Pinterest does it again!

I use Pinterest all the time. I use it to find recipes, art projects for the boys, decorating ideas for our home, planting ideas for our yard/garden, simple remedies for most any situation, advice on lots of things and most recently I've used it a TON to help plan for our local MO.Ps 2014-15 year. In that planning, I ran across a quote, that although very simple, I can't get out of my head. It's been several days now, and it is still there, begging to be pondered, to be implemented.

Be a fountain, not a drain.

It's so simple, and easy to remember, but one of those things I think we could all learn from. For me, during this season if life, it means encouraging my family, it means taking time to see the good in situations and celebrating that instead of focusing on the hard parts or the less than glamorous pieces of mothering small children.  I also think it means being a place (person) where people come to recharge to be revived- an oasis, instead of being the place people come to flush their stuff down or the downer of the party always unloading your hardships onto someone else. Inspire and renew instead of the alternative.

For me, this week I'm just focusing on the fountain part. Be that- if I'm succeeding at it, I don't need to worry about the other. Be a fountain. It works for me. Even just thinking it is inspiring.


-- Also, this makes two posts in two weeks, I'm practically Old Faith.ful :)

Too controlled?

So, I took my last birth control pill on Wednesday morning, and here I am Sunday evening with not even as much as a single spot. It really doesn't matter too much, I'm pretty sure all it will mean is a few less BCPs as we prepare for this cycle- I was going to be on them a little longer than usual to push us out past the Thanksgiving holiday. But, it is still annoying. I'm hopeful just blogging about it will make it happen, that in addition to a couple hours at the gym in the morning.

Nearly every Thursday I think of the baby we lost. Thursday is the day I would've been another week pregnant, but this week I didn't think about it, and just now when I thought about it, I wasn't sure how many weeks I would've been. Of course I counted, and I'd be 16 weeks. At first it kind of made me sad, but after about two seconds of thought, it made me happy. It makes me know that I really am ready to do this all over again- no matter what. I honestly can't think of anything I wouldn't do for our babies at this point- any amount of pain and heartache will be worth it.

We recently converted the closet in our guest bedroom into a office niche. I'm loving it because it means eventually (read: once I get my act together) there were will be fewer things residing in our soon-to-be nursery. I also love it because our guest bedroom is one of my favorite rooms in the house. I love the decor in there, and that room is always neat and tidy. Its the perfect place to slip away, pay some bills, listen to some tunes and send my thoughts out onto the internet. Nearly the entire back wall of the niche is a bulletin board, and I think I'll fill a portion of it with quotes-- any suggestions?

I'm running out of pants...  Tonight the hubs and I decided that we should probably leave the house for a little bit and when I went to get dressed for a casual dinner I put on my smallest pair of jeans that I recently shrunk on accident and they are fitting kind of loose and are certainly too short for fall. They were ok at the end of summer with flips or cuffed with flats, but I think their days are numbered. I think I'll try to make my other jeans work for a little longer since the stim bloat is just a few weeks away. Then I can re-evaluated after Christmas... and hopefully start considering some maternity pants! Hello elastic waist band :)

As the hubs and I were talking at dinner I realized I had a story for y'all. Did I ever tell you the one about the insensitive sister-in-law just days after our miscarriage? I'll have to check, but I don't think I did... wow.

I'll save it for tomorrow.

And, I'll wait to blog tomorrow until after I've been to the gym so I can tell you who I raced.

Because I know you're dying to know.

(Can you say wildly schizophrenic post? Wow, I'm sorry!)

Choice

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” 

― Eleanor Roosevelt

Looking Fear In The Face

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” 

― Eleanor Roosevelt

Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. Sure, in the moment... or days or weeks, it is hard. Unbelievably hard. BUT, once you've climbed that mountain and seen where you came from, you find something within yourself that you didn't know was there before. Something beautiful, something inspiring- something STRONG!

Attitude

“You can often change your circumstances by changing your attitude” 

― Eleanor Roosevelt

This is one of those that I KNOW to be true, but feel free to remind me of it from time to time :)


Sooo, I'm 4 days into 7 days of prov.era and so far so good. So far, I've only had one night of comical sleep talking which included apples, spurs, pony hair and a white cord. Never a dull moment in the bedroom of an infertile..... Bahahah!!

Grow

“People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.” 

― Eleanor Roosevelt 

Stepping Stones

“A stumbling block to the pessimist is a stepping-stone to the optimist.” 

― Eleanor Roosevelt

There are hurdles on this journey, you're lying if you say there aren't, but as I've said before, with each one you find your groove and it makes the next one a little easier to leap over. Stepping stones... I'm pretty sure my path of these things might just make it across the country by now :)

Confidence

“Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong.” 

― Eleanor Roosevelt 

Free

“Every time you meet a situation you think at the time it is an impossibility and you go through the tortures of the damned, once you have met it and lived through it, you find that forever after you are freer than you were before.” 

― Eleanor Roosevelt 

After reading the quote for the first time I said YES! with a huge grin on my face. The last couple of months have been hard, but this is absolutely how I feel. I lived through what was undoubtedly the hardest thing I've ever done- and I made it. After days of wondering if we'd find our way out, we did, and with it came strength and courage to do other hard things. 


Speaking of doing hard things... I ordered a necklace for IVF #2. For our first cycle I wore a necklace that said HOPE. When we paced the first order last spring I was torn between 'hope' and 'I can do hard things'... and after the last couple of months I am sure the second sentiment is TRUE. It should arrive early next week and I'll be sure to post of picture then!

Courage

“You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give” 

– Eleanor Roosevelt

After all, isn't that all we can do? I've found that meeting things head on and enduring the pain in real time instead of pushing it to the side to be dealt with at another time when I'm "ready" is really the best way to handle the rough patches. Courage isn't always easy to come by, but I find if I dig deep, its always there.

And now, on a completely unrelated note, I give you the gift of laughter. Perhaps blocked on your work computers, but really isn't that the way with all the truly comical stuff???

LAUGHTER

Words...

I'm a lover of words. An entire day or week can be changed for the better when the perfect passage or quote is placed in front of me. Sometimes they appear, sometimes I seek them out, always they change my heart. Over the next several days, I am going to just be posting quotes. I'm sure some days I will have something more to say, but you can count on at least a quote. I've found a wealth of inspiration from the words of Eleanor Roosevelt, and I think her words are worth sharing. I think today's quote is a perfect piggyback to Monday's post...

“Do what you feel in your heart to be right – for you’ll be criticized anyway.” 

-Eleanor Roosevelt