Los Porchs

It's official. We are going to be Wisconsinites by the end of 2014! We are in the process of purchasing a home in the Milwaukee area and couldn't be happier to be so close to family and friends again. In 2008, after seeing my frustration with my job search, Porch convinced me to expand my search radius to include Chicago. He was already here and I was spending every weekend here so I took the bait and started sending in my resume to places in the city. I found a job right away (with my current employer) and moved down to start my job. Porch & I knew we would end up married and the longstanding agreement was that we would live in the city until we were ready for children. I despised Illinois and wanted the experience of living here but couldn't see how it would ever be home. I was so wrong. I blossomed. I became an early childhood warrior. My career has been amazing and I think much of that is because of the resources and networking available here in the city (also my

Today marks one year since I walked into the surgery center with an empty uterus and walked out PUPO (Pregnant Until Proven Otherwise). Knowing that I "might" be pregnant was such a surreal experience, not wanting to tell anyone for fear it might not be our time and not wanting to tell a bunch of people that it hadn't worked... so thankful that Charlotte stuck around and is part of our family. I cannot imagine life without her. Every day, she amazes me with her giggles and smiles. I am hopeful that future attempts (we have 4 embryos remaining for FET (frozen embryo transfer)) are successful but also understand that we may be a family of 3. Only time will tell! Xo See!  She was small once ;)

Today marks the one-year celebration of the first time I had to give myself an injection for our IVF treatment.  It was a day of SO much emotion, so much suspense, and of course, so much hope.  I remember giving myself the pep talk about the injections -- This is nothing compared to what labor will be like (and I kinda called that one).  It got easier each time, especially as I found others in the blog world who were going through the same thing as I was at the same time. I would do every single thing again, multiple times, if it meant I got to find my way to Charlotte.  This girl is my own living, beating heart, outside of my body.  I am so thankful to the team at IHR  here in Chicago for all of their kindness, support, and knowledge.  The team at IHR helped Porch and I start our little family and we could never fully express the gratitude we have for that gift. I am still thinking of those who are in the midst of their journey to parenthood, those who have decided to live child-f

We have officially made it through the fourth trimester.  I firmly believe that it's a thing and having the mindset of helping C through a 4th trimester of development made it easier (I think) to handle the sleepless nights and some of the fussiness we encountered (though there honestly wasn't much *knock on wood*). || What Charlotte is wearing || ... 6 month onesies ... 6 month pants ... 0-6 month socks from Old Navy || Charlotte likes || ... sharing good morning smiles & chatter with momma & daddy when we get her out of her crib ... the silly songs momma & daddy make up to entertain her ... a good, snug swaddle (best sleep ever) ... a good blow out just to keep us on our toes ... bath time  ... walks ... kicking her feet ... shouting talking || Charlotte dislikes || *We're pretty aware of Charlotte's dislikes -- she's pretty vocal about it. ... the long car ride to the cabin ... being in the backseat of Momma's car by herself ... b

Gearing up to pack up Charlotte's 3 month outfits.... little miss is sporting an awful lot of 6 month outfits these days! She's so long, she needs the extra length.  Costco has the cutest Carters fleece jammies on sale for $5.99 so I got her a pair of pink jammies since so much of her clothing is gender neutral. I can't really even get mad when we're out in public and people tell me how cute my son is..... girlfriend rocks those neutral colors like a boss. I can't get over how quickly time is going and how much C has grown in just 12 weeks (almost 13). She'll be 3 months this weekend and I'm so excited to snap some pictures this weekend of her big gummy smile, complete with dimple. She makes me happy.