Shoutout To My Storks

When Dave and I decided that we were ready to try for a baby, I decided that I wanted to keep it a secret. I had always had a feeling that fertility wouldn't come as easy to me as it did for the rest of my family, and I really didn't want to deal with people checking out my belly, keeping track of my cycle, and asking me if I was knocked up yet. I ended up getting pregnant that first month, but was devastated when that pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. I was encouraged to learn that it turned out I was wrong about my lack of fertility, but as the months went by without any more pregnancies, I began to worry again. Knowing that I could get pregnant really didn't mean anything if I couldn't stay pregnant, and it seemed like I had been waiting a really long time to get pregnant again! To keep myself sane, I reacted the way I usually do... research, research, and research some more! I learned as much as I could about fertility, infertility, treatments, pregnancy, and even breastfeeding. (Yes, I'm a nerd. I love research and information. Although amazingly enough, even with this love for learning, I hated school! Go figure!).
In my obsession, I also did something out of character for me... I talked about it. Okay, I only told one person (Ang), but that one conversation (that lasted about 10 hours and didn't end until the wee hours of the morning) paved the way for me meeting about 40 women who had the same obsession that I did, Ang included. Ang was also secretly trying to have a baby, and had joined an internet message board that was based on women who were trying to conceive (TTC) their first child. She encouraged me to join, and I hemmed and hawed, desiring support but not sure how much of myself I was willing to share (especially with complete strangers!). Eventually, I decided to join, and I am so glad that I did!!! I met some great women when I joined that board, and it didn't take long before the group of us discovered that we had something special. Though we all came together based on our similar desires to become a mother for the first time, we quickly realized that we had many other things in common, too. Over the last three years, this group of women (whom you may have heard me refer to as Storks, since the name of our bulletin board, and now our private website- by invitation only, we've become a very exclusive group... but not in the bad way- was called The Stork's Nest. You may have heard me refer to The Nest, as well) has gone through everything together. We've been there through positive and negative pregnancy tests, miscarriages, illness, 2 weddings, infertility and infertility treatments, the birth of our first child, the beginnings of starting the adoption process, and even in a few cases the birth of our second child (yes, we've been together so long that some are already done with #2!). I won't try to explain to you the bond that these women have because I'm fairly certain that it's unexplainable to someone who has never experienced it for him or herself, so I'll just tell you that I love my Storks! And all my Stork nieces and nephews, too!

(BTW, as you know it turned out that I was among the fertile- I was just super impatient and unsure after my miscarriage... after 7 months of trying I got pregnant again, and this time I carried to term -okay, well past term- and now I have a beautiful, healthy, smart and handsome 2 year old son to show for it!)

And, while we're talking about Storks...

This Sunday, Jack and I grabbed Ang and Austin and headed down to Fashion Island! I know, you're thinking it's about time, right? I mean, I do need a lot of fashion help, so what better place to find it than a place called Fashion Island. However, and unfortunately for you (cause you're the one that has to look at me in all my unfashionable glory), we were not going there to shop! Instead, we were meeting Nicolle (she's a Stork, too!) and Dylan (her son, my Stork nephew!) down there to hang out with a Stork friend, Heather, from Pennsylvania! She was out here for a wedding, and we were very excited to get to see her and her son, Joey, face to face! We of course recognized her right away, and as all Stork meetings go, it was like we were meeting up with an old friend... if you had tagged along with us you couldn't have known that we had never actually "met" each other in person before! Storks are the best! The boys had fun, too! Joey is 3 weeks older than Jack and Jack is 3 weeks older than Dylan, and Austin is very grown up for a 7 month old, so they're all similar in age :D

BTW, I charged my camera battery and cleared off my memory card in anticipation of getting some really fun shots of our 4 boys but, believe it or not, I forgot my camera! Seriously!!! ME!!! Apparently it isn't attached permanently around my neck, as previously thought! Luckily, the other girls did remember their cameras, and were nice enough to share their pictures with me! Here are some from Ang's camera.

He didn't get a nap that day, but fell asleep as soon as we pulled into the parking lot. He loves sitting next to Austin in the car, BTW... he was holding his hand most of the ride!


Jack and Aunt Ang checking out the Koi pond... which he purposefully stepped in and was sopping wet all the way up to his knee


Nicolle, Dylan, Heather and Joey checking out the same Koi pond


Joey loved Austin!



The older three boys used a lot of energy playing together




Heather and Joey, who was very tired by the end!


Group shot! Me and Jack, Heather and Joey, Nicolle and Dylan, and Ang and Austin