First Post

This is my first blog post.  I am going to use this blog for my paper crafting addiction and hobby, to vent about school, talk about family, vacations Brandon and I take, my weight loss journey, and the road of infertility that Brandon and I are going down.

Making posts on my blog about all of the above things was suggested to me by my dad's friend Julie (sorry Julie if this embarrasses you).

First order of business is describing myself.  I'm Tori and I'm married to my best friend in the entire world Brandon.  We started dating in November 2002, so we are coming up on being in a relationship for 10 years.  We have had our ups and we have had plenty of downs.  We got engaged in March of 2006 in Disney World during the nightly fireworks in the Magic Kingdom.  Then we got married on December 7, 2007 at Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines and had our reception at The Renaissance Savery in Downtown Des Moines.

We then honeymooned in Disney World again in December 2007 for 7 days.  We stayed in a Magic Kingdom view room in the Contemporary Resort.  The weather was perfect and we got to see all of the Christmas decorations.  We bought our first house in May of 2009, and we are still living here now, we would love to get a bigger home, but we may have to wait until I am finished with school.

We have two dogs, Maggie (shih-tzu) and Molly (black lab/border collie mix).  They are our babies.  Maggie is 5.5 years old and Molly just turned 2 in May.

Brandon works two jobs, he works 36 hours per week at a lab in Des Moines making hydrogels for ultrasounds and defibrillators.  His second job he works 20 hours per week at a nursing home pharmacy.  Since he has these two jobs we don't see a whole lot of each other.

I am a full time student at Iowa State University getting my bachelor degree in Accounting.  I will graduate in December of 2013, so only have 4 semesters left including a summer semester next summer.  I enjoy numbers so that is why I chose accounting.

Brandon and I have been trying to start a family for well over a year now with no luck.  I have had my hormone levels tested and my doctors are 99.9% sure that I have PCOS (Polycycstic Ovarian Syndrome), for those that don't know what that is basically it means I don't ovulate and no ovulation equals no eggs to fertilize.  I have an ultrasound scheduled for this coming Monday to 100% confirm that that is what I have.  Once they have diagnosed me then my doctor is going to start me a medication that will help regulate my hormone levels.  Another way to lessen the symptoms of PCOS is to lose weight which is why I have started back at weight watchers.  I have been going for two weeks now and have lost 6.8 pounds total.  That may not seem like a whole lot but I also cannot exercise very well right now because I broke my foot in January in four places and had 3 bones set and my foot is still not healed all the way.  I am having another foot surgery on July 30th to repair the tendon that is causing all the problems.

Brandon and I are heading to Disneyland on July 19th for his birthday and we are both getting really excited.  We have dog sitters all lined up (thank you Reha clan and Aunt Sheryl!)  We are flying Southwest out of Kansas City since Southwest will not be in Des Moines until September 30.  We are staying at a Holiday Inn Resort in Anaheim.  I'm really nervous about eating healthy on vacation because any Disney vacation isn't exactly a healthy place to go on vacation.  We return to Des Moines on July 22, which is Brandon's birthday.

I do not know how often I will post to the blog, but will try and post a couple of times a week.  I am going to post a scrapbooking/paper crafting post tomorrow when I start working in my scrapbook room tomorrow.  For tonight, take care and God's peace.