Back from the depths of sickness...

Ok, so it could have been much much worse. But, I was sick from tuesday night through sunday. I'm talking really sick. I wont get into the details, but it was rough. So luckily I'm back to solid foods, real tasty food! Anyways, right before I was sick, I started taking my OPKs, and I never really got a definite temp spike since I had a fever for 3 days. So I'm guessing I ovulated around CD16 or 17. And I was in no shape to do much of anything but sit on the couch and the toilet. :( So this month is a dud, but I am just glad I'm feeling better now. Today is CD20.

On to next month. :)

We inherited a 10 month old kitty last week monday. His name is Vlad. He's cute, but I'm not much for the hair. He's been naughty the last day or so, which is to be expected since he's still a kitten, but its annoying. lol Ive been a pet owner all my life, but Scott doesn't think animals belong in the house. So it's a bit hard for him to adjust.

Anyways, in other news, the fitness has definitely been put on hold since my illness, as well as the menu planning. Also, we have been hitting the house hard as of late, so it takes up much of my "fitness" time as well. But, I've been balancing on ladders, and painting my little heart out! lol.

Speaking of the house, I'm thinking/hoping it will be done in Aug. I don't see why it wont be. We are about half done with texturing, and then priming and painting is pretty easy. Then we have to do the flooring, and get the cabinets/countertops/appliances and trim all installed. Not to mention the lighting. So we are definitely close! I cant wait! I can almost taste it...wait, that's drywall dust...yep, I can definitely taste it. :)

Hope you all are doing well! Sticky Baby Dust!!

Nikky

Pickles and Paint

Before I get into the pickles and paint, let me tell you my wednesday was crazy at work, and I was so glad to be in the car on the way home. Problem was, my brother's car took a crap again. Let me just say, he just bought this used car which is decent. But he's been having some issues with it. So here I am, so excited to have thursday off, couldnt wait to get home, and we lose power some how. :( Luckily we made it safely to someone's driveway and take a look. We ended up calling my stepdad to come with the trailer and get us. Well once we got the car loaded (backwards b/c of the way we were parked) we were finally on our way back. Well my brother looks out the window and sees smoke coming from the trailer tire. The car was too heavy in the back and the fender was wearing on the trailer tire! Thank god my stepdad is awesome (he's always prepared!) we took off the fenders and were finally on our way again. $250 later...

Thursday was fantastic! My friend Becca just graduated from massage therapy school, so I got an AMAZING full body massage! It was so great! I think my last massage was in 2007! Anyways, so then Billie and I made our way to Appleton to go shopping and get delicious sushi!! I also found a great book at half priced books called The Gluten Free Edge. It's a diet cook book. The reason I like it so much, is because it has all the nutritional information with each recipe! I love that!!

So onto today...

Today we went to Menards and bought 10 gallons drywall primer, 5 gallons white paint (for the ceilings), and 10 gallons paint (for walls). We also bought carpet, and vinyl flooring for the living room and bathroom. We are sanding/staining the kitchen, and two bedroom floors. After this is done, all that's left is the cabinets, counter tops, appliances, and lighting! Getting so very close! I can't wait to get some real color on those walls! I'm sick of living in white rooms! :) 

Today I also made Gnocci (Gluten free of course!) YUM! I made this before we went to menards actually. We ate it for lunch with red sauce and garlic bread (mine was gluten free).

Then I took a nap, and began making pickles. I made 7 quarts dill pickles, and 3 quarts bread and butter! Not bad for a day's work. 

I'm actually thinking about making gluten free brownies yet tonight. I've been having a chocolate sweet tooth lately. 

CD10 I took a OPK yesterday, the line was very faint, so I'll test again tomorrow.

I've been jammin out to Ingrid Mickelson Be OK today. I love her! 

Pickles and Baby Dust to you!!

Nikky

ohhh boyyy...

Well, the last 24 hours have been strange...it all started after work yesterday. Scott was about 20 mins away and got a flat tire (with the farm truck). Luckily, I had the spare key to his car, and I drove to the farm to get the spare tire, the jack and all that jazz. Then I drove in the other direction to where he was and waiting for him to change the flat. 

Then, this morning, I get a call from my brother saying he is sick and not going in to work (we carpool). Unfortunately Scott needed the car for the day, so I had to walk about 1/2 mile to my brother's house at 6am to drive his car. Ive never driven his car before, but he was nice enough to let me borrow it.

So I guess it wasn't all that crazy, but it was just eventful which is strange. Usually my days are pretty boring.

In other news, I found a job posting in for the school district in my town. I am interested in it, and am very very tempted to apply. It would be nice to do something else for a change, and in this town! We'll see...

Also, yesterday Billie and I were finalizing our plans for Thursday. I figured we'd leave here around 9 or 10am. But Billie suggested noon. I was slightly bummed b/c I took off an entire day of work for this; and at that rate, I could have taken only a half day. But I just figured I would sleep in and find something around the house to do. But something came up last night. My friend Becca just finished massage therapy school and needs to log hours...(you see where this is going). Well, she asked if I needed a massage (who asks such a thing!?) So 9am she is giving me the ol' rub down! I'm so excited! I love massages! I haven't had one professionally since 2006? Best part, Becca is picking me up on the way, so I don't even need to figure out the car thing! Wahoo!!

I really don't mind having one car between the two of us. Luckily our schedules usually work where we both don't need it at the same time. (for now at least.)

Nikky

CD5

Cycle 2 of TTC. 
Cycle Day 5 
I remembered to temp this morning! Hurray! 

No news on the TTC front as of right now. I did, however, have this really weird moment today at work. It was a pretty stressful day to start off with. One person called in sick, another was going to be late, two extra children showed up that weren't on the schedule so I had to magically pull an extra teacher out of my butt (not a pretty thought, thank you very much) to cover the class with the extra children. So, on top of all that, I couldn't start making breakfast for the kids. My boss came in and was busy with her emails and I couldn't update her on all of this. For some reason, this made me break down and cry. How silly! So of course in the back of my mind, I'm thinking well...your period was a day shorter than usual... NO no no! I refuse to think that I am pregnant. Yes, it could happen. BUT...chances are slim. My period usually is like this 
Day1 spot
Day 2-4 medium to light
Day 5 spot

this time it was 
Day1 spot
Day 2 medium
Day 3 light
Day 4 spot
So not much of a difference. But any TTC-ers know that we definitely make mountains out of molehills. 
So that's all I have for now...I hope this post finds you all very well!
Baby Dust!
Nikky

Meal Plan 7/15/12-7/21/12

This week I swapped my original chicken cesar salad for chicken stir fry from last week. So here we have this weeks plan. I will update it next week with what we actually ended up having.

Chicken stir fry (instead of chicken cesar salads)

Gluten free gnocci w/ red sauce and parmesan cheese & steamed broccoli **recipe to follow**

Pizzas (have to finish up my crust i made from last week)

Sloppy Joes

Pancakes and sausage (I LOVE breakfast for dinner!)

Grilled cheese w/ hummus and garden veggies

Meal Plan week of 7/8/12-7/14/12

So when I meal plan, I dont decided what day we are going to have such and such meal. I just decided what we have in the house, what I feel like making and I plan 6 dinners. From there, I make my grocery list, and get the required items. Then, depending on my mood, cravings, and the weather; I decided what we will have for the evening's dinner.  So when I say "Meal Plan" I am referring to the 6 dinners I have planned for for the week.

Here was last week: (7/8-7/14)
*meal planned in black, actual meal made is red

Chicken Stir Fry with jasmine rice (made monday 7/16 instead)
Quesadillas
Pizza
Hamburgers with sweet potato fries
Tuna salad sandwiches with chips
Grilled Cheese with Hummus and Veggies (grilled cheese and salads w/ garden veggies)
           We ended up having chicken caesar salads sunday instead of chicken stir fry.

Having this plan was really very nice! I knew what I was doing when I got home from work. I have been using up my veggies and fruits that may have gone bad if I had waited too long. So it was nice to know I wasn't wasting food, and I was giving Scott and myself a healthy fresh meal! :) Plus I've been using more protein! Wahoo!

Nikky

accomplishments

Today was pretty successful! I woke up pretty early and ran to Walmart to get the last few things I needed to can pickles. Also a few things we needed for this weeks meal plan. I love that i am meal planning, Everything flows, and I really enjoy having something ready. Usually I figure I could cook something, but never really feel like it, and I usually end up making something weird. But now that I'm planning 6 out of 7 dinners for the week, I feel super accomplished and feel that I have provided for my husband. My "wifely duties" I suppose (not that he thinks that, I just enjoy doing these things). 

Anyways, so after Walmart I did the dishes, and got the water boiling in my canner. I sterilized my jars and lids. Scott and I went out to the garden to pick cucumbers. (Garden photos coming, I swear.) We picked two gallon buckets full, and I got to work cleaning and cutting them. We ended up with 5 quart jars of dill pickles! Wahoo!!! Scott also picked some beans and carrots that we cleaned and cut and got in the freezer for future meals. After I got everything cleaned up, I decided to make chicken caesar salad (hold the croutons). So I grilled up come chicken breast, and got a gigantic salad going. Delicious! (I also had enough left for two huge salads for work this week.) Once I finally sat down I realized it was only 12:30! Dang! I got so much done! 

Cycle Day 4. I actually haven't temped the last two days. Mostly out of sleeping in and having to pee so bad that I didn't have time to temp when I finally did wake up. Back to it tomorrow though.

So as far as the fitness goes. My phone is a POS. The new app I downloaded for my fitness/diet was taking up too much space and my phone freaked out. So I had to delete it. So I will need a new way to stay accountable. Yesterday was a street fair we have every year in our town. Scott and I walked it twice and then back home. So I will use that as my workout. 

I think I will post my menu plan for the week in the next post. :) 

Take care everyone!

Nikky

First workout logged

Today starts my weight loss journey. I downloaded a new app to help me track my meals and exercise. It's a decent app. Reminds me of self.com's trackers.

I actually went for a run. Well...let's be honest, I walked 5 min, ran 1, walked 5, ran 2, walked 2, ran 1, walked 3, ran 1. Totalling 20 mins. Not bad for me and my exercise induced asthma. It was hard (not too hard to make me give up after the first workout) it felt so great! I get great thinking done while running...it gives me the strangest clarity. I suppose it's because I'm focusing so hard on breathing that my mind can't think about the daily stress.

Anyways, its nice to focus (obsess) about something other than babies for once. Balance is the key I suppose.

Tomorrow we will be canning pickles and visiting our town's street festival. :)
Nikky

Fitness blog?

I'm thinking about starting a blog about fitness and dieting gluten free. There really isn't much out there in this topic that isn't "want to lose weight? Try a gluten free diet" yeah, well what about those of us that are gf and need to lose a few pounds (or 75 in my case) I'm setting goals and starting towards them. Maybe I can help a few others out as well. :)
Nikky

Booo!

Severe cramps today. Started spotting late last night, possible light flow. So all this with my bfn early this week; I'm assuming its a definite BFN. :( boooo!
Onto next cycle! Billie and I are planning a sushi and shopping trip next week Thursday. I'm so excited! I love me some sushi! We are also going to stop at babies R us. Hurray for preconceptions buys! I'll be sure to post pictures. :)
Baby dust to you all!
Nikky

Sweet Potato Fries, ebay, and symptoms ohmy!

Mmm....sweet potato fries...

Thanks to Lala! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txOY8nvJHzw&feature=plcp

I will hopefully add some pictures later :)

Work today went a lot better. Still on shaky grounds emotionally, but I'm definitely doing better. :) 

In other news, I held off testing this morning. Mostly because I was running late. But I am proud of myself for waiting. I dont need to test every day. Especially since I'm not late yet  (not officially until Saturday)

I am currently CD28 / DPO 14. 

Symptoms: creamy CM, backache/back cramps, thirsty, frequent urination, nausea, skin break outs, sinus cold/cough, and of course, exhausted.

Ooo, I have some fun news! I won my first two ebay auctions! I bought two lots of 5 (10 total) medium perfect fit fuzzibuns for $30 each! They are used, and the elastic needs to be replaced, but I can handle that for $6 per diaper! They are blues, greens, orange, red, yellow! Fun and bright! Hooray! Should be here soon! We obviously wont need mediums for awhile yet, but at least I'm building my stash! w00t! 

Also, in ebay news, I ordered 20 more OPKs and 5 pregnancy test strips, along with Pre-seed. I figured we'd try it. (it also came with 2 free pregnancy tests! sweeeet!)

Anyways, I haven't mentioned much about our garden. We have a huge raised bed, I'm talking 3 feet tall, and 4'x8'. We have carrots, sweet peas, beans, pickle cucumbers, and slicer cucumbers, bell peppers, and cherry tomatoes growing, Everything is doing fabulous!!! Then in a much lower bed, we have sweet corn, butternut squash, pumpkins (for pies), and sweet potatoes. They are all doing extremely well also! Then by the side of the garage, we have (very sad) sunflowers, and gigantic pumpkins! :) up in front I have my herbal bed with lavender, rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, mint, and lemon basil. I love cutting fresh herbs for my breads and sauces! YUM! I'll have to post some photos of my gardens soon as well!

I suppose I should get dinner going. 

BBQ Cheeseburgers, Sweet Potato Fries, & Root Beer!! YUM!

Sticky Baby Dust!

Nikky

mama mia...here we go again...

what a crappy day! I got to work in a decent mood. Opened my locker and there was a passive aggressive note inside. Problem is, I cant even recall what I've done to deserve this! It would be different if I did something wrong, and i knew it. I really honestly truely cant think of anything! What drama! My workplace is getting terrible. Everyone talking about everyone else, back-stabbing....blah blah blah! Ive got better things to worry about! Sometimes though, I can be sensitive, and it really got to me today. But as I write this, I feel like I am brushing it off. It feels good to stand back and scoff. How silly these things! I have a grand adventure to look forward to ahead of me. Hopefully sooner rather than later!

CD27 / DPO 37  AF due between today and Friday (thanks to wonky cycles). --Hopefully not at all! My symptoms seemed to have lessened, other than moodiness. My breasts are a little tender, not as bad as they have been though. I do have some extra CM right now, I'm not sure what that means...and i get bouts of nausea here and there. plus tired of course! Time will tell i suppose! More later...

Nikky

I should know in the next few days...

CD26 DPO12

Still a BFN, :( I am a bit discouraged, but honestly, I'm suprise by how positive I'm staying. Knowing only 65% of women get a bfp before cd12.

While in the shower this morning, I noticed tons of little baby veins and they were bright red. I have never noticed them before. I asked Scott about them, since he keeps pretty close tabs on the girls (lol). He said he's never noticed them either, and he thought my nipples were darker. Idk, I keep going back and forth...this is my first 2ww, and it feels like 2 months have gone by!

I have been watching some more YouTube mommies, I love seeing nursery tours and baby shower hauls :)
Nikky

Fireworks!

Scott and I are off to see our towns fireworks. :)
CD26, DPO12 symptoms are the same as yesterday. Tender breasts, dizzy, exhausted, still cough/sick, slight nausea. New today is loss of appetite. I'm hungry, but once I start eating I get totally turned off to food.
Sleepy sleepy sleepy....
Nikky

I couldn't believe I caught one of the heart ones!

It was a nice show. Not too hot or buggy. We had a nice seat in the back of this giant hill at our town park.

Part of the grand finale.

Honest Moments...

Ok, so this might be a little deep (and slightly embarrassing)...

I can count my friends on one hand. I really don't enjoying going out to meet new people and trying to put on a fake front to make people like me. I am extremely content with my best friend, my husband, and the few other close friends I have. At work I cant really make close friends since I technically am their superior. So its a pretty rough patch when i need someone to talk to...anyways...enough of my self pity, here's the reason i had to let you in on my embarrassing life... :)

While growing up, I always thought "wow, i cant wait to be 16, then ill be free to drive around and ill be happy." then when i was 16, it was "wow, i cant wait to be 18, then ill be an adult and people will treat me like one" at 18 "i cant wait to be 21 so i can really be taking seriously" at 21 "damn i this sucks! i want to settle down and start a family"  now at 26, married, (and having very few friends), and ttc-ing,  i have realized why i have always been in such a hurry to "grow-up". i was waiting to be a mom. (insert awwww) i know i know, kinda lame. But it is truly how i feel. hopefully I'll be right this time. here's my realization...

When I have my little baby and my loving husband, my life will start.

All my life i have been waiting for it to start...urging it to move faster to get to the good parts, hoping the next big thing will be it. Well, now i dont have a doubt in my mind that this is it. We are on the brink of a major life change and i couldnt be happier! I feel like once i have my little one in my arms, i will want and need to visit with other mommies and go out and do things, playdates, library visits, etc. i cant wait! Its finally here, and now im just praying for my BFP! (dont get me wrong, i know im extremely blessed to have the things that i do. i have very grateful! but i am always looking forward to the future)


Baby Dust & Many Blessings!
Nikky

Home sick...

Last night was brutal. I had a terrible time going to sleep. Scott was so sweet, he gave me a nice long back rub to help me relax. Finally about 9:45 or so I fell asleep. 10:15 I woke myself up coughing, couldn't breath. Took my inhaler. It seemed to help deepen my breathing. Still coughing, but better. Finally fell back asleep. 11:15 wake up coughing again. No reprieve this time. I couldn't stand it, it was making my stomach upset too. I finally took a half dose of cough suppressant and finally passed out in bed. 

Getting up was ok, considering. Took a shower got ready for work, still coughing and exhausted, but that usually goes away once I get going. No such luck. I couldn't make it through my shift at work. Too darn tired, and losing my voice on top of it. 

So here I am, home sick, humidifier going, mucinex d in my system (pharmacist said it was ok for the possibly pregnant ladies) laying in bed, waiting for domino to deliver my gluten free pizza so I can eat and pass back out! Ugh! 

Symptom wise, dizzy, tender breasts, mood swings, exhausted, nausea.
DPO10
More later
Nikky

Sometimes I wish...

Sometimes I wish I wasn't temp-ing. Then I wouldn't get disappointed if my temp went down. It wasn't over the crosshair, but still down. I know this isn't a definite bfn, but its definitely discouraging. 3 more days til Sunday test day! I'm really going to try to make it to dpo12 without testing. More later...have a great day yall!
Nikky

Gettin a funny feeling...

Wow, ok...I really am trying to not read into this and get my hopes up. But...I had some really weird and painful surges in my boobs earlier, felt like it came from the inner core and surged out to my nipples. Like I said, weird. That's never ever happened to me before. Then a few hours later, I got this wave of nausea. I really thought I was going to be sick. Thank goodness for papaya (sp?) tablets.  So being the freak that I am, I took the bump.com's early signs of pregnancy quiz. So yeah, here I am, inspecting the darkness of my nipples...LOL so anyways, they predict that I am pregnant! After I told Scott what the quiz said, he kissed my tummy and started talking and joking with the "embryo" . Lol too cute! So now, I'm all excited and can't flipping sleep. I need to be up in 6 hours!
Baby dust!
Nikky

America's Bday

Happy 4th of July!

I am currently CD22 / DPO8. I am so antsy!! I cant wait to start testing! But of course I am afraid of being disappointed with a BFN! Booo. So here i wait....

Now, in past cycles (before i was tracking my temps) my cycles varied in length. I had never noticed this before I started tracking my cycles. March was 29 days, April 27, and May 31! WTF?! So its a little difficult to think, "Oh I can start testing 5 days before i should get AF"...when the heck would that be exactly?! And even if I wait awhile, and say I'll test if AF is late...well at CD27, Im going to start stressing out, "Am I late? Should I take a test? Is that a cramp? Is it starting? I need to take a test. No I should wait." Ahhh!!! So you see the pickle I'm in. Plus, Fertility Friend has tagged CD14 as my O-day, but I got my O-cramps on CD15, so Im not sure if i should wait an extra day or not. wow...I really need to calm down about this! 

Ok, here's my plan...

I will wait to test until sunday morning. Which will be CD26 / DPO12. I would normally get AF between CD27-31. So I obviously have some extra waiting and praying in there, but at least I have a plan. 

On to fun news, I have off of work today! Wahooo! We really have no plans, other than pick up a few groceries. (green apples & peanut butter for me, and ice cream for Scott) What exciting lives we live... perhaps more later.

Baby Dust!
Nikky