Thanksgiving

The apples to bake an apple pie have been purchased, my mum's holiday recipes have been sought out.... I'm all ready for Thanksgiving. This year Danielle and I will be going to my brother's house in Ohio. This is the first time we are spending it away from her family.

In the midst of our sadness, the state of the country, busy lives, etc I wanted to give a platform to hear what people are grateful for.

I'm thankful for:
- Danielle who is so patient with me, loving and sweet. **Olive Juice**
- My mother for supporting my decision to have a child even though she disagrees with my lifestyle.
- Having a job when there are so many people getting laid off around the country.
- Having a warm home even though it costs a bloody fortune to keep warm.
- Having ttc friends who know what its like to go through this emotional journey.
- Been fortunate even when I forget at times.
- Allowing my brotherJ, the joy of fatherhood after their loss last year.
- For my brother M, who I can talk to about anything.
- My parents who are really great, despite our hiccups regarding my relationship.
- My friends for all of their unique qualities that makes them great friends.
- Our known donor who still wants to help us if we decide to go that route again.
... the list will keep growing

FSA to the rescue

Let the coziness begin. Yesterday was our first day of snowfall. I stayed in for most of the day working on my newest knitting project. I've ventured off into trying out a baby sweater. It is my most advanced project to date.

I'm not a big fan of the winter. Actually aside from aesthetic reasons, I hate it. So lately I've been planning our cruise which is such a great mental getaway. The silver lining in not being pregnant is that Danielle and I can do some cool excursions such as the zipline, segways, snorkeling, etc.

Last week I found out that my job offers an FSA program where I can use pretax dollars to put into an account to pay for medical expenses. I can use it for IVF and IUI's. I can also use it for lypo and while that is incredibly tempting, I will save it for ttc. Unfortunately you can only contribute $5000 max so we are not sure if we want to use it towards IVF or get two injectable cycles out of it. I guess we'll decide closer to the time. Anyway, the money becomes available shortly after I come off break so the timing is dead on.

Another one bites the dust

With temps dropping like the stock market and a negative hpt to confirm my fears, I'm officially out this cycle. I've had time to mentally prepare for this so while I'm heartbroken, I'm managing okay. The RE wants me to do another round of injectables. So as planned we are going on break until January/February. We just have too much going on in the next few months with the holidays, birthdays, baby shower, baby arrival, and our cruise to budget for another round of injectables right now.

Fear

Fear...I thought I could do it. I've done it for the past 12 tries but I can't do it this time. I just can't deal with the idea of seeing just one line. So I'm not doing it. I'm going to live in complete ignorance until Thursday. For once I feel really good about this decision. Danielle thinks I can't do it but it's not about willpower this time around. It's pure and utter fear.

Good luck to my other tww friends.

Congratulations

I cannot tell you how proud I felt this morning when I woke up and remembered that we have a new (black) president. I'm so proud that he defeated all odds, ignored the ignorance of others who tried to bring him down and kept on moving. I've seen pictures both on tv and on the web of people's reactions to his victory and it moves me to tears. My vote did count. Thanks to everyone else who made theirs count as well.

What I did today

I fell and I voted today. What a day!!!!

I woke up this morning and on my way to the kitchen fell down the first flight of stairs. I'm in so much pain and have a bump and bruise on my arm. I can laugh now but I honestly don't know how I fell. One minute I was up and the next I was balled up against the wall. LOL!

I was only the 91st person to vote at my station this morning at 11am. I hope it picks up.

On a ttc note, I took a hpt yesterday to make sure the trigger shot was out of me and it was. So it's only positives from here on out!!!!