Welcome, @aubyshortcake , dive right in and don't be afraid to post. I have been welcomed with loving, supporting voices, and I am sure you will too!

Hi friends, how was your weekend? Is everyone ready for Christmas; just a week away! So crazy. I had a wonderful weekend filled with lots of Christmas activities- it was nice to keep my mind off of AF for the weekend. I am CD4 today and 5 days away from Fertile week, starting on 12/23/17 - what a Christmas Present to us, lol.

Husband and I were talking about how maybe we should actually BD more than we are now - of course he was on board, said " If we have to everyday, I guess that is just what we will have to do". HAHA. Ok buddy, calm down now. He is right though, often times life gets in the way, we are both tired, or ate too much, or insert reason. With us coming up on Cycle 7, maybe we need to consider that too, I suppose the more we do, the more opportunity.

I am glad that I started back at the gym, I'm super Type A personality, and having control is my jam; TTC clearly can not be controlled, so taking back my health in more ways than one has given me something else to focus on; or at least something to distract me from the everyday "will we ever get pregnant" thoughts.

So anyway, that is my check in- how is everyone else doing?!

@RhiannonBecks I'm glad you had a great weekend of Christmas activities. That can be so fun. Your husband's response is hilarious! Just gotta enjoy it as much as possible

@WifiresGettingFit I'm sorry you aren't feeling well. I hope you and Andrew both feel better quickly! I would hope and expect that insurance will cover the damage but at least it doesn't sound like there is damage to anything critical to the car's function. Fingers crossed!

Leo and I had fun Christmas shopping on Saturday. We bought gifts for a gift exchange on Christmas Eve (we are providing all the gifts for 2 people) and got our tree. I also got a lovely massage. Unfortunately Saturday night the baby wasn't feeling well. He was screaming and majorly threw up. Then all day Sunday he was really fussy and cranky and threw up again. As of last night he thankfully seems to be feeling better - smiling, wiggling, babbling and less fussy. The tree is up but not decorated and the house is not at all clean. My in-laws are coming Saturday night from out of state and my whole extended family from my mom's side will be at the house Christmas Eve - the 20 people. Because of the baby and lack of sleep, I'm at a point where I'm excited for Christmas and all the festivities but really couldn't care less if everything that needs to be done happens. I'll clean as I feel like. I should probably wrap gifts on my day off on Thursday. All else fails, I make my in-laws decorate the tree Christmas Eve day.

On a positive note, I have lost 5lbs in the last several weeks even though there have been delicious holiday treats at work and home. Hopefully I can maintain through the holiday and then keep losing.

CD1 of cycle 11...on my anniversary. And Chris had to go to court today to fight his reckless ticket he got in the car accident. Ughhhh. Ticket was dropped, it was the other guys fault, but we still don't have the car back-its been 5 or 6 weeks.

I'm ready for Christmas, the presents are all bought an wrapped. Glad you are enjoying the holidays everyone, try not to get too stressed out!

Everyone has been so busy!! Rhiannon, great job going to the gym! Ive gained a few pounds but it's the holidays, so I'm not going to let it bother me too much. Kayla I'm glad the insurance company approved tour reapirs, what a relief! Jessica, that is a ton of people to have at the house for baby's first Christmas, and plus he's sick! I hope he feels better soon and you enjoy having a full house!

Kirstie155 wrote: »

Welcome aubrey! Tell us about yourself!

Thanks! I'm Aubrette and my husband is Alex, I'll be 31 this Friday and he is 29. We met when we both worked at a restaurant in Tampa back in 2012 and we got married 7/10/16. We have two dogs and we recently moved in with my parents to save up to buy a house.

Thanks all for the warm welcome!!

Happy birthday Auby!

aubyshortcake wrote: »

Kirstie155 wrote: »

Welcome aubrey! Tell us about yourself!

Thanks! I'm Aubrette and my husband is Alex, I'll be 31 this Friday and he is 29. We met when we both worked at a restaurant in Tampa back in 2012 and we got married 7/10/16. We have two dogs and we recently moved in with my parents to save up to buy a house.

Thanks all for the warm welcome!!

@aubyshortcake my husband and I have been married since 07/09/16 - Just a day off from you! (we've been together since 2009). Welcome & happy belated birthday!

@girlalmighty08 congrats on the house- it is such a fun adventure!

I am enjoying some quiet with a cup of coffee and puppies playing but signing off of social media for the rest of the weekend!

MERRY CHRISTMAS LADIES!!! Talk soon, sending holiday spirit to all of you!

The aftermath - check in!

How was Christmas for everyone? I grazed all day, which basically was worse than eating a large meal. I woke up this morning and felt like I had a hangover from eating & sleeping in excess this past 5 days. I will say though, I really enjoyed myself, spent time with family, had some alone time with just my Husband & pups.

We made a big batch of chicken Taco soup for the week and as boring as it sounds, that will be our dinner basically until Friday (if we can stretch it). I wanted easy this week. Sunday (NYE) we are hosting around 12 people for our annual friends Holiday/NYE party. That will be a feast of goodbyes, lol. Starting next Tuesday Bryan and & I are hitting it hard diet wise. I have 2 scheduled sessions with the trainer this week so at least still staying active.

--let's talk FB pregnancy announcements. UGH. While I am happy for those couples, I would be lying if I didn't admit that each one I saw this past weekend ( I think THREE), they stung a little more each time.

I hope you all enjoyed your holiday so far, however and whatever that means to you!

I made and ate: 2 pans of cinnamon rolls, 3 pans of Mac and cheese. I shared of course, but they were big hits so i.made extra over the course of the week. January will be the reset as usual diet wise. Going to do a whole 30 style diet!

TTC wise, i met with an RE Friday and got an HSG (all clear!) done yesterday. The RE won't do treatments with us for 3 months bc dh and I have been casually smoking ( stress smokes, anyone?) which I *know, I know!!* doesn't help at all but *kitten* this has been a stressful year! Guess I'll have more ore wine instead! No more smoking and hopefully I won't need to see the RE again bc we will get pregnant before then.

Christmas was a little rough emotion wise, but otherwise good.

Thank you for the birthday wishes!!

Thanks Lizz. We weren't really smokers so it was easy to quit. We just bought some on a bad day and would *kitten* about 2017 on the porch while smoking a few. It just sucks that this mwasn the RE won't treat us yet. If I had known...

Sorry to hear about your pain, I hope that clears up soon but have heard it can last the whole pregnancy. Take it easy with your workout and listen to your body....making a person is hard work! It's okay to take a break and have a nap.

Hi ladies! Happy New Year!

@girlalmighty08 Congratulations on getting a house! That is so exciting!

@Kirstie155 That sounds delicious! And thank you for sharing the caramel corn recipe. I made it Christmas Eve. It was so easy and delicious. I'm sorry to hear that Christmas was rough but I'm glad you quit smoking.

@Alioth That's good to hear your nausea is starting to improve. I hope it just keeps getting better.

@RhiannonBecks That's awful about the dizziness! I hate doing awkward and embarrassing things at work. Glad your cubicle caught you.

Christmas was up and down for me. Our big Christmas Eve was great. I got to drink wine for the first time since conceiving! It was delicious It was so nice to see everyone, but people were leaving gift wrapping on the floor and ignoring the dog while eating it. My husband, BIL and I caught him most of the time, but he still managed to swallow one ribbon which led to husband being woken at 6AM Christmas morning to the dog puking everywhere. Christmas day was much quieter (7 adults plus the Squish) but there were tons of gifts which led to my living room becoming a disaster. By the end of the night I got so stressed out that I reached a breaking point. I think it was an onset of PPD. I had a meltdown the next several mornings in a row. Hubby did give me some alone time for a long nap on Tuesday which was lovely. BIL left Wed AM and MIL and SIL left Thurs PM. I loved seeing them but having a clean and quiet house again is so nice.

Over the week, hubby and I argued several times about sleep schedules relating to the baby. I am still doing pretty much all of the night times and most of the mornings and just burned out. One night this weekend Squish woke up every 10 minutes for an hour and a half.

The reason for the terrible sleeping is because the poor little guy is sick again. He has a virus (most likely RSV) causing major congestion and coughing which led to bronchiolitis (similar to bronchitis). It's terrifying to hear him breathing so fast and wheezing but he went to the doctor two days in a row (second was a follow-up) and his vitals were ok but not great. He is doing much better starting yesterday but of course I now have bronchitis.

I am back to taking my anti-depressant daily like I'm supposed to and already starting to feel better. The Leo's slept in the guest bedroom last night to give me a break which was awesome!

Sorry for all the complaining. The sleep deprivation is taking a huge toll on me. Hopefully that will improve with Squish starting to feel better and hubby helping more with night wakings. When he feels well, Squish will sleep through the night.

@VeryKatie awww, thanks for sharing the picture! You both look great!! I think going back part time makes the most sense and I hope to be able to finagle something similar eventually. I have no idea how people do it without flexible work situations for at least one parent! Yay for the holidays being over and anxiety being minimized!

@puffbrat sorry you've been having such a hard time lately. I think sometimes discussions about sleep schedules are necessary. I can't even imagine going to work after waking up repeatedly through the night to soothe a baby. I hope you can get some sleep and feel better ASAP. eHugs to you!!

@RhiannonBecks sorry you have a cold. Falling down from dizziness sounds terrifying!! I have a cold too. Seems like a January thing. Tons of people around here are sick in one way or another. Don't rush to get back to lifting until you're feeling better!

It's felt good this week to get the weight loss ball rolling. Honestly I think it has been easy due to my cold as food looks mostly unappetizing to me. We did make bread last night for the first time and I've enjoyed a hearty portion of that so far. As far as TTC goes, I might finally ovulate here at CD79. I don't know if conceiving during such a weird cycle would even make a healthy baby, but that didn't stop us from giving it the old college try the past two days. If I have another fake-out LH surge I'm going to the doctor.

Hubby talked to his brother yesterday and learned that he and his wife tried for 7 years before they conceived their first son on a medicated cycle and then their second son via IUI. He had the audacity to tell Kris that as soon as we both stop thinking about it, we will conceive. I mean what kind of malarkey is that? Were they not thinking about it when they went through medication and IUI to conceive? Why do people have the absolute worst advice?!