cold tuesday afternoon

This is my niece, Delaney. She's fantastic and she makes us all smile. She makes a little "surprise" noise every time she recognizes something. (we - as a family - apparently make that noise a lot?) Today, she is thrilled at the sight of candles. (my sister's power went out and the entire house is being lit "the old fashioned way"...caveman bonfire in the living room.)



As for me, I am at work today - along with 12 other people?? Ryan and I watched the news last night and laughed at the schools that closed due to (what ended up being) lots of rain. Nothing is frozen and nothing is dangerous - except bears. Bears are still dangerous.

It's not a big thing, but I am getting a blood test this Thursday. (it's sort of a big deal to me since I have tiny, rolly, pain in the @ss veins and usually end up crying and curling my toes a lot - not in a good way - but not in the grand scheme of things, it's not big.) This is to make sure my hcG levels are back down to zero (the pregnancy hormone should be completely gone). I still have to endure a whole cycle before we can try again, but the plan is to get another ultrasound and an I.U.I. (ultrasound tells us when I'm ovulating, I.U.I. actually gets me pregnant...well, Ryan has something to do with it, but the procedure helps). All of this will probably take place in January.

That's it for baby news. Until then, I'm going to post more photos and "day in the life" stuff regarding me and Ryan (and our progress with the home remodeling we've been doing...because that stuff is exciting...and distracting...and necessary. Seriously...we still have "pheasant" wallpaper in the bathroom.)

Take care and stay warm! (only 2 weeks until Christmas!)