Wednesday, March 26, 2008

New Treatment Plan

Yesterday we started a more intensive infertility treatment plan. An IUI was the next step, but we were not quite ready for that approach, thus we compromised with a plan that incorporates the IUI prep. plan, but we do not do the semen injection. We will just get busy on the designated days! The plan is to take the Clomid for 5 days. On day 9 of the cycle, there is 1 injection of a medicine (Repronex). Go in for an ultra-sound on day 12, then there is an HcG injection. The HcG will cause me to ovulate, and then we get busy. If everything goes as expected, I will hopefully ovulate more than 1 egg, which increases the targets, which means better odds of one of them taking. This adapted plan is called the Hybrid Clomid approach. We are really hoping that this is as intensive as we have to go. A single IUI cycle costs $1,000. - - that is 1 month!! The Hybrid method is only about $200. - - still expensive but doable. Insurance does not cover any of it! Keep us in your prayers.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Finally, some house pictures!

Landyn's Room
Landyn's Room

Landyn's Room


Family Room Tile



Looking into the Dining Room and Kitchen




Looking from Kitchen into Dining & Family Room






Close up of Counter Tops






Counter Tops








Counter Tops







Daddy's Side Kick!



I am finally posting pictures of the house!!! Landyn's Room is not quite finished, but close! We have not done anything to the hardwood floors and the baseboards are missing a piece. The tile has been laid but it does not have the grout down yet, so that will make a huge difference. I am excited about how it is looking though. You can also see a bit of my RED kitchen! The cabinets still need to be antiqued in the kitchen. They are antique white now, but Patrick is going to work his magic and make them look "antiqued" with a gel stain. Just thought I would share a little of the progress from this weekend.




Sunday, March 23, 2008

Easter Weekend












We had a wonderful Easter weekend. Landyn hunted eggs on Saturday because the weather was so nice. It was so much fun to watch her! She got really into hunting the eggs and was so animated!! For the most part, we worked on the house all weekend. Patrick, Blake, Dad, and Tyler layed tile until midnight Saturday night. The tile looks fabulous!! They were SO SORE this morning! I haven't taken pictures yet, but will soon. I painted Friday night and Saturday night.....making progress. The counter tops were installed Friday, which I LOVE, but there is one section that still needs some work. All in all, we made progress on the house this weekend, which is exciting! Today after church we came home and crashed. Patrick, Landyn, and I came home and took a LONG nap! We didn't even make it to Easter lunch at my grandfather's house. All three of us were worn out. Landyn actually slept for almost 4 hours, which she NEVER sleeps that long!!!



Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Please...NO MORE PAINTING!!

Well, it is Wednesday and I have nothing exciting to blog about. I finished the THIRD COAT of red paint in the kitchen last night. Actually Dad helped me finish the THIRD COAT of red in the kitchen. That is on top of the layer of primer that had to go on first, or the fact that I had to sand down the paneling before I primed!!!! I have decided that RED WALLS are highly OVER-RATED! Patrick and Jenn are working on painting the kitchen cabinets, and Blake is putting the new shelves in the pantry. We get the new counter tops put in on Friday, which I am very excited about. We should hopefully start tiling next week! Maybe next week I will post some pictures of the kitchen! Although Patrick has not even started building the island that will go in the middle, so I might wait until after that is put in. We'll see. Landyn's room is almost finished. I am finished painting it, but we still need to build in some shelves into her closet. We went ahead and tore up the carpet! So the hard wood is exposed! We still have to clean it, but it is neat to see a whole room with the hard wood! It is coming together, just very very very slowly. We are tying to hit it hard this week and make some progress. Blake and Jenn close on their house this week, and we need to start working on their house as soon as we can get finished with ours!!

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Road Trip to Lampasas




Today Landyn, my mom, Jenn, and I went on a road trip to Lampasas. Some of our closest friends had a baby shower this afternoon, and we had a wedding to go to after the shower. Tres is due to come into this world the end of April. We are so excited for JR and Kendra's growing family. We have know JR for around 13 years now. He has become part of our family! We love his sweet wife Kendra as well! I am so glad that we were able to spend time with them today. I was so proud of Landyn at the wedding. She sat through the whole thing and did not make a peep! I usually never take her into the ceremony because I do not want to be the lady with the crying/loud child that annoys everyone at wedding ceremonies. But she really wanted to go in this evening and see the wedding. So I told her she could go as long as she was really quiet. She was PERFECT! I was SO PROUD! She loved it! Kelly was a beautiful bride, and the wedding was so nice. I am so happy for Kelly and Stephen. It was great to see old friends. Lampasas is such a neat little town. It will always be near and dear to my heart!

Thursday, March 13, 2008

A Child's Prayer Request

I am anxiously awaiting my doctor's appointment tomorrow morning with my Infertility Speicialist. For those of you who do not already know this, we have been seeing an infertility specialist since last August. It still puzzles me how we have gotten to this point, especially since we became pregnant with Landyn the very first month that we started trying. Anyways, I have been on Clomid (1st step in fertility meds) since August. Every month I have to go in for an ultrasound on the 21st day of my cycle and to give blood to check my progesterone levels. By doing the ultrasound, the doctor can actually see how many eggs I have ovulated with each cycle. Since we have doubled my dosage of Clomid, I have had one month with only 1 egg and one month with 2 eggs! Which means a possibility of twins!

Well, with this in mind, Landyn and I pray every night for God to give us a "Baby Brother or a Baby Sister." A couple of weeks ago, Landyn starting praying on her own, "Dear God, please give me a Baby Brother AND a Baby Sister..........two of them!" I thought that was so funny! Then yesterday, she was watching Dora (which she loves almost as much as she loves Diego) and Dora's mom had a Baby Brother and a Baby Sister. She watched this while I was at work, and made a point to tell me about Dora's Baby Brother AND Baby Sister when I got off work.

So tomorrow morning I go to the doctor to find out first IF I ovulated and then to find out HOW MANY eggs there are in there. Then we wait to see if any take. Keep us in your prayers. We would love to have an addition to the Johnson family.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Divine Desserts







This past year I joined the Junior League of Bell County. It has given me an opportunity to give back to the community that I love, and I have been able to make some great new friends. The members are all assigned to a committee in which they serve on for the year. I was assigned to the Divine Desserts Committee which organizes a huge fundraiser for the Children's Advocacy Center. Last night was our big galla and it went fabulously. It was so rewarding to see how everything came together and turned into a huge success. We had a lot of fun as well!

Friday, March 7, 2008

Landyn Reese Johnson


Landyn Reese is the most amazing little girl. She just turned two, but by looking at her, you would think she was more like four. She is such a blessing to our lives. I would have 5 or 6 kids if they would all turn out as wonderful as she has!!

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Remodeling - - - - NOT for the weak of heart!




I just posted two pictures of the new house. We took these before we actually bought the house. I am going to wait to post pictures of the inside until we get more actually finished. That way I can show before and after shots to get the "WOW EFFECT"! This house remodeling thing has been a roller coaster ride of emotions. We were so excited to finally buy a house and were all pumped about getting to make it just like we wanted. Five weeks later and our "vision" has become a bit blurred!! Patrick has been amazing. He wants it to be perfect and has a "vision" of what he wants it to look like in the end. He is much more patient than I am. I am an immediate gratification kindof person, and I want to see RESULTS! We are five weeks into this project and no end in sight. Blake and Jenn have been such troopers and are helping almost every night. I know one thing though, we are going to party like rock stars when we finally get finished!!! I am already thinking about planning the house warming bash!!
I finally figured out how to connect Amy and RyAnn!!!! It only took me about an hour!! I am pathetic!

A New Blogger!

Alright, I have finally taken the plunge and am going to try the blogging thing. Everyone else does it, so surely I can figure this out...............right??? My life is pretty uneventful, so I just hope that I can actually come up with some interesting things to write about. Basically my life centers around Landyn, so you will be hearing alot about her! I will also keep everyone updated on our new house! Has anyone seen that movie with Tom Hanks called "The Money Pit"? Well, that is how things are going with our house!!!! But it will be worth it in the end! :0)