Did you think I had forgotten all about this blog?? Sorry for the weeks of silence, it has been crazy town around here! Right after we got home from the beach, we went straight into work mode, laundry mode and well, life I guess! Kip is at a dinner for work tonight so I thought this would be a great time to sit down and write. Get ready for another picture overload. I thought I would do a little recap from the beach and life lately. So here we go!

The beach was fabulous. I need my emojis with the smiley face and heart eyes. To me, that is how you describe fabulous in emoji language. Sorry. ADD. Okay, so the beach. Thank goodness tropical storm Erica didn't mess up our week. We were afraid she was going to at first. We were at the beach for 11 days and only lost a day and a half due to rain. Not too shabby. The weekend started off....with a bang. Of poop that is. The 2 little ones had upset tummies for the majority of the trip. Poor little guys. It's hard to be on vacation with the runs and everybody eating delicious food around you and you can only eat the BRAT diet. They were great sports about it though. A little sand, sun and ocean water as a distraction doesn't hurt

We don't get to see our niece and nephew from DC very much. We FaceTime, but we don't much ACTUAL face time. They are 4 yrs old and 2.5 yrs old. It was so much fun to see their little personalities and truly get to interact with them

This little girl. She is precious. She gives the most genuine hugs. You can be across the room and she will look you straight in the eye, you know she is coming for you, and she will deliver the biggest, most genuine hug I've ever received from a child. She has a sweet soul. A sweet voice. Is ALL girl. Everyday when we would go inside for lunch, she would shower, put on a pretty dress, brush her hair and then make her debut to everyone upstairs. You could see her imagination going; she was a princess or a ballerina in a beautiful gown. And she has cute clothes. Like, I'm kind of jealous of some of them ;) 

Seriously, my heart melts

See that smile? It is going to get him very far in life. This little love muffin can be the sweetest boy in the whole wide world. And he can be a 2 yr old boy who just wants to haul off and hit his sissy, and then love her. He can literally do something wrong, but then opens his mouth with that sweet voice or will shoot ya a big fat grin and you forget that he did something wrong and your heart melts. His voice, literally, completely adorable. Every once in a while, I would hear him randomly call my name, I would go see what he wanted, and sometimes it would be to show me something, but sometimes, he was just keeping tabs on where every body was. I'm in trouble if we have one like this. A mama's boy for sure. 

A picture is worth a thousand words. That foot went into the plate. Sour cream EVERYWHERE. 

That ocean may as well be the puddle from my heart melting again. My husband is going to be the best daddy in the world

For Labor Day, all the neighbors on the street at the beach rent a huge water slide that is fun for all ages. This is my main buddy Cole. When I met this kid, he was 4 years old. Now, he is turning 9 on Friday!!!! Where does time go! My brother's name is also Cole and so we used to refer to my brother as "big Cole" and this Cole as "little Cole." Well. He informed us (a few years ago) he is "medium Cole" and now, he is working his way to being "big Cole." I used to hold him like a baby, now, he is almost my size! We have dance parties together (he taught me how to whip and nae nae) and I taught him how to play MASH in the car on the way home. Do y'all remember that game?? We had a blast playing it. At first he thought it was lame, but once we finished the first game, he was hooked and we continued to play. We went down the water slide together for my first time. That thing is no joke! I had no idea how fast I was going to go! 

That's my sister in law to the left of me. We went down together and with my mother in law as well. We may or may not have had way more fun than we should as adults

The biggest kid of us all. My Kipper

My family was also at the beach. A different one though. But we were only 40 minutes away from each other. Kip and I took a little road trip one day down there and played with my cousin's baby (I will probably refer to him as my nephew because he feels more like a nephew than a second cousin, oh that is so weird to type! Let's just not be politically correct and call him nephew) Anyways, he just turned 2 in June and has been the light of our family as he was the first baby our family has had in a looong time. And remember, my family is baby crazy. (We now have another precious little boy in the family, my other older cousin has a son, although sadly he wasn't there so I don't have a beach picture of him)

This is Hill. He is another one that that smile is going to get him far in life. (I'm seeing a trend here) This baby will test the limits. He will look at you with those big blue eyes and a sideways grin and test the waters for something he knows he shouldn't be doing. He will stop right before he knows he is about to go too far and you can't help but to laugh! Growing up, my cousin and I would fight over who's Tata (our grandmother) she was. Well, I started that with Hill and now he does it with me for everything. Hearing him say "Tata" is literally music to all of our ears. The sweetest sound ever. He also tries to compete with me with "my cup" which is actually "my Kip." This child. So funny. 

I can't wait to see all of these little nuggets continue to grow and to see their personalities continue to flourish. They are all similar in ways. All are stubborn, all are persistent, all are sweet and all love to make us laugh. I feel so lucky to have such wonderful families on both sides. Kip and I are so blessed to have the best families in the world. We laugh together, we have fun with each other and we are all functionally dysfunctional. And I would't have it any other way

When we returned back to reality, we went to work and then got to have more fun! Kip's friend from college who now lives in Tennessee came to town Friday night with his adorable family. We got to go to dinner with them and another set of friends that live here in town and then got to have breakfast with them Saturday morning. As if we hadn't already gotten in some great time with chunky thighed babes, Saturday afternoon we went to Charlotte for a birthday party for my bestie from college's baby boy Wills

I mean, y'all. Don't you just want to gobble him up!!!???? This normally smiley babe wasn't too sure about what was going on. He had sooo many people in his house, a personal cake was given to him to eat freely and a set of golf clubs, who wouldn't be overwhelmed!? Even through all of that, he was still absolutely precious. I don't get to see any of these babes nearly enough! Can we all live closer together, please!!!!!!!

A little something to bring this to a close and make you smile. PS- ignore me, just watch the kids

Tonight. Tonight started off like any 'ole normal night. I knew before even getting to the beach that I wanted to send off balloons. Two white ones and a pink one to be exact. Well, tonight we went out to eat and on our way home, we decided to get the balloons and that tonight would be the night that we sent them flying. Into the air. Out of our sight. Towards Heaven. Just like our angel babies. Typically when I plan something having to do with our angel babies, I am prepared. I don't cry. Well..... lets just say, tonight changed that. We were in the grocery store buying the balloons and the tears started there. The woman blowing up the balloons probably thought I was crazy. I literally had tears running down my face as she was inflating them. Two whites and one pink. The two white ones were inflated first. Then the pink. And then the tears REALLY started streaming. At this point, Kip told me to just go to the car and wait, he would handle everything from here [insert: he told the woman we had lost 3 pregnancies and that is what the balloons were for] So hopefully, I didn't seem too crazy after all. He said she understood and felt horrible for us

That's the thing though. I don't want people to feel bad for us. I don't want them to feel pity for our situation. God has chosen this journey for us. I'm not really sure why, but I know it will be revealed. I know that when that baby is in our arms, we will realize why God chose us for this. Okay, sorry, I digressed. We walked down the same exact pathway that we walked to get engaged. Little did I know at that time, I was about to be asked for my hand in marriage by the most amazing man in the whole wide world. Little did I know, that 3 years later, we would be making that same trek....holding 3 balloons. Two white ones and a pink one. For our angel babies that we will ONE DAY get to meet

Before we let go of the strings, I kissed each balloon, twice. I couldn't let go. The tears, the pain, the physical being of those balloons. Meant more to me than I was expecting. It was like all of a sudden, there was a physical "thing" in our hands. And I could not let go. Finally, I was able. We both let go of the strings and all 3 of those balloons, they intertwined and they floated away, up, up and away, all together. They never separated. They never let go of each other. Those are our babies. Together. In Heaven. All 3 of them. We watched until we couldn't see them anymore. I cried. And I couldn't stop. To be honest, I'm not sure if Kip was crying or not. He was holding onto me and not letting go, kissing my head and holding me tight. I never truly saw him to see if he was crying or not. The Lord knew when he sent Kip to me. He knew that this man was the perfect man for me to experience life with. The good and the bad. The happy and the sad. After we finally decided to head back, I went to the beach alone for a few minutes. I wanted to pray. As much as I love my husband by my side at any given moment we are allotted, I just needed a moment. Between God and I. When I got back to the house, there he was, waiting for me with arms wide open. Waiting to comfort me

As we were walking back after releasing our balloons, I said to him, "you know, when we have our baby, however we do, that will make us a family of 6." His reply..... "thank goodness 3 of them are getting a free education" You have to find humor. As horrible as it sounds. In any way you can. Bottom line, I love my husband so much and I am so lucky and blessed and happy that I get to do life with him

***

Okay, we now have pictures uploaded. I'm just going to warn you, be prepared for a picture overload. The pictures are real. They are definitely not the best of me, but they capture real emotion and so I am putting my pride aside and still posting them....

People, I could do a happy dance right now. We have FINALLY found a contractor, gotten a quote, FINALLY FINALIZED our tile (that was rough) and now, all we have to do it wait until we return from vacation to GET THIS PARTY STARTED!! WAHOOOOOO!!!!!! I am definitely excited to see the finished product, but I am most excited that we will be marking something else off our long list of things we need to do for our house. I spent 4 hours yesterday (at the store) and a few hours earlier in the day making sure that the tile that we picked was definitely the one. And then, you have to find the right grout. I am soooooo visual it is ridiculous. Not even kidding, I was on the floor, with a few packs of tile, and square color samples of grout trying to line them up the way they would look on the floor and trying to choose which ones I liked best. My poor Kip. He just watched his crazy wife and fetched more tile or color samples upon request. The decorator that has helped us pull it all together would walk onto the aisle, laugh, give me more things that needed decisions made on and walk away. After 3 1/2 hours of being there, I asked her if she could see the smoke coming out of my ears from my brain working so hard and I told her I could feel my hair getting bigger as the afternoon progressed. I then asked her if I was her worst/craziest client. She laughed, and said no "but definitely my most detail oriented" As frustrating and exhausting of a process that was, I still loved it. I think decorating and design are so much fun. I love mixing textures, colors and prints. I can't wait to show y'all some before and after pictures once everything is COMPLETED!!!

You know, people say "time heals" but I don't know if I believe that or not. Yes, as time goes on, you may not feel that constant pain in your heart; but for me, it makes me sad when more time goes by and the outcome is still the same. When time flies and you realize that nothing about your situation is different. Yesterday, I saw the prettiest little girl. Her features were perfect. She was wearing a pearl necklace (a southern girl's dream is to have a set of pearls) and the longest, prettiest, blond curly hair that I have ever seen on a child. {total envy of her hair, I was going to tell her I wanted to make extensions out of it if she ever cut it, but I figured that sort of thing would probably scare a 4 year old to death) After she walked away, I cried a little. I get tearful typing about it now. I know that looks aren't everything, but I can't help but to mourn the possibility that we may never get to see what our little babes might look like. Since I was young, I have always pictured my own little beach babe, with a seersucker bathing suit, tan little body and blond curly hair playing on the beach. It is so strange sometimes the images that we have in mind. [or maybe I am strange to be that detailed with it] I have always dreamed of a child, a daughter in particular, with long blond curly hair. My mother in law said one time to Kip and I once we were engaged that she was so excited she would finally have a grandchild with curls since neither she nor any of her children (or grandchildren) have even a hint of a curl. Isn't it funny how if you have curly hair, you want straight and vice versa. Up until the last few years, I never embraced my curls. I always pulled my hair straight, yet, I always envisioned my own child with curls, even though I didn't utilize my own. Anyways, I dried up the tears because I can't allow those fears and that sadness to take over. The desire in my heart is so strong for children, I know God will fulfill that desire. He wouldn't have put it there if He didn't plan on fulfilling it. So, I just have to continue to ask Him to please reveal His plan to us soon. One of my best friends texted me one day and said she had a dream that they were giving me a baby shower. I asked her if it was for a boy or girl and couldn't help but to feel excited at the thought of it. She said we didn't know the sex, but that when the time comes, she would provide the petit fours from Publix (ha!) Not too many days later, my mom told me she had a dream that I was pregnant and she had never dreamed that before. Before either of those dreams, I had my own that I was pregnant (only dreamed that before when I actually was) but I know that I am not. So, who knows what is to come. My wheels start turning in my head though with this sort of thing. "What do these dreams mean?" "Is this God's way of showing me a glimpse of His plan?" "Should I take another pregnancy test just to make sure I'm really not pregnant?" Again, I have to stop myself. JUST RELAX I tell myself. But seriously, it would be nice to be "that couple" that people tell you about......"I have a friend/co-worker/cousin/sister who couldn't get pregnant and then when they decided to let it go and just do IVF or adopt, she got pregnant!" Honestly, whichever one, I don't care. I am just feeling that longing feeling. Those empty arms. That amount of time that has gone by and still no baby. I feel like I have almost wished the summer away because I was so anxious and ready to get to the beach. Well, now it is here, and as much as I don't want to wish away the beach, I can't help it; because when we get back we will start IVF round 2 and/or our adoption process. That gets me excited. We have a family trip planned to Disney in the spring and I can't help but picture walking around with a stroller (obviously that would be if we went adoption route, no preemies please!) I get it, that would be a SUPER fast timeline of events, but hey, a girl can dream

I wanted to make sure I made something clear from my last post. To any of my family, friends or anyone else that may have (possibly) gotten the wrong message, here is what I meant.... when I mentioned the 2 girls from work talking about their pregnancies and how it negatively effected me, I was just worn down from that day. Please, if you are pregnant, and we see each other, please don't feel like you can't talk about your pregnancy and/or your baby in front of me! I love talking about it, I mean, hello! I love babies and love talking about them. Hopefully nobody was re-thinking a conversation we have had and hopefully nobody even thought that they couldn't talk about this topic with me after reading the last post. Hopefully, this is pointless to "clear up" but I just wanted to make sure!

Any who, now that that is behind us. Not much has been going on around here. I only have 2 more shifts (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) to work before we go to the beach. I. Can't. Wait. to have the sand between my toes!!!! We have FINALLY nailed down a contractor, gotten a quote and now, picked out tile for our bathroom. Also, something that I. Can't. Wait. for. I can't wait to be able to set up our bathroom in a functioning manner. And the guest bathroom too. Those will be 2 more steps closer to feeling like our house is near (well, more near) completion. We still need to work on landscaping, getting our backyard fenced in, more furniture, pictures for the walls, taking the carpet off the steps and out of Kip's man cave and replacing with hardwood, widening the man cave doorway and last but not least, setting up a nursery.....sigh...... the joys of owning a home. For 2 people who do not do well with uncompleted projects, we are hanging by our toes waiting for everything to be complete. But, as many people have told us before... when you own a home, you are never really finished with doing things to your house

Well, this post has been pretty boring. Sorry. Hopefully I will have something more fun to update about  soon. I'm not sure if I will be doing any updating at the beach, if I don't, I promise to make up for it when we get back home!

So in the mean time, I'm working on continuing to practice patience and trusting God's calendar

Shit.Shit, shit, shit shit, shit. The last 3 days I have wanted to post. I feel like I have needed to post. But I have been working and so I haven't. I have thought about the way I would start this post for the last few days and tonight, I decided I would just go with the way I feel. Like shit. Excuse my language. That is not normally like me. But that is how I feel and the first thing to come to my mind

If anyone is keeping up with the dates, you will have realized that I was supposed to have started the second round of IVF on Friday (8/14/15) Well. As of 8/19/15 we have not started yet. It is now on hold until next month. I wish I could have some really exciting news to tell you as to why have not started yet, but I don't. Unfortunately, we were delayed 4 days due to my body's natural cycle. We are leaving for the beach soon, and honestly, after everything we have been through lately, 8 days away sounds AMAZING and we didn't want to have to sacrifice any time away. So........ due to mother nature, we are now delayed ANOTHER MONTH. I feel soooooooooo frustrated by this. But also heart broken

Kip and I both found ourselves getting more and more excited each day that passed and still no visit from "her." At first, we tried to remain realistic. "It's probably just the IVF cycle that threw my body off" But then, as each day passed and "she" hadn't arrived, the anticipation and excitement grew. We couldn't help it. It was natural. And then, Sunday night, we were crushed....or so we thought. Monday, "she" showed no signs of still being around. And then our excitement grew even more. "Maybe God is FINALLY giving us a break" we both thought and we had both been praying that if I were indeed pregnant, this was IT. THIS was going to be our healthy, full term baby. And then 4am Tuesday morning arrived. I was awoken from my sleep in soo much pain that I thought I was definitely having another miscarriage. I wasn't, it was painful cramps (FYI- I had taken 3 pregnancy tests at this point, which were all negative, but I still couldn't help but to think...what if) I didn't want to get up to take any pain medicine, because I didn't want Kip to wake up and realize what I was doing. I didn't want him to feel that crushing feeling that I was experiencing, once again

Why is it that all of this has to be so difficult and painful? Why the emotional roller coaster? WHY can it not just be EASY for once? WHY did we even let ourselves think that I was maybe pregnant and WHY were we excited? I think you just can't help but have excitement, even though it would probably be sooooo risky for me to get pregnant without testing the embryos first. If we hadn't done that first cycle of IVF and tested the embryos, that would have been 6 more miscarriages. SIX!!!! And a total of 9! NINE people!!! I know that there are women out there who actually experience that. And my heart goes out to you. The 3 just about did me in. Sometimes I get angry when I hear people talk about their pregnant bellies in front of me. And then I have to set myself straight. They are excited and they have every right to be. If that is ever me, I am going to apologize ahead of time to anyone who I may hurt. Because I know I will be talking about that baby and that belly constantly. I also apologize to the people who will have to hear me talk about it constantly and will probably get on their nerves. It mostly depends on my mood. Last night, hearing the girls at work, I was tired and hungry and to hear "We are having a girl! Kind of disappointed because we wanted a boy" and then hearing the talk about the baby moving, I just had to get out of there. I think my anger of hearing the gender preference talk came more from "ugh, it is easy for you to complain about gender because you have a healthy baby growing in your belly and you were able to get it there the 'ole natural way and didn't have to pay tons of money for it" I used to think like that. I used to think that we HAD to get pregnant with a girl to make up for the loss of our little girl. And then this time, when I thought I may be pregnant, I realized I didn't care one bit what that baby might be. All I wanted was for it to be healthy. But, again, it is time to move on. Put the emotions behind us. My heart's desire remains for a baby. And I still feel very much at peace with adoption. I'm ready to just do it!!!!!

 Any who. I had a looooong day at work yesterday and did't get to eat much. Well, I felt the repercussions of that last night. When I got home, we went out for drinks and appetizers. I haven't been drinking very much lately, as I was preparing my body for the next round of IVF, (hopefully) a pregnancy and then, of course, the obvious- I thought I was pregnant. Well..... last night the champagne flowed freely and the nightcap Irish Coffee went down smoothly. And then I literally found myself feeling like a horse while I was in the shower. Have you ever felt your lips just reflex into the "neigh" sound? Sort of like a motor boat???? (okay, it's not a neigh sound actually. I don't know horse sound lingo, so I'm calling it a neigh) Well....last night, for the first time in a long time, while I was in the shower, under the water; I neighed. I don't like to drink too much and feel out of control of my body or it's actions. But last night the champs snuck up on me, without my realizing it, it happened, and then, just like that...my lips made the sound of a horse's

disclaimer: the sound is more like when you make the motor boat sound with your lips, not a neigh. But I really wanted to use this picture because I thought it was funny

Update from Saturday: there was a gentle breeze all day long. I told Kip that morning that I would love to see 3 butterflies, all together that day. Well, we didn't see 3, but we did see 1. I'll take that. Last night, on my way home from work, I felt a little sad (after a very long and exhausting afternoon due to a very sick patient and overhearing the 2 girls at work talking about feeling their babies move inside of them for the first time) I saw a rainbow on my way home tonight. I couldn't tell you the last time I saw a rainbow, but last, when I really needed something happy, there it was. That was our angel babies, lighting up the sky with something happy. I wish I wasn't driving so I could have taken a picture. It's okay though, I have a mental image that will be engrained for a long time

I thought that I would feel sad today. But I don't. Granted, I have only been awake for about 20 minutes. It feels weird to not be sad right away. But that is how I know God is with me. I have been praying to have strength today. Today, August 15, 2015 is the due date of our baby girl. I can remember back in December, today felt like an eternity away. And here it is. Another due date will come and go and our arms are still empty. But our hearts are not. That is God's work. We have each other and we have a niece and 2 nephews (well, it feels more like 4 nephews because my 2 older cousins both have boys and I think of them as my nephews rather than my 2nd cousins) and we have confidence that one day, we too will have a baby/babies of our own

After we lost our 3rd pregnancy, I would lie awake in bed for hours beyond hours, searching the internet for some sort of story or quote or ANYTHING that may bring me some comfort. Some peace. Some feeling to know that we are not alone in this horrible journey of miscarriages/infertility/infant loss. Social media can be so horrible, but it can be so helpful too. I found 3 girls on instagram who were either suffering from loss or going through IVF that I began following. These girls have NO IDEA how much their posts have helped me to not feel alone.  Have helped me to feel connected to them in a way that only someone who is going through the same thing can relate to, but still, they have no idea I feel connected with them. I feel their joy and their pain through their posts. That is one reason I wanted to start a blog. If just 1 person reads this and they can feel comfort and not alone, then my mission is accomplished

One night, not too long after we lost our last pregnancy, I reallllly could not sleep. My heart literally hurt. My eyes would not stop producing tears. My brain would not turn off. I searched all over the internet and finally I found this poem. I can't even tell you the amount of comfort I found in this poem. It made me feel like our baby girl really was okay and really was with me. Ever since my grandfather (our beloved Coy) died 5 years ago, I have taken on this very child-like image of Heaven in my head. When Kip's grandfather, Pop-B died, I saw them sitting together, in Heaven, fishing. They both loved to fish. Funny insert- our Coy loved to fish with a beer in his hand, Pop-B would fish with a tie on. Anyways, after we lost our first pregnancy, I envisioned Coy rocking our baby in Heaven [he loved to rock a baby, he talked the nurses in the nursery into letting him rock me at the hospital when I was born] This gave me peace. Then, when we lost our second pregnancy, I envisioned Coy and Kip's grandparents (Pop-B, Nannie and Pop-Pop) all fighting over our angel baby and so they then had another one to share. After our third loss, I told them no more! They were going to have to learn how to share because we were not giving them anymore of our babies to each be able to have one to hold. This may make me sound crazy, I talked to my grief counselor about this. Maybe she was being nice, but she told me it was okay. Whatever made me feel at peace. When I think about our angel babies, for some reason, I can only see an image of our first one. And the weird thing is, I see the image of about a 5 year old. A 5 year old little girl, a white dress to her ankles and long blond curly hair. We only know for sure that our last angel baby was a girl. I felt like the first 2 were as well, but I also thought our last one was a boy until we were told she was a girl. So, maybe my intuition isn't spot on. But, I think my brain just allows me these images to feel at peace. I did have a dying patient one day who told me that he saw something and he had to tell me. He held my hand and said he saw 2 sisters, they looked just like me and he said he had to hold them (this was before our third pregnancy) All I could do was hold his hand. I couldn't speak because the lump in my throat was too large to allow me any words

So on this day, we will try and look forward and not backwards. We will try and find joy and not be sad. We praise God at what is to come and not what we have lost. We plan on being outside today. And when that gentle breeze blows, we will know that our baby girl will be planting a kiss on our nose

Okay. Now I'm crying.

Last night, I cried. Out of nowhere really. Well, not really. I had been reading a blog about a couple who suffered multiple miscarriages, had 3 children, lost their baby girl (born at 21 weeks) and ultimately ended up adopting. They used the same consulting firm that I really like through my research so far. Now if you remember, I promised Kip I would fill him in after his boards.... so that is exactly what I have been doing :) I had him read a blog post from that blog because I feel like I could have written it myself. She expressed my same exact feelings. Then, I showed him the facebook page of this business. They always post a pic of the happy new family that has been matched or either the baby (never disclosing full names, as to keep some privacy) Well, I guess I was just vulnerable enough that after I closed the ipad, I pulled the covers over my face and just cried. Most guys would probably be thrown into a tail spin with this. But Kip has learned that sometimes, unfortunately there is nothing he can say, or do, to make me feel better. So instead, he just put his arms around me and comforted me

When I am in these "transitional" stages, I start to get more emotional and my longing for a baby gets worse. Right now, I can't go any further with adoption information without basically signing us up. We are waiting to start our next IVF treatment, and then we will have to wait on results of the embryo chromosomes again. It is during these times that I get ancy and upset. It is during these times that I just want to buy baby things to make me feel like I am doing SOMETHING. Sometimes, I just feel like I can't "wait" anymore. Sometimes I still beg God to please reveal His plan to us soon. And sometimes, I feel like He has. The desire in my heart is so strong for a baby and my gut feeling is so strong towards adoption, I just wonder if that is God revealing His plan to us

In the mean time, we have had some pretty major storms here the last few days. Annnnnd this happened......

Yep. That is our gutter. Completely disconnected from the other gutters, completely out of that clay drainage thing (a little outdated anyways, it was on our list of things to update, but not RIGHT now!) That seems to be the trend for us. Our bathroom is STILL NOT DONE. We are STILL waiting on a quote from the last contractor that came out. WAITING, WAITING, WAITING, WAITING. It feels like all we are doing lately is WAITING and getting NOTHING accomplished. Hopefully a summer evening storm doesn't pop up until we get this guy fixed. I would not like to add a flooded mud room to our list of things to fix (not pictured: 2 windows that are ground level that are in the mud room, hopefully sealed tightly!)

Annnnnnd this happened last night......

Yes. That is my husband. Literally dancing because I agreed to have a Whole Foods Pizza for dinner instead of the quinoa burgers I had planned. I wasn't really feeling them much anyways. Sooooo, I guess you could say we are cheating our way through the food challenge. I think the conclusion we have come to is that as long as the majority of our meals are within the rules, we are good. We are enjoying actually having weekends off together and want to take advantage of that time. We want to enjoy going to eat with friends. I will say 2 things for sure: 1) my nails, which are normally very thin and weak are all of a sudden thriving and hard 2) I think one of the biggest changes have been with sugar intake (or lack thereof) and I think that is why we are feeling so much better. For the most part, the sugar we eat is natural. I think that the dark circles under my eyes are better. Some may call me crazy, but I really can tell a difference. I'm not even drinking caffeine except for my one cup of half caff in the mornings and I still have energy. Again, call me crazy, but I'm a believer.....