It's Oh So Quiet

Now that I have approx. one month left until our first attempt at this baby game...all of my (what seemed like) small weird habits have been coming to the surface lately at work. Yes, I have been taking OPK's around my bigO date at work, but its not been until this last month that have I been taking more than one each day. Wait. I'm not giving you, lovely reader, enough of a backstory here.

Chefy and I own a very awesome and very SMALL restaurant that manages (thankfully!) to get extremely busy most times (think 1.5 hour wait on the weekends). That means that Chefy, myself, and the 7 staff we have working on any given day are working in what many might consider very small quarters. These quaint accomodations lead to a kind of necessary intimacy one may not expect from a work environment. Add to this that Chefy and I are the bosses, which means that our staff (and many of the customers on Chefy's part anyway) are watching our every move. This makes it, um, tricky to keep secrets from our staff. We are very familial and close with the people that work for us. This has for me, led to some creative and interesting situations/conversations lately, as of course we are keeping out TTC under wraps. Today was especially challenging interesting.

I lied at least four different times today. Once was about why I am going to accupuncture. Once was about why I was drinking the special tea I brought to work. Once was about why I'm quitting drinking at home. And the fourth was about why I've changed my diet. Thank goodness I'm not bad at lying. At least when it's not important.
But. The most interesting challange that has been brought forth with all this TTC work (cuz let's face it, it is work) is taking my OPK two/three times a day. As mentioned previously, our restaurant is small. I have managed to store my pee cup and a few OPK strips in the shoddy medicine cabinet in the bathroom the customers don't use. I have also managed to use said pee cups sucessfully for a couple months now, but I swear our dishwasher knows something is up. He can hear just about everything that goes on in that bathroom (it's under construction), and he must see me exiting the bathroom cradeling a small stick which I place on a shelf not 2 feet from him and then check again five minutes after going to the bathroom. This guy (our beloved dishwasher), is awesome and smart enough not to mention anything, but I know he knows something is up.  Crazy. I keep wondering if he goes home at night and tells his wife I've been taking pregnancy test every months for the past four months. Who knows??

I know you all may have experienced different levels of secrecy around your TTC process (and about different things), so bring it on. I want to hear about all of the weird, insane, sad, happy, strange, unusual, unpredictable (or not) moments that have risen from all of the things we keep to ourselves during this process. What do we go through in our secret lives? Post in comments or write a post of your own..

Alright Already

Enough lurking, time to post!
I am realizing recently that over the past few months I have made a conscious effort to censor myself and not post as often as I'd like because I haven't "officially" started to get pregnant yet and didn't want to take up space in our wee lesbian TTC blogland. Sitting here I realize that that rationale is total and utter bullsh*t, and that these last months I have been preparing my body to house a babe (hopefully) have TOTALLY been part of my entire TTC journey. What the hell was I thinking?!? Even Chefy read this blog last week (she isn't so into the blogging thing), and told me that she was glad that she'd read it, b/c it helped her understand my pregnancy process. Awww...
Anyway, so now I'm going to stop censoring myself and post whenever I stinkin feel like it. So there.

In recent news, last week I had went to both my acupucturist and OB. The OB and I had our final talk before starting round one the first week in March. I got a pap and we talked details. She's all ready for my call on CD1 to schedule the first IUI, which will not be this next cycle, but the following. Why am I waiting another cycle, you might ask, when I seem so damned prepared? Chefy and I have decided to have a last hurrah before this whole thing starts so we're going to Mardi Gras! This will be my first and Chefy is all excited to show me how crazy and wonderful her hometown can get. I really couldn't imagine being in New Orleans during Mardi Gras and wondering if I am pregnant, so try #1 will just have to wait until early March. I can't wait!  (for both).
Acupuncture is turing out to be my favorite hour of the week. It is so incredibly relaxing and makes me feel like I'm doing something good for myself. Next on my list is to start up yoga again. I've been exercising more, eating a TON more vegetables, and cut out (most) sugar recently (does anyone love greek yogurt with honey like I do?) I also have managed to kind of give up my water-processed decaf for green tea. Good times, good times.
On the donor front (thanks Shroe for asking), Chefy and I have decided on a great Fillipino guy from CCB who is musical and likes to cook gourmet food! He has proven pregnancies and his baby pic is very cute. Everything is in place, now all we have to do is wait approx. 35 more days. Wish me luck!

Babies. And more babies.

It's raining babies! Sending a huge congratulations to both Puffer and Chicken on the arrival of their two newbies, as well as Project Kjetil with their birth! It's wonderful to see all these children who are going to have kick-ass parents and lots of love. Have a great week everyone!

Needles and Whine

I had my very first acupuncture appointment today, which was great. The practitioner specializes in in/fertility issues, and seemed very competent. She took my complete medical history, asked very in-depth questions in regards to my cycle and whatnot, and then looked at my tongue and took my pulse before administering the pins. She talked about how it was good that I was starting acupuncture now, and that while my chances of conceiving every cycle are about 20%, it shouldn't take me long to get pregnant. (I knocked on the wooden armrest of the chair I was sitting in.) Good stuff. BUT.
Right before she started in with the needles, she did mention that there was one little thing that I should do to help out my chances. NO MORE ALCOHOL. Poop. Boo. Big Boo. I have been soooo good with changing my diet, getting rid of caffeine, taking all my supplements and drinking my tea, making sure I get good sleep, yadda yadda yadda....my nightly glass of wine (or two- who are we kidding) has been the last bastion of..well....fun. Oh I am a whiney wee bastard aren't I? I need to just f*in suck it up and deal. I'm going to have to give it up entirely soon (knock knock again), so why not now? Chefy is laughing at me from the other room b/c she says I sound really upset. Haha. Please tell me that I'm being a whiney little snot who needs to suck it up bigtime and take one for the team. Please. Or tell me how ya'll got rid of your vices before/during baby time. I need some inspiration here ladies. Think The Biggest Loser, only for mild alcoholics....

Gross and Awesome

DISCLAIMER: Detailed grossness included in this post. Please read *only* if you're comfy reading about other ladies' CM.

So today is CD16 for me, which for three cycles running is my Positive OPK day. This AM while elegantly and gracefully reaching b/w my legs to pee in a cup (really its a lovely glass votive holder) I noticed the most disgusting, and incredible thing making its way down toward the agua in the bowl. I'm not sure the best way to describe it, but it reminded me of an albino banana slug on a diet. I know. Like I said, gross and awesome.

It was the best, longest, eggwhite-est, CM I've ever seen come out of my body. Seriously disgusting and incredible. I'm not just telling you this to gross you out. I was very impressed and excited by this witnessing. It just was thrilling to see the strange and fascinating things your body will do in order to get you pregnant. Awesome. I can't wait to make good use of that sticky substance come early March.

In donor news, Chefy has been spending the day narrowing her favorite choices down. Let's go baby!

A Year In Review

I was so inspired by this lady's 2009 post, that I thought a retrospective of 2009 in the life of Libberal wouldn't be such a bad thing either.  This past year felt like a healthy year for our family, full of friends, travel, weddings (!), lots of hard work at our restaurant, and thankfully, little drama.

This last winter Chefy and I hosted a great charity dinner at our restaurant for some parents of PooMan's classmates:

 

I think it was fun for Chefy to get back into her fine-dining mode and make some yummy food. Everyone loved it!

Early winter also brought my parents out to see us and the PooMan and to make some wedding decisions.

My dad and PooMan are both whistlers.

Early spring brought a visit from my brother and his new girlfriend, some wonderful hikes around the bay:

Of course we celebrated Mardi Gras, San Francisco style, with some friends:

March was PooMan's eighth birthday, complete with weird green cake!

 In early June, I traveled back to Iowa to celebrate my Grandmother's 90th birthday. I also finished my first intensive darkroom class, and managed to pull off a decent final project (photos too large to scan). Chefy and I also finished the purchase of the laundromat adjacent to our current restaurant space, and thus serious expansion plans began!

Late August my dad upheld his title as the first place whislter at the Iowa State Fair, three years running. Tourist season continued, as did wedding plans, throughout the the late summer.

Early September Chefy and I traveled to WA for my oldest friends' wedding, which I stood in as her only attendent. The wedding was on Lummi island and was absolutely beautiful. We spent that weekend crabbing, picking blackberries and eating some delicious northwest salmon.

Fall continued with our wedding!

 

It was wonderful. Most defintely the best part of 2009. After the wedding, Chefy and I spent 6 days in Paris, where we ate and drank our way through the city!

Late fall brought back-to-normal work, a wonderful thanksgiving with Chefy's family in NOLA, and then Christmas and holiday planning at the restaurant. For Christmas, Chefy, PooMan and I kept it low-key, with the biggest surprise being a new kitten from SPCA. We've named him Sputnick (at PooMan's suggestion) and have decided to keep the rascally baby kitten.

So here's to 2009, a year full of family, milestones, and just general all-around loveliness, and to 2010 being even better!

Happy New Year!

The happiest of New Year's to all you lovely and wonderfully endearing families!!! Here's to the best to come in 2010!