Adventures with Spiky

Friday, December 30, 2011

Where to begin???

In November I mentioned that we are working on making a new Spike. Not really a "NEW" Spike but an additional Spike, or Spikette. December was the first month with Follistim; unfortunately it was unsuccessful. The news of it being unsuccessful was not devastating and not entirely that surprising. I'm not going to lie; it is NOT fun being on fertility meds, multiple appointments to have blood drawn, daily shots of fsh for 2 weeks, a shot of hcg and then 2 weeks of progesterone supplements, and I am not even ready to talk about the delivery of the progesterone supplements. But after all of that for several months I still got the Spike and it made the months of frustration, and drs appointments (and then months of morning sickness) totally worth it.
Well adding injury to the insult of the negative pregnancy test on December 27th I go in today (December 29) for baseline blood work and ultrasound and find out that I have a 22mm cyst on my right ovary which means I have to take the month off from fertility meds, and I have to go on aygestin to shrink the cyst. One of the worst parts about the cyst is that I didn't even know I had it until she started the ultrasound and was measuring my uterus and that little bit of pressure was enough to anger the cyst and I have been in some level of discomfort ever since. I am scheduled for another baseline on Jan 23. So here's hoping in February we make another October baby!

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Almond pound cake

Since I had surgery the day before thanksgiving I made my dessert For thanksgiving on Tuesday. I made an almond pound cake. It was the first time I made one that wasn't plain. I think it turned out pretty well. If you want to make this pound cake it is:

2 1/4c all purpose flour

2 1/4c sugar

3 sticks of butter

7 jumbo eggs

1 capful almond extract

1 capful vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325

sift together flour and sugar

add the butter, almond extract and vanilla extract to the mixing bowl. Alternate adding flour/sugar and eggs until all ingredients combined. mix on high for 2 minutes after all ingredients are in the bowl.

Spray bundt pan and add mixture

bake for 1 hr 5 min

the "drizzle" for lack of a better term is in all reality fruit dip.

it is

1 standard package of cream cheese

1 small container of marshmallow cream

1 capful of vanilla.

Whip together, put in a piping bag and drizzle over the cake

This cake I put toasted almonds on top since my grandmother wanted an almond pound cake, generally I don't put any almond flavoring and put mini chocolate chips on top.

November

November has been a busy and emotional month. I really don't even know how to begin to describe how busy and emotional.

My grandfather died on November 14^th. He was diagnosed with bladder cancer earlier this year, so his death was not a surprise but even with it not being a surprise it has still been difficult to deal with. My grandfather was one of the most important men in my life. He taught me how important it was to always be on time for anything, no matter how unimportant the event seemed. He would do anything for anyone weather he knew them or not. Even with his faults the world was a better place with him in it. Spike and I (and most of the rest of my immediate family) were at his house when he died, we sang to him as he took his last breath. It was a very touching moment.

The night of my grandfather's funeral November 17th my father's sister died. I was not close with my aunt, but her passing was still sad.

November 23^rd I had a hysteroscopic D&C with polypectomy. The surgery went as expected and the outlook is good for an additional child in our future. The only odd thing that happened was my iv infiltrated, which made my arm swell, and I have a lovely bruise.

In Spike news he is slowly learning his abc's and since he is only 13 ½ months old I think any abc learning is pretty cool. I have a video on my phone but I don't know if I can upload it from my phone. I'm sure there is an app for that.