Greg and I are planning to renew our vows on our 5th anniversary. This time, we plan on inviting all of our friends and family!

Just before we left for Disney World, I checked NCL’s website to see how far in advance they have their cruise itineraries and I was so surprised to see January 2014 available! So, I called NCL to inquire about their group bookings and perks (which seem to be good). So, now it’s a matter of booking and then sending out the invitations!

I’m hoping to book soon… as in when we get our tax refund and then this summer send out ‘save the dates’ so everyone can start saving. Then, this time next year I’ll send out the invitations!

I’m hoping, with the help of my ADD medicine, I’ll be able to make those really cool boarding pass invitations and maybe a passport for the save the dates!

Yes, I know everything is two years out, but I know the time will go by fast and the earlier I can get a start the better!

Greg and I took over 2,000 photos and we had about 275 Photopass pictures!

I’ll be uploading the pictures onto my Flickr account soon as well as writing a day by day ‘report’. I want to do this so Amelia can read it when she’s older and to put it in the Disney 2012 photo album.

That is my goal.

Amelia doesn’t know about this goal and I won’t tell her until I’ve achieved this goal; however, Greg and I, mostly I, have agreed to no longer ‘let nature take its course’ and attempt to get pregnant with a little medical assistance this year.

I had an appointment with my OB this afternoon and Greg attended the appointment with me (and was actually in the exam room the whole time – I’m so proud of him!). The doctor explained our options and how everything would work; she’s given us orders to have a few things examined – I get an ultrasound to check out my fallopian tubes and Greg gets a seaman analysis! Also, I’ve officially begun taking pre-natal vitamins!

I’ve told Greg that I don’t want to go through extreme infertility treatment, meaning I don’t want to go through IVF and such, and that if we don’t get pregnant this year then Amelia is going to be a single child. Greg and I aren’t getting any younger and I don’t want to be in my late 30′s having a second child. So, I’ve decided this is going to be the year and it’s all or nothing (within reason).

So, the plan of action is once our ‘tests’ have come back and we can rule out any ‘issues’, I’m going to take the medication called Clomid for 3-6 cycles. I had blood drawn last week, on the 3rd day of my cycle as requested, to check my hormone levels and the results were “textbook perfect”, so it’s a relief to know that that part of my reproductive system is working (at least for the last cycle).

How is Greg handling all this? Rather well. Of course, his main concern is money – in that we can afford to take care of another child (daycare and the such), but I explained that it’ll all work out. I don’t know how, or when, or even why, but it will. Besides, it’s not like the last time when we only had 5-6 weeks to prepare ourselves with the thought of becoming parents – we’ll have the whole nine months! Oh, and his second biggest worry is that I’ll get pregnant with twins or triplets!

The more I think about this adventure in expanding our family the more excited I become. Not just because we’re going to try to add a new baby and Amelia will finally get what she’s been wanting since she was two, but that we’ll have the whole nine months to do this together and that Greg will be there at the time of delivery. I feel bad that Greg missed Amelia’s birth and that this life changing event is something he should be a part of. I asked Greg earlier this evening if, when and if I become pregnant, he’d want to know the sex of the baby because a part of me doesn’t want to know. Greg wants to know.

So, there it is – I’ve put it in writing that Greg and I are seeking fertility assistance in attempts to get pregnant with our second child.

Honestly, she’s not showing any symptoms other than the pinkness of her eyes.

And, oh.my.gawd. was it a fight to get Amelia to allow us to put her eye drops in. We pleaded, begged, and bribed to no avail. We almost offered to tell her what her surprise is.

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I can’t believe the holidays are over and that we’ve reach the final week before the trip! Hopefully, I’ll write about Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years in the next day or so (I don’t have to be at work until Wednesday!)

This past weekend we went up to Hunt Valley, MD to hang out. Greg and I used to ‘live’ up here in the early 2000′s, though we didn’t know each other at the time (I was dating my ex-husband and Greg lived and worked here). We have discovered that we did go to the movies a few times at the same time. Small world, right?

Anyway, we had a purpose to our visit… each year we visit Valley View Farms and purchase a new ornament. This has become our family tradition. Well, in addition to an ornament we needed a new tree topper.  So, while we were in Hunt Valley we decided to visit the nature center and the playground which is where the video was taken. I don’t know what it is about this video, but I love watching it over and over; it’s so whimsical and carefree.

Also, while in Hunt Valley, we visited Wegman’s and I finally found some key limes to make key lime pie (my absolute favorite dessert) and we watched the new Muppet Movie and Amelia has been singing the Mahna Mahna song non-stop! I can’t blame her, it’s a catchy song!

Overall, it was a great day.

My Mom and I exchange texts a lot; it’s how we both prefer to communicate with each other (as well as my brother).

Mom and I have always had an inner game when we say I Love You, and it has carried over to Amelia. I’ve attached a screen-shot of the texts Mom and I recently exchanged
And her last reply made me tear up.

I love my Momma.

No? Guess it’s just me.

I was in the shower and started to think about things and ended up having a conversation with myself, in my mind. And, this it occurred to me that I was ‘blogging’ in my mind, except that I wouldn’t remember what I was ‘blogging’ about. So, here I am writing.

My girlfriend, Michele, came home last night from her trip to Florida. This was the week that we were all going to cruise together but everyone had to cancel for various reasons; although Michele and her family still went to Florida, but not on a cruise.

Anyway… Greg went to pick up Michele and her family from the airport when I got home from work. When they got back, Michele’s boyfriends truck wouldn’t start. So, the boys head over to the ghetto Wal-mart (I told them to go to Target) and get jumper cables. Well, I guess the jumper cables were duds because that didn’t work. So, Michele calls AAA and a person is here within 20 minutes (I was impressed!) and they jumped the truck and they’re off. It was about 10pm when they finally started to head home… the 3 hour drive!

I did a lot of online shopping yesterday. I pretty much bought everything Greg wanted. Some of these things include:

A Black Rapid camera strap, the R-5 Cargo:

and tripod fastener:

Greg wants these items to use for the Disney trip.

I also bought Greg a jersey:

It’s an Ashton Villa jersey… all the way from England!

The rest was ordered from his Amazon wish list and a few items I picked up from Disney Store (bought Amelia some new pajamas since they were buy one, get one free).

Greg and I are horrible at keeping surprises from each other.

Let’s just say I know what my big Christmas present is:

And, it’s in that beautiful Empire Red color. I’ve been wanting a Kitchen aid mixer for a while. And, even though we don’t have the counter space to use it to its full potential, I’m still going to use it. Now, I just have  to figure out what I want to make with it…

Also, it doesn’t help that I know the mixer is sitting in the bedroom closet begging me to use it… Maybe, Greg will let me have my present early and let me make something for Thanksgiving with it.

In continuation of our inability to keep surprises from each other, Greg knows about the upgrade I made to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. So now the trick is for Greg to pretend to be surprised when Mom and I share the surprise on Christmas morning (hey! I can keep a secret!) Since (accidentally) sharing the news Greg is even more excited about our trip in 57 days.

To give you a number of how busy I’ve been; in a typical 9 hour work day (I get an hour for lunch), I walk between 1.7-2.0 miles within the office (which is a hair over 7,000 sq. ft); today, at the time of this writing (7:55pm), I’ve walked 2.8 miles. And, I didn’t walk at all during my lunch hour like I normally do (I sat in my car, ate my chicken sandwich, and listened to the radio – I did not want to be in the office and the weather was AMAZING).

Greg had his first dentist appointment since… high school. It didn’t go well. According to the dentist, he needs 4 crowns and roughly $10K in dental work (!!!!). I don’t him to get a list and prioritize the items that are most urgent.

Tomorrow, Amelia has her first dental appointment. I wish I could be there with her, but my schedule doesn’t allow. I’m sure Amelia will do fine, but this is a mile stone…

Last week I had made an appointment to Apple’s Genius Bar to look at my MacBook Pro; the warranty is going to expire in about a week and I wanted to have the laptop looked at to make sure all is well. Also, the CD/DVD drive doesn’t pick up when I insert a disk, so I wanted that looked at too. Turns out there is an issue with the drive and Apple is going to replace it (for free) and I’ll pick it up tomorrow.

When we were done at the Apple store, we headed over to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch (and we didn’t get dessert). The corn fritters at this place are amazing! Also, their chicken salad sandwich is so good.

After lunch, Amelia wanted to ride the carousel. It has become a tradition to ride the carousel whenever we visit the mall.

After the carousel, we walked the long way back to our car but made a pitstop at The Disney Store. Greg initially said we were not to buy anything, but left spending $115. On 2 items. I bought some Pixie Dust lotion (which smells so nice and has glitter in it) and a gift card for our Disney vacation in 57 days! I’ve been wanting to buy a Disney gift card for a few months, specifically the ones that Sams Club was selling but Greg has always been hesitant. So, after talking to one of the Disney Store employees about where we can and can not use the card, Greg finally caved. We’re probably going to get another card, or add to this one before we leave.