Holiday Madness

I've been such a bad blogger! So sorry I've been gone for a week without a word. It's been a busy holiday week.

On Wednesday, work closed early at 1pm so I was able to get home early and catch up on some much-needed rest. As you know, DH and I have been dogsitting for my parents and I have gotten practically zero sleep as a result. Anyway, DH surprised me by taking off early Wednesday so we got some time alone together before the holiday madness began.

On Thursday, we had to pack up the dogs in my Jeep and take them to my parent's house. We got stuck in traffic headed to the Bay Bridge for 2 hours with frantic dogs, which was not fun by any means. We dropped them off and headed to FIL's house for dinner. FIL's GF, Christie, and her 2 children took the liberty of making the Thanksgiving dinner. She is French so everything had quite the Parisian flair to it. We started with a course of oyster stew, which I have to say was quite good even though I don't particularly care for oysters. Second course was crabcake salad, which was also very good. The main course was the more traditional Thanksgiving dinner, with baked turkey, cornbread stuffing, gravy, cranberries, etc. Everything was homemade and very delicious. I could barely fit everything inside my stomach when dessert was presented. She had made pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and apple crescent (all homemade, mind you). After eating, I could hardly move because I was so stuffed. It was nice to sit around with family and share the holidays. It made me really think about what I was thankful for:

1. I am very thankful for my DH. He has shown me what true love really is. He has seen me at my worst and has loved me regardless of my faults. He is my rock and my number one fan and I love him with all of my heart.
2. I am thankful for my family, both by blood and marriage. My parents have been there for me through some of the roughest times of my life and have helped me blossom into the woman I am today. I am thankful for their neverending love and support in all I do. While I am still getting to know my IL's, they have accepted me as one of their own (for the most part). I am thankful to have a second family to turn to in good times and bad.
3. I am thankful for my health and the health of my loved ones. I pray that God continues to grace us with all that life has to offer.
4. I am thankful for the material things that DH and I are able to enjoy. We have a beautiful apartment, nice cars, cable TV, designer clothes, etc. We too often focus on what we don't have so it is nice to take time out to say thanks for what we do have.
5. I am thankful for my friends, both in life and online. My real life friends are people I can always turn to, no matter what. While I may not have many, the friends I do have in my life are good people who will never let me down. For that, I am eternally thankful. My online friends, FF in particular, have been there with me to support me when the TTC journey gets tough. They are also there when I have good news, and I appreciate all they do for me. Without them, I would feel pretty lonesome and discouraged with my experiences. They are such sweet girls and I can't wait to meet them and make them real-life friends.

On Thursday night, after we had partially digested our huge meal, we headed back to my parent's house and spent the night. It was nice to be in their house for the night, even though they were away. The dogs felt much more at ease and didn't pace so much or feel so clingy. We also stayed there on Friday night. I finally got to sleep with DH, as the dogs felt comfortable enough to sleep downstairs without whining or digging. We even got to BD for the first time in over a week!!! I actually had my mojo going full speed. It was so nice to have that back. I was still a little dry down there but I'm not sure if that's because AF just ended or because of not enough foreplay (which I felt we had enough of). We decided to order some Preseed this cycle to help with the dryness around our key BD times.

My chart has been pretty screwy since I haven't had a consistent sleep pattern. I am hoping that it straightens itself out now that we aren't watching the dogs anymore. I can't stand having a chart with temps all over the place. I probably won't O for another week and a half or so, so I should be able to make up for the crazy temps. I was also looking at my chart and noticed that if we don't get lucky this cycle, I'll probably get AF right around Christmas. That gives me even more motivation to hit the mark this month!

This morning, DH woke me up at 9am (after I stayed up until 230am) and said we had to hurry to the lab so he could finish his project for his Monday night class. Ugh, needless to say, he was not my favorite person this morning! So, here we are in the APL lab and I'm catching up on my blogging. I'm starving so I am hoping we won't be here too long. He also mentioned that he may not be able to make the NJ trip with me to see my fertility friends next weekend. Talk about being the bearer of bad news! I really hope he can get all of his work done so we can go together. I don't want to have to go it alone but if I have to, I will. It is just too important to me to finally meet these wonderful girls. I have been looking forward to this for weeks and now that it is getting closer, I am too excited to cancel.

The Thanksgiving holiday is over and I'm finding it hard to believe that the Christmas season is now upon us. In 2 weeks, my birthday will be here and 2 weeks after that, it will be Christmas. We still have shopping to do (which I haven't even thought about) and parties to go to, and a tree to pick out and decorate. We have travel plans to arrange and cards to send out. So much to do and so little time, as they say. Looks like the holiday madness has just begun.