Toddler Ty: 14 - 16 Months

This past August Oscar picked gallons of blackberries nearly everyday. Tyler LOVED them, and it was always an enormous mess! At least he's a cutie in the bathtub.

My cute little leg hugger!

My sweet little helper! He lights up whenever I bring out the broom. I always let him play with it, even if he makes more of a mess than there was before.

Ty's got a new chair, and he's not the only one who enjoys it. Madi and Brenna are both big fans, and all the cats have claimed it as their own.

It's fun to watch Ty becoming so social. He went through a brief attachment phase, always crying when we tried to hand him off to anybody, but after we left he'd cheer up fairly quickly. He's still not thrilled about our leaving, but he starts playing and interacting with others almost immediately. It's adorable!

I'm a total sucker for all his smiles and giggles!

Ty loves the cats, smiling and lighting up when he sees them, but they're terrified of him. He chases them, slaps them, and pulls their tails and ears (though this has improved in recent weeks), so of course they run whenever they see him coming. After Ty goes down to bed, the kitties finally feel safe to come out and cuddle. Fry's territory is my lap, Nibbler's is my chest, and Leela wants to be as close to Oscar's fingers as possible. Her true sign of affection is nibbling on fingers. She nibbles a bit too hard for me, but Oscar's big man hands can take it.

Myla and Kienna helped me out with Ty while I had a doctor's appointment in Seattle, so I took them to a pretty viewpoint at nearby Kerry Park. The pictures on many Seattle postcards are taken here.

Kienna snapped this cute picture of Ty in the car, and I LOVE it! With his arm extended it's like he's taking his own selfie "Yo, what up, peeps?"

Later on Myla and Kienna decided they didn't want to leave our house and could just sleep on our porch.

I think they just like all the goodies we make at our house, like Mickey Mouse pancakes and cookie dough Oreos with actual cookie dough inside. 

We've been able to put the baby gates away for our top floor now that Ty has mastered crawling up and down. We still leave one on the main floor, though, since I don't want Ty getting into the cat stuff that's all downstairs. The other day I had him down there while I was putting on my shoes, and he ate a piece of cat food. Needless to say, he wasn't too thrilled about it, though he still got upset when I fished it out of his mouth.

Ty had lots of fun finding new toys and eating Oreos at auntie Malia's house. I love how cute he looks in his Sunday shirt. Too bad he recently grew out of it.

Around the end of August Ty got his 1st shiner from walking smack into a door frame. It stuck around for awhile too, since he wouldn't let me treat it with anything.

I've started letting Ty take a few toys to bed now that they don't overstimulate him and prevent him from falling asleep. It's funny the positions I find them in when I take a peek at night.

Ty loves his new dragon toy. I picked it up at the Relief Society swapmeet this past May, but I kept it in the garage until September since he wasn't quite ready to play with it appropriately. Now he adores putting the balls in the holes as it lights up and plays music. He giggles like crazy, though he often sticks things in the holes that are too big for it and mommy has to pull them out. When I showed it to Brenna and the other kids we've babysat, they love that the balls come out the dragons mouth and down its tail.

He's such a sweet mischievous little man! He's attempted to go under the baby gate like the cats do, but can't quite get his bum through.

Sometimes Oscar makes chocolate/peanut butter/banana protein powder shakes and shares them with Tyler. I love the milkshake mustache!

What the drink is really doesn't matter. Ty just likes drinking out of regular cups. He'll drink more water from one of these cups than juice from a sippy cup. Here he is looking drunk on water.

 Such a cute guy! I love seeing him cuddle with his Elmo. Sometimes when we put him in the crib, he  just grabs his Elmo and goes right to sleep. It's super sweet. :)

And a few cute smiley Ty collages. Dr Tyler! This is the stethoscope they gave us from Ty's hospital visit this past April, and the outfit totally looks like scrubs. Too bad I haven't been able to find the pants since the first time he wore them...

Our Experience with Infertility: Part V - Trying again (IUI Attempts #5 and #6)

Infertility Update: As I'd expected in my last infertility post, IUI #4 was unsuccessful. We tried a 5th IUI last month which was also unsuccessful, and this past Sunday we attempted IUI #6. If we again do not get pregnant this month, we wait until November when I can request approval from my insurance for IVF #2.

This pic was taken just after IUI #4. The wristband was used to help SRM make sure they inseminated me with the correct man's sperm.

People who cringe when reading about bodily functions and fluids might not want to continue reading this post. Don't say you weren't warned...

What's interesting to me is that whenever we've done an IUI (intrauterine insemination), things have always looked really good. As far as the doctors can observe, we shouldn't have any issues getting pregnant. I've even been told things looked so perfect that we could easily conceive twins. Optimal conditions for IUI on my part are when there is one follicle or more measuring at least 20mm, the uterine lining is thick and able to support a growing embryo, and when there's plenty of cervical mucus to help the sperm travel from the cervix up through the fallopian tubes. In every ultrasound I've ever had, the technicians have always found great follicles and commented on how thick my lining is. When we go in for the insemination itself, they always remark on how excellent Oscar's sperm counts are and what great cervical mucus I have (that's something I can brag about, right?...). Keep in mind, though, that these are just ideal conditions, not requirements for getting pregnant. Plenty of couples conceive with much smaller follicles and/or less than optimal body fluids. With everything Oscar and I have going for us, we should be breeding like rabbits.

In all but our 4th IUI attempts the doctor prescribed Letrozole for ovarian stimulation. This isn't because I need increased fertility, but simply as a precautionary measure to ensure I produce at least one good follicle. Letrozole is often preferred over other fertility drugs because it helps stimulate the follicles while also lowering the level of estrogen in the body. If the estrogen is too high, the body can hyperstimulate and produce too many follicles, putting you at greater risk of conceiving multiples. But if the estrogen is too low, the uterine lining won't become thick enough to support a growing embryo. Sometimes other fertility medications and injections are used, but it's really only done if the woman isn't responding well to Letrozole. My doctor mentioned this other more invasive form of IUI as an option, but she didn't think it would be particularly helpful for me, so I never chose to do it.

Fortunately I always responded perfectly to Letrozole. In our first three IUIs I built up one follicle that was over 20mm and another that was somewhere between 17 and 19. During our 4th IUI this past August I did not use any fertility medications in order to avoid complications with nursing, but I still produced one very nice follicle measuring 24mm. Tyler had weaned by the time we did our next IUI, so I used the Letrozole again and produced one follicle measuring 22mm and another measuring 14. And in this most recent cycle, I had my best results yet - one measuring at 22mm and one at 21mm. Since I didn't do the trigger until later that evening, they would have been even larger by the time ovulation was induced.

On Oscar's end they've already tested to make sure his sperm are healthy and shaped properly, so in the IUI sample they're really only looking for overall sperm count and if there are enough that can move well enough to get to the egg. These were the results from this past IUI. In pen they have written the minimum number they're looking for after the sperm's been washed. In concentration they wanted at least 15 million; he's at 118 million. In motility they want 40%; he's at 63%. In rapid and linear they want 15%; he's at 44%, and in total motile sperm they want 10 million; he's at 37.2 million. This was after only 36 hours of abstinence as they'd instructed us to have intercourse 36 hours prior to the IUI in order to cover the full period of ovulation. With a longer period of abstinence he's had even higher results. Obviously our inability to conceive cannot be blamed on inadequate sperm.

Because of our past history, we're really not expecting to get pregnant from this IUI, but we'll at least have gained some additional closure in our conception struggles. After 6 failed IUI's where everything look optimal combined with over 7 years of attempting to conceive on our own, it's extraordinarily unlikely that we'll ever conceive without the help of IVF. But at least we'll know we've done everything in our power to conceive, that it's likely my body simply doesn't send fertilized eggs to my uterus, and that conceiving on our own or with IUI would literally require an act of God to make it happen. I think I'm in a good place of acceptance with it, and I'm crazy happy that everyday I get to love a wonderful little boy who's even more adorable than anything I had ever hoped for. The other day when I was saying my prayers I said "God, thank you for this cute little boy. You know how much I longed for a baby. I would have gratefully taken a grumpy, unattractive child and never wanted anything more. But this extra cuteness and sweet disposition is an awesome bonus!"

Update: IUI #6 was also unsuccessful.

For more about our story, see

Our Experience with Infertility Part IV - Trying again: IUI Attempt #4

Our Experience with Infertility Part III - Invitro Fertilization (IVF) and pregnancy

Our Experience with Infertility Part II - Testing, Diagnosis, and IUI's

Our Experience with Infertility Part I - Pre-diagnosis