"Clomid For Christmas" Holiday Medical Treatments by Teri Brown.

I found this article on line yesterday. Not only is it timely, but the coping suggestions are perfect.

Limit your participation in family celebrations. If your family's holiday traditions include children opening presents, you may want to come at the end of the gift opening, or skip it altogether. If you are feeling particularly depleted or vulnerable, there is nothing wrong with giving yourself permission to protect and take care of yourself. It is OK to say, "No, we really can't make it this year." If you want to limit the time... more

Once again, as I was reading through the comments on my blog, I looked up and saw an interesting ad that I just had to check out. I love to write, love to journal, and since grief is foremost on my mind lately, Grief Journal by Linda Lodge Abelson Andreozzi.

Linda's unexpected loss of her husband caused her to begin journaling. As she continued to write through the years, she would use her journals to see how they helped her heal through the trauma. Published by Good Ground Press, Grief Journal helps people write their own grief story.

"Instead of telling people how they should grieve, I tell my story and, even though the reader is invisible... more

Continued from webmd.com article:

Do not eat or drink right before going to bed. Eating a late dinner or snacking before going to bed can activate the digestive system and keep you up. If you suffer from gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) or heartburn, it is even more important to avoid eating and drinking right before bed since this can make your symptoms worse. In addition, excessive drinking prior to bed can overwhelm the bladder, requiring frequent visits to the bathroom. Make your sleeping environment comfortable. Temperature, lighting, and noise should be controlled to make the bedroom conducive to falling (and staying) asleep. Your bed... more

While I was getting ready for another night of insomnia, this caught my eye from www.webmd.com. I sure see quite a few culprits that readily sabotage my sleep.

Wake up at the same time each day. It is tempting to sleep late on weekends, especially if one has had poor sleep during the week. However, if you suffer from insomnia you should get up at the same time every day in order to train your body to wake at a consistent time. Eliminate nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, and other stimulants. This includes certain medications such as theophylline, beta agonists (usually as inhalers) and decongestants, especially... more

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had ordered the Healing Grief Cd from healingjourneys.com. As I was researching which CD to order, I searched the archives and found a letter about grief that I felt Belleruth answered with the utmost caring and wisdom. I will be posting a little more about the actual CD later on and my experience with it. I felt that everyone dealing with grief could benefit from reading the letter. Here it is:

Most of the trite sayings about loss are true, so if I sound sickeningly prosaic, please bear with me. First of all, if you can identify all these feelings of disbelief,... more

Here is an example of a fertility related article from www.happynews.com.

Reported in this article is that the painting "Roots" by Frida Kahlo set the record as the highest price for the sale of a piece of Latin American art. It also set a high for the artist as well. Here is part of the background behind the painting.

The 1943 oil-on-metal shows the artist reclining in a bright orange dress with leafy... more

In this very early morning, Ivy woke up and was talking to me, not really awake, but not asleep either at 3 a.m. As she was falling back to sleep she told me, "Mama, my piggies hurt." I went over and looked at her toes and didn't find anything wrong. I asked her if she wanted me to give them a magic kiss. She said, "No, prolly it needs a band aid to be all better." I went to the cupboard and got her a large band aid that I put on top of her foot. She touched it, sighed, and went to sleep.

When Chris woke up I told him this cute story and we laughed.... more

I have friends that are poets. They are published, award-winning, and talented. They meet often to hone their craft and to write. Their words are amazing and the emotions that their poems bring to their readers runs deep. I also write poetry, I am not published or award-winning and I honestly believe that at this time it should stay that way. I do love to read poetry, hopefully the poems do not rhyme as they are not my taste.

After Ivy was born I was looking for a creative outlet that allowed me to express myself in a quick and concise manner. Any... more

I am in a purge the house mode. I have been giving away sacks and boxes to Goodwill for most of the summer and it doesn't even feel like there is one bit of difference. Where does all of this stuff come from? I think that it must march in while we are sleeping, filling our closets and shelves with things that get me thinking, "What is this?"

As I was cleaning out a bookshelf, stuck into a book that I had read years ago was a photocopied paper that is titled "Words that describe feelings" It doesn't have any type of notation of who wrote this list, or who had typed it on a typewriter. Reading through it, I found that it was worth keeping and posting about.

Depression... more

This week was a rough one. Hormones and stress don't mix too well in my life and this week was a rough blend of both. My moods are normally pretty uneven, but on weeks like this they give new meaning to peaks and valleys. Anything that seems like it might work, is worth trying for the sake of my soul and the sake of my little family.

Tuesday morning already started out crazy, then a tiny little phone conversation threw me over the edge. Nothing bad, nothing really at all, just an interaction that I overreacted to, which is not at all uncommon for me in hormonal times like these. In the magazine that I was reading, there was a blurb about How to Break Out of a Bad Mood. I pounced... more