Traffic distractions

First and foremost, everyone go send some love over to Leah, who is now on bedrest. Not only is she on bedrest, but she also has a curious little pre-schooler who doesn't quite understand the concept.

Now I had all these fantastic posts floating around in my head that went completely out the window when I saw a lovely cop helping a broken down cab. He happened to look just like this fine young man. Since my 35 minute commute was at over an hour and I was sitting at a traffic light, I welcomed the distraction. His hair blew in the spring breeze. Apparently the light changed as he started to push the car out of traffic and I wiped drool from my chin as the folks behind me honked. Since I do love my husband, I'm going to blame this on hormones...but damn!

So that was my evening. Came home to leftovers and a night with the DVR...how disappointing

is it bad that...

- is it bad that the workout playlists on my i.pod have really become "driving home from work on a nice day with the window down" playlists?

-and, is it bad that the other day I downloaded several N.ew Kids on the B.lock songs in anticipation of the best reunion tour of 08??

Just wondering

Thanks for the dyson's recs. You ladies know how to respond when something is truly important ;) So far, Mr H still says we can get one tomorrow. Never been so excited to vacuum in my life. I really wanted it today since I'm having people over later and now they will see just how horrible my carpet is. I hope they all love me anyway.

This is shaping up to be a great weekend. This morning, I'm going with my almost sis in law to her dress fitting. This is the one with the veil, shoes, whole 9 yards. Pretty sure I'm going to cry. Then it's time to make some cheesy crab dip in preparation for the jewelry party we're having later that night. (think tupperware party but just with fun jewelry). Then girls night in while the guys are all out at my brother's bachelor party.

And then Sunday....Sunday is another meeting of the TOOTPU (The Order of the Plastic Uterus). We'll be grilling out at LJ's house. I'll be baking something yummy that morning and then get to spend the afternoon hanging out with some of the most fantastic women I've had the pleasure of meeting. Then back home, to cook my mom's birthday dinner. To be quickly followed by collapsing into bed exhausted.

Vegas baby

Warning: taking weeks off at a time from blogging results in some seriously long posts. Much apologies.

Vegas rocked and I need to figure out a way to fit more vacays into my life. To keep things orderly, I'll dish everything non p-word related first.

Ok, but first business. Read this post by Mel for how you can help the March of Dimes and her Team on the Road. Such an important cause that is so dear to all of our hearts. I actually saw billboards for the walk when I was out in Vegas, haven't heard too much press for it here so I was pleasantly surprised. Once you've done that, go read this post by Mel (she's been very busy lately) on how we can all pull together to help each other out. It's a fantastic idea, one that will help me out too, since I have a basement full of stuff I've been meaning to put on Craigslist or Ebay and have just been too darn lazy.

Whew...good to get work out of the way....now onto the fun. We did 4 days in Vegas for my spring break and had a blast. We've been before, always with a bunch of friends, and this time, I really didn't feel like dealing with the crowds of people coming home drunk at 4 am and listening to my neighbors have sex for all hours of the night. So the fantastic Mr H found us this place. Amazing. Non-smoking, non-gaming. And he called ahead and requested a high floor with a balcony room overlooking the strip.

It is attached to the MGM so you could be at the casino with 2 minutes on a moving walkway. But once you crossed over those doors it was like a whole separate world. They completely pampered you, with pool boys making smoothies, iced down towels for your eyes. And, one of my faves, all the free bottles of water you could want. As someone who always goes out and buys 2 big gallons for vacations, this was a huge perk. All I had to do was ask, and I received. Just lovely. Overall, it was a very civilized place. We did the usual; ate our way through the city, saw a great show, and just really relaxed. Didn't win any money, but came home with most of what we set aside to lose, so that isn't too bad.

We came home late Thursday night and that had 2 different sets of friends in town Friday and Saturday. Actually did the cherry blossoms saturday...completely crazy and made me glad that it rained the day of our wedding since I would have been one of the thousands of brides out there trying to get all the tourists out of our pictures. (funny aside, it poured, monsooned really, on our wedding day and SOOO many people told me to watch out, that's a sign of a fertile marriage...HA). Then Sunday night we went to opening night at the new Nationals stadium with my brother and his fiance. Beautiful park, such a nice night, and for all they talked about how bad getting there and home was going to be, it was a piece of cake. From leaving the stadium to pulling up to the house, we were under an hour (and I'm in the burbs). Definitely excited that baseball is back in DC for real now.

And the excitement continues. Tomorrow is our anniversary (3 years, I can't believe it). This weekend we're going to the Melting Pot. I've been wanting to go since Valentine's day. Tomorrow night we're not doing anything too special...a quick dinner at a local place we like, then some shopping since it's my mother's and brother's birthday coming up. But still fun...at some point I'll make him watch our video with me. And then I'll promise that by our 4th anniversary I'll get the wedding album done. At this point, what's the rush??

Ok, everything p-word that's been going on. I know it's been forever since I updated. Had my 15w appt before Easter, so disappointed when they brought me into the room sans u/s machine. But all was well. Doc found the heartbeat right away, unlike with my crapola doppler here and gave me my permission slip for a prenatal massage. Flight cross country wasn't bad. What sucked was that I lost the ability to adjust to time changes. I was a wreck the first two days there and even though we came back east Thursday, I'm still not all the way adjusted. The very exciting part was that I think I felt little Quentin (Q) when we were there. I was sitting by the pool for my day of rest (WAYYY overdid it the first 2 days and needed some serious pool time) with a very full stomach and bladder and felt these little quivers. Didn't happen again so I thought it was wishful thinking but now the last 3 nights, whenever I'm sitting quietly or laying down, I feel like something is tickling me inside. Feels very different from gas so I'm guessing it's Q, still not 100% though. It's more pronounced whenever I've got the full tummy/bladder going. Guess it squishes him/her a bit. I'm 16w3d so I know it's still a little early.

Ultrasound is scheduled for the Thursday the 24th. Mr H is out of town the week before and I really wanted it sooner. I thought of just scheduling it for then and telling him it was the only appointment I could get, but decided to be a good wife. Hopefully we'll know boy/girl but all I really want is too make sure all systems are go, organs in the right place, etc. Not sure what we'll call Quentin if she turns out to be a girl, I guess Q. Hmmm....don't think I told that story. For some crazy reason, my grandmother always thought Mr H's name was Quentin. He in no way looks like a Quentin (not sure what a Quentin looks like, just know not him). Now as she got on, she had some dementia, but even when she was mostly there, she still called him Quentin. Our wedding day, she called to wish me and Quentin congrats, the check inside the card....made out to Quentin H (thank goodness the credit union at his work knows him and worked it so we could cash it). At her funeral, we signed the guestbook Meghan and Quentin H for her. So when we were trying to think of something to call this little bean, I said I wanted something she could remember, so she'd pray for us....and of course, the answer to that was Quentin!

And lastly for your viewing pleasure, not quite a belly pic but a pic of me looking quite bloated/large in Vegas. Now I knew the boobs had grown some but holy bodacious ta-ta's! Seriously, they used to be maybe an A and a half. And there's a little belly in there, but it was right after the most delicious breakfast ever (I seriously ordered like this, "I'll have the beignets to start and the french toast"....for breakfast people! Who gets an app at breakfast?!?!) So that's what's in the belly there.

Iced coffee is good

Yum.

I snuck out of work to head down the street to Gi.ant (local grocery store) to grab some lunch. Turns out they're closed for a labor vote! So instead of a nice healthy salad, I walk 2 storefronts down to the Fourbucks for a delicious iced white mocha and an egg sandwich. The first iced coffee of spring is just SO good!

I know, haven't blogged in forever. Promise to give you all some updates from our Vegas adventure soon. Coming back from vacay is always so much work!

new day

Thanks for the support yesterday. I think sometimes I minimize things (like saying its just IUI) as a way to protect myself. But you're all right. I do need to recognize that what we're doing is a big deal and allow myself to feel everything I'm feeling.

Two quick things. First, last cycle I didn't have any Clom.id side effects until day 3. Not anymore! Took my first pill at 8:30 last night and by midnight I was having night sweats. Totally sucks. I can handle the hot flashes (in fact its so cold at work I kind of want one) but those night flashes are going to be the death of me. I'm a bad sleeper lately anyway and waking up 3-4 times in a pool of sweat does not help matters. Ok, second thing. In the shower this morning I found stretch marks on my boobs! Which means I was not imagining those symptoms last cycle. But it still sucks...to get stretch marks when I can't even get pregnant.

Going to to go the C.arbonleaf concert tonight (might need a powernap when I get home first). There's a song on their most recent album, "Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat" that just sums up all this cycling crap. I hope they play it.

why?

Why did I decide to POAS yesterday afternoon? Yes, I told myself that it was to make sure the trigger was completely out of my system like the Jen's (he he, just like the Bob's...great movie) suggested. But really it is because I enjoy torture. I should consider becoming a spy when all this is said and done because no one will ever be able to get anything out of me. I torture myself all the time...for fun even!! Anywho, naturally Friday's pee stick was white as a ghost. But you see, I rationalized it because I tested in the afternoon and drank a ton of water that day. So this morning, what did a half asleep Meghan have to do??? You guessed it! Pee on yet another stick. And ya know what....the trigger is still out of my system! Now this is where I get good at the self-torture. I'm now telling myself that because I got up to pee in the middle of the night (around 2) that the test I took at 7:30 must not be valid....so tomorrow morning I'll be at it again! Today is 10dpiui. Yes, I know its still early but still within the realm of possibilities.

Enough of that depressing crap. Let me tell you about my otherwise fantastic Friday night. My MIL always just writes us a check for the holidays and ever year we do something practical with it. And this year we were planning on doing the same. She's overly generous with her gifts so it would almost cover all of my meds for this next IUI (if necessary). Instead, the fantastic Mr H tells me that his mom wanted to make sure we did something fun so instead she got us tickets to go see Av.enue Q. I'm pretty gullible and easily get excited for a night out. We go out to a fantastic to a place with a great pre-theater menu (I was so pleasantly surprised by this restaurant) and then walk over to the show. The whole time Mr H is telling me that his mom did a bad job with the seats, they suck, on and on. We get there, he walks right past all the ushers and brings me to front row center...right behind the conductor. I was so surprised! He did it all (and I should have know that his mom is not computer savvy enough to buy tickets for anything online). He actually got lucky and when he was buying the tickets last week he told the guy he was trying to plan a nice date for his wife b/c she'd been down lately and the guy at the box office upgraded him! See, it can pay to be miserable and depressed ;) It was a fantastic show. One where you definitely want to be up close to see all of their facial expressions. I need to download one of the first songs, It Sucks to be Me. I see it becoming a key staple in my pity party rotation.

Today started out fun. Met my almost sister in law in Clarendon for a meeting with the florist. I just love her (my almost sister, not the florist, who was nice) and can not wait for her to officially be my sister. I am so lucky my brother picked someone I actually like. After that I had to rush home to change. I had meetings with 2 families today. Sucked to work 5 hours on a Saturday but that money should totally cover Christmas shopping this year.

And tomorrow is the cookie exchange with the DC Stirrup Queens. And that means I must get myself in the kitchen!!

Back to work

I would really be fantastic as a stay at home wifey. Coming back to work today just sucked.

But Sunday! Sunday we made over 100 bucks returning nasty wedding presents. Yes, I know we've been married for 2 1/2 years but we just finally decided to get all of the crap out of the basement closet. I know if we had done it closer to the wedding we probably would have gotten some more, but at this point, I'll take the 100 bucks! I am a little sad to say that we no longer have por.nographic candlesticks....they were pretty freakin awesome! But the gift card to Bloomies makes me happier. We've got even more stuff on Craigslist so hopefully we'll the present-buying fund will get another little bonus. Had a quiet night with Mr H. Made some turkey chili with leftovers that was great and watched Si.cko. I am now petrified that my insurance is going to find some way to deny the rest of our treatments. It was not a movie I should have watched right now.

And on the symptom front....5dpiui and nada. Cramps I had earlier are gone and I'm just left with crazy sore boobs. Seriously, my bra barely fits right now and I have a big bruise from the stupid wire digging in. It sucks, mostly because it is just the Pr.ometrium talking. Trying to talk myself out of testing to see if the trigger is out of my system. I really don't want to make myself crazy testing early but I know it's inevitable. Apparently I enjoy torturing myself.

3dpiui and hungover

So I know it's really way to early to have any symptoms and anything that isn't made up in my head is probably from the Pr.ometrium but I don't care. Having tons of cramping on my left side. Pains on the right, that 13mm that was too small to trigger is probably going to end up being a cyst. And since it's been about 6 months since I've had a painful cyst, I guess I'm due. Oh, and my boobs are sore but I know that's the meds talking. Given the not so great timing and Mr H's not so great count, I'm not getting my hopes up. (ha...please remind me I said this in about 7 days)

We had a great weekend up in Philly. Jenna commented on my last post and said she hoped my happiness hangover lasted. What a great description! And it certainly did!!! My brother and his fiance decided to come up with us too so we had a fun road trip Friday morning. It was so great to see our friends. They moved in August and we hadn't seen them both since their wedding. I had never been to Philly before. They live in the cutest neighborhood, I just loved it. We had a great afternoon walking around and a fantastic dinner Friday night. The best part was that kids/pregnancy never even registered on the conversation. Partially because they are all part of our IC (inner circle) and know about our IF but also because no one else is in that spot. So for once, I didn't feel inadequate. And since they know about the IF, they didn't raise any eyebrows when I nursed a glass of wine over dinner and didn't drink at any of the bars we went to (as an aside, when will VA go smoke-free???? it is just so nice). Played a little photo hunt for far too long and then called it a night.

Today we walked around the city some more, got ourselves a cheesesteak for lunch, and headed home. This is seriously the best type of hangover ever!

Stuffed

Uggg....the eating orgy started at 9:15 in the morning and pretty much lasted until 9 pm. I don't even think I can move. The apple butter pancakes where unbelievable. I highly recommend putting a spoonful or two of apple or pumpkin butter into your pancake batter next time you make them. So easy and it way impressed the fam.

I posted awhile back about my apple infused vodka. Wow!! So good. And I must give a shout out to LJ and her fantastic bartender of a husband for this recipe. My whole family got a bit silly a bit too early in the afternoon because of it.

We had a great dinner and than played a rousing game of Cra.nium. Tonight was exactly what I needed. I laughed more than I have in weeks (maybe months) and for the first time in a looooonnnnggg time, my tears weren't sad. And tomorrow morning we're heading up to Philly to see some friends we haven't seen in forever. It should be a fun weekend.

Hope you all had just as wonderful a day.

Hurry up and wait

Not only is that what I'll be doing for the next 2 weeks, it was also the theme of the day. We didn't get taken into our 10:30 appointment until about 11:20. Mr H's post wash was 10 mil, not great but certainly not horrible. Procedure itself went fine. I was a little nervous since my dr had said it would feel similar to the HSG...and I thought that was horrible. He had a little trouble getting my cervix into position but once he did it was over in seconds. And now I like to think of it as some crazy reality show going on in my tubes. I named it Egg-lette as my one little egg looks for the perfect spermie. I was thinking something along the lines of Rock of Love, but if this works, I really don't want to associate my future child with B.rett Michael or any of those skanky, skanky ladies.

I get to start my Pr.ometrium tomorrow (happy thanksgiving to me) and my beta in scheduled for Dec 6. After the chemical last month I'm not sure if I'll test early or not. Regardless I'll test on the morning of the beta, I need some advance notice of impending bad news.

Hope everyone has a wonderful thanksgiving. We're going to my parents first thing in the morning and are in charge of breakfast. I'm making apple butter pancakes and Mr H has various meats he's very excited about. And from there...we'll pretty much just eat all day. And of course we have the apple vodka! My brother also made a cinnamon infused bourbon....sure to be a fun afternoon.

Slow and steady **updated at bottom**

Had my bloodwork and ultrasound today. Scan showed one 17 mm follicle on the left, a 13 on the right, and a few smaller ones on both. I had been hoping for at least 3-4 decent sized ones but I guess I'll take two....it's certainly more than I've ever had at this point in the game. So I go back tomorrow for another scan, although I doubt the 17 will grow that much in a day. My nurse is going to call sometime today to let me know if I should take another F.ollistim or just let them do their growing on their own.

Other than that, had burgers and bowling night yesterday and I actually almost beat Mr H (I'm a terrible bowler). Must be all those Wii tournaments we have ;) Today we've got a big day...a little Ik.ea, a little Tar.get, good times!

** update (I didn't want to waste my 100th post on a silly update...I know, I'm a dork)

nurse called and told me to take another 75 iu of F.ollistim tonight and to come in for another scan on Monday. I hope this lets the 13 catch up!

thanks for all the info and good wishes!

thanksgiving prep

Sorry for all the postings today. Thought you all would like this pic.

Here's how we start getting ready for the holidays in my family.

Vodka needs a week to infuse....much higher priority than ordering the turkey or anything like that ;)

Catching up

Wow, with everyone doing this posting every day thing, I've got a lot of reading to do. I can't keep up with all of you!



I'm on day 3 of C.lomid. After the first day I stupidly wished for some side effects so I would know it was working. Boy did I get my wish. That night I woke up every 45 minutes or so with crazy horrible hot flashes. I never knew hot flashes were like that and I feel a little bad that I wasn't nicer to my mom when she was going through them. So I was tossing and turning constantly all night long. That was our night in the B&B. Not the romantic night we had been planning.



It was still a great weekend. We went hiking Saturday. It was a little cold and foggy but that just meant that the trail wasn't crowded. Had a fantastic dinner Saturday night. Barely slept that night so we decided to skip the wineries and drive straight home so we could nap before the concert.

B.ruce was AWESOME!!! It was a great show. My brother and his fiance are actually going back tonight, but they're hard core fans.

And now it's back to work. Sucks having to work on days Mr H has off. He was supposed to be playing house husband today but just called to tell me that the blew a circuit and we have no power on the first floor....my handy husband! Of course that's also because he was going to make me dinner tonight.

Will try to catch up on everyone's blogs tonight!

Random sporting events...

I knew you ladies would be the only ones to cheer on my spotting ;) I'm now anxiously awaiting full on AF. Based on my cramping and general PMS-iness, I'm thinking Monday or Tuesday. But at this point, I know better than to make any timelines.

Had a great weekend up in NY, managed to see some friends I've haven't seen since my birthday. And the drive back down today wasn't half as bad as we thought it would be with all the rain.

Now onto my new biggest problem...the Sox game. Usually I can make it up for a Sat night World Series game but now tomorrow morning I've got to get up really early for some marathon watching. Those of you who didn't know that marathons were a spectator sport have never met my family (and at this point, you might be glad about that) My dad has run marathons for as long as I can remember, all of the neighborhood kids used to make a parade for him after his marathons and triathlons. When we lived up in Mass, the B.oston Marathon started in our hometown. So we'd always go the the start, which was a blast, then head home and race down the Mass Pike and watch from Ke.nnmore Square. In high school, I would jump in and pace my dad the last few miles. And then of course we'd always be at the finish. The M.arine Corp marathon is a spectator's dream. It snakes around the city and there are so many places to watch the runners. I think we'll be able to see my brother and his fiance at 4 different spots along the course. So I've got a big day tomorrow, I can't be up all night watching the game. (oh...this just in, a 6 run 3rd for the Sox, I think I can sleep easy tonight)

Alright, I haven't been able to check in with anyone all weekend, I'll spend tomorrow night with my b.loglines and writing up my book tour questions. Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone!

I am a weak weak woman

Seriously, I'm pathetic. And a sucker for girl s.couts. Well for their cookies really. Someone was selling them at work today and I bought 2 boxes. First off, they are not $3.50 a box...three-fity!!! That's crazy for 10 cookies. They've got quite a racket going on over there. They must put crack or something in those t.hin m.ints because I've gone through an entire sleeve already.

Off to go find some fruit...or maybe to see if she has anymore boxes left...I'm not telling ;)

good times

Is it bad that I've been in a great mood ever since buying 4 (yes four) pairs of shoes yesterday?!?! Does that mean I have a problem?

Now I promised Mr H this means I would throw out 4 pairs...that will totally kill my buzz ;)

Kitchen pics!!

Wow!! It looks so freaking good! I wish we had done this years ago!

Here are some before pics. They don't really do it justice, you can't quite make out the peeling formica on the counters, the linoleum worn so thin that it could not be cleaned, the stained glass light fixture that is straight out of TGIF.riday's...but you'll get the general idea.

It's messy but you can see the really dark cabinets, covered in 30 years worth of grease that won't wash off, barely any counter space, and the huge gap between the dishwasher and fridge with the insulation of the dishwasher hanging out.

This picture is actually nice, just wanted to give an idea of the 'before' color.

Are you ready??????

First he raised the cabinets by 5 inches. We had about a 6 in gap between the cabinets and the ceiling before. It was my cat's favorite spot in the whole house but he'll get over it. He also moved everything over about 4 inches. It gives us a little more counter space but just makes everything look a little neater. The biggest plus was the new cabinets. We had all this wasted space in the corner before but the angled cabinet and the Lazy Susan make such a difference. We were unpacking everything today and don't know what to do with all the space!

Here's the new color. And you can see a bit of the floor, and Hobbes' tail!

Here's a better pic of the floor...and my kitty. I can not wait to cook tomorrow night! (don't repeat that to anyone and do not let Mr H know). I honestly didn't even mind washing dishes tonight.

Off to finish un-packing everything!! Hope you all like it!

Happy weekend!

We've got our friend's Jeep Wrangler for the next 2 weeks while they're on their honeymoon so we're thinking of taking a drive out to Shenandoah or maybe apple picking somewhere. I've been wanting to apple pick for awhile now but it hasn't felt like fall yet. I'm so excited for the weather. Need to take advantage of having a car without a roof!

Then on Sunday it's time to box up the kitchen, not looking forward to that. Plus, I realized that since I haven't been able to start this cycle, all of my meds are still in the fridge so it has to stay plugged in. I know they don't expire for 30 days at room temperature but I don't want to risk anything. They need to stay as strong and potent as scientifically possible.

If you see someone in a green Jeep stalling her way through Northern VA, say hi, it's been about 3 years since I've driven a stick!

Hope everyone else has a good weekend too!

Go Sox!!!

Up 4 nothing....love it!

Thanks everyone for all your comments on my little tirade. I love that people get me and I can rant and rave. Have a great night!

What to watch??

Good TV is tonight (that is what I've called Thursday night TV since college) AND my Traveling DVD arrived in the mail yesterday...what's a girl to do?

TGI Tivo is all I can say