While flipping through the Creative Irish Gifts Christmas 2006 catalog, I happened upon the above plaque. Here is the catalog description:

Never, Never, Never Give Up !

Lift the heart of someone special. This inspiring wooden plaque is hand-stenciled and signed by the artist. USA. 3 x 26 1/2 x 1".

www.shopirish.com

The price is $ 29.99 + shipping and handling.

While I was trying to get pregnant, and also before we had decided to formally go through ... more

In light of my last post, I think that I will write about this activity that I have been saving for an appropriate time. Today is the day.

My friend Wendy from www.writespirit.com forwarded me this sweet project last week. It would have been great for Thanksgiving as well, but I was a little behind on getting it out.

Remember those garlands that you made, or your kids made, in grade school? They were usually strips of red and green construction paper, linked together and then stapled to make an advent for Christmas. My nephews have brought home others that were representative of math concepts, but I don't remember exactly ... more

A couple of days ago two people reported to San Diego police an ad on Craigslist offering up a free baby. The ad said,

The copy given to police says: “Free baby boy to good home. My ex-girlfriend had him a few weeks ago, but now he just sits in my closet and cries. I'm not too sure how to deal with it, and I'm in a pretty low financial spot. I lost all the baby accessories. Batteries not included. Transaction final. No returns. Guaranteed not DOA.”

If you don't know what Craigslist is, here is the description from ... more

My blog friend Gabrielle has been invited to write an article for the following blog
Topics from 192 Countries.

Here is the premise behind the blog:

Topics from 192 countries

I wonder if people from 192 countries across the Globe cooperate to write one blog.
Different people, culture, society, politics, products, service...
Only one person for One Country !
One Photo for One Story

Gabrielle wrote an article along with a recipe for "satay" to represent Indonesia.

For those who have never tried ... more

Throughout this past year I have been coming across products here and there that would make thoughtful gifts for a woman that is experiencing infertility and loss.

In honor of the Christmas spirit, I thought that I would begin to run these here and there just in case a gift idea was needed.

My first website is called Wear A Prayer. They offer beaded prayer bracelets that represent prayers for women and for girls. The bracelets do run a little much for a casual gift, but would make for a special item for someone who was close to your heart. Here are a listing of their women's ... more

To put a spin on today's message, I thought that I would do a post about a mix of thirteen things that I'm thankful and not thankful for today:

1. Not Thankful - Spending the holiday meal apart from Chris and the kids as this is the only way that we can make the majority of people happy. Sometimes living in the same town as everyone else can have it's disadvantages.
2. Not Thankful - Stores that continue to be open, although there really isn't that much of a need for consumerism today. I am old enough to remember when a ... more

If grief is a part of your holiday this year, how about doing something different? Something all the way different from Thanksgivings before.

This year for Thanksgiving, no one really felt like cooking. Or having people over. Or doing anything that remotely reminds us of having Thanksgiving with dad. I'm even ready to forgo the turkey! (Alright, that really isn't too much of a sacrifice for me) With all of this said and done, we did want to get together as a family so instead of making dinner, we made reservations!

My sister had seen an advertisement from a local restaurant, offering a Thanksgiving meal in addition to their regular menu. She called me and asked, ... more

I was trying to come up with some sort of fertility to turkey to Thanksgiving connection to post tonight and couldn't really make the jump into a true link. But I did learn some interesting facts about turkeys and the symbolism that they hold in certain cultures.

From sherrifox:

Turkey - food source, resourcefulness. Its feathers have many spiritual & ritual uses. The spirit of turkey is free, and opens up the channels between us and others on a meaningful level. The turkey sacrifices itself so that others may live, showing us courage and faith in our present life and the next

From ... more

Another way that I have dealt with the anxiety of Thanksgiving day, is to pretend that it is a Thursday. Just a Thursday. Only. No hype, no hoopla, no stress. Just a regular Thursday off of work.

And it worked for some of the time. Especially in the early days of the week leading up to the holiday. I lived my life as I always have done. I would work a regular amount or more at the spa. I tried to avoid the population increases at the stores and would stay away from the "traditional" pre Thanksgiving cooking frenzy. It was pretty easy for the most part.

Now on the actual day of Thanksgivings past, I would tell myself that my family was getting together for ... more

I read a snippet from an article that stated that the writer was dreading the sitting at the Thanksgiving table and fielding questions from relatives. Can't we all relate? It seems that in one instant, you are living your adult life, and then, with a probing question, you are back in middle school. Expected to tell a relative who may be just one step up from a stranger, the way that your life is heading. And then to add in infertility, it just gets weirder. And worse.

During these times, the way that I would cope for the most part was avoidance. It ... more

I found this wonderful advice from www.babymoon.com

1) Gather friends around. Go for a long walk with one, see a movie with another, have breakfast with a third. At a time like this, you have every right to call in the troops!

2) Different people need different mixes of distracting themselves and talking about it. Find people you can pour your heart out to, if that suits your style, but feel free to say "OK, let's do something else now".

3) Finding good distractions in this ... more

I had an mri today. My first one ever. And hopefully, it will come back to show that my brain is beautiful and perfect.

The back story:
I've had vertigo for over a year now and no one can figure out why. Although I've improved to the point to living my life with some limitations and frustrations, it has gotten much better than the bedridden for days, vomiting me that I was last year. Allergy testing, sinus surgery have all had their go at curing me, but to no lasting improvement. The mri was the next diagnostic step.

Yesterday, I ... more

Last evening, I was very emotionally angry at my team of choice for losing a rival game. Most of the family was hiding out, trying to stay away from me until I calmed down. Every year I tell Chris that this rival game is one that I should watch alone, but he never listens and then I feel bad because I banish myself to the small television in the bedroom so the kids don't hear my mouth. Most of the time though I don't catch myself in time, realize what filth is coming out of my mouth and then get away from the family too late.

Still stewing after the final score, I was standing in the kitchen drinking apple juice out of the bottle and there was a knock on the door. I thought ... more

Over on Adrienne's blog, she reviews a book called The Family Book by Todd Parr. Although I haven't read it, it caught my eye, because it looks a lot like one of our family favorite books here at home, called, It's Okay to Be Different also by Todd Parr.

This book is one of my favorites because Chris picked it up and bought it for the kids before there even were kid(s). He was at Costco one day and saw it and brought it home. It sounds like our family philosophy but when I saw one of the pages that reads "It's okay to be adopted" my heart soared. Typically male, yes, I know this is sexist of me to say, Chris ... more

Adoption Day Brings New Families Together

By JESSICA WAMBACH

State adoption worker Cheri Holden gets a hug from Teresa Garza, center, as her brother, Dominic Garza, looks on at the Yakima County Courthouse on Friday. Dominic, whose sister was adopted earlier this year, now officially joins her as a member of the Garza family.

It's been almost five years since domestic violence tore apart Dominic Garza's birth family.

On Friday, standing before Yakima County Superior Court Commissioner Lani-Kai Swanhart and fidgeting with his tie, the 15-year-old officially became part of another one.

"You will be responsible to raise, train and ... more

Continuing on my copycatting of other blogs, here is a type of post that I picked up from www.antiracistparent.com
The Gratuitous Cute Kid Pic!

This is Becken on Halloween, displaying only one of a few smiles wearing his frog costume. He couldn't stand the thing. It was actually our back up costume, as our first pick didn't fit and we had to save it for next year. I was then on the mission to find something for him to wear.

The plan on the frog outfit was that he would be the ... more

I have been noticing that a lot of my fellow bloggers have been doing "Love Thursday" posts. I really enjoy reading them, but didn't actually feel compelled to write them. On my blogger account, they are doing a thing called "Thursday Thirteen" that is really fun. I decided to join, last week and have been anxiously awaiting today to do my first post. Now and again, I will also be posting my lists here. Here is my initial, welcome to Thursday Thirteen post:

1…. I am 5 feet tall, and ... more

Pasco
Benton/Franklin Counties Adoption Celebration
Franklin County Courthouse 1016 N 4th Ave.
November 17
3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Contact:
Dennis Yule - Benton/Franklin Counties Superior Court (Washingto
509 736-3070
dennis.yule@co.benton.wa.us
Event Details:
This event, featuring Miss Tri-Cities Charlotte Smith, will recognize and celebrate all those involved in adoption and will include adoption finalization hearings, adoption information tables, refreshments, special children's activities and gifts. Additional details to follow. ... more

In a little email sent from our editor, I was reminded that National Adoption Day is coming up this weekend. To educate myself, I wanted to find out a little bit more about the history of this day.From Bella Online

This day originated in 2000 to celebrate adoption, provide positive adoption education, and find homes for waiting children. Many of this year's events are designed specifically for families finalizing in November. Many are public events. Others are private. While most events will take place on November 18, others will take place at other times throughout the month. This article will address ... more

As luck would have it, my best friend was a stroller designer during my pregnancy and while Ivy was a tiny baby. We have so many strollers that it is crazy. I believe that we had 3 types of "jogging" strollers, 2 umbrella strollers, a general folding stroller and my absolute favorite stroller, our InSTEP stroller/backpack.

While researching for this post, this link had the best price.

The pluses for me for this stroller is that it is so tiny and lightweight that I bring it ... more

One of my best girlfriends bought me a subscription to Child magazine for Christmas. My subscription started last month and even before I was through with the first issue, I was so excited about the magazine. Mostly because of the beautiful photography, but also because of the ideas that I got for this blog.

In the first issue, this advertisement caught my eye. It is from ConfirmClearly and it is a refillable pregnancy test. From their website:

The only test with money-saving refills!
Be sure to save your reader for ... more

This may be a little bit out there for some of you, but I wanted to give the rest of you the link for angel cards.

I was first introduced to Angel Cards during massage school. I know, it is pretty woo woo, but I went to school with a lot of woo woo people. I was actually on the normal end of the spectrum if you can believe that! And I also don't want to turn anyone off of massage either, we really did balance the woo woo with the medical. It was a full range education.

Anyhow, whenever we would first come in to class, we were asked to draw an Angel Card to help see what our direction as an individual would be that evening. After we drew our card, we could share it ... more

Yesterday, I listed some of the benefits of journal keeping. Today I will be listing some ways to start keeping your journal and also some helpful hints about approaching your journal time.

I have a lot of different journals going at one time. I have a desk top journal that helps as a calendar, list maker and general place for all of my scattered thoughts while I am working. There are quotes that I love, angel cards that I have drawn for a certain day, and random order numbers and tracking numbers from the internet. This has also served as my dream journal, as it is the most accessible of my journals and ready to be written in in the early morning hours.

I also keep ... more

I took a journaling workshop at our local cancer care center while my dad was sick and getting chemo. Last night I came across one of the handouts from the instructor, who is also a close friend. It has some great info in it and I thought that I would share it with you all. Journaling through the stress of his illness, and the grief of his death has been helpful to keep my head on straight. Any type of infertility stress can also benifit from journaling.

Journaling
In earlier generations it was common to keep a diary or a personal journal. However, today few people do it and very few recognize the value and astonishing power of keeping a ... more

I'm wondering if I'm in the majority on this? Before I knew that I wanted kids, I used to be addicted to the TLC show "A Baby Story". It was so precious and fairy tale like that I would get sucked in and spend so much time watching and enjoying it. I even remember taping episodes as well. The feel good aspect of the show was addictive.

Enter infertility. And pregnancy. And new mommyhood.

I despised this show with such a vengance while I couldn't conceive and miscarried. I would try to watch from time to time and was so upset with ... more

This weekend Chris and I were driving somewhere and I mentioned that I thought that I had heard that an average person spends about 80 kcals per hour watching tv. He thought that there was no way that that number could be right. He estimated that there were a lot less kcals spend doing nothing.

Not one to really back off from something that I was pretty sure was true, I went to trusty google to see what I could find. And boy, did I find a treasure. I felt so much better about myself just reading through the list that I found. And no wonder why I was in such great shape when I was going out all of the time. Although, I wasn't dancing to "rock and roll" (who says that ... more

From www.lifescrip.com I've been searching for fertility related news bytes. There are many subjects that are important for women's health, yet, I'm unsure how directly related they are to having a baby. The following byte is related to delivery, so I think that I'm safe with that! For all of you that are pregnant at this time and planning your birth plan, as per Coley's posts last week, this may be of interest to you!

Now, this really seems like common sense. I would think that gravity would have something to do with the pain relief, but then, I wonder why the timeframe for both types of deliveries was so similar? The kneeling births ... more

As we are now in the swing of the holiday and party season for our family, I thought that I would like to share some tips that I received from my health insurance to help stave off the additional 5 to 10 pounds that many people gain from Thanksgiving and New Years. For us, party season starts a lot earlier because we have a ton of birthdays in the fall, starting in mid September, going all the way through late January. Some of the tip lists that I have read seem unrealistic, but I found most of these hints to be helpful. Especially since a healthy ... more

"Whose Egg Is It Anyway?" by Louise Farr

I have had the September 2006 issue of More magazine on my desk since August. A close friend of mine gave me her magazine because there was a fertility article in it that she thought I could use for the blog. Well, I've read the article. And read it again and again. And honestly, I still don't know what to say about it. Talk about conflicted.

The article is about the legal battles of Augusta and Randy Roman over embryos that the couple created, yet didn't implant. And now the question is created, whose ... more

As you all know, I've been on the pro side of the Madonna adoption, partially because I think that I've stayed away from a lot of the gory back and forth accusations and partially because I'm a fan of Madonna in the first place. And a huge fan of her parenting, mixing and blending family members to the benefit of her children.

But this story has had a personal effect on me. And on my family, as far as my mom and my sister are concerned. People have been pretty closed mouthed when it has come around to Becken's adoption. I have mentioned in an earlier post that I have been surprised at the small amount of reaction that we have gotten in public, which we dreaded at home while ... more

3. Select a clinician who offers the latest techniques in dental care, including conscious sedation.
Conscious sedation can help reduce your dental anxiety, fear, and apprehension. This new technique will allow you to sleep through the most complex of dental procedures.

4. Make an appointment, and keep it.
Before making an appointment decide that you will follow through, because the doctor has set aside that time just for you. Write down the issues you have concerns about, as well as any questions you need to get answered and resolved. It really doesn’t matter if you have all the desire in the world if you ... more

I am the hugest chicken when it comes to the dentist. I even get the nitrous to have my teeth cleaned! Leave it to an orthodontist who never should have been working with children, and then you get someone like me, terrified, even at 35!

Through the grapevine, when my beloved dentist retired, I had to find another kind and gentle dentist who would be ultrasensitive to my needs. And I found her! The downside, she doesn't offer nitrous at her office. Now I was really in a dilemma. Stay with her and handle my anxiety, or go to someone with less ... more

Once again, upon signing online this morning, my opening page had a link to the following website and article, which lead to the next article as the cycle goes. And now, I pass them along to you.

Here is the introduction from www.thatsfit.com:

Menopausal changes due to a woman's relationships, not hormones
Posted: Oct 26th 2006 1:23PM by Brian White
Filed under: Women's Health

As many women approach menopause, it's long been thought that hormonal changes start affecting sex lives at roughly the same time. But, according to a new set of studies by the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, a ... more