red onion

-add some chopped pineapple

-then add some spinach

-top with mozzerrella

Bake in the oven at 425 for about 20 minutes and enjoy!

A Little Something to do with Wheat Storage

It seemed like everyone in Vegas had wheat and used it. Here in Illinois, people don't even know where the cannery is. So here's a recipe for pancakes that are so delicious I could eat them for lunch and dinner (and sometimes I do):

Wheat Pancakes:

1 C Wheat Flour

1 C Milk (I use almond milk)

1 Egg

2 tbsp Olive Oil

1 tbsp Honey

2 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Salt

2 tbsp Chia Seeds (You don't have to put this in but with these 2 tbsp of seeds you get 10g of carbs, 10g of fiber, 6g of protein, and 120 calories)

*If you want fruit, put in 1/2 of chopped fruit

Whisk all ingredients together and cook on the stovetop. Add peanut butter, jam, or maple syrup and ENJOY!

Recipes

Michael and I are back on track and eating our normal healthy foods. I have not eaten sugar for 28 days and I don't really crave it anymore. However, I have been staring at a recipe lately and have been dying to try it so today I did and it was de-li-cious!! So here it is:

For an individual size (apx. 3/4 C) of CHOCOLATE BANANA SMOOTHIE:

*1 frozen banana (you might want to chop this up 1st)

*1 oz dark chocolate (you might want to crush this up 1st)

*1 pinch of cinnamon (it equals to be about 1/16 tsp)

*1/2 C almond milk

*If you like sweeter drinks, you can add one drop of honey

Put all of these ingredients in your blender (in the Vitamix it blends right up but regular blenders might be trickier) and blend until smooth. Enjoy!

Here is our recipe for Almond Milk (or you can buy it from the store):

*1 C almonds, soaked in water overnight. This will become 2 C almonds. Rinse and drain.

*4 C water

*1 tsp vanilla

*2 tbsp honey (or agave)

Blend all ingredients in blender. Pour liquid into a nut milk bag and gently squeeze liquid through into a container. This will last in the fridge for a few days.

The joys of fertility

I have decided to post about the process of invitro. And I am saying the very beginnings as we haven't even started the actual invitro process yet!

WOMEN:

Step 1: Typically they will start by taking your hormone levels on a random day.

Step 2: If hormones are fine, they will do an HSG test which tests to see if your fallopian tubes are open or if there's a blockage.

Step 3: If nothing is wrong there, it's time to start ultrasounds! You will call the doctor on the 1st day of your period. On day 3 you'll go to the office, get blood drawn, and get a uteran ultrasound to check the process of your eggs.

You will go back on day 12, 14, 21, and 27 (or whatever days the doctor says) and get blood drawn and do the ultrasound each time.

Step 4: You go to the doctor and get your cervix filled with fluid to see if there's a hole in it (I guess).

*For me, my estrogen level is low in the beginning, my LSH is low in the middle and my progesterone is low in the latter stage of my process. Apparently this is easily fixed with pills. Good news right? Typically...

MEN:

Step 1: You will go to the doctor and get blood drawn. For some reason these tests take a couple weeks to get results. So you'll wait...

Step 2: You'll go to the doctor and give them a semen sample in a very awkward room...

Step 3: If your levels are normal, you'll move on to step 4. If all looks well, the woman will take her drugs and you will go from there.

Step 4: So your levels are normal but your semen analysis wasn't. Now you are going to go to a Urologist and talk about getting a testicular biopsy done. The biopsy will help them know if you have any active sperm in your testes. Apparently 50% of men who have low sperm counts can have a great sperm level hiding in their testes.

Step 5: If you have sperm hiding, you will get the sperm taken out somehow and frozen for future times.

Step 6: If you don't have sperm hiding, you can use a sperm donor or adopt or not have kids. *Most of these steps for us are done. It has taken 4 months so far with waiting for appointments and everything. I feel like it's taking FOR-E-VER but 4 months really isn't that long granted it's been about 4 years since we started trying to have kids. So here's to waiting....

An ode to Tippy

Tippy is my baby girl. She is so funny and smart! She tells me when she's hungry, thirsty, when she wants a treat and when she needs to go potty. One thing that's funny is that she HATES the snow.When she lands in a spot of snow that goes past the middle of her leg she just stops and picks up her front paw.We've been a little nicer to her since it's been so cold outside. We let her sleep on her blanket on the couch. She takes advantage of us. We're such softies.

I forgot to post about Tippy's birthday but she is 2 now! Ever since we got her she just loves plastic! Anytime she hears plastic she comes running up to me and wants to eat it. Gatorade bottles are one of her obsessions.

Tippy also has been really cold since the move to Chicago. I think it's because she has short hair. But she is getting more used to it. Nevertheless she lays in front of our space heater and takes up all the heat! Then she has to have her own heavy fleece blanket to sleep with at night. I love you Tippy! You are such a good girl!!

Stores

I'm trying to learn about the the different stores here in Chicago. Here's what I've found out so far:

1. Dominicks = Vons

2. Jewel-Osco = Albertsons

3. Meijer = A way more fun Walmart

4. Woodman's = The best grocery store EVER!

5. Costco = About the same distance away as it was in Vegas (apx. 16 miles)

6. Menards = The Mega Home Depot/Lowes

7. Portillo's = The best fast food hot dogs in the world!

I have to admit I am liking Chicago, despite the fact that I can't do anything outside without putting on 5 layers of clothing. The people are pretty awesome and they love to play games with us! Our ward is cool too. It's rather small compared to Vegas, but still a good little ward. Michael and I teach CTR 4 together and are having fun with the 6 kids we have! They're a handful most of the time but it's fun playing mostly games in class :) The snow is starting to melt (which Tippy appreciates) so it seems we'll be able to start working out again!

What I Miss About Vegas

Living in Chicago for the past few weeks has given me reasons for actually missing Vegas. I never thought the day would come, but here they are:

1. The sun! It is so dark and dreary in Chicago. It makes me sleepy.

2. The mountains! If I get lost, I don't know what direction I'm going because there are no mountains to steer me in the right direction.

3. My hot water! This town house we're living in has warm (not hot) water coming out 80% of the time. I miss my old shower :(

4. Being able to exercise just about 24/7 365 days a year! We still haven't figured out how to work out in the snow and ice. Cleats? And it's so cold we don't even know how to go biking...we would freeze!!

I guess that's it for now...