Our Third Round of IVF

We are done with our third and final round of IVF so it is time to do a recap of it.  Before I start I just wanted to clarify the title of this post a little bit.  We are doing three rounds of harvesting so this is our second round of harvesting. Sometimes when people say a round of IVF they mean the whole harvesting and implanting process but in our case each round is just harvesting.

This round started like the first two rounds with me calling the doctor on the day I got my period.  This month I took 7 days of birth control again but this is where the medicine similarities end. This time after I stopped taking the birth control pills I had to wait for my little short period to start after a baseline ultrasound I was cleared to start medicine.  There were less shots this time around (yay!) because I took 5 days of Clomd which is a pill in addition to the nightly Menopure shots. About a week after I started the Menopure shots they added in Cetrotide.  The Menopure burns when you are injecting it but the needle is really small and short while the Cetrotide doesn't hurt going in but the needle is longer which makes it a little scary to look at.

After about 2 1/2 weeks of medicine my hormone levels were high enough I took the trigger shot.  The trigger shot is my least favorite one because it hurts.  It doesn't hurt during the actual shot but afterwards as the medicine flows through you it hurts.  I usually try to go to sleep as fast as I can after the trigger shot in hopes I can sleep through the pain but this time the shot had to be at exactly 9 PM and I had to take my last Menopure shot at 9:30 PM so this plan wasn't possible.

This time our appointment was at 9 AM so I had to get up nice and early due to traffic and then head out with my empty stomach to have the harvest procedure.  Even though I had done this twice already I was still nervous.  After the procedure was over and they released us it was time for another milkshake.  I was feeling fine (and hungry) so we stopped to get a milkshake near the doctor's office.

This month there were 11 follicles but only 4 of them had mature eggs in them.  After they fertilized them 3 of them were successful and they let them grow for 5-6 days. Of those 3 eggs all three of them made it to day 6 to be frozen and tested.  I was so excited that all three made it to be frozen because the other two rounds we only had one make it each time.

I got the call about a week and a half later that all three of those beautiful frozen embryos were perfect and passed all the tests.  We now have 5 fully tested frozen embryos just waiting to grow inside of me!

After three long and not so fun cycles of IVF harvesting the next steps are to start implanting the embryos and have a baby! I am so excited for what 2019 has in store for our family.

Holiday Food at Disneyland

In addition to all the delicious food (and drinks) at the Festival of Holiday booths there are other delicious holiday offering all over the parks, hotels and Downtown Disney.

At Smoozies in California Adventure there was a very festive Peppermint Crunch Shake.  It was topped with green whipped cream which made it look like it was topped with a Christmas tree.  This shake was delicious and worth the wait I had while it was being made.  Smoozies tends to only have a couple of people working at a time so sometimes it takes a while for you to get the drinks after you order them.

No visit is complete without a visit to the Carthay Circle Lounge and this year their holiday drink was called the Sleigh Ride.  It is a gin based drink with lavender but you can also request it be made with vodka if gin isn't your thing.  I like gin so I went with the original.  Like the Halloween drink it comes with a glow cube. The snowflake glow cube has a couple of different settings but all of them are flashing so I turned that off pretty quickly. I really enjoyed this drink but other than the snowflake it didn't really feel particularly holiday to me.

Also a holiday special at Carthay Circle Lounge was this Pumpkin Hummus with marinated veggies and warm pita. This was just plain delicious and after a day with very few veggies it is always nice to have something a little healthier to counteract all the other things I had eaten that day.  I actually liked this dish so much that I had it a second time on another day.  

The decorations in the lobby of the Grand Californian were not quite done being set up while I was there (I think the tree went up the last day I was there) but the little food/treat station was open and ready.  Like at Halloween the treat station had all kinds of delicious sweets including the cookie shot! The holiday cookie had peppermint sprinkles which were actually a nice combination with the Baileys I had.

One afternoon I went to Lamplight Lounge in hopes of having their holiday cocktail and the Turkey Carnitas Poutine.  As you can probably tell from the picture below I was only successful in half of this mission.  Apparently the Turkey Carnitas Poutine is only available in the upstairs bar (the part that used to be Cove Bar) and not in the downstairs restaurant part which is quite the opposite of what you would expect since the downstairs is the part with the full menu.  Oh well I got something else to eat and had my holiday cocktail.  It was tequila and hibiscus based with a rim of tajin.  It was delicious and tasted a bit like a margarita but like the Carthay Circle holiday drink it didn't really give me a holiday feel.

I know it seems like I drank my way through the parks but actually most of the holiday foods I ate came from the Festival of Holidays booths and most of my holiday drinks were from other places hence the lopsided seeming reviews. This drink was a Mistletoe Mule and had cranberry-orange lemonade in it.  It also had a little gummy orange slice on top that I ate quickly before it became soggy.  This mule was pretty good but a little sweeter than the blood orange one at the festival booth.

At the Mint Julip Bar in New Orleans Square I had the peppermint beignets.  They always have a seasonal flavor in addition to the regular powdered sugar ones and the last couple of years the seasonal flavor has been peppermint.  I do like the peppermint ones but I feel like it is time to move on to a new flavor.  Oh or you know go back to the butterscotch favor they had a few years ago that was beyond amazing.  

And lastly to add to the plethora of drinks (though this time non-alcoholic) I had the Frozen Abuelita Hot Chocolate from Rancho Del Zocalo in Frontierland which I didn't manage to take a picture of. I was a little worried it would be too much cinnamon for my taste but it actually just had a nice spice to it without being overwhelmingly cinnamon.  

Hopefully I haven't made you too hungry but enjoy!

Christmas Decorations

It is the most wonderful time of the year again! I love Christmas and pretty much everything about it so I was very excited to decorate my house for Christmas this year. 

I went to Hobby Lobby a couple of weeks ago to get wrapping supplies and decided to look around while I was there.  As one does.  I saw some really cute centerpieces and arrangements but when I looked at the price my first thought was I can make those for about half that price and I did just that.  I bought a basket, some oasis and a whole bunch of sparkly things to put in and this was the result. I was very happy with the way it turned out!

I took down the painting that normally hangs above our bar and put up a big wreath.  At a charity function earlier this year I got a couple of strands battery operated floral lights from the winning the centerpiece so I added a strand to my wreath.

I took the other strand of lights and put them in the garland that I made last year.  I love that the little side table we have kind of serves as a mantel.  We don't have a fireplace and actually because we celebrate Christmas at my parents house we don't have stockings at our house it doesn't really matter for Christmas.

I put couple little decorations on our TV stand.  The Santa is one of the many Santas that I have from my grandparents.  Every year from the time I was 1 until I turned 18 my grandparents gave me some sort of Santa Clause for my birthday.  I got everything from pillows to figurines to ornaments.

I love how Christmas ornaments look just scattered in a bowl so I tend to use them in multiple places in my house at Christmas time.  This red, green and silver assortment is my favorite combination.

Since my table is not in its extended positions most of the time I put my new centerpiece on our china cabinet for the time being.  I will put it out on the table for entertaining but it looks nice where it is too.

My tree is a mix mash of childhood ornaments, gifts from friends, Disney ornaments and purple and silver balls.   I love my mix mash tree but someday when I have the room for two tree (and I will) one tree will be like this and another one will be all fancy and matching.

This year I finally found a tree topper that I liked.  It plugs into my string lights and is actually less gold and more silver than it looks in this picture.

I don't have any decorations in our bedroom (though I have been very tempted) because there isn't any good places to put them since I have a bunch of stuff on dresser than needs to be dealt with.  While my dresser is occupied I put this little tree and Santa on the shelf of our guest room so anyone staying with us has a little Christmas to enjoy.

I meant to decorate and put lights outside again this year but again I got busy and didn't get around to it so maybe next year. Ok in reality don't hold your breath for next year either because I have grand plans to have a small baby next Christmas.

Festival of Holidays at California Adventure

I went to Disneyland over Veteran's Day weekend and it just happened to be the first weekend of the holiday season so the parks were all decorated for Christmas.  It was also the first weekend of the Festival of Holidays at California Adventure. At the festival there are 13 different booths that serve delicious food and drinks.  I was there for a couple of days and my sister in law joined me for one of them so I was able to eat or at least taste a lot of the items available.

If you are going to be there for a couple of days and want to eat at a bunch of the booths then the most cost effective way to do so (Disclaimer Disneyland is not cost effective) is to buy a Sip and Savor Pass.  It is $49 if you have an annual pass and $54 if you do not and contains 8 little tear off tickets that you can use for anything non-alcoholic at the booths. Basically it will save you more money if you use it on the more expensive things at the booths.

In no particular order here is what I ate/drank/tasted and my thoughts on each.  

At the Merry Mashups booth I was very excited to try the Turkey and Stuffing Tamale. It just sounded so unique and I love tamales so I had high hopes for it.  It totally lived up to my expectations and was unique and delicious. The gravy was good and the cranberry on top cut through the richness of everything.  

At this booth there was also a Holiday Punch made of lime sherbet and Sprite that my sister in law got. It was little sweet for my taste and the ratio between liquid and sherbet was off.  We had a bottle of sparkling water with us and we ended up adding some of it to the punch and it actually improved it. There is an alcoholic version of the punch that used sparkling wine and champaign instead of Sprite.

At the Blissfully Braised booth I got the Cornbread Cakes and they were amazing.  Cornbread cakes, gravy and bacon. Yum, just yum! I actually had them the first day I was there and went back the day my sister in law was there and got them again to share with her. The Braised Pork Belly Adobo at this booth is a repeat dish from previous years and while it is not my favorite it is very popular with a lot of people.  My sister in law got it and said it was as good this year as it had been in past years.

Also at the Blissfully Braised booth was a Blood Orange Ginger Mule. I am a big fan of Moscow Mules so I figured I would like this one and I did.  The blood orange juice and the ginger beer were a good compliment to each other and the little rosemary sprig added a nice little flavor to it.

The Winter Sliderland booth had a Holiday Stuffing Mac & Cheese that was delicious but really it is pretty hard to mess up mac & cheese.  The stuffing topping on the mac & cheese was really good and flavorful.   Disney tends to have at least one type of mac & cheese at each of its festivals and while this one is very good my favorite still goes to the Onion Mac & Cheese from the Food and Wine Festival in 2017.

Also at the Winter Sliderland booth was a drink that was a returning favorite from last year.  The Frosty Froze feels a little small for the price but is very delicious and a nice cool treat in the middle of the day when Anaheim still has a habit of being quite warm even in November.

The returning dish I was looking forward to the most this year was at Bites and Brews. The Chorizo Queso Fundido from last year was so amazing that I was so excited it was back again this year. I love cheese and this cheesy goodness didn't disappoint at all. I don't know how they do it but there is always the exact amount of chips needed to get every last drop of the cheese.

At the Holiday Duets booth I had the Shrimp and Grits and it was quite good.  It had a little bit of a kick to it from the sausage that was in the sauce so if you don't like spice you might want to skip this one. 

Also at this booth was the Warm Chocolate Peppermint Float which was a nice warm sweet treat at night when the temperatures got quite cool. While I really enjoyed this it wasn't quite as good as the Brownie Hot Chocolate (not the actual name) Float thing they had last year.

On my last day in the parks at the end of the day I had one little tab from my Sip and Savor Pass left so I went to Holiday Duets and got the Holiday Mickey and Minnie Cookies to take with me to the airport.  Most of the dishes at the Festival of Holidays are not really things you can take with you so I was glad they had these cookies.

While we are on the subject of yummy deserts the Visions of Sugarplums booth had the best desert I tasted.  My sister in law got the Warm Sticky Toffee Pudding and it was just oozy gooey deliciousness. It looked so good that we dug in before we stopped to take a picture of it.

At the Spicy Celebrations booth I was very excited to try the Jalapeño Latkes because I love spicy things. While they didn't taste like a traditional latke they were fantastic.  The definitely pack a punch but I think most of the spice was in the chipotle sauce even though there were technically jalapeños in the latkes so if you don't like spicy things you might ask for it without the sauce and be okay.

Also at the Spicy Celebrations booth was a delicious Pomegranate Margarita with a chipotle salt rim.  I actually didn't find the salt spicy. It was more of a nice smokey flavor that complemented the margarita well.

One cool evening I stopped at the Winter Wonders booth to try the Pumpkin Soup with maple cashew cream.  The whole booth is vegan foods hence the cashew cream instead of a traditional cream. I really enjoyed this soup and the maple cashew cream was the best part.  I also had the Chana Masala at this booth.  It was fine but not something I would go out of my way to order again.

At the Favorite Things booth they had Ruben Potato Tots again this year.  They were a little bit different than last year but just as good. I think the biggest difference was last year the tots were smashed and this year they were not.  I also don't remember the rye crumbs on the top from last year but that could just be my memory.

My sister in law got the Holiday Ham Shanks at the Favorite Things booth and said it was really good.  I had a bite and I agree it was good.  It is actually a pretty good sized portion with 2 shanks in each serving. I don't like things on bones but the little bite I had was pretty yummy. 

I got the Cranberry Sangria during the middle of the day while it was quite warm out and it was very refreshing.  It was a summer drink with a nice winter twist. 

While it wasn't bad I was kind of disappointed in the Beef Pot Roast on a Potato Roll at Grandma's Recipes. It came with a horseradish cream on top and even when I stuck my finger directly in the cream I didn't get any horseradish taste.  I really like horseradish so I was sad about this. The rest of the sandwich was fine but nothing special. 

The final booth I ate foods at was A Twist on Tradition where I had the Chicken-less Mole and my sister in law had the Pozole Rojo Beef. She got the better end of this deal.  The Chicken-less Mole  was kind of dry and not very flavorful while the Pozole Rojo Beef was moist and delicious. 

There were a few other foods (and drinks) I wanted to try but I did try most of the things that sounded appealing to me.  The Festival of Holidays has lots of options but there are also a whole assortment of other holiday foods at the Disneyland Resort to try too.  Rather than make this post longer than it already is I will make a whole separate post for those other foods and drinks that I tried.

Happy Eating!