Busy As Ever - Weeks 13 - 22 Pregnant - Oct 2 - Dec 10

Well....to say it has been a while is a joke.  It's been a LONG while since I have been able to update.

First up - Baby Updates!!!

Baby is doing great!  I've had a few OB appointments and they all are going great.  Everything is measuring perfectly and it's so fun to see him wiggling around on the ultrasounds!

Here are some pictures from our 21 week anatomy scan.  All of his organs are great and there were no problems found!  He kept moving around and made the ultrasound tech really work for the pictures!


He is growing really big!  This is from one of my pregnancy apps and it shows how big his hand is.  This is 12 weeks compared to 22 weeks!


I can also feel him move!  I started to feel him at 18 weeks very slightly.  Every thing I read described it as "flutters" and I didn't know how that would feel..but then I felt it.  Flutters.  There really isn't a good way to explain it.  Now it is more defined and I can feel him moving around all day.  I used to just feel him when I was sitting still, but now I can feel him when I'm up and moving around too.  Brian has been able to feel a kick once!  It was this past weekend.  We had been trying to get him to feel movement for a while and every time we tried, baby would stop moving!  I think it's because Brian's body temp is like 10 degrees warmer than me and so he would put his hand there and turn my uterus into a hot tub and baby just relaxed and didn't want to move anymore. :)  But finally he felt it.

Other than that, I'm feeling pretty good.  The nausea lasted till about 16 weeks and I had about had it!  I hated being nauseous.  There was was morning that I had to leave work early because I had already thrown up 6 times in class.  I think I have effectively scared all my freshmen into not wanting to get pregnant!  It was awful!  I really struggled enjoying the pregnancy at that point.  We had worked so hard to get pregnant, but ugh! It was hard to wake up and work everyday!

On the plus side, the bad side effects have faded!!!!!!!!  Now I am just tired, but I don't know if its from growing a baby or how swamped I am at work - probably a combination of both.  Belly is growing!  Here are the bump pictures!  (Yes, I know, I'm not wearing the same shirt...trust me, I hear about it every Wednesday when we go to take a picture and Brian tells me to change my shirt).  I'm too tired for that!

And yes...we missed week 17...it happens.



And this week....week 22!!!!!!!!!  ((I can't believe we are over halfway!!!!)

Keep growing little one, keep growing!

So in our lives the past few months....here are some general things we have been up to.  Obviously not everything, but just a snapshot.

We had a really fun gender reveal party!  Cassie did a fantastic job and it was a blast!  If you haven't seen on Facebook, its a boy!!!!

Being a boy makes the name determination easy!  We have had a boy name picked out for years.  Little man will be named Connor Michael Weiss!!!!

We also went to the Hot Air Balloon Fest.

And we dressed up for Halloween.  Brian came up with the costumes - which he has never done before.  So we had fun with it.  He was Rick Grimes and I was Pregnant Lori from The Walking Dead.

We also celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary!  Holy cow, how has it been that long??? Time flies!  We went to Chateau Avalon, had a couples massage, yummy hibachi dinner, a bubble bath, and topped it off with watching The Martian.  It was a great weekend!

Other than that, its really been a routine of work, sleep, eat, sleep, wish I had more sleep, work more, etc.  The main reason the blog hasn't been updated is that I've been swamped.  We started our coffee sales fundraiser every morning, then teach all day, swim practice, grad school homework, grading/planning work in the evening and then repeat. To say my plate is full is an understatement.  But it will be worth it.  Just have to keep plugging away!

Hopefully it's not another 2 months before I am able to update again!

A Touch of Excitement - Week 11 and 12 Pregnant - Sep 17 - Oct 1

Well, I posted the last blog and everything was great.  I was a little sleepy, nauseous, exhausted - you know, normal pregnancy symptoms but I was surviving.  

On  Saturday the 19th, I woke up and I was ready for a long, but fun day.  I was going to wake up early, go volunteer and time at the first, annual, Title Boxing Games.  Then hang out with Mom a bit in Belton,then go to Johnathan and Ashley's and babysit while they went to a wedding.  I had mentally prepared myself and I was going to make it all day without a nap!!!  

Nothing went according to plan, I woke up at 5am with a pain on my right side.  Ever since I had my trip to the ER, this has happened.  Nothing as severe, but still painful.  I thought another cyst was rupturing, so I used my heating pad, took some tylenol and just hoped it would go away soon.  It faded within a few hours and I thought everything was okay.  I went to Title and it was hurting a bit but I was making it through.  Then once I got back to Mom's the real pain started.  It was around noon and by 1 I was in severe pain.  It got really bad, really fast..  We called the OB on call and when we were on the phone when the pain got so bad that I was throwing up.  He said that if it was making me throw up, I needed to get to the hospital fast.  He wanted us at Centerpoint since that's where my other ultrasounds where and he said it would speed up the process.  So we drove from Belton to Independence. I'm pretty sure that was the worst, most excruciating car ride of my life.  Props to my Mom for trying to distract me from the pain and driving super fast and not getting pulled over. 

We made it. Once we were in the ER, the nurse checked me in (because my ID was at home...) and got me in pretty quick.  They ended up giving me 3 doses of morphine and the pain never let up.  It was awful.  AWFUL.  I had the ultrasound and that was horrible.  Pushing on my abdomen with that pain was no bueno!!  But she did find that baby was fine!  Just hanging out.  On the flip side (pun intended), my right ovary had flipped and cut it off all blood supply to itself.  Basically, no blood = tissue dying = extreme pain.  They sent the results to the OB on call and he came in and got me in for emergency surgery to flip it back.  

After surgery, it was night and day.  I felt SO much better.  SO MUCH BETTER.  Now it was just time to rest. Baby was still good after surgery.  

Sunday morning I was still in the hospital but the OB department took really good care of me. I was planning on delivering at St. Lukes East, but Centerpoint did a really good job so I would be happy delivering at either place. ;)  I got to go home Sunday midday and just had to relax.  I finally got some uninterrupted sleep, which was very much needed.  

Then started the fun, I was now on bed rest.  

If you know me - bed rest is not my idea of a vacation.  I like work.  It wears me out, but sitting at home all day is not my idea of fun.  But I have to do what's best for baby.  

The good part?  Mom wanted to come hang out with me all day so that  I wasn't alone!!! Yeah!!!  Fun days with Mom!!!

So next up, was lot of sleep, sub lesson plans, reading, sleep, grad homework, sleep, more lesson plans, trouble shooting lessons, and more sleep.  

Mom was really helpful and helped me get around at the beginning and then made sure I was fed too. :) We all know that I don't feed myself. :)  She was also there when we got the phone call from the doctor from the genetic testing we had done.  Baby is fine!  Doesn't have any chromosomal abnormalities an I'm not a carrier for any diseases.  They also know the gender!! But I made them not tell me yet and promise to put it in an envelope for us.  You should have seen Mom's face drop!!!! hahahahahaha  It was hilarious.  She REALLY wants to know!!!!!!!!!!

So she took the Week 11 bump picture!

And more bed rest for me. 

School was supportive and I just had to do sub plans.  My long term sub that is scheduled for April was able to fill in most days for me and so he got to know my kiddos which is a good thing.  

On Saturday, Charlene and Dick came over for dinner over the weekend and we caught up.  On Sunday, we went over to Mom and Dads for dinner and zombie shows. 

I was hoping the nausea was fading...but man, it came back with a vengeance!  Whew!  

This week was more bed rest for me.  Wednesday, was all about the doctors appt!  We had hit 12 weeks!!!  (Can you tell I had just woken up from my nap?)

Doctor appointment went really well!  We got the ultrasound first. I swear, Making pregnant women come in with a full bladder is just rude!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  UGH!!  Baby was doing great.  Heart rate of 154 bpm.  It wasn't moving very much, so the ultrasound tech decided to assault my abdomen to get it to move.  Remember that full bladder?  Yeah, that was not fun.  But she got it to wave at the end and that was cute to see!  What a little hand.  See the pink hand - that's the size of Nemos hand right now.  

Its growing!!!  It doesn't feel real, I'm ready to feel the baby move already!  According to my apps, if you push on my belly, the baby moves back!  Hehe, I might not feel it, but its fun to think about it moving.   My ovaries are shrinking...slowly but surely.  They are down to 8 and 6cm and normal is about 2cm.  There isn't anything we can do about making them smaller, we just have to wait it out.

Doctor was happy with how my incisions were healing  and he just wants me to keep taking it easy so that my ovaries don't flip again.  Mom was hilarious at the apt because she tried to convince 3 doctors to tell her the gender.  Then when I was in the bathroom, Brian and Mom held the envelope up to the light...what the heck??? How did I end up with the resolve to not know until the gender reveal party???? Which is actually quite hilarious since I'm the impatient one. Apparently Mom asked Brian if he wanted to know and he said "yeah!!!" She replied with "Well why are you waiting??"  He said "Because Rachell told me I wanted to wait!"  hahahaha.  Good answer.  :)  Waiting just makes me realize that I just want a healthy little baby.  Boy or Girl doesn't matter - as long as both of us make it to the end in good health.  This pregnancy sure has been a ride so far.  Brian and I have decided that this kid is going to be a model because it just likes its picture taken.  That's why I have the pains/sick so it can have its picture taken on the ultrasounds.  I've only had 8 of them so  far when most other pregnant people have had 1.  Oh well, I don't mind seeing the baby!

Today was my first day back at work and it was good to see my kiddos but man, I was tired.  After first hour, I wasn't sure how I was going to handle the rest of the day.  I did throw up in the middle of 2nd hour (remember that nausea that came back with a vengeance?  Yep - still there) , but I made it.  Then I got home and I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow.  Woke up, ate, and typed this up.  Brian is going to take the puppies to the park and I'm going to rest.  One more day and then I've made it to the weekend.  :) 

Oh, cravings wise...tomatoes and lemons are out.  Even though I have had thoughts about lemons lately......but really its potatoes that are my new favorite or peaches or green apple suckers.  But not all at the same time, that would be weird. 

Keep growing little Nemo, keep growing! 

Well Then - 8, 9 and 10 Weeks Pregnant - August 28-Sep 16

Okay...so its been a while...

I thought I would be able to keep up and blog every week.  What a joke!  I'm too busy for that! So a few things we have been up to and pictures...

Week 8

The belly pictures have started!  I think its mainly my "melons" for ovaries in the early ones...can't wait to see Nemo!

Mom, Ashley and I went to Paint Nite!  We painted some lovely paintings and we had a good time.  They had a menu there and so I looked at it and the fried ravioli looked good...but I was worried about the red sauce ever since the lasagna made me gag.  So a lady down the table had ordered them.  What does mom do?  Go ask how they are of course.  She said they were great and even gave me one to try so that I didn't order them and then find out they made me sick!

Ashley and Mom ate these nasty fried cheesecake things.  ICK!!!!!

After that, we had some exciting days at school with labs and such - but nothing too crazy.  The exhaustion kept up.  I seem like I am tired ALL THE TIME.  Nap times are the best.  I'll wake up in the morning and already I'm looking forward to my after school nap.  It's ridiculous.

Week 9

The next big thing that happened was I met with my OB!  After a not so great last meeting with the ultrasound tech at the fertility clinic for my 7 week scan, we decided to go ahead and switch to an OB now.  They took a bunch of vitals and we got to meet with one of the Doctors.  She was super nice and everything went really well.  I got the most interesting patient of the day award for doing IVF in Greece.  :)  Go us!  Overall, I was impressed.

The next morning...I ended up in the ER.  I went to school and felt icky, but that was normal.  During our collaboration time in the morning, I felt extremely sick and I had really bad cramping on my right side.  I tried to tough it out, but within about 10 minutes I was crying and throwing up from the pain getting worse.  I got someone to cover my 1st hour and I went into the bathroom.  I called the doctor on call (thank goodness I met with the OB for the first time yesterday!) and he told me to come in and get a scan done.  So I called Mom and Brian and they were going to meet me at Centerpoint.  Well, actually, Mom was going to pick me up at school but I couldn't sit there anymore so I drove myself.  I honestly don't have a clue how I made it safely, I was hurting so freaking bad.  I had to wait in the car since the clinic didn't open til 8..then called to get an appt and they couldn't get me into the Sono till 9.  So the nurse said to go to Labor and Delivery.  Since I was only 8 Weeks, they sent me to the ER.  All this walking wasn't helping when I finally got admitted and into a bed at the ER.  They did labs and did and ultrasound and baby is fine!  Happy little heartbeat of 168.  The downfall is my ovaries are still huge from all the IVF drugs.  They think that one of the cysts in my ovaries burst and that was what all the pain was from.  Within 2 hours, the pain was gone and I was normal and reassured that Nemo was fine.  So I went home and rested the rest of the day.

That weekend, Brian also got started on planning out and making shelves for the upstairs and place for the TV.  He's being a pro at knocking out the pre-baby to-do list!

Week 10

We are in the double digits!!!!!!!!!!  Yeah buddy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  25% down.

Nothing too thrilling to share from this week.  Just lots of work, work and more work.

I did finish my work early on Saturday, so that meant I got to spend all day Sunday off!!  Mom, Ashley and I went to the Renaissance Festival with the kiddos and had fun but wore me out!  I got to pet the the sheep with River and we enjoyed ourselves. By the time we got back to Mom's I was ready for a nap!  I slept, we ate, and I slept on the way home.

mmmm...funnel cake!

And then it was time for another week of school.  I've been doing decent at school, but I'll have a good day and then a bad day with the nausea.  Today for example is a good day.  Yesterday, was a bad day.  I was SO sick yesterday.  I came home and napped for 4 hours to survive.

Brian on the other hand is having a string of good days.  He is rocking out the awesome husband/dad role.  He cooks, cleans, makes things and is a great second memory too because I can' remember anything.  And he is understanding on how tired I am and not feeling well.    Bottom line - he rocks.

Tomorrow we have a OB appt to do a scan and make sure everything is looking good.  I am slowly getting off my pharmacy of meds.  I have weaned completely off medrol (thank goodness, that one was NASTY).  And I get to start weaning off the progesterone in 2 weeks. I can't wait for those to be done!!!!

So right now, life is good.  Just missing my normally energetic self.  Oh well, it'll be worth it.  Keep growing little Nemo, keep growing!

Just for fun...

The big white hand is how big Nemo's hand will be when it's born...the little pink hand is how big it is now!  How cool is that??

And when I'm having a normal feeling day...I'll log into my Period Tracker App and see how late I am.  It's reassuring. :)  

That's it for now.  Hopefully you'll get an update sooner than later next time. :)  But don't count on it.  

6 and 7 Weeks Pregnant - Aug 13 - 27th

First and foremost....update on Nemo!

I had the 7 week ultrasound this afternoon and everything is going smoothly!  Little Nemo is measuring right at 7 weeks like it should be and we got to see the heartbeat!  It's still too early to hear the little heartbeat, but it was still cool to see it!

So cool in fact that we forgot to take a video of it....our bad.  Please don't be too angry. :) Here's what Nemo looks like!

Lookin pretty schnazzy little one, keep up the good work and keep growing! And, yes, there is only one baby!  Nemo didn't split!  So twins are off the table. Sorry guys.  I know everyone is way more disappointed than we are!  :) 

Now we have started the progression of Nemo's portraits on our fridge.  

As for what's been going on the last two weeks...its been chaos for me!  Brian is back at work working the the typical 7-4 and picking up on some new designer skills....I however have started school and would kill for the 40 hr work week!  

Last week was the start of school.  We had PD Days Monday and Tuesday and I had a back to school night at each school that evening - so those drained me.  Then school started bright and early on Wednesday and then 3 days of school.  

Every night I would come home so sleepy! This growing a baby thing is exhausting!!!!  On the plus side, I do love my classes.  My kids are phenomenal and my schedule is exponentially better than it was last year.  Now I only have 2 preps instead of 3 and I switched my traveling schedule around.  So last year I started my day at South and ended at the Freshmen Center and this year I start at the Freshmen Center and end at South.  It works out so much better with my club at the Freshmen Center and doing activities and such before school in our built in school time and I'm already at South once swimming starts. 

I'd have to say my favorite part of this school year is being at South and enjoying hall duty!  I get to see all my freshmen and juniors from last year (that are now sophomores and seniors) and catch up with them on a daily basis.  It's so fun!  Seeing the kids grow up is one of the best parts of my job.  It was also great at Back to School Night seeing all familiar faces of students and parents who stopped in to say hi.  A lot of people knew we were planning on going to Greece for IVF and so they ask how it went and it's so much fun to tell them it worked!  My swimmers are thrilled.  Three of them have already decided that we are having sextuplets and each swimmer will take two of them, which then leaves me with no kid.  Haha - they're obnoxious.  They also are offering to babysit for free...they will even pay ME to let them babysit...I told them that I think that would be considered human trafficking.  :)  

Last week I also started classes at UCM for my Specialists.  Back into school so that I can get my third degree done and out of the way before Nemo arrives.  Yay school! 

So overall life is great.  Pregnancy symptoms are a pain in the butt, but as long as I get in 3 hr naps every day after school and avoid smelling food - I'm golden.  My current food craving is lemons with salt. I pretty much eat a lemon a day.  Yummmm....

Tonight is celebration night!  We always go to Carrabbas to celebrate everything in our lives, so of course seeing the heartbeat is a cause for celebration!  I even called to ask if their Caesar dressing has raw eggs in it - and they are pasteurized!  Score!!! YES!!!  

That's it for now.  Keep growing little Nemo, keep growing!  

5 Weeks Pregnant! Aug 5th - Aug 12th

Well hello there!  It's been a few days!

Wednesday

This was travel day home from Greece!!

Has it really only been a week??? What???  The flights home were a heck of a lot less stressful than the way over there!  We hit all of our flights on time and got home on time!!!!!  It was a lot of flying in one day!!!!!  

We decided that Frankfurt is the most confusing airport ever.  Ever. We almost missed the flight because it was so confusing.

I was still sick at this point.  My abdomen was really swollen from the mild OHSS.  Basically I had fluid in my abdomen and my ovaries were super swollen from all the stimulation drugs and then the extra HCG was just making it worse.  I was able to not get sick on the flights, but man it was hard when they brought the gross smelling food out!!!!! Yuck!!!

We finally made it home and my parents picked us up. We headed to Hongs for dinner and it was great to be home.  Once we landed at home, Jack and Ally attacked us and then we passed out.  We were exhausted.   Jack and Ally weren't happy with us going to bed right away, so they spent the whole night with us on the bed cuddling. :)

Thursday

Its pregnancy test day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I woke up early and couldn't sleep.  I was too excited.  I woke up Brian and we hung out for a bit.  We headed to the doc office and blood was drawn!  The lady told us that we wouldn't get results until Friday or maybe Monday...

Wait!  What?

I WANT TO KNOW NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I called the office and asked for a more specific timeline of when we would know and Brandi emailed me back...we would know by 2pm today!  YES!!!

Now I'm just impatient.  So Brian agreed to buy season 5 of Walking Dead to distract me.

We get an email.....HCG is 126 and we are officially pregnant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mom came over and helped us take pictures to announce it.

We were really excited.  At this point, we are only 4 weeks pregnant, but like we said from the beginning, we are going to enjoy every moment of this since we worked so hard for it.  And we were really open with the whole process, so there was no way we could keep it secret for weeks.  We are too excited.

Friday/Saturday/Sunday

Really, we didn't do much.  We were bums.  I was still hurting pretty bad and really uncomfortable, so we didn't do much.  We did see my family and hung out Saturday night...but other than that - really we watched a lot of Walking Dead.

Monday

Second HCG test and an ultrasound today.  Today was the first day I woke up and I didn't feel like my abdomen was going to explode from all the pressure!!! Ah, thank goodness.  I was miserable.  Still not great, but doing better.

I decided to take a home pregnancy test today...I've never gotten a positive before...and....

Yay!  Then we went to the doc and they took more blood and did an ultrasound to check the size of my ovaries and the fluid in my abdomen.  We did see the fluid, but since I was feeling better - that means my body is taking care of it like it should.  As a bonus, we did get to see a picture of the baby!  The small black dot is the start of the gestational sac.  

Got the HCG results back and we are still pregnant and they are going up!  Second level was 429 which is what we want to see!!!! Brian decided to take cookies to work to celebrate being pregnant and so he spent the night making cookies.  And rubbing it in that the cookie dough was yummy...and I cant eat cookie dough anymore.  Oh well, the cooked cookie was good!  

Tuesday/Wednesday

Really, we worked both days.  I went into school and started prepping!  I can't wait for this year, its going to be awesome and SO MUCH EASIER THAN LAST YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whew!!! I'm thrilled to start this year!  I love my district, my classes, and my coworkers.  Its going to be a great year.

Today we are 5 weeks pregnant!  Next ultrasound is in 2 weeks and we should be able to see the heartbeat!  Grow little Nemo, grow!!!!!!!!!!  We would appreciate it if you keep us in your thoughts and prayers that Nemo keeps growing just like it should and we have a healthy pregnancy!!!

Sick - Day 24, 25 and 26 - August 2, 3, 4

First off, sorry for the delay in blog.  I have not been feeling well at all.  Between the nausea, swollen abdomen, exhaustion and leg cramps, I haven't felt up to the blog.  So here is a debrief what we did...

Sunday 

Sunday was our last day to visit the historical sites of Athens.  So we hit up four of them.  I was feeling really exhausted/nauseous in the morning and I could really only walk for about 10 minutes before I had to sit and take a break.  This was the start of me being the worst travel partner ever - but Brian hasn't complained or kicked me out yet...so I guess it's not that bad to lug around a sick pregnant lady.

First we went to the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  We chose sunday at 11 because they have bigger ceremony and there is a little parade.  We got there early and wanted to get food.  I needed to talk to Ruth about how I was feeling to make sure it was normal, so we went to McDonalds to get some wifi.  I munched on a bit of food, but nothing sounded or tasted good.  Talked to Ruth and she thought that the symptoms I was feeling were probably from Nemo making itself at home.  It was right about the time where I have another HCG surge and that would cause my ovaries to swell again like they did after the trigger shot...so basically they are good signs and I needed to suck it up.  I felt a lot better that it was normal and nothing was wrong.   By the time we got there, I was already exhausted I saw the guys march in with their weird walk and pom poms on their shoes and then I had to sit.  I couldn't seem to keep cool - without a doubt this is Brians kid because Brian is always a furance (I swear, you can feel the heat off of him from 2 feet away) and Nemo is burning me up!

Then we walked through the National Gardens, got lost, found a map, found where we were and headed in the right direction.  We hit up the Panathenaic Stadium which is where the first organized Olympic Games took place.  This place was HUGE.  It was neat to see.  I walked around a bit, then I was done.  I needed shade and a seat.

Our last stop was the Temple of Zeus with Hadrains Arch.  I sat through most of it but Brian said the columns were huge and pretty cool.  Then we headed home early because I was feeling so crappy and laid in the air conditioning for a while.

Dinner was provided by Ruth and Simon - homeade pizza! Yum.  It was delicious per the usual and we were not disappointed by all the rave reviews of Simon's pizza in the guest book here. :)  We hung out and relaxed and learned some pretty interesting things...

Europeans don't eat cold pizza for breakfast.  <-- WHAT???
Europeans also don't like cold chinese lo mein pasta!  <-- WHAT???
They also don't use ranch - we use ranch for EVERYTHING.
And they think it's funny that we have drive thrus for everything, including the bank.

Brian and I concluded that they have weird taste buds.  Who doesn't love a slice of cold pizza??

And it was time for bedtime.

Monday

Woke up nauseous.  Really nauseous to the point that I actually threw up.  Ugh.

Then we had to be up early to meet the taxi that was taking us to the port for our 3 island tour today.

We made it to the port, walked a ton to find our boat and got on.  We still had about 30 minutes before we left, so we headed to the top hopping for a breeze so that I didn't sweat to death.  Bad idea. Nauseous got worse.  Way worse.  I asked Brian to go down and see if any of the restaurant areas had air conditioning - yay!  The one on the bottom did! Ah, glorious air conditioning.  But the rocking of the boat was bad for me.  Nauseous.  Super nauseous.  I laid down on the bench and fell asleep.  Woke up and realized I couldn't sit up or I would get sick.  So I laid down the whole time and hid from the windows.  Brian had to entertain himself - sorry dude.  We did hear from one of the tour guides and they offered a walking tour on one island and a bus tour/swimming tour on another island.  There was no way I was keeping up with the walking tour, so we opted out of that one.  We did sign up for the bus tour because there wasn't much walking and there was air conditioning in the bus!

First island was Hydra and it was cool.  There were rock walls with cannons and some cool stores there.  I got some neat earrings and Brian finally found a shirt he liked.  The people were really nice and didn't judge me walking around with a wash cloth to keep the sweat off my face.

Back on the boat and they served lunch.  Started to smell good, had to stand up and get food while the boat was moving.  Bad idea.  I filled my plate, sat down and about threw up.  So I kicked Brian to the chair so that I could lay down.  The people sitting next to us were very understanding because Brian told them I was pregnant and they were immediately sympathetic.  Thank goodness I didn't creep them out, but at least Brian had some one to talk to.  We asked the waiter for just a plain sliced tomato because thats the only thing that sounded good and I ate that and salt for lunch.  I also munched on lemons.  Lots of lemons.  Lemons and Tomatos with salt - lunch of champions.

Next island was Poros and it was small and not as cool as Hydra.  We didn't have much time here, and I wasn't feeling well - so our time spent here was pretty lame.

Back on the boat.  More lying down.  More lemons.

By this time the lemons are making my top teeth stick to my gums, it feels incredibly weird, but its worth it if they are helping with the nausea!

Final island was Aegina and this was the bus tour.  Air conditioning was decent, but not great.  We did learn a lot about the history of the island.  Got to go to the top and see a temple that was probably the most intact one that we had seen.  The island is known for postachios and so we tried some local ones and saw lots of the trees.  We also went into a church that had some delicate wood work and it was cool to see.  Most of the time, I walked to the entrance and then Brian walked around and took pictures for me to see closer.  I was just too tired and wore out.

Back on the boat.  More lying down, tomatoes and lemons.

We finally make it back to port and get a taxi to bring us home.  Only had to turn around once  - not too shabby!  By the time we got home, we were both exhausted and ready for bed.

Tuesday 

Today is our last day in Greece before we head home tomorrow.  The plan was to go into Athens and get some souveniers that we had seen and wanted, but waited to get anything until the last day so that we could see a lot of what was offered instead of seeing one thing and automatically buying it.

Change of plans - woke up really nauseous and had really bad leg cramps.  I'm not going anywhere today.

Did some research and they said to have some gatorate/powerade and increase my salt intake.  So when Brian woke up, he headed to the store.  Have I mentioned how awesome he has been???

I laid in bed most of the day, alteranted to the couch, back to the bed and so forth.  I think I just needed a day off.

I've been able to keep down more tomatoes/salt, lemons, pistachios and some chicken broth.  I did have some of Brian's dinner - but then finished it off with more chicken broth.  I feel okay, just tired and uncomfortable.  I just have to keep thinking that it will be worth it!

Brian did go into Athens while I slept and got the souveniers that we wanted, so that was good.  While he was gone, I did get really nauseous and have a double leg cramp at the same time!!! That was awful.  I told Brian that if it wasn't me, I probably would have laughed at how I looked hobbling to the bathroom before I got sick.  I don't think I've cussed that many times in a row in quite some time.  Brian came home shortly after and showed me the stuff and we started to pack.

We are pretty much packed, its time for a shower and bedtime since we have to leave for the plane at 6am tomorrow. Everyone please hope that our flights go as scheduled and we get home tomorrow evening!!!!!!!!!!  No delays please!!!!!!!

Simon is taking us to the airport so we said goodbye to Ruth tonight.  We cannot put into words how grateful we are to her and her family!  Not only was the hospitality excellent, but I couldn't imagine going through this process without her.  She is just plain epic.

So...lots of traveling tomorrow, and beta pregnancy test on Thursday!!!!!!

Tired - Day 22 & 23 - July 31 and Aug 1

What a few couple of days.  We are tired.  Really tired. We've done quite a bit of walking the past two days.

Friday 

Today the plan was to go to museums all day because they were inside and it was going to be super hot outside today.

First up, we hit the War Museum, we kind of found on it on accident last week when we were going around the metro stops and we needed a bathroom - and Brian wanted to go back.  They had lots of guns, swords, more guns, more swords, etc.  It was interesting, but there weren't many translations of the Greek explanations to English, so it was difficult to know what was what.  They did have an interesting exhibit, I think Brian got more out of it than I did - but we went.

After, we stopped for lunch at an actual restaurant (our first time!) and got food.  I had a pork chop and Brian had  sausages.  They were pretty good - the language barrier sucks because I asked for a side of the tziki sauce to dip my fries in with my meal - and they brought out a whole plate worth.  Literally a whole plate of sauce that is apparently an appitizer.  Oh well, it was still yummy.   And we got watermelon for dessert, that was delicious.

Brian wanted to go see the Tower of the Winds that is found in the Roman Agora next.  We had seen the Roman Agora from the outside the day before, but we went in this time.  And they closed at 3 - it was 2:40.  So we quickly walked around looking for this tower...and looking...and looking.  Found it! It was behind scaffolding/green tarps and you couldn't see anything because it was being remodeled.  Oh well, then it was closing time and we got kicked out.  The plan was to head to the National Archeological Museum next - but on the app that Brian has - it said it closed at 3 too.  Well Dang.  We didn't plan that out well.

So we were going to go home...but we had the impulse to go to the mall that we saw the other day.  Yay Greek Malls.  Holy crap.  This thing was huge.  It was 4 stories high, and it had tons of stores.  It also had a movie theatre!  We decided we wanted to go see a movie!  We bought tickets to Jurrassic World and then wasted time around the mall going in the shops.  We also went bowling at the mall and Brian kicked my ass.  Not even close to a game - he played, I failed.  Then we walked around some more, got some KFC for dinner since all the other menus were in Greek and we didn't know what to order.  I was really hoping for some awesome mashed potatoes - downfall - they taste different here and the gravey tastes nothing like at home!  And they don't have the Famous Bowl - which is pretty much the best thing ever.  So dinner was okay.  We went to the movie and it was good!  We have seen it before - but it played in English and then had Greek subtitles.  I was hoping to see how they spell out RAWR in Greek...but they didn't. :(

We caught the train home and then got lost in the taxi.  This lady got us seriously lost.  I couldn't tell you where she took us but it wasn't right. We finally make it home (thank goodness) and she was nice enough to know she got lost and she only charged us $15 like usual.  Nice lady with a bad GPS.  We showered and then both of us just passed out - it was a long day yesterday.

Saturday 

Woke up this morning with the plan to visit the National Archeological Museum before they closed!   We get into town and the directions fail.  They said it was about a 5 minute walk from the metro station - but didn't tell us in what direction.  So we asked, and figured it out.  On the way, we stopped at a food place to get some gyros.  They were yummy as usual, but we decided we would like to combine all 3 shops we have tried to get the best gyro.  You need the pork from the one today, the fries from the one yesterday and the rest from the one by the acropolis.  Too bad that's way too much work.  Once we made it to the National Archeological museum, (it took longer than we thought it would) - we got our tickets and headed in.

There was a lot of neat exhibits that we saw.  Lots and lots of statues (most missing their heads), bronze figurines, and vases.  I thought the best part was the Egyption section that was donated to the museum.  It was cool!  I've always thought that Eygption history was fascinating though.  Brian thought I was weird to get excited over mummies.  Oh well.  So we did a lot of walking around the museum, I had to take a few stops because I was just getting way too hot and tired.  I drank a ton of water today, but I swear my body temperture rose 10 degrees higher than normal, I was sweating like crazy and Brian was comfortable - that NEVER happens.

Once we were done with the museum, we headed over to Keramikos.  A lot of the statues we saw in the musuem were from Keramikos and so we actually visted something in order!  Keramikos was a large cemetary/ruins.  Most of the statues are now in the museum so that they don't get ruined, but the place in general was pretty cool to see.  It did take asking for directions 3 times to find the place.  You'd think it would be next to the train station named Keramikos - but it's not.  Its about a 10 minute walk with all the detours we took.  Overall it was cool, but it was HOT.  All day, it was hot, hot, hot.

Next up, the Hill of Muses.  Apparently it was this big hill that gave great views of Athens/Acropolis when you were at the top.  So we get to the train station near by and we ask for directions a few times - finally get pointed in the right direction.  We walk.

And walk.

And walk.

And walk.

And walk.

All uphill by the way since you have to get higher and higher to get the good views.  We fianlly get the to the entrance and we have to walk some more.  Walk up steps.

And more steps.

And more steps.

And more steps.

And more steps.

Take a break and sit on a old bench.

And more steps.

And more steps.

And more steps.

We finally make it to the top!  Whew!  There is a cool monument up there and the views are pretty awesome, it was almost worth the amount of walking it took to get there.  Then we head back down and stop at a cool looking church, but it was locked.  There was also Socrates Jail (where they say he was imprisioned here for his new teachings) - that was pretty cool.  And we finally head back down the hill and to the train to head home.

It was a long and exhausting day.  We are both really tired and could use some serious sleep - thats what walking a ridiculous amount in this heat did to us today.

Tomorrow we plan to hit our last historical sites in the middle of Athens, so its time for a good night sleep.

Sweat, walk, sweat, walk - Day 21 - July 30

Hence the title, today was filled with lots of walking and lots of sweating!  Its HOT here!!!!

So when we first skyped Ruth, we asked her what the weather was like and what clothes we should bring, and she said "wear as little as possible!!"  We laughed at the time, but goodness gracious - she wasn't joking.  Holy crap it is hot here.  I think we drank all the water today to replace the sweat we lost while walking!!!

We started out today on a train ride.  We were told by someone who lived her that Polyvsetos has the best gyros and so we decided to check them out.  On the way there, we passed the metro station that goes by the Olympic Stadium that they used in 2004 and that was pretty cool to see.  We didn't go there because based on reading, its all abandoned and not kept up, so there isn't much to see.  When we got off the train station, this gyro place was really hard to find!  We walked in circles, more circles, asked someone, asked another person and finally found it!  The gyros were good, but we actually liked the first place we found better.  This shop did have better french fries on them though, so that counts.  At least we tried it out.

Then we went on a LONG train ride to the other side of town (literally) to the port with all the ferries to the islands.  We wanted to schedule and 3 island tour that people have said is awesome and totally worth it.  We went down there yesterday to see the options and how much it cost and the agency said each person was 60 euros - not bad for a full day excursion. So we went back today to buy our tickets, we went to the closest agency (thinking they were the same), they had the same brochure for the trip we wanted and so we went up to the counter.  89 euros each.  Wait, what?  So we go down to the one we went to yesterday - its the exact same trip, same boat, same departure time and island tour and its only 60.  The other travel agency was just charging more.  Ha!  60 euros we paid, so much better than 89 each.

On the way back, we had seen a baby store many times in the passing and I made Brian stop so that we could find a onezie!  Well, the walk there turned out to be a bit more interesting than we bargined for...we look to our left, and on the other side of the street, there is a naked man screaming random things in Greek.  He keeps squatting down to do only God knows what and keeps yelling.  We are laughing histerically and keep walking.  We make it to the baby store and we find onzies!  We find a cute pack of two and now Nemo has its first item of clothing!  We head back to the train and our friendly, neighborhood naked man is still doing the same thing.  We continue to laugh and get back on the train.  Well at least it was an interesting stop for sure.

Next we headed to the Acient Agora, back in the day, it was the main shopping, visiting, offices place to go in Athens.  Now its a ton of ruins, a temple, and a museum.  It was actually pretty cool to explore and look around.  The temple was awesome because it was pretty much in tact after all this time.  We did kinda get lost of the way to the Ancient Agora and found the Roman Agora which was the replacement for the Ancient Agora.  So we saw it in backwards order, but that's normal for us. :)

We were going to try to make it to the War Museum, but that didn't happen.  We need to wake up earlier and get into town earlier...but we like sleep. :)  Maybe tomorrow.  We did decide we wanted to hit up the Running Man statue and so we went and found it!  Took some pictures of it and then headed back to the station.  We stopped in at the bakery and picked up some ice cream.  It was delicious and probably the best waffle cone I've ever had.  Then it was time to come home.  The taxi driver got lost again, but its a good thing Brian and I are recognizing where to turn because apparently the road the house is on "doesn't exist" in GPS.  Oh well, we've made it home every time!

We cooled off (trust me, we needed a cooling off period!) and then Brian cooked dinner.  Time for some relaxing and TV before we start all over again tomorrow.  Brian is currently planning out the rest of our days because even though we have a week left, we want to make sure to hit everything that we wanted to before it's time to come home!

Lazy Days - Day 19 & 20 - July 29 & 29

Tuesday

Well...there isn't much to say about today...we slept in, moved to the couch, ate, watched TV, hung out, and were bums.  Thats pretty much it.  It was a rest day for me after the transfer and we really didn't do much at all.

Brian did make a run to the store to get more eggs (I'm STILL eating 5 egg whites a day and my last day is tomorrow...thank goodness).  He brought back ice cream.  We tried it.  That wasn't ice cream.  That was gross.  That shouldn't be sold to the public.  Cue in drinking lots of water to get the nasy taste out of our mouths.

On a positive note, we did finish all the Walking Dead episodes that are on Netflix.  We want to know what happens in Season 5...but it doesn't come out until september.  Of course.  Oh well, staying up until 2:30am was worth it!

Wednesday 

Because of the late night with zombies last night, we slept in even longer today.  By the time we woke up, it was practically lunch time - I REALLY didn't want another plate of egg whites this morning, so we opted out of breakfast and just decided to go to Hard Rock Cafe for a good ole American lunch!  We thought we needed to have a good burger since we had the gross burger the other day at Goodys.  So we got around and headed into Athens.

We got off the train station for Hard Rock Cafe and we started walking around trying to find it.  This place was loaded with tons of shops!!!  So we did a little looking too.  We finally found the restaurant  and soon found out that it had only been in business for 2 weeks.  So they just had cocktails and appitizers.  Good enough for us, we are hungry!  Yummy American food!!!!!!!  We walked around the shops a bit and then head back out to the shopping.  We really didn't have any plans for today because hitting up some of the metro stops that have exhibits of things they found while they were creating the metro lines, but that's about it.  So we walked around and looked in the shops, it was more local things - kind of like an outdoor mall.  We finally found onzies!! Well, 4 of them to be exact.  And we didnt' like any of them, so we are still onezie-less.

We did hit up a bakery and tried baklava and macoroons.  Yummy.  Yummy. Yummy.  Brian liked it all, but I liked the mini baklava rolls the best, the big thing of baklava tasted like pumpkin pie to me.

We also went into a toy store.  A four story toy store.  Holy cow.  It was huge.  We were trying to find a thing for the baby without much luck.  We did find Disney stories in Greek!  So...back story first -

Last night, I was talking to Ashley and she said her and Johnathan had thought of a nickname for our baby.  (We have lots of nicknames for the kids - River is E or Bug and Miles is Squishy).  They came up with Nemo because we have fought really hard for our kiddo and we traveled all across the ocean to get him/her! We loved it, so Little One, AKA Nemo, needed a present at the toy store.  What better than Finding Nemo in Greek??? Heck yes!

The rest of the day we really just walked around and played it by ear on what we wanted to do.  We just went from train station to train station and got off, looked around, walked in shops and then hit up another train station.  It was a fun, relaxed, exploring day!

When we finally got the home station, we struggled getting a cab...and then the guy got lost.  We finally recoginzed where we were and directed him to the house.  He tried to put me on the phone with a guy that could speak English and that was an utter disaster - but we finally made it home.  We relaxed, I ate my egg whites (that now makes 45 egg whites in 9 days) and its time to watch some TV before bed.

Embryo Transfer - Day 17 & 18 - July 26 & 27

Sunday 

Well...today was a rough day.  Brian and I were exhausted from the past two days of being in the sun all day and we really didn't want to do much.  But...we knew that we would be apartment bound for the next two days because of the embryo transfer and me needing to rest to allow the embryo to implant.  So we forced ourselves to leave the apartment today.

It took a while to get out of bed, we didn't end up heading into Athens until noon.  We decided to walk around the Plaka and then go to the Acropolis museum that we didn't go to when we visited the Acropolis because Brian had his knife on him the last time.

Plaka up first.  The plaka is basically a large area of town that is just filled with shops.  We got off the metro and started walking around.  The directions we had made it feel like we were going in the wrong direction.  So we just kept walking.  Follow people, turn, walk, turn, etc.  Suddenly, we arrive!  ha!  I told Brian I knew where I was going the whole time. :)  We walk around the shops, but really they have a lot of the same things over and over again.  We weren't really there to shop, we wanted to find something for the baby, but we don't really need anything else.  We don't buy little trinkets/statues/paintings unless we know exactly where it will go in the house, otherwise it will just sit there useless - we were more walking around for the experience.  We are looking at all the shirts and decide we want to find a onezie for the baby.  Can't find one.  Keep looking....nope.  Can't find one anywhere.  Where do the people of Athens get clothes to cover the kids??? We finally decide that all the babies must just walk around naked all the time because onezies do not exist.

As we are walking, we soon realize that we made it to the Acropolis on accident!  Go us!  We are hungry and all the cafes at the Plaka district are charging an arm and a leg for food that should be a lot cheaper so we ended up going to the same food place that we went to our last time at the Acropolis.  Pretty sure the cook recognized us because he didnt put the lettuce on the gyros or maybe it was just a happy accident.  Either way, they were delcious.

Then we headed up to the Acropolis museum.  They would yell at anyone who took pictures, so there aren't very many pictures - but we did what we could.  It was really need to see how they reconstructed things that had been destroyed over the years.  We decided as we were walking through and reading the plaques that we should have went there first and we would have had a better understanding of what we were looking at when we visited the actual Acropolis.  They had a video that was really interesting to watch and we learned quite a bit.  We did conclude that our historical knowledge of Europe was pretty lacking.  No matter what, we still enjoyed looking at all the historical artifacts.

After the museum, we came home and crashed.  We were both wiped, a really long vacation sounds great - but man, sometimes you just need a day off to recoup from the vacation!  Especially with this intense heat and sun!  When we we relaxing, we heard from a previous tennat of the apartment with Ruth who went through IVF and she gave us the key to netflix!! I investigated, got a VPN and voila - WE HAVE ACCESS TO NETFLIX!!!!  So freaking exciting.  Now we are back to watching The Walking Dead.  Yay Zombies! So we spent the rest of the night hanging out with Rick, Daryl and the gang.  :)

Monday

It's embryo transfer day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I get so caught up in this, that I forget that a lot of people who would read this, don't really know IVF and the process we go through...but this is the day that we all look forward to in an IVF cycle.  Its when the embryo has been growing in the lab for 5 days and now its time to put it back in me and hopefully it attaches, stays, grows and we get a baby!

So I woke up this morning and I was thrilled.  In a few hours,  I was going to be pregnant!  Throughout our whole journey with infertility, I've always hoped to be pregnant.  I've dreamt about it and I've spent a lot of time thinking about it.  There have been times that I've thought I was pregnant if my period was a day or week late (thanks to irregular cycles) and I'd be hopeful, but I was never able to see a positive pregnancy test.  I've never been pregnant.

Until today.

In the infertility world, there is an acronymn that is PUPO which means Pregnant Until Proven Otherwise.  That's where I am right now!  I have an embryo inside me and hopefully it is thinking that it likes its new home and it would like to stick around until its a healthy baby ready to meet the world.  But no matter what the outcome is, the fact that I am currently pregnant is something that I will always have.  And its a pretty damn good feeling.

So little one, I saw your picture today and I already love you.  Please decide to stick around and meet your Dad and I in 9 months.  We are SO hoping this works so that we can all be a happy family.  You have a lot of people in the world who are anxious to meet you one day, so if you could just remember the process of mitosis and keep it going, that would be great!  I know at least half of you have heard me teach it about a million times, so you should know the process pretty well - you got this!  Keep growing little one, keep growing!!!!

Boat Day! - Day 16 - July 25

First up, how the embryos are doing!

Same report as yesterday, 5 embryos are beautiful and growing great, 3 are doing okay!  We won't get a report tomorrow on Sunday, they will just keep them in the incubator to keep growing!  Then we go in on Monday for the transfer to put one back in!  Keep growing little ones, keep growing!

Today was boat day!  When Simon and Ruth picked us up from the airport on Monday they asked if the liked boats and we said yes! The forcast and waves were great today, so we decided to go for a boat ride on their boat!

We slept in, ate breakfast and then headed up to the main house to meet them.  Went to the boat yard and got on the boat, got all the supplies and got the puppy (ini) on as well.  The boat people towed us across the road and put the boat in and off we went.

We went over to an uninhabited island across the way and there is a cove over there with a beach and really nice water.  When we got over there, we unloaded and tried out their "easy breathe" masks for snorkling.  Those things are epic!  You can see a wider view of the water and you can breathe out your nose and mouth!  They rock.  We saw seaweed, coral, sponges, little fish and sea urchins!  We just swam round and round and then came back in for a bit.

Simon cooked his burgers and they were delicous!  Ini was having the time of his life.  He would go out, swim and then come back to the sand and practically burry himself in it!  Then repeat.  Beg for food, chew on his bone, swim, cover in sand, swim, cover in sand, eat a burger, chew on bone, etc.  He had a fabulous day!  We hung out on the beach for a while and introduced Ruth to Nutter Butters! :)  Went back out with the easy breathes and looked around some more.  It was a relaxing, fantastic day!

We loaded back up and tried to get in some deeper water to use the easy breathes to try and see bigger fish, but the sea had gotten a bit more rough by the end of the day.  We got out anyways and we ended up seeing two sunken boats!  They were small, but it was fun to be able to see how the organisms just  take over as their new home!  Then we packed up and headed home.

We really were proud of our selves with the amount of sunscreen that we used today - but I guess it wasn't enough for me.  I was already burnt from our acropolis trip, but now my face, neck, and shoulders are fried.  I didn't add to the area of the sunburn, it just feels more intense.  I guess a night of aloe vera and standing in front of the air conditioner is in order for me.  Brian isn't bad, just a few splotches here and there.

It was a really fun day and we are beyond grateful for Ruth and Simon's hospitality!  They are more and more amazing every day!

Adventures! - Day 15 - July 24th

Today was all about new adventures!  Before I get into today...an update on the embryos because Mom wasn't too happy with that not being the first news... :)

Yesterday we thought we had 6 fertilized eggs...today they called to say two more popped up and we actually have 8!!  The doctor said that 5 of the 8 are "beautiful" (her words) and the other 3 are "okay"  YAY!!! I will very hapily take 5 beautiful embryos!  Grow little ones grow!!!!

Now, for the day - We started off sleeping in (do you see a theme yet?) and then got around.  Brian was a bit confused on what to wear today because we were going scuba diving!!!!  It was entertaining to have him question over and over and I just got dressed and sat and waited. :)  He figured it out rather quickly.

Simon and Ruth had mentioned to us that scuba diving was an option for us to do while we were here. They offered the full certification which lasts a few days or we could do an introductory dive for just a few hours to get the experience.  We thought about it...and decided to go for it!  This year is all about new things, we've finished our biggest remodel, gone skydiving, made embryos and now scuba diving!

So we let them know last night that we wanted to do the intro course and they set us up for a 1030 appt.  Simon (our rockstar driver) took us to the dive place and it was awesome to drive along the cost.  So freaking prety!!!  We arrived, introduced ourselves, watched an intro video (which Brian then turned to me and asked "is it weird that I'm more nervous for this compared to skydiving??") haha.  Then we filled out our paperwork and started to gather supplies.

Suits first.  Make sure they fit and then take them down to the hips so that we don't burn up waiting.  Then flippers.
The guy asked our shoe size and I told him and 8
...he looked really confused.
Euro size??
No, no, no - american.
Ahhh!!!
That makes more sense because an 8 in euro is itty bitty!!!

He hands me a pair and my feet are swimming in them.  They are huge!  Trial and error until he gives up, gets Brian his and then comes back to me.  Finally gives me booties and we find some flippers that work.  Then comes the mask, we each get one.  Time to head outside.

Brian didn't have booties with his flippers, so his feet were burning on the pavement.  We get geared up and weighed down with equipment, then head to the beach.  Once we hit the water, an O ring on Brian's tank gives out and air starts going every where!  Scared a little kid next to us, poor guy!  So Brian has to go back in and get a new tank and they switch out his flippers to give him booties too.

As we are waiting on them, we are just floating in the lovely water - it felt great!  We finally get all ready and do practice excercises.  We have to take out our regulator and put it back in, use the purge button, signal for and use another divers secondary regulator (called an octapus), clear out our mask under water and such.  We only struggle with clearing out our mask, but other than that - we are good to go and we finally get a hang of it.

We spend about 40 minutes under the water and looking at the coral, sponges and little fishes in the cove, we go about 6 meters down and it was super neat seeing it all.  It was fun to look at the swimmers from below too!  Overall, it was a really neat and cool experience.  We get done and head back to shore to pack up and get our certificates for our first dive.  Go us!

Call Ruth and her and Simon are on their way to pick us up.  When they get there, we go to lunch at the 1 restaurant.  The restaurant is T_____ 1, but I couldn't tell you the T word for the life of me.  We all order and share a platter of greek food, a salad and french fries.  It was delicious!  We had a great time just hanging out, eating awesome food and enjoying the great company.

On the way home, we stop at the supermarket to get supplies for the boat trip planned for tomorrow with Ruth and Simon and then head home.

Once home, Ruth gives us a tour of the main house.  We are staying in the apartment that is like their basement with its own separte entrance.  We have seen the sitting room/dining room/kitchen many times but not much else.  Holy crap.  Their house is amazing.  Absolutely amazing.  Breathtaking.  You should see the views from all the balconies.  Wow.

We hang out for a bit, facetime with Mom and then relax in the cool air conditioning.  Once the pharmacy opens again (around 6pm after their seista) we head there to get some more meds for me.  Ruth gave me some she had on hand after egg collection, but I needed to replace her stock and get me more.  I give myself props for taking pictures of the med boxes and then just showing it to the pharmacist because it made it MUCH easier.  Crazy thing was, my bottle of aloe vera was more expensive than a box of meds. Wow.  How meds are so different in the states.

When we got back, we opened the gate and Dippa (a puppy) escaped out the gate! So Brian got his run in while chasing down the dog. :) All puppies are accounted for and safe inside the gate! Time to just relax, eat dinner and sleep before a day out on the ocean tomorrow!!!!

Tourists! - Day 14 - July 23

Today was all about being a tourist!

We woke up this morning and got around.  I didn't sleep much last night, I woke up about every hour - so I was wide awake to get Brian up and out of bed on time.

Ruth's husband was going to the store this morning and offered to take us to the train station so that we didn't have to pay a taxi - SWEET!

We rode to the train station, and I'm starting to kind of remember where we are at when we turn on roads.  Kind of being the key word.  With words of advice and armed with maps, we hit the train station for the first time.  We bought our ticket and they are only 1.20 a piece!  Cheap!  We got on the train and headed in for Athens.  At one point we have to switch train lines, and we of course went the wrong way.  Totally my fault.  I saw a sign that started with "A" and ended in "opli" and I figured it was the Akropoli (Acropolis in greek).  Just kidding - it wasn't.  Apparently the signs tell you which way the train is headed and they post the last stop on the signs.  No big deal, went one train stop down and then headed backwards.

We got off the train station and our noses were asulted in the best way with yummy smelling pizza.  Seriously, it was 10am and we were ready for lunch it smelt so good!  We wondered down the street and got in line to get the tickets for the Acropolis.  It was a long line.  Like seriously long.  We were not expecting that for 10am on a Thursday.  As we are standing there and starting to sweat...a lady comes over and says there are two lines!  No one was using the second booth!  So we hurry on up and we get in rather quickly.  We decided to get the combo pack which allows you entrance into lots of historical sites and it was only 12 euros each.  Not too bad.  We start the treck up.  and up.  and up. and up.  There are small sites on the way up and the great thing is that they had signs in greek and english explaining what everything was.  The theatre was really neat and Brian enjoyed that.  I thought the seats that were carved for comfort was crazy!  Thats a lot of effort back in the day!!!

Keep going up, lots of ruins that are basically big rocks at this point.  The cool thing was when the sign would have a picture of what it would have looked like in it's prime.  That was neat!  It's amazing to see how everything changes throughout the years/centuries.  I can't wait for the day of augmented reality when its all projected to what it used to be and people walking around in time period clothes then show what's left now.  That will be incredible.

Keep going up.  Now, when we say up - I'm not joking.  Up and Up and Up.  The acropolis used to be the safe haven if Athens was ever attacked and so it had to be pretty high up there...and it was!

We finally get to the top and there are tons of people!  We are basically cattle hearded into the main area and then we can walk around.  The huge pillars and buildings are breathtaking and then when you throw in the view of the whole city, its mind blowing.  The city is huge.  HUGE.  It spans out in all directions and it is just amazing.  We walked around all of that area and read signs.  There was a lot of info on the initial reconstruction attempts about 100 yrs or so ago and they all messed up.  So now they are going back and restoring again so that the structures last.  Intersting history though.  Once we had our fill, we headed back down.

Once we were down, we hapily enjoyed some frozen lemonade to cool down.  I swear, I've never sweat that much!!!  It was HOT.  Then we went up this rock formation that they used to use for judgement of criminals, kind of like a prehistoric court room.  Not only did you get a great view of the city, but you can see the acropolis pretty well from here too.

By this time we are starving.  We wanted to try some gyros.  We walked around the building surrounding the Acropolis and found a hole in the wall selling gyros.  Those things are cheap!  We got a huge bottle of water and two large gyros for 5.40 and they were delicious!! Yummy yummy yummy.  We want to go back for more.  Then we got gelato and it was just as good.  Not too bad to eat a really filling lunch for less than 10 euros.

We were then going to go to the Acropolis museum for the rest of the day before heading home.  While we were standing in line we saw the hold up, every had to go through a metal detector.  I asked Brian if he had his knife on him and he said yes.  Well crap.  Guess we will have to go back later.  We have plenty of time, so I'm sure we will make it in.  We didn't finish our combo pack today, so we have to go back and finish walking through all the other sites anyway and it's not like we are lacking on time.  By this time, we are both tired from being in the sun all day so we headed back to the train to catch one to head home.

Two stops out from home and  the train stopped like usual at a stop...and then the lights flickered and then it asked everyone to get off because that train was done for the day....okay....weird.  So we do and we wait for another to come through and we make it back to the station.  Grab a taxi and head home.

We hung out for a bit and then decided to go to the pool and take a swim and lay in the sun for a bit.  That was lovely and relaxing.   Now we are just hanging out in the apartment, planning out some other activities for Athens and Brian will be cooking soon. Really, just recouping from a long day of walking in the sun.

Today was great because I felt like a tourist on vacation and not stressed about the IVF.  When we did get home, we got an update on how things were going.  So as of yesterday...

They collected 19 eggs, 12 of them were mature, they injected all of them with Brians sperm and they came in this morning and 6 of them had fertilized.  So currently we have 6 growing embryos in the lab.  Grow little ones grow!!!  Right now the plan is to implant one on day 5 - which would be monday and we will get an update everyday about how they are all doing.

Today was a great day. :)