MIL drama

OK so I figured I may as well write about the crappy MIL drama from the weekend.

Weeks ago, MIL said that she and FIL would buy us a really nice vacuum cleaner as a housewarming gift. We were really happy about that, as our current one isn't great.

Fast forward to Saturday - hubby got a call from his mom to say that she'd collected the vacuum. She then went on to say that she's been using it in her house and it's really good. When hubby told me that she said it was good, I thought he meant she'd demo'd it in the store, so he had to fill me in. I was like "WTF?! Seriously? Who does that?!"

She'd also told him that her hubby (FIL) was pissed with her for using it, since it's supposed to be a gift for us.

Anyway, we went there for dinner the same day, as planned, and the vacuum cleaner was sitting out in full view, unboxed of course. She didn't mention it so I didn't say anything. Inside I was seething, though. My FIL made a few comments that night about how he was pissed about it, saying that it's not hers to use and she shouldn't be using it at all. I fully agree!

When it was time to leave I went to the bathroom and I could vaguely hear a conversation between hubby and his parents. I got the general gist of the conversation, but I asked hubby to fill me in on the way home. He said that his mom said, "You don't need to take the vacuum today, you can get it in a week when you move in to your new house" - so hubby said "Why, are you going to keep on using it?" and she was like "Yeah!"
Hubby and FIL proceeded to tell her that she's out of order and you just don't do that when you buy a gift for someone - it's the principle of it! She didn't listen to either of them and just tried to justify it.

Now in my mind, since it's meant to be a gift from both MIL and FIL, she should respect FIL's views on the subject even if she doesn't respect our views. I didn't say a word about the damn thing, because I was so angry about it. She's proving herself to be a boundary-stomping bitch, if you ask me. It might "only" be a vacuum cleaner, but it's not the first time she's fucked something up for us. When we got married, she told us she didn't like the items on our registry (she even called some of them "tacky") and then went out and bought completely different items that she chose, because she liked them. Well, she had no respect for us because we'd spent time choosing items we liked and she chose for us instead. Also, I then had to delete the stuff we'd chosen because otherwise we could've ended up with 2 sets of everything. It wasn't the end of the world, we ended up with patterned plates instead of the plain ones we wanted, but I think it was a sign of things to come. Now the whole, "Here, I've bought this expensive vacuum cleaner for you, I know you can't afford to buy one like this yourselves, but before you get it I'm going to use it for 10 days or so" thing is taking the piss.

I feel as though she's trying to mark her territory or something. I honestly don't think she's accepted the fact that her "little boy" is married now, he's going to be 30 in 2 months, and he's got his own life. She knows I'm the only person who will be using that vacuum cleaner, because I'm a housewife. She knows it's pissing her husband off, and her son. She probably knows she's pissed me off too, because I couldn't act "normal" around her on Saturday because of all this bullshit. Also I think if she thought I was fine with it, she would've tried to get me to back her up because her own husband and mine were both telling her she was in the wrong. She's lucky she didn't do that, because I would've told her what I think about it. It's never crossed my mind that anyone would even think to use something they'd bought as a gift for someone!

Back to the wedding registry thing, I know nobody is obliged to buy gifts from the registry, but it really annoyed me because when you buy a gift for someone it should be something you think they will like - it's not about you, it's about them. I've bought gifts for people because I knew it was what they wanted - the only consideration I had to make was if I could afford it or not! She actually ended up spending more money than she would've if she'd bought the stuff on our registry, which is her prerogative, but it's not the point is it? It's obviously all about her, as she's proved yet again.

Tired of waiting...

Nothing much to say, except that this is my chart, which shows I haven't O'd yet (I'm now on CD27)

I think stress has delayed O, because we're moving house this weekend coming and we've had a lot of stress recently with my selfish mother-in-law. Fun times... =/

CD22

I still haven't ovulated yet! Oh well. It happened last cycle on CD22/23 so I'm not too worried.

Here's my chart so far:
I do feel as though it's going to happen soon, but I've felt that way for like 5 days now! I had EWCM on Sunday (CD19) but I haven't seen it again since. As long as I do actually ovulate, that's all I'm really bothered about right now! :-)

I found a very interesting board on Babycenter.com, called Dealing with the In-laws and FOO (family of origin). You would not believe the kind of drama some women have had surrounding their pregnancies/childbirths. Family members throwing a hissy fit because they're not allowed to be there for the birth, or not allowed to stay with the new family immediately after the birth, all kinds of crazy shit! OMG! I'm glad I found it before I'm even pregnant, because I can see some of the same issues possibly being a problem for us.

1. MIL, although I get along with her well and she means well I think, is pretty overbearing. Example - insisting to my hubby and BIL (29 and 25 respectively) that she should be allowed to make them dentist appointments. They declined, she asked if she could make one for me! FIL eventually had to step in and tell her no, they're grown adults, leave them alone FFS!

2. MIL took hubby aside a few weeks ago to ask him when we're going to have a baby (he said "when we're ready" despite the fact that we've been TTC since June, haha) and she told him to tell me to stop taking BCP so we could get started. I actually laugh about this, but I don't think it's appropriate for her to be saying things like that. She should've just left the subject alone when hubby told her "when we're ready", IMO.
She also announced (rather randomly!) one evening at dinner that she thinks we should have 3 kids and we should have a girl (she never had a girl but always wanted one). When she asked us what we want when we do have a baby (girl or boy) we both said we really don't mind, we just want them to be healthy. FIL was in complete agreement on this too (he's normal, lol!)
I'm not sure where the 3 kids thing came from - she seems to think it's the best number, but she only had 2! :D

3. My dad is very overbearing and can be pretty childish, along with being selfish most of the time. I'm 99% sure that when we tell him we're expecting, he'll be wanting to make plans to come over here and stay with us (because our house is evidently a hotel). We will be moving into our new house in about 10 days or so, so we will have a guest room (we don't in this house), but honestly when I've thought about it properly (about what it'll probably be like right after giving birth - uncomfortable, in pain, trying to get the hang of breastfeeding, getting into some kind of routine as a family, etc. etc.) I really don't think we'll be wanting house-guests for at least 4-6 weeks after the birth. If it was someone who would actually help out around the house, rather than sit on their ass all day without lifting a finger, then I might consider it. My dad, though? Um, no! When he visited for 10 days over new year, he drove me crazy by not doing anything for himself and I had to clean up after him all the time. If it drove me crazy without having a baby to look after, then can you imagine how much of a pain it would be if I'd just given birth?!?!
I mentioned that he can be childish and selfish - well, I'm sure if I said that we didn't want any house-guests for x amount of time he'd be all sulky and spouting the "what about what I want?" kind of shit. Now I do know that we'll see our baby every day, and for people visiting it won't be like that, but those first few weeks are pretty crucial bonding time, and I don't want to be unable to breastfeed because of someone stressing me out all the time!

4. I expect MIL is probably going to want to be at the birth. This is non-negotiable for me - nobody will be with me while I'm in labor/giving birth other than my husband and the necessary medical professionals. If I don't want my own mom there, I sure as hell don't want my MIL there!

5. MIL (and FIL, to some extent) is a Jehovah Witness. Hubby and BIL left that cult as soon as they were old enough to get out. FIL I think goes just to keep the peace in their house, because he gets nagged. a. lot.
Anyway, it seems like she's still holding out hope that hubby and I will magically decide to join too, which I can assure you will never happen, ever. I do worry though that she will try to brainwash our kids when they're young, because I don't think she can help herself when it comes to that stuff. I've told hubby that I'd be majorly pissed if she did anything like that and he's in complete agreement with me on that issue. Let's hope it doesn't happen, but I must say I'll be very surprised if she doesn't do that... =/

Now, another concern at the moment is that our new house is very close to the in-laws' house (1.3 miles). We went ahead with buying the house because it is lovely and we really like the area, but I've been wondering lately if it's going to cause issues. I really hope it doesn't, but hubby and I have talked about it and decided that we should set some boundaries when we first move in, so that we don't have any problems. My in-laws will have a spare key to our house in case we lose ours or whatever, but it's not to be used for coming into our home uninvited! We will have a mutual respect for each others' privacy - no showing up unannounced or uninvited. I think we can say it in such a way as to make it sound like we're alleviating any worries they might have about us living so close, so that it's not just a "you will not come over without calling first" kind of demand. It'll be more like a "now we're going to be living so close by, we think it's best if we all respect each others privacy and not show up at each others houses unannounced" kind of thing. We need to set some boundaries from the start, I think, judging by the experiences of people on that DWIL board!

I should add that I really do like my in-laws, they've been very good to hubby and I, so it's not like I don't want to see them. I just don't want his mom walking into our house whenever she feels like it! (We'd never do that to them, either)

I do have some justification for being worried about this - MIL has often shown up at BIL's house (even though it's a good 20 miles away from hers) without prior notice and just let herself in. Hubby says she's not like that with him (she really babies BIL - probably because he doesn't stop her from doing so!) so hopefully she won't start doing that. I just think with us living so close there's a good chance she might do. Hopefully she won't show up out of the blue with her Kingdom Hall friends to show them our house (we don't know them, for a start!)

Anyway, I'm glad I got that out of my system! :-)

CD17... Lots of cramping!

Today I've felt very hormonal and now I'm cramping a lot, so I wonder if I'm going to ovulate soon... Fingers crossed! My chart is still weird of course, but hopefully when I do ovulate it will be obvious. It was last time, anyway.


I'm hoping we'll DTD tonight, but hubby doesn't seem to be in the mood. Last night he was too tired. We've probably been overdoing it, we should've just stuck to every other day but I guess we got carried away. I really feel like I'm about to ovulate though so it would totally suck if we don't get to DTD...

Packing up the house!

Today I cleaned the house, we went out for lunch (pizza - bad I know!) and then I started packing up our stuff at home. We're hopefully moving on September 3rd so it's a little over 2 weeks away... about time I started packing really! I've been meaning to get going with it for weeks now, but I'm very good at procrastinating. Not a great 'skill' to have, but hey! :-)

Being busy helped to keep my mind off TTC for a little while, but as soon as I was done with today's effort my mind went right back to it again! I packed up our winter clothes (won't be needing them any time soon!), bathroom stuff we don't need access to and all our photo frames, ornaments and candles. I also packed up my Wondfos, FRERs, the owl toy, the giraffe blanket and 2 new baby outfits I bought from Old Navy on Tuesday (they were on clearance and they were too cute to miss. Hubby obviously thinks I'm crazy!). One of the items is a brown one-piece which says "I love my dad" on it, and the other is a green and white onesie with pandas on it. They're both meant to be for boys I think but I reckon you could get away with putting them on a girl too, they're kind of unisex in my book anyway. :-)

My chart is still looking crazy, I know I need to stop focusing on it and just get on with other things (I'll ovulate when I'm meant to ovulate, right?!) but it's easier said than done. Here it is:


I have wondered if we should even be trying this month, what with us moving house and everything. Not that it wouldn't be a good thing if we conceived this month, it'd be awesome of course, but I just wonder if we'll be too stressed out for it to happen this time. Honestly I'm more stressed about TTC than moving house, at the moment anyway! (that will no doubt change when we get closer to our move date though, hehe).

Still haven't ovulated!

Today is CD15 and my temp went down this morning. I wrote down all my temps for this cycle in a list and identified a few which might have been flukes. If they were flukes that would make my chart a little less crazy but I obviously can't change those temperatures because they were the temps I got and I don't know what to change them to anyway! Lol.

The ones I think could be flukes are CD8, CD11 and CD14. I kind of imagined them not being so out of whack with the rest of my temps and my chart would certainly make more sense then, but I'm not changing anything because I don't want to mess everything up. This is how it looks now:


I'd totally understand the crazy temps if I'd been taking my temps at different times, or not getting enough sleep, or getting up before taking my temp, or drinking alcohol... But no. That's why this is all so odd.

I think the thing that's got me the most confused, besides my crazy temps, is the watery CM. Why am I on my 9th day of fertile CM?! Crazy, huh? It's a lot different from my last cycle, that's for sure. I haven't noticed any egg-white CM yet but I only 2 days of it with my last cycle so that's probably on its way soon... maybe! Hopefully the CM means I'm super-fertile this month, hehe. I can only hope so, anyway! :-)

CD14, temps still crazy

Hmmm... My temp did go up this morning (by 0.4ºF) to 97.7ºF but I'm still not sure what's going on, so I'll have to wait to see what happens.


It's so weird that I'm now on day 8 of having fertile CM, I've never had such a sustained period of it before. I wonder if the B6 etc. has anything to do with it? I just hope that I will ovulate and that it'll be clear on my chart so there's no wondering. With this weird temp pattern I'm not sure that ovulation will be easily pinpointed, hopefully it will. Last cycle my post-ovulation temps were 98.1ºF or higher, so if they get up there again hopefully my ovulation day will be obvious. Hopefully we'll time DTD well, too. Fingers crossed! :-)

CD13 and feeling somewhat hormonal!

The way I feel today is just like CD23 of my last cycle... Greasy skin with a breakout (1 bad zit and quite a few small ones) and pelvic cramping. I had the same symptoms yesterday but the cramping is worse this evening. Last cycle I ovulated either CD22 or 23, so with the symptoms being the same I'm really hoping this is a good sign that I'm going to O soon! :-)

My chart is looking absolutely crazy this cycle, I'm confused because I'm super consistent with taking my temps every morning but they still look like this:


I guess I just have to hope that in the next few days my temps will shoot above 98ºF and stay up there to confirm ovulation.

I'm so not used to having bad skin, I must admit it's surprised me that I've been having breakouts at certain points in my cycle since coming off the Pill. My skin definitely looked better while I was on it! Oh well. I guess when I get pregnant I'll probably have greasy awful skin then too. Hubby probably thinks I'm an idiot for thinking my skin is terrible but it's relative, right? He has frequent breakouts so as far as he's concerned my skin is fine, but I'm used to having clear skin! Haha. I feel like I'm a teenager again with this skin! :-D

I'm also craving sweet things, unfortunately for me we're all out of chocolate and cake! It's probably just as well, hehe. I might have a cup of cocoa, maybe that will satisfy my cravings! :-)

CD12... crazy temps!

This morning my BBT was even more confusing... down to 97.0ºF! What the heck?! So now my chart looks like this:


Weird, huh?! Guess we'll just keep DTD every other day and see what happens. I wonder if I will ovulate earlier this cycle - I really hope so!!!

CD11

Well my temps this cycle are being kinda erratic, to say the least. I'm pretty confused because even though I'm taking them at the same time each morning (right after hubby wakes me up to take my temp) they're all over the place! Ugh, I just don't know what's happening.


Today is my 5th consecutive day of fertile CM and my temps have been fluctuating between 97.3ºF and 97.8ºF since the fertile CM started. I'm not sure what temperature my coverline will be set at, if I remember correctly that doesn't get set until ovulation or some time around then.

I guess it's promising that I've been having fertile CM this early on, last cycle the first time I got that was on CD15 and then it was another week before I ovulated. Maybe having fertile CM from CD7 this cycle I'll ovulate around CD14 ish... That would be awesome! I can only hope, anyway! :-)

CD9

My BBT this morning was 97.5ºF, so I think yesterday's steep rise might have just been a fluke. I still have fertile CM though, that's most likely a fluke too! I figure whatever happens, happens. I really don't want to be a stress-head about it anymore, so I'll keep on doing what I'm doing and if I get pregnant, great! If not, then we'll keep trying. We're DTD every other day, I'm temping every morning and taking my prenatal vitamin along with my B-50 complex every day. I'm drinking only decaff coffee and abstaining from alcohol 100% - I don't think there's much more I should be doing at this point! Maybe if we haven't conceived in 6 months' time I'll re-evaluate and see what else I can do.

I'm really looking forward to my massage at 4 p.m, I just know I'll feel a million times better than I do right now. Last week after my massage I felt better than I had done in ages. I've been wondering about trying acupuncture sometime, I'm kind of curious about it. Maybe one day I'll give it a go! :-)

Update

Since I posted earlier I've been having some cramps which feel as though they could be ovulation cramps. Now I'm even more confused!

I hadn't thought of it earlier but I have a massage booked for tomorrow afternoon, I booked it last week thinking there was no way I'd be in my fertile period by now. I'm going to keep the appointment, I'm sure it'll be OK even if I have ovulated. I know a lot of people drink alcohol in the 2 week wait, which I don't do (actually I haven't had any alcohol since we started TTC, not even when I'm not fertile, lol) so really how bad could a massage be before implantation even occurs? It's most likely OK I think. Better than going in a hot tub anyway!

I feel really grumpy this evening, I think because I'm confused about all of this. I felt fine when I figured I'd have to wait until around CD22 to ovulate, I just accepted it, but now that all this is going on I just don't know what my body is doing. I realized that my cycles could shorten in length but I assumed if that happened that it'd be a gradual change, not like this! If I did ovulate yesterday and my LP stays the same (13 days) then this cycle will only be 20 days... I don't think I've ever had such a short cycle, in the 17 years I've been having them! There's a huge difference between 35 days and 20 days, so if that happens it'll be kinda freaky won't it?!?!

CD8 and majorly confused!

I'm really confused about this cycle! I figured I'd have to wait until at least CD21 to ovulate, based on my previous cycles, but some strange things are happening at the moment! Firstly, I had fertile CM yesterday, then my BBT jumped by 0.5ºF this morning, and now I still have fertile (watery) CM. I find it hard to believe that I could've ovulated already, because going by my temps I would've ovulated yesterday - CD7. Surely not?! I know it's technically possible, but wouldn't that be a little too crazy? I mean, I'd be surprised if I ovulated on CD14, never mind CD7! I did want to have shorter cycles, but I didn't really think this one would be any different to my last.

Now I know that as things stand, ovulation isn't confirmed - for it to show on my charts my temps will have to stay high for 3 days straight. It just seems very strange that my CM is fertile and my BBT jumped so much since yesterday. Of course it's too early to know if I actually have ovulated already, but I'm honestly just baffled by this! We DTD on Sunday night and last night, so if I did ovulate yesterday then we should be covered, but I'm struggling to believe it's even possible really. The only difference this cycle is that I'm taking the B-50 complex. I know that's supposed to regulate your hormones but I thought it would take a month at least to have any noticeable effect. Surely it can't have done so much in 8 days, can it?

I should make it clear that if I am ovulating early I'm definitely not complaining (it sucks having to wait more than 3 weeks to even be in the 2 week wait, hehe) but I do worry that if that's the case there won't be enough uterine lining for a fertilized egg to implant... assuming that we do conceive, of course.

I should also say that I'm not expecting us to be successful this cycle, because we'll have a lot going on with our new house (we should get the keys in, oh, 18 days - damn, I'd better start packing!!!). Moving house is super stressful, so I don't hold out too much hope for this cycle really. That's not to say that I won't be thrilled if we do conceive this time - I'd be absolutely over the moon, we both would! :-)

Hubby is likely going to have to go to Wisconsin for a week-long business trip soon, so I hope that doesn't coincide with ovulation... Knowing my luck it probably will! Unless it's already happened, or is about to happen. I haven't had any ovulation cramps yet and last cycle they were pretty painful, so that's another reason I'm doubtful about ovulating so soon - unless this cycle is just going to be completely different to my previous ones! Right now I really don't know what to think, it's very odd. I wonder if my BBT yesterday was a fluke, it was 97.3 and today it was 97.8. I take it at exactly the same time every day, hubby wakes me up passing me the thermometer, so I'm not doing anything before taking my temps. I always get plenty of sleep beforehand too... What I'm saying is they should be accurate.

Here's my chart anyway, as it stands today:


I'm interested to see how this turns out, if it really is true that I've already ovulated I'll be extremely shocked! It's probably going to turn out to be 2 flukes (1 the CM, 2 the BBT reading). If I have ovulated though, on CD7, this cycle should be way shorter than my last 2 which were both 35 days! In that case this one would be something like 20 days, which is ridiculously short!

Riots in the UK

In a break to our regular programming, let's take a look at the London riots...

A lady jumps from a burning building...

More buildings burn...

People are literally having the clothes off their backs stolen...

A thug smashes up a police car...

More thugs...

More burning and mass looting...

As a British person, I'm completely appalled by the riots taking place in London and other cities across England. I'm shocked by the level of violence and the police 'response' has been miniscule by all accounts. The rioters (well, let's call them scumbags!) are committing serious crimes right in front of the police, with most of them getting away with it. I'm not blaming the police, because they're doing what they're told to do - and knowing the UK they'd be in serious trouble if they so much as laid a finger on a criminal. It's beyond a joke that all these innocent people are being terrorized by thugs and robbed and/or beaten.

I'm really worried by all of this even though I moved to the US almost a year ago: It's even surprised me how worried I am by it all. Last night I couldn't get to sleep and I ended up getting up to read news reports from the UK. Today is day 4 of the riots and it doesn't seem like there's an end in sight. People have started rioting in other parts of the UK - Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Bristol to name but a few of the cities affected. It scares me what's becoming of my homeland. Obviously I have a lot of family and friends still in the UK, some of them are in and around London but most of them live in other major cities including some of the cities now affected. I really worry for the decent law-abiding people in the UK, what will become of the place now? I'm scared that if the police can't stop this from happening, it's only going to get worse. That much is obvious really. Apparently the government has ruled out bringing the army in, and they've also ruled out using water cannons. What they need to do is use rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse the crowds. I hate to say it but if that's not enough maybe they should just use real bullets. These idiots can't be allowed to do this!

Relaxed!

I've had a Massage Envy membership since the end of April, and had 3 massages saved up on my account. Well, with all this TTC stuff, I wanted to avoid going any time I might have been pregnant, so I promised myself last week that if my period showed I'd book myself an appointment. I called at lunchtime and got an appointment for 3 p.m. today - I'm so glad I went, I feel about a million times better now. It was so relaxing! My back and shoulders were so tense and knotted up, and my therapist did such a great job of working the tension out. I made another appointment with the same therapist for next Thursday, I'm looking forward to it already! I can't believe how much tension and stress went away in the space of an hour, it's crazy.

So I'll have 1 left after next week, then at the end of the month another will be credited to my account. I figure that after we move house I'll definitely want to go again, there's a Massage Envy not too far from our new house so that's good :-) I'll probably need it after the stress of moving. I'm using my massages as a kind of consolation prize for when my period comes, I guess! I'll always hope it doesn't, of course, but I know conceiving will probably take a while so if/when it shows next month, I'll go for another massage... or 2!

CD2 / House stuff!

My BBT was down to 97.5ºF this morning, and my period is still horrible as always. I'm feeling OK now about not being pregnant yet, it would've been great if it happened so quickly but it's OK that it didn't. I'm trying to be positive about this cycle, maybe it'll be the one! Anyhow, since I'm probably going to have a long wait until I ovulate, I'll write about something not related to TTC!

Hubby and I have been looking to buy a house since the end of March, and we found one in April which we really liked. It was a short-sale, though, so it was almost 3 months before our offer was accepted. We were so excited about that house. That is, until we had the inspection done (on July 4th of all days!). It ended up having a lot of unexpected, big, problems which we couldn't really contend with. With much sadness, we decided the only thing we could do was back out.

We started looking again at the end of that same week - no point wasting any more time, right? We looked and looked, and saw some nice houses but nothing that really compared to the one we'd wanted to buy before. Anyway, on July 13th we saw a gorgeous house and the next morning we made an offer. Two other couples also offered on that house the same day, so we weren't too hopeful. However, we got lucky and our offer was accepted that evening (it's a traditional sale by the owner, so none of this 'waiting around to hear from a bank' rubbish!). The inspection was done July 15th, everything is good apart from some very minor issues which are to be expected at this point (the house was built in 2002). The seller agreed to our request that he fix the minor plumbing issues, so we were happy! Then came a stumbling block, the appraisal... The appraiser valued it way below asking price. I guess some people would've been happy about that, but we were filled with a sense of dread because we really didn't think the seller would sell it for the appraisal price. We were right, he wanted more. We really didn't want to lose this house, it's in great condition and it's almost 2200 square feet (the last one was almost 1700 square feet, so it's a big difference!) and the seller was even leaving the appliances (fridge, washer and dryer - the washer and dryer look pretty new, too). It's in an area we like, it's pretty close to the in-laws (maybe a little too close, it's literally 1.3 miles!) and we like the layout of the house too. So, we reached a compromise with the seller - we're paying him more than the appraisal came out at, but not as much as he would've liked. He accepted the revised offer within a few hours, so all is good! Now the mortgage is progressing nicely and we're all set. We should be getting the keys by the end of this month, and we'll probably move a week or so later. We haven't started packing yet but I'll get onto it next week, when my period is gone!

Hubby's parents are very kindly giving us their La-Z-Boy leather reclining couch and love-seat set, which we're thrilled about because despite being about 8 years old they look pretty much brand new, and they're super-comfortable of course! The new house has 2 living areas so we would've had to buy another couch set, so this is going to save us a lot of money. They're also buying us a really good Oreck vacuum cleaner as a house-warming gift! Yay! They wanted to buy us a fridge or something like that but because all of that comes with the house, they decided on the vacuum cleaner. That works really well for us (well, me in particular since I'll be the one using it!) because the one we have now isn't exactly very good and this new one is meant to be really good at getting pet hair out, which is something the old one doesn't do very well. Since we have 2 pugs, who shed a ton, that's gonna be awesome! There's more carpet in the house than we would've liked, but it all looks good and I want to keep it that way, so this will really help :-)

The new house has 4 good-sized bedrooms, and I'm not sure yet which one will be our future baby's room... Hubby works from home so one of them will be his office, the master bedroom will obviously be ours, and then there are 2 other rooms - 1 will be a guest bedroom and the other will be the baby's room. Maybe we should have the baby's room next to ours, I'm not sure. I definitely don't want the guest bedroom to be the biggest of the smaller bedrooms - not to sound awful or anything, but that room won't get that much use and when people are staying with us free of charge, they'll get what they're given! Also, while I'm sounding like a bitch, we won't be getting the most comfortable bed for that room either... For the sole reason that I just know people would outstay their welcome if we make it tempting enough! I want our guests to be comfortable in our house but we've had a couple of guests in our current house, which was a nightmare because it's too small (2 bedrooms, but the second bedroom is hubby's office, so it's definitely not ideal having people stay). One of our guests (my Dad, actually) really took the piss when he stayed, made such a mess everywhere and wouldn't lift a finger, he wouldn't even let our dog out when she needed to go potty and I was in the middle of cleaning the bathroom (he was maybe 10 feet away from the back door!). I like having guests but it's also a pain in the butt, honestly. I don't want my Dad turning up for 2 months, his 10 day visit was more than long enough and because he criticizes me all the time it got old very quickly, bending over backwards to please him and make sure he had a nice vacation etc... So yeah, the bed we buy for the guest room won't be like our lovely comfy king size bed, hehe. :-)

I'm thinking it'll go something like this: The far right bedroom (master) is ours of course, the next is the baby's. To the left of the baby's room is guest room and the one on the far left is hubby's office. That would make his office the second biggest bedroom, but at least he uses that room pretty much every single day so it's not going to waste. The guest room might get used once a year, if that, who knows? I might put some other stuff in there too, or use it for something else the rest of the time. Maybe instead of a proper bed we could get a sofa bed for that room, I don't know. It's something to consider, anyway.

So aside from TTC, the new house is also our project! Not that we really need to do anything to it, it doesn't need painting or anything, but we'll have to buy a few things for it and make it truly ours :-) It's really exciting! Our first home that's actually ours. Oh and we might even be moving in a year to the day since I arrived in the US! How crazy is that?! :-)

CD1 all over again!

This morning my temp was 97.9ºF, which is 0.2 higher than yesterday, but my period finally showed. I'm relieved, mostly, because I knew I wasn't pregnant and I wanted to just have it arrive and be done with. I hated all the waiting around, knowing it was going to come but not sure when. Anyway, that makes another 35 day cycle, and a 13 day LP. I'm not thrilled about the long cycle thing, but my LP length seems to be fine so I'm pleased about that. I just hope that gradually my cycles will shorten to a more reasonable length!

I'm starting the B-complex today, so we'll see what that does (if anything). I'm only taking 1 a day, it's 50 mg of B6 and a whole load of other B vitamins. Apparently you can safely take 200 mg of B6 daily so 50 mg is pretty low I guess. I don't want to start taking loads, so 1 a day will be a good start.

Ugh, I hate my periods!!! I mean, I'm glad it's here, but it's not pleasant. I hate all the cramping and stuff.

CD35, 13 DPO, still spotting.

Still no period, just spotting. BBT was down again today to 97.7ºF, I didn't bother testing today because I think it's pretty obvious that I'm not pregnant. Today is CD35, 13 DPO. I guess at least since my period hasn't started yet, my LP is OK. Even if it starts today my LP is 12 days, which should be sufficient. My last cycle was also 35 days, I wonder if this one will wind up being the same... Maybe it'll be 34 days, if my period comes today that is.

I'm going to start taking the vitamin B complex in addition to my prenatals when my period starts, which I'm sure will be soon. I was wondering about taking evening primrose oil too, but I'll try the B complex first I think. EPO is supposed to be good for increasing fertile CM, but I seem to get that on my own anyway. I'll keep it in mind anyway. You're only supposed to take it from the start of your period to ovulation, and not use it after ovulation because apparently it can cause uterine contractions which you definitely don't want when you might be pregnant!

Confused...

OK, I really thought that my period started earlier, but it seems it might have just been more pink/red spotting. Since then, I've only had light brown/light pink spotting. I'd gone and updated my charts and started new cycles and then I had to delete them and continue with the last cycle, lol. I have no idea what's going on, but I'm still pretty sure I'm out.

In other news, I went to CVS and bought some vitamin B complex which has 50 mg of B6, 50 mg B1, 50 mg B2, 50 mcg B12 and a few other things. My prenatals only have a tiny amount of B vitamins so it should be fine to take these too. I've read that up to 200 mg of B6 a day is fine, so 50 mg daily is no problem. It might just help to lengthen my LP a little. Even if it makes it just 1 day longer, that's fine by me. Having said that, if my period doesn't start properly today then I might not actually need to lengthen my LP (it'll be 12 days if my period starts tomorrow, for example). Apparently B6 helps to minimize morning sickness as well so that's another good reason to take it! :-)

Luckily, the B-50 complex I wanted was buy one get one with a CVS card, which I didn't have, so I got one and then got 2 bottles (100 caplets in each) for about $9. I do love a bargain!

I'd love to be wrong but I'm 99% sure my period will come, it's just a question of when. I really thought it started this afternoon but the spotting continues now, so I must've been wrong. So so confusing!

Officially out, starting over today

I just got my period... I knew it was coming, but it still sucks anyway. So my LP was 11 days, which isn't horrendous but I'd rather it was 12+ because that's what people seem to think is best. Maybe it's partly due to recently coming off of the Pill, maybe it'll get longer. I hope so, anyway. This cycle was 33 days, my last one was 35, so maybe it's going to continue to get shorter until it gets to be a more acceptable length!

On a positive note, CD1 (today) is August 1st - so it'll be super easy for me to remember what cycle day I'm on... I'm trying to find a silver lining!

Pretty sure I'm out this cycle...

I'm still spotting (light brown) but my BBT this morning was down to 97.9ºF which is 0.3 lower than yesterday, and 0.7 lower than Saturday... I know that technically you're not out until your period comes, but I'm pretty sure I'm out this cycle. For the hell of it I took another test this morning, which was BFN as expected.

I've just been over to the Babycenter.com forum and a few of the people who were having the exact same symptoms as I was got their BFPs today or yesterday, so I'm pretty bummed about everything. I mean I'm happy for those people, but sad for me. I feel like crying right now: I knew I shouldn't have got my hopes up, but I guess I really did. Everything seemed to be timed just right, I was having promising symptoms, and I'm not pregnant. I think TTC really messes with your head. I was definitely having the symptoms I recorded, they weren't in my head, I know that - but now I just feel so silly for thinking I could actually be pregnant. I also feel silly for feeling sad, because this was our first cycle trying properly and I know it's unusual for it to happen right away, but I really hoped it would.

Oh well, hopefully this next cycle will be the one. And hopefully I won't have to wait 22 friggin' days to ovulate this time...