Good bye August!

Before we say goodbye to August and summer, we want to wish our niece Karyne a happy 4th birthday today! This picture of Karyne is from last summer when she was just about 3; she's grown so much since then. She's a big sister now! We're looking forward to your birthday party on Sunday.

I know that most of the posts recently have had some kind of mention of fall in them, and it isn't that I am struggling for material to write about. It's more that Dave and I are anxiously awaiting fall - our favorite season. I thought I'd put together a list of things we're looking forward to about fall:

• Cooler weather and crisp breezes
• The colors on the trees and short hikes in the woods to view nature's grandest show!
• The smell of burning wood drifting through the air
• Picking pumpkins at Trax farms and hayrides
• Hot apple cider (or caramel apple cider from Starbucks if you are like Dave!)
• Our 1st wedding anniversary on Oct 7th (Dave is planning a big day of for us but he won't say what he's planning just yet)
• Football season!! Go Steelers!
• Speaking of which, I'm looking forward to Pitt kicking some WVU butt this year on 11/16!
• Pumpkin flavored anything - coffee, ice cream, pies, cheesecake
• Wearing big soft sweaters and faded jeans - and boots! (for me, not Dave)
• Perhaps finding out that we'll be parents in 2007 ?!?
• Starting our monthly couples' dinner get togethers
• New seasons of TV shows like Lost and Scrubs

Summer was full of great memories and we thank God for all the blessings in our life. So long August!

Is it fall yet?

We're so ready for fall - today the hot and humid August that is all too familiar in western Pennsylvania came back and will be sticking around for a bit. Things had been going too well with our lower than expected electric bill from not needing the AC! But if that means that things will get back to what they are supposed to be, then the Steelers may finally win a game. Pre-season or not - Dave isn't bothered by the losses, but I am worried just a bit.

The plumber called a few days ago and postponed this weekend's project on putting in the rough-ins for the basement bathroom. So now ETA is mid-Sept.

Today while Dave was on call, I spent the day doing much needed landscaping around the house, which included planting fall mums. Otherwise we are just relaxing. Mike & Molly came over last night to watch the football game and we all just vegged. Hopefully we'll be able to catch up with the family tomorrow at church and afterwards. It's a lazy weekend for certain, but those are often the best!

Positive Thoughts

I was waiting in my RE's office this morning to get some blood work and ultrasound done. As I paged through a magazine there, the letter from the founder caught my attention, because it was something that I could relate to...

Waiting - or at least, waiting patiently- is not something I do well. I've always had the notion of not wanting to waste my precious time on earth, and I've had a tendency to be impatient. But now I realize there's a big difference between being patient and being complacent. Being patient means allowing the proper growth and timing for something to happen. Complacency, on the other hand, is plain powerlessness, waiting for life to happen to you. I can see that the most difficult part of infertility was facing the unknown without being able to take action. Now I look at uncertain times as opportunities to think about what's possible, and what I can do next.

I started to think about what I'd do differently if I didn't have infertility as my constant companion. Maybe I'd finally start to plan our trip to Alaska. Maybe I'd try sky diving like I've always wanted to try. And maybe I'd take a clue from Dave's Aunt Ruth and just go get that tattoo or belly ring, Buddha belly and all (me, not Ruth!). Call it an attitude shift. Call it a bell that went off. Whatever you call it, I thought about really making an effort to not be complacent. And then I went to CafePress and bought myself a tee to remind myself of just that.


The good news is that the vacant supervisor job at Dave's work that we've been waiting to be posted, finally posted. So Dave will be applying - please send your positive thoughts his way! He certainly deserves this promotion and works hard. We'll keep you posted!

Our First Post

We wanted to create a way to keep our family and friends updated on our lives. It's hard to keep since everyone we love are spread around western PA and then even further (Providence, Denver, Baltimore, etc). Thank goodness for technology...

This summer has just flown by! We had Angie_&_Matt's_Wedding , Dave's marathon and then Mark_&_Kacey's_Wedding and our trip to Rhode Island. This weekend we're starting the construction on our basement bathroom. The weeks in between have been marked by both nice quiet times at home as well as family functions and gathering of friends.

This past weekend we watched my niece Kadence (who is 1 year old) for the night. It was an interesting adventure, but luckily Kadence took it easy on us.

We think it was a great opportunity for us to get a preview of what it will be like when we have our own kids, though we're thinking Kaddie-bug's good behavior will have us fooled into thinking it is much easier than it really is!

Speaking of having our own kids... most of you know that we've been trying to add to our family in the past year. It's been a year to be exact. The journey has been filled with learning, frustration, and hope. The good news is that our doctors (both regular OBs and Reproductive Endocrinologists or "REs" as they are known in the infertility world) have said that we are fine. We're trying some new things now - medication and acupuncture for Beth- and that may or may not change things. We're lucky to have such a supportive network; some of our own family know all too well the ups & downs of infertility. And luckily we've learned to ignore the well intentioned "oh, just relax / dont' stress / plan a vacation / look into adoption and you'll get pregnant right away!" comments. (side note - studies show that stress does not cause infertility, though the opposite is true!) We're confident that we'll be parents one day and in the mean time, just appreciate the prayers and love from you. And of course, we'll share news when things change!

Especially with the approaching start of football season, we're looking forward to fall (Big Knob Fair anyone??) in all its glory. Sending our love to everyone!

Dave & Beth