Wii, Wii, Wii

This is an official warning. No one should give a 43 year old a Wii for Christmas! Oh, my. I just set ours up yesterday and I am sore as I don't know what. I think it was the baseball that did me in. I was really throwing those speed balls.

Anyway, it's nice to have 2 days off following Christmas. It gives enough time to clean up. We took advantage of the 60 degree temps yesterday to finally take the boat up for the winter. I am now making ham and bean soup with leftovers. I made Hunter take me out last night for a steak dinner.

I have to wash Hunter's tuxedo shirt in preparation for the Holly Ball tomorrow night. That is a charity ball during which young debutantes make their bow. It's old fashioned, I know. But I made my debut 24 years ago and it is a local tradition. It's a chance to dress up and dance the night away. Hope my muscles recover by then. It's definitely a high heel event. Here is a picture of me and Hunter with my cousin, Queen Sarah at the 2005 Holly Ball.

This is my favorite picture of Christmas day. These are the little guys who were bouncing off the walls on Christmas Eve. They are waiting for their Dad to bring more gas. We had a fabulous, but tiring day. Thank goodness it only comes once a year .

Merry Christmas!

Well, I'm just waiting for work to wind down so I can face the last minute rush. My co-worker, who happens to be married to my cousin, has her three boys in the office today since they didn't have school. They are 7, 5 and 4 years old. So as you can imagine, they are bouncing off the walls. But it is fun to watch them. We have been tracking Santa on the NORAD site. It's been quiet at work, except for the boys that is. We have had to use the old, "Behave or Santa won't come" threat. But honestly, that never worked when I was a kid, and it still doesn't. So, God Bless their parents tonight.

Anyway, I'm doing great this year. The next 48 hours will be very busy and I am usually busy every night during the following week with parties or dinners. So Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!

I have debated back and forth whether to post this. I intended this blog to be a record of our adoption journey. Well, something happened this week. It is a part of our journey, so here goes.

On last Monday I was experiencing a very heavy period. Prior to that I had been spotting almost everyday for 2 weeks. My co-worker told me I should definitely get checked out. "You know what it might be" she said. "Cancer?" I replied. "No, a botched pregnancy" she said. "Yeah, right," I said. But I went ahead and scheduled my fist gynecological exam since we did the IVF back in 2006. Very irresponsible of me, but that's how it goes.

Before the IVF, I was going to an all woman practice in Williamsburg. I didn't have time to schedule an appointment with them. However, we now have a female gynecologist locally and I decided to check her out. My mom is an ER nurse and she gave her two thumbs up. So last Wednesday I went. When I finally saw the doctor, we discussed my problem. I also shared that we had undergone fertility treatments and were on the path to adoption. She's a wonderful doctor. She explained that she would take a endometrial biopsy, a blood sample to test my hormones and I would need to come back for an ultrasound once my period was done to check for fibroids. By the way, they would automatically test for pregnancy even though we both knew it would be negative.

After being out of the office briefly on Thursday, my co-worker said, "Your doctor wants you to call her on her cell phone." What? So as I dialed the number, all I could think was "Cancer". I made myself sit down while the phone rang. The doctor picked up and thus began to explain that while my biopsy results were not in yet, my bloodwork was. She said my hormones looked good. Thyroid was fine. "But, are you sitting down?" she asked. Well, yes actually I was. "Your pregnancy test came back positive."

The ground could have opened up and swallowed me whole. Scrape me off the floor, etc. etc. I hung up the phone and laid my head on my desk and just started crying. My co-worker asked, "Are you ok?". I said, I'm not dying. She asked, Is it the other thing? I said one way or the other. She said don't be sad, if it happened once, it could happen again. I heard what she was saying, but couldn't explain what I was really crying about. For probably the one time in my life, someone actually said to me- "Your pregnancy test came back positive"

Before hanging up, the doctor explained that this could be a pregnancy or a miscarriage. I needed to go back for bloodwork to find out. I went back the next day and the bloodwork confirmed that there had been a miscarriage. It's a sad thing. But I don't feel sad. I feel like it was a little Christmas miracle. For 24 hours, I was pregnant. If it never happens again, I will always be grateful for that little bit of time. I know it shouldn't make a difference in how I feel about myself, but it does. Believe me, I am not going back to the whole trying to get pregnant ordeal. I have no desire to go through a pregnancy at 43 years of age. Adoption is not a consolation prize. I believe adoption is how we are meant to expand our family and can't wait for the day we get the call that we will finally become parents

It's a wonderful day in the neighborhood...

OK, went to the baby shower and did fine. It was just presents and food. My favorite kind of shower. I never could stand those shower games. It was at my aunt's house who happens to be the twins great-grandmother! She had a stroke about a year ago. She has spent the last year being rehabilitated. She still can't walk much, but on good days she can speak and interact. Sunday was a good day. She sat next to her grand-daughter-in-law and insisted on inspecting every present, stroking the fabric of the clothes or laughing when someone made a joke. It was a nice couple of hours spent with family.

On the way home I decided to take a little spin around town and as I was leaving, something caught my eye in the cemetery. There is a statue at the main entrance and someone had put an orange tee shirt on him. I had an idea who might have been up to such a prank and when I got closer, my suspicions were confirmed. Someone had taken a tee shirt from the local watering hole/marina and dressed Mr. Morris up (he was the one who founded the cemetery in town). I got a good laugh out of it and then decided to "visit" with some more family.

A couple times a year I take the time to visit various relatives' graves. I have a particular route that I drive to different sections of the cemetery. First I went to see my Dad's family, my grandfather and his siblings and spouses. Then I drive over to my Mom's grandparents. On the way there I stopped briefly to say hello to two men who died way too young when their parents' house caught fire back in the 1970's. Their father died last winter and he is with them now.

I must have gotten distracted because I found myself on the grass instead of the gravel. Well, we have had about 9 inches of rain in the last month, so of course my wheels got stuck. I tried to go forward, then backwards. Nope, I was good and stuck. There was only an hour of daylight left and my damn cell phone barely had any charge or signal on it. I panicked-nobody knew where I was, as this was an impromptu visit. I called Hunter and screamed quickly "Don't question me, I'm stuck in the cemetery. Bring the truck and rope now" I was so mad, I had wanted to get home to catch the end of the Saints game.

Well, we live a good half hour away and I knew it would take him forever. So I called one of my cousins that had been at the shower and told her what happened. "Is your husband at home??" No, she said, but she would try to call him. I got out of the car and sunk at least 2 inches into the mud and ruined my shoes. Why, oh why, had I chosen to wear heels today???!! I walked out to the the road and started heading towards the wharf at the end where my cousins keep their fishboats. Maybe someone would be there or at least I could use the phone. Nobody there, but hey, being in the country, they hadn't bothered to lock the door to the net house. But, both phones were dead. So I hoofed it all the way back to the car and Thank God! there was my good cousin-his wife had tracked him down-with tow ropes and a 4 wheel drive SUV.

It's times like these that make me so thankful to live in a small town and to have so many friends and relatives who will stop whatever they are doing if somebody needs help.

Smile, Smile!

Off to the Baby Shower. Wish me luck.