Where Have You Been?

It appears that my blog took a Christmas break when I did. I didn't necessarily mean to do that, but I had my parents and little brother here for Christmas and all of the preparation that went into that visit, along with spending time with them, left me wanting nothing more than to go to bed at the end of the day. Even though they went home a couple of days ago, all I have been able to do is lay around and sleep, or if I'm lucky, clean.

Our Christmas holidays were awesome. I had so much fun shopping for Baby Bean's Christmas it was ridiculous. I know I was more excited for her to open all of her gifts on Christmas day than she was. And yes, I went overboard. I ended up holding a bunch of presents back from Christmas for her birthday because the child literally got sick of opening packages! *sheepish grin* Her favorites were of course the big ones. She got a play kitchen, complete with 101 accessories, and a F.ur R.eal kitty named Lulu. I seriously could not wait for her to get those two gifts! My dad and Hubs helped me put the kitchen together on Christmas Eve after BB had gone to bed. It was one of the best moments of my life, putting together Christmas presents for my child with two of the most important men in my life. Incredible. Unforgettable.

I loved having my family here, although I am sure at times I could have fooled them into believing otherwise. Remember my new nickname? Patches McGee. Can we all say "Hormonal"? I tried so hard to stay level and sane, but sometimes, my hormones and all of the stress from the holidays got the better of me. I felt so bad. Despite the mood swings, we did manage to have a good time. My husband got us all into Si.x Flag.s for Holiday in the Park, and I can't even tell you how stinking adorable Baby Bean was on the rides! Impossibly cute. So cute it was painful! She LOVED the carousel. She even loved the rides we thought would scare her. I didn't go on any roller coasters that day because: 1) I was super dizzy that morning; and 2) I am in the TWW. I didn't mind though.

Speaking of the TWW, I have no idea where I am in that. I am not 100% certain I ovulated when I think I did. In fact, I'm only about 75% certain. I think I ovulated on CD15, but that means that AF is MIA today. My LP has always been 12 days, and today is 13dpo, I think. I took a FRER tonight, but it came back totally negative. It could just be too early. I'm not sure. Here is why I don't know where I am in my TWW:

• OPKs have been doing me wrong lately. The lines are never as thick as the control line, so I have a hard time telling if the results are positive or not. This has been the case the last few months, which is why I did progesterone tests to confirm ovulation the last two months. I just opted to not stress about it this month. I did do OPKs on CDs 12-16 and again on CD18 because I was still having a lot of EWCM, but it came back negative on CDs 16 and 18, leading me to believe my interpretation of the OPK on CD15, coupled with my fertility monitor reading for that day, was in fact my positive.
• I think I have figured out how to tell when I will ovulate using my my monitor, but I'm not positive. Based on the two months that I have used it, it seems pretty clear when I ovulate due to a surge in electrolytes the day before I get my positive OPKs. I got my surge on CD14 this month.
  
• I have had EWCM since about CD12 this cycle. I still have EWCM right now. It has not let up. I certainly cannot be fertile for 16 straight days, can I? Not only that, but it has been in incredible abundance. I have no idea what is causing it. My guess would be the estrogen patches, but I don't know for sure.

I have had some pregnancy-like symptoms, but every single one of them can be explained by something else, so I am not giving them much credence. I plan on giving AF until Monday to show up before taking another HPT. If it comes back negative then too, I will call my RE and see what he thinks. I did use Dr. Google to see if the estrogen patches could affect LP length, and what I found said no. Progesterone is what affects LP length. For right now I am just taking it all in stride. Not getting my hopes up too high, but hoping all the same. If it turns out I'm not pregnant, my Health Care Flex Spending account is poised and ready to make some purchases to further assist me in my baby-making journey in 2011.

I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays. I plan on catching up on my blog reading over the next week. My BFF and lunch buddy is out on maternity leave, which means I will be spending my lunch hours reading blogs instead of going out to eat for the next couple months.

With that, I leave you a slide show of Baby Bean's Christmas!