Metal Mouth No More (1.6.15)

After 2 years in braces, Emerson finally finished phase 1 of his treatment.  He got them when he was 8.  That seems pretty young, but his treatment requires 2 phases.  Phase 1 was to correct his cross bite and he only had braces on his top teeth.  Phase 2 will happen when he is 12-13 years old and he will have a full mouth of metal.

This event wasn't supposed to happen until 1/28, but one of his brackets popped off earlier this week.  We went to the ortho on 1/6 to get it fixed, but he decided to take them off instead.  He was so close to removal anyway.  It just made sense.  Hmmm...  Maybe I should try that exit strategy?  I want my braces off too, dang it!

Our 15th Anniversary in Colorado (Part 1)

My best friend and love---15 years going strong!

For our 15th anniversary, I chose for us to return to our previous stomping grounds in Colorado.  It was a short trip, but we managed to do everything we set out to do.  I wish we could have stayed a little longer.

12/12---To start the trip off, we drove to High Point to drop off the boys at my Mom's house.  She watched them while we were gone.  We headed out to Raleigh to stay the night before our flight out of RDU.  I had reservations for us at The Angus Barn that night.  The thing is, I also invited our best friends (Jason & Natascha) to join us without Clayton's knowledge.  We had a wonderful time hanging with them for the evening.

Love all these people :)

12/13---We got up bright and early to head to the airport.  Unfortunately, it wasn't a good morning.  I was dying for some good coffee and so we stopped at the first Starbucks we saw.  After walking away with our cups, we realized that we couldn't carry our drinks through security.  Ugh.  We walked back inside the cafe and sat down.  I proceeded to mention that I had somehow kept my Ugg boots clean for a long time and hoped to keep them that way.  About 5 seconds later, I dropped my entire coffee and it went all over my left boot.  I about cried.  Sigh...

Our first flight of 38 minutes took us right back to our home of Charlotte.  Yes, I know we should have flown out of our own airport, but we saved over $300 by going out of RDU instead.  We couldn't get a direct flight from CLT either, but we got to fly direct to Denver from Charlotte on the RDU itinerary.  Weird.  In the end, it was worth the extra driving.

As soon as we got to Denver, we headed to our old hometown of Johnstown for lunch.  Huang Garden is the best Chinese restaurant ever and we miss it so much.  It didn't disappoint.  Before leaving, I walked into the local grocery store next door for their awesome homemade flour tortillas and guacamole.  Yummm

We checked into our hotel in Fort Collins (The Armstrong).  It is one of our favorite places to hang out.  Even when we lived in Colorado, we stayed in this hotel multiple times for staycations.  It is eclectic in decor and perfectly located near Old Town.  We love it there.
  

Our cool tub in the honeymoon suite

That night was spent in Cheyenne, Wyoming (about 45 minutes north of Fort Collins).  Steve (C's dad) & Sandy drove from Nebraska and joined us at Stephanie (C's sister) & Tom's house for the evening.  We went out to Steamboats Steak & Smokehouse for dinner.  I miss all of these people so dang much.

From L to R: Steph, Clayton, Sandy, and Steve

Our 15th Anniversary in Colorado (Part 2)

12/14---We met our old neighbors, The Pratts, for breakfast at Snooze.  They lived a couple of houses down from us and I used to have coffee with Crystal quite often in the mornings.  Our kids loved each other and my boys miss them very much.

FYI-Snooze is an amazing place with the best breakfast EVER.

Around lunchtime, Clayton dropped me off at Centerra in Loveland while he went to go meet some old work buddies of his.  I ate lunch at Bent Fork with my good friend Johnna and then we shopped around the Promenade.  It was like I had never left.  I miss her muchly.  She was one of the first people to reach out to me when we first moved to CO.  I needed a friend and she recognized that.  She's pretty dang awesome.

For dinner, Clayton and I went to Beau Jo's for a mile high pie.  We also got our favorite cheese bread with honey, but it wasn't as good as it used to be.  We weren't really impressed with our dinner.  I remember Beau Jo's being way better than it was that night.

12/15---Our Anniversary Day
Clayton had a surprise for me.  He booked us a portrait session with a local photographer.  He also booked me a hair and makeup session beforehand.  What a cool idea!  We haven't had photos of ourselves in a long time.  Some photos were taken in a park and others were taken in downtown Fort Collins.  I can't wait to see how they turned out.  

Dinner was at Jay's Bistro, but we ended up having to take it back to our room because I got sick to my stomach.  Thankfully, I managed to eat my food later that night and it was oh-so-good.  It wasn't the way I wanted to spend our anniversary night, but that is okay.  I am just glad I didn't get sick earlier in the day.

I wish I could have a makeup artist do this for me everyday.  I stink at applying makeup, lol.

Happy New Year!

We had a low-key night at home with the kiddos last night.  We played Farkle, ate pizza, and watched the ball drop in NYC at midnight.  It doesn't get any lamer than that, lol.  I have been under the weather lately, so I had to call off a trip to Raleigh to see our besties.  Major bummer.

On the surrogacy front, I had a baseline ultrasound done this past Monday (12/29) and my lining is a little thick.  This happened on last cycle's baseline too.  It turns out that this same thing has happened to several other surros using the same doctor recently.  I think he orders the ultrasound too early.  As soon as I stop birth control pills (used to control the IVF cycle), I am expected to shed my lining.  That is not an immediate thing though and the doctor must not be taking that into account.  I didn't start until 4-5 days later.  That wasn't enough time before the ultrasound.  Now I get to go back on Monday for a follow-up to make sure I am ready to begin the next phase of IVF.  As long as my lining has thinned, I will be fine.  A frozen transfer is set for 1/22 in Connecticut.  Due date will be 10/10/15, if everything goes according to plan.  Please wish my IPs luck for the new year!

Hope you all have a very happy new year!!!