Holy guacamole, it's been way too long

You know it's been too long since you've posted when your grandmother says, "You know that website you used to have? I stopped looking because there's nothing new." Yikes! Sorry Nannie. :-(

So here I am, and so much has happened since I last posted. I'll try to go chronologically as best as possible.

I hate to say this, but I did NOT post when Steph visited us in June 2010! I'm a horrible sister. Anyway, she came to visit for about 5 days that summer, and it was a great time of getting to know each other better. At this point it had been nearly 4 years since we first reunited in July of 2006. I will post a few photo's but not many as I was severely overweight at this point!

I am grateful to say that our relationship has continued to grow . It's just lovely having her in my life.

For "health" update: My last post was about beginning a shot to help with my insulin resistance. I wish that I had started that sooner as it helped so much. With in 2 weeks I had lost nearly 10lbs. and it had already made a difference with other symptoms of my PCOS. By December 2010, I had lost 21lbs. and had seen a decrease in my insulin levels. In February 2011, I had an ultrasound to check the state of my ovaries since I had been having minor symptoms of a possible cyst. To everyone's surprise, they were both completely cyst-free! That was a huge relief because ti meant my meds were definitely helping in controlling the PCOS.

In March 2011, Matthew picked-up Sergeant! That was very exciting news for us as he had been waiting for a long time. Also, he finalized his reenlistment packet. He would be LAT moving (Changing jobs) to be an avionics technician on the CH-53 "Super Stallion" helicopter. At this point, he was just waiting for a seat at his new school open.

Also this month, Stephanie, along with her parents and fiance, met us in New Orleans to finally meet the entire Davis family! There are so many photos from this trip it is hard to decide which to post on here. Forgive me early for bombarding you :-)

At the St. Patrick's Day parade with Mom & Dad

Stephanie & Christopher on the ferry

Christopher, Stephanie, Donna & Johnny

I believe this is the only photo of us four girls:

Me, Steph, Mom Tommie and Mom Donna

Our trolley ride "tour" of St. Charles Ave. and downtown New Orleans

The girls with Grandpa

This really does depict all of our personalities. (With Val, our cousin)

At the Audubon Zoo

I don't remember where we were going, but we were going out somewhere.

Dinner at Aunt Ginny's

We had to introduce them to some delicious New Orleans cuisine:

BBQ shrimp, chicken & sausage gumbo and red beans & rice

Our grandparents

Me, mom, Steph, Johnny & Donna

This is the entire family at the crawfish boil so kindly hosted by Uncle Paul & Aunt Sally

(We are only missing a few people: cousin Val, cousin Alena, cousin Josh and cousin Harry, RIP)

We couldn't have done this trip at a better time because sadly in August Donna passed away.

Sisters with husband and soon-to-be husband :-)

Teaching Christopher how to peel a crawfish

We cheated and picked-out all the good ones

And that completes that! :-)

In May 2011, I attended Matt's reenlistment ceremony

Let's see...  Over last summer, Matt & I actually got to enjoy the beach we live so near by!

And we even enjoyed some local events, such as this Air Show in Wilmington, NC

In July 2011, Matt was finally awarded a Purple Heart for his injuries in Afghanistan during an explosion that happened 09/09/09. I was not able to attend this ceremony due to late notice.

More development in the health area: After the years of trying to deal with my PCOS, I was finally allowed to see an OB-GYN in July 2011. Although  all of my paperwork was labeled "infertility" for insurance purposes, our main focus was to correct whatever we could with my issues so that when the time comes, we know what's possible and what needs to be done to start a family.  This started a big quest with a lot of the answers we needed. With the help of my doctor, we decided to schedule an exploratory laproscopy in August 2011. It was thought I might possibly have endometriosis and a lap is the only way to diagnose this. She also wanted to see if my tubes were blocked or clear as this could be the reasoning behind no cycles as well. During ym surgery, she found that my right tube was clear but the left was blocked. She was able to "blow" through that blockage on the second try. While exploring for endometriosis, she discovered some connective tissue that had attached my uterus to the back of my abdominal wall. This tissue continued to go down through my pelvis and had adhered to my bowel, wrapping around it. After consulting with gastro, it was decided this tissue was safe to remove and was sent to pathology for analysis confirming it as endometriosis. On the right rube is where she found a hemorrhagic endometrial cyst which was basically a cyst caused by endometriosis on my tube that had ruptured and was hemorrhaging. She was able to remove and fix this as well. After surgery, she confirmed that no new cysts had developed since my last ultrasound in February. Surgery recovery was worse than I anticipated. I ended up taking off an extra week or work and probably wished I had taken the third week as my doctor suggested. Meanwhile, I began a fertility medication called Femara to see if we could get my body to ovulate. We had a successful ovulation the first try but later found out that my progesterone level was too low. This meant that my body's hormone levels weren't enough to sustain a pregnancy if one occurred. This was a simple fix by just raising the dose. My hormone levels with subsequent cycles were within normal ranges.

We celebrated Matt's 25th birthday in September with friends

In October, I went to Birmingham to stand in Stephanie & Christopher's wedding.

I could on and on with those photo's, but I believe you get the idea.

Final health update: In November 2011, after four successful cycles, it was Matthew's turn to be tested. When his analysis came back, we learned that he's got some reproductive issues too. So with these things at hand, it's been concluded we will need IUI or IVF for a successful pregnancy. For now, no more fertility meds until it's time for expanding our family with implantation attempts. Although it could happen on its own, that is a highly unlikely scenario. I personally feel at peace with everything. All of this has almost given me the permission to move on for now. I got the answers I wanted: yes, I can ovulate and have a cycle with some medication, and we will need additional help in successfully conceiving. But now we know exactly what needs to be done when we're ready. For now, we'll continue to monitor my cycles and insulin as always, but we will not be doing anything else until it's time to move onto IUI/IVF.

In December 2011, Matt finally left for his new school in Pensacola, FL. He will be gone until late March of this year. Since we have family in and near Pensacola, I decided to go home for Christmas. This was very exciting for both of us as it had been a while since we've had a holiday with our families. It's been so long in fact, that we have never spent a major holiday with our families as a married couple!

On Christmas Eve, we visited Matt's Granny

And my grandparents

Before going to my cousin's house for the annual Davis Christmas celebration.

Cousin Rick, cousin Dan, myself and cousin Val

The kids got to open presents

And then the adults got to play White Elephant

It was a great Christmas Eve!

Christmas Day was spent with Matt's family

Where we opened gifts

Enjoyed family

And even had some lunch!

After a break

We were back on the road to Florida to have Christmas with the final group of family

Matthew, Jamie, Dad & Nannie

It was a wonderful Christmas for us. But now it's back to life. Matt is still in Florida of course, and I'm here in North Carolina working and back in school. I will do my best to keep this updated better.