It's a...

GIRL! I was SHOCKED as I told Gregg that I was 90% sure we were having a boy! We both shed some tears & were so incredibly happy!

Little Hadley was adorable (we even got a yawn) and the doctor said she looked perfect (we thought so, too! Her heartbeat was 157 bpm and we're pretty sure she's going to be a little gymnast...just look at these legs up over her head!

I'll admit that I was a little disappointed that the u/s tech didn't give us a "girl" ultrasound shot, but I'm working on getting one elsewhere.

I've been feeling tons of movement in there lately which is SO exciting, and Gregg gets in at least one good kick a night!

I had an amazing time over the weekend and got all sorts of wonderful baby gifts for our little girl from my IF friends at our GTG. What amazing women - I had an awesome time & can't wait until we can do it again! I am so blessed!

Rock-star ovaries & some pics!

Not only is B an angel, but apparently she's got rock-star ovaries, as well! At her first follicle check today, they found 17 follies moving & grooving in there! We are ecstatic to say the least! I go back tomorrow for more u/s & b/w. I emailed the nurse about having my TSH checked since I've been on thyroid meds since December or so & I wanted to make sure that my levels are ok at the time of transfer (since TSH abnormalities are linked with early miscarriage). She noted that my levels haven't been checked since February & that she would add it to my bloodwork order tomorrow. She did say that they would monitor it very closely after a positive pregnancy test, but I don't want to wait that long to make sure that everything is ok...there is just way too much riding on this & I know I would hate myself if I didn't try and make sure everything was as perfect as it can be, come time for transfer!

And since I obviously forgot to do this last week, here are some pics from last weekend's wedding!! We had a great time dancing the night away!

First, Jenna & I getting the centerpieces ready, moments before the ceremony started!

Michelle & Jenna (my cousins) with their significant others, with G & I

Gregg hanging out with his two favorite girls after the ceremony!
Jenna & me hanging out waiting for more post-ceremony pics (would you ever know we're 11 years apart in age??)
The Happy Couple!!

Dancing the night away!

PS - this is my 200th post!! AMAZING! Thanks to those who've stuck with me through thick and thin!

MPM and IVF w/ DE update!

Hey! We're back from the whirlwind weekend of wedding duties (so much fun! pictures to come!) and 3 softball games for G yesterday! His team won the church league championship, so that was quite exciting...and the victory was especially sweet because they beat the one team in the league who consistently shows bad attitudes and tries to cheat every year (yes, this is church softball and no, I am not kidding!)

It's been a while since I've done an MPM, so I thought I would get back into it this week... I love having my menu all set out ahead of time, but we've been in and out of the house so much lately that it's been hard to get it all pulled together...so without further ado, here is this week's menu plan!
Monday - Meatloaf, baked potatoes & fresh green beans (recipe below)
I'll also be making my famous Buffalo Chicken Dip tonight for G to take as a snack at his grad class tomorrow!
Tuesday - Sticky coconut chicken & rice
Wednesday - Easy Chicken Enchiladas
Thursday - Pot Roast & veggies in the crock pot
Friday - Vegetable soup (made from leftover pot roast)
Saturday - homemade stromboli

As for our IVF cycle, I've been on Lupron (aka Loopy Lupron) for just over a week now & it truly is making me crazy! Yesterday, on the way home from my parents' house, I felt so nervous/anxious the whole time & started crying at random (and non-emotion-evoking songs) on the radio. I truly am going nuts. Thankfully, I had an ultrasound & bloodwork this morning & am now advised to knock my dosage back from 20 units to 5 & also to start my estrace! My donor (B) goes for her first ultrasound on Friday & then should be good to go to start her stims!!!!! G & I also have bloodwork on Friday (and I have an ultrasound as well) & then a meeting with the lawyer to pick up our paperwork/contract for B to sign.
Afterwards, we think we're going to treat ourselves to breakfast/brunch & a matinee of the new Harry Potter movie!!! Please continue to pray! It means the world to us!!

The Best Meatloaf You'll Ever Taste:
2 lb ground beef
1 packet Lipton onion soup mix
1 cup bread crumbs/oatmeal/cracker crumbs (any combination will work great!)
2 eggs
2 tsp. salt
1/2 c milk
1 small onion chopped fine
1 T ketchup

Combine all ingredients & shape into a loaf in a loaf pan or in a casserole dish with a drip pan. Smear a bit of extra ketchup over the top. Bake at 350 for 1.5 hr. Let rest 5-10 minutes before cutting!

Stressful Week & Camping Updates!

First, let me say that I got a follow-up call from Bed, Bath & Beyond the other day from one of the District Customer Service reps. She asked when I had visited the store because she was attempting to figure out who the clerk was in order to get her some further training...She apologized profusely & asked if there was anything that she could do for us because she didn't want to lose our business. I definitely could have milked it for all it was worth, but I'm not that kind of person (even I would never want a freebie at someone else's expense)...especially since G & I were laughing about it...but it was really nice to get the call & know that they do care about the quality of service that you receive at their stores!

In other news, this past week has been one of the most stressful ones in a long time, which would explain why there haven't been blog posts updating on things in life, camping, etc. The RE's office called us on Monday night to inform us that while they were incorrect with their call the week prior telling us that we owed for pre-screenings, they still did need to collect for B's required FDA screenings in the amount of ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS. I thought I was going to die. I vented to the billing lady on the phone saying that I know it isn't her fault but how is it possible that these expenses were never outlined to us from the get-go...she was incredulous that we had never been given an itemized list of costs. Then I started crying on the phone telling her that I didn't know if we would be able to remain a part of the study. This "free" study, which was only supposed to cost us a "couple thousand" in screening costs has ended up racking up $6000 in bills when all is said and done. That just does NOT sit well with me. I also vented to a nurse at the office that if we had known it would cost that much, we might as well have gone through an agency. That would have saved me all the hassle of finding a donor & lining up somewhere for her to go for distance monitoring. So I hung up the phone, told G & cried some more. His parents ended up finding out about it and offered to give us some money so that we could finish out what we've started. We are eternally grateful...

THEN, Wednesday, I got an email from the nurse telling me that she received the consents that we signed & sent back in, however the envelope was not addressed specifically TO HER & it ended up getting opened at the front desk & being given to the research team. The research team would not accept it because it is actually supposed to be signed in-office & then witnessed by the nurse...which, of course, I was never told! I ended up having to re-print the paperwork out, get DH's signature & spend $13 to mail it out Express so that it would be there the next day (Thursday, the last day before their long holiday weekend) in order to be able to start meds on Sunday to keep on schedule. Again, I cried and got mad and thought I was going to lose it on someone at the office (specifically the nurse). You can BET that, when all is said and done, we will be sending a letter to the office manager, detailing all of the issues, miscommunications and lack of organization that we have had to deal with over the past few months. Please pray for us!

Last but not least, let's lighten the mood with a list of fun times from camping (the first 9 are due to G & J pretending they were Harry Potter characters pretty much the entire time...let me remind you that they are 29 & 18 years old!!):
British accents
Patronus
Leaky cauldron
Ron, Luna, Professors Lupin and McGonnagal (sp), and Hermione
Hagrid and fang
Dennis creevy aka creepy Joe
chamber of secrets
stupify, lumos, and all the other spells
dark forest
Frisbee golf
screaming in the bathroom (I told Jenna that she had 'sunburn' on her head and she thought I said that she had 'something' on her head and she started screaming like crazy)
fishing
pancake rock
Recycle Bin Ball
"you scared the poop out of me!"
aunt chris yelling at us for saying sucks
cheating at phase 10 (Gregg and Jenna cheated pretty much the entire game so that Jenna could win)
uno
farting
yummy mountain pies
teri's creepy voice-"I like what you're wearing"
popping lids off bottles (pretty much making bottle-rockets out of water-bottle lids)
long johns
crossing the dam
bridge run
Jenna ordering ice cream in a British accent

Check out our video!!

Update #1 to the Gift Wreck

I thought I would add a couple of updates to my gift wreck saga from yesterday.

The first thing I did was unwrap the gift and re-wrap it to make it presentable for the wedding. I have decided, however, that I am going to get the pictures of the mis-wrapped gift printed out & put them inside the card for the bride & groom at the wedding. Now, to the wrapper's credit, I did discover that she was attempting to wrap the package using an actual gift bag. It's basically like a decorative trash bag, which happened to only be slightly bigger than the gift itself, so I also realized that she had poked holes in the bag with the corner of the box as she was putting it in, which she then taped over on the outside of the package, adding further misery to the sorry shape of the gift. Yes, it would have been tricky to wrap the package neatly using a plastic-y gift bag, but I'm hard-pressed to believe that was the BEST she could do.

I ended up opening up the gift bag so that it was actually like a big, flat piece of gift wrap & this is what it looked like when I was finished with it...it's not perfect, but it's a far cry from what it did look like...

After I finished re-wrapping it, I also went online to submit an email to BB & B's customer service. As you can tell, we weren't upset about our experience there, but I thought that BB & B might appreciate a quality-control check (laced with a bit of wry humor). Here is what I sent them:

I love your store, but if I could get you to stop by my blog today and look at the entry/pictures of the package I received at your gift wrap station at one store today, I would greatly appreciate it! I''m not giving negative publicity, but it might make you wonder a bit about quality control...http://pennstateprincess.blogspot.com/2009/06/gift-wrecks.htmlI, of course, unwrapped and re-wrapped the package once we got home (and had a good laugh in the mean time about the sorry state of my package!

I got a response this morning asking for information about which specific store it was, so I am going to reply with that...I'll keep you posted about their response!

Gift Wrecks

I hope to update later today or tomorrow with all the (FUN!) details of our camping trip (complete with pictures and videos), so be looking for that later...but I couldn't resist getting online now & blogging about today's excursion...in fact, all I talked about on the way home was how I couldn't wait to get online and tell all of you about this one...

My cousin's wedding is coming up in 2 weeks & she's registered at Bed, Bath & Beyond. I am on their mailing list & I happened to get an email from them last week (before we left on our trip) announcing the grand opening of a new store very close to us. I was really excited because all of the other BB&B locations are kind of out of the way, so I probably would have just ended up giving her money, simply for lack of time to head out there.

We decided to head over after church today & check the place out. It's in a great new shopping center at a commercialized, yet not-too-busy part of town, so I can actually see myself going back there on my own (I'm not much for driving so it has to be REALLY easy and REALLY non-congested for me to go by myself). We made our way around the store and I found what I wanted pretty easily & headed to the checkout counter. The friendly cashier checked us out (saved $11 w/ my coupon! woo hoo!) & then, knowing it was a gift from the registry, asked if I would like free gift wrapping. Of course I said yes! I mean come on, it's me and it's free!

So G & I moved our cart to the front of the store while the cashier took the package to be wrapped. We waited for what seemed like an eternity (at least 7 minutes) and I kept asking G what could be so tricky about wrapping a perfectly rectangular box? FINALLY, the clerk emerged from the depths and sheepishly handed us our package...at least that's what I think it is supposed to represent...

behold...'tis an object of rare beauty...

The bow makes it all better, doesn't it?

I suddenly feel the urge to run to BB&B to get a job as a gift-wrapper...

I now know why the gift wrapping is free...and why someone came up with the saying, "There's no such thing as a free lunch (or free gift-wrapping!)"

Bless the poor woman's children at Christmas...

Good times to come!

Tonight, G & I are off to a Phillies game in the city - we go a few times every season and I'm excited to head back tonight! After the game, we'll come back home to sleep & then head out for central PA in the morning! We'll be gone for a week to visit with family, attend my *little* cousin's graduation party (I say *little* because she's at least half a foot taller than me!) and go on our annual camping outing with my parents (and the same cousin, J).

Over the years, J & G have become quite the duo...they make silly videos, take crazy pictures, roll down hills together & make everyone laugh! Let's just say that camping is NEVER boring when the two of them are involved! We've got stories to tell EVERY time (the camper breaking?, skunks "fighting" outside our camper at night?, G & J burning random stuff in the fire?), so I'm hoping that J will be a guest blogger for me when we return (and of course, there will be plenty of silly pictures & videos to share)...

Let me include some pics from past camping trips - I hope you'll join us for the fun when we return!

G & I cooking some food

G & I on the Dam

G, J & I - We LOVE HER!

G, J & I and another younger cousin, M (who usually comes along, but not this year)

Yummy Summer Salad Dressing

This super-simple salad dressing always makes me reminisce about pulling tomatoes, cucumbers and fresh lettuce right out of my grandparents' garden, taking them inside and drowning them in this delicious mixture...it's my Grammy's own "buttermilk" dressing! Today, I made it Rachael Ray style by turning it into a "bottom of the jar" recipe. This dressing goes fabulously over a tomato, cucumber & onion salad, or simply over fresh lettuce, which is how I had it today!

Grammy's Buttermilk Dressing

1. Mix equal parts of mayonnaise (Miracle Whip works beautifully, too), vinegar, milk (regular milk - combining it w/ the vinegar creates the buttermilk flavor/consistency) & sugar. My bottom-of-the-jar version ended up being about 1/4 cup of each.
2. Sprinkle in some salt & pepper & shake to combine!
3. Enjoy! That's all there is to it!

I love a bargain (meal)!

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a bargain-shopper extraordinaire. Whether it be dollar store finds, deals and steals at the grocery store, clearance racks at department stores, various miscellany at yard sales, or free samples online, I literally get a high when I get a great deal (I once got a pair of really amazing denim capris with a belt for $.97 off the clearance rack at JCPenney's! Imagine the euphoria!). So it shouldn't surprise anyone that making cheap (yet delicious and healthy) meals at home would bring me equal amounts of joy!

I bought a 6-lb roasting chicken at the grocery store the other day for $1.59 a pound (roughly $9.50 total). I didn't have any hard & fast plans for the chicken at the time, but Thursday evening, I decided to roast it. I used an adaptation of Tyler Florence's Ultimate Roast Chicken (thanks Hafsa!), except that I made an herb butter instead of using olive oil & I didn't use the bacon at all. Of course, after the fact, I found this recipe on the Delish food blog & now I want to go out to buy another just so I can stop drooling...but I digress...

After Thursday's delicious dinner, I picked all of the big pieces of meat off the bones. We still had a bunch of meaty bits sticking to the bones, though, so on Friday, I decided to boil the carcass & innards (lovely, huh?) to make my famous chicken noodle soup! And it was such a huge batch that we had it for lunch today & there will be enough for lunch tomorrow, too!

And finally, there was still about 2 cups of meat left, so today, I modified this sloppy joe recipe to make chicken bbq sandwiches and they were AMAZING! I threw all of the ingredients into the crock pot on low for about 2 hours & served them with a (thrifty) side of salad with lettuce fresh from our garden! And there's still enough left for a couple of sandwiches this week! I'll include the recipe that I used below, just so I have it in my blog recipe file for future use!

3 complete meals (plus plenty of leftovers) from one chicken? That's what I call a bargain!

Chicken BBQ Sandwiches

1.5 to 2 c shredded, cooked chicken meat
2T tomato paste
2/3 c barbecue sauce (we LOVE Sweet Baby Ray's)
1/2 c ketchup
1/4 c Worcestershire sauce
1/4 c soy sauce
black pepper

Combine all ingredients in the crockpot & cook on low for 2 hours.

Weekend-O-Fun

Our Annual (almost the) end-of-the-school year weekend of fun is upon us and I couldn't be more excited! Every year for the past few years, we pack up the car for G's parents' shore house and we host all of our friends from G's work & his coaching buddies. The weekend usually involves board games (Apples to Apples and Loaded Questions are some favorites), the beach (of course!), outdoor games (horseshoes & the PVC pipe frisbee game!), and consuming large quantities of alcohol...I will have you know that I usually stick with a wine cooler, sparkletini, or maybe an appletini...I am definitely the soberest (is that a word) one at the end of the night (I'm a total lightweight!)! However, I've been pulled through the wringer several times by the RE's office this week...I told G today that I need a massage...he thinks that I need a drink instead!

Last year's trip included our friend Mark losing his wedding band in Davy Jones's locker, with a trip to the 5 & 10 store to follow in which they came back armed with kiddie snorkels and shovels in hopes of finding it (no luck, however). This year, he will have to remember to keep his ring in the beach bag. Last year's trip also involved a game of cops & robbers (or was it cowboys & indians?) with the (intoxicated) boys around 3 in the morning. I am happy to say that my husband did not partake in the re-enactment.

I've been prepping food for the past few days, doing a few things here and there. I browned up ground beef & boiled & shredded some chicken today. Those will go into a lasagna, a Chicken Broccoli lasagna & my famous Buffalo Chicken Dip. I also made some garlic butter to go on a loaf of French bread, so we can have garlic bread with our lasagna on Saturday. Our friends are bringing baked goods & snacks, taco fixings for tomorrow's dinner, cookout goodies for Saturday's lunch & pretty much anything and everything you can imagine! Basically a weekend of indulgences, which we will pay for come Monday...I can hardly wait!

What's new?

Everyone has constantly (in a nice way, of course) been asking me when the IVF w/ DE cycle will start up and at this point, I basically have to say that your guess is as good as mine! I'm supposed to be starting bcp w/ my next cycle & B is supposed to start hers, too. The problem is that B doesn't get AF, which means that she has to go for repeated blood work in order to determine where she is in her cycle (hormonally in her body). This wouldn't be such a difficult thing except that I've been emailing and calling the nurse at the RE's office repeatedly since SUNDAY to find out whether or not they've faxed in an order for B's blood work to her local lab. Honestly, one wouldn't think that it would be such a hard thing to reply a quick "sure" to my emails or call me back with a "yes" but apparently it is.

I feel like I've become a squeaky wheel now, but I don't know what else to do! B leaves on her vacation in less than 2 weeks, so I would like her to know (before she leaves) whether or not she will be able to start on the pill while she's gone or what will be expected of her upon her return.

Despite all of the craziness, my persistence has paid off (G says it's good that I'm so on top of things since the RE's office is so friggin' disorganized). I arranged for B to do her first two u/s and b/w monitorings in central PA, 20 minutes from where she lives, which is fantastic news! It will cost us some money out-of-pocket, but I feel better about things, knowing that I can take at least a little bit of the burden off of B.

G also went for his cystic fibrosis full-panel screening yesterday! I am happy to report that he took it like a champ (meaning he didn't pass out and look like he was having a seizure like he did a year ago when he had to have b/w done for our 1st IVF)! The nurse was excellent (he has to lie down to give blood & he's got tough veins) & she even brought him apple juice and animal crackers when he was done. I was so proud of him! I know...men!, right? He said that if he had to give blood as often as I have to, he would probably get used to it...but I say I'm just tougher than he is!

In other exciting news, we broke out the ice cream maker for the first time ever on Sunday (nevermind the fact that we received it as a wedding gift nearly 5 years ago)! We modified a recipe & tried to make pineapple sorbet...it sort of turned out, but mostly tasted like pure sweetness. However, on Monday, we followed the recipe for Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream to a tee and it turned out great! The ILs took us out for dinner last night (just for the heck of it), so we invited them over afterwards for ice cream! MIL said that if we hadn't told her any better, she would have thought she was eating Breyer's...so much cheaper (less than $3 for almost a half gallon) and I just feel better about eating: milk, cream, sugar, peppermint & chocolate chips, rather than who-knows-what...next on my agenda is Cinnamon ice cream!

Finally, let me share with you some of the fruits of my labor...our first harvest - 3 radishes!!!

So much to talk about...

Ok everyone, let's welcome in the month of August! Yay! Everyone's favorite super-hot month where all the kiddos (and teachers, ugh) go back to school and life returns to (somewhat) normal! I've been busy getting my classroom ready and I think it looks pretty good. Maybe I'll post some pics soon.

The month has started out pretty well. We got an email from the building coordinator at our new community last week with a picture of our "home."I know, I know - it could use a little work, but don't you think the dirt floors give it that rustic charm? Yep, I thought so, too.

But seriously, that's our hole in the ground and we're really excited! When we drove through last week, I practically squealed with excitement as we drove through the development and everyone waved and said hello to us...we've never had that before and since we're both kind of hermit-like, we need socialites around us to keep us from only keeping to ourselves and shutting out the world. We drove by yesterday and they were putting the footers in (whatever that means), so it's progress, progress!

In other exciting news, I won three prizes in the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival and I couldn't be happier. The first is a book from Tara at Tara's View on Books, a coupon for a free box of cereal from Michelle at Big Blueberry Eyes, and a bracelet from Melissa at MJennings Designs through Joanna at JoJo's World. I am very excited about all of these wins, but most especially the bracelet. Expect a blog post on the wonderful bracelet once I receive it - it's VERY exciting and Melissa has been so great to work with!

And finally, I'm not sure where my mind is going with all of this baby stuff right now, but I really just feel like something has changed in my heart over the past week. I finally realized that I'm just sick of waiting for a baby and not being able to do something about it. So, come January, we're talking about starting the adoption process. I know that things can take a very long time, but I'm hopeful that maybe in 2009, I will be a mommy...please keep us in your prayers. I know there's still that huge part inside of me that feels like I'm giving up on my dream to hold my baby in my belly and actually bear a child, and I don't really think that that dream can ever really go away, but the hopeful side of me keeps saying that maybe being able to nurture will somehow dull the pain and sting that infertility has given us and help us to move on...I'm crying as I'm typing this because I know that it's going to take a long time to convince my heart and my head that I'll never be a mommy the way that I want to be...and that my feelings of injustice will never go away...but being a mommy to someone is more important to me than my own pride, so we'll see where this journey leads us. Undoubtedly, no matter how you look at it, more pain and hurt are on the way, but hopefully this road leads us to the end of the tunnel and not another dead-end.

Good-bye July...

Wow! I can't believe that July is almost over! This summer will be gone before you know it. I can't exactly say that it has flown by, because when I think back to my last day of preschool, or even back to our Disney trip, they don't seem like that recent of occasions, but I am sad to see the summer dwindling down to just another month, nonetheless.

I've been working at the daycare here and there, which has been nice, if for nothing else than to make a little money and get out of the house. The little rascals, who were constantly testing my patience at the end of the school year mind you, actually seemed thrilled to see me and they asked where I've been all summer :). On Friday, I get to go swimming with the little guys (ages 3-4) at the YMCA, so that's exciting!

A couple of weeks ago, I also had the opportunity to go home to my parents' house in central PA and help out at the huge multi-family yard sale. It was a moving sale of sorts for Gregg and I, so I was VERY excited to see that, when all was said and done, we had made about $150! It felt good to get rid of so many things. At the end of the two days, we only had about three plastic crates of stuff left, plus a box to give to Goodwill. My mom and I got to go out on the first day and do some yard-saling of our own, which was great. I LOVE yard sales because you just never know what you will find. Sure, there are a lot of sales that are just pure junk, but you'd be amazed at what you can find if you try. I got a corn-ear shaped cast-iron cornbread pan for $4. I got a Kenneth Cole handbag (which I think I'll use as a school bag) for $4. I got about 30 items for my prize box at preschool (dinosaur action figures, toy cars, princess crowns, etc), most at either $.05 or $.10 each! And then, at one sale, I hit the jackpot!!! There's a sweet woman who I know from church when I was growing up. She's petite like me and very stylish. She had a ton of small clothes and I had my arms full, just planning on buying it and then trying it on at home, and selling what didn't fit at our own yard sale. Well, she wouldn't hear of it - she took me inside her house and had me try on everything so that I wouldn't have to bother with it later! It was so nice! I got two pairs of dress pants, a pair of Levi jeans, a sweater, 3 shirts, lounge pants, and four books...our grand total for the day was about $20!! I was happy as a clam!

Anyway, enough about my semi-obsession with yard sales...and on to my other obsession...the Bloggy Giveaway carnival! I love it and I'm so excited that it's back! I've made it through about 300 of the giveaways so far and I'm still going strong!

Finally, in other blog news, I've been sad reading through friends' blogs and realizing that I haven't been able to do a Menu-Plan Monday in a very, VERY long time due to moving. Now, of course that means that I'm not responsible for cooking as much, but after cooking yesterday and today since it's just hubby and I at his parents' house, I can honestly say that I do miss it...Yesterday, we had steaks on the grill (olive oil & some grill seasoning) and I marinated some squash, zucchini and onions in balsamic vinaigrette dressing before grilling them as well! They turned out awesome! Today, I made this Easy Creamy Chicken and G and I loved that, as well! I served it with brown rice. It was super easy to prepare and really full of flavor. Yum-o! :)

PS - thanks to all of my wonderful bloggy friends (new and old) who have come out to offer their words of encouragement and support in my recent faith crisis. Rest assured that I do plan on thanking each of you individually, as I can. Please continue to pray...and if you have any suggestions on where to go (scripture passages, books, etc) I would be most grateful!