Oh Friday - October Vibes

I am in serious disbelief that October is nearly over.  I mean I guess I shouldn't be too surprised because when you pack you days full (by vacuuming everyday because of all the dog hair and cracker crumbs) and live life for a certain time of day, life tends to go by pretty quickly.  We've been making the most of our October and it really is one of our most favorite months of the year.

ONE

We've started on a pretty crazy journey this month! We are trying our very last option to having a biological baby...yep that's right we're doing IVF!! It's all been moving so quickly - which is good because it hasn't really given me time to think about it all 😉 but also that we're getting that much closer to the end of this chapter.  IVF was in the talks before we adopted Ellie but our desire to become parents was too strong for the gamble of IVF not to mention my mental/emotional health was really thin.  So here we are 7 years, 2 daughters and one fallopian tube down and we are giving science a go.

one of many blood draws

all my meds

injection training

my nightly dose of injections

I first met with our doctor in the middle of September, then we went to Disneyland and I started on birth control, then I went in for a couple of uterine scans and blood tests when we came back from the Happiest Place on Earth.  Then it was time to go to my injections training and the arrival of a huge box of stimulation meds that I have to inject myself with 2 meds every night at the same time and starting this morning I have to add in a morning shot as well.  I've had some more blood tests and ultrasounds and everything is looking pretty normal.  I've been giving myself shots for 5 days and it's actually not as bad as I thought it was going to be...but I guess my morning injection is the real kicker so we'll find out about that in a couple of hours.

TWO

We've been hitting up the Pumpkin Patches pretty hard this month and I don't hear anyone complaining.  Our first visit was to the farm stand we've gone to the past 3 years, then the girls and I went to another local patch for Ellie's school field trip, then we went to a U-Pick patch on our favorite island that was completely empty and we paid on the honor system into their wooden pay box (gotta love country life), and then finally I went back to the local patch with the girls for the last nice day of the week!  I don't know what it is about all those pumpkins but they make my heart go pitter patter and I love that Ellie and Finnley love them too.

she picked the biggest pumpkin in the patch

THREE

Ellie comes home from school with the cutest assignments.  She is excelling so much more than I thought she would and I love that she is doing so well in Pre-K.  We tend to butt heads pretty hard at home when it comes to working on our letters or numbers but since school has started she has really acquired a zest for learning and actually wants to do her "schoolwork" with me!! Her school work is actually just those workbooks we picked up at Costco a few months back and she does so good with them.  I am so impressed and know that she is in the right place for her.  But seriously all her school work she comes home with is the sweetest...I'm keeping it all (because I'm a borderline hoarder apparently) and got a filing box to store it all in her closet.

FOUR

Finnley turned 18 months last week and she is all sorts of adorable.  She is running around everywhere, climbing on all the things, and has multiple meltdowns throughout the day.  Finn is totally hilarious and makes the goofiest of faces.  She doesn't have very many words "Mama" and "Dada" are the most decipherable but she also says "Ella" for Ellie, "Milmil" in a very forceful tone for milk and "Ama ama" for animal crackers or just about any other kind of snack, and "woowoo" to make a car sound, and most recently she's started to say "uhoh".  She is constantly making faces and moves her tongue all around (and can roll her tongue) and makes all sorts of noises, so talking may be in her near future.  

Other notes about this sweet girl she has 16 teeth, is 33" tall and can suck down a pouch in under 3 seconds.  Her favorite things are cell phones, tv remotes, and all the breakable things 😒. Finnley now loves the bath and comes running when she hears me turn on the faucet, loves to splash and wash her hands in the dog water sink and is still very unsure of the goats.  She loves to help clean up (putting toys in baskets 🙌 but also loves to shove all of her food off of her high chair when she's all done.  She throws herself on the floor multiple times a day in true toddler tantrum fashion and gets so mad about stuff but then in 1 second she's running around and a bowl full of laughter.  She gives her emotions hard and has started kissing us and just thinks its the best ever, I do too!

FIVE

I dropped my phone the other day 🙀 which isn't anything out of the ordinary except for the fact that it cracked my phone...so it's going to cost $150 to get fixed or if I wait a few months (which I can) I'll have paid off more of the phone [we have the iPhone forever plan] and only have to pay back 1/2 of what I owe for the upgrade.  The crack isn't horrible, it just barely missed my camera (thank God!!) so I think I'll be fine with the crack for a while.  Anyways I had to take it to the mall to find out from the Apple store how much it was to replace and then to Sprint to find out what my options were and I happened upon H&M...seriously you guys they have the cutest things in right now for Halloween.  I couldn't help myself and I picked up this skirt and this top and then I saw this skirt and this top (similar, for mamas)...thankfully I have two girls so we can use these for a couple of years! And now I've looked online and I can't get over all their other cute stuff...why have I never shopped here before???

Have a happy weekend...I'll be busy waiting for my alarms to go off to give myself injections and head into the clinic for another ultrasound.

♥ Ashley

be sure to check out these posts:
the best ever Pumpkin Dessert
the best ever Pancakes
the Sugar Goblin