7QT Vol. 11: While I Was Out & Other Random Thoughts

So... remember that time I didn't blog for, oh, over a month for no reason? Yeah, sorry about that. I thought I'd give a little explanation for my absence from this little corner of the interwebs and catch you up on what I've been up to.

 -1-

Why I Haven't Been Here

I really have missed blogging.  Its just that I only have a couple of hours of free time when I get home from work to bed time, and most days I like to spend that time relaxing or hanging out with the hubs.  It only took a few times of me yelling at him to stop talking while I was trying to blog for me to realize that mayyybe I had my priorities backwards.  Free time is still pretty hard to come by, but we'll see if I can work this into my schedule more often.

-2-

Fourth Anniversary

The day after my last post in August was our fourth anniversary.  I really meant to write a post about it but, well, see above.  We made a week of it really.  We went out of town the weekend before and went wandering around in the mountains, which was a pretty good time.  Then we had a nice dinner on our actual anniversary.  I have to say ,this last year was a pretty crazy one on our marriage.  Lots of downs, like financial issues, medical treatment and surgery, but lots of positives too, like making it through the rough patches.  I definitely feel like we're stronger for it all.  Despite how cheesy and cliche it sounds, I do feel like I love the Hubs more each day, and I am so blessed to have him.

-3-

Hub's Promotion

Speaking of the Hubs, and my excuses for not writing, the Hubs got a promotion in the last month.  He has worked very hard for it, and I'm very proud of him! Of course it means longer work hours for the Hubs too now, and less time together, so take that as another excuse for why I haven't blogged recently.

-4-

Paleo Diet

I don't know if you caught the brief mention in my last post, but after my doctor recommended that I cut out gluten and dairy I decided to dive right in and give the paleo diet another try.  The Hubs got dragged along too, under some protest.  The first month, we went the easy route and got food delivery.  That ended a couple weeks ago though, and we've been on our own... a little scary, and I haven't been perfect.  I will say, when I'm actually complying with the rules I feel so good!  Oddly enough, the hubs has actually felt worse.  We're pretty sure he's highly evolved and requires food that is processed and includes chemicals to survive. My cooking skills also have much room for improvement, thought I will say, I made this chicken tikka masala recipe yesterday, and it was pretty awesome!

-5-

Other Miscellany

There's nothing else I have enough to say to write a whole blurb about, so I'll just ramble about some other random things I've been up to. Hmm, there was a random day trip to go apple picking (so fun!), a last minute 24 hour trip to as Vegas with my sister, a boat ride for my sister's birthday, the death of all of my tomato plants :( (apparently they require water), trying Indian food for the first time (so good), and arguing (and winning) a super important motion (with less than a day to prepare for it). So... lots going on!

-6-

Disneyland

My birthday isn't for a few weeks, but we're already making plans to go to Disneyland for it!  I'm so excited!  I had passes growing up, but stopped renewing when I went to college in a different state. I visited a couple times when I was home from college, but haven't been back since then, its so pricey.  I finally have convinced the hubs and rationalized to myself that it'll be worth it for my birthday!  It should be a good time!

-7-

The Pope!

I am so excited that the pope is in town (or the country) right now! I may be on the opposite side of the country, and not able to get to the east coast, but I'm still keeping up with everything going on over there as much as I can.  I'm loving his speeches and homilies, and pictures and videos are fun too!

I'm pretty sure this video is my favorite so far.  Though the pope in his fiat is pretty great too!

---

That's all I have for you now!  What have you been up to lately?

As always, for more great posts, check out Kelly's at This Ain't The Lyceum.

Cycle Review 11

Hi! So after an unintended, unofficial break I'm back! Sorry about that, things have been busy, as per the new usual, and I just don't have the energy to write when I get home after a long day of reading and writing. Anyways, I thought I should at least update my latest cycle review, considering I"m already a week into the next cycle review.  So here we go!

So I started off the cycle taking letrezole (femera) for the first time since surgery, after clomid had stopped working again.  I also started the paleo diet, again, after my doctor suggested I try going dairy and gluten free.  The cycle turned out pretty normal. I had some weird bleeding and the same old pre ovulation headaches (I'm really getting tired of those).  CM quality was slightly better than on usual clomid cycles, yay!  Then somebody decided to take a last minute girls trip right around ovulation.  very smart idea, I know. So yea, we knew our chances weren't so great this cycle.

Post peak wasn't actually too bad, especially compared to the last few cycles.  The nausea actually was barely existent, save for a few minor waves of it. The PMS wasn't bad either.  I was actually surprised when my period showed up because I wasn't being super hormonal and crazy.  Once my period started... well I did get a little hormonal.  The cramps weren't bad at all though, so yay!

At my appointment, my doctor confirmed via ultrasound that I ovulated, yay! My lining looked good and my hormone levels were good too.  So not a bad cycle. The plan for next cycle is letrezole again.  If we don't get a positive test next cycle my doctor wants to move on to injectibles or a middle step.  That's a little stressful considering I'm not sure my work schedule will give me the time that the monitoring for injectibles requires.  But I'm just going to worry about that when it happen.  So I guess we'll see.