ICLW .... and Catching Up... Fav. Five!

First off....... I joined ICLW! (via visiting one of my reg blogs and seeing some fun stuff on hers! So I went to check it out at The Stirrup Queens... Blog) This is my first month! (Does that make me an ICLW virgin??) ... Anyway, if you don't know what ICLW is, check out they yellow box right there in my side bar... yep that one!! You can sign up through today, and then it's closed until the end of the month - then you can join for next month!!

A little about me, for those stopping by who are new. I couldn't help by notice that a lot of the women who are on the list have either suffered from or are suffering from infertility. It's horrible, infertility. It's the dirty "i" word... I too suffered. Yes, me - the mother of 4 hellions on 10 toes each!

Here is an article I wrote about my infertility journey ... THE FEELINGS OF INFERTILITY

My story is hopefully one of hope, I fought through 5 years of secondary infertility after Calahan was born. He had been a twin, and I had miscarried his twin. Four more miscarriages through the five years, and finally I met a DR who wanted to help ... he put me on clomid and assured me, I would have another baby. I wasn't so sure. But sure enough, 3 months later - I was pregnant. Then we found out that the baby had a rare genetic disorder - was told he wouldn't live through the pregnancy and if he did, he'd die shortly after. I couldn't believe THAT either. How can I finally be blessed with a child only to be told that I wouldn't be able to watch him grow? I countered the DR (genetics) with my own research and he countered back basically saying HE was right. Noah was born 1lb 12oz but he lived :) And now he's 7! I divorced the Dad of my older two boys, met my current husband online (yes ONLINE) and we have added to our clan 2 more feisty boys! Nathan - our 2 yr old - was born with a cyst in his brain, cleft palate, and had ongoing medical issues including Failure to Thrive and Hypothyroidism ... and Kaedyn - 11 months old - is our last baby. I also have a step-daughter but that's another story that I'm just not going to get into right now. She's 5 and lives with her mom (my husband's ex gf) ... I do photography, I write (novels), and I like to pretend that as a Mom I know what I'm doing but it's always just a matter of doing what you can and what you think is the right thing.

So list history - 5 years of secondary infertility - 2 years of infertility after that
3 rounds of clomid - got pregnant on each of them, first round got pregnant on the 3rd cycle of clomid, 2nd round got pregnant on the 1st cycle of clomid but m/c, and 3rd round got pregnant on the 1st cycle of clomid
13 miscarriages (over 12 years of TTC)
been through a divorce
been through dating with children
been through online dating
2nd marriage
blended family (my 2 boys, his daughter, our 2 together)
and a lot of other things...

And with all that said ...... I wanted to let all those bloggers that I follow regularly - that I'm working on catching up!!! My un-announced break lasted longer then I had wanted (er - hoped?) and now I'm trying to get back into the swing of things cuz I missed it all!

Be sure to join up in Blogger Bingo too!! Should be a ton of fun!

And now I'm ending this blog with .... My FRIDAY FAVORITE FIVE of the week!!

If you haven't heard of it, go check it out at Three Boys and a Dog

I think this is my first week doing it - so whoohooo!! Great idea Kelli!

I'm sharing the top 5 things I hear everyday!!

5: Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (that's someone crying, someone is almost always bound to be or about to be crying)

4: "Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom" ... yeah all drawn out like that. This is usually followed up by one telling on another ... "he hit me" "he punched me" "he called me.... " aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ... (does my screaming in my head count?? NO?? Dang!!)

3: "What's for dinner?" ... nothing, I'm on strike! Get it yourself!!! Oh wait, I don't usually cook, go ask your Dad!!

2: "Hey honey, can I play rock band?" (looks up at husband who usually is leaning over me somehow ...) "Um... I'm not your warden!" Yeah so it takes cartoons away from those watching it or background noise of MY shows that I'm trying to watch and clear off the DVR but can't actually watch because I'm multitasking and our DVR is down to 5 hours... FIVE HOURS... yeah.... no, make that ONE HOUR! Gahhhh.... "Sure, play rock band, but I'm deleting all your geek shows!" (the cooking ones I like watching with him!) LOL...

and (DRUM ROLL) ....

The NUMBER ONE thing I hear .... laughter... yep that's right, blissful laughter that is so contagious that you can't help but crack a smile or crack up laughing right along with them! Doesn't matter if the funny offender is actually funny, it could be gross or silly ... or even mundane! Doesn't matter... once the un-stop-able giggle roller coaster starts.... you can't jump off!