16 Weeks

Well I am almost officially out of the 16 week mark but had to throw in a picture before tomorrow. With my at home photographer out of town these days (OK weeks) I finally remembered to ask my sister to snap a quick shot of the "bump" in front of my Mom's Christmas tree tonight. So better late then never.

With Nate on travel these last few weeks off and on, I have had a lot of time to practice being brave as well as get in touch with my inner cave women self to start a fire to warm the house. To think that last year this time when he was traveling I wouldn't have dared stayed home by myself. Amazing what the power of prayer can do. I am counting down the days when Nate comes back home to be the best companion I know. Absence truly does make the heart grow fonder.



Gotta love the after work look.....pony tail and all!

15 Weeks

I am officially now 15 weeks along and feeling GREAT! I couldn't have asked for a better 1st trimester. I am looking forward to this next one with great anticipation as I can't wait to find out if we are having a boy or a girl. The countdown begins. Once that information is out let the decorating begin. Nate and I are are still in pure amazement at the blessing we have growing inside my belly. Below is an even more recent belly picture at 15 weeks.

Baby Bump at 15 weeks

Belly & Baby

So my dear friend Christina has helped me capture the only 2 pictures of my belly so far. Now that the growing process has begun, I should probably take them more consistently to see all the changes on a weekly basis. I am still in that awkward is it a bigger gut or is it a baby bump look but I am loving every minute of it!

We also went in for an ultrasound last Friday and it was so amazing to see how much the baby's shape has changed since our 1st pictures. You can actually see the baby's profile which we loved and we also got an early guess out of the nurse as to the sex of the baby. Will it be a boy or a girl... polls are now open. :) Enjoy the pictures of our little peanut both on the inside and out.

6 Weeks

12 weeks

I love how peaceful baby looks in this picture, sleeping on it's side!

The Baby's Room

So the transformation process has begun!! Nate and I started making room for baby. It was amazing to see how much stuff you can accumulate and stuff into rooms in just a few short years. It was a weekend full of organizing, rearranging and tossing. It felt so good to get that project started. I was moved to tears many times this weekend as the thought hit that we are actually working on getting our baby's room ready. What a joy it is. I can't wait to fill the baby's room with all the fun and cute little items that baby's need. Below is the 1st look at the room cleared out and ready for when we find out the sex to get going with all the fun colors and other details. More to come!!

Our Little Blessing

It has been quite some time since I have posted anything on my blog but I believe the time has come for an update! The last 3 months have been a whirlwind of emotion. The best emotion of all being told one of the best things I have ever heard.... "Your Pregnant"!!! Nate and I are overjoyed to be expecting our 1st little blessing in May 2010! Below are some of the 1st debut pics of our little one. I am 1 week away from being out of my 1st trimester and have been feeling great. No true morning sickness ever hit me (thank you Lord!) and I am starting to get some more energy back. I felt like a sloth for the last 6 weeks but am excited that I have been able to stay up past 9 p.m. the this last week. So far pregnancy has been amazing and yet surreal at many times. Nate and I dream about what our baby will look like, smell like, feel like and are in just plain awe that our time has come. We are in constant thanks to God for our blessing and continue to learn how to trust him with our pregnancy as he is the giver of this blessing. We look forward to May 27th with great anticipation but for now I am trying to savor every moment of pregnancy. Thanks to all who have prayed for us thru this time of waiting and we covet your continued prayers for a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery.



5 weeks 4 days

6 weeks 4 days (1st time hearing the baby's heartbeat!)

7 weeks 5 days ( heartbeat is getting stronger!)



We love you very much our little peanut!!!

Kyle Matthew Bogdanov

My newest nephew made his grand and fast entrance into the world this Friday @ 5:30am! He weighed in at 7 lbs exactly, a perfect little 7. We are enjoying have a new baby around to love on. Below are some pics of the little guy as well as of the proud siblings. I was able to spend some quality time with Caleb and Katelyn as Janette and Matthew were in the hospital spending some bonding time with the baby.

I feel so blessed to be able to welcome 2 nephews and 1 niece over the next few months. Can't wait to meet my little Zoie girl(september 14 or sooner) as well as little guy Poling (beginning of October and Ryan and Rissa are still working on a name) It is such a joy to be an Auntie!


Love the head of hair!


How sweet is this!


Proud Uncle




Katelyn is so sweet with her baby brother. She loves to hold him and pats him gently like a proud sister.


Big Brother and Big Sister shirts Janette made the kids






Ok this is just for fun! Caleb and Katelyn were being so silly in the tub the other night, I just had to take their picture!

Sewing Contest

So I am finally coming up for air from a very busy last 2 months. I will be working on some new posts to update on all the happenings of the summer. But I just had to share quickly how excited I was to win a sewing contest. I made 2 coordinating dresses for my dear friends twin daughters and decided to submit a picture my friend took of them. Well lo and behold we WON!! I am sure it totally helped that the my little models were just as cute as can be and my friend takes amazing pictures. You can see for yourselves here the winning photos.

I absolutely love this dress pattern. It is so easy and fun and is sure to be a winner. It was one of my best finds on etsy and I have shared this pattern with so many others. Feel free to get inspired to make one of your own. More project pics to come. ;)

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

So Nate and I are farmers (or attempted farmers) again this year. We planted our 2nd annual garden and can't wait to see how it goes. This years selection will consist of zucchini, papaya pear summer squash, cucumbers, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, green bell pepper, purple bell pepper, jalapeno peppers, green beans, carrots, tomatoes, various herbs and a lettuce medley. We also have growing from last year our 2 variety of grapes and raspberries. Nate took so much time this year to build 6 raised garden beds that all of the veggies are in, as well as running drip systems to each of the beds. We are so excited to see the rewards of the hard work it was to weed, prepare the ground and plant. We are hoping that by building these boxes it will help ease the amount of work for the preparation next year. I also planted 2 rows of special dahlias that I can't wait to see what they will look like. I am finding how much I love our garden and can see this being a new found hobby for Nate and I. Now if I can only keep them all alive. Here's hoping for a prosperous harvest!

Our 1st Grape Cluster
Heart Shaped Grape Vine
Luscious Lemons
Papaya Pear Summer Squash Blossom
Laminated tags for each item in the garden
Green Beans to grow on a trellis

Growing Pains

The amount of growth that has been made this month is amazing!! The pain on the other hand that comes from these growing pains HURTS! The pains (literally) that come from the start of a new cycle are brutal. However, in all this I am in awe at how much my God has shown his love, care and concern for Nate and I along the way. This journey through infertility has been anything but fun, but through it all I am looking to God more than I ever have in my life and it is all so rewarding. I can honestly say this has been the hardest month to go through. By His grace, even with the all too familiar and devastating result, we have been at peace. The Lord brought me to a place that I have never charted before and he was right there with me along the way. So needless to say as another month is beginning and a new cycle is started we are excited to see what God has in store for us.

Week 1

This week was the start of a new treatment cycle for Nate and I. I am buckled in and ready for this roller coaster ride to come, hands raised up in the air and all. The beginning of a cycle brings a new hope and excitement that is indescribable however I try to remain calm since there are no guarantees. My Dr. still remains amazing and makes me feel like I am her only patient, except I know I am not. How else would she be able to give us donated meds from another patient. Totally a God thing I tell myself. The shots are no fun but I must say these are much better then the ones I did in February. I am feeling hopeful, excited, nervous and timid as to the process and outcome of all this. I am trusting God is in control and he knows the plans for this treatment and I am praying that Nate and I can remain calm and at peace throughout it all.

Lions and Tigers and Bears Oh my!

The weekend before last, Nate and I had the privilege to fully play out our Auntie and Uncle role as we watched Caleb and Katelyn. We had so much fun. We decided since it was a sunny spring day we would take the kids to the Oakland Zoo after lunch on Saturday. Caleb was so excited and Katelyn of coursed followed suite. They had a blast and Nate I loved watching their reactions to the animals and such. Each of them said there favorite was the giraffe's. We wished we would have caught Katelyn's reaction on video to the giraffe's as she was so excited she could barely stand it. She is quite the little ham and surely knows how to make us all laugh. Our weekend went by really fast and after we dropped them back off at their home on Sunday night, we missed them. They were too much fun!

So excited to get to the zoo.

Caleb loved having a map to the zoo.





Caleb loved the tree slide

and of course monkey see monkey do

Katelyn wasn't too sure about the monkeys

A yummy treat at the zoo

This is one of my favorites.... when Caleb was about Katelyn's age I started having him raise his hands up when we went over speed bumps and he has never forgotten. So of course at the zoo there were lots of speed bumps and both Caleb and Katelyn would raise both hands in the air and we would all say "bump, bump" when we went over them. They just thought it was the funniest thing and Katelyn was say "more" in hopes the fun was not over. Good times!!!

"Enough"

This last month and a half has been the most challenging to me both emotionally and spiritually. I have been challenged to trust more then ever and have seen God at work the most through all this. The Sunday before last in church I was reminded of how powerful the words to this song are. I was moved to tears. I am at a place right now where I feel I am just to be patient and wait. As hard as that is, I'm trying. In this waiting period Nate and I are in, our prayer is that we will be content in the sweet embrace and love of God, finding comfort in the truth that He truly is more than enough!

All of You is more than enough for all of me

For every thirst and every need

You satisfy me with Your love

And all I have in You is more than enough

You are my supply

My breath of life

And still more awesome than I know

You are my reward worth living for

And still more awesome than I know

All of You is more than enough for all of me

For every thirst and every need

You satisfy me with Your love

And all I have in You is more than enough

You're my sacrifice

Of greatest price

And still more awesome than I know

You're the coming King

You are everything

And still more awesome than I know

More than all I want

More than all I need

You are more than enough for me

More than all I know

More than all I can say

You are more than enough for me

Change is Good

At times change can be a hard thing to adjust to but in this case change has been very good. Nate and I decided it was time to update our master bathroom as it had not been touched since we moved in back in April 2005! We were holding out for being able to do a larger remodel project but realize that would be a ways out. So we rolled up our sleeves and went with a more frugal/quick approach. We had some left over paint from our bedroom face lift project and went to " the HD" (Home Depot, our favorite place) to buy some new vanity cabinet hardware, new white toilet seat, and spray paint to paint the gold shower door railings and oak bathroom vanity. I had a mirror already in the house so we replaced the oak medicine cabinet with a more simple mirror. We started out calling this our "free" bathroom remodel project but in the end decided to also splurge on a new light fixture and faucet. All in all it was a very inexpensive face lift and we are thrilled with the results. I can't take much credit for it as Nate put a lot of time and energy into this. THANKS Babe for always working so hard and taking so much pride in your work. I LOVE YOU!

Voila here is the final project. (I totally forgot to take a before pic but I know most of you saw the disaster it once was)

Happy Valentine's & Happy B-day Duke

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's day. I spent most of the day doing some baking, cleaning and painting! It was also Duke's 7th b-day. What a life that dog has had so far and we just hope the rest of his years are good ones. I was looking back at pictures of him as a puppy and he won Nate's heart from the day he picked him out. All I can say is it is a good thing that he is loved so much cause boy, as most of you know there are plenty of Duke stories. Happy b-day Duke we LOVE you. Duke enjoyed his day sleeping as always. Below are some pictures of the sleeping b-day dog and of my baking project.

Mini Chocolate cupcakes with Chocolate glaze

Duke's 2 favorite things... Sleep and Cardboard

The Low Down

This story begins at the end of 2005 when Nate and I decided that we would actively start trying to grow our family. We had been married for two and a half years, had purchased our first home together and were feeling like we were ready to add a bambino to the mix. I had already been off the pill for about a year as it did not agree with me, but as you all know there are many other methods to accomplish the same goal as the pill. wink, wink.

In Spring of 2006 was our first hopeful month but little did we know this would be the 1st of many unsuccessful attempts. So a little after a year (Summer 2007) of trying on our own we decided to contact our medical provider (Kaiser) to see what our next step would be. We had to attend a 1 hour class on infertility as well as each go through a round of tests before we could make an appointment to be seen by a Reproductive Endocrinologist. Once we met this criteria (Fall 2007) we sat down with the Dr who then proceeded to tell us, in about 10 minutes time, that everything was normal and that we were young and healthy so this shouldn't be hard. With that we proceeded with our 1st treatment on 100mg Clomid in November of 2007. Also during this time I was in transition with a new company as my previous employer had closed it's doors in October 2007. Can we say added stress is not so fun? Our 1st treatment was unsuccessful so we took a month off for the holidays.

We started our 2nd treatment of 100mg Clomid in Jan 2008. This time we were supposed to do an IUI (Intrauterine Insemination) but the ovulation window was missed and the IUI could not be performed and we were went home with Dr's orders to tyr the old fashion way. Needless to say this was also unsuccessful. At this point Nate and I were beginning to not only feel emotionally drained by this but also financially it was a struggle. We had NO infertility coverage (as they call it in the insurance world) so we were at our limit with the costs for those 2 treatments and decided it was time for a break. We proceed to try on our own for the months to follow, as well as save up some money in the event that we would need to do another treatment down the road.

The bell rang for round 3 in November 2008 and this time we were ready to try again. We went in to see the Dr and told her that we wanted to be a little more aggressive. We were given a very PC explanation that we had not gone through enough rounds of Clomid to do anything more aggressively but that she would up our Clomid dose to 150mg as well as adding in an IUI. We were very hopeful and excited that the IUI was timed correctly and could work, but the end result was all too familiar.

At this point we were kind of burnt out with Kaiser but yet knew nothing different. This also happened to be open enrollment time for Nate's insurance benefits and my sister had recommended that we contact her Dr for a second opinion. In looking at the new benefit packages offered we decided to switch medical providers and contact this new Dr.
We met with the new Dr and he was very informative and knowledgeable and told us just from the sounds of all we had gone thru already that my body does not respond well to Clomid and that he only performs treatments with Clomid. He proceeded to recommend us to an infertility specialist in his office who also happened to be his daughter and coincidentally shares my name and the same spelling. We then met with Dr Aimee on Jan 2nd 2009, what a breath of fresh air. She proceeded to explain to us so much that we had never really heard before and just really felt that she knew what she was talking about and had our best interest in mind. Nate and I left her office that morning grinning from ear to ear, we knew God was at work and felt that he had put us in the right place now. Dr. Aimee wanted us to do a couple more tests and we were so thankful both of those came back normal. So on we go with starting our next round of treatments this week and covet your prayers as we continue down this journey.

And were up!

After so much talk about starting my own blog it is finally here! It is still in the set up stage but I am so excited. More to come soon.