Deck the halls...

We survived Thanksgiving! It was so much fun. I was totally exhausted by the time DH's parents left at 7:30 Thursday night. I still had to put our furniture back together and wipe down the kitchen, so I couldn't just go to bed. The best thing about hosting Thanksgiving is all the leftovers! Our fridge is stocked.

We set up our tree on Saturday.

Before....

After...

I took these with my phone, sorry they aren't very good. I bought all new ornaments last year the day after Christmas. I was so excited to put the tree up. Now we just need to get the lights up outside and we will be set. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I can't believe 2009 is coming to an end. This year went by way too fast!

What would you bring??

Since Mel is hosting her own virtual feast, I thought it would be fun to do these same. What is your favorite Thanksgiving item? If you were coming to my full house what would you bring to share? I am a dessert hog! So I would like share my Turtle Pumpkin Pie with all of you.

Mmmm...

Welcome cold and flu season

How do you keep everyone at a company well and avoid spreading the flu?

Put these neat automatic hand sanitizer stands all over the building. Do you Pu.rell?

A full house

We will have a full house for Thanksgiving. DH's sister, R, confirmed they will be coming! That makes 17 total guests. I love being in the kitchen and I am really looking forward to 2 full days of kitchen work.

Even though I have all this insanity going on with getting ready, all my thoughts are turned to IF. I was hoping the holidays would distract me... Hoping and praying this is our LAST holiday without a baby.

MIA

So I know I have been missing in action for a bit now. I have just had so much on my mind. With my mom being sick, infertility, and the holidays I just have so much on my mind. Did I mention we are hosting Thanksgiving in our new house?!?! I am super excited about it. I have been making most of the food for the last 3 years, so the only difference is it will be at our house. My mom will be making the turkey and stuffing and my sisters all have their assignments. I can't believe it is next week! I am looking forward to being in my kitchen all day and enjoying family. We will have both sets of parents, my 4 sisters who all still live at home, and maybe DH's oldest sister's family. We will have 17 total if DH's sister comes. If now we will back down to 10. Then we will drive the hour back to our hometown to do a little (maybe a lot) of Black Friday shopping! I love Black Friday shopping. The mess of crowds, the early morning air, and oh the deals. Can't wait!

While I have been away I have still been reading your blogs. I was so sad to learn that two fellow IF sister had miscarriages in the last week. Please go over and give HUGS to MeAndBaby who just had her 3rd miscarriage after IUI #7 and Baby OCD who is having her first loss after 5 failed IFV's and her first DIUI. It is so incredibly unfair to try as hard as we do and have a pregnancy end in miscarriage. After all the time, effort and money it shouldn't happen. My heart goes out to both of these amazingly strong women.

Creme de la Creme

Since this is my first year blogging I don't know much about the Creme de la Creme list, but I hear it is all the rage! So submit your favorite post from your own blog. Click on the icon above or on my sidebar.

November already

I can't believe it is already November! I love the holiday season. The smells, the sounds, the food! We are hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year! I am pretty excited but nervous at the same time. Hopefully I will survive.

I was thinking about our plan last night and it dawned on me that is we would've started our first IVF in March as planned I would be 8 months pregnant right now. (Well if it would've worked.) My RE gave me an EDD of December 20th. There are times it feel like it will never happen. We have waited so long and we still have months to go. Sigh... I guess I am still being taught how to be patient.

Hope you all had a happy Halloween! Thanksgiving is only 3 weeks away! I better get shopping.

Revision on the new plan

I slept on it, and I just can't give up the idea of having DH's baby. We are going to try IVF once and then move on to DIUI. This way we have given our own genetics a try. When I told DH my thoughts this morning he said he felt the same way. So sorry folks, put the breaks on. We will not be cycling in December. Hopefully we will have the money saved by Jan-Feb, maybe March. We did some strict budgeting and we should be able to have the rest of what we need by then, plus the cushion DH requires to move forward. I guess my posting last night was a bit premature.

A new plan

I had a MAJOR break down Friday night. I mean real bad! I have reached my breaking point with life. Between IVF, lack of funds, my mom being sick, and pregnant women everywhere, I just could not seem to cope one more second. Poor DH, he is such a wonderful man and sat with me and let me tell him how much I hate the world. I just feel like I can't take all this pressure. So tonight we sat down and talked about our fertility plan. Not something we have done in a while. We came up with a totally new plan..... Donor IUI. We both feel that, given our fertility issues, it is a good step to try before pulling out the big guns for IVF. He doesn't really care about having genetic connections to our children and likes the fact that it is thousands cheaper than IVF. The great news is we will be starting ASAP. I am scared and still weighing through all the emotions. We have thought a lot about adoption, and have always felt like that was something we would do, so this at least gives us the opportunity to have some genetic connection to a child.

Thoughts??

**Side note - we have actually been talking about DIUI for months now and finally went through everything and decided it was the next step we wanted to take. So know that this decision was not made in one conversation.

All the love

Thank you bloggy friends for the outpouring of love! These past two days have been a nightmare. My poor mom has been sick for so long. I think she is relived to finally have a diagnosis. From what I have researched Lymph.oma is a very treatable cancer. I have faith that she will be ok, and we will be able to get through this. Her news is incredibly hard because my father was killed in a car accident when I was 7, so, being the oldest child, I was more like my mom's right-hand-man growing up. She is my best friend! I simply don't know how I would live without her. And how the heck could I be a mom without her!! Ok, the tears are coming, I need to stop.

I just wanted to say thank you so much! I haven't been able to tell any IRL friends because my mom doesn't want people to know until the doctors know more about what stage it is at and what form of Lymph.oma she has. So being able to vent here has been such a relief. I wish I could hug each one of you. Thank you for all the prayers. I will update as I know more.

One call...

My mom was diagnosed with Lymp.homa yesterday... there are no words.

What's inside

This is what Fertility Blend for men has in it.

Ingredients for men's :
Vitamin C (as ascorbic acid) 120 mg
Vitamin E (as d-alpha tocopherol) 150 IU
Vitamin B6 (as pyridoxine hydrochloride) 2 mcg
Vitamon B12 (as cyanocobalmin) 6 mcg
Folate (as folic acid) 400 mcg
Zinc (as gluconate) 15 gm
Selenium (as sodium selenate) 70 mcg
Proprietary Blend: L-Carnitine fumarate, green tea (camelia sinensis) - standardized leaf extract, and Dong quai - standardized root extract (900 mg)