Dancing!

It's been a while! I've had some design work that has kept my attention during my downtime, so the blog suffers. But Evie and I have been busy. One of her favorite activities is dancing and her musicians of choice are the Wiggles or "aWeeawoos." We've been taking a dance/music class for several months now and while my progress has stagnated, she's really taking off! One of her favorite dancing songs is Rock-a-bye Your Bear, as seen below (I would have cut the video after the song ended, but my program kept crashing, so my apologies for the length).

When she's not dancing, you might find her eating a Fig Newton ("Wig Newnut") or yelling at Jack for eating one of hers ("No, no, NAWWWW! Bad Bo-EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"). Or repeating one of the following phrases:

"Hold me, _________"
Usually, she's asking someone to hold her, and will use this phrase to request a loved one's presence. Several times a day, I hear "Hold me, Nana?" or Dada or Baboo. Favorite examples:
"Hold me, home?" - while tired of running errands
"Hold me, Mamo Hand" - while in the bath, hugging tenderly her sponge shaped like Mickey's hand
"Hold me, more cheese?" - while in Whole Foods
"Hold me, moon?" - her obsession with the moon continues

"Dat NOISE!?!"
These days she asks for an explanation of every sound she hears. It's cute to see her interest in the world around her and I enjoy the chance to teach her about it. Funniest Example:
Evie, after pooting loudly: Dat NOISE!?!
M: Yeah, Evie, what was that noise?
E: Roar (thunder).

As has been previously mentioned, she also loves scolding people, animals and inanimate objects (this morning her sippy got an earful for spilling milk). While it can get tiresome to be the subject of it, it's hilarious on the whole. I do hear "No, no, Ma! Bad BoyEEEEE" quite a bit, but luckily it's balanced by plenty of "Buh Boy, Ma" (Good Boy, Ma) with pats on my head. The other day, she started dumping buckets of water out of the tub and when I sternly told her to stop, she said, "Yeah!! No, NO, Baff!!!" She's a creative deflector. She has started training us in etiquette as well. The other night Matt burped loudly and Evie said, "Duse me, Dada!" (Excuse me, Dada), which cracked us up!

Unfortunately, our plans for baby #2 have been put on a temporary (hopefully brief) hold. I went in for a baseline ultrasound a few weeks ago, intending to start my next round of treatment. However, they discovered a complication created by the previous treatment and now we have to wait it out until my body decides it's ready. I always seem to be on the wrong side of the statistics! I have another monitoring appointment in a few weeks, so hopefully we'll see some improvement by that point. We need to take advantage of the insurance coverage we have before we lose it when our plan changes this summer!

Next week we're off to Steamboat with Matt's family, so we'll be celebrating Easter this weekend. Evie's getting pretty pumped about the Easter Bunny's visit, but I seriously doubt she's as excited about it as I am. Pictures to come!

A photo tour

of the past two weeks

First, a visit with Nana and Baboo

"Hi Duck!"

hamming it up after she saw the camera

riding the kee-cats with Nana and Baboo

Fun with Ma and Daddy:

classic.

looking sharp in Dad's work shirt. I love the grip on the crayons.

an attempt to trace dad's face

tracing Evie: one of her new favorite activities

"Ook, Ma! Huwwy!"

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El Negativo (that's Spanish for "not pregnant")

I was hoping for a different update today, but my blood test confirmed that this cycle was a flop.

When we started again down this path, I was hopeful and rational. I knew that statistics weren't on our side, particularly with these injectable cycles, and planned to just put one foot in front of the other, hoping it would work out. I wouldn't become too emotionally involved in the process, reminding myself that we'd be lucky for it to work. Oh, how delightfully naive! The truth is that it's impossible not to become emotionally invested. I spent an entire month experiencing pain and facing fears, nurturing my body as though it were pregnant. The medication I was taking made me experience morning sickness, headaches, and a long list of other more subtle pregnancy symptoms. With each one that popped up, it was impossible not to wonder if it was the real thing, because there is no way to distinguish between the two. The worst came when I got a positive pregnancy test and was elated, only to discover my body was ridiculously slow to metabolize the HCG (pregnancy hormone) from the ovulation trigger shot.

I hope that this cycle will be less of an emotional roller coaster and that I can be more in control of how invested I become, but I know it's impossible. Obviously, if I truly believed these cycles weren't likely to work there's no way I would inject myself with burning medication that produces migraines and stomach aches, and I wouldn't be stoked about carrying Schrödinger's Cat in my belly for two weeks, hoping every day that I'd find it alive. This cycle forced me to acknowledge how much I want another baby and how scared I am that it won't happen. But on we trod, hoping for the best!

The good news is that I've found a foolproof way to lift my spirits. I just pull up any photo of a beautiful woman and ask Evie who she sees. The answer is almost always "Mama," and I choose to ignore the fact that she responds the same way to mildly deformed or otherwise unattractive women. This is a phase that must not end!

More happy, photo-filled updates to come! Evie's been a doll lately, making us laugh constantly. I love that girl!!!