Is this it? Is the journey finally over?

Hey anybody notice my blog title change?

After 21 long months, and two heartbreaking miscarriages, it looks like our journey might finally be over. I took a test this morning (10 days past ovulation) not expecting anything, but after 2-3 minutes there was what looked like a light pink line. But I knew that with the brand of test I had taken they had been having problem with "indent line" so I sent a picture of it to a friend of mine to "tweak" (enhance the color of the test to make the line, if there is any, more visible). She was able to pull something. So I went out and picked up a digital, unfortunately all they had were Clearblue digital's and those need 25mlU of hCG to read positive and with how light my test line from this morning was I figured there was no way but the temptation was too much.

So still not being convinced I held my pee and took the test. I put the cap on it put it back down on the counter and walked out. I told Daniel to go look at it for me because I was so nervous.
Well he decided that it would be fun to torture me before telling me what the results of my digital test were. He walked in and picked it up and was like "oh are you sure you want to know?" "What are we having for dinner?" "I'm just going to make you wait till tomorrow" Ugh stop torturing me man and tell me what it says!!!

I'm glad to say that he told me "come here and give me a kiss, you're going to be a mama!"

I'm so so so so so very excited, a little nervous but mostly excited! I called my Dr's office and left a message that I had received a positive home pregnancy test and needed to have a progesterone supplements ordered for me to pick up. They should be calling tomorrow so I can do that. I just have a good feeling about this pregnancy/baby. This just has to be it after everything that we have been through.
Daniel and I don't plan to tell our families till closer to the end of the first trimester (so hopefully they don't see this post lol) but i needed to tell "somebody" and just get it out there because I am so excited!

DIY- "Green" Exfoliant

Go green and make your own exfoliant scrub.
Since I am getting rid of the chemicals in my house my body wash with those little exfoliating beads had to go as well, so I made a sugar-coffee scrub to use. It's easy to do, works great, is super cheap and I bet you that you already have everything you will need in your home!

1/4 C Sugar (white or brown)
1/4 C Coffee grounds
2-3 tbs Olive Oil

1. Mix the coffee grounds and sugar together. (Coffee grounds can be dry or wet. If dry use olive oil, if wet no olive oil is needed but place the grounds in a clean dish cloth and absorb out a little bit of the liquid before adding to the sugar.
2. Mix in the olive oil. You can add more olive oil if you wish.
3. It's best to use this in the shower as it can get messy. Just apply generously to the body and gently exfoliate, rise and be amazed by how soft your skin is!


Note that this exfoliant leaves a slight coffee scent on the skin but you can only smell it if you get your nose right up to it, and it disappears quickly.

14 Day Natural Fertility Breakthrough- Day 1

I'm taking the Natural Fertility Breakthrough Challenge! Today is day one and so far so good. It was an easy task. Get rid of ALL chemicals in your home. From cleaning, to beauty products it had to go. Here is a picture of the stuff from my bathroom that I got rid of. Don't worry the stuff that could be recycled was put into the recycle bin.

This weekend I will be going and picking up some new spray bottles so I can make my own natural cleaning solutions with! In addition to that I need to get myself some new shampoo. I used to use an organic brand but Daniel brought the Tresemmehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif home since it had been on sale for $1.40 a bottle. But no more of it, going back to my sweet smelling pomegranate shampoo/conditioner.
While this challenge is mainly intended for helping those struggling with trying to conceive get their bodies into better health it is great for those who are not! You should strive to be as healthy as you can be, not just okay.
If you are interested take the 14 day challenge with me. I will be posting about each of the challenges as they are sent to me and how I did, so we can do it together.
For tips on more natural and often times a lot cheaper cleaning products visit, Eartheasy-Non-toxic Home Care
Also to see where exactly your beauty/personal hygeene products fall on the "hazard" list visit EWG.org

I am so very excited to be taking this challenge, if simple things like this can help me reach my goal of a healthy baby/pregnancy then I am ALL for it!

Carrot Cake Cookies

My friend sent this to me the other day. I've changed up the directions a bit so they read easier. I'm going to have to make them for my Mom sometime soon, she loves carrot cake.

Ingredients:

Cookies:
1 C Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (I am sure that regular flour will work just as well)
1/2 C Wheat Bran
1 C Oatmeal (not the instant kind)
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 tbs Cinnamon
1 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice (or Nutmeg)
3/4 C Pecans (chopped)
1 tbs Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 C Shredded Carrot
2 Eggs
1/2 C Unsweetened Applesauce
2 tbs Butter, room temperature
1/2 C Brown Sugar
1/2 C Golden Raisins

Filling:
17.6 oz Container (about 2 Cups) 2% Greek Yogurt
1/4 C Honey
1 tsp Cinnamon


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
2. In a small bowl, pour about half cup of hot water over the raisins and let them soak.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs well.
4. Add applesauce, butter, and brown sugar to the eggs and stir well.
5. After you have done that drain the raisins and add them at this time also add the carrots to the wet mixture.
6. In another large bowl, mix all dry ingredients and the nuts.
7. Move your wet mixture to a mixer and turn it on low.
8. In thirds slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet.
9. Mix together till all ingredients are incorporated. (You should get a pretty thick dough at this point, firm enough keep form on a baking sheet, but still more moist than your typical cookie.)
9. Line the baking sheet with parchment or wax paper.
10, Use an ice cream scoop for large cookies, or a tablespoon for smaller ones scoop our your dough and set them 2 inches apart.
11. Bake for 12-16 minutes, depending on cookie size, until edges are a little brown and the middle is just set.
12. In the meantime, mix all filling ingredients together with a whisk and put in fridge to firm up.
13. Once your cookies are done baking allow them to cool before assembling into sandwiches.
14. Once cookies cool enough get your filling mix out of the fridge and spoon it onto your cookie.
15. Place another cookie on top and set back onto the baking tray.
16. Once you have made up all your sandwiches place them in the freezer for 30 minutes to fully set.


Happy Cooking.

Playing Dress Up

My "baby" girl played dress up with my jewelry last night. I must say my pearls look quite fetching on her.

Aww she's so cute. That's our little princess Abby. We got her when she was maybe a little over a month old, she was the runt and was so tiny. she's still pretty teeny but she's grown a lot since we first got her.

Daniel and I are FINALLY getting to go on down to San Diego and see my friend, our two godsons, meet our new goddaughter, and her (my friends) new husband. I am so excited! I have a small bag of baby stuff to take down to them (I had the bad impulse with my first pregnancy to buy a bunch of baby junk and then a few other times since then, thinking I would get to use it soon, HA! So by now I'm sick of seeing it so it may as well go to somebody who can actually use it) and our oldest godsons birthday was the other day, he turned three, so I have a present for him. It's going to be a good day!
But after that it's going to be a busy weekend. I have a ton of info to get together for the fertility website I am helping to work on. Check it out here.

Well I can hear Daniel's motorcycle pulling into the driveway so I'm off!

S'more Brownies

It's like camping in your kitchen, only better, no mosquitoes to deal with.

S'more Brownies:
Prep Time: 20 min approx Cook Time: 60 min give or take

Ingredients:
Crust:
6 tbs Butter (melted)
1 1/2 C crushed Graham Cracker crumbs
2 tbs Sugar


Brownie: *to cheat you can always used box mix brownies*
8 tbs (1 stick) Butter
4 oz Unsweetened Chocolate (chopped)
1 C packed Brown Sugar
3/4 C Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 tsp Salt
4 large Eggs
1 C Flour

Topping:
4 C large Marshmallows

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Line an 8 by-8-inch square baking pan with foil so it hangs over the edges by about 1 inch.

For the crust:
1. Lightly brush the foil with some of the melted butter.
2. In a medium bowl stir the rest of the butter into the crumbs and sugar.
3. Pour the crumb mixture into the bottom of your foiled pan, pressing it evenly over the bottom of the pan.
4. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Brownie:
1. Put the butter and chocolate in a medium microwave safe bowl.
2. Turn the microwave power onto 75 percent and cook for 2 minutes.
3. Remove the bowl stir the chocolate, and microwave again until completely melted (about 2 more minutes).
4. Stir the brown and white sugars, vanilla and salt into the melted chocolate.
5. Add the eggs and beat vigorously to make a thick and shiny looking batter.
6. Add the flour and stir until incorporated.
7. Pour batter into the prepared pan, with the gram cracker crust on the bottom.
8. Bake until a toothpick can be inserted into the middle and comes out mostly clean, with a few crumbs, about 45 minutes.
9. Remove from the oven and layer marshmallows across the top and toast under the broiler until golden brown about 2 minutes.
10. Keep a close eye on them, as they can brown quickly.
11. Cool on a rack in the pan for 10-15 minutes.
12. After your pan has cooled gently removing the brownies from the pan using the aluminum flaps.
13. Cut and serve!

Happy Cooking!

Are "you" to blame?

So I had a miscarriage in March of 2010 somewhere close to 7 weeks, probably earlier. I was so shocked when I found out that I was pregnant, because I had been tracking my cycle and didn't pick up any ovulation taking place so I didn't bother testing at all. I figured I was having an anovulatory cycle and I would just have to let it run it's course. But then I randomly tested and had two pink lines show up and then a digital that said "pregnant". I was so excited I couldn't control how much I was shaking. When Daniel walked in the house I threw the test at him to look at. Anyways a few days after finding out I began to miscarry and a couple days after that the Dr confirmed it.

I wasn't given any reason for why it happened. I was told that it's just bad luck, that something must have been wrong and nature was doing what it needed to do. I am still heartbroken over that loss, a small piece of me died that day.

Fast forward to over a year later.
I was in my room watching TV and one of those attorney commercials came on talking about how different drugs had been linked to bad birth defects in the children who's mothers had been taking them. I wasn't really paying attention to it till they start listing off the drugs that had been linked. And then I heard not one but two of the drugs that I had been prescribed and had been taking when I got pregnant.
So it's highly likely that because I was taking those drugs a defect could have happened during those for few vital weeks of growth. A defect that could have possibly been interpreted to my body as being incompatible with normal life.
I'm thinking of calling up this attorney office and talking with them, obviously I don't know for a fact that those drugs are what caused the miscarriage but the fact that I had a miscarriage while taking them (which as I said have now been linked to birth defects) makes it a very likely culprit for that first miscarriage.

Then again maybe I am grasping at straws and just still wishing for a real reason not just "bad luck".