Tres Jolie

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to remind you that if you follow me strictly on tumblr, you wont be seeing my blog in your posts any longer. I have officially moved although my domain name will remain the same. Sooooo, instead of waiting to log onto tumblr, just bookmark me!!

www.thetresjolie.com

xo

Jolie

This year has had it’s fair share of ups & downs and at any rate, I’m ready to take on 2011 with an open mind. There are so many exciting things to look forward to next year and I can’t wait to share them each with you. 

A few things to discuss before we say bon voyage to the year:

1) Remember this post? Well, I am starting the guest room remodel immediately and can’t wait to put a look together inspired by this:

Of course I will post the before, after and probably 23 in between.

2) There are a TON of new items coming up on Tres Jolie Bebe. I can’t even begin to tell you how cute this stuff is. Girl, boy or both! Stay tuned for announcements of new products. Also in January, look for us on Harper’s Happenings!

3) A pretty big deal here: I’m moving! It may mean nothing to you on the reader side, but you will notice a new look starting tomorrow! {Assuming the move goes off with out a hitch} All feedback is welcome so let me know what you think. You can email me at tres_jolie23@hotmail.com at anytime. 

4) I’ve got a trip to Boston coming up in 10 days and the first week back at work after a 12 day holiday is going to hit hard. Please excuse me if you do not hear from me for a few days. I’ll have a case of the busies. 

Happy New Years everyone!

XO

jolie

You all should might know my body has been a tad out of whack with the pregnancy, loss of pregnancy, hormones, chemo therapy, and fertility drugs I’ve been dealing with. In the midst of all this chaos I have also felt a new level of stress and anxiety like never before. I can’t say for sure that it is the infertility itself causing the stress or the stress causing the infertility. It’s a vicious cycle I tell you. One thing I can tell you is that I have decided to take a different route in one of the aspects of this process. I am not refraining from the typical Western Medicine routines that I have been on, only adding a side of Eastern as well. It’s official- I have scheduled my first acupuncture appointment.

I have always been intrigued by acupuncture (along with other Eastern Medicine practices) but it has never taken a top priority in my life. To be honest, I’ve never had a real need to look into it. I didn’t need it for pain management which is what most of us here in the US use it for because I’ve always had such a high tolerance for pain, or have tried the “mind over matter” approach. Don’t get me wrong, Vicodin works pretty well too. Either way, I just never came to that point where I looked into alternative options. Until now.

My stress, short temper and lack of ovulation have made me realize that whatever it is I am doing isn’t really working. My body is not being all it can be, and that my friends is an issue for me. I need this body to do everything that God intended it to do (and more if I can!). So, on the first day of my 12 day holiday I will go in for an acupuncture appointment for fertility and all over wellness. The Mister will actually be home for Christmas (a later post on that coming I promise) and will arrive just in time to be my photographer for this appointment. I plan to take a few quick snapshots when I first get started and will let you guys know how it goes after the appointment.

“There’s never been an acupuncture study in China with a negative result. What are the odds? About the same as a fair coin flip coming up tails 99 times in a row or a fair investor always beating the market.”  (via The Skeptic’s Dictionary)

I mean, what can really go wrong with something that was been successful since 305 B.C.? (Yeah. Mind. BLOWN.)

Here I go again on my own. Going down the only road I’ve ever known. Like a twister I was born………………….. Ok, ok. So this is NOT the only road I’ve ever known and I am most certainly NOT going down it alone. I just cant resist from singing that song anytime I hear the words “Here I go again.” On my own.

As we end November and come into month 17th of our trying to conceive journey I can’t help but think of all the ups and downs we have experienced recently. I wouldn’t compare it to a roller coaster simply because in our house roller coasters are a blast and only last roughly 2.4 minutes. Not this journey. No fun and not fast. Would I change it if I could though? Probably not. I know that the Big Man Upstairs (we capitalize that, right?) has His own plans and His own will and I wouldn’t want to mess with that. What if this is just a small piece of the master plan? A journey that is meant to teach us to appreciate our little (soon to be) miracle? What if this leads us to helping others that have been through similar situations? This, somehow, was meant to be.

From the ages of 12-19 I knew everything. I knew I was going to be married by 21. Have my first child at 23 and my second at 25. Two boys to be exact and if I was going to have a third (a girl) I would have her by 27. All 2 years apart. HA! I laugh at that girl now. Who did she think she was trying to PLAN her future? If I only knew then what I know now I wouldn’t have been so pompous. Silly girl. (Yes I am aware of the time lapse between 19 and when I got married at 26. I went through a punk rock, player by trade, marriage is for the birds kind of phase. Just excuse that naive time period please.) Now here I am just a few weeks from my 29th birthday, after being married just under 3 years and still no little one. Funny how things work out isn’t it??

If you know anything about this journey or have been following along, then you know of all our Clomid Chaos. Either way, here is a quick breakdown followed by the newest of new news.

After our ectopic pregnancy in October of 2009 my body stopped ovulating. My regular OBGYN told me that she would only do 3 rounds of fertility treatments before sending me to the fertility specialist. This is how it’s gone:

First try: 50mg - No luck.

Second try: 100mg - No luck.

Third try: 150mg - DING DING DING. We have a winner.

(CAUTION: Words like intercourse and cycle ahead……….Read on at your own risk)

There it was. A positive LH test the morning of a day in which we shared a hotel room with some friends. Two beds, one room, two couples. Never the less this was business. My best friend Farrah reminded me that this was a job. Our job. It meant business and we needed to do the deed. Alas we did but to no avail it wasn’t in the oh so famous “window” or better yet they just missed the bus. However, something happened similar to last month and I started my cycle AGAIN on my own. I know that may mean nothing to most females but to a woman who feels like her body has let everyone down- I was more than thrilled. 31 days, on the dot. Like clockwork.

Now that this has happened two months in a row and I finally ovulated this last month I can pretty much pin point when (assuming I do) I will ovulate in December. (Ready for the zinger??) And when I do, Paul will be in New York. That’s right ladies and gentleman: This process is mocking me. All is well however as I talked to my Doctor who couldn’t have been happier. She was thrilled with all of the new developments and we discussed my options. With the advice of my OBGYN and discussions with my husband, we decided to take this month OFF of the Clomid in order to determine if my body can pull it off on its own. Paul will be gone anyhow so if it doesn’t - then nothing was missed and we know to go back to the 150mg in January. The Doc even stated that she NEVER, EVER prescribes a fertility treatment to a patient more than 3 times in ANY situation………….but for me, for me she has a “feeling”. She is breaking her own rules because she too knows that THIS is the time.

So stay tuned and know that I appreciate all of your kind words and encouragement. Prayers and good ju-ju are still need more than ever and I adore all of you for sending them our way!!!

What a jammed pack holiday we have had! Enjoyable indeed but I think we’re both ready for some peace & quiet. Saturday night we stepped out with Paul’s sister Ilona and celebrated our friend’s birthday at the oh so hip Highball on South Lamar and this is what we wore:

Join us with your own Steppin’ Out Saturday below:

For you friends and families that wanted to see the new floors: Come on in! I relied on the Hubs to take the pictures so they aren’t the best detailed photos but you’ll get the point.

Really cool story with the canvas in the middle niche. That is a local Austin photographer that took that picture of a sail boat on Lake Travis about 6 miles from our house. He stretched it to canvas just to fit our needs and I am madly in love with it.

This is the living room PRE Christmas set up. Although it is nice to have the decorations up, I am not a big fan of taking my current ones down. During Christmas I put most of the mantel stuff and decor in the Christmas bin and it hides out in the attic until New Years. Our living room also becomes considerably smaller once we put the big live tree in there and I’m not a big fan of tiny living spaces either.

The coffee table in the middle has been in our family for over 20 years. My Mom got it from my cousins back in the 90’s and it was a white washed stain (I did say it was the 90’s). She had it all the way through highschool and I was lucky enough to get it when I moved out on my own. Since I’ve met my wonderful husband, he has refinished it to it’s current color and we couldn’t be happier. I don’t think we ever thought that a coffee table would be our family heirloom, but hey- That’s totally us. We tried another table once and it felt so foreign and strange we had to nix that decision asap. This heavy beast is going to stay with us for the long haul I believe.

Aww, our sweet little dining room. Paul & I typically eat at the table so this isn’t one of those never used rooms. We’re pretty big on it even though it is just the two of us. It’s a great time to talk and take a break from the tv, computer or whatever distractions have won that day. The bar stools we have refinished and the valances my Mom made by hand (the one in the living room too!!). You can’t see the place settings too clearly but they are also PRE Christmas and I’m already wanting them back to this instead of the silver, gold & red runner, settings and napkins. Can you tell I’m really not into Christmas decor for that long? (Don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful and fun but a month!?!?! Phew. That’s a lot of festeeeeeeve).

So, this completes our Living & Dining Edition for now. Stay tuned for office, master and guest. I might even show you guys that sad little empty room that is headed down to Creepsville.