Raising Riley Joe: An Upright Child...Almost

Just when I was getting ready to post about how Miss Riley may never walk she goes and surprises us. Last night she took FIVE STEPS on her very own. And then held a repeat performance today! She's almost there. We're very close to having a walker in the house. She's such a super speedy crawler I thought she may never see the benefit in walking. I was imagining taking a crawling five year old to kindergarten. Okay, that's a joke, but seriously, she is the fastest crawler. Sometimes I can't catch her. Let's hope she keeps taking steps on her own because when we try to get her to walk she throws a fit, pulls her legs in, and refuses. This little girl will do things WHEN SHE DANG WELL WANTS TO! And I LOVE that about her.

Pictured here are the front and bank of our princess. I love both of these pics. For some reason I'm obsessed with pictures of her from behind. I think they are so dang cute!

Our Conception Story

After eight years together we were pretty sure we'd spend our life with our four legged kids, doing lots of camping, and traveling the world. On August 12, 2004 that all changed with the birth of our God Daughter Tate. We immediately fell completely in love with her and soon began to re-think our decision of not having kids.

In October 2005 we began the process of trying to conceive. As soon as we started trying Shelly began having very erratic cycles which made the process that more complicated. After four tries over six months we decided to schedule a consultation with the a Reproductive Specialist. We were desperate to conceive and on a limited time frame since Shelly had just turned 41. Dee was 35 at the time but not able to conceive due to a medical procedure.

Our first appointment with the Repro Man was May 2006. He suggested we try IVF using Dee's eggs and Shelly as the gestational mother. He felt this scenario would give us the highest chance for success of a healthy pregnancy. We spent a short amount of time weighing our options and decided this was the best choice. We began our first IVF cycle in August. They did the Egg Retrieval and Fertilization on 8/31. Three days later, 9/3, they transferred three embryos into Shelly. Then the wait began.

Shelly promised not to begin the home pregnancy test too soon. Dee had to travel out of state for business a week after the transfer and asked Shelly to please wait to test. BUT, the wait was too much for her and she started testing after a week. At first there was no line. But after a couple of days testing a faint line started to appear. When Dee came home from her trip Shelly told her, "I know I'm pregnant." Dee didn't believe her and insisted the line wasn't dark enough so she tested herself to compare. There was absolutely no line. She began to believe Shelly was pregnant but still had doubt. Dee went to the store and bought another brand of testing strips. After five home tests, we were convinced we we're pregnant due to all positive results. A blood test at two weeks confirmed it; we were going to have a baby!

About Us

As of 4/12/08 we've been together 11 wonderful and exciting years. We're not legally, or illegally, married, yet. At this point we feel the biggest commitment we could ever have made to one another is our decision to have a family. On May 19, 2007 our dream came true when our precious miracle Riley Joe entered our lives.

We share our Utah home with Shelly's brother, Uncle Steve (that's Deve to Riley) , our fur babies (Morgan and Roxi), and Steve's cat Cato.

This is our story, our life, our adventures.

Raising Riley Joe

Friday, June 27, 2008

An Upright Child...Almost

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