Normally throughout the 2ww I start to have all kinds of phantom symptoms, and I start convincing myself that it means I am pregnant, not that AF is about to show. My boobs hurt, I get a headache, etc. This time around, I had something a little more obvious. My boobs started leaking! It's not much, just drops, but I have this creamy white milky stuff coming out. I hope that means something good. I had it at 4dpo, and then again today at 10dpo. I think I am going to test tomorrow, 11dpo is a possibility for a positive. It's all I can think about. I wanted to test today, but I knew that if it was positive and I came into work I would not be able to concentrate at all! Better to wait until a few days off.

I decided that even if it is positive this time around, instead of telling our families at Thanksgiving, I want to wait and tell them at Christmas. That would give us a few weeks to enjoy the news, and maybe even get a doctor appt in first. Hopefully my plan works out!

Our trip to Vegas was wonderful. It flew by, but we saw a bunch of cool stuff and had a great time. We ate some really good food. I had raspberry french toast one morning, drizzled with pecan butter and syrup. Duck for dinner one night, and it just fell off the bone and melted in my mouth. Soooo yummy! I wish I could be a professional chef! Seriously, I would love to spend the day in the kitchen, creating recipes, making yummy food. I would probably gain soooo much weight though, so it's a good thing I am a nurse instead!

That's about all I have time for right now, since I am at work. Hopefully I will have some wonderful and exciting news to share in the very near future!!!

Election Day

I told myself 4 years ago during the last election that I was going to vote in this one. I was going to apply for my citizenship in time, get registered to vote, and vote in what has turned out to be the most important election of our lifetimes. Then life happened. I waited until I finished college, so I would be making money to pay the fees. Then I moved over and over again. After talking to someone at church, I decided to wait until I knew I would be living in the same place for a year or so before I applied. (He had moved across the country and the government has lost his application, and he said it ended up taking over a year to get his citizenship.) Then, Stephen and I met and quickly got serious. By the time we got engaged, I figured I may as well wait until we were married, so I wouldn't have to change my name during the process. Of course, I didn't know when we got engaged that we would be moving shortly after the wedding to a new city...and that we would buy our first house les than 6 months after moving. So, life happened, and before I knew it, it was June of this year, which is when I finally submitted my $700 application (yeah I know, I could have paid about half that price if I had gotten my act together last year)...but who has an extra $700, or even $400 when they are planning a wedding?? Anyway, I didn't know if my citizenship would go through in time, but I held out hope. I got my interview letter, and was scheduled for September 15. The hurricane came through the weekend before I was supposed to have my interview...so the interview never happened and was rescheduled for 2 weeks ago. In Texas, the voter registration deadline was the beginning of October. If my interview had happened as scheduled, I may have gotten to take the oath in time. I know they held an "emergency" ceremony for people who didn't make their own ceremony because of the hurricane. Anyway, long story short, hearing about everyone voting, and seeing how excited Stephen is (he printed out a sample ballot and has been researching his choices all weekend) makes me a little bit unhappy that I don't get to participate today. My voice won't be heard in this election. But I will be there next time!

I'm obviously not good at updating this thing...probably because I don't actually have anything exciting to share. Hopefully once we get our BFP I will have more news and I will be updating more often!!

Anyway, here is some fairly big news - I am officially a US citizen! I passed the interview 2 weeks ago, and took the oath last Wednesday. It was at 7:00 am, which sucked. They told us to get there by 7, and that it would last until 11. Little did I know, the thing wouldn't actually start until just before 10. Which means...we sat in a high school gym waiting for something to happen fo 3 hours!!! Booooo! Anyway, finally about 1800 of us were pronounced citizens!

On Halloween we handed out candy, and decided to sit out on the driveway drinking wine and beer and playing with wesley. It cracked me up - all the little kids would come up and say, "Oh! You have a dog!" Haha, like we didn't know we have a dog. No, that's just our cat in a costume! Hehe. Wesley enjoyed all of the attention. He was not a fan of his costume, which is why he only tried it on a few days before and did not actually wear it for Halloween. We carved our pumpkins that afternoon which was fun. Stephen made a cyclops, I made a couple of fairly traditional jack o lanterns.

Something in this kitchen stinks and I cannot figure out what it is! It smells like rotten food. But I took the trash out yesterday, and threw out a couple of bad things then. And now, this smell. It is annoying me that I cannot figure it out! My house is clean, I do not have any rotten food, so I don't know why it should smell like I do! At least this is an excuse to light a few candles to make it smell better. Oh how I love to burn candles!!!

Cycle 3

When we first decided to TTC, our original plan was to start in November. We were hoping that the timing would be right for Vegas. Well, my period just showed again, and it looks like Vegas could work out to be pretty good timing. This is onto the 3rd cycle now. I know that really isn't bad, and it takes a lot of couples much longer, but I guess I figured it would happen right after coming off the pill. My periods have regulated really quickly since stopping the pill, and I have ovulated both cycles, so I am lucky in that respect. The odd thing is, each period has started on the 28th of the month. Strange!

I had planned on doing some cleaning this afternoon while I wait for Verizon to show up, but instead I feel like opening a bottle of wine and vegging out on the couch!

Almost time to test!

I've completely given up the temping thing. I think I took one temperature this cycle. It's too hard with getting up a different time every single day. I was able to get into the habit for the first cycle, but it's easier just to take an OPK and figure it out. The night shift really throws it off, anyway. Based on my OPK and CM, I o'd last Thursday, making me 8 dpo today. I ordered a bunch of tests online, and tried one out this morning. I figured I needed a control, since I knew today I would get a BFN. I ordered 10, but they actually sent me 20 - and only charged me for 10. I'm trying to decide if I want to keep testing over the weekend, or wait until Monday or Tuesday to start testing. I'm hoping to hold out, we'll see!

I passed my citizenship interview on Wednesday! The interview had been cancelled because of the hurricane, so they had to fit the cancelled people in, which I guess is why the waiting room was so crowded. It wasn't too bad though, because I was out of there within about 2 hours. My appt was at 9:40. Cell phones weren't allowed, and I don't wear a watch, but I think I went back sometime around 10:30. Then I had to wait to get the piece of paper about the oath ceremony after the interview. The interview was really easy. He went over my application, and the test was ridiculously easy. I had to answer things like what the Constitution is, who the current vice president is, what the name of the national anthem is, and other really easy things. The oath is next Wednesay. When they told me it was at 7 and to expect to be there until 11, naturally I assumed pm. Well, it's a 7AM!! It's pretty close to the place where the interview is, so in other worsds, about an hour from home...I will have to get up at 5am, and leave before 6 to get there. Hopefully that means it's early enough at least that traffic won't be too bad. But I do have to work that night. I had to change my schedule around. So, I'll work Monday night, sleep for a few hours, and then get up, and go to bed early on Tuesday night. Then, I'll get up around 5 on Wednesday and do that whole thing, probably get home between 12 and 1. I can nap for a couple of hours I think before work, assuming everything with the oath runs on time, because I'll have to leave the house for work just after 5!!

Even with the schedule rearranging I should still have Halloween off. Not that I really care so much about Halloween, but this being our first year in the house, it will be fun to see the little kids in the neighborhood all dressed up and give out candy. I almost bought Wesley a hot dog costume today in Target. It was on sale for $8.49, and they even had a size that looked like it would fit him, but I decided against it...

The garden looks good! I've bought several new flowers for out there, so now we have mums, azaleas, lilies, and oleanders. The oleanders are blooming everywhere right now, so I am exicted for when they will bloom in front of the house! I also have some pumpkins out there which we can carve next week. Stephen picked the biggest pumpkin they had...of course!

Periods, and puppies, and wasps, oh my!

I haven't updated in awhile, so I'll do a few things bullet-style.

• AF showed on Sunday night at work. Completely unexpected (several days early and without any symptoms. At least I had bought that box of tampons to keep in my locker at work. Ok, enough of the TMI. :)


• Wesley got fixed today. He was extra hyper and playful this morning, maybe trying to make us feel "guilty" or something? He did great, the vet called me around 2 to tell us he did fine! While he was there, he got microchipped and finally got a pedicure. He's been a little playful since then, but mostly mopey. Even when he came to see us, he was excited, but his ears were down, like he was hurting (which I'm sure he was/is). He weighs in at a whopping 35 lbs., which means he has gained 12 lbs. in about 8 weeks.


• Wasps. Wow. So, since we came back home after the hurricane, I've been hearing this strange noise after I showered. It sounded like it was just water dripping out of the shower head, so I didn't think much of it. Last night, I went into the bathroom and heard an actual buzzing noise and saw what looked like an insect wing sticking out of the fan. Stephen came and checked it out, and saw at first 3 wasps (I had actually thought it was a roach at first, so a wasp was initially somewhat relieving). Then he realized it was a whole nest of them. Of course, the only thing we had was Raid for roaches, which he sprayed, and really pissed them off. We went to HEB and got some wasp spray, but by the time we got home and Stephen went to spray it, all but maybe 1 wasp were dead. He sprayed it at that one at least. I called pest control first thing this morning, but since we've already killed them all (at least we're pretty sure), there's nothing else they can do. I made an appt, then cancelled it. Hopefully it's okay!
• After about 2 1/2 weeks of working like crazy with only 2 nights off at a time, I am finally off for 7 nights! Yay!
• Stephen finally got his car back on Friday. It was only 2 months since the accident. Geez. It seemed like we'd never get the car back. And now the other lady's insurance (since it was her fault) doesn't want to pay for the rental car past the 12th, even though he needed it until the 26th. They say it took too long to repair the car. Well, it would have been nice if someone had called and told us that. So now we're dealing with that...Stephen called the state representative on that one. We'll see what happens!
  

Wesley!

Wesley is back home with us! We visited Grammy, Stephanie, JL, Brandon, and MawMaw over the weekend and came back with our puppy. He gained some weight! His paws used to look huge for his body...now they fit! I stepped on the scale with him and I think he's gained about 5 lbs...in a week and a half! Maybe now that he fits into his paws his growing will slow down?

In other news, I'm counting down the days until I can POAS! I may try a dollar store test out tomorrow, because it would be really awesome to tell Stephen on his birthday...but I'm pretty sure tomorrow will be too early to tell. I think I still have a week to wait...a very long time!

5 things...

Stolen from another blog, here are 5 little known facts about me:

1. I very rarely drink caffeine. Yes, I know I work night shift. I don't know how I do it. I gave it up once in nursing school, or at least tried (bad decision - had bad headaches during finals!) and then Stephen and I gave up most soft drinks about a year and a half ago. Earlier this year, it took several months for the two of us to go through a 12-pack of sodas! I will have the occasional soda or iced tea, but, especially now that we are trying to get pregnant, it's water, juice, or milk for this girl!
2. You will NEVER catch me skydiving. On a movie last night, they were skydiving. My stomach gets jumpy going up and down hills. To jump by choice from a perfectly good airplane just doesn't make sense to me.
3. I am so excited to (hopefully) be a mommy soon. I have wanted to be a mommy my whole life! Okay, maybe that's not such a big secret. But that's the truth.
4. I am super anal about random stuff. I have to have the sheet tucked in to sleep. I can't go to bed with dirty dishes in the sink. At work, the babies' beds have to be arranged in just a certain way so that all the cords are on one side, the IV tubing is separate, etc.
5. I could eat chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream (but it has to be Blue Bell) all day, every day. Although, chocolate coveried cherries and dulce du leche ice creams are coming in a very close second...

I could only come up with 5 things, but it was supposed to be 7! Maybe I'll think of some more later...

I miss my puppy!

We're slowly getting back to our normal lives, apart from the fact that I will be working 60 hours this week. With my overtime this week, and Stephen's overtime over the weekend, the next couple of paychecks should be pretty nice! Yay! He is going back to his regular work schedule starting tomorrow afternoon, so we will have a couple of days off together next week. We may go pick up Wesley on Sunday afternoon when we are both off. We'll have to see how the gas situation is by the end of the week. I miss my puppy, but I don't want to go get him if we'll only have to sit at the gas station forever! It's amazing how quiet the house has been without him...no squeaky toys, no random bouts of energy and running around. On the plus side, we slept in late today with no worries of having to get up and let Wesley outside... :)

The cable came back on last night! We watched The Bucket List on dvd, and at the end of it, I noticed that the time was showing on the receiver. We tried it out, and sure enough, the cable was working. Of course, we still don't have internet of phone service. At least I am working the next several nights, so I can get on the internet and check my email and such at work. Sadly, no facebook, but I can handle that. :)

Not much more for this post. Life is slowly returning to normal, for which I am very thankful! Hopefully the gas situation continues to improve and we can have our little family back...as we continue to work on expanding it!!!

Ike Aftermath

We left Dallas at 4am to go back home this morning. Traffic was heavier than you would expect at that time of morning, but we didn't encounter and big delays and made it home in about 5 hours. Gas was the bigger issue. We stopped in Fairfield, about 2 hours out of Dallas. There was a line, but nothing too big. Only one car in front of us. Stephen filled the tank fuller than it has probably ever been before. We made it 100 miles before it even came off of full. Anyway, as we got closer to Houston, we started seeing lots of fallen trees, signs down, some power lines down. I didn't actually see any floodwaters, which was relieving. We exited the freeway and along the main road through our town saw a lot of debris, fences down, roofs with tarps. I had felt reassured the last few days, hearing from other people who live near us that they had no major damage, and seeing minor stuff like this helped. Of course, I was still anxious to finally see my house. Well, our house is completely intact. We have shingles in the back yard, but as far as I can tell, they are from the neighbors behind us and next to us who had holes in their roofs. Our fence in the backyard is leaning, as are the trees. Our bushes lost a lot of leaves, but that's it! We even had power and water when we got in, which I was absolutely ecstatic about. Our biggest problem is the food we had to throw out. But, if we came out of the storm and that's the biggest problem, we are so incredibly blessed! Unfortunately, we did have several pounds of ground beed, chicken, ground lamb, and several other meats in the freezer that I had to throw out, since they had all thawed and then refrozen over the 2 days we didn't have power. We decided to leave the wedding cake in the freezer. When the ice from the icemaker melted, it dripped into the bottom drawer where the cake was and surrounded it, then refroze. So, to get the cake out, I would have to completely thaw and melt that water, and probably thaw the cake in the process. Hopefully the cake will be okay for our anniversary in 2 months! Even though we have power and water, the internet, tv, and cable are all through the cable, which is out. Right now I only have access at work. Hopefully it won't be long before those things are restored, although they are far from the most important things.

On the TTC front - I was unable to chart my temps for 5 days...I think I may have O'd during that time, but unfortunately I do not have temperatures to confirm it. So, I may be in the 2ww, I may not. I am going to try to resume with temps tomorrow, just to get back in the habit of it, but it's going to be hard to make out a true thermal shift with those missing days. Also, Stephen is working 12 hour days this week, and I am working 12 hour nights...both of us 7-7. Hopefully he can change to nights, both to conserve gas (I can drop him off on my way to work and pick him up on my way home) and to actually see each other.

I finally heard something about the citizenship interview this morning. I kept calling the 1-800 number all weekend and checked the website frequently. Finally, when I got up at 3am they had posted that the office will be closed today and tomorrow. I assumed it would, but you never know. My interview was supposed to be today. It didn't say when it will be rescheduled for, so we will have to see how that goes. Hopefully the mail starts up soon so that I can get any letter they send rescheduling the date!

Take a hike, Ike!

Well, here we are in Dallas. What a couple of days it has been. We both worked Wednesday night, and planned to evacuate as soon as I got home to load up the car yesterday morning. Well, work tried desperately to get me to either a) switch teams so that I would stay there to ride out the storm, or b) work some or all of the next night so that the people who would be staying to ride out the storm could go home and get some rest. I felt (slightly) guilty for saying no repeatedly, but I was too concerned about my own home and family, and the fact that we would be separated if I worked. Another nurse I was working with also lives close to the coast, and all night long we were so stressed over this storm, and kept checking the internet to see if it was going change tracks. I got all excited in the middle of the week when it appeared that it was going to go way to the south of us, and then the computer models swung it back our way again. Anyway, I hightailed it out of work as fast as I possibly could, made it home by 7:30 - a record. We had packed bags and Stephen had boarded up the house the night before, so we really just had to grab our stuff, grab Wesley, and unplug everything. We took our back way to Luling, and actually didn't hit too much traffic on the way. It took about 3 1/2 hours to get there instead of the usual 3, and I think that was just because the tolls on BW8 were free - so we all had to squeeze through the ez tag lanes.

Well, we made it to Luling, and then as we got there, found out that Stephen was going to have to go to Dallas to work. I pretty much lost it at that point. I don't know if it was being so tired, or the situation, or a combination of everything (most likely), but I couldn't take it anymore and just burst into tears...right there in my mother-in-law's shop. I had started crying when we actually left the house, but it was just a few tears rolling down my cheeks. This was more like sobbing. I try to tell myself that my family is safe, and yes, I am glad that we got out okay (Mom, Dad, and Lisa are on their way out as I type this, but had made it to Hempstead 2 hours ago and were sleeping in a parking lot. They should be in Austin soon), but I keep thinking about my house, my stuff, my life. We have (most of) the stuff we can't replace - jewelry, photographs. But, I don't know what we will go home to find. We will not have power for probably 2-3 weeks when we get back. That's about the only certainty. Will we even be able to get anywhere near our house? How much flooding will there be around the house? Will the house be flooded? Those and so many more questions are what's been clogging my brain...

Well, time to take a shower and check out what there is around the hotel!

Stay away, Ike!

Ugh. Stephen just called to tell me about evacuating earlier in the week than we had previously thought. I had thought we would just got out of town on Friday like we were already planning to do. Now, since he's on the ride-out team for work, he's talking about leaving on Wednesday night. He'll probably have to go on Wednesday with Wesley, and I'll leave Thursday morning from work. I sure hope traffic won't be horrible then, but I don't think I can call in because I called in 2 weeks ago...

I bought a BBT yesterday. It had my temp this am at 97.7, and the regular one was 98. I'm going to keep using the regular one this cycle, because it will throw off my chart if I don't. But I didn't think there would be that much of a difference. I was playing around last night and they were almost identical, but the bbt one reads to the hundredths and the regular one only reads to the tenths. I'll use the bbt next cycle - but I hope I don't have to!

And seriously, is everyone pg? I can't escape it. Working with babies, seeing new babies in stores, seeing some seriously pg women in stores. Geez. When something is on my mind, there's no escaping it.

We are officially trying!

We are officially TTC! I am so excited. I have wanted to start since we got married. Stephen was not so sure about it...but just after my birthday we talked about it again, and here we are! I cannot stop myself from checking out baby websites, TTC websites, the Nest, and looking at all the baby stuff in stores. Ahhhhhh!!!