Friday {Snow} Happenings

Needless to say, Dallas has gotten enough snow and ice this week for the ENTIRE year! 

Right now it's been snowing since 10am and it's not letting up at all! 

Tomorrow brings freezing rain. Perfect.

Old man winter, we need to have a talk. It's my birthday weekend and you are RUINING it!

We had reservations tonight for my birthday, but that won't be happening anymore. Maybe tomorrow night.

Well let's not sulk, onto Five for Friday.

With all of the snow, we had to take some pictures in it! She didn't know what to think about it.

Second up, even though it's freezing here, I am getting ready for Raegan's next holiday, Easter. I have ordered her Easter basket and I have my eye on a few dresses that I can't wait to buy.

 Next up, my little girls is getting so big! She loves standing and holding on to everything. She's not crawling yet, but I swear once she figures it out, she will be walking soon after.

Ummm, when did my daughter's hair turn red?!

And with the cold weather I've been doing a lot of cooking. Cooking of comfort foods that is. This week I make Baked Potato Soup and Macaroni and Cheese.

And last on the list is finally getting a smiling picture of my sweet girl! They are few and far between!

What are you up to on this cold, but amazingly beautiful Friday?

Linking up with:

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What We Eat {Baked Potato Soup}

Right now Dallas is covered in a sheet of ice. We have been on lock down since Monday. And we are expecting another couple inches of snow tonight.

But this momma had to get out of the house today! I was going crazy. Raegan and I managed to get to swim class and enjoy a nice 30 minute one-on-one swim lesson. We were the only ones who showed up.

Then we headed to the grocery store because we were out of food. Like in a bad way. I'm pretty sure I ate Oreo's for dinner last night because we had nothing to eat. Don't judge.

While I walked the aisles I thought about what I could make that would be so delicious on this cold day.

Then I remembered an amazing recipe my sister sent me and decided to try it.

Baked Potato Soup

And the best part is, the crockpot does all the cooking!

Ingredients

1 bag of frozen diced hash browns

32 oz of Chicken Broth

1 can of cream of chicken soup

1 bag of Bacon Bits

1 little can of diced green chilies 

1 8 oz package of cream cheese 

Tortilla strips

1 tsp Onion or Garlic Powder

Salt and Pepper to taste

cheddar cheese

Put the frozen hash browns potatoes, chicken broth, cream of chicken soup, half a bag a bacon bits, whole can of diced green chilis, and 1 teaspoon of onion (or garlic because that's all I had) powder all in the crockpot!

You can add salt and pepper to taste. 

Stir it all up and set it on high for 8 hours.

Set the cream cheese out on the counter so it will get mushy all day while the soup cooks. 

When there is one hour left, cut the cream cheese into little squares and put them in with the soup.

Stir it in well. 

Let it cook for the last hour or until the cheese is good and melted. 

Stir it a couple of times during that hour to make sure the cheese melts!

Add extra bacon bits, tortilla strips, and cheddar cheese on top.

 And voila! You have a yummy meal that will last for a few days!

The Mr. gave it two thumbs up!

Enjoy!

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Body of an 80 year old

I have always struggled with back pain.

Well at least for the past 7-8 years. Once college was over and I was teaching full time, I think the back problems I had finally reared it's ugly head since I was on my feet all day.

I can remember the first time. It always comes on by simply bending over to pick something up or twisting to put something down. I was in my classroom and I bent over and BAM. Shooting pain in my lower back, tingling down the back of my legs, and I couldn't stand up straight.

It lasts for about a week and the first few days I can't stand up straight. My bootie sticks out like a little old grandma, and I walk real slow.

Before I would just push through it and eventually it would just go away. That is until I tweaked it again.

In the summer of 2013 I was sick and tired of it and finally went and saw an Orthopedic Surgeon. He did an MRI and diagnosed me with bulging discs at my L4, L5, and S1. All of those discs are at the bottom of my spine, right where the pain is. He said surgery wasn't needed {yet} and I could do physical therapy to strengthen my core to help support that area.

Physical therapy doesn't fix the problem. It just puts a bandaid over the problem. I tried it for a few months, but didn't see any difference so I stopped.

Then I got pregnant.

I was really scared about being pregnant and having a back problem, but I made the entire pregnancy with no back episodes.

Up until last week I had managed to not have any episodes as well. I knew it was coming though. I'm bending over and picking up a 17 pound baby multiple times throughout the day. I try to be aware of using my legs to bend down to pick her up, but it's not always possible.

Last Wednesday I was at Baby Boot Camp and my back went out. I wasn't doing anything strenuous, it just went. I had to leave early and go home. My dad had to come over to help me with Raegan and it's just been terrible.

I finally decided to go see a chiropractor and hopefully get some relief. He took some x-rays and I was shocked at what they showed.

My hips and sacrum (right where my pain is) are so unaligned. The long horizontal line across the top of my right hip and all the way to my left hip was so eye opening. There is almost a 1 cm discrepancy. They should be aligned.

He also explained that that is more than likely why Raegan wouldn't descend into the birth canal. She wasn't aligned and ready to descend, which honestly I was shocked by because she was head down for the most of the pregnancy. I thought we were good to go!

I had already decided before this appointment that I would be going to a chiropractor throughout my next pregnancy in hopes that the alignments would help the baby be right where they need to be. Well he completely confirmed that I will definitely be doing that.

My spine should also have a "c" curve at the top and the bottom. And they clearly don't.

He said that my body was definitely not the body of a 28 year old. {tear} But that we would work with what I got and make me more comfortable.

So the plan is to continue regular adjustments in hopes of my spine straightening and getting prepared for baby #2 and taking pressure off those bulging discs.

Have you done regular adjustments through your pregnancies or for other reasons? I'm hoping to see a huge difference!

Or I'll be telling the hubs he was right ;)

13

IVF #2

Kyle and I have always wanted our children close together.

Both of us are 2-3 years a part from our siblings and we both love it.

I can't believe it's already time to start thinking about our 2nd transfer.

I met with Dr. Ku and he wrote out our plan.

Between this period and my next I have to have a HSC, pelvic sonogram, and a mock transfer.

Then after my next period begins I will take estrogen for 14 days and then start progesterone shots for 7 days. We will do the transfer and continue progesterone shots once I'm pregnant.

He suggested getting back on prenatal vitamins and upping my dosage of folic acid. He said that the amount of folic acid that a woman is on can affect the closing of the mid line aka a cleft. He doesn't know if that's how or why Raegan has one, but he wants to cover all his bases.

So we started scheduling all of the procedures. Then he asks one more question.

"Are you breastfeeding?"

"Well I'm pumping." I replied.

"I'm sorry to tell you, but we are going to have to put your transfer off until you aren't breastfeeding anymore. Then you'll have to wait 3 months until we can do a transfer. Prolactin can make the chances of a transfer lower."

So then I was faced with the decision to continue pumping and put our transfer off indefinitely or start to ween myself off pumping and start supplementing for Raegan.

Pumping has been a daily part of my life for the past 7 months. I pump for 2+ hours a day. It is time consuming, but the best thing for my baby and I was heartbroken that Raegan couldn't breastfeed and promised I would do what I needed to do to give her the best.

I am ready to expand our family, but I am feeling so guilty that I am having to switch to formula for Raegan.

I know that she will be fine. I know that she will thrive on formula just like she would on breastmilk, but that doesn't mean the guilt isn't there.

So we have decided I am going to slowly ween off of pumping and once I've dried up we will begin the 3 month count down.

I have a milk stash that we are going to begin using, but it won't last for very long. I'm going to mix half formula and half breastmilk. I so wish I had someone to donate breastmilk to us, but I feel guilty asking for that because I am capable of producing milk, but I'm choosing to stop. So we will mix half and half until my stash is gone.

As much as I feel guilty, I am also so stinking excited to be done pumping. I'm ready to not plan my day around pumping. I'm ready to not drive while pumping. I'm ready to be done. But oh goodness, am I not looking forward to the pain of ending the pumping.

If you have any advice on weening off pumping, I would love to hear them.

8

100th Post

As I begin writing this post, I noticed that it was the 100th post of this blog.

Wow.

This blog has come a long way.

It began as a blog documenting our life as a married couple.

Then turned into a blog documenting our journey to becoming parents.

A journey that we had no idea would take the road that it did.

We began as "Man and Wife And Two Fur Babies".

This blog documented our journey to Baby Sanderson.

Once our miracle baby arrived, it was time for a new name. I knew I wanted it to be something that could last for the entirety of the blog. That's when "The Mrs. & Co." was born.

I love how far this blog has come.

I love the relationships that have been built through this blog.

Even though most of my readers friends are ladies I have never met, I consider each of you a dear friend! We have been through transfers together, losses together, and births of our miracle babies together. I am so thankful for each of you.

Now for some baby spam. Because in the end, she is the sole purpose of this blog. To document her life and the amazing journey that God took us down to have her.

6

Where We Always Fall

Since we began our infertility journey, we have always fallen into the small percentage. 

Whether it was a good or bad thing.

30% chance Kyle's surgery wouldn't work. 

It didn't.

1-5% of getting pregnant on our own.

We did. 

20% chance of miscarrying.

We lost our 1st baby.

1 out of 2000 babies are born with an isolated cleft palate.

Our baby has a cleft palate.

1 out of 14,000 babies' cleft palates are linked to a syndrome called Pierre Robin.

Our baby has isolated Pierre Robin Syndrome.

1-5% chance of having another child with a cleft palate or Pierre Robin.

Only God knows.

I am scared out of my mind for our future children. We saw a geneticist for Raegan and they did genetic testing to rule out any other syndromes that go along with Pierre Robin and a cleft palate.

Her results came back normal.

They tell me not to worry.

But how can I not. Every time someone gives me the "chances" of something and end the statement with "but don't worry it's a small percentage," I can't help but scoff.

I believed what they said so many times and then we would fall into the "small percentage" yet again.

I try not to focus on all of the small percentages we have and may fall into in the future.

Because one of the best percentages we ever fell into, was the 60-70% chance of IVF success.

In the end, she is worth all of it.

11

Christmas 2014

I can't believe it's been over 1 month since Christmas and I'm just getting around to posting about it! Ahh! I've got to do better! I promise I will!

Raegan had such an amazing Christmas! She was for sure worn out though! We pretty much kept her up past her bedtime for 5 nights. But family is important and when they are in town and haven't met the babe, you keep the babe up!

This was Raegan's favorite gift. She sucked and chewed on that poor snowman's nose all day! We couldn't have asked for a better holiday with our little peanut!

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