Best Birthday Present Ever!

Well, my birthday is tomorrow, and I've already got the best gift I could possibly ask for. 

Baby Martin is looking healthy and adorable.  

Baby Martin at 8 weeks 3 days - "The Gummy Bear Stage"

This has been our best and most reassuring appointment to date.  The baby is measuring out beautifully.  The heart rate jumped from where it was last time, which is what it's supposed to do.  The blood clot just went away.  Everything seems to be working wonderfully this time around.  

Everything looked so good that our doctor is releasing us back to my regular doctor.  I have mixed feelings about this.  It's awesome because our doctor says he doesn't release patients until he feels very confident that everything is working and baby appears to be healthy.  I'm sad because the doctors and staff at Memphis Fertility Associates have truly been phenomenal.  I don't want to leave them!  (I love my regular doctor, but there is just something extra special about Memphis Fertility Associates.)  

Thank you so much for your prayers.

~

Tomorrow is my birthday, and of course my students made me feel extra special.  I got so many adorable cards.  They brought tears to my eyes!  

I don't like to show names, so I just picked a couple of them that didn't have names on them.  I may have to post more later.  

Have a blessed day!

Love,

Corre

100 Things to Eat in Memphis: Trolley Stop

We had a triple treat Friday night.  We got to see our friend Tim perform magic tricks at Trolley Stop.  We got to hang out with our friend Patty!  We also got to knock another meal off the 100 Things to Eat in Memphis Before You Die Blog.

At Trolley Stop, you get to order any pizza of your choice!  I went with the three cheese, white style.  HOLY COW!  The thing was huge!!!  Also, it was delicious.  It was the perfect Friday night meal!

Also, Tim did an excellent job performing magic tricks for us and the many patrons at Trolley Stop.  

100 Things to Eat in Memphis: Tops

My husband and his sweet family joined me on a trip to Tops Bar-B-Q to knock another dish off the 100 Things to Eat in Memphis Before You Die Blog.  

The list says to nosh on the burger.  

I really really liked the burger.  I'll go back, but the place smelled so good, I can't believe that is what made the list.  I feel like some of their BBQ should have been on there.

Another thing about Tops is the service.  Let's just say, it's not always "with a smile."  I guess that's part of the atmosphere though!  

100 Things to Eat in Memphis: Las Delicias

Yummy!  Michael's mom and dad were in town, so we knocked out two places on the 100 Things to Eat in Memphis Before You Die Blog. 

We went to Las Delicias to have some of their amazing Guacamole.  It did not disappoint.  My only complaint is that there wasn't more to go around!  

7 Weeks!

We saw a heartbeat!!!

It is such a miracle that I am even typing this blog. I was so worried I'd end up spending tonight bawling my eyes out. I'm so ecstatic to report that I am a happy girl while typing this!

We lost our last two babies around 6 weeks, so this was our first chance to experience a heartbeat.  The heartbeat was the most beautiful little flicker I've ever seen.  Michael had the sweetest, most honest reaction. ;)  I wish we could have taped the moment. I was already in tears because I was so scared. When the image popped up, it was like the most indescribable wonderful moment.  Scared tears became happy tears.

Now, we aren't out of the woods, but the doctor says that seeing a heartbeat puts us in a new category. He is very optimistic.

There are a couple of things he is watching. I have a weird bacteria infection. It was at one point in time thought to cause miscarriages, but I am being treated for it and have been for about a week. Doc says that it probably isn't what caused my first two miscarriages. He doesn't think that spotting it is why I'm all of a sudden having a good pregnancy, but he says he would still want it treated. Still, it's weird, so any prayers for that are appreciated.

The other thing is that I have a blood clot. It isn't close to anything important, so we are just going to keep watching it. He did not seem worried about that either. Still, it makes me nervous, so prayers regarding that are appreciated.

I also need prayers regarding my anxiety. I spent the day in a state of nervous anticipation. I know I need to calm down. I don't think I'll breathe easy until this baby is in my arms, but I need to at least learn how to just breathe and let things happen.

Thank you so much for reading this and praying for Michael and me as we go through this!

Scared

I've been having baby dreams the last couple of nights.

I've had three in total. In two of them, I lost the baby. In the other, I made it and had the baby.

What does this mean?

I'm so incredibly afraid of what our Monday 7-week appointment will tell us.

Michael keeps saying prepare for the worst, but hope for the best.

I'm trying... I'm just ready for Monday to be here.

DC - Day 4

It was sooooo cold today...again. But, we had a lot of fun. The highlight was seeing Ford's Theater. It was also cool to see Georgetown. There's not a close Metro station, so we had to walk.

We also ate some great food. We went to Old Ebbitt's Grill, Georgetown Cupcakes (where DC cupcakes is filmed), and Bayou. Everything was good. If you ever go to Bayou, get the cheesecake appetizer. So delish.

It was a fun day!!

DC - Day 3

Today was a little crazy.

We went to the George Washington Masonic Memorial. It was a little weird. There wasn't much to do there, but there were some cool statues of #1.

We ate lunch at a fabulous Thai place called Pasara. It's in Alexandria.

We headed to the Capitol where President Obama was also visiting. His visit was really a pain in the neck. They won't let you anywhere close to the building while he's arriving. We saw his motorcade, but never saw him.

Then, we had a scheduled Capitol tour at 2. Because of Obama's presence, we weren't allowed to go on the tour.

We did get to go into the gallery and watch the several members of the House of Reps battle over a welfare bill. That was cool to watch. No cameras were allowed of course.

After that, we were starving. We had dinner reservations at 8 and it was only 4, so we decided to split a burger and fries at Good Stuff Eatery. It was sooo very good.

We then headed to see all the different memorials. You can see what we visited in the pics.

After that, it was time for dinner.

I love watching Top Chef, so I had researched and found out one of the chefs has a restaurant in DC. It's Mike Isabella's restaurant. It's called Graffiato. (Turns out Good Stuff Eatery is the product of Spike Mendelsohn, also a Top Chef chef!) The appetizers at Graffiato were awesome. The ceasar salad had the croutons on it that were filled with cream cheese. They were melt in your mouth good. Michael got some soup that was also delish. I was a little disappointed in our entrees. My pizza was just ok and Michael's calamari fettucini was a little to calamarish!
Dessert was pretty good.

We then took a long walk/metro ride home.

This was a fun day, but I don't think over ever been this cold for an extended amount of time!

DC - Day 2

We did a lot today!

I'm so tired, I'll let the pics tell the story!