Real Quick Rundown

Wow!  This working, living, holiday traveling stuff is for the birds!  And, oh yeah, I have a blog :)  One I shamelessly hopelessly really wanted people to read... only so that I could abandon them, ha!

So, here's a quick "what we've been up to" post to calm my conscience :)

• Surprise drive to our parents' houses for Thanksgiving
• Full gas tank and cancelled parental plans = 12 1/2 hour drive for turkey :) and a visit with family/friends.  I love that we live a drivable distance away, and that our parents live only blocks from each other
• My MIL knows we'll be pregnant soon, and it will be a girl...that's what she said last year too :)
• New studded* tires on the Subaru = more travel for the holidays!
• Fighting some creepy** head cold.  So far I'm winning the fight...bring on the NyQuil & Airborne!
• cd3 blood work done, SA to come
• Timing is seeming to be an issue here.  A 45 minute commute from home in a 30 minute time limit will make it interesting for sure.  I have already apologized to SS, and hopefully prepped him for the 'embarassment' that is to come
• I'm still bruised...6 days later!  I have mean, vindictive veins, who like to roll and jump and not be poked.  And if you get them, they will only trickle blood.  This is going to be a long process :) 
• ICLW = International Comment Leaving Week (IComLeavWe)
• I should have done better.  I suck! I'm better at lurking :)  But, it's nice to see all of the support that's out there.  
• A huge THANK YOU to everyone who read/commented.  I'm far from confident in what I'm doing here, let alone that anyone wants to read it (note sucky performance above). 

*according to SS, these tires are called such not because of the 'stud' that is put into the tire, but because you get so buff from putting the 'studs' in, you yourself become a stud :)
**Slow moving creepy, not like "that's guy's a weird-o" creepy

And (because it's stuck in my head) here is the new household obsession :)  SS wakes up to them every morning lately

Furbabies

It's a girl!

My boys are too big to pick up, they do not fit on my lap (not and allow me to breathe), and they don't like to wear clothes.  The cats are so independent, I often wonder if they remember we exist.

So SS got me a baby girl.  Nell is a 12-week old Miniature Pinscher.  And I LOOOOOVE her! 

I can lift her when needed, she fits on my lap (along with the laptop :) and she loves her sweater.  But, I think that is more because she only weighs 5lbs and it is  less than 40 degrees outside.  She learned her name the first night, she's already sitting (for treats!) and she has the cutest little bark when she plays with her brothers.  She was exactly what I needed to keep me from going over the edge, the perfect distraction for the next 6 months, and for up to 15 years (nice lives these Min Pins live :) 

 My babies may have fur, but I am their mommy and without I love them.

There was also a badass drive to Reno in our new ride to get her!  And I mean badass...15 hours and 3 snow storms!  We are definately road warriors, its one of our favorite things to do :)

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A TTC note:  cd1 today, which means I get to go in for bloodwork on Thanksgiving Day!  Woo hoo! :)  At least it will give us some kind of answer, and hopefully a next move.

It's okay, we've got a plan

Plan A...to be/have been pregnant/stayed pregnant sometime in the last 2.5 years, naturally.
Plan A...not happening :(

Scratch Plan A!

Plan B*:

#1:  SS will have a SA

#2:  I will have cd3 FSH, TSH, Estradrol, Prolactin (I'm not doing all of the links, you know or look it up, sorry :)

**I'm assuming an appointment to review results**

#3:  HSG...later on down the road, we've got 6 months of BC to get through, remember?

And that's the plan.  Exciting, right? :)  I sure was excited!  So much so that I stayed up until 1am!  Whoops!!  *TGIF*

*note to other TTC-ers:  do not be naive in your Google Images search "Plan B."  It is still in fact, an emergency contraceptive.  Good thing I was in a good mood while looking :)

Sunday Driving

We took a family road trip this weekend, up to Central Oregon where we traded some stuff for a car.  I *heart* Craigslist :)  It was a nice trip.  We got to "check in" to the place we used to live.  I also added a to-do to my list, in that I'd like to take pictures along Hwy 97 and all the cute, little, rundown towns that are along it.  There's just so much "nature vs. nutrue" SS would call it.  We build a barn on top of nature, left it alnoe for years, nature weathered it.  It's beautiful really :) 

Sensi (left) & Berkeley (right)

Here's my boys "crammed" in the back with and R2D2 like a/c unit (no pic of that, sorry).  They fough like teenagers about 3/4 of the way, then finally realized there was room for one on the seat and one on the floor.  Sensi is the baby, and therefore smaller, which equates floor sleeping in Berkeley's world.  Berkeley being the oldest and spoiled-est (whoops! :)

This jack-hole trucker was not Sunday driving.  He actually seemed to be in quite the hurry, riding our arse for miles!  We did loose him some when we reached the first big hill (which, ironically, was a passing lane :)  but he quickly caught back up.  I decided he wanted his picture taken...and that I wanted one of the rides he was hauling in his trailer.  A few nice SUVs and a perfect little '78 Mustang (which I didn't get a good picture of :)  

And there she is.  The beauty of a beast we picked up...Ruby the Subaru-bie!  She's not the greatest, but not the worst.  And she will definately haul those growing boys around better than my tiny Suzuki Esteem! lol...it was time for an upgrade I suppose.

I see the OB tomorrow.  SS says that if she doesn't give us the answer we want about the direction we want to go with TTC, then we'll find another Dr.  It's nice to feels supported, even if the finances/insurance have other ides about who I can see :)

Two Weeks

2 weeks

14 days

336 hours

...these numbers are nothing new to me.  They're nothing new to any TTC-er.  The two week wait is famous in our world, it has it's own forum section and it is the #1 "crazy" time of anyone TTC, full of chart analysis (is that triphasic?), POAS...at LEAST once a day (is that 2nd line?).  The rest of the cycle is the 'other' two week wait.  This one forces you to get creative with calendar space...temps (it's up today, did I O?), BD days/times (practice makes perfect ;), more POAS (is the line as dark/darker?).

Today, my two weeks is neither of the above.  Today I've been taking my BC pill for two weeks.  I've definitely noticed the hormones change (poor SS :) and my face is starting to break out for the first time in years (yipee!), but I've turned off my alarm, as there is no need to temp (and no need to get upset because I missed a temp someday between cd21-25...I could have O'd and missed it!!!), I would actually have to look up what cd I am even on (cd17 if anyone was wondering, I had to log in to find the comment below :)

(as always, check the Say What? page for all of the TTC acronyms)

I do feel I've become a little more accepting of where we are in our journey to a child of our own, at least I feel a lot better tonight.  I'm nowhere near okay, but I definately don't feel as angry as I have lately, empty, but not as angry.  I still will start to cry when some random "I may never have a child of my own" thought crosses my mind, which is still at least once a day.  But to really think about it, six month is less than 1/4 of the time we've spent TTC.  And I'm still holding on (a little tighter lately, too) that we got pregnant 4 mos off BC in the beginning.  Even the comment from someone on one of my forums did not discourage me.  Of course, I have not yet investigated into what exactly she meant by "I swear if I knedw what bc can do to our bodies I never would have used it years ago" but I suppose one of these days I will.  I'm no fool to think she's off her rocker, I have people in my life who have experienced problems from BC.  But as I think I have stated :) for me, I think it helps.  It will be interesting to have a "normal" cycle...when Dr. M first asked if I had normal cycles, I just laughed at her.  "Normal for who?  I've had them as short as 23 days and long as 52 without pregnancy, lately about 38-41 days."  She just nodded, though later seemed impressed that I could pinpoint a positive OPK.  Yes, I assure, I've got horomones running rampid through my body at O time...as will SS :)  He loves me always!  I love him forever!

As these six months pass we are working our way to parenthood and having a nice, stable environment for our family.  We have recently added the journey of purchasing property.  We're starting small, there is some pretty cheap land around here (not the one above, but something like it), and we're hoping to capitalize on something special.  If nothing else, we will have a place that is "ours."  How exciting!  I feel so grown up -haha!