Giving Thanks

Wow, I have a lot to catch you up on.  Let's start with the weeks worth of 30 Days of Thanksgiving that I have neglected to put on here and then I will explain why.

Day 18:  Today I am thankful for the little tidbits of knowledge you learn each day as a mom. It never ceases to amaze me the things we learn on this journey! Onesies can be pulled DOWN!! That's why they have the flaps at the neck like or snaps on the shoulders. Who knew????? LOL

Day 19:  Today I am thankful for Pinterest and all the crafts it has that make great gifts. With the economy being the way it is, I believe most people will resort to making gifts, thus reawakening their sense of creativity helping them to reconnect with the joy of giving something of themselves in each gift. This is how gift giving should be! I think we often times let life get in the way and let money try to speak for us. I think it falls far short of something that we make ourselves!  

Day 20:  Today I am thankful for my wonderful husband that takes care of me when my body decides to fail me. I honestly don't know what I would do without him!!! I love you!

Day 21:  Today I am thankful that there are organizations and programs dedicated to foster the education of music! I am thankful that I belong to one of those, Kappa Kappa Psi. I am thankful for shows like Majors & Minors, too! How awesome to take young kids and really teach them about what they already love to do! THIS is why I want to be a band director someday!!

Day 22:  Today I am thankful for my sweet sister! She has been my best friend, confidant, and giggle buddy for my whole life. I was blessed to be born her sister!! LOVE YOU!!!!! *HUGS*

Day 23:  Today I am thankful that I am only cooking pies and stuffing for our Thanksgiving dinner. I just don't think I could pull off another full blown meal this year. So, I'm thankful for my sister-in-law for cooking it all for me this time! I'm also thankful that I will get to see my "Llama", ex-mother-in-law that I love dearly, and spend some time with her! Thankful for getting to spend time with my mom, and my sister, on Sunday evening for our Thanksgiving at home! I love the holidays because we make a point to spend time with our family so we can enjoy each other. I'm especially thankful that our holidays are not filled with grumbling and complaining and hurt feelings! My family...on BOTH sides is a joy to be with! So, thank you, Lord, for blessing me with such an AWESOME family!

Day 24 (Thanksgiving Day):  Today I am thankful for living in the land of the free, the home of the brave, for everyone taking time to remember why we are all thankful, for the curious nature of explorers, and for the bravery of the Pilgrims who came here to start a new life in a land they new nothing about. I'm also thankful for my family and all the many blessings we all take for granted every day. I'm thankful for our military and their families! Thank you for sacrificing your holidays with your loved ones so we can still celebrate holidays like this in peace. I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving full of blessings, family, friends, love, laughter, and lots of good food! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Ok, now to explain why I have been absent for a week.  I have been dealing with raging allergies and have been in a benadryl coma for the last week.  It's been crazy.  It seems that taking Clomid has thrown my hormones out of whack something fierce and now all my allergies and some new ones are showing their ugly heads.  I was taken off my progesterone for a week while they switch me to a new form, sublingual, in hopes it will work better and get rid of my dyshidrotic eczema.  We went in on Monday and decided on the testing we are doing and tried to get blood.  That was a no go.  I ended up with 4 bruises from that adventure.  Then Tuesday was spent tanking up on water and then trying to draw blood, which failed, and Wednesday I was back at the doctor trying to get my blood drawn again.  They finally got about an inch and a third of blood in a vial and said they hoped that was enough to run all the tests they needed to run.  If not, I'm sure I will get a call on Monday to have it drawn again.  OH THE JOY!  I have 8 bruises now and three of those are VERY painful ones from veins blowing.  I hate being a pin cushion.  Oh, and no, AF has not arrived and I am not pregnant.  It's the hormones holding things off, so if all goes as planned, I will start AF today since I stopped the progesterone Tuesday night.

Anyway, today is Thanksgiving and I hope that all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving that is full of love, laughter, family, friends, joy, and great food!!  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

More Katchup, Anyone?

30 Days of Thanksgiving:

Day 14:  I am thankful that the suspected return of my milk allergy was not at all a milk allergy!! This means I can eat all my favorites at Thanksgiving dinner!! On the downside, we discovered it is a severe peanut allergy with me going anaphylactic after eating some peanut butter. :( Been a long time since I've had a reaction this bad. I am thankful also that I am married to an EMT and that we had Epi-Pens, Benadryl, and a neb to help combat it!

Day 15:  Today I am thankful for my Glory Babies group! They have helped me so much!! I've only been to 2 meetings and the Children's Park walk and it has helped me!! I hate that other women have gone through what I have, but I'm glad I have them because they understand!

Day 16:  Today I am thankful for advanced medicine. Without it, many women wouldn't be able to have children and many would never know what issues were keeping them from having children and therefore couldn't fix the problem and might remain childless. So I am thankful that there are tests to pinpoint our issues!

Day 17:  Today I am thankful that I am getting to go home for Thanksgiving and be with my family! I don't get to go home much, so each time is special and such a blessing! I can't wait to spend Thanksgiving with my Grandmother, Mom, sister, and my nieces and nephew.

Ok, now that I have caught up again, I must apologize for being gone so long!  I have discovered that I have a peanut allergy!  In true Peach form, I found out the hard way.  I was eating some peanut butter for a snack and all the sudden couldn't breathe and felt like I was being choked. OH THE JOY!  So, I have been in a benadryl coma for the past 3 well, almost 4 days and haven't been online more than a few minutes. 

For those of you stalking my chart, no, AF has not arrived.  Don't get too hopeful, though...haha.  I had a BFN on the 13th, one on the 15th, and another tonight.  I think my O date is off.  Who knows.  I will test again Saturday and see what it says.  Sure it will be BFN, but then I will stop my progesterone to start AF.  So, we'll see what happens.

The plan after AF starts is to get some testing done.  I am going to have a CD3 blood draw for FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone...tells how hard your ovaries are working to make you ovulate) and AMH (Anti-Mullerian Hormone...tells what the ovarian reserve is).  I am also going to be tested for NK cells (Natural Killer cells...they fight off cancer and other foreign substances that might make you sick).  If you have too many of these, they can attack a pregnancy thinking it is a cancer and will cause you to have multiple miscarriages.  There is a treatment for this, though!  It's IVIg therapy!  We've looked into this therapy before, but for my allergies...so in theory we could kill two birds with one stone!  I am also going to have them test me for RH sensitivity, MTHFR, and Endometriosis.  Those are the last few things I can think of that would keep us from having our take home baby.  So, I will try better to keep up and keep you informed!  I hope everyone is having a good week!!  BABY DUST!!!

Playing Ketchup....or Mustard If You Like!

I have gotten a little behind here lately.  I do so apologize!  My allergies have been going insane the past 5 days or so and Benadryl has been a constant which means I have been sleeping A LOT!  So, I will attempt to play Ketchup (HA!) or if you aren't fond of that, I'll play Mustard!  :P

30 Days of Thanksgiving-

Day 9:  ‎Today I am thankful for my church! I am thankful that God led us to Southern Oaks Baptist Church and that I have the opportunity to play my horn there and glorify God with this passion! I am thankful for all of the people we have been blessed to meet from there!! I am thankful for my pastor and his wife who so willingly give of themselves tirelessly to be the leaders our church needs!! I LOVE MY CHURCH!!!

Day 10:  I am thankful for cool weather after this long ultra hot summer we had...but I am also thankful for heat to stay warm in said cool weather! I am also thankful for hot tea, hot chocolate, and warm fuzzy socks! :D

Day 11:  Today I am thankful for all our military men and women!! Thank you for the sacrifices you make everyday to assure that we continue to be a free country! I am also thankful for the military families that sacrifice their time with their loved ones so that they can defend us! Having been a military wife for 10 years, I know how difficult it can be! So, THANK YOU!!

Day 12:   Today I am thankful for milk substitutes. Without them life would be really difficult right now. I'm thankful people think of things like almond milk so that I can still have cereal and a glass of milk with a meal!

Day 13:  Today I am thankful for the ability to go to church! In some countries people don't have the ability to worship as they please. I am thankful that I was born in the United States so that I have this right...even if we still have some issues!

As for TTC-  I think that we are going to take a break from ATTC and see about getting some testing done.  I want to get tested for NK cells, RH sensitivity, and Endometriosis.  I think once I have had those done, we should then maybe get an HSG to rule out any blockages from the previous miscarriages and then start trying again.  So, once AF shows, I think that's what we are going to do.  I'm supposedly 15 DPO today which means AF should be here sometime today, but as usual when you are on a progesterone supplement, I think she is going to be late as there was no sign of her this morning.  I did test, though, and it was a glaringly BFN. On to testing for me!!

Day 8

Day 8:  Today I am thankful for the rain! With our severe drought, this is definitely a gift from God! So pour down your cleansing rain on us and revive us!! BRING ON THE RAIN!!

Today we had all sorts of storms today!  We needed the rain so bad with this drought we are in.  It was WONDERFUL to have so much rain!  Along with the rain came thunder and lightening!  I LOVE that!!  There were also 3 tornado warnings for my county alone...and all at the SAME time!  Luckily, there was no damage to anything...at least that was reported!  PRAISE GOD!

Today was also voting day!!  There were 10 propositions on the ballot for amendments to the State Constitution.  Let's just say I am less than pleased with the results that are coming in.  People keep screaming for less government and less taxes, but yet they voted to expand government and raise taxes.  I hate the "Sheeple" phenomenon.  You should read the propositions and KNOW what they are about before just taking someone else's word on how you should vote!!  Use YOUR brain to make your OWN decisions!!  I wish people would just WAKE UP!  Oh well...nothing I can do about it now, I voted and knew what I was voting for or against.  That's pretty much all I could do.

As far as TTC goes, I'm 10 DPO and hoping that the next 4 days FLY by!  I am ready for AF to show and to maybe stop TTC for a few months while I lose some of this weight.  Maybe that will help me in the long run.

Days 6 & 7

I missed posting day 6!  So, I will catch it up now.

Day 6-  Today, I am thankful for BENADRYL!! Without this, I wouldn't be here and I wouldn't be able to deal with my stupid allergies! Thanks for making this medicine and thanks for the sleep that goes with it!!

Day 7-  Today I am thankful for MUSIC! I am thankful that God gave me the gift of music so that I can play the French horn, several other instruments, and sing! Music is my life!! I'm so blessed to be able to honor Him with this gift!

"Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD."

Psalms 150:3-6

As for TTC-  I am 9 DPO today.  I really am not feeling like this cycle will be good.  I just have a feeling we will be waiting until March to get our sticky bean.  I'm ok with that...I think.  I plan on passing the time doing some holiday crafts and packing up the house to get ready to move again.  Hopefully, we will find out perfect house in the country.  I know God knows where we are supposed to be, so we will just trust that where ever we end up it was all part of His plan.

So, if you are following me on Pinterest, you have seen some of the crafts I have in mind.  I am thinking about doing some adorable paper pumpkins and some pine cone turkeys for my Thanksgiving table.  They just look like so much fun!!  I also plan on making some awesome recipes I have come across!  I LOVE this time of year!  Yes, THANKSGIVING is my holiday of choice!!  

Day 5

Today I am thankful for my precious children, both here and in heaven.  My heart is so full of love for all of you!!  Mommy misses you with you are not here and cherishes the time that you are!  I thank God for you EVERY day...each and every one of you!!

As for TTC:  I am 7DPO today.  I'm trying to be patient and just sail on through the 2WW, but man on man, it's HARD!  I want to either move on to the next cycle or know that I'm pregnant.  I'm so impatient!

I have joined Pinterest for those of you that are on there.  I have been looking at crafts to do for the holidays and think I have found a few I want to try.  I think they will be fun!!  If you have any ideas for crafts, please send me links to them!!  I love finding new things to do!!

30 Days of Thanksgiving Days 3 and 4

‎30 Days of Thanksgiving- Day 3: Today I am thankful for my wonderful husband. He puts up with me no matter what and loves me like no other. He is my best friend, my soul mate, and most importantly....my love! I thank God for him EVERY day!

‎30 Days of Thanksgiving- Day 4: Today I am thankful for the rainbows that follow the storms!

It is an amazing thing to see so many Rainbows make it earthside safely!  This week alone, my BLM group has had 3!!  How amazing is that?  Someday, I know I will get my rainbow that is a take home baby!  I just wish it wasn't taking so long.  Like my husband said, "It's a good thing your name isn't Patience!"  Yeah, I'm not very patient!    I'm 6DPO and ready to get to the testing part!!!!  I hate the 2WW!!  

30 Days of Thanksgiving

I decided to challenge myself this year and do 30 days of Thanksgiving.  Maybe this will help me to feel better and to not dwell on the things that have had me so down.  I would encourage all of you to do the same.  Just take 30 days to be thankful for whatever you are thankful for.  I'm using it as my status on Facebook each day.

So, yesterday's was :  I am thankful for all my family both near and far!

Today's is:  I am thankful for all my friends near, far, IRL, and OL!  I don't know what I would do without you!!

I have so much to be thankful for, I am not sure that 30 days will be enough.  We'll see!

So, as of right now, I am 4DPO.  Nothing much to report there, yet.  10 days until testing....and it always feels like an eternity!  I'll keep you posted!