So as 2013 comes near the end, I can't say that we've had any life-changing events. In fact it was pretty unremarkable... except for the whole foreign student exchange thing.
And what's up with that you ask? Well it's a pretty long story, but to sum it up, both girls have been placed with new host families. Due to a combination of different personalities, different lifestyles, and different interests everyone at home was a little unhappy and frustrated with each other. Girls were with us only two and a half months, but we did learn a lot during that time.
1. We are never doing it again... lol.
2. Fostering is out of the question
3. I learned I really enjoy cooking
4. I miss the gym... really
5. I miss my "ME" time
6. I took sleeping sans clothing for granted
7. I really have a threshold for pleasing people
8. DH needs to change his hours if we are to ever have kids of our own
9. I really love my furbabies
10. .... and this was a big one... I don't think we are ready to be parents
Yes, I know... is anyone every "really" ready? But this experience was such a huge disappointment that it made me question whether I really wanted to have kids. Especially with the hours DH and I work. If I wasn't at work, I was at home with the girls. It was tiring tending to them... and they're 17! DH had it easy. He only saw them on the weekends. He works M-F 3-11pm, so he left for work right before the girls got home from school and by the time he came home, we were all asleep. I begged him to take them on the weekend. I dreaded waking up on the weekend... what kind of life is that? Obviously I wasn't happy with the situation either. DH tells me our kids will be different, because we will raise them the way we want. I see his point, but still I realized how much I enjoy my alone time. I dunno, maybe I'm just tired with the whole TTCing issue and it comes out this way but either way, I told hubby I'm not ready for TTC anytime soon.
Which brings me to a new subject. AF has finally arrived after CD253! What the what?! So what happened? Well first off, I didn't really miss it one bit. No worries on spotting, staining.... no having to buy pads and tampons for 8 months. No PMS, no menstrual cramps. Yeah, it was fun while it lasted but deep down inside I knew it wasn't right. But with no health insurance and keeping my mind busy with other things (and other people) I just didn't deal with it. Now that the girls are gone, I'm back on track with working out, and I've learned a new hobby in cooking (so now we don't eat out as much) I've decided to focus on me and my health. Especially when this phase of not wanting kids passes, I'm gonna want to jump back on that TTC train. So about 3 weeks ago I started back on Vitex and progesterone cream. I figured my PCOS was probably out of control and I needed a much needed visit from AF eventually. So I did a little research to refresh my memory on how to use Vitex and the cream as an aid in managing PCOS. I'm taking Vitex 2x a day and using 40mg of progesterone twice a day as well. Lo and behold 2 weeks later she makes a surprise visit. Score one for Mely! While off the vitex and progesterone during AF, I start to incorporate a daily cinnamon supplement as well. I've done the research and confident that the cinnamon will help in managing these health issues. I'm taking a 1000mg tablet twice a day. It's proven to help control blood glucose and insulin resistance... the major dilemma in PCOS. The vitex helps regulate menstrual cycles and the cream is used to help boost progesterone levels. These are all natural ways to maintain and regulate the female reproductive system so I'm hoping that with proper diet and exercise, I will soon be on my way to being PCOS-free. I guess in a way, I'm indirectly TTCing... lol. I just want to feel better and funny enough, I think it's working not only has AF come (I'm CD 14), but I feel more feminine... I feel like wearing makeup everyday.
That's about it. Not planning for much in 2014, just want to get healthier. Until next time...
Mom... In Training
Showing posts with label foreign exchange. Show all posts
Showing posts with label foreign exchange. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Friday, August 2, 2013
Glad to Be Back! BEDA #1
Wow! It's been a while since my last post. Over two months. This is gonna be a long update. But that's a good thing since I'm thinking of doing BEDA this year. BEDA stands for Blog Every Day in August. I got the idea from fellow YouTubers who do VEDA, and since I stopped posting videos, I decided why not do BEDA instead? I'm a day late, but I think tonight's blog entry will make up for yesterday as well. So here goes...
We've had quite a change in pace over the past 2 months here at home. Though there has been a couple of obstacles to get around, most of the change has been for the better. We are now well acquainted with our foreign exchange students. We've been in communication with them regularly over the last month and a half and it's so exciting learning more and more about them. They are both happily anticipating their visit here with us and already we've made huge plans in traveling and showing them what we like. The list that I mentioned in my past blog has gotten even longer in length. There's over 100 things that I've listed that I can't wait to show them. Granted we probably won't be able to do all of it, but I'm hoping we can do most of it. The girls will be coming in a few weeks, and though we are not quite ready for them yet (still working on getting them registered for school... still need to do some major cleaning around the house), we are almost there. I keep procrastinating and putting off the cleaning for the weekends, but those "cleaning weekends" never seem to hash out. We've always got something else better to do... lol. Anyways, that's about the only thing I'm worried about. Keeping my fingers crossed that we can make some progress on the cleaning this weekend, even though we've already got plans for the evening.
So just to share a little more information about our girls. G, as you recall, is from Thailand. She's the one we've been in contact with the longest (and probably the most "like" us). She's kind of shy and timid, but she's super cute. She's this tiny little thing, probably not even 5 foot tall, and under 100 lbs. So cute, you just want to put her in your pocket. She's still working on getting better at English, and she's a bit nervous about being able to communicate well with us and her fellow peers. She's still attending school in Thailand and actually just completed her midterm exams. She's also really involved in her cultural exchange organization that she participates in outside of school. Unlike the U.S., in Thailand, school is strictly for educational subject classes like math, reading, history, government, language studies, etc. Any sports or clubs that students wish to participate in, they have to do on their own time away from school. G likes being in her cultural exchange program. Already, she has spent a summer in New Zealand as a member of the organization. They also recently had their annual prom, in which they got to celebrate and spend one more evening with their friends of the organization, before packing up and jetting off to their respective countries for the foreign exchange program. G tells me that she has 3 more friends coming to the U.S., though none set for Texas. She is super excited about coming here to Texas, as she has seen lots of pictures of the landscape, seen it portrayed in movies, and read about all the wonderful things to do while here in our city. One of things she tells me she's most excited about is going horseback riding. She's been once before in New Zealand and she really enjoyed it. She's also excited to meet new friends, though she admits she's a little shy and quiet at first. She's kind of glad M will also be staying with us, as it gives her an opportunity to make a friend before school starts. She's also looking forward to getting involved with school sports, primarily swimming and perhaps cheerleading. She wants to take Spanish class so that she can learn the language. It's something she's been interested in for a while. She enjoys the same music as me (in regards to American pop music) and said she's eager to learn how to dance. I told her I like dancing all kinds of music, so she's excited for me to teach her a few things. I told her I would like to learn how to cook Thai food and she eagerly offered to teach me. Though she doesn't cook very much at home in Thailand, she has picked up a few things from her mother. She's very eager to learn and experience as much as she can here with us and every time we email each other, she gives me a countdown as to when she arrives.
M is our other student. She is from Germany. She's very different from G, though I think that will only give them more to talk about when they are together. She's a little more versed in travel and new experiences. She loves the study of language and is also pretty fluent in Spanish. She tells me she also has plans to learn French and Madarin Chinese. Wow, how motivated she is! She is also very involved in tennis in her homeland. She competes in regular tournaments and hoping she can continue the sport while staying here with us. We found out the high school does have a tennis team so hopefully she will be able to participate in that. She also has an interest in cheerleading. She seems a little more social and outspoken, though we've only communicated via email. She spent the summer in Spain and actually just got back home this week. Plus her birthday was a couple of days ago, so it's one thing after another and she seems to stay pretty busy. Though we haven't had as much communication with her as we have with G, she does respond pretty thoroughly in her emails. Her English writing is very good. She also seems to enjoy the same kind of music as I do (we have some of the same favorite music artists). She tells me she is looking forward to learning about the American culture. She wants to be involved in foreign languages when she grows up, so she is hoping to also master the English language while staying here. She tells me she's not much of a cook, but does enjoy her German food so she's eager to try the local German restaurant that I mentioned earlier. She's not into spicy food much so I don't know how she'll handle Mexican and Thai food. We shall see. I told her about our local German festival and Oktoberfest and she says she's super excited to check it out. One of things she tells me she's most excited about is going shopping. What teenage girl isn't? She tells me that she's heard that name brands (especially her favorites, Hollister and Ambercrombie) are pretty affordable here in the states, while in Germany it's really expensive. She doesn't seem to be nervous at all about coming here to the U.S. I asked her if she has ever traveled here and she said a couple of times to Ohio, where she has some distant relatives. As much as she has traveled and studied Spanish, maybe I can learn a thing or two from her.
So those are our 2 students. M just turned 17 and G is 16 and a half. I'm still not sure what grades they'll be in since we still need to get them registered. But like I said earlier, we already have so much planned for them. I wanted to do something big for either the winter holiday break or spring break and since hubby is pretty much guaranteed mandatory overtime during December, I figured we could hold off until the spring break holiday. So what I've started working on is planning a trip to Disney World! I asked the girls first whether their parents would allow them to travel to Florida and whether they'd be able to afford their expenses for the trip. They both discussed it with their family and happily agreed upon the trip. They are both very excited to get to experience Disney since they haven't ever visited any of the theme parks around the world. But of course what kid wouldn't be excited?! Hubby and I are excited ourselves as we've never experienced it either. So that is the big thing we have planned in March. Another thing that hubby and I are planning is a Welcome to America party for the girls. Just something to introduce them to other kids and some of our family and close friends. We are trying to keep it as small as possible, but hubby and I love to throw parties, especially one that has music and barbeque. And finally, and this came up just recently, we decided to invite them to UFC #166 when it comes to our city in October. We weren't sure if they'd want to go, especially having never seen it and the tickets being so expensive. But running it by their parents, they were ready to jump in for the experience. So happy to say, we bought 4 tickets for the upcoming fights and can't wait to share our love of the sport with them.
And now moving on to less interesting news... As far as a TTC update, there's really nothing to report on. It's on the back burner and not a priority in our life right now (something I thought I'd never hear myself say). I don't want to say I've given up on it, but I've pretty much come to the realization that I'm not going to be a mom unless we adopt or until I can get pregnant. And the getting pregnant thing won't be happening anytime soon. We've both basically have an understanding that unless we have some serious medical intervention (i.e. IVF) that it won't be happening naturally. It's the reality of the situation and right now I'm ok with that. I can't say that I won't ever try other means again, but my body is so screwed up right now, that mother nature has pretty much crossed me off her list. Yeah it sucks, but hey... shit happens. And when I say screwed up I mean not only that I haven't had my period in almost 5 months (today is CD 141), but I've put on a few more pounds, and I haven't seen a doctor since we last tried with HCG in January. And no, I'm not pregnant. I take a HPT every first of the month to make sure I don't wind up on that show "I Didn't Know I was Pregnant". Yesterday's test, just as expected came out with a BFN. No surprise there... and it didn't even phase me.
As for the weight thing, yes I know, I know. I can't believe I gained weight either. I was a little depressed as the whole TTC came to a startling halt. That probably contributed to it. But mainly I blame it on letting go. Since letting go of the whole TTC journey, I kinda was like "F- it!" Before I was trying to lose the weight for babymaking, but since that's not gonna happen I decided to enjoy life. Now that I have steady work and the paychecks are coming in regularly, hubby and I have been taking advantage and enjoying going to eat out. We've both actually started to gain weight. And then because I started working so much, I was skipping the gym. And then I get home and I'm super tired and just want to lounge around the house. It's a never ending cycle and I do want to get back on track especially with the girls coming. I hate to validate the stereotype of fat and lazy Americans. (I did some research on culture shock and one of the common first impressions from foreign exchange students are that Americans are fat and lazy.... boooooo) Plus my girls seem really energetic and active and I want to be able to keep up with them. I hope they will be able to motivate me. Maybe I can get them on a student/child membership at the gym. We'll see.
Finally, I just wanted to mention that this is the year for baby showers. I told my mom the other day that I'm at that stage in life where everyone my age is getting pregnant. It's kind of weird, kind of eerie, but I'm so thankful that I've put my TTC days behind me, because this year would suck royally had I still been TTC and not pregnant by now. I finally re-activated my FB account, primarily to keep in touch with the girls (imagine life without social networking, how would we ever be in touch? I mean who writes letters nowadays?... lol... that's sarcasm) and now that I'm back online and in full force, there are friends and family members announcing pregnancies and births left and right! I'm thankful I have a job to afford all these gifts I'm buying. I swear like every month I find out someone new is pregnant. Happy for them, of course, but reminds me more and more that I'm not the one announcing it. Not saying that in a bad way, just that these were some of the people asking me 3 years ago "So when are you gonna have kids?" I guess time flies when you're having fun.
Well that's about all I gotta say for today. Tomorrow is another day and I gotta think about what I want to write about. So see you then.
We've had quite a change in pace over the past 2 months here at home. Though there has been a couple of obstacles to get around, most of the change has been for the better. We are now well acquainted with our foreign exchange students. We've been in communication with them regularly over the last month and a half and it's so exciting learning more and more about them. They are both happily anticipating their visit here with us and already we've made huge plans in traveling and showing them what we like. The list that I mentioned in my past blog has gotten even longer in length. There's over 100 things that I've listed that I can't wait to show them. Granted we probably won't be able to do all of it, but I'm hoping we can do most of it. The girls will be coming in a few weeks, and though we are not quite ready for them yet (still working on getting them registered for school... still need to do some major cleaning around the house), we are almost there. I keep procrastinating and putting off the cleaning for the weekends, but those "cleaning weekends" never seem to hash out. We've always got something else better to do... lol. Anyways, that's about the only thing I'm worried about. Keeping my fingers crossed that we can make some progress on the cleaning this weekend, even though we've already got plans for the evening.
So just to share a little more information about our girls. G, as you recall, is from Thailand. She's the one we've been in contact with the longest (and probably the most "like" us). She's kind of shy and timid, but she's super cute. She's this tiny little thing, probably not even 5 foot tall, and under 100 lbs. So cute, you just want to put her in your pocket. She's still working on getting better at English, and she's a bit nervous about being able to communicate well with us and her fellow peers. She's still attending school in Thailand and actually just completed her midterm exams. She's also really involved in her cultural exchange organization that she participates in outside of school. Unlike the U.S., in Thailand, school is strictly for educational subject classes like math, reading, history, government, language studies, etc. Any sports or clubs that students wish to participate in, they have to do on their own time away from school. G likes being in her cultural exchange program. Already, she has spent a summer in New Zealand as a member of the organization. They also recently had their annual prom, in which they got to celebrate and spend one more evening with their friends of the organization, before packing up and jetting off to their respective countries for the foreign exchange program. G tells me that she has 3 more friends coming to the U.S., though none set for Texas. She is super excited about coming here to Texas, as she has seen lots of pictures of the landscape, seen it portrayed in movies, and read about all the wonderful things to do while here in our city. One of things she tells me she's most excited about is going horseback riding. She's been once before in New Zealand and she really enjoyed it. She's also excited to meet new friends, though she admits she's a little shy and quiet at first. She's kind of glad M will also be staying with us, as it gives her an opportunity to make a friend before school starts. She's also looking forward to getting involved with school sports, primarily swimming and perhaps cheerleading. She wants to take Spanish class so that she can learn the language. It's something she's been interested in for a while. She enjoys the same music as me (in regards to American pop music) and said she's eager to learn how to dance. I told her I like dancing all kinds of music, so she's excited for me to teach her a few things. I told her I would like to learn how to cook Thai food and she eagerly offered to teach me. Though she doesn't cook very much at home in Thailand, she has picked up a few things from her mother. She's very eager to learn and experience as much as she can here with us and every time we email each other, she gives me a countdown as to when she arrives.
M is our other student. She is from Germany. She's very different from G, though I think that will only give them more to talk about when they are together. She's a little more versed in travel and new experiences. She loves the study of language and is also pretty fluent in Spanish. She tells me she also has plans to learn French and Madarin Chinese. Wow, how motivated she is! She is also very involved in tennis in her homeland. She competes in regular tournaments and hoping she can continue the sport while staying here with us. We found out the high school does have a tennis team so hopefully she will be able to participate in that. She also has an interest in cheerleading. She seems a little more social and outspoken, though we've only communicated via email. She spent the summer in Spain and actually just got back home this week. Plus her birthday was a couple of days ago, so it's one thing after another and she seems to stay pretty busy. Though we haven't had as much communication with her as we have with G, she does respond pretty thoroughly in her emails. Her English writing is very good. She also seems to enjoy the same kind of music as I do (we have some of the same favorite music artists). She tells me she is looking forward to learning about the American culture. She wants to be involved in foreign languages when she grows up, so she is hoping to also master the English language while staying here. She tells me she's not much of a cook, but does enjoy her German food so she's eager to try the local German restaurant that I mentioned earlier. She's not into spicy food much so I don't know how she'll handle Mexican and Thai food. We shall see. I told her about our local German festival and Oktoberfest and she says she's super excited to check it out. One of things she tells me she's most excited about is going shopping. What teenage girl isn't? She tells me that she's heard that name brands (especially her favorites, Hollister and Ambercrombie) are pretty affordable here in the states, while in Germany it's really expensive. She doesn't seem to be nervous at all about coming here to the U.S. I asked her if she has ever traveled here and she said a couple of times to Ohio, where she has some distant relatives. As much as she has traveled and studied Spanish, maybe I can learn a thing or two from her.
So those are our 2 students. M just turned 17 and G is 16 and a half. I'm still not sure what grades they'll be in since we still need to get them registered. But like I said earlier, we already have so much planned for them. I wanted to do something big for either the winter holiday break or spring break and since hubby is pretty much guaranteed mandatory overtime during December, I figured we could hold off until the spring break holiday. So what I've started working on is planning a trip to Disney World! I asked the girls first whether their parents would allow them to travel to Florida and whether they'd be able to afford their expenses for the trip. They both discussed it with their family and happily agreed upon the trip. They are both very excited to get to experience Disney since they haven't ever visited any of the theme parks around the world. But of course what kid wouldn't be excited?! Hubby and I are excited ourselves as we've never experienced it either. So that is the big thing we have planned in March. Another thing that hubby and I are planning is a Welcome to America party for the girls. Just something to introduce them to other kids and some of our family and close friends. We are trying to keep it as small as possible, but hubby and I love to throw parties, especially one that has music and barbeque. And finally, and this came up just recently, we decided to invite them to UFC #166 when it comes to our city in October. We weren't sure if they'd want to go, especially having never seen it and the tickets being so expensive. But running it by their parents, they were ready to jump in for the experience. So happy to say, we bought 4 tickets for the upcoming fights and can't wait to share our love of the sport with them.
And now moving on to less interesting news... As far as a TTC update, there's really nothing to report on. It's on the back burner and not a priority in our life right now (something I thought I'd never hear myself say). I don't want to say I've given up on it, but I've pretty much come to the realization that I'm not going to be a mom unless we adopt or until I can get pregnant. And the getting pregnant thing won't be happening anytime soon. We've both basically have an understanding that unless we have some serious medical intervention (i.e. IVF) that it won't be happening naturally. It's the reality of the situation and right now I'm ok with that. I can't say that I won't ever try other means again, but my body is so screwed up right now, that mother nature has pretty much crossed me off her list. Yeah it sucks, but hey... shit happens. And when I say screwed up I mean not only that I haven't had my period in almost 5 months (today is CD 141), but I've put on a few more pounds, and I haven't seen a doctor since we last tried with HCG in January. And no, I'm not pregnant. I take a HPT every first of the month to make sure I don't wind up on that show "I Didn't Know I was Pregnant". Yesterday's test, just as expected came out with a BFN. No surprise there... and it didn't even phase me.
As for the weight thing, yes I know, I know. I can't believe I gained weight either. I was a little depressed as the whole TTC came to a startling halt. That probably contributed to it. But mainly I blame it on letting go. Since letting go of the whole TTC journey, I kinda was like "F- it!" Before I was trying to lose the weight for babymaking, but since that's not gonna happen I decided to enjoy life. Now that I have steady work and the paychecks are coming in regularly, hubby and I have been taking advantage and enjoying going to eat out. We've both actually started to gain weight. And then because I started working so much, I was skipping the gym. And then I get home and I'm super tired and just want to lounge around the house. It's a never ending cycle and I do want to get back on track especially with the girls coming. I hate to validate the stereotype of fat and lazy Americans. (I did some research on culture shock and one of the common first impressions from foreign exchange students are that Americans are fat and lazy.... boooooo) Plus my girls seem really energetic and active and I want to be able to keep up with them. I hope they will be able to motivate me. Maybe I can get them on a student/child membership at the gym. We'll see.
Finally, I just wanted to mention that this is the year for baby showers. I told my mom the other day that I'm at that stage in life where everyone my age is getting pregnant. It's kind of weird, kind of eerie, but I'm so thankful that I've put my TTC days behind me, because this year would suck royally had I still been TTC and not pregnant by now. I finally re-activated my FB account, primarily to keep in touch with the girls (imagine life without social networking, how would we ever be in touch? I mean who writes letters nowadays?... lol... that's sarcasm) and now that I'm back online and in full force, there are friends and family members announcing pregnancies and births left and right! I'm thankful I have a job to afford all these gifts I'm buying. I swear like every month I find out someone new is pregnant. Happy for them, of course, but reminds me more and more that I'm not the one announcing it. Not saying that in a bad way, just that these were some of the people asking me 3 years ago "So when are you gonna have kids?" I guess time flies when you're having fun.
Well that's about all I gotta say for today. Tomorrow is another day and I gotta think about what I want to write about. So see you then.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
New Changes
It's the weekend and hubby is at work doing some mandatory overtime. I'm in the midst of cleaning the house and jamming to some music. I was catching up on a friend's blog and decided to do a new post myself. It's been almost a month since my last post.
So first things first. I decided to change the title of my blog. Though this will still chronicle our life through TTC, right now I'm more focused on blogging about our journey as host parents. Our TTC-ing is on "hold" for now. And I use the term hold loosely. Meaning we are not actively trying yet not preventing any miracle that should so happen. Today is CD 67 and still no signs of AF. I took a HPT on Mother's Day for shits and giggles to see if maybe I was lucky enough to see a BFP, but kept my hopes at bay. Slight disappointment at seeing the BFN, but nothing major. No overwhelming sense of hopelessness like other times in the past. I know those feelings are still in the pit of my soul, but hoping our new journey will keep my mind off those feelings for a bit. In fact, the only reason I knew those feelings were still there, was because when catching up on my YouTubers' videos and seeing so many new pregnancies I just broke down and had a cry fest. So unexpected and I surprised even myself. So yes, the desire still runs very deep in me. Needless to say, I'll probably be staying off YouTube for a while. I still haven't activated my FB yet. I will admit, however, that I have a time or two snuck off with DH's phone to check on certain friends' status updates with his FB app. Hahaha. Just don't tell him ;) I'm invited to two baby showers next month, one being my BFFs and I'm kind of nervous to see how I will react. I've been pushing thoughts of babies out of my mind for a while. We'll see...
Now we are getting ready to be host parents. And we are SUPER EXCITED!!! I can't even begin to explain how much I/we have been looking forward to this. I need this and I think we will be good at it. Earlier this year we applied to host an international student. A good friend of mine posted on FB that one of her community church members was looking for new host parents for the upcoming school year. I jumped at the opportunity. Not only had I considered it myself when I was younger, but last year when one of my training instructors at work would share stories of her student, I knew it would be something I would be interested in doing if it ever came up. And lo and behold I see that post. I eagerly replied and got the information for applying, but I still needed to discuss it with DH. After our discussion, it was pretty easy for him to jump on board. He knew we had the room, the finances, and the desire to be host parents. I guess my desire was a little stronger because I wanted to host TWO students... lol! Call me crazy, but I think it's the right thing to do. I've always wanted a big family. I can imagine how nervous one student coming from a different country and living by themselves in a stranger's home can be. Homesickness is prevalent among the students and I hope by having someone their age and with the same understanding, it will help ease their minds a little; help them settle in a little more comfortably. Originally I wanted a sibling group, but the organization we are going through only allows double hosting of students from different countries.
We were on top of everything and got our paperwork done as soon as possible. Any communication we had with our Area Rep, we were prompt to reply. In fact she even commented that she wish all host parents were as quick and thorough as we were. They did background checks on us, interviews, and home visits. We passed with flying colors. Then they sent us a couple of student profiles for us to choose from; someone that could blend well with our family. Since it's just the two of us, we were pretty open minded. I knew this could be a learning experience for both us and the students and I wanted someone completely different from our own culture, yet someone who had the same interests as us. We ended up choosing one girl from Germany and one girl from Thailand. They will be sharing the same room, so we had to choose the same gender and close in age. S is from Germany. She is 15 years old. And G is from Thailand. She is 16. Two of my nieces are 13 and 14 years old, and we spend a lot of time with them, so we kind of know what to expect. Plus they will be able to befriend them and help them adapt. We did some serious redecorating and moving around furniture to accommodate them. We turned our guest room into a double occupancy bedroom for the girls.
We also were debating whether to give them each their own room since we have a three bedroom house. But instead decided to convert the "would be nursery" into a home office/study and mini gym since that's where we have stored the elliptical. Here is the before.
Some things are mismatched, but we are trying to be economical. It serves its purpose so no biggie.
I've been updating a list I started since we first applied. It's a list of all the things we can show them or take them to while they are here. And it's slowing getting longer and longer. I hope to give them the best experience possible. We even scouted out our favorite Thai and German restaurants. I hope they are as good and as true to the girls' own countries. Eating here ourselves, we realized how DIFFERENT each country's cuisine is. Thai food is HOT and SPICY. German food is a lot more subtle (I hate to use the word bland) so I wonder what are the girls' thoughts. I hope to learn as much from them as they from us.
It's so fun using the word "girls". As in "When the girls are here..." and "I think the girls would like this..." We've been telling our friends and family about them. They all know that our lives will pretty much change after the summer. Instead of just the two of us coming, there will be four of us. Reservation for four please.
There was a time where we weren't sure whether we would even get one girl. The school's paperwork was lagging behind and they even lost one girl's paperwork in the shuffle. We had to get our local school's permission before the girls could attend. And the organization would only allow students to attend their host parents' local school. I was afraid if the school dropped the ball or refused to sign off on them, we would lose both girls. On top of that, we were getting updates from corporate office that our school had passed the deadline. It was touch and go... but we were staying hopeful. I actually just got word yesterday that both girls were approved and we were able to move forward with the process. They had us fill out the application online again since the deadline had passed and we had to re-apply. It was a small frustration, but with big rewards. Our next step is to start communication with the girls. Get to know each other a little before they come here. We are just waiting on word form corporate. The school registration is in August and we will need to get them registered. S is going to be a junior and G is going to be a senior. I wonder what that's going to be like. Prom and graduation? Hmmmm....
So two teenage girls... Can you believe it? I told DH that hormones will be crazy around here in the coming year. He will need to buckle up. Three women are a lot to handle. Wait till we are dealing with teenage rants and drama on top of PMS and menstrual cycles. OMG what have we gotten ourselves into? LOL. We shall see... Cheers to new changes.
So first things first. I decided to change the title of my blog. Though this will still chronicle our life through TTC, right now I'm more focused on blogging about our journey as host parents. Our TTC-ing is on "hold" for now. And I use the term hold loosely. Meaning we are not actively trying yet not preventing any miracle that should so happen. Today is CD 67 and still no signs of AF. I took a HPT on Mother's Day for shits and giggles to see if maybe I was lucky enough to see a BFP, but kept my hopes at bay. Slight disappointment at seeing the BFN, but nothing major. No overwhelming sense of hopelessness like other times in the past. I know those feelings are still in the pit of my soul, but hoping our new journey will keep my mind off those feelings for a bit. In fact, the only reason I knew those feelings were still there, was because when catching up on my YouTubers' videos and seeing so many new pregnancies I just broke down and had a cry fest. So unexpected and I surprised even myself. So yes, the desire still runs very deep in me. Needless to say, I'll probably be staying off YouTube for a while. I still haven't activated my FB yet. I will admit, however, that I have a time or two snuck off with DH's phone to check on certain friends' status updates with his FB app. Hahaha. Just don't tell him ;) I'm invited to two baby showers next month, one being my BFFs and I'm kind of nervous to see how I will react. I've been pushing thoughts of babies out of my mind for a while. We'll see...
Now we are getting ready to be host parents. And we are SUPER EXCITED!!! I can't even begin to explain how much I/we have been looking forward to this. I need this and I think we will be good at it. Earlier this year we applied to host an international student. A good friend of mine posted on FB that one of her community church members was looking for new host parents for the upcoming school year. I jumped at the opportunity. Not only had I considered it myself when I was younger, but last year when one of my training instructors at work would share stories of her student, I knew it would be something I would be interested in doing if it ever came up. And lo and behold I see that post. I eagerly replied and got the information for applying, but I still needed to discuss it with DH. After our discussion, it was pretty easy for him to jump on board. He knew we had the room, the finances, and the desire to be host parents. I guess my desire was a little stronger because I wanted to host TWO students... lol! Call me crazy, but I think it's the right thing to do. I've always wanted a big family. I can imagine how nervous one student coming from a different country and living by themselves in a stranger's home can be. Homesickness is prevalent among the students and I hope by having someone their age and with the same understanding, it will help ease their minds a little; help them settle in a little more comfortably. Originally I wanted a sibling group, but the organization we are going through only allows double hosting of students from different countries.
We were on top of everything and got our paperwork done as soon as possible. Any communication we had with our Area Rep, we were prompt to reply. In fact she even commented that she wish all host parents were as quick and thorough as we were. They did background checks on us, interviews, and home visits. We passed with flying colors. Then they sent us a couple of student profiles for us to choose from; someone that could blend well with our family. Since it's just the two of us, we were pretty open minded. I knew this could be a learning experience for both us and the students and I wanted someone completely different from our own culture, yet someone who had the same interests as us. We ended up choosing one girl from Germany and one girl from Thailand. They will be sharing the same room, so we had to choose the same gender and close in age. S is from Germany. She is 15 years old. And G is from Thailand. She is 16. Two of my nieces are 13 and 14 years old, and we spend a lot of time with them, so we kind of know what to expect. Plus they will be able to befriend them and help them adapt. We did some serious redecorating and moving around furniture to accommodate them. We turned our guest room into a double occupancy bedroom for the girls.
This is the guest bedroom from one angle.
And the same angle but now switched out for two twin beds and put in the nursery rocker. Maybe they can use it in the meantime.
Guest bedroom from a different angle.
Same angle. Switched out old tube TV for new flat screen with DVD. Extra storage space that was supposed to be for the nursery.
We also were debating whether to give them each their own room since we have a three bedroom house. But instead decided to convert the "would be nursery" into a home office/study and mini gym since that's where we have stored the elliptical. Here is the before.
And after. We finished painting the room and put in two desks. Desktop computer is from guest room. But I hope they bring their own laptop, since it is sooo slow. We barely even use it.
Some things are mismatched, but we are trying to be economical. It serves its purpose so no biggie.
I've been updating a list I started since we first applied. It's a list of all the things we can show them or take them to while they are here. And it's slowing getting longer and longer. I hope to give them the best experience possible. We even scouted out our favorite Thai and German restaurants. I hope they are as good and as true to the girls' own countries. Eating here ourselves, we realized how DIFFERENT each country's cuisine is. Thai food is HOT and SPICY. German food is a lot more subtle (I hate to use the word bland) so I wonder what are the girls' thoughts. I hope to learn as much from them as they from us.
It's so fun using the word "girls". As in "When the girls are here..." and "I think the girls would like this..." We've been telling our friends and family about them. They all know that our lives will pretty much change after the summer. Instead of just the two of us coming, there will be four of us. Reservation for four please.
There was a time where we weren't sure whether we would even get one girl. The school's paperwork was lagging behind and they even lost one girl's paperwork in the shuffle. We had to get our local school's permission before the girls could attend. And the organization would only allow students to attend their host parents' local school. I was afraid if the school dropped the ball or refused to sign off on them, we would lose both girls. On top of that, we were getting updates from corporate office that our school had passed the deadline. It was touch and go... but we were staying hopeful. I actually just got word yesterday that both girls were approved and we were able to move forward with the process. They had us fill out the application online again since the deadline had passed and we had to re-apply. It was a small frustration, but with big rewards. Our next step is to start communication with the girls. Get to know each other a little before they come here. We are just waiting on word form corporate. The school registration is in August and we will need to get them registered. S is going to be a junior and G is going to be a senior. I wonder what that's going to be like. Prom and graduation? Hmmmm....
So two teenage girls... Can you believe it? I told DH that hormones will be crazy around here in the coming year. He will need to buckle up. Three women are a lot to handle. Wait till we are dealing with teenage rants and drama on top of PMS and menstrual cycles. OMG what have we gotten ourselves into? LOL. We shall see... Cheers to new changes.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Hope
Yay! Looked what arrived in the mail last week. I love it! It's symbolic and means so much to me. The pic is a little fuzzy, but basically it's a pendant with baby feet and the words "one day..." engraved into it. Then there is an orange crystal charm. Orange is the colored ribbon used for IF awareness. I changed out the chain because the one that came with it is very thin. I'm now wearing it around my neck. I showed DH and he smiled :)
I'm making good progress with cleaning out the rooms. I've still got tons of boxes of stuff, but I'm putting them in storage for now. Painting will have to be done in a couple of months seeing as work has picked up and March will be a busy month for us. Will post pics in the near future.
Also, we had a visit from the area representative of the exchange program this weekend. So far so good and she says we are good to keep moving forward with the process of hosting the international student. So the application is complete and we are just working on getting stuff handled with the school here. So far we have chosen one girl. Her name is Sara and she is from Germany. She has a lot in common, hobby-wise, with us so that is the reason we chose her. We are super excited. More info to come soon!
Friday, February 22, 2013
The Room
As infertiles, thoughts of babies can sometimes consume us. I have been one of the more hopeful ones that has taken my imagination to another level. Some of us dream of having a nursery one day and even go as far as moving forward with the hopes that a baby will be on board in the near future. To add to that, I haven't made it a secret, that I've been stocking up on pre-conception baby buys. I KNOW I'm not alone, as I have bonded with other gals for this very same reason. It is without doubt that my imagination has been filled with thoughts of one day having a baby to go with that nursery.
Right now, our "nursery" serves as a junk/storage room. I will quote one of my fellow TTC bloggers, Liz, from Wishing on a Snowflake. "Many infertiles have a junk room just like this. It's the room that is the would-be nursery, but ends up being a messy, cluttered, and out-of-control physical representation of their lives. It's a painful reminder of what they don't have, and may never have. It's limbo." So you can only imagine how this makes me feel everytime I step into The Room. Hopefully that will all change with this new chapter of our lives. As I had mentioned in a previous post, DH and I were considering hosting a foreign exchange student this coming school year. Well after discussion, we have decided to move forward with the process and have already passed the first stage... background checks. We got the word that we have now been accepted into the program and are in the student selection process. Because we feel that we will be such AWESOME parents one day, we both decided that we would like to host TWO students! I can't describe how undeniable my maternal instinct is right now. It's on overdrive! LOL. So we talked about it and we are planning on hosting two girls. I have two nieces that will be around the same age, so I think having female students will be nice. They will both be high schoolers.
So with that, today will be spent cleaning and getting our house ready. I know that doesn't sound very exciting at face value, but it actually is. Because today marks the start of moving away from the dreadfulness of that room. Some time ago I wanted to paint The Room, so had to move all the junk that was stored in it into our guest room. Well, after finding out about that failed cycle, I quit mid-paint project and now we literally have a half painted empty junk room (metaphor for my uterus.... perhaps, hahaha) and a junky guest bedroom (my ovaries? bwahaha). I wasn't motivated enough to finish or organize either. But that is changing today. We now will convert The Room into a study/home gym. The girls will be sharing the guest bedroom, and we will put two desks, a computer and workout equipment into the newly defined extra room. That means packing up and storing all of our baby stuff. It's kind of a bittersweet feeling, but I'm super excited to make the changes. This is very symbolic, it means I'm ready to move forward and stop obsessing about TTC. I'm hoping that by hosting the girls this year, it will help soothe some of those maternal cravings. I can "RELAX" (sarcastically speaking), like so many of the unsolicited advise people say. Of course this doesn't mean we are going to stop trying, and I don't know if we ever will. But I AM GOING TO FINISH painting that room and until we do become pregnant, I can put it to good use.
Finally, the pain can slowly subside....
Right now, our "nursery" serves as a junk/storage room. I will quote one of my fellow TTC bloggers, Liz, from Wishing on a Snowflake. "Many infertiles have a junk room just like this. It's the room that is the would-be nursery, but ends up being a messy, cluttered, and out-of-control physical representation of their lives. It's a painful reminder of what they don't have, and may never have. It's limbo." So you can only imagine how this makes me feel everytime I step into The Room. Hopefully that will all change with this new chapter of our lives. As I had mentioned in a previous post, DH and I were considering hosting a foreign exchange student this coming school year. Well after discussion, we have decided to move forward with the process and have already passed the first stage... background checks. We got the word that we have now been accepted into the program and are in the student selection process. Because we feel that we will be such AWESOME parents one day, we both decided that we would like to host TWO students! I can't describe how undeniable my maternal instinct is right now. It's on overdrive! LOL. So we talked about it and we are planning on hosting two girls. I have two nieces that will be around the same age, so I think having female students will be nice. They will both be high schoolers.
So with that, today will be spent cleaning and getting our house ready. I know that doesn't sound very exciting at face value, but it actually is. Because today marks the start of moving away from the dreadfulness of that room. Some time ago I wanted to paint The Room, so had to move all the junk that was stored in it into our guest room. Well, after finding out about that failed cycle, I quit mid-paint project and now we literally have a half painted empty junk room (metaphor for my uterus.... perhaps, hahaha) and a junky guest bedroom (my ovaries? bwahaha). I wasn't motivated enough to finish or organize either. But that is changing today. We now will convert The Room into a study/home gym. The girls will be sharing the guest bedroom, and we will put two desks, a computer and workout equipment into the newly defined extra room. That means packing up and storing all of our baby stuff. It's kind of a bittersweet feeling, but I'm super excited to make the changes. This is very symbolic, it means I'm ready to move forward and stop obsessing about TTC. I'm hoping that by hosting the girls this year, it will help soothe some of those maternal cravings. I can "RELAX" (sarcastically speaking), like so many of the unsolicited advise people say. Of course this doesn't mean we are going to stop trying, and I don't know if we ever will. But I AM GOING TO FINISH painting that room and until we do become pregnant, I can put it to good use.
Finally, the pain can slowly subside....
Monday, February 18, 2013
Looks Who's Come for a Visit
AF.
That's right. Today is CD2 and those same bittersweet emotions are back. Bitter because, duh, it means it wasn't our cycle. Sweet because she came all on her own. No meds this cycle (no fertility meds, really) and she's showed up just as scheduled. That's a good thing, right? It could mean my woman parts are finally starting to regulate. Unfortunately, it turns out I didn't ovulate this past cycle and another month goes by of waiting. Still, I've got to stay positive.
So I started acupuncture last week, and I have to say it's been quite an interesting experience. I will be going three times a week and getting spinal adjustments as well. My doc says I need to drink more water, increase my exercise, and not stress about scheduling BD. Tell me something I haven't already told myself. It's all about the motivation, that's the only obstacle. I've been to two treatments already. So far, I haven't really noticed a difference other than being sore and having more "regular" BMs (two side effects he warned me about). Sorry TMI, but it comes with the territory. I've also started taking Vitex, and haven't notice any side effects from it. Another thing, that I started this week was getting back to the gym. Two months had gone by since my last visit and I could definately feel it today. The cardio was harder to do, and I couldn't lift as much weight as I had before. I know I have to ease into it, especially because I'm still dealing with issues from an old knee injury and pain from plantar fascitis/heel spur. But I'm back in the gym and that's something to celebrate. Now that I'm getting the hang of what my new work schedule will be like, I'm trying to adapt my workout routine around it.
I also wanted to mention that I've been doing research and reading alot about holistic and alternative therapies for IF. I've come across a bunch of things that I didn't know about. One gadget I started looking into is the DuoFertility (DF) monitor. Check out their website here. It's basically a high-tech, virtual, expensive BBT thermometer. You can wear it 24/7 or as often as you'd like. It works like an oral thermometer, except that you wear it under your arm and it records your temperature like every 5 seconds. Then you download information from it as many times as you want onto an online system where experts monitor your information closely and send you regular reports about your temps and how your body is working. Because you have this close system of monitoring, you will be better able to track your cycles and find out exactly when you O. It's good for those who have irregular sleep patterns or do shift work since the time you take your temps in the morning can vary a great deal (I know this first hand). They also claim it is ideal for those with PCOS or irregular menstrual cycles since OPKs don't always pinpoint when you will ovulate or if you will even ovulate that cycle. And since OPKs only work within a set range of LH, if you do have a low LH surge, these will hardly ever work. With DF, they can determine whether you have O'd and after a few cycles of using it, can even give you a countdown and predict when you will O. Not having to worry about taking my temps, POAS, or guessing when we should BD has me very tempted to buy it. Only recently has it been made available to the USA. In the UK where it was developed, they had alot of success. It's even FDA approved. The only problem, is it comes with a heafty price tag of $795 for 12 months of service. The research on it has suggested that it has the same success rate as doing IVF but for only a fraction of the costs. And since finances is the only thing stopping us from trying IVF, this device seems very enticing. I've filled out a suitability profile online to send to their experts to determine whether this would work from me. And if I was living in the UK, I'd have a 100% money back guarantee if not PG in one year (guarantee not available in the US as of yet)!
Other than that, I feel like I haven't blogged much recently. Ever since stopping the medicated cycles and the continuous monitoring and doctor visits, I feel like I don't really have much to say. I also feel that with this new holistic/alternative approach to TTCing, it's gonna take a few months before we see any real differences or changes. So I probably won't have much to say until then.
However, I may start blogging on something new coming up in our lives that may be "parenting" related. A friend of mine knows one of the liasons of International Student Exchange (ISE), a high school student foreign exchange program. DH and I are very interested in persuing this new opportunity. I talked with a couple of people who have hosted international students and they have alot of positive feedback about their experiences. We are excited to begin this new chapter of our lives should we decide to move forward. We are awaiting our information packet and application. Hopefully this can divert our attention for while so that our lives are not so TTC centered. But in the meantime, we'll still be BDing and hoping the new distraction can bring some new chakra.
That's right. Today is CD2 and those same bittersweet emotions are back. Bitter because, duh, it means it wasn't our cycle. Sweet because she came all on her own. No meds this cycle (no fertility meds, really) and she's showed up just as scheduled. That's a good thing, right? It could mean my woman parts are finally starting to regulate. Unfortunately, it turns out I didn't ovulate this past cycle and another month goes by of waiting. Still, I've got to stay positive.
So I started acupuncture last week, and I have to say it's been quite an interesting experience. I will be going three times a week and getting spinal adjustments as well. My doc says I need to drink more water, increase my exercise, and not stress about scheduling BD. Tell me something I haven't already told myself. It's all about the motivation, that's the only obstacle. I've been to two treatments already. So far, I haven't really noticed a difference other than being sore and having more "regular" BMs (two side effects he warned me about). Sorry TMI, but it comes with the territory. I've also started taking Vitex, and haven't notice any side effects from it. Another thing, that I started this week was getting back to the gym. Two months had gone by since my last visit and I could definately feel it today. The cardio was harder to do, and I couldn't lift as much weight as I had before. I know I have to ease into it, especially because I'm still dealing with issues from an old knee injury and pain from plantar fascitis/heel spur. But I'm back in the gym and that's something to celebrate. Now that I'm getting the hang of what my new work schedule will be like, I'm trying to adapt my workout routine around it.
I also wanted to mention that I've been doing research and reading alot about holistic and alternative therapies for IF. I've come across a bunch of things that I didn't know about. One gadget I started looking into is the DuoFertility (DF) monitor. Check out their website here. It's basically a high-tech, virtual, expensive BBT thermometer. You can wear it 24/7 or as often as you'd like. It works like an oral thermometer, except that you wear it under your arm and it records your temperature like every 5 seconds. Then you download information from it as many times as you want onto an online system where experts monitor your information closely and send you regular reports about your temps and how your body is working. Because you have this close system of monitoring, you will be better able to track your cycles and find out exactly when you O. It's good for those who have irregular sleep patterns or do shift work since the time you take your temps in the morning can vary a great deal (I know this first hand). They also claim it is ideal for those with PCOS or irregular menstrual cycles since OPKs don't always pinpoint when you will ovulate or if you will even ovulate that cycle. And since OPKs only work within a set range of LH, if you do have a low LH surge, these will hardly ever work. With DF, they can determine whether you have O'd and after a few cycles of using it, can even give you a countdown and predict when you will O. Not having to worry about taking my temps, POAS, or guessing when we should BD has me very tempted to buy it. Only recently has it been made available to the USA. In the UK where it was developed, they had alot of success. It's even FDA approved. The only problem, is it comes with a heafty price tag of $795 for 12 months of service. The research on it has suggested that it has the same success rate as doing IVF but for only a fraction of the costs. And since finances is the only thing stopping us from trying IVF, this device seems very enticing. I've filled out a suitability profile online to send to their experts to determine whether this would work from me. And if I was living in the UK, I'd have a 100% money back guarantee if not PG in one year (guarantee not available in the US as of yet)!
Other than that, I feel like I haven't blogged much recently. Ever since stopping the medicated cycles and the continuous monitoring and doctor visits, I feel like I don't really have much to say. I also feel that with this new holistic/alternative approach to TTCing, it's gonna take a few months before we see any real differences or changes. So I probably won't have much to say until then.
However, I may start blogging on something new coming up in our lives that may be "parenting" related. A friend of mine knows one of the liasons of International Student Exchange (ISE), a high school student foreign exchange program. DH and I are very interested in persuing this new opportunity. I talked with a couple of people who have hosted international students and they have alot of positive feedback about their experiences. We are excited to begin this new chapter of our lives should we decide to move forward. We are awaiting our information packet and application. Hopefully this can divert our attention for while so that our lives are not so TTC centered. But in the meantime, we'll still be BDing and hoping the new distraction can bring some new chakra.
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