Saturday Mornings

As I sit here on this fine spring morning, listening to a Lady Gaga marathon (Jason picked it, should I be concerned about his manhood!?) I realize that life is looking up. Yes the housing market still sucks and there is currently no hope of selling our "up north vacation home", I have started a new job. We had just gotten back from Van Family Florida Fun Time (fun indeed, see picture above) and I got a phone call Monday morning offering me a job from a place I interviewed at back at the beginning of March. I really had no hope of getting the position because it was far out of my realm of Civil Engineering, but low and behold, they wanted me. I started right away and have just finished up my second week with SGASi (http://www.sgasi.com/). We are a stage production company that works for some really big clients including Disney, WWE, NFL, and pretty much every notable casino in Vegas. I an doing stage and seating design which means I am back in front of a computer doing AutoCAD and am not lugging 40lb cylinders of concrete all over Lansing. Thus, life is better.

Getting back in the swing of working full time has been difficult. The fact that Jason has been working 60hr weeks since we got back from vacation doesn't help either. I still have to do all the household things that I was doing before, plus work a 9 hour day. When I get home from work I have to find time to work out, tire out the Critter Crew, get dinner on the table and relax. So things are a bit crazy while I settle back in to work. I've done it before and I'll do it again.

With Easter this weekend we plan on taking it easy. I took the dogs each for their own runs this morning and persuaded Jason to make breakfast (score!). I still have 400 other things to do but Jason tries to remind me to slow down and take some time to my self. Finishing the front yard raking is on the agenda as well as laundry and bathroom cleaning. What's that saying? A woman's work is never done? So beyond true. It's Saturday Night at home Date Night for the Repkes'. Shut off the TV, open a bottle of wine, and bust out a board game. I'll relax then.

Happy Easter to all and may the Easter Bunny leave you lots of goodies and no rabbit turds!

Emotional Subject

As some of you may or may not know, Jason and I have been trying to start a family for over 2 years. Though I do still believe that God will let us have a baby when we are good and ready for it, the process doesn't get any less frustrating. In October of 2008 I was diagnosed with PCOS (poly cystic ovarian syndrome). Though women with PCOS can have children, it can often become difficult. All my life I've battled with my weight, my acne, and my health in general. I'd been to doctors all over Michigan trying to discern what the problem could be. And in 2008, by chance, my Doctor finally figured it out. I was informed that I basically looked and had the profile of a woman with PCOS. Irregular cycles, being active but carrying a lot of weight around the middle, adult acne, etc. The clincher was when they drew blood to test my hormone levels and they were pretty much non-existent. My doctor but me on a medicine called Metformin that regulates insulin levels which in turn regulates hormone levels which in turn regulates cycles. She also wanted me to lose about 40lbs and at that point she would send me to a fertility specialist. This new medicine took some getting used. Just ask Jason, I couldn't control any of my emotions for the first couple months and looked basically acted like a crazy person. I medication worked and my cycles were soon on track. Weight was slowly coming off and we really hoped that soon we would have one on a way. Flash forward to October 2010. I've been on metformin for 2 years and still no baby. I moved to Lansing and that was the first time I went to see a fertility specialist. Dr. Leach confirmed my PCOS, deemed me healthy enough to carry a child, and had no reason not to believe that we could easily achieve this with the right medication. He started me on Clomid which is a drug that will stimulate ovulation. We did 3 cycles of it, and though I ovulated, Still no baby. Our hopes were so high during those 3 months. Every month we thought that would be it but then my cycle would start again and we'd be devastated. At this time I continued on my weight loss journey, went in for another consultation with Dr. Leech, and continued our prayers. Since I had last seen Dr. Leech in October I had lost about 20lbs. This is very encouraging for an overweight woman who is trying to get pregnant. And instead of going to the next step of medications and artificial insemination (SCARY complications might I add) we decided that I would continue to lose weight, and after 3 months, do another round of Clomid. And that is where we are right now. From the time I was diagnosed with PCOS in October of 2008 I have lost approximately 40lbs. And the majority of that has been in the last 3 months. Jason and I are still hopeful that we can become pregnant the old fashioned way and that one day God will bless us with a baby. I mean we have 3 dog babies, of course, but they're dependent on my for their entire lives, children eventually leave the nest! :) Well that's it. We're off to Florida on Wednesday to celebrate Dad's 60th birthday. Mark, Jaime, Jason and I are all flying down to spend some time with Mom and Dad at their new house in their old people's park. Those old folks won't know what hit them!

It's Been Awhile

Welcoming back blog readers! OR maybe I should say welcome back me since I seem to have been MIA from my blog for the last 6 months. It seems like just a year ago that I was talking about us finishing the remodel on our house in Petoskey and putting it up on the market. Well now I'm having Deja Vu. Since we just put that house BACK on the marked this week at $20,000 less. Jason and I want to get on with our lives! So we need all the help/prayers/finger crossing you can give us.

I moved to Eaton Rapids in September and set up our house down here. Jason's new company paid for our move so it was fairly painless. Trying to fit 2,200 sft of stuff into a maybe 1,100 sft house was a challenge. We're a little cramped and most of our things are in bins in the basement. I did get to have my piano come down. It had been sitting at Mom and Dad's since I left for college and this house actually has a place for it so I get to play once in a while.

I took a job with a company called PSI and I work in Construction Services. Basically I drive around mid-michigan and test construction materials and tell contractors what to do. I was laid off in December and have been waiting for Construction Season to start back up ever since. Meanwhile I continue to look for a job in the Civil Engineering industry but it's pretty dead right now.

In the meantime Jason and I have decided just to get on with our lives. Our old house not selling and me being laid off are really holding us back since we're broke most of the time. But we just can't wait for things to get better anymore. When Jason got laid off at GRP in December of 2009 our whole lives were put on hold and we stopped trying for the tings we wanted out of life and instead were just trying to survive. Well we survived. The war is not over yet, but we're going to be on the winning side.

I have even started to get back in shape. Which I think shocked the shit out of my loving mother since she's been eager for me to do that for some time. I've lost almost 30 lbs in the last 4+ months and feel great. I've started running again which I love. The dogs love it too since they're a little tubby (I'm talking to you BEAN) from the winter.

OK that's it for now. I've got things to do before Jason gets home from work in an hour. I make a promise to my readers to try and blog more often. I know I have like 5 readers, but hey, whatever!