4 Weeks

I've been bad about posting, so I'm going to do weekly updates to get myself to post more!  :)

How do you feel?  Pretty good and not really very different yet!  Just mega excited!

Symptoms:  Mostly just thirsty.  I've been drinking a TON of water and I can't quench my thirst, which leads to constant need to pee.  Also, when it's been a couple hours since eating  last, I get hunger pains like it's been days.  And I have been getting some heartburn.  Other than those, though, all my symptoms are more like PMS ones: a little cramping, a little tired, boobs are sore, a little gassy.

Workouts: I have still been using my elliptical 4-6 times this week.  And doing my abs.  I need to add some strength exercises to my routine!  Oh, and of course I've been keeping up the kegels! :)

Doctor:  I have an initial appointment next week with the NP at the office I usually go to.  Can't wait!

Bump:  So I know it will be a while before I have  a bump, but I want to document how my body changes so I'm starting now with the pics.

Wahoo!!!!!!! I'm knocked up!

So, I wasn't going to test on Thursday morning because I was only 9dpo and I was supposed to have a glass of wine with my mom that evening, so I didn't want to have to bail on her. But I woke up in the middle of the night and went to pee and was totally out of it. I thought it was the morning of 10dpo, so I PIAC and dipped an IC. Then I sort of woke up and realized that it was the wrong day. I just gave it like 1 minute, but I didn't see anything obvious, so I just tossed the IC and went back to bed without giving it the full time.

The next afternoon, I went to throw away the TP roll and glanced in the trash and thought that I saw a 2nd line on the IC from the middle of the night. I hadn't peed in hours so I immediately PIAC and did another IC. And a sort of (but not super) faint 2nd line appeared. So of course I dipped a bunch more (because I just got 20 in the mail plus I have a bunch of FR Rapid Results, store-brand EPTs, and CBE digis in my cupboard). They all had 2nd lines (except the Rapid Results didn't). So I did a digi and there was no "Not" before the "Pregnant". OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had a cute little onesie that I had bought and I put it in a gift bag with the digi to give L. It killed me because I had to wait FOREVER to tell him because he worked late and then I had plans with my mom and our friends/coworkers (we work together) that we've had for a week, so I couldn't cancel. I was getting up early to go kayaking with a friend the next morning, so I used that as an excuse to have just a Perrier, but my closest coworker suspects I think.  She did the "uh, huh....." and gave me the side eye.  She knows we're trying, so she's just waiting to hear that we are.  When L got home I gave him the present and he was so dumbfounded that it actually worked this cycle that he just sat down in his chair and said "no way, no way". 

My due date should be somewhere around March 20, 2012.  This was the cycle that we had said all along was our "ideal" because I work on the school calendar and a March baby means I won't have to go back to work until the next fall.  I'm so excited I can't stop smiling!!!

Music I Love, Part 1

So, I'm a big fan of music.  And today I was trying to think of what music I like the most and had trouble deciding.  I just love music a lot!  (Except for country--sorry country fans).  So here are my favorite songs in each genre (excuse me if my categorization is not perfect and let me know if I left anything out):

Classical: Wagner "Flight of the Valkyries" (Thanks Fantasia!)  :)

Jazz: This category has to be split up because it is far too huge to pick just one!  So here are the subcategories: Early Jazz/Ragtime: "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin!  All I can think of is the movie The Sting when I hear this.  And if you haven't seen The Sting, you absolutely must!!!

Middle Era/Big Band Jazz:  Oh, how does one pick!?!  My very favorite to play (Saxophone--long time jazz geek if you couldn't tell) was "In the Mood" by Glen Miller.  And "Sing, Sing, Sing" by Benny Goodman was another great one.  But I'm going to go with "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree" sung by the Andrews Sisters.  I had a 33 1/2 record of the best big band jazz when I was a kid and this was my go-to favorite!

Later Era: John Coltrane!  Gotta love a sax man!  He was amazing.  "Giant Steps" is still a work of art.

Early Rock: When I was a small child, before I knew what being dead was, I just KNEW I was going to marry Buddy Holly!  "Not Fade Away" was one of my faves:

The Beatles get their own category because they are the band I remember listening to with my mom.  She was mega obsessed.  It's hard to pick one, so I'm going with a feel-good one: "All Together Now"

The 70s are not really my favorite era.  Not a big disco fan, though a little disco can be fun.  Funk is more my thing.  And since seeing George Clinton and P-Funk live in college was a total blast, I'll go with "We want the Funk"  And the birth of punk was pretty awesome.  The Cars "You're All I've Got Tonight" is one of my favorites.

The 80s were also not my era.  But if I have to pic, I'll go with some good old Michael!  "Billie Jean" is one of my top MJ songs.

The 90s were way more my thing.  In fact, after trying to pick a song or two, that I honestly can't.  This is the true music of my youth.  I am going to have to dedicate a whole post to the 90s if I want to do them justice.

Here are my two Currently Loving pics:  Sister Crayon "In Re-Verse"

And The Shins "Young Pilgrims"

The Waiting Game

Well, I'm just an antsy mess right about now.  I keep telling myself it's no big deal and that it would be BEST to get KU and be due in April or May for my job anyway.  But no, I keep thinking, "how great would it be if I were KU this month!?!"

The only reason for me to think that is the temp dip I had at 11DPO.  Which is silly because everything else tells me AF is coming.  When I compare my chart, my temps are still right in line with the other BFN cycles.  And I have lots of cramps that come and go, just like with AF.  But the fact that I thought I was out and was going to have a short LP on Saturday and then it turned around has me hopeful.

That and L has started to take an interest in TTC more.  And now HE'S excited and hopeful.  Oh, well.  We'll see what happens I suppose.  Based on my normal LP, AF should be here tomorrow or Wednesday...

Whiny Pants

)So, L is the kind of guy who freaks out if he doesn't get to have sex for more than a day or two.  Seriously.  He freaks out and acts like he NEVER gets to have sex.  He put up with it for the last month or so since I threw my back out, but even that is pushing it for how little we have had sex.  And if it's my idea, he's always game!

I got a +OPK yesterday afternoon.  So when we went to bed I was like "hey, let's get it on".  I didn't tell him about the OPK.  He doesn't believe in having sex just so you get pregnant and I promised him that we would be respect each other and only have sex when we feel like it while trying to get KU.  Which normally isn't a problem since he always wants sex.

Until last night.  When he was like "I don't feel good and I'm grumpy".  Yep, totally got turned down for sex by the person who NEVER does that at the worst time possible.  Here's hoping he's feeling better tonight!  :)

Coals Under the Fire

So, I am almost to the end of my grad school journey.  This is my final semester.  I have completed all of the required coursework.  I am nearly done with my 1500 hours of intership.  I passed the School Psychology PRAXIS exam (joke) and I successfully defended my comprehensive case study last Friday).  The only remaining hurdle is my thesis.

If I want to graduate in time to not have to extend my license, etc. I have to defend my thesis by June 10th.  Which means I have to have a final copy submitted to my committee members by May 28th.  As of last Friday, I had the majority of Chapters 1 and 2 completed.  They just needed to be updated since it was over and a half ago that I wrote the Master's paper. 

So after relaxing Friday evening after the comp defense (gotta have some time to relax!) I got down to work.  Saturday and Sunday I completely knocked out draft of chapters 1-4.  Yeah, I rule.  And when I told my chair last Wednesday that I'd get a copy to him this week, he was like "yeah, ok".  He emailed me back right away and said "wow, you've been busy!".  :)  I know they need work, but I wanted feedback so I could fix them next weekend!  I'm on the way. 

Ok, enough of being an attention whore and talking myself up.

BFN Blues

So, I was really hoping this was the cycle.  But I was wrong.  I have been getting BFNs, but today is 14DPO, so I'm sure that means I'm out this month.  And then I started spotting after I got my BFN this morning.  So now I'm really mopey. 

And on to Cycle 7....

Honeymoon (The volcanoes and the trip home)

The next place we went to was the Arenal Volcano area.  We drove from the Pacific beach straight towards the center of the country.  It was a nice, relaxing drive, up and down pretty hills.  Eventually, we came upon Arenal Lake, which is huge and we had to drive from one side to the other.  That was 1/2 the trip.  We stopped at a little cafe and I had an awesome veggie sandwich with avocado. 

Here is a pic of the lake as we came upon it:

We got to our hotel and found out why they said you should have 4wd to get there.  The road in was a bit rocky:

 

And this was the drive to the bungalows from the reception:

 

We spent the rest of the day relaxing on the porch of our bungalow and enjoying the weather:

 

The next day we went and did the thing I most wanted to do of anything: zip lines!  Since L is deathly afraid of heights, it did not even occur to me that he might come with.  But when I went to pay, he said he wanted to.  I asked multiple times if he was sure and he said he was.  So I paid for both of us.  And up we went.  We took a cable car to the top of the mountain:

L looks scared:

 

I look excited:

 

Here we are at the top, ready to go, with the volcano in the background:

 

After 2 test runs, we got ready to do the first one.  I asked (for the 10th time) if L wanted to go back...it was his last chance.  He went, then I went.  It was AWESOME!  It was 45 stories up and you could see the volcano and the lake and trees way below you.  It was like nothing I've ever seen before.  When we got to the end, I looked around wondering how you get down.  It had not even occurred to me to ask any questions.  I was going no matter what.  I had assumed it was 1 zip then you're done.  Wrong.  A fellow zipper pointed out to me that there were 7 more to get to the end.  Uh, oh....pretty sure L wasn't aware of that either.  I was thrilled, he did not seem quite so thrilled.  But I got him to let me take pics of his second zip for proof that he'd done it.  Here is the sequence:

 

 

 

It was seriously the most fun I've had in a LONG time!  After all that excitement, though, L wanted to relax.  So we just hung out and relaxed at the bungalow.  The next day I was hoping we could do an ATV tour of whitewater rafting, but L was still a little shaken by the zip lines and wanted to stay low-key.  We walked around La Fortuna and shopped and ate.

The next day we took off for the airport really early.  We were really sad to go.  We went out a different way than we came in.  And the scenery was beautiful!  Here are a few shots from the road:

 

At one point, we realized that we were actually in the clouds:

 

 

On the map we had, it showed that the road went straight back to the main highway.  So we were very surprised when it forked right before we hit San Ramon.  We weren't sure what fork to take, so we stopped and asked a woman and her son.  They seemed very sure we should take the right fork.  Until they started gesturing the other way and seeming very certain we should go the other way.  I suppose that's what we get for going to a Spanish speaking country and not speaking any Spanish ourselves....  We took the right fork and ended up a a number of T intersections.  We randomly chose what direction to turn at each.  And were THRILLED to see this:

 

How we navigated through that city with no directions and successfully found our way back to the right highway I will never know.  But I'm sure glad we did because we would have missed our plane I think if we had gotten lost!

We didn't miss our plane.  We made it back in one piece.  It was tempting to just not get on, but seeing as we had already paid for the tickets and we'd just have to buy more if we didn't get on, we figured we might as well.  I can't wait to go back!

Honeymoon (The Beach)

Monday morning we got into San Jose.  We got through the ridiculous customs line and went to pick up our rental car and the people in line tell us "they ran out of 4x4s".  The hotel we were staying at said you need 4wd to get up their road, so that's not going to fly for us.  We haggled with them and they set us up with the same car for the same price with another rental car company.  Crisis diverted!

We got going on the road.  It was a straight shot on the main highway through the country from the rental car place to Liberia, where I had detailed directions the rest of the way to the hotel at Playa Ocotal that included "when you come to the top of the hill with a lot of signs, keep to the left".

The roads are a little treacherous at times and people are definitely not defensive drivers in the least!  At one point, we came around a curve and saw two semis coming straight at us, one in each lane, directly next to each other.  It's a good thing there happened to be a shoulder at that moment....it was one of the only times there was a shoulder in the whole country!  I caught a pic just as he was pulling in between the other semi and a car (right before I took it, the red semi and white semi were almost next to each other and the white one slammed on his brakes and got over--we were going approximately 50 mph at each other):

4 hours later, we made it to our hotel.  It made me sad because even though it was only 5:30, the sun had just gone down, so I didn't get to see the view.  We went to dinner at the hotel's restaurant and had a great steak with mashed potatoes and sauteed root vegetables.  It was absolutely delicious!  Unfortunately, we don't speak Spanish so when the waiter asked our order, DH said "I'll have the same, but with a Pepsi instead of a margarita".  The waiter nodded and said "yes".  So we figured he got it.

He came back with 2 of the strongest margaritas I've ever had (other than shots of tequila) and no Pepsi.  DH figured he would just drink it.  Neither of us really drinks and we were exhausted from traveling, so we only drank 1/2 of it because it was so strong.  When we finished eating, our waiter came over and asked us if something was wrong with our drinks.  We said no, they were good, just strong.  He then insisted on remaking them for us.  We argued back and forth with him but he insisted so we agreed that he'd bring us 1 new one to share.  A couple minutes later, he came back with 2 new margaritas, still strong, but drinkable.  We had to force ourselves to drink them because at this point, the manager, the waiter, the bartender, and the bus-boy were all staring at us from the other side of the patio.  When we were done eating and drinking, we had to walk our happy butts up the steepest ramp ever back to our room.  We actually thought when we turned the corner that there would be stairs.  I'm just glad neither of us rolled down it in the dark!

Here it is in the daylight the next day:

We got back to the room and went to bed.  When we woke up, I started some coffee and walked out to the patio to find this view staring me in the face:

Not so shabby!  Too bad I missed the sun setting over the water, but it was a pretty awesome surprise to wake up to!

We went down to breakfast and as we were walking there, we noticed this odd sign:

 

It was especially strange seeing as it was stuck in a flower bed that didn't even have bushes you could hide in...

Breakfast was equally strange.  There were tons of iguanas begging for food on the patio and the staff were chasing them away with a broom.  Some crazy lady was feeding this one (despite the sign that said "Please do not feed the animals"...):

When the staff told her she needed to stop feeding it, she asked "why? will it hurt his tummy?".  They did not know what to say to that, so they just let her keep feeding it.  It reminded us of my mother!  :)

After a quick stop at the beach, we headed out to the Arenal Region (another 3-4 hour drive).  Bye-bye Pacific!

 

It was a little sunny if you couldn't tell!  :)

Honeymoon (Getting There)

It's been quite while since I posted an update.  Oops.  Here goes the story of the honeymoon.  It was AWESOME!

Day 1 and morning of Day 2 (Getting there!)

L asked me approximately 15 times on Saturday what time we needed to leave our house to make it to the airport in time.  We had to drive from our house to Chicago (about 5 hours).  I told him we should leave at 9:30 or 10 a.m. to be sure we had time to park, get to the terminal, check our bag, and all the other crap we have to do before the plane actually leaves at 6:30 p.m.

Sunday morning, I get up and get showered.  I assumed that I would tell L when it was time to get ready and go.  I got about getting ready in the upstairs bathroom and when I come out, he has just gotten out of the shower and is getting dressed.  I'm amazed since I usually have to force him to get up.  We get the few things we still need to pack together and get everything in the car.  It is only 8:30 at this point.  I figure no big deal, we'll be early.  We get coffee and they ask when we have to be there.  I tell the barrista that we will get there pretty early since we left so early and L says "what?  we left early?"  Ummmm, yep.  I only told you 15 times last night what time we needed to leave....

So we get to the airport and get to the terminal.  We have time to kill, which I find a little annoying, but not the end of the world.  You never know what security will be like.  To be totally honest, I used to fly a lot and a couple yeas ago I stopped because I don't have time.  All of my airport experiences in the last month have been leaps and bounds better than it used to be.  We got through security so fast!  Not even a big deal at all!

The plane took us to Atlanta where we stayed over night.  I thought L was going to throat punch the shuttle driver.  Or pee his pants.  Or both.  The guy was doing like 85 in a 45 zone around curves.  It was intense and L is the worst about riding in cars.  He has to drive.  The hotel was one of those that is 15 stories and completely open in the center.  There are walkways around each floor that are open to the center of the hotel.  And a big glass elevator.  We were on the 9th floor and I felt bad for L because he is terrified of heights and there was no way to not look at what was going on.  When we checked in, the girl said to us "you have a balcony with a view of the airstrip!"  Like it was a good thing...

We stayed the night.  Amazingly, we didn't have any problems with airplane noise.  Another crazy (though less than the night before!) ride on the shuttle, wait in the airport (though much shorter this time), and then we were off to Costa Rica!  By the time we finally got there, got through customs, got our bag, and went to the car rental place it was 12:30 p.m.

San Francisco, Pt. 2

So, I leave for my NEXT adventure (Costa Rica YAY!) tomorrow, so I figured I ought to finish this one!

Thursday:

I was seriously planning to go to a mildly interesting sounding session, but when I got to Starbucks for my morning coffee, it was a zoo.  I got my coffee and went to the lobby of the hotel that was attached and found an actually quiet corner with a window onto the street and a water fountain.  It was so peaceful and quiet and as much as I was enjoying my girlfriends, it was really nice to be in such a quiet spot by myself.  So I stayed...for 2 hours!  :)  Oops!

In the afternoon, we worked for the publications booth for the convention.  In exchange for our service, we got a $75 credit off of our registration.  All 3 of us signed up for the same time slot, but they really didn't need all 3 of us.  They decided to send 2 of us to go sell books at a session that the author was giving.  She didn't want us to interrupt the session, so we got to sit and watch 1/2 of the session while we waited.  Plus it ate up 1/2 of our volunteering time! 

When we were done volunteering, we headed out to see a show by a band that is managed by a good friend of mine.  We got a kick ass slice of pizza and then headed to the show.  I made sure to get a pint of Guinness and grabbed a stool while waiting for their set to start.  K and M got annoyed that they apparently didn't open (not that I knew, I just knew that they were playing...) and they wanted to go home.  After their third song, the girls headed out.  I stayed because my friend had told them to give me a copy of their album after their set.  It was a great show and I'm so glad I went!  If anyone wants to check them out, they are called Sister Crayon.  Very awesome!

Friday:

K and I went to the gym and did cardio, weights, and abs.  We didn't want to be gone a whole week without doing any exercise (other than the fact that we were walking everywhere).  Then we headed to Philz Coffee to get a cup of coffee suggested by a friend who lives in San Francisco.  It was wonderful.  We went back to the hotel and grabbed cheesecake for lunch with M (there goes that workout...) and then K took a nap while I walked back to Philz to get another cup and some beans to take home.

We took a shower and then met up with M and one of our professors for coffee that evening.  The professor is ok, but she's a little up and down and we never really know how to feel about her.  It was fun, but a little awkward.  At one point, a friend of hers came up to her and told this story about how they had gone to Fisherman's Wharf and gotten socks.

After we left the professor, we hopped a cable car and went to Fisherman's Wharf ourselves.  I didn't account for the wind and the fact that it was pretty cold even for February and I was FREEZING.  I didn't intend to buy any souvenir type things, but I bought a long sleeve shirt just to warm up!  We grabbed a mediocre dinner and then walked around.  We saw the sock store and had a big laugh.  :)  Then we headed home on the cable car.  M sat inside and K and I sat outside directly on the other side of the window from M.  She and K kept trying to talk through the glass and the guy next to me seemed to be amused. 

When we got back to the hotel, we were walking down the hall toward the second tower of the hotel and about to go through a door that was open.  It started to shut (VERY slowly) and K said "watch out for the door" in a totally calm voice.  M froze, squealed, and danced from foot to foot  in terror.  It was so ridiculous looking that I immediately fell to the floor laughing and M did the same.  K just stood there amazed.  WTF M?  Awesome!

We went to bed and at 1:30 a.m. we woke up to a horrible sound.  We had discussed setting our alarms right before bed and I was about to yell at K that her alarm was REALLY annoying when I realized it wasn't the alarm.  It was a fire alarm.  In a daze, I pulled on pants and a jacket and looked around for my coat.  It took about a minute for M to realize she wasn't wearing her own coat and she handed mine over to me.  We stumbled down the stairs, outside, and across the street.  It took about 15 minutes to clear the building and let us get back in to go back to bed.  It was so cold out!

Saturday:

We woke up toady to new stories of the first snow in years.  Although everyone seemed to think that it was the end of the world, it was completely funny to us Iowa girls!  They even showed live footage of snowflakes falling....not sticking, just falling!

We got up, grabbed coffee, and then headed to the airport.  M and I misjudged our time a little and we were going to be pressed for time.  We got to the BART and the train to the airport was delayed 20 minutes.  Oh, crap.  It was going to be close.  When we got to the airport, we busted our butts and got to the bag check with a 1/2 hour till departure.  The lady said "sorry, too late".  We said "excuse me?"  She said agian "it's too late to check your bags, sorry".  I then asked her what we were supposed to do and she said "it's just too late".  As we walked away, I snarked to M "Way to be helpful lady!  If it's too late, fine, but tell me what I'm supposed to do!"  I don't know if she heard me or not, but she came back and said "ok, give me your bags".

After a painfully slow wait for security, we threw our shoes on, loaded our carry-ons and our coats into our arms, and ran at a full sprint through the airport.  It was awful.  My lungs burned, legs burned, the ankle I broke last fall was killing me (pretty sure it set my recovery back a couple months...) and as we approached our gate, the attendant was saying "anyone hoping to go to Chicago better be on the plane, we're shutting the doors".  Just made it!

It was a long flight because we were tired, hungry, and sweaty.  But it was a pretty good story.  And we made it home.  Good times!

San Francisco, Pt. 1

So, I spent last week at a conference in San Francisco (the National Association of School Psychologists, to be precise).  Here is my trip in detail (feel free not to read it all, it's mostly a record for myself so I remember the trip well!)

TUESDAY:

I woke up at 5:00 a.m. and got showered and ready.  I packed the last few things (like toiletries I needed to use getting ready) and threw my stuff in the car.  A quick stop at my coffee shop (I lovingly refer to it that way because I've been going there since I was 12 and worked there for a while in grad school) and I was on my way.  First stop, I had to pick up M where she lives, about 2 1/2 hours from me, but on the way to Chicago.  As I was driving I realized that my tire was making a funny sound and it occurred to me that they had to take my wheel off the week before to fix something.  When I stopped at my M's house, I got out the tire iron and gave the lug nuts a few turns.  Most of them were tight, but one turned really easily.  The tire never made the sound again, so I think it's safe to say that the repair guy failed to tighten the lug nuts well enough...awesome!

We got to Chicago way before we needed to.  I wanted to leave enough time to park, get to the terminal, get checked in, etc.  I seriously hate waiting in airports.  I told myself to shave a little off how long I thought it would take when going home because I didn't want to sit at the gate for 2 1/2 hours on the way home.  The people watching was fun, though.  And my friend and I sort of laughed at a few of those sad people who almost missed their planes and were forced to sprint to the gate.

We get into San Francisco and get our bags.  I'm supposed to be at the conference to monitor a workshop at 6:30 a.m. the next morning.  It is 6:40 p.m. and I am not checked into the conference.  Check in ends at 7 p.m. and doesn't start again until 7 a.m. and I'm about 25 minutes out from the hotel.  Hopefully they won't care that I'm not checked into the conference so I can still take my workshop!

When we get to the hotel, we are famished so we get take out cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory and enjoy our first super healthy vacation dinner! 

WEDNESDAY:

I wake up at 3:15 a.m. on the nose.  I convince myself to go back to sleep and wake up at...3:45 a.m.  This pattern repeats until 5:15, which is when my alarm is for.  I get up shower, dry my hair, walk out the door, and suddenly realize that I woke up at 5:15 HOME time, that was why my body was so insistent that I had overslept. 

Thankfully they let me monitor my workshop even though I'm not checked in yet.  The workshop is great.  The speaker is well-respected and the information is really interesting.  Unfortunately one of my duties is preventing people from walking into the workshop for free.  It is a paid session and it's not fair for people to sneak in.  I was hoping that, being a professional conference, we wouldn't have much of a problem.  I was very wrong.  One lady was even rude enough to say "well, I'll leave when I finish my food" and then tried to take one bite in almost 5 minutes.  I had to ask her 3 times to leave because it was a paid session.  She huffed off like we were being unreasonable.  Wow, great impression.  Super professional.

We had lunch at a cafe that had turkey sandwiches and falafal pitas.  What a great combo since M only eats a handful of foods and I LOVE falafal!  The delicious ethnic foods are a little lacking at home, so I love the opportunity to eat things that I can't find at home.

After lunch I went to a couple paper presentations on juvenile delinquents and gang involvement.  One was really interesting and the results were pretty cool.  It would be really neat to apply what they found to the kids that I work with.  The other sounded like it was going to be really fascinating.  They get through the PowerPoint and ask if there are any questions.  Someone asks, "so what were the results?".  That is when they decide to tell us that they haven't actually done the research yet.  Could be useful, if they find anything out from their research.

When we got back to the room, we had an interesting time picking a place to eat.  Our friend K met us in San Francisco and shared the room with us.  K is doing her internship in Portland, OR.  She shares my love for a wide variety of foods.  Every place we mentioned was met with "what do they have?" from M.  She refused to eat almost anything.  We figured out that a Greek place nearby had "Burger Pizza" on its menu, as well as a lot of food K and I love.  Turned out the restaurant was literally 2 steps outside our hotel.  We ordered a bottle of wine, baba ganoush, falafal, spanikopita, feta, and olives. 

Apparently M doesn't drink wine either, so K and I get a little tipsy sharing our bottle.  We got a little noisy and goofy.  I'm hoping that wasn't why they chose not to seat anyone near us after we got there...but I don't care that much.  We had a great evening!

To be continued...

Seriously, body!?

I am very annoyed with my body right now.  It seemed like I was gearing up to O and I started spotting a little.  But then I kept spotting, for 10 days!  And then yesterday, it turned into my period.  At least I think it's what is going on.  It is definitely red flow (sorry, TMI!)  :)  WTH body?  I have two totally typical cycles and then one weird, short (only 20 days) annovulatory cycle...  I'm really hoping it was just a fluke.

Ok, so whine over.  On to a new cycle!  Here's hoping #5 is our cycle! :)

Getting Excited

I love traveling and I'm lucky enough to have 2 trips two look forward to in the next month!  In 2 weeks, I am going to San Francisco for a conference.  The conference itself will be wonderful, but I'm really excited to see San Francisco and hang out with my friend from high school who lives there.  Then I get back and I'm only home 2 weeks before we leave for our honeymoon in Costa Rica.

A couple months ago, I planned the whole trip.  I bought the plane tickets, booked the rental SUV (in case we want to go places that require 4wd), and booked the hotel for the overnight layover in Atlanta.  I asked L to pay for the hotel.  It was all planned out and I was really excited for the hotel.  He didn't get it booked and I wasn't on top of things.  So last week I emailed them again and...there are no more rooms.

So I spent the last 2 days re-planning our trip.  Which was way more fun than it sounds!  And because we didn't get the hotel we wanted, we got to re-imagine our trip.  The new plan has us driving to the coast for a day and staying in a nice suite on the Pacific Ocean.  The next day, we'll hit the beach early then check out and head inland to the Arenal Volcano area to a lodge there.  We'll get to do a whole bunch of stuff that we really wanted to do (zipline, hiking, kayaking, mountain biking, canyoneering/rappelling, ATV tour, and the spa--of course!).

I am so psyched for this trip!  This is going to be a long month of waiting!

Snow Days

Well, it is happening once again.  The world is actually ending.  It's amazing there is anything left based on the number of times the world ends every winter here in Iowa!

You would think that people would get used to the snow.  It happens every single year.  Last year we got 14 inches in 8 hours.  Yes, that was a lot of snow at once.  It took a little while to clean up.  But the world was still there.  Life did not fall to pieces because of some frozen water.

On the radio yesterday morning, the DJ was recounting the current weather forecast.  Meteorologists had forecasted up to an inch here, inch or two there, at the time they were saying up to 12 inches for tonight (now they're saying up to 8).  After reading the list, the DJ paused for a moment, contemplated what he had just read, and then confidently announced that we should expect to see a foot of snow, give or take a foot.  Yep, we are supposed to get somewhere between 4 and 24 inches of snow. 

I had to go to the store after work because we were totally out of food at home.  Sure enough, it was packed with people buying as much bread, milk, and bottled water as they could fit into a cart.  As though they expected Armageddon.  So it took me twice as long to get the groceries that I needed.  And don't even get me started on the people driving 15 miles per hour even though the roads were FINE!

I suppose that I will just have to be the one to get used to the fact that people will always overreact when it comes to winter weather.

Debbie Downer (or Negative Nancy if you will...)

So today, I'm going to be a whiner.  I don't usually like to whine about things.  I really don't have much to whine about: wonderful husband (who brought me flowers last night), awesome dogs, nice house, good job.  Yep, my life is pretty awesome.  The only thing that I have to whine about is TTC.  I should just be grateful, but I'm going to whine anyway:

My stupid temps just keep going down.  I told myself that if I got too excited or wanted this to be the cycle too much, it wouldn't happen.  I was unsuccessful at keeping my hopes at bay and now my temps are taking a downward slide.

Half of me thinks that it is somehow directly related to my hope or anticipation (yes, completely stupid and irrational).  The other half is scouring FF chart gallery looking for charts that look like mine and resulted in pregnancy.  Equally silly since what someone else's chart looks like really has nothing to do with me.  But I can't help myself.  Now I want to kick myself in the ass (great visual) for being so excited and I want to kick myself in the ass for letting it bother me so much and I also want to kick myself for managing to still have a little hope...wow, I wonder what emotion I wouldn't be upset with myself over this month?

Anyway, whine over.  I hope that everyone else out there is having a better (and less whiny!) Saturday than me!

The Magic 8 Ball

My way of handling the 2ww (the two weeks from when I ovulate until I find out if I'm pregnant or not) is far from helpful.  So far, while waiting to see if I am knocked up this month I have: watched TV shows about pregnant women, obsessively looked for charts that look like mine on Fertility Friend, stalked the birth month boards on The Bump (especially October 2011 because I REALLY want to be there), and repeatedly consulted a Magic 8 Ball.  

Yes, you heard that right, a Magic 8 Ball, like you had when you were a kid....my favorite coffee shop has one sitting on the counter where you wait for your coffee.  This month, after I had confirmed O, I asked the Magic 8 Ball if I was pregnant and going to have an October baby.  It said yes.  I have since asked it on a daily basis and it continues to assert that I will be having a baby in October.

My husband thinks that I am a goofball.  I immediately told him that the Magic 8 Ball said I was pregnant and that I was going to be very disappointed if it was wrong.  He thinks it's funny, but it is really getting my hopes up.  What is wrong with me?!?  A Magic 8 Ball?  I mean, it's a floating geometric shape with Yes and No written on it...it's not even as impressive as a psychic!

I want to test very badly tomorrow, but I also want to make myself wait until Monday when my period should be showing up.  I feel like I will be really let down and a little angry with the Magic 8 Ball if I see a BFN.  Yep, I will actually be mad at the Magic 8 Ball... Oh, well.  Such is the crazy that the 2ww brings out in me, I guess.

Let's Give This a Shot

So, I've never blogged before and I'm not sure I really have anything special to say.  I figured I'd give it a shot, though.  I think a little background about me and my husband is in order:

I am E and I am 28 years old.  I am in my final year of grad school for School Psychology, which is really cool because it's just a full-time paid internship.  I am working in two schools this year, both in an urban school district.  The elementary that I work in is the lowest income in the district.  We also have the largest ELL population in the district (both in numbers and percentage-wise).  I also work in a special program for middle- and high-school kids with behavior disabilities.  I love the kids that I work with and am really enjoying my job.

My husband is L.  He is 33 years old.  He works for a major tractor manufacturer as a line worker.  For the past year, though, he's had an office job.  It's a non-traditional position where he is part of a team designing a new production line.  Sounds like it might be more interesting than screwing in the same bolt every day, right?  Not even close.  He is so totally bored and sick of it, he talks about going back to the line before his contract is up in August at least once a week.

When my husband and I decided to get married, we decided we wanted to try to get pregnant right away after the wedding.  I work in the schools and the ideal times for me to have a baby (given a perfect world) would be October, November, March, April, and May because that would maximize the time that I would have on maternity leave with my baby.  Originally we wanted to start trying in January of 2011 (this month).  I had my IUD taken out in October of 2010 because I wanted to make sure I had time to regulate before trying.  In November, my fiance surprised me by asking "Why are we waiting to try?  We might not even get pregnant right away and who cares if the timing is perfect as long as it's not bad?  I would like to try now."  I thought about it and decided he was right, so we started trying that month.

Here we are and it's January.  He was right that we wouldn't get pregnant right away (not that it's been long at all).  Although I was excited to get pregnant the last two cycles, not as excited as I am for this one.  I am 2DPO right now and I can already tell that this 2 week wait is going to be a lot harder than the last two.
And I know that the let down will be a lot harder this month than it was the last two...here's hoping that I won't have to worry about that.

I have a bad habit of thinking that I will jinx things if I am too positive or if I want something too badly.  I keep feeling like "it's ok if I don't get pregnant this month" so that I'm not too let down if I'm not.  It worked the last two months, but now that I'm to the point where it would be great timing and I would get to have a bunch of extra time at home with my baby if I got pregnant this cycle, I'm finding it very hard not to get my hopes up.