Holy cow...it has been almost a full year since my last blog. Except this time I am coming back with a new purpose. First, let me update you since my last post...

Alex decided that Sassy was too much of a puppy for our family, so she got adopted by a wonderful older couple who will take good care of her for the rest of her life. Coby lost his playmate, but we did end up adopting another dog who is, unfortunatelty, less than enthusastic to play with him. It was a very sad couple of weeks for me as I really wanted to adopt her, but I know she's in a good place :) Our new addition is Carly, a 4 year old Boston Terrier. She has turned out to be as big of a pain in the butt as Coby, but we love her still and are trying to resolve some behavioral issues. That's what you get when you adopt, but I wouldn't do anything different.

I also got a new job at a Ob/GYN office in December, and am trying to build my photography portfolio so I can make some income doing that one day as well. I'll post my photos on her periodically to showcase my work!

So as I was saying...my new purpose. Alex and I have decided that now is the time to start trying to build our family. That's right, that means making babies. Like, a human being. I honestly thought this day would never come. It took some haggling to get to this decision...if it were up to Alex entirely, we'd be waiting another 10 years to get started. But I've always wanted to be a mom, and knew that I wanted to be a young mom too. I think starting the process at 24 is a good age, after all, you don't know how long it will take. Statistically, even a completely healthy couple can take up to a year to conceive. There is only a 20% chance of conceiving each month, so the stars really have to align for the sperm to meet the egg.

Since I work at an OB/GYN office, there happens to be an ultrasound technician who also happens to be really ridiculously nice and helpful. Since finding out that I am TTC (trying to conceive), she has offered to check out my ovaries every once in awhile to see if I'm ovulating. Since coming off birth control in October, my cycles have ranged from 6-7 weeks long. That's not horribly long, but still kinda long...especially when you're trying to make a baby. One of our doctors recommended going to acupuncture as a way to regulate my cycles, and boy did it ever. Just going once a week and taking the recommended herbal vitamins brought my next cycle down to 27 days...I was surprised, and amazed, and...HAPPY! Now I could be a normal woman who has close to perfect 28-day cycles and ovulation on cycle day 14. Yeah right...

So after I finished that 27 day cycle, Alex and I considered ourselves to be officially "trying." Yay. I continued to go to acupuncture, up until I confirmed ovulation with an OPK (ovulation predictor kit) on CD (cycle day) 15. I then texted my acupuncturist, Michele, telling her that I wanted to take a break for a few weeks to see if it worked. I have been trying to bill my insurance, and I am secretly terrified I am going to get a gigantic bill in the mail saying it didn't cover anything. Hence, my decision to "take a break for a few weeks". After obsessively testing and freaking out for the next few weeks, my period finally started confirming that the first go around was unsuccessful. Poop. I decided I would continue to take the herbal vitamins, but still forego acupuncture, really believing I would ovulate on or around CD 15 again. Ultrasounds showed otherwise...

(To be continued...)