Joys In My Life

I'm exhausted. We've been up until 2 AM for most of the nights over this Thanksgiving weekend, as we've been getting ready to put our house on the market tomorrow!!! I'll have to post a link to the Patterson Schwartz website for our house listing when they have it up. This weekend in order to get ready we've done the following: Installed crown molding in the two-story foyer and upstairs hallway (used caulk). Installed two new sinks in our master bathroom with new faucets (more caulk). Replaced the shower door in our master bathroom (more caulk again). Painted the master bathroom. Touch up paint on walls and trim (some caulking of windows). Decluttered and deep cleaned the study and dining room. Cleaned the whole house. After midnight, as we're doing one big caulk-fest (Tom left the caulking of everything until the end), I'm making lots of over-tired jokes about my DH's caulk. Pictures were taken this morning, and all the paperwork was filled out with ...

Wishing all my blog friends a very Happy Thanksgiving and in honor of the hols tomorrow, here is my list of Things I'm Thankful For: My darling DH who puts up with my strange behavior and pursuits and loves me all the more every day. My DD who has helped me on my journey to learn patience and how to look at life through a child's eyes. My family, my side as well as the in-laws, who remind me that all families are crazy and isn't that terrific! My friends, who help fill my life with laughter and good times (usually over few bottles of wine). My on-line friends, for their support, advice, and making me realize I'm not alone. My obscure thanks are for: My yoga teacher, for helping me realize my inner self and calm my mind from the stress of life. My acupuncturist, for supporting my quest for fertility and overall health. Bridget Jones and the Bridget Jones Fan Fiction website for entertaining me endlessly. Colin Firth for being an outstanding actor and really nice to look ...

Can't get a break. Thought was doing lovely this evening being prepared for Phoebe to go to cousin's birthday party, by going to ToysRUs on way home from work. Made us a little late to get home, but we're just eating leftovers, so shouldn't be bad, right? So wrong!!! Got home, took dog out, started heating up dinner. Phoebe starts crying in the powder room. She's constipated. Guess she's been drinking a bit too much milk lately. Talk to her a bit and realize it's a little cold in the house. Take look at thermostat to see the temp. 62 degrees!!!! Go to register for central air as blower is on. I can hear it. It's cold. After a phone call to MIL realize it's the same thing that happened last March. Find phone number for company. Thankfully, they walk me through restarting the furnace over the phone. It works!!! Now the question is if I should have them come over tomorrow or wait for Monday. Weekend rates, ack! Phoebe is finally eatin...

It is officially over. Temps dropped more this morning and AF arrived. I'm not really upset, as I've analyzed my chart and I strongly believe that my body was really thinking about being pregnant this month. For some reason it decided no, but if I wasn't paying attention to my cycle as I am, I never would've noticed as I had a 28-day cycle. If I wasn't charting, I wouldn't have known that I ovulated on Day 11 and was technically late. It reiterates for me that I am on the right path with the changes I've been making, and I think this will eventually work for me. If not, I'll be really healthy!!! I was also thinking of stopping taking my temps, but this shows me that this is still valuable information for me, so I will continue doing that as well. On the changes that I've been making, I still splurge every now and then with a little coffee and cream or a small amount of pasta or bread, but they are splurges and not the regular staples of my die...

I did buy a 2-pack of the Fact Plus Early Detection tests instead of First Response (FRED) last night. I didn't have the heart to take it this AM as my temp went down to 98.0. I have no idea what is going on. I am definately 16 DPO, which has never happened to me. AF hasn't come, I don't know if she will. I bet I'll get it on Friday when I have my annual GYN exam. Anyone know if they'll still do Pap smears when you have your period? I know I've had vaginal ultrasounds when I've been having a really heavy period. I don't know. I'll have to call. Yesterday was a rough, yet productive day personally. Work is stressing me out though. I need more time to concentrate to get things done at work. I went home for a long lunch yesterday to meet with the realtor that will be putting our house on the market so we can move to the new house. We made a decision to put the house on the market on 11/29/05. I think Tom and I decided last night how much w...

I have no idea what's going on. I did take another test my friend had left over from 3 months ago. Unfortunately it was another FRED. Big old negative, my friends. I have no idea what is going on. I'll probably pick another brand this evening and use it tomorrow morning. Maybe I'm just too early.

Temp 98.4 this morning. AF no where in sight. My pregnant girlfriend that sits next to me at work is bringing in her spare pregnancy test to work today. If she forgets, I'm going home at lunchtime anyway to meet with realtor who will be selling our house starting the beginning of December. I so think this is it. Everyone cross your fingers. If this is true, it will be the first time I've ever gotten pregnant naturally in the 11 years of marriage with my DH.

I'm officially late if you go by my Fertility Friend chart. I'm 14 DPO with no official temp drop in sight. It went back up again this morning at 98.2. I think it might have been even higher on Sunday morning if I was able to get a good reading in, but we were up really late and DH woke me up in the middle of the night and I got up. When I took my temp at 8:30 AM, it was 99. I didn't bother to record that one. We'll see what happens. I hate FREDs as I took one last night and this morning. Both were negative. Then hope rears her mighty head reminding me of the notes I've seen of a high number of false negatives with FREDs. Why didn't I buy something else?

I'm sorry to say, but Tertia has been getting a lot of flak on her website lately for not beige-ing down her posts. I know I usually don't touch on a lot of topics that some may disagree with as I'm usually too busy writing about my desire for another child, how much I love my daughter, and trying to balance work, home, and family. However, I'll take this moment to share a few of my more controversial thoughts. I do not like the war in Iraq. I feel very much for the families of the soldiers that are out there and try to be very supportive of them. However, I do not agree that the way to fight terrorism is to play their game. I strongly believe that violence breeds violence. That said I also feel I should add that I also made a conscious decision not to add to it. My degree is in electrical engineering. When I graduated, it was during the recession of the early 90s. At the time, the best jobs I could get were in US Defense contracts. I refused to go into this i...

Temp dropped to 98.0. I'm sure AF will arrive in next two days. Am now going to enjoy a big mug of coffee (mmmm Starbucks Italian Roast beans mmmmm), and tonight a nice glass of Vala's new reds as friends bringing some over to see the great work we've done on house to get it ready to sell. I've got a lot more cleaning to do before they come over tonight, and Phoebe has ice skating this morning. Today is her test day to see if she's learned enough to move up to the next class. I'm not sure if she will. She's been working really hard, but she's just starting to grasp some of the concepts well. Not that it matters if she moves up. I'm not one for pushing her. I just like to make sure she's challenged.

I know I have an awful lot of links in my blog, but if you take a look at my Temp Chart, it was 98.6 this morning! That's a huge jump. I'm 11 DPO and due to get AF on Monday. Will she show? Could this be the infamous triphastic chart I've been looking for? Tune in tomorrow AM to see if the high temps continue. I know I will. BTW, I did go through all the thoughts in my head of if I woke anytime during the night and such or if I took my temp at a different time, but no, it was 5 AM and I know I was sound asleep since my head hit the pillow at 11:30 PM. Let's all keep our fingers crossed!!!

Phoebe is a genious! I know we all think that about our kids, but I have proof. As usual, the time we have our most meaningful conversations is in the car on the way home from school. She's usually not as talkative in the morning, as she is not a morning person. Out of the blue on the way home today: "Hey Mom, you know if you're an astronaut in outer space you could keep going forever. Just like numbers, it goes on forever!" Now I was so proud, I put my hand back for her to give me five. You see, we have debates like my dad and I did, although now I play the part of my dad in these conversations. I try to tell her ways to think about things, and she tells me I'm wrong. The latest has been on numbers that the cool thing about them is that they go on forever and that's what infinity means (I'm such a geek talking to my five-year-old about numbers!). Anyway, she tells me no that a million is the highest number. So on top of getting the concept on th...

What a great weekend. We were very, very busy, but it was chock-full of great moments. We're still doing lots of stuff to get our house ready to put on the market. It has to go up within the next week or two. Saturday morning Phoebe had ice skating class. They had a different teacher today, which was good because she helped Phoebe and another girl learn a skill they were both having problems with. I have no idea what it's called, as I'm not an expert on figure skating. I just know how do to the the basic skills, but no idea what they are called. After ice skating, I took Phoebe to the Natural Foods Co-Op. She'd never been there before, but she loved every minute of it. BTW, I'm in love with their produce department. All their produce is organic, and they have everything!!! I had made a grocery list for the week with what produce we needed for our weekly menu and bought all organic veggies! I think we may make this a Saturday ritual for after ice-skating. ...

I'll need to update my picture in the corner soon, as that was from June of this year. My hair is longer and yesterday I went to the hairstylist and told her I wanted hair the color of Phoebe's. She told me it's not possible to replicate the hair color of a child, as they get the real thing, but we got close. You can at least tell that she's my daughter now. I love it of course, it's close to my real hair color, only better. I was having a tough day today. I was a little frustrated that I ovulated earlier than I expected this month. I just hope I'm on the right track, but I won't really know until a pregnancy shows up. Oh wait, that's right scratch the end to "when a baby shows up." I went to the acupuncturist today and we talked. She told me to be patient and it will happen. It made me feel a little better. The 1/2 hour nap while the needles were in REALLY made me feel better. I guess what's so frustrating is the reminder on Sun...

Phoebe is still on a post-Halloween high. We got home today, she wanted to play dress up, and then she proceeded to never shut up. We were playing the "Hey Mom Pretend This" Game while I was making dinner. You never really have to pretend anything, because she will immediately jump to the next thing that you need to pretend. Here's what was keeping me laughing and crying inside tonight at the same time. Comes down dressed as ballerina: "Hey Mom! Pretend I'm a ballerina and your a chef!" 5 minutes later Comes down dressed in some other dress: "Hey Mom! Don't I look like a cheerleader? Pretend I'm your sister and you work in a kitchen and we have a dog. OK?" 2 minutes later Comes down dressed in cat costume: "Hey Mom! Pretend I'm your cat and I'm hanging out in your kitchen! I'm going to sleep in here." I turn on some music (our friend Glenn E. Williams, link to his website on the side) as I need to relax fro...

Things are going OK. It's pretty hard when we're at other people's houses, like my in-laws for dinner. So I'm not announcing my new restrictions, just eating my MIL's fantastic meatloaf in moderation on Sunday. It was so good. Over the weekend in the afternoon, DH and I would go out for coffee. I need to start turning that over to tea. So I had one coffee on Saturday and another on Sunday, but yesterday and today I've been very good. I'm trying really hard not to beat myself up if I stray a little, as long as I'm remembering to cheat in small amounts and go back to plan right after. Such as last night I had a few Hershey's minatures. It was Halloween! Gotta have some chocolate. I'll try to post my updates daily though. Keeps me going.