Next steps...starting with charting again.

Like I mentioned in my last blog post I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at where to start on this journey with Dr. H...but from y'all's advice (THANK YOU BY THE WAY!!!!) I'm seeing that I need to start charting again. I haven't charted in at least a year and prior to that I was charting consistently, so I'm sure it will take some get used to again.

First things first, I went and found an NFP doctor since my old NFP doctor moved last year. I found one not too far (yippee!) so would I need to contact them about getting new charts? I guess that's the first thing I want to do is get a few months of charting behind while I wait to hear back from Dr. H...but I can't remember for the life of me where I got them last time aside from my old doctor's office, who like I mentioned moved.

I do like the idea of charting again, it's never a bad thing, and since we still wanted to take a few months off, this would be perfect because it would mean still no doctor's appointments or medicines out the wazoo.

I really do appreciate everyone's advice-that's one thing I do love about this blogging community aside from so many other things. You see, when I have something IF related I go and goo.gle and then about a bajillion million things pop up and basically I drown in all the information. Here, I can ask a question and everyone speaks from personal experience and offers their advice and it's so much easier to follow than doctor goog.le.

I will say on a random note-it's been so weird not going in to get my CD22 blood drawn to check my progesterone. Part of me wishes I was still doing that because I'm curious what my body is doing without meds, but then the other part of me quickly squashes that and remembers that pain of getting poked and then having to wait many days to even get the results (usually after AF has arrived) so I guess I don't miss it too much.

I haven't started yet-this is the part of the month that I dread really. First off, the 2ww takes forever whether you were taking meds or not-because for us we are always trying even if we aren't seeing a doctor/taking meds (one can hope and dream for a "surprise" pregnancy, right?!). Secondly, right before your period arrives you feel emotional, bloated, and crampy yet AF never arrives right when the symptoms do-nope, she wants you to wait more because 2 weeks is never enough.

Anyways, so for now I'm:
-Waiting for AF to arrive
-Doing research on that NFP doctor I found near by.
-Hoping to find out where to get charts so I can start charting again.
-Continuing to pray that God will show me if Dr. H is where He wants me to take this next step in our journey to growing our family.

All in all...I'm doing lots of research right now-but not going too crazy because we are still taking it easy for a few months.

Here's praying that God will show me just what I need to be doing next on this crazy roller coaster ride...

"Having a dream you don't pursue is like buying an ice cream cone and watching it melt all over your hand."

As another cycle inches closer

I started feeling crampy yesterday and my emotions have been going a little bonkers (I mean, I get annoyed watching Todd.lers and Tia.ras yet a couple nights ago when one of the crazy moms started crying because her spraytannedfaketeethfakenailsfakehairredbulldrinking3yearold won...I cried too) so I know that my period is going to be here any day now.

With that in mind, I've decided to start researching Dr. Hilgers because even though we are currently taking a few months off from meds and doctors, I think that when we start back up I want to pursue seeing him.

But like I said, as of now, I'm just researching. I'm not going to lie, it seems a bit overwhelming-any advice?!

Anyways, this post is short and sweet, I really don't have that much to say (shocking, I know!) but will end with saying that OMG...the weather here only got up to 88 yesterday!!! Last week we were never seeing under 100 and this week we are getting a sneak peek of fall...boy am I excited!!

Hope everyone is doing well!! How very exciting that we've had some preggo announcements in our little blogging community!!! Here's hoping and praying for a LOT more!!!

Blessed John Paul, pray for us!!

Happy Sunday, y'all

(Source: http://pinterest.com/pin/164912515/)


"You are loved more than you will ever know by someone who died to know you." Romans 5:8

Advice needed: male fertility issues

Today I heard from a dear friend- him and his wife have been trying to conceive for a bit now. She has issues, low progesterone and possible non-ovulation, but thankfully Clomid seems to be doing the trick for her. Well, they finally did a sem.en analysis and got the results back: He was told he has morphology issues and concentration issues. Obviously they are both feeling rather down right now because this yet another thing.

So, I was wondering if any of your husbands or even known someone with these things. I knew I had read something on some blogs at one point (wow-that's a very specific! ;)) but can't recall which ones. So help me out if you can.

Also, I was wondering since they did the SA the Catholic way-pricked condom-could maybe that play a factor in the concentration part? Just curious.

Anyways, if you guys have any advice that would be greatly appreciated. And if you don't, well if you don't mind offering up a prayer for them, that would be greatly appreciated also.

Thanks in advanced.

Fortune Cookie

So, I may or may not have cried (happy tears) when I saw this. Just saying...

That quick how-to for those fun spiral/wave curls

Okay guys. First thing is first...I am no professional. Shocking, but it's true. Secondly, I've tried many different types of curls and this one is my favorite so far! Here's the how-to:

First you are going to grab a small section of hair. Then if you are have been doing P90.x or any other workout and see that you have a line (which is practically a muscle) in your arm, you snap that picture because you are proud! ;)

Next you will need to grab your styling tool...the nifty curling iron. I used a 1.5 inch one, I think (see...I'm not a professional or else I would have known that!).

Then I like to start an inch or two from the scalp.

Then start to wrap the hair, starting from the middle and working down.

And continue to wrap until it gets to the end of your hair. I usually hold the hair at the end like the picture and keep the curling iron thing pressed up off the hair (does that make sense?!) because for me it would always leave a random crease in my hair so I'd rather just hold it open. Side note: If you noticed that the angle of the camera changed or even that I'm curling a different piece, well then bravo! I had my husband snap this one real quick when he woke up-a few hours after the others. ;)

Then I like to angel the curling iron down so that the curl will fall off without any hesitation...

Like so!

Your curls should look like this!

Keep going with the process until all your hair is done. My is rather thick so I pin the top part up and work the bottom part first. Also, spray the sections when you are done (I've mentioned before my hair is pretty straight and doesn't hold curls that well, so the hairspray helps!). While you are curling, some may be tighter than others, do not mess with them though until the end-then you can go and finger comb your hair and see which ones need touch ups.

Okay. I hope that makes some sort of sense. Like I said, I'm no professional but I did find something I liked so I thought I would share! And now...I'll leave you with some words of wisdom-if you haven't read/seen The Help, I highly recommend it-I saw it opening weekend and finished the book literally seconds before! ;).

Random picture post

First, I wanted to start by saying that I am going to do a simple hair how-to soon...the one thing I realized though is that it's impossible to do it with just me, especially seeing as I need both hands! Fear not...my dh has offered to help!

And now...on to my random picture post:

The other night I was in bed and I was saying some quick night prayers and for some reason (oh well, other than the fact that he's the best) I got teary eyes when I was thinking about my dh. So instead of simply saying thank you to God, I decided to write him a little note and leave it on his hanger where he hangs his uniform when he gets off in the morning. I called it my "just 'cause" letter and used old some of the old paper paint samples that I've had laying around. Needless to say, he appreciated it more than I thought!

This fun hair-do I did on my cousin...it's called the waterfall braid or something like that. It's basically a french braid but you leave half the bottom half out instead of adding (does that make any sense?!). Plus having some sort of curl or wave in the hair helps hold it. Okay, I promise I'm done with the hair posts...I guess I just got on a kick (dern you pinter.est for showing me fun things to do!).

I call this photo, "I'm promise I'm not a 13 year old girl...I just really like the color pink!" Yeah, so tonight I got ready for a bike ride after my dh left for work and after I was all ready, I literally laughed out loud at what I saw in the mirror...a pink camel back (gotta stay hydrated in this crazy 100+heat), iphone (listening to music helps my mind not think about how hard something is) with my pink earphones, and my pink arm band holder thing for my iphone...yeah...I pretty much looked like a 13 year old girl! I will say, my bike isn't pink though! ;)

However, when I got back from my 5.5 mile bike ride, I walked past the mirror in the entry way and realized that I had a new something pink:

MY FACE!! :/ Please excuse the nasty sweat...like I said, 100+temp people!

That bike ride was a lot harder than I anticipated but I still did it. I'm trying really hard to stick with the whole working out thing (P90.X, running, biking) because I know that even if it's hard now...the losing weight and getting healthier will only increase my chances of fertility because of my PCOS. So I'm sticking with it and even though I'm only a week in, I feel so much better.

And because I said this is a random picture post, I thought I would share one last photo I took today, on my way to the grocery store-don't worry I was stopped at the light. I really think this guy seems nice...

Notice the helmet? It says "F-you!" My goodness, how does he think that's a good idea?!?! Personally I think he's just asking to be pulled over!

Anyways, that wraps up my random picture post. I'm off to relax a bit and maybe stretch because my legs are telling me to. I hope everyone is doing ok and for those bloggers that experienced that earthquake today (crazy!!!) I hope y'all are safe and sound. My SIL is in Maryland and she said it was the craziest thing. Just glad to hear they are ok.

"I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles." (Audrey Hepburn)