Buy our stuff!

We spent today getting the nursery ready. Before we moved to this house (about 7 months ago), we sold over $800 of our stuff. We got rid of sooooooooo much stuff. It felt wonderful. Somehow, we still have a lot.
Today we went through our books and found some to list on half.com. I am sharing the listing with you guys, in hopes you could pass it on to people that may be interested. I listed everything lower than the lowest listed price. We just want to get rid of it and make a couple bucks for some cloth diapers.
We also have a huge stack of books to donate to friends and our church.
I love getting rid of stuff!

Conferences and stuff

• The last two nights have been parent teacher conferences. They are completely and utterly draining. Luckily, I am sitting for all of them, but still. I am glad they are over. Today we have our Native American trading day and our potlatch. the kids are very excited. I am so grateful to have found a movie to show during my three ELA classes.
• Tonight we are going to see Jason and deMarco at our church. A ton of our friends are going to be there, so it should be fun times. I just hope I can stay awake!
• The van broke down again. It has been in the shop no less than 8 times in the past month. We haven't had a pay check where we weren't paying for van repairs. It's time to get a new vehicle. We can't afford anything until December, so we just need to make it until then.
• B said the most wonderful thing to me today. She said, "You can sleep in tomorrow, I will take care of the dogs." Oh, thank God!
• Today is 15w1d (Or how we call it +3)
• I'm getting more and more comfortable telling people. My belly can't hide anymore.

Emotional

To say I have been emotional this past week would be an understatement. Let's take yesterday for example.

• My first tearing up happened on the way to school when I started to think of my high school friend that lost her twins last week at 22 weeks. They were born with heartbeats, but not breathing and died right after birth. Their memorial service is tomorrow. I am so sad for her and her family. These miracle boys were conceived via IVF. She's one of us, y'all. She had something called cervical funnelling which caused her to be put on bed rest, and then she she got an infection. Not good. She lives "up-north" but they drove her via ambulance to the hospital down the street from my house (where I will deliver). I never saw her when she was in town (and haven't seen her since HS), but I feel so connected to her. I have been emailing her and I sent a package earlier this week. When we lost Sprout, the ladies from Two Hot Mamas sent us a beautiful care package that included a small Willow Tree angel. It was such an amazing and thoughtful gesture. I wanted to find the same angel they sent us, but had no luck. Instead, I found two little ones called "Two Together" and thought it was perfect. I also got her an Angel of Remembrance.
• My second tearing-up, which became more of a cry, was when I posted a video on Fb. It was a video of a Father and Groom surprising the Bride with a version of L'Chaim. It was sweet and funny, but here I was, sitting at the computer, crying.
• Then, I was watching TV with B and an Oprah commercial came on. For those of you that do not watch TV or perhaps live under a rock, this is Oprah's last season. I love Oprah. We were able to go see a taping of her show 5 years ago. My dream has always been to be a guest on Oprah. Now I know my time is up and I won't get to. The commercials make me sad to see her go.
• I really wanted to watch the Stand Up To Cancer telethon that was on last night. Within the first minute, I was balling like a baby. They had all of the celebrities there who have survived cancer, and they had on these survivor shirts. Once I composed myself, they brought on the 46 moms. All of their children have cancer, so they all shaved their own heads. It was an amazing scene. Cue the water works. And then B was saying things just to make me cry because she thought I looked funny. Then I was crying and laughing at the same time, but in a weird way. I was a disaster.

So that was just one day. It's been a crazy emotional week here. Luckily, my "Pregnancy Week 8" newsletter said it's completely normal and may even begin to subside this week. Thank God.

Eeek.

This would be horrible.

Word Art

Cali posted about this very cool website called Wordle. If you put in the link to your blog, it will create an awesome word-art representation of your blog. I did it for both this one and my personal journal. It's clear which one is which!

What a whirlwind few days...

B's mom had knee surgery on Wednesday. She lives an hour away from our house. We have been taking shifts at her house since then. It's been a crazy few days, I tell ya. Hopefully will be the last night we will have to sleep alone. Because of the furbabies, someone has to check in at our house and sleep here. So B took Wed. night at her mom's, I took yesterday, and she's there tonight. Her mom is actually doing much better than we expected, and getting around the house quite well, but she has a polar pack attached to her leg, so she needs help changing the ice ever 8-9 hours. (in addition to running errands and taking care of the dog and garden)
I will be glad when life returns to normal. In the meantime, it has sure gotten my mind off of TTC. I wouldn't be able to tell you off of the top of my head what CD I am on right now. I would have to check. I know we are not near CD30, because then I would be gearing up to call the RE's office for the pro.vera scrip.
Anyway, the ebay auctions are still going, and if any IVP member or fellow TTC blogger bids on the CBEFM sticks, I will ship them for free, just let me know its you!

Distractions in E-bay listings

I'm trying to stay positive, but it's so hard not to be utterly devastated. Yesterday I crawled into my pajamas, pulled my hair into a ponytail and lounged around the house all day (Save the 15 minutes the tow truck guy was here to put the spare on our van).
I also tried to distract myself by putting together a boat-load of ebay listings. Please check them out. If you end up bidding, let me know and I will throw in something special. =)
Today on my agenda is:
1. Take the van to the tire shop
2. Take the repair bill from yesterday to the insurance agent for reimbursement
3. Call the health insurance company (still haven't done this!)
4. Swing by my friend's house with a small delivery
B will have to spend the night at her mom's house this evening and tomorrow night as well. Her mom is having knee surgery and will need help around the house and with the dog. I will go tomorrow as well, but cannot spend the night due to our own doggies. I hate sleeping without her, but there is no way around it.
I want to send out a super thank you for all of your encouraging and understanding comments from yesterday. You guys are amazing. Thank you!

One of the guys in a community I am in on Livejournal posted this video.
Love it!

If you haven't heard the news yet (and really, who hasn't..we've all been waiting so patiently), go check out VeeandJay's site. Send them lots of sticky dust. We need this pink ghost to stick around for a while! So excited!
After sitting here for a while refreshing their page, I finally saw the much awaited post. I had to call B immediately. I think it is so amazing how close I feel to a bunch of women I have never even met. What a community!
Congratulations ladies! Let's keep this little pink ghost around!

Article from Michigan Newspaper

View of Gay Marriage Changes When It's Personal

GRAND RAPIDS - My favorite picture of my daughter, Emily, features her in
full Beverly Sills mode. She is standing by her Fisher-Price record player
and happily singing along to a song from Walt Disney's "Cinderella," the book
she holds in her hands like a Verdi score. Her head is held high, her chin
tilted theatrically upward. She looks like she is singing an aria to thousands
at Carnegie Hall, not in our living room singing to me. That was Emily for you. Ask her to sing a song and she gladly complied, transporting herself to the stage in the process. While other girls her age were rocking to Madonna, Emily dreamed of being Shirley Jones. Whether watching "Rainbow Brite" on TV, bouncing on the couch to the tune of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" or immersing herself in a Berenstain Bears book, Emily sang and danced and read with a joy that seemed to come from someplace bright and beautiful.
My mom always said Emily dropped from heaven. Emily's mother, Wendy, and I felt she had wisdom beyond her years, as if she came into the world already knowing
things.But what Emily did not have, despite dear friends, was one particular friend, one person who cared more about her than about anyone else in the world. That was a person I very much wanted her to meet, because I did not want Emily to go through this hard world alone.

Finding that special one
Finally, she met that person. Her name is Nicole. Emily and Nicki, as I call her, were
married three years ago in Massachusetts. At the time, that was the only state
where two women, or two men, could get married. That changed last week, when
hundreds of gay couples tied the knot in California after a court ruling that the state's ban on gay marriage violated the state constitution. The judges' 4-3 vote drew on a ruling 60 years earlier that struck down a ban on interracial marriage. Unlike in Massachusetts, the California ruling allows gay couples from other states to marry there. That's particularly good news for gays in New York, where Gov. David Paterson recently declared state agencies must recognize gay marriages legally performed elsewhere, even though they aren't legal in New York.
Gay marriage opponents are alarmed and swinging into action. Concerned Women for America, a public policy organization, called the California ruling "an affront to God and His plan for marriage and family." A November ballot issue approved this month would constitutionally recognize marriage only between a man and a woman. This is where we are supposed to start arguing about the morality of gay marriage, what the Bible says about homosexuality and whether Ellen DeGeneres is the secret mastermind of the so-called "gay agenda."
Sorry, I can't go there. Yes, there are necessary debates to be had about civil rights, Scriptural interpretation and biological realities. But I'm not going to tell you what you should think. That's your job. All I can tell you is that when this issue becomes personal, everything is different. It's the difference between saying playground equipment should be safe, and the alarm I felt when Emily got whacked in the mouth by an iron horse-swing. (No worries, she sang in the spring concert that night with a missing front tooth.)
When you're the parent of a gay child, the difference is between deciding how you
feel about this in your head, and knowing what you feel in your heart. What I feel in my heart is not a passage from Deuteronomy but the joy of a twirling little girl in a ballerina outfit, longing for someone to dance with.I don't discount the importance of the theological issues, although if you dive into that pool you'd better be ready to do your homework. "Because the Bible says so" just doesn't cut it when many biblical scholars say the whole of Scripture says something quite different. And if you care about this issue but aren't personally involved with it, I'd suggest this: Imagine it's
personal.

Question yourself

Many say homosexuality is not a sin but homosexual behavior is, therefore gays should either change if possible (which it rarely is) or stay celibate. If that is your answer, please ask yourself, "Would I be willing to do that? Spend my entire life without a loving, intimate relationship with another person?"
I know what my answer is, and I certainly know what I want for Emily. I want her to love and be loved, in a committed relationship. I don't want her to be lonely. Life is hard enough as it is.
Emily and Nicki's life will be harder because many will never accept them, nor do they have the federal tax and legal benefits available to other married couples have.
And by the way, there are hard issues for me too, things that never will be the way I once dreamed they would be. But this isn't about my dreams. It's about Emily's, and the wonderful woman who loves her. They had a delayed wedding party recently, filled with friends and family both gay and straight. In the middle of it all, Emily beamed with joy. She could have been singing Cinderella.
Send an e-mail to Charles Honey: choney@grpress.com

My apologies

I have been quite the slacker updater and commenter lately. Sorryboutthat.
Now, with school out for the summer, I will have a lot more free time and computer time. Hooray!
I feel this medically assisted reproduction is taking such a long time, and yet flying by. Today I had to have more blood work. Another pregnancy test to confirm that I am NOT pregnant and can start the pro.vera to induce this period. I also found out that I have an ureaplasma infection, which is pretty common (40-80% of women), but can cause infertility and miscarriage. So, I will be taking an antibiotic for the next 10 days, on top of the met.formin and pro.vera. I am not a medicine taking kind of gal, but I will do whatever it takes. I also had my clo.mid and ovi.drel prescriptions filled today, so we are well on our way!
Tomorrow B gets her HIV test done at the office and we order our sperm. Woot! Woot!

In non baby-making news, last night we went to our Detroit-area amphitheatre to attend the True Colors concert. What a fun time we had. We had a group of 9 of us, and ended up splitting up once Cyndi Lauper told us we could move from the lawn seats to under the pavilion. You should have seen the faces of the security people, who were not prepared for a sea of people to flow into the theatre. Even Rosie made a joke about it. Of course, my favorite part was Tegan & Sara, but I enjoyed the songs I knew of The Cliks, Cyndi Lauper, and the B-52s. B is definitely the music aficionado in our house. I could really care less..as long as it sounds nice, I'll listen. Carson Kressley was funny, for the most part. At the end, during the 2nd encore, the entire cast came out and they released ginormous balloons into the audience. They all sang together "Everyday People" (Sly and the Family Stone)before Cyndi closed the show with "True Colors." What an amazing night.

Funny or Frightening?

You be the judge.

Sense of Hope and Relief

I feel very much at ease now that we have Dr. K involved. I am not even stressing over KD moving away. I am confident that if we are meant to be mothers, it will happen. Please remind me of this if I happen to get discouraged in the future.

The weather has been pretty awesome the last few days. I am so excited for Spring time. The warmer weather always helps me to realize I need to crack down on my weight/health as well. Last summer I used Spark and met some amazing and supportive women there. Too bad I have gained back all of the weight I lost. Now it's time for round 2 (which is actually round 25790275 or something like that). I need to do it for myself and for our future little one(s). I'm not so much worried about how I look (although that is a consideration), but more of how I feel and my health. I was saddened when I went to my appointment on Tuesday and my weight was up 17 pounds...eek! Happiness and stress have the same effect on me!

I don't know if I mentioned this, but we had our dog trainer out last week. She reevaluated our Gracie and determined that she is not an aggressive dog. She reminded us of how to correct our dogs when they are misbehaving. It has been working wonderfully.

My brain is jumping from topic to topic today...I am either sick or dealing with some crazy allergies. It started with a sore throat for a few days. Then I was coughing and sneezing yesterday. I started to lose my voice by the afternoon (not an ideal situation for a teacher) and my nose was a running fool last night. This morning the draining happening in the back of my throat is not so fun. So yeah. And I refuse to take anything, even things that are "safe."

So Happy Thursday to y'all! A week from today is Take Your Child to Work Day.

Quick Update

CD12, I started PIAC yesterday, even though it is way early.
Better to be safe than sorry.
Oddly enough, I have had some watery CM..so who knows.

I am so excited for the girls over at Chronicle of Conception! It's definitely time for a strain of BFPs around these parts!

The Power of Positive Thinking

On Sunday, we had a guest speaker at church, Rev. Chris Chenoweth. The message was so inspiring, we chose to stay for his seminar in the afternoon. We cancelled our plans and just stayed at church after services. Luckily, our church has a little cafe, so we grabbed lunch there.
Although it was coined a "Prosperity" seminar, it was so much more. For the next 30 days, B and I are following this positive thinking/living course and putting God first in all we do. If you are the praying type, please pray for us as we try to make this shift. We both tend to be complainers, so we need support. And if you catch me complaining on here, hold me accountable!
Thanks!

(CD36-for anyone keeping score)

Just what I needed to see today:

From truemomconfessions.com

Great Website

As I was procrastinating from working on my National Board work, I happened upon a fun, hip, local website. Check out these cute clothes!