Everyone knows what it is that we need to do in order to become pregnant.  But, when "baby making" becomes a priority instead of a pastime, there are a few other techniques that you may become familiar with. 

The Sprint
This happens when we get the positive ovulation test.  For whatever reason, we feel like because there is a smiley face on a stick, that we have to get busy.  Now.  No time for dinner.  No time for hello.  The door opens and the bedroom door closes in a matter of seconds. "Honeeeyy.  I'm- Ahhh"



The Handy Man
We all know that after a few months without a pregnancy we start pulling out all the stops.  Out comes the pillow to prop up our hips so the swimmers go the right way.  The supplements, tricks and tools are all laid out strategically on the night stand and in the surrounding areas.  Everything is ... well... handy!  


The Pretty Woman
It is inevitable.  An illness will strike at the most inopportune times.  But, breathing is really not all that important, is it?  The baby making is still a go but there will be no kissing on the lips. Who said a snotty sniffle and a sneeze or two can't be foreplay?



The Mime
This applies to anyone who is trying to add to their family while not waking the baby.  Trying to make a baby with a baby in the next room causes even the most passionate of lovers to put a lid on it.  "Shhhhhh.  Did you hear that?"  Hand gestures are as wild as this show is going to get.


Have you found yourself with a lesser known baby making technique?  I invite you to share!  

Disclaimer- Pictures are not drawn to scale. Ha Ha Ha! 

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A few weeks ago, my dear friend Arpita @ Up, Down, & Natural gave me this wonderful Kreativ Blogger Award.  Several months ago Arpita featured and article I wrote for Infertility Awareness Week.  Some months later, our paths crossed again and I have truly felt blessed for having an opportunity to meet her.  She is such a sweet woman with a heart of gold.  She will make a great mother someday very soon, I'm sure of it.

I am now supposed to share 7 things about myself.  This could be really fun!



1.  People who are not aware of their surroundings drive me CRAZY.  Like, how some people can be in the aisle of a grocery store with their cart parked just far enough in the center that no one can pass on either side without clipping their cart.  How can they not see that they should a) pull their cart to the side and b)notice that there are 3 people toe tapping while you take 3 minutes pick which can of kidney beans you are going to get.



2. I live on a farm in the middle of nowhere.  It makes for spectacular views and we always know if we have unexpected visitors.








3.  We have two adorable dogs that don't get near enough attention on my blog.  My dog is Chino, a Chocolate Lab, and Doug's dog is Zen, some sort of lab mix.  We still have no idea what he is mixed with but he is a neat dog.  Chino was in an accident about 5 years ago where he was run over by a Ford F-150 pick up truck and one of his legs was shattered.  I was so devastated.  After a visit with a surgeon in the next biggest city, he offered me two options.  Fixing the leg which was going to cost an astronomical amount of money or have him put down.  I couldn't put down my one year old four legged friend.  So, Chino has a metal rod, four screws, and eight wires in his bionic leg.  It was a long road of recovery but I wouldn't have changed it for the world.




4.  My grandmother, who I haven't talked about in a long time, will be 99 years old in two months.  99 years old!  That is so exciting.  But, I have posted before that I am always afraid that the last time I saw her will be the last time I saw her.  I always told her that I wanted her to know my children and I am so glad that the two I have do know her.  Her passing is going to be very hard on me and I have no idea of how it will affect Gavin.




5.  My husband proposed to me, down on one knee, in a chicken coop.  I went to his house (up the lane from where I lived) and saw him going into the barn with some animal feed.  I went in his house to grab a basket for the eggs that I collected every day when I came home from work.  As soon as I opened the door to the chicken coop I saw a big plastic egg in one of the nests.  I tried to act casual and not run and grab it as I suspected a ring was inside.  Instead I picked up a few other eggs to put into the basket.  When Doug showed up in the doorway of the coop, I asked him about the plastic egg.  I opened it up and found the ring box inside.  Doug proceeded to get down on one knee and ask me to marry him.  After saying yes quickly and doing a little happy dance, I told Doug to get off the floor of the coop.  It was kinda gross down there.

6.  I would love to have twins someday.  Mostly because I want a large family and what a better way to have a large family than to have babies two at a time!

7.  I am hoping to hear from the RE's office soon regarding Doug's analysis that I worked so hard to drop off last week.  Also, on Saturday morning I went to the lab to have blood work done to test my hormone levels.  I am really curious what the results are going to be.

And now to pass it along to 10 other bloggers!

Three Cats and a Baby
This Is More Personal
iNeed A Playdate 
Inconceivable! Journey of a Living Heart
the misadventures of missohkay
Infertile Myrtle 
Love, Audrey
Adventures in Infertility-land
The Broken Birds & Bees
Putting On A Smile




P.S. For those blogs I chose, don't feel obliged to pass this along! I mostly just wanted you to know I enjoy reading your blog and hope others will too! If you do decide to participate, great! I look forward to learning those 7 things about you and the blogs you choose!

Used and washed! Can you tell?

I can't help but snicker every time I see a craft idea that claims that it is "green", "recycling, " or "re-purposing" something.  These projects can be fun for kids and inexpensive because you can use things on hand. They can also be a great way to keep kids busy for a while so that you can sneak in a cup of coffee and read a celebrity gossip magazine. But, let's get honest. These projects are just prolonging the inevitable certain end of the items' life.

Regardless of how involved the craft the project is, you are just decorating trash that will look like sparkly, cute trash with eyeballs and arms. Then, after playing with, proudly displaying it, or gifting it to someone, it still is nothing more than decorated trash. The difference is that now there is a guilt trip glued to it. If you throw away the craft project, you are throwing away your child's hard work. The kid probably wouldn't miss it but how would you live with yourself just pitching the margarine tub donned with glitter, the paper plate puppet with button eyes, or brown bag lunch bag that has been fashioned into a candy dish.

I think this is how hoarding started. I watch that show when I need to get inspired to clean my house. Not that my house is ever anything close to a hoarder's house but there is something very motivating about seeing a filthy, disgusting, rat infested house on TV that makes me want to do some dishes, mop the floors, and fold some laundry. I encourage you to watch an episode of Hoarders.  Listen to the homeowners and how they describe why the don't throw things away. So many times it is because, "It might be good for something." or "I am going to make something out of that." I can totally see how a well intentioned mom wants to save everything for a re-purposing craft since, well, everything can be fun with some glue and glitter so they start collecting... EVERYTHING!! I mean, really! One day it will make a really cute pencil holder, paper weight, or other trinket.

So I propose this... instead of trying to decorate our garbage, lets just throw it out. One less glitter decorated something-or-other thrown away now is just as good as a glitter decorated do-dads snuck into the trash can while your kid is using the bathroom. I am not bashing fun projects for kids, but lets not encourage our kids to save all things worthy of meeting the trash compactor by telling them that we are saving the environment by gluing beads, yarn, and other odds and ends to trash. They will still end up in a landfill, but now there will be more stuck to it than a banana peel from lunch.

Few things make me as happy as pregnancy tests! The runner up is ovulation tests! So when I was given the opportunity to review and wait for it... wait for it... giveaway ovulation and pregnancy tests, you would have thought that I had been looking at the winning lottery ticket! Sometimes, it is the little things! UsMoms has been more than wonderful when it comes to customer service. All of my emails have been responded to promptly, all of my questions answered, and all with sincerity. They really care about their customers and making sure they are happy! I was sent a variety of ovulation tests to use this cycle and share my experiences. Not that I am bashful about everyone knowing that I am a test-a-holic, but it was nice that my yellow envelope of tests showed up very discretely. Since I usually order my tests in large batches, it will be nice to know that the postman isn't going to think that there must be 12 women hiding in my basement all trying to get pregnant.

Since my ovulation is usually pretty predictable (CD 13 or 14) I had stopped charting. But, for the purposes of reviewing these tests I dusted off my thermometer and put it back in it's former home on my nightstand. I was sent several types of OPKs to experiment with including the test strip, the midstream, and the cassette variety. They were all easy to use with very detailed instructions and easy to determine results. My favorite was the test strips since I am one to pee in the cup to test anyway and it was just more my "style" if one can claim a pee stick style.
It was so easy to tell when it was positive! In fact, my chart corroborated this nice positive test with a temp rise the following morning! And just for fun, this is another brand (name brand) opk used in the same urine at the exact same time. The UsMoms ovulation test is so much easier to read!
After being most certain on my ovulation date, I buckled up for my two week wait. Well... not really. I have never been able to wait two weeks before I test. First of all, my luteal phase since having Joey has never been more than 12 days. Second, if I make it to 8 days past ovulation (DPO) before I pee in a cup, that is an accomplishment. Plus, UsMoms send me an "Earliest Pregnancy Test" that reads 10mlU/ml. I couldn't wait to give that a try! At 9 DPO (4-5 days before my expected period) I used the Earliest Pregnancy Test. While I certainly was hoping for an nice squinter or something, alas... 'twas not meant to be. Then I tried again on 10 dpo with an Early Pregnancy Test. Nope. Maybe something on 11 dpo? Sigh.

The good news is this. The pregnancy tests from UsMoms didn't make me go through the roller coaster of hope due to the "maybe there" mystery shadow lines that other "internet" test strips seem to do. It was negative. It stayed negative. Even after hours of sitting around it was still completely negative. This is a slide show of about 20 photos taken periodically starting with as soon as I took the test, a few waiting for it to dry, some at the time limit for reading the test, and then a couple way after the time limit and one from hours after the time limit. Notice that there is never a squinter, shadow line, or evaporation line. Even after hours of sitting on the counter! If you want to stop on a picture to examine it better you can hover over it and it will pause the show.

I am not joking when I say that these are my new favorite internet tests! It was so nice to have a clear answer. No guessing. No running to the store to buy an expensive test to verify that the test was in fact just playing games with my mind. I recommend these tests to anyone who is trying to conceive especially if you like to test early and often! They are inexpensive and reliable!

*Disclaimer* I was sent the tests at no cost. I am not being compensated for this post. All of my opinions are 100% my own. I really like these tests!


If you would like to buy some tests, visit UsMoms and start shopping now!

If you would like to win a gift package of 25 ovulation test strips, 10 pregnancy test strips, and 2 FSH tests compliments of UsMoms, enter below!!!