Saturday, January 7, 2012

Recap and Goals

January: Bob started his 2nd semester in school, we were excited to be done with the first semester. I dove into eating healthy and exercising for the 1st time in my life. I was hopeful of getting pregnant with a healthy body.

February: We celebrated Valentines day, Bob planned and surprised me with a scavenger hunt. I went to a fertility seminar with my friend Jolene, it was held at Dr. Foulk's office.

March: Bob and I spent a lot of time watching basketball cheering on our cougars and loving March Madness.

April: I started seeing Dr. Foulk and did a lot of testing to diagnose the reasons for my infertility. Bob finished his 2nd Semester at Rosemond University.

May: Bob started an internship at the Costco pharmacy. I learned that I would need surgery to fix my fallopian tube. We celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary and ate at the Melting Pot.

June: I finished my 3rd year of teaching, went to Lake Powell with my family, and had surgery. Bob continued working and started his MBA classes. I attempted my first decorated birthday cake for Bob's 25th birthday.

July: The Hales Family reunion was held and I went with my family. My body continued healing from surgery and we started our first round of clomid. Bob was stuck at school... all summer long.

August: Bob finally got 2 weeks off from school. We went to Hawaii with Bob's family for 2 weeks of Heaven. We continued fertility treatments and we were very hopeful!

September: Continued treatment, still hopeful! Bob and I both went back to school. Bob's 2nd year of Pharmacy school and my 4th year in 3rd grade.

October: We moved onto IUI's and were even more hopeful! We dressed up as Napoleon Dynamite and Deb for Halloween.

November: Thanksgiving break was greatly needed and we celebrated with the Andrus side of the family. Made pies for the pie contest, but didn't place. We changed from clomid to femara to see if the drug change would help. Found out our best chance of getting pregnant would be to do IVF.

December: Took the month off from fertility treatments. Relaxed, much needed relaxation! And had a wonderful Christmas break in Washington. I turned 25!

Do you notice a pattern of what I remember from 2011? I do, my life revolved around getting pregnant, and obviously that didn't happen. I think 2011 was a year of being hopeful, and then a year of let down. It was also a huge year for growth and learning. I have learned (over and over again) that you can't plan anything. As much as I would like to have control over everything, I don't. I've learned that I need to rely more on my Heavenly Father and trust in him, that my time will come to have children of my own. Do we know how or when? No. Do we know what our next step is in getting a baby? No. But we do know that it will be ok, and that we can be happy regardless of our circumstances.

This year I want to work on a few things:

1. Working on my relationships with my family and friends.
2. Building upon my relationship with my Heavenly Father.
3. Being healthy and happy with who I am.
4. Less focus on getting pregnant and more focus on enjoying life.

What does 2012 have in store for us?
I will start my 5th (YES 5th) year of teaching.
Bob will start his LAST year of pharmacy school. WAHOOOOOO!
We will celebrate our 3rd anniversary.
We will turn 26!

Here's to a great year!

7 comments:

Radiant Red said...

You are amazing! I admire you! We should play sometime. :)

Staci said...

Alyse, loved your post. You and Bob made our Christmas! We love you guys, wish you were here to keep me motivated to eat healthy!

Anderson Family said...

I love you Alyse! Your such a great example to me!

Michele said...

Sounds like we had similar years! It is so hard to focus on other things while trying for a baby. Especially during fertility treatments b/c you have to pay such close attention to your cycle. It can be frustrating. Hope you have a great 2012! You are awesome!

Brianne said...

Your 2011 was my 2010. Hopefully your 2012 brings you some fun, enjoyable memories! I know I was a lot happier when I started having fun instead of thinking, "well, if I'm pregnant then...." Keep being healthy and happy. :)

Melissa and Matt said...

Sounds like quite the year! This was a great post! Good luck with everything!

Hillary said...

You're such a good example of living healthy, and I really want to be better and more active. I'm sorry you had have had so many struggles with fertility with so many ups and downs this past year. A friend of my sis in law is going through IVF right now and documenting it all, and it was pretty informative for me. I don't know if it would be helpful to you or if you have already started or make you feel overwhelmed, but here is the link if you are interested in learning what it like: http://milesandkendra.blogspot.com/