Shopping for school uniforms

I ordered My Little Helper's school uniforms. One of the online retailers was offering penny logos on shirts and one of the other parents had alerted me to the good deal. I wasn't sure what to order though or how many of each item.  I remember how many pants and shirts and sweatshirts I had when I was in school, but I was older and a girl.  I didn't get nearly as dirty as my son does!
I started with 3 pairs of pants and if that isn't enough I can add more later.  I also purchased  several long sleeve and short sleeve polo shirts in mixed colors.  The uniforms are khaki pants, with white, navy, or hunter shirts.  I also got him a green, zippered, hooded sweatshirt since he loves hoodies. I'm looking forward to seeing him in his school uniform, I only wish there was some way that the boys could also wear plaid!

Waiting

My temps aren't real great.  I have had a full thermal shift, but they are pretty mediocre numbers.  I've been comparing this cycle's chart to those successful ones with the boys.  I'm not feeling very confident.  Hopefully my temps will start to go up, but I'm not sure if I'll bother to POAS on Sunday if they don't improve.

Also I was having some serious itchiness down there so I was afraid I was getting a yeast infection from the prometrium suppositories.  I started my last pregnancy with a UTI from the suppositories so I was afraid that I was having a similar reaction.  When I called the nurse to tell her she asked me if I have a peanut allergy.  I don't, but apparently the progesterone is suspended in peanut oil in the prometrium pills. She told me that she wanted to switch me from prometrium to a micronized progesterone which is what I was on last pregnancy.  However that is only available at the compounding pharmacy in the West Hills, so they put me on prometrium this time so I could avoid driving across the river.  She wanted me to wait and see if the switch helps before testing for a yeast infection.  I was less than thrilled at the idea of just waiting it out, itchy is not fun!  But, I started to notice an improvement right away, so I guess my vagina is allergic to peanuts?  More reasons to hate infertility.

CD12 ultrasound

I have been so ecited to find out how I might have responded to the Letrozole!  I was not disappointed at today's appointment.
First the doctor described my lining as 'beautiful', at 10 and pointed out the line running through the middle of it which he said indicates that it is ready to accept embryos. Yay! Then he found one 25mm follicle on one side and a 23.5mm follicle on the other side.  Pretty big considering I'm only CD12.  Becasue I ovulated on CD18 last time and no one asked me to do it in advance of today's appointment I had not been using OPKs.  Since the nurse asked me to empty my bladder right before the ultrasound I wasn't able to provide them with a sample so they drew my blood to see if I have a positive LH surge on my own.  If not they wanted to trigger me as soon as possible so I could have TI tomorrow.
I knew it was cutting it close since I had a dentist appointment scheduled next, but I went to Starbucks to wait around for the blood work results.  The idea of having to drive back later in the day with one or both of the boys for the injection was NOT appealing. I was having a good day.  I had 4 people complement me on my necklace, the RE, the blood work technician, the billing lady, and the Starbucks waitress.  Maybe I should dress nicely and wear jewelry more often. Oh, wait, I'm running around with two little boys all day!  Hahaha!
My LH number came back at 46.3 which means I'm ovulating on my own so I was able to save $90 on the ovidrel shot and we should have TI tonight and tomorrow.  I'm a little worried about the chance for multiples.  And a little lingering worry that I may never have a daughter, but I'm excited and hopeful and can't get this silly grin off my face. Fingers crossed!

Sloppy Joes

I'll never grow tired of Adam Sandler's Lunch Lady song! Anyhow, somehow I got the idea to make sloppy joes and since I had a lot of hamburger buns left over from the 4th of July, I thought it would be smart to make them.
I used this recipe as a guide, but didn't measure anything out and substituted red bell pepper for green and used Walla Walla sweets.  I used my usual 3/4 lb. ground beef portion and it could have yielded 5 sandwiches.
I liked it as did Mr. W. The boys were unimpressed, but I'd make this again next time a sloppy joe mood strikes.

Letrozole side effects

I took my final pill on the 4th.  The side effects weren't too bad, and I'll admit I was a little freaked out based upon how much the pharmacist was stressing that I read all the possible side effects before I left the store. I definitely got hot flashes and would wake up pretty sweaty, even though it was still rainy in Portland in late June and early July. One night DH and I got into an argument about I-don't-know-what.  And he said, "Why are you picking on everything I do?!" And I started laughing because I had NO idea why I was being so critical and irritated.  Mood swings aren't one of the Letrozole side effects like they are on clomid, but I certainly can't explain why I was so upset over nothing.
On Monday while Baby Boy was at daycare, but My Little Helper's Nature Preschools haven't started yet I took him on a date to the cinema to see Brave.  Lordy, did I cry! Just when I thought I was resigned to be happy whether I have a daughter or not I watch a movie focused on a red headed girls relationship with her mother! I hope God's plan still includes me mothering a daughter, because I will be perplexed at why I feel so strongly drawn to it if it isn't my calling.
Anyway, it's nice to be done with the Letrozole though and I'm busy drinking green tea instead of regular tea. For the life of me I can't remember what that is supposed to improve, maybe my lining?  Oh, well, I can certainly continue to suffer through drinking green tea if it will slightly increase my chances at another pregnancy! I have a monitoring appointment on Monday and I'm hoping that this drug will yield good results.
We finally found where we packed the follistim pen, but unfortunately the case was empty save for a few needles.  The pen itself must have been in with the box of left over follistim in the fridge that Mr. W pitched when me moved.  Too bad, but hopefully we won't need it and if we do hopefully we don't learn that they were expensive.
Mr. W went in to have the screening  so that he could leave a sperm sample fore an IUI, but it has been determined at the last minute, as always, that no one needs to go to Europe this weekend so he should be available to be here for us to have timed intercourse rather than an insemination. Such a relief! I did not want to have to coordinate childcare around all of that!

Independence Day Open House

We decided to host a bbq for the 4th of July this year and coordinate it with our Open House.  We were pretty sure we would have a view of the fireworks down town from the balcony and the windows in the attic. We set the party to start at noon and continue through 9 pm.
In the hopes of directing people to enter through the original front door to get a better effect for the tour My Little Helper and I lined the walkway with red and blue pinwheels.  My mom recently gave us a 48 star flag that was in amongst my dad's things so I asked Mr. W to drape it from the balcony.  We don't have a wall bracket for our flag pole yet so this worked out rather well. Red, white and blue flowers by the front door with a doormat I couldn't help but purchase at Freddy's.
The yard looked great after all the hard work my uncle m, my mom and her gardener did as a housewarming present.
We had a melting pot menu:

• BBQ pork shoulder
• Frankfurters, bratwursts, and cheddar brats.
• BBQ baked beans (with all the drippings from the meat!)
• Deviled eggs (it's not a summer party without them!)
• German Potato salad (which we didn't end up making because he forgot to put them on my grocery list)
• Caprese pasta salad with fresh mozzarella, pine nuts, basil, and tomatoes
• Guacamole and corn chips
• Hummus and corn chips
• Green salad with cheese on the side
• Watermelon
• Corn on the cobb

• Apple pie (vegan)

• Cupcakes with raspberry and blueberry garnish

The list gets more vegetarian and vegan the further down the list.  I was trying to accommodate our vegan, gluten free, and allium allergy guests. Whew! And that doesn't even include the fickle tastes of children!

We had a nice steady stream of guests coming and going throughout the day. A few families stayed late enough to do some Oregon-legal fire crakers in the street.
Many of them were just smoke bombs.  A police car drove by up the street and paused to watch us.  Then it slowly turned the corner and parked.  I was like, "What?!"  All our fireworks were legal, I couldn't believe he was going to harass us!  Instead he said he saw the kids and decided to stop and give them some stickers. 

He has children and is missing out on them lighting sparklers and stuff. I guess that teaches me that you can't make assumptions, but frankly, ALL of us thought he was pulling over to give us grief.  When he finally left he flashed his lights for the children. 
Baby Boy was SO excited about the fireworks!  He doesn't have a lot of words so it was mostly just him grunting, straining, and pointing at the fireworks. Hysterical!

 I kept trying to cover his ears during the loud ones, but he wanted NONE of that and never seemed to be startled or scared by any of them.  The cutest was his ready pose where he was squatting with his hands on his knees in anticipation like a baseball out fielder.  So darling!
The last of our guests left around 9:30 and Mr. W and I put the boys to bed; so past their bed time!  Then we went up to the attic to watch fireworks after the sun set.  I couldn't believe what an awesome view we have.  There were fireworks going off all over the city!  I must have looked like I was watching a tennis match because I had to keep turning my head back and forth to see them on all sides of us.  Mr. W was beyond amazed at how many people set off their own fireworks and we marveled at how much money people must be spending on these big ones! 
Once the sun was completely set the downtown fireworks started and he and I sat on the balcony together watching them.  It was so special and yet another moment when I'm reminded of how special this house is and how lucky we are to be it's current caretakers.

St. Peter's Day

I keep meaning to do St. Peter's day because we love fish and it seems like such a great idea for seasonal eating in the summer.  Also, Mr. W loves watching Gordon Ramsay shows so we're always hearing about the john dory which is also called St. Peter's fish because of the spot on the side of it. It is supposed to be symbolic of the thumb print of St. Peter from the fish he threw back into the water.
I never see john dory fish here in the grocery store, and I don't have much reason to go to specialty markets.  I considered trying to hunt some down, but we've been a bit busy and Mr.W has been working late that I decided to find an alternative.  Any fish would be a good tribute to the fisherman anyway, right!
I bookmarked this recipe for St.Peter's fish with parsley sauce last year and have been looking forward to making it.  This recipe calls for tilapia anyway.  I have read conflicting information on what IS St. Peter's fish.  When we went to get the tilapia, we decided the red snapper looked better so that is what we settled upon.

Mr. W made beet greens for our vegetable and yukon gold mashed potatoes.  I was really happy with how the fish turned out, I highly recommend the parsley sauce.  I was too full for seconds even though I really would have liked some. (I wonder if the drugs are effecting my appetite? haha!)