St. Croix!

And we're off with all the scuba diving gear, baby crap (schloads of baby crap!) and our meager belongings. Wish us luck traveling with a 14 month old! See you in 1 week.

FET schedule!

We had our "pre-op" appointment with our RE yesterday, which involved signing consent forms and meeting with the nurse to go over the schedule. Given that we have 3 frozen embryos, the doctor thought it was quite likely that we would be able to attempt a FET. We made the decision not to do assisted hatching to avoid any increases in the possibility of having multiples (because assisted hatching increases the likelihood that the one embryo will split into two). I have mixed feelings about this because when we did IVF/ICSI to get Ian, they used assisted hatching. But 2 years ago, she said they coupled ICSI and assisted hatching automatically and now she doesn't think assisted hatching is that important. So based on her advice, we chose not to do it.

As for the schedule, I will be starting the estrace pills on the first day of my next period, which will be at the end of May/early June with a transfer scheduled mid-to-late June. Wow! Quick! We're heading to St. Croix on Saturday and all of this will start up when we return. Amazing. This timing definitely snuck up on me quickly, but I'm excited!!!

Sleeping Arrangements

We're going to St. Croix with my in-laws for vacation very soon and while we're there, we are renting a condo. We had the choice to rent a 2-bedroom condo that had a Pack N' Play in it or, for only $200 more, a 3-bedroom condo that did not have a Pack N' Play. I really didn't want to spend my entire vacation sharing a room with Ian and so we opted to rent the 3-bedroom condo . But we didn't want to have to schlep our own Pack N' Play to St. Croix because we are already going to have to deal with the car seat, stroller and scuba diving gear. And there was no option of renting a Pack N'Play while there. So we got creative and found the "Peapod" online. It got good reviews and we thought we would try it out. It looks like this:

And it folds up like a dream and is actually quite small and light compared to the Pack N'Play. So we opened it yesterday morning in Ian's room and let him get accustomed to it and play with it. He wouldn't go in it until I climbed in there first, but after he realized he was safe, he was jumping in and out on his own. And we decided that it would be good for everyone involved if we put him to bed in it before vacation. So last night we put him to bed in the Peapod and after a little crying (he usually doesn't cry at all), he went to bed and slept until 5:15 am! Totally exciting. We'll be putting him to bed in the Peapod for the rest of the week so that when we finally get to St. Croix on Saturday night, he'll have familiar surroundings in which to sleep.

The other great thing about this product is that it offers UV Protection and so we can also use it on the beach if Ian wants some shade or a nice place to nap outside.

FET Update

I switched medical insurance plans when I started my new job and just found out today that my insurance company approved our frozen embryo transfer. Woo! So now I'm trying to book a pre-op appointment with my RE so that we can start the FET process after my next period. They didn't have any openings until after the start of my next cycle and so I'm crossing my fingers that the RE will be able to work some magic and fit me in so that we aren't delayed by 1 month. It won't be the end of the world if we are delayed, but I'd rather get this show on the road. I'm not getting any younger and if the FET(s) fails, I'll have to do another round of IVF.

I Want to Remember These Things

Ian seems to be growing up so quickly and there are so many things I want to remember. Here are some of them:

1. He seems to be learning something new everyday. He can now point to his nose when you ask him to show you his nose. And he will give you a high five when you ask him to do so. He blows kisses and claps his hands and does the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" hand motions when you sing the song.

2. He is addicted to going up and down stairs. It's all he wants to do. My parents were just visiting and whenever he saw my father, he went running to him and held out his hand so that my father could hold his hand. Then he would insist on pulling my father towards the stairs. And once at the stairs, all he wanted to do was to go down them like a big boy. Forget going down backwards on hands and knees. He wants to WALK down. But his little legs are too short to actually do it and he ends up tripping/being held up for the entire flight and he loves it.

3. At daycare, he holds onto a rope along with all the other toddlers in order to walk out to play on the playground. It's so nice that he doesn't need to be held to go someplace now (although when we went to the mall the other day, letting him roam free didn't work because he always had different ideas about where we should go next!).

4. He's starting to get pickier about what foods he is eating and has begun rejecting vegetables and certain fruits (and by rejection, I mean that he is tossing the food backwards right over his head with a big devilish grin). He will still eat banana and grapes, but everything else is a gamble. He LOVES meat and will devour chicken and meatballs with passion.

5. He is very clear about when he doesn't want something (whether it's a certain food, his sippy cup or being held by a different person) and will forcefully wave his right arm in a sweeping motion to try and "wipe" the unwanted object/person away. It's actually pretty funny (except when I'm the person he's trying to wipe away).

6. He is still unbelievably amazing about going to bed. He goes to bed at 7:30 pm on the dot without any cries, fuss or struggle. I put him in his crib and give him his lovie and bam, he turns over, sighs and goes to sleep. I love that. He seems to be sleeping a little bit later in the morning now and is taking very good naps at daycare.

7. Ian loves to sit in our laps when we're down on the floor with him. In order to get into our laps, he will walk backwards until he reaches us and then plop himself down. It's awesome. I absolutely adore it when he does that.

I am thankful every day that Ian is in my life and am always excited to get home at night to see him.

New Job

I'm blogging from my new job, which is going well so far. I have an internal office and so I'm missing my big law firm windows on the 38th floor overlooking the Charles River. And I'm still not loving the smell of this building. It even followed me home and you could smell the creosote odor on my clothing and even the paperwork I brought home. I'm also missing all of the food choices available to me in downtown Boston. I packed my own lunch yesterday and today, which, while boring, will be cheaper and probably better for my waistline. And I've been struggling to learn all of the new computer systems, including MS Word 2007. It is so funky compared to MS Word 2003! And as a total bummer, they've blocked pandora and so I can't stream music into my office. I'll have to use my new iphone, which I should be receiving soon, to play music.

But everyone here has been extraordinarily nice and welcoming and it seems like a great team. People actually come by and say hello, which pretty much didn't happen at the law firm. And my new boss has already given me an actual work assignment, which is good.

Ian is doing very well these days. He has officially switched over to the toddler room and appears to be happy there. Yesterday, he even walked to the playground while holding onto a rope with all of the other kids. I'm so proud of my little guy! He seems to be repeating more words now. He says "ball" very readily and it seems like he now wants to say "kitty cat." He definitely recognizes the picture of the cat in the animal book that we read to him and he gets very excited and happy to see the picture. My parents are coming into town tomorrow for a visit and I can't wait for them to see Ian. He's gotten so big and grown so much since they last saw him.