Infertility Announcement #3: Sharing the News Via Italian Food

The pregnancy announcement you’ve all seen before:

Our infertile version:

Disclaimer: We are the happy parents of two little boys who joined our family through the miracle of adoption after we had struggled for several years with infertility. Though the infertility is still there, the struggle is mostly not. What used to be such a consuming, challenging part of our life is now usually more of a passing thought. We are so grateful to be parents, but we have not forgotten how lonely and horrible infertility can feel, which is why we thought we’d create something to connect with others who are going through what we went through.

Infertility Announcement #2: The Movie Poster

The pregnancy announcement you’ve all seen before:


Our infertile version:

Disclaimer: We are the happy parents of two little boys who joined our family through the miracle of adoption after we had struggled for several years with infertility. Though the infertility is still there, the struggle is mostly not. What used to be such a consuming, challenging part of our life is now usually more of a passing thought. We are so grateful to be parents, but we have not forgotten how lonely and horrible infertility can feel, which is why we thought we’d create something to connect with others who are going through what we went through.

Infertility Announcement #1: No Bun in the Oven

As I’ve already mentioned, this week is Infertility Awareness Week. So Spencer and I decided to share a few silly infertility announcements that we made specifically for IAW (obviously these weren’t actually used to announce anything, just so we’re clear here). Since humor is one of our coping mechanisms, we thought we’d use that to hop on the creative announcement bandwagon in our own infertile way. Of course, we’re not suggesting infertile people announce their deepest struggle with a silly meme. Nor are we making fun of pregnant people. We’ve just found that laughing at our problems sometimes makes them feel smaller, and couldn’t resist the chance to poke fun at infertility.

Apparently, based on this long explanation, and the disclaimer below, I was a little unsure as to how these would be received. But we think they’re sort of funny in a horrible, that’s-so-true kind of way so I’m going to be bold and post them anyway. Here we go…

The pregnancy announcement you’ve all seen before:

Our infertile version:

Disclaimer: We are the happy parents of two little boys who joined our family through the miracle of adoption after we had struggled for several years with infertility. Though the infertility is still there, the struggle is mostly not. What used to be such a consuming, challenging part of our life is now usually more of a passing thought. We are so grateful to be parents, but we have not forgotten how lonely and horrible infertility can feel, which is why we thought we’d create something to connect with others who are going through what we went through.

Stay tuned for more announcements later this week…

How I Feel About Infertility Now (As a Mother to Two Boys)

Today starts Infertility Awareness Week. I’ve had a few thoughts about infertility that I’ve wanted to share for a while, but have been kind of waiting for my ideas to fall into place. In a way, infertility is maybe harder for me to talk about now that I’ve had kids than it was when I was waiting for them. Infertility used to be such a consuming part of my life. I mean, I tried to focus on other things, and I think Spencer and I have always been pretty good at enjoying each other and our time together. But Infertility used to be on my mind a lot. How could it not be? Between monitoring my temperature first thing when I woke up in the morning to sometimes daily doctors appointments… between the charts, kits, pills, drugs, and tests… between other people’s baby showers and pregnancy announcements… between the frenzied hope and desire at the beginning of the month to the acute heartache and despair at the end of it, it’s kinda hard to forget even when you’re trying not to dwell on it.

Infertility is not the all-consuming presence in my life that it used to be, much to my happiness and gratitude. I think the main reason I don’t TALK about infertility as much as I used to is because I don’t THINK about it as much as I used to. But sometimes, usually pretty rarely, infertility is still hard. Even now, as a mother to two spectacular little boys, there are still things about myself and my path to parenthood that make me feel like I don’t fit in. Infertility can be isolating and lonely.

However, after over seven years of infertility, I can say that while I will never love the heartache of infertility, I have developed an appreciation for how it has shaped my story.

Infertility led me to my boys. You may say that if it weren’t for infertility then I probably would have had kids anyway. But the thing is, they wouldn’t have been MY Mason and MY Kellen. Those mischievous, curly-haired, curious, sweet, little fire-engine-loving boys who are currently sound asleep cuddled up with their stuffed monkey and stuffed alligator respectively. I can’t think about life without infertility, because what if that would have meant life without them? Infertility is part of what created our family and it is definitely one of the significant things that makes me… me.

For years I have tried to think of the perfect way to explain the feeling I have that our children were meant to be ours. It may be one of the very few things I feel and know with more certainty than anything else I have ever known or felt. I love those boys so deeply, so abundantly, so consumingly. I wouldn’t change a single thing about them, most especially the way they came to me. You see, the waiting for them so long, and the wanting them so much is part of what makes them so precious.

So during this week when I’m thinking a bit more about infertility than I usually do, I will try to feel even more grateful for my family. I will try to be more thoughtful to those who are in pain or struggling. I will try to include those who are feeling lonely. I will try to remember those feeling forgotten. And I will try to use the insights and empathy I am developing through my struggles with infertility to continue to become a better Whitney.

Disneyland Food!

One of the presents the boys got for Christmas this year was this little Fisher Price Mickey and Minnie house. They are obsessed with Mickey and have played with it a ton. Their favorite thing to do is pretend Mickey and Minnie are at Disneyland. They set up their little traffic cones and have Mickey ride “the Lightning McQueen ride” in cars land. They sit Mickey on their stuffed Dumbo to go on a flying Dumbo ride in Fantasyland. They even make their little characters wait in line, which I think is just hilarious. I’ve enjoyed seeing how much these little toys have fostered imaginative play.

Since, obviously the food is such a fun part of the Disneyland experience…
…I thought the boys would enjoy some tiny theme park treats for Mickey and Minnie to snack on. And I have to say, the tiny little foods have been a big hit with the kiddos!


The caramel apples in the cute little sweet shop by the Winnie the Pooh ride are one of our favorite Disneyland treats. They’re decorated so cute and are just so tasty.


I have so enjoyed this little project. It’s still kind of a work in progress just because I keep thinking of more and more things to make. Since Kellen is so little, the pieces only come down from the top shelf when I’m able to play with him and make sure he doesn’t try to eat anything (so far he hasn’t). But it has been so fun to play pretend with my munchkins!

Make Your Own Comic Strip

I’m sure I’ve mentioned before how much my hooligans love pretending they’re superheroes. They spend so much time dashing around, saving the day and stopping the bad guys. So I thought it would be fun to make comic strips to give to family members as Christmas presents.

We had a little superhero photo shoot, and the boys got to wear capes and eat cookies, so they were particularly cooperative. They love looking at the little photo book I made with the pictures too, so I’d say the project was a big success.

If you’re curious how I got those photos to look all comic book-y, I actually used an online editing site called Picmonkey. They have an entire section of comic effects and stickers (including those word bubble ones) that added the exact look I was going for. You can pay a subscription to access certain features on the site, but you should be able to play around with the comic effects for free.

Since it’s kind of hard to read the individual squares, I posted them individually below, along with a smidgen of commentary from the director.

The above shot was not staged. I was just watching them do their climb-all-over-everything-as-fast-as-possible kind of thing and caught the action shot :).


This one KILLS ME. I asked him for a  tough face and that’s what he gave me. Unstoppable superhero… and his monkey. Please stay three forever.


I must give credit where credit is due, Spencer came up with the cribtonite bit. I think it’s the cleverest part of the whole story.

Mason climbs onto Kellen’s crib like this pretty much every day. He loves waking him up from nap.
Words cannot express how delighted he was to eat cookies while sitting on the counter. He’s asked to do it a few times since then.

Though he’s not big into cuddling, this kid is always up for kisses. He gives the cutest, sweetest, soggiest smackaroos and I love it ever so much. And so far he isn’t opposed to receiving them either, so I’m gonna take advantage of that for as long as I can.

Kellen’s not wearing a cape for most of this because he HATES capes.


I think we’re due for a second … installment? episode? I’m not really up on my comic book lingo, I must confess.

Join us next time…

It’s a Small Small World

A small project I finished and gifted forever ago but never shared pictures of. I was so pleased with how it turned out and It was such a delightfully fun piece to paint. It was fun to try and capture the whimsy of the ride and put it into my own artwork. Yes, it’s a cliché phrase. And yes it’s a silly song that is IMPOSSIBLE to get out of your head once it gets stuck there. But I think the sentiment is true. Emotions are universal. People are people. There is so much that connects us, despite the things or situations that make us feel so different or out of place. It’s a comforting thought that, in a way, the world is smaller than we think sometimes.