Challenge #5

I was contemplating putting this post on hold until tomorrow. Liz is sick and I'm getting ready to pass out. Since she is sick, this post will be one I know she'd like.

Day 05- A picture of somewhere you’ve been to:
   We took a road trip halfway across the country on Route 66. The one place Liz talks about constantly is Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Neither one of us can figure out why exactly it has stuck in her mind.  We did lots of fun stuff just like the other places we stopped. Liz has been thinking of ways to make Albuquerque our forever home.

*Side note: Frankenstein took this trip with us and had to stay at a doggie daycare while we did fun stuff.  Not going to lie, we both lost it a little and didn't stay out long the first time.  Leaving a one-eyed, seizure prone, and all around "special" dog alone with strangers is scary.

Challenge #4

    A small post before the challenge.  I can say that Liz and I started out the morning with great expectations for our shared day off.  We dreamt of having a picnic in the beautiful park, paddle boating in front of the art museum, and finishing off with a trip to the wax museum. Sounds great right?  The picnic was cold/rained out so we ate in the car- which was no biggie.  We re-thought the paddle boat experience and decided instead to head to tadpole pond.... no tadpoles.  Alright spirits still high we try to navigate to the wax museum. Key word: try. After circling downtown, ending up in a neighboring state, almost getting t-boned (my bad), and finally paying for parking; the museum was closed. All we could do was laugh. To reward ourselves for the ridiculousness we headed towards a gelato store. Any guesses what happened? No parking!  We did end up at a frozen yogurt place so all is well. A nice drive home and we were exhausted from our day out.

Day 04- A habit that you wish you didn’t have

I can't speak for Liz but I have plenty of bad habits.  The main root of all of them is my ability to over-analyze anything! I have some OCD tendencies but sometimes I really over think some things.  This is something I am working very hard on fixing. Along with this is my pessimistic outlook. I'd say I have been  about 80% successful in changing my habits.

Challenge #3

Day 03- A picture of you and your friends

This blog was started on the thought of keeping it as open as possible. The tricky part is only a few of our friends know we are ttc (one offered her husband as a donor-and I think they were serious) but none know about the blog. So we don't feel right putting their pictures up without their permission. Most are very private when it comes to online posting for good reasons. We will however put a few pictures up.

Hopefully we'll have a real post tomorrow!



Challenge #2

Challenge day two: The meaning behind your blog name.

For a long time, we had resigned to adopting through foster care.  While this is not completely decided against, we were told they did not need homes for children under seven right now.  After learning this news we were very upset.  We are not of magnificent financial means, but wanted to give a child a loving home. Private adoption is not feasible.  It would be very difficult and possibly detrimental for Liz to be pregnant.  I thought for weeks about what we should do. Finally, I resigned to "taking one for the team."  Being pregnant was never one of my desires because I always wanted to be the Papi.  I told Liz of my decision on a drive home one day. Lots of crying later and we thought I would be just like a seahorse. The Papi carrying the baby but stepping back into role after the birth.  Knowing very well that I would need an outlet for my thoughts and our adventure, this blog was created. The Seahorse Chronicles is written mainly from my (Aiden) view, but is completely about our journey.

Challenge #1

Alright today is the first day of the 30 day blogging. I intended to write this earlier but I got a wee bit distracted. Aiden will be writing this one, and hopefully have Liz co host a few facts. Here goes nothing:

Day 1- Post a picture of yourself and 15 "interesting" facts
             

1. Our favorite place to take a walk is the cemetery behind our house.
2. Aiden can't stand to talk about death but doesn't mind the cemetery walks.
3. Liz has an extreme fear of balloons.
4. Aiden freezes around statues and other lifelike sculptures.
5. We are perfectly happy with our illogical fears.
6. We would much rather explore a National or State Park as opposed to an amusement park.
7. Aiden has to tear the first two squares off the toilet paper roll in a public bathroom.
8. Liz is a lefty and darn proud of it.
9. We watch a lot of Food Network. ---Once a fat kid always a fat kid
10.  We both get motion sick.
11.  Aiden sews, knits, and does other crafts with the Cricut.
12.  Liz is an awesome artist, photographer, and pendant maker.
13.  We picked Frankenstein's name because Halloween is our favorite holiday.
14.  Liz's nickname is the disturber. She will scare anyone, hide everything, and just make a ruckus.
15.  We are like two little kids in love. The more we pick on each other the more you can tell.

That's it for tonight. Despite no desire to fall asleep, I really need to try. Looking forward to fulfilling all of the challenges.

30 days of distraction...

No doubt about it blogging is therapeutic.  So to keep our minds off of charting every little twitch, degree, and smiley; we are going to attempt a 30 day blogging challenge. It'll be written by me (Aiden) but will have tidbits of both of us in it.  I'm going to start tomorrow to unwind after work. If anyone else wants to join in here is the list:
Day 01- A recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself
Day 02- The meaning behind your Blog name
Day 03- A picture of you and your friends
Day 04- A habit that you wish you didn’t have
Day 05- A picture of somewhere you’ve been to
Day 06- Favorite super hero and why
Day 07- A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you
Day 08- Short term goals for this month and why
Day 09- Something you’re proud of in the past few days
Day 10- Songs you listen to when you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad
Day 11- Another picture of you and your friends
Day 12- How you found out about Blogger and why you made one
Day 13- A letter to someone who has hurt you recently
Day 14- A picture of you and your family
Day 15- Put your iPod on shuffle: First 10 songs that play
Day 16- Another picture of yourself
Day 17- Someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why
Day 18- Plans/dreams/goals you have
Day 19- Nicknames you have; why do you have them
Day 20- Someone you see yourself marrying/being with in the future
Day 21- A picture of something that makes you happy
Day 22- What makes you different from everyone else
Day 23- Something you crave for a lot
Day 24- A letter to your parents
Day 25- What I would find in your bag
Day 26- What you think about your friends
Day 27- Why are you doing this 30 day challenge
Day 28- A picture of you last year and now, how have you changed since then?
Day 29- In this past month, what have you learned
Day 30- Your favorite song.

A little more homegrown...

  There has been a lot of difficulties in our life lately.  While trying to fight negativity, I have been reminded of all the wonderful things in my life. Firstly my amazing wife. Where would I be without her? We met when I was just a baby dyke at a private Catholic college.  When I saw her I fell immediately, especially because I knew I couldn't have her.  The second time we saw each other I knew she'd have my heart forever.  I have thoroughly enjoyed every moment since. Liz allowed me to be myself after an extremely destructive relationship.  Today as we were running around town I was reminded again of how truly lucky I am to have her as my wife.


One of our first dates

   Secondly, I am so extremely happy to live in a very diverse city. We have so many events, stores, and places to explore. In order to take full advantage of the city we decided to go exploring.  We had a delicious lunch at a deli, shopped at an entirely local and organic market, and browsed a few non-chain craft stores. To anyone else it might be boring, but we enjoyed ourselves, each other, and our city. Oh and little miss "I don't eat anything green" loved this snack so much it was gone before we got home.

   In order to enjoy the good in life I have decided to stick with this mantra:
I am worthy. I am strong. I will not allow negative people or actions to influence my being. I am taking a pledge to take better care of myself. I will defend my family to the end.

Fear of Commitment?

  I find it ironic in my last (real) post that I talked about being more dedicated to my blog and yet I haven't posted in a week. I am so trying to be better, you just can't see it. I caved and signed up for a twitter account. Hopefully, that will be linked very soon.  I think that will let us make mini posts in between long winded ramblings.
  In other news it feels like when you're trying to get pregnant, everyone is having babies! Sometimes it is very hard to deal with reality while other times it is refreshing to dive in and experience the joyous moments.  The past few weeks have been a mixture of both. Two amazing friends got to meet their baby girl a little over a week ago. In that same week a childhood friend, high school friend, and acquaintance had their babies. Also in that same week we were notified that someone we know is pregnant, but this is a strained relationship.  Recently one of Liz's coworkers lost her baby at 21 weeks. So it has been a very baby oriented time.
  We are so ready to have our family. The itch is only getting greater. Luckily we have found at least one donor we really like, and will be picking out back ups soon. Each day we have little snippets of conversations about things we were looking forward to.  I know Liz will be a great mother and can't wait to see the joy in her face when we finally have our family.
  We are keeping busy in the meantime.  This coming weekend we will be watching a friend's 15 month old for two days and nights.  The little guy is awesome, but we're crazy.   This week I'm going to try to toddler proof the house. We'll probably just leave it that way and then no worries when we actually have a baby!
 My apologies for the very scatter brained post. Hopefully the next one will be a little more put together.

Simple Sunday

No words just a moment in time to cherish

Pass the Soup

I can fully admit that generally when it comes to illness and pain, I am a wimp.  However, the last few days have really knocked me off my feet.  I lasted a whole 30 minutes before being asked to leave work.  So for now I'm enjoying my day of napping.
In other news, we have gas!  Natural gas is pumping through lines and into the appropriate appliances. It only took nearly a month, $320 in supplies, and eight trips by the utility workers to find out the regulator on the outside of the house was broke the entire time.  The good news is everything but two feet of piping has been replaced and should be leak free for quite some time. We are happy to finally be taking showers that don't require boiling water on the stove.
Liz has been promoted and is now working as both a nurse educator and charge nurse.  I admire how hard she works.  She is a great nurse and I know she will make a big difference in the hospital.  I could go on and on about her.  I love my wife with all my heart.  She treats me so well, and I am incredibly lucky to have her in my life.
We are hoping to narrow down our donor choices this weekend. AF keeps popping around and confusing me.  I had such textbook cycles before and since we started TTC my organs have revolted. We're so excited to get started again. The overanalysis has already started and we aren't officially in a cycle yet.