35 Hours

I've been living away from my family just about 10 years now.

And while I've visited them as often as possible...I miss them like crazy.

So when my brother Nick emailed me saying he'd be in Philly for a week of training and asked if he should extend his stay and come down to Virginia for the weekend...I was STOKED....to say the least.  ; )

Unfortunately with flight schedules and such he couldn't stay the entire weekend....it was really a 35 hour visit....so we packed in as much as humanly possible...

We had great burgers and beer at Capital Ale House while catching up on life.  I had no idea my brother had turned into such a beer connoisseur.  He spoke at length about his favorite beers and one beer that apparently tasted like motor oil.  Yum.

We went SUPing on the James through some class 3--5 rapids.  That was actually amazing.  It was the first time I was able to show Nick why we love SUPing and why we love Richmond.  (If you want to read more about our SUP adventure you can check out our SUP blog here: SUP Virginia)

We had a wholesome lunch at Whole Foods, picked out some craft beers and then high-tailed it back to the house for a quick nap before we broke out our ultimate Slip N Slide.

I tell you, I've never seen so much smiling in my life.

It was the perfect afternoon event on a hot summer day.

After several hours of slip n slide awesomeness we headed to Buffalo Wild Wings for food, beer and a Strikeforce Fight.  Only BW3's didn't air the fight.  They apparently don't have Showtime.  In a matter of minutes at least 3 people were on their iPhones trying to find a bar/pub/place that was airing the fight.  No luck.  So it was food, beer, minus the strikeforce fight.  Thankfully, good people make good conversation...so we all survived without the fight. 

Next thing I knew it was 8 a.m. the next morning and I was driving Nick back to the train station where he'd ride up to Philly and catch his flight back to California.

I was incredibly sad when I watched him board the train.

I realized in that very moment that I'm stronger....I'm.....whole, when I'm around my family.

I really miss that.

That's not to say that I don't feel "whole" with my husband or his family or our friends...

It's just a different kind of "whole".
 
And now I'll stop before I start balling because that's how much of a spaz I am about my family and I'll share some of my favorite snapshots of Nick's visit....in no particular order....

Lovely distractions...

A few weeks ago my sister in law and her family hosted a soccer coach from the UK as part of the Challenger Soccer Camp program.

His name was Rob and we (my husband and I) found ourselves completely smitten with his thirst of knowledge, his "up for anything" attitude and (of course)...his accent and slang.  ; )

We took the family out to the best flat water in Richmond to teach Rob how to Stand Up Paddle for the first time, hung out with him at a family cookout and accompanied him to DC to show him some of the sites.

He was absolutely wonderful to be around.

We had such a good experience with Rob that my husband and I also volunteered to be a host family for any other coaches that might be in our area.

As it turned out....Challenger needed a host family for two coaches this past week.

And so we welcomed Roisin and Ben into our lives!!!!

Roisin is from Scotland and Ben is from England.

Their schedule was pretty relaxed which was great...they left the house by 8:30 every morning for camp and returned around 1 p.m. and had the rest of the day to do what they liked.  When we were available to take them out we did....and oh my how I realized a 31 year old body can barely keep up with 21 and 23 year old bodies.

During their stay with us we underwent our 3rd (and hopefully final) IUI cycle.

It was wonderful to have Ben and Roisin here as distractions.

We took them paddleboarding, club hopping, threw beer pong and slip n slide parties, took them for thai food, etc.

It was awesome having a full house.

What made it even better was that having Roisin and Ben stay with us also gave us more excuses for get togethers with friends we hadn't seen in awhile.

I was incredibly grateful for that.

We had a full week of being surrounded by wonderful, wonderful people.

And we're about to do it all again....

Challenger camp asked if we could host another coach this coming week.

Bring it.  ; )

Here are just a few of my favorite "snaps" as Roisin would call them of our time with Roisin and Ben (in no particular order):

Operation Jellyman Kelly: Final IUI's

DISCLAIMER: Any blog posts titled "Operation Jellyman Kelly" will no doubt gross you out. These posts will describe our current treatments for infertility...so if you have a weak stomach or don't know how you'd have a conversation with me in person after reading this....stop reading now. ; )

Ultrasound yesterday showed I had only 3 follicles (even though they doubled the drugs) so I'm pretty frustrated.  The good thing however is that all three of them are very good sizes according to Dr. R. (Dr. T is on vacation).

This morning we did another IUI procedure and tomorrow will be (I desperately hope) the last IUI procedure before closing this chapter and moving on to the next.

IVF......here we come.

Operation Jellyman Kelly: Holy Double Dosages Batman!

DISCLAIMER: Any blog posts titled "Operation Jellyman Kelly" will no doubt gross you out. These posts will describe our current treatments for infertility...so if you have a weak stomach or don't know how you'd have a conversation with me in person after reading this....stop reading now. ; )

So here are a few things I've been up to while hopped up on infertility meds:

Cage fighting - I've been picking fights with my husband, myself, my computer, my dog, my dog's cage....it's been ugly.

Buddhism - That is to say I've developed a Buddha belly since starting the Clomid alone so my belly is ripe for worship.

Saving trees - My toilet paper consumption has dramatically decreased since starting this cycle.  Gross, I know.  But the drugs have officially freaked out my body. It's going to be bittersweet when we return to regularly scheduled programming.

Developing mind control - I'm pretty sure the pain in my head is a superpower growing in there.  I'll let you know how that turns out.

And all of that was just on the Clomid!

Today was the first FSH injection. 

I'd almost forgotten how scary it was to see my husband coming at me with a needle!

He was extremely sweet and patient and took the time to make out with me to calm me down first. 

It wasn't terrible.  ; )

I'm scheduled for the next U/S on Sunday where Dr. T will see if my follicles are big enough and from there we'll determine when the IUI's will take place.

I'll keep you posted....

Obon Festival 2011

This weekend we traveled to Ekoji Buddhist temple for their annual Obon festival, a festival that honors departed ancestors.

I was extremely fortunate to grow up with such a lively way of celebrating the lives of my lost loved ones and I will always be grateful for that. 

Great food, great music, superb people-watching, traditional dancing and wonderful friends made for a fantastic evening....

The candle memorial ceremony is usually the most powerful part of the evening for me.

Last year we added a candle for Gridgery.  This year we added a candle for Kea.

It weighed heavily on me to see their names together like this. 

We miss them so, so much.




We also lit candles for my Papa, Gigi, Uncle EJ, my father-in-law and one for Seth, our friends wonderfully charming cat that passed away shortly after Kea.

The chanting during the ceremony puts me back at home in Hawaii....listening to my Gigi chant at the alter we had in our house and smelling the burning of the incense.  I never understood the words he chanted..............but I felt them.....

gosh I'm home-sick.

Operation Jellyman Kelly: Here we go again

DISCLAIMER: Any blog posts titled "Operation Jellyman Kelly" will no doubt gross you out. These posts will describe our current treatments for infertility...so if you have a weak stomach or don't know how you'd have a conversation with me in person after reading this....stop reading now. ; )

Well I must say....it has been absolutely wonderful for me having taken the last 3 months off from treatments.

No drugs.

No going crazy from the drugs.

No needles.

No ultrasounds.

No charting.

No false hope.

But alas....like all good things....it must come to an end.

IUI #3.....here we go again.

Dr. T has doubled the dosage of all the drugs to see if I can produce more eggs this go round.  This IUI cycle will also be used as a test to see how well this dosage works so we have a good idea of how much I'll need to take when we go into our first IVF cycle.

First U/S was this morning and first dose of Clomid was this afternoon.

Headaches, mood swings and extreme bloating...here I come!