Our Journey to Mason - Infertility and An Unexpected Lunch Gathering

About two and a half years ago Brandon and I began the journey to start our family and little did we know what God had in store for us...

We began trying for a baby in the fall of 2009.  We were not taking any drastic measures or doing any charting or temperature taking since getting pregnant is like one of the most natural phenomenons known to man.  Yeah....not for us.  After a year of trying with no success we finally enlisted the help of a fertility specialist.

We went in to the first appointment reluctantly because we still did not think we needed their help.  After some initial testing for both of us, which came back clear, I began my first round of Clomid.  That was December of 2010.  After two months on that medication I knew I had had enough.  The side effects were so terrible that I just couldn't take it.  My head felt like it was in a vice grip around the clock, I was irritable, and I just felt crappy so we switched it up and I started taking Femara.  In January, we started intrauterine insemination (IUI) treatments along with the medication.  After two failed attempts, we went back to the drawing board.  After some discussion about what could be preventing pregnancy, it was decided that I should have an exploratory surgery to check for endometriosis, even though I had no symptoms of the disease.  So in April of 2011, I had the surgery and the doctor found some inflammation and signs of endometriosis.  He was able to clean it up nicely and we went on our merry way.

The next two months we continued with the IUI treatments paired with the Femara and added in a timed ovulation shot to give us a better chance for success.  Well, as you can imagine we were unsuccessful both times.  By this point we were tired.  We were tired of feeling like science experiments.  We were tired of living our lives in two week increments.  We were tired of the constant roller coaster of emotions.  We were tired of hearing other people's pregnancy announcements.  We were just plain tired.  We found out that our last treatment did not work in July of 2011 and by that point we had resolved to take some time off from this whole baby-making process.  We wanted to clear our minds and get back to a happy place.

It was at that time that we decided to look for a new house and focus on new things.  We began looking for houses in August and ended up putting our house on the market in September.  The house buying experience was not great but it gave us something else to think about.  On Friday, December 3, our house sale was going down the toilet and Brandon and I were in sporadic contact through out the day regarding house issues.  At one point as I was headed to a meeting Brandon called me about a house issue and he was obviously shaken up.  I didn't have a lot of time to talk to him before the meeting but once I got home, I realized why he was so upset.

In the midst of the house confusion, he had received a phone call from his mom that changed the whole ball game for us.  Earlier that day she had gone to lunch with her monthly lunch group.  This is a group of ladies who used to work together several years ago and they still get together once a month to catch up.  Well, at this particular lunch Brandon's mom walked away with a piece of information that could possibly change our lives in ways we could have never imagined...Stay tuned for more!!!

And just for good measure, here is a pic of little Mason in all his cuteness :)

Introducing Mason Cole Brungardt!!!!!

On Thursday, April 12, Brandon and I were blessed with the greatest gift of all -- a sweet baby boy!!  Mason weighed 6 pounds 4 ounces and was 18 3/4" long.  We had been praying for God to bring us a baby for a long long time and He provided us with waaay more than we could have asked for. 

I plan to share our entire story very soon because there is so much to be thankful for and we want to make sure to give God ALL of the glory for this little miracle.  So, stay tuned!!!

Cleaning Out The Closet

Saturday morning was rainy and yucky so I spent the morning inside cleaning out our closets.  I rotated out all of our winter clothes and brought in our spring and summer clothes.  This is one chore I hate doing but am so glad when it is finished because everything is organized and in its place.

Brandon had rearranged his clothes already, but I took the opportunity to sort them by color.  We'll see how long that lasts...

I also sort my clothes according to color, but mine generally tend to stay sorted ;)

I should have taken a before shot of the mess of shoes that I had going on, but I am too embarassed to show that to anyone.  Needless to say, this is a massive improvement on what I had going on in the shoe department.

Here is another section of shoes which are mostly sandals.

Before I put my spring and summer clothes away last fall, I sorted through the pieces I did not wear that season and made a big donation pile.  As I pulled out the same tub this year, I realized I gave away quite a bit -- one disclaimer though, I gave away a lot of clothes that did not fit anymore since I did Weight Watchers because I did not want to have any excuse for gaining weight back.  Needless to say, I have a few things I need to replace for the season.

It feels so good to have this chore behind us.  Now if only I could tackle the rest of the house....

Easter Weekend

I hope you all had a fantastic Easter celebrating Jesus' resurrection!  It is pretty amazing to know that He has overcome death just for us!!

We drove to my parents' house on Saturday evening and then got up and went to church with them.  Their church choir did a great Easter medley and we heard a good sermon.  It was a nice way to start the day!


{A quick picture after church}

 After church we headed home and started getting lunch ready.  My two aunts, an uncle and my cousin all came out to celebrate with us. 

{Our Easter table}

For lunch, my mom made ham, potato casserole, green beans, corn and rolls. My aunt brought a salad and I made dessert. I opted for two Spring inspired pies -- Fresh Strawberry Pie and Layered Lemon Pie (I modified this recipe by using a graham cracker crust and purchasing the lemon curd). They were both YUMMY!

We had a pretty low key day -- the guys watched The Masters and us girls spent the day visiting.  There was one incident where my mom was throwing a ball for Koby and clocked one of my aunts right in the head!!  We all had a pretty good laugh :)  I fully intended on taking a lot of pictures but we got so busy talking that I completely forgot!

I'm thankful that we can celebrate Easter and have everlasting hope for the future! 

Thursday Things

• Yesterday, we had what weathermen were calling "non-threatening cold air funnels" hovering around the city.  Only in Kansas do we have these crazy "non-threatening" funnel clouds.  Here is a picture of one of the funnels, courtesy of a local news station.

• Easter is three days away and I do not have an Easter outfit.  It is suposed to be chilly which makes figuring out an outfit even more challenging.  Have I mentioned that I hate this time of year when it comes to clothing options??

• I have the day off tomorrow so my mom is coming to town and we are going to spend the day together.  I think we have a lot of shopping in our future!  I need some house stuff and she's needs to pick up her new sewing machine.  It will be so nice to just hang out with her!

• I'm sort of addicted to the new peach smoothies at Panera. They are so yummy!!



• 
  This week I've been hitting snooze at least twice every morning.  I just can't seem to pull myself out of bed and get moving.  By hitting snooze I obviously delay my routine and end up leaving the house later than normal, but surprisingly I still get to work pretty much on time (think 8:05 or 8:10) -- all of the school traffic has subsided so my drive to work is much quicker.  I think I kind of like this new sleeping pattern :)

• This crazy warm weather has caused me to develop some sort of allergy.  I've never really battled allergies before but the past few weeks I've been taking an allrergy pill every morning.  This is not fun!

• I made a version of this recipe for dinner the other night and it was a big hit with Brandon.  I obviously omitted the green peppers and onions ;)

Happy Thursday!! 





Why I didn't root for KU in the NCAA Tournament

Some people ask us why we don't root for KU when they aren't playing our beloved Wildcats.  We hear "Oh, but KU is part of the Big 12 and you should root for your conference" or "...But you are a Kansan and KU is still a Kansas team" or "I would root for K-State if they were in the national championship" (to which I reply "umm, no you wouldn't") -- yes I've heard it all which is why I'm here to defend my stance on this issue:

• I'm am a K-State fan down to my core.  My dad is the oldest of eight kids and seven of those eight kids all GRADUATED from K-State.  In my immediate family, all of us but one -- not quite sure how he slipped in...just kidding!!! -- are GRADUATES of K-State.  We are loyal fans who hang with our teams through thick and thin.  We have all invested lots of time and money into the university which gives us the right to be passionate fans.  This leads me to my next point...
• Many of the mouthy KU fans did not even attend KU, none-the-less graduate from KU.  They haven't invested large amounts of time and money into the university, yet they are the first ones to make smart remarks when K-State loses, or are the people who deck out their offices and homes with gear to show their "spirit".  K-State fans, in general, are not band wagon riders.  I believe the tweet below sums up the feeling of most KSU fans:

• With that said, I don't mind non-graduates being fans.  It's fine to get behind a team, but don't be a super-fan and talk a bunch of trash.  It's just rude!
• It is also funny to me that KU does not consider K-State a rival, yet they are so competitive with us.  According to dictionary.com, a rival is a person who is competing for the same object or goal as another, or who tries to equal or outdo another; a competitor; a person or thing that is in a position to dispute another's preeminence or superiority.  Even if they don't consider us  "rivals", we are competitors and competitors don't root for each other no matter if we are all from the same state or conference.

I don't want to come across as a sour grape, but I can only take so much!!!  

And just for good measure, here I am dressed for the "big game"!!  Go Cats!!

What a Weekend

We had a super productive and super fun weekend!

Saturday morning we got up (without an alarm!) and got a few things done around the house.  Then, I got cleaned up and headed out to meet my good friend from Pratt for lunch.  We have been friends since I was like two or three and she was like four or five.  It is always so nice to catch up with her and it seems like we never have enough time.  Oh, did I mention that she just lives in Derby -- it is not like we love many miles away.  Yeah, we need to see each other way more often!!

After I stuffed myself at lunch, I ran a million errands.  I had to return a few things and then make my weekly trip to Target.  Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE going to Target all by myself??  It's a sickness, really.  I just browse and browse and browse.  On this particular trip, I picked up a couple of doormats and an interior rug to put at our front door.  One thing about a new house and learning all of the new "things" that occur in and around the new house, and one of those new things are these nasty, sticky little pods that fall from the trees and stick to EVERYTHING!!  Needless to say, the little pods have been drug all through our house so the doormats are meant to cut down on the pods making their way into our house.  We'll see...

Once I got home (and delivered my sweet husband a cherry limeade) we went to the garden store and to Menard's.  At the garden store, we picked up a nice fern for our front porch and a six-pack of impatients and then we got a few motion-activated lights for the back of our house at Menard's.  After we returned, we planted the fern and the impatients and Brandon worked on the lights.  I also played with Koby in the back yard and wore him out.  Would you look at that tongue?!?!

That evening, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and had dinner on our front porch.  Our house faces the east so it is pretty sunny and hot on our back porch, plus we have an awesome front porch!  We grilled burgers and just enjoyed the evening.  One thing Koby likes is that he is able to hang out with us in front of the house without his cord and so he hung out while we ate dinner.  That was until a couple walked by out house with a GIANT German Shepard that Koby thought he could take.  Ummm...can you say someone is suffering from "little man's" disease!!  We finished the day just hanging out watching TV and I'm pretty sure I fell asleep on the couch...oops!

This morning, we got up early - I had a volunteer event for church and Brandon had a makeup baseball game.  Our church partnered with Numana for a food packaging event.  If you don't know about Numana, I encourage you to take a look at their website.  It is a pretty amazing concept and I was excited that I got to volunteer with my small group gals (and really, my good friends) Ali and Christy.

Here are Ali and Christy hard at work!!  Yes, we all looked pretty awesome in our hair nets and aprons :)

And, here we are at the conclusion of our shift.  And, we were all very thankful that we do not do line work for a living...

Oh yeah!!  I also did not get the memo to wear a KSU shirt for the event.  Can you believe they didn't call me...ha ha!  Just kidding.

After I got home I made a menu and grocery list and waited for Brandon to get home from his game.  After he got home, we prepared to paint the kitchen.  Brandon started to cut in around the doorway and window and I realized I didn't really like the color!  It looked to me like it was the same color as the cabinets, which is why I was not comfortable with it.  So, he stopped painting and was very nice about having to go get a new paint color -- just another shade lighter -- while I went to the grocery store.  The new paint is much lighter and to some may look white, but I know that it is a super duper light shade of gray!  I put away dishes and made dinner while he painted (he did not want my help).  I made bbq beef sandwiches, waffle fries and fruit salad and it was yummy.

After dinner we settled in for the ACM awards and a little dessert :)  Edwards Key Lime pie is so good and they sell it in these little two-slice boxes.  Totally dangerous!!

I'd say this was a pretty "sweet" ending to a pretty awesome weekend!