I'll start off with the Manly Monday (oops I missed last week, sorry Stupid Stork!) and then move on to the randomness.

Manly Monday

• My husband has very random taste in music.  He loves rap and hip-hop, but he also loves Barry Manilow.  There also used to be a station on Sirius (before they merged with XM) called "Movin' Easy".  He would crank that station and sing while he was working as a carpenter many years ago.  Ahhh I loved it.
• He is very handy (former carpenter) so he has built us a fabulous kitchen, added new stairs, refinished and laid new floors, and added a linen closet upstairs.  But, he has a tough time finishing anything completely.  The kitchen, stair railings, and dining room are anywhere from 90% complete to 0% complete.  The 1/2 "bathroom" is still a black hole in the middle of the house.  :-o
• He takes a bazillion vitamins.  I am not even sure what he takes anymore, but there are about 10 pills a morning.  I think he is going to live forever.
• His specialty meal is eggplant sandwiches.  Grilled eggplant (as the "bread"), homemade roasted red pepper tapenade, basil, fresh mozzarella, and prosciutto. YUM!!  He is a really great cook.      
• He appreciates good beer.  This is why we make such a good pair, haha.  We both love a super-hoppy, micro-brewed beer.  He is being nice though and not drinking much while I can't drink.  Solidarity! 

• My husband finally got to listen to the baby's heartbeat on the doppler on Saturday (over 11 weeks!).  I was able to find him right away this time in almost the same spot that I found him last time.  He did squirm out of the way not long after we found it, but at least he got to hear that lovely little thumping noise!
• We went shopping on Saturday and I bought a bunch of new clothes to conceal my stomach.  It is probably just bloat, but I had to get some new stuff to protect me for another 2 weeks.  NY & Co. (I never shop there) had a tremendous sale with some really cute and comfortable clothes.  I got 2 skirts, 2 shirts, 1 dress, and a bag for less than $150.  I was quite happy with that.
• Last year I did nothing to prepare for fall because I was so miserable.  No decorating or anything and I love decorating, tastefully.  I put out 2 little pumpkins and a couple of pots of mums.  My husband and I also did a ton of yard-work yesterday so I am paying for that today because my upper back is killing me.
• I baked some amazing apple turnovers yesterday with some of the apples that we picked last weekend.  OMG.  They took me about 2 hours total, but they were so worth it.  If you have some time and want a lovely distraction then try these:  Taste of Home - Apple Turnovers.  You will not be disappointed.  I doubled the recipe because 4 turnovers did not sound like enough...haha.  Bring on the butter!!!  

Yummy!!

•  I read a very powerful blog post by one of the girls that I follow.  Cristy over at Searching for Out Silver Lining wrote very frankly about how infertility can bring people together and then tear them apart.  The post really hit home for me because I have oftentimes felt like I might not belong here.  I have not had to go through IUI or IVF and we only "tried" for a little over a year.  So many others have had it 10 times worse and continue to be dragged through the shit that is infertility.  Cristy tries to remind everyone that it isn't about one-upping each other or who has suffered the most through all of this.  It isn't about abandoning those that finally get pregnant or about those that are pregnant abandoning those that are still in the trenches or being afraid to write about their pregnancies in their own blogs.  It is about continued support, regardless.  We have ALL been through the wringer, and yes some have had it worse than others, but we all need to be there for each other.  We all still need the support and guidance of the ALI community regardless of where we are in this journey.  Thanks again for posting this, Cristy.