IComLeavWe: March 2011

Welcome back to IComLeavWe. It stands for International Comment Leaving Week, but if you say it aloud, doesn’t it sounds like “I come; [but] leave [as a] we”? And that’s sort of the point. Blogging is a conversation and comments should be honoured and encouraged. I like to say that comments are the new hug–a way of saying hello, giving comfort, leaving congratulations.

Here is the vital information, pure and simple (a more detailed set of rules follows below the list):

• The list opens the 1st of every month. It remains open until the 21st. You can add yourself at any point. The list is open to everyone in the blogosphere–blog writers and/or blog readers.
• Add yourself to the list by filling out this form: The list for March is now closed.  The April list will open on 3/31/11.
• Click here to cut-and-paste this bit of code to add to your sidebar (if you have the old code from another month, remove it and replace it with this one). You need to add the icon or a link to the current list on your blog (see below) and will not be added until it’s up.
• Commenting kicks off every month on the 21st. Please mark it somewhere (calendar, post-it note taped to your computer…), though I will be sending out an email reminder on the 20th. Commenting week runs from the 21st to the 28th. Every day, leave 5 comments and return 1 comment for a total of 6 comments. You are highly encouraged to choose the blogs you comment on from the participants list below, but this is not required.
• I will send a second email on the 28th to remind you to remove the icon from your blog.
• Read below if you want to find out about Iron Commenters.
• The commenting ends on the 28th. We catch our breath and the whole thing starts again the next month on the 1st. Drop in and out according to what is happening in your life between the 21st and the 28th.

1. Stirrup Queens (twins, books, writing)
2. Yolk: A blog about eggs and sperm (infertility, ttc, humour)
3. The Stork Drop Zone (humor, infertility, treatments)
4. Diary of taking small steps toward baby steps (FET, PCOS, IVF)
5. Planet Hausfrau (crafts, cookery, kids)
6. HimPlusMe (pcos, ttc #1, weight loss)
7. The Pursuit of Pregnancy (new dx clotting, RPL, IUI)
8. The 2 Week Wait (ttc, infertility, humor)
9. Bio Girl (family, infertility, FET for baby #2)
10. Hobbit-ish Thoughts & Ramblings (parenting after losses, cooking, books)
11. Hope Springs Infertile (de ivf, parenting, life)
12. Twinside Out (twins, parenting, faith)
13. Infertility: A Diary (thoughts, emotions, decisions)
14. Creating a Family (infertility, adoption, adoptive parenting)
15. Feeling Beachie (life, humor, family)
16. ReeWrite (pregnancy, mommyhood, animals)
17. Ambivalent Womb (loss, weighing options)
18. If By Yes (baby, books, mental health)
19. Find Joy Now (parenting, adoption, life)
20. Wistfulgirl’s World (ttc, weight loss, life)
21. One Wheeler’s World (life, love, parenting after if)
22. Someday (MFI, IVF, OMG)
23. Hannah Wept, Sarah Laughed (infertility, advocacy, hope)
24. Just Us and the Cat (recovery from 2nd ectopic, ivf, life post-tubes)
25. Holly’s Narrative Dream (infertility, family, life)
26. Baby Steps to Motherhood (IVF, infertility, male factor)
27. Write Mind Open Heart (open adoption, mindfulness, perfect moments)
28. A Half Baked Life (parenting after loss, food)
29. It Is What It Is (Or Is It?) (domestic adoption, post infertility, life)
30. A little blog about the big infertility (adoption, overcoming loss, hope)
31. Songs for my Unborn Children (miscarriage, poetry, life)
32. Invisible Mother (recurrent miscarriage, emotions)
33. Mission: Fertile Soul (fertility, joy, humor)
34. A Peek into our Journey (PCOS, waiting, IUI)
35. The misadventures of missohkay (pregnancy loss, adoption)
36. Dragondreamer’s Lair (parenting, secondary infertility, crafts)
37. Eggs In a Basketcase (newly pregnant, FET)
38. Team Baby (infertility, iui, ivf)
39. Life in the Last Frontier (open adoption, infertility, parenting)
40. Uncommon Nonsense (infertility, IVF, PCOS)
41. all i ever wished for (i.f., upcoming f.e.t., life)
42. I’m Very Far Away (infertility, IVF, expat)
43. Grafting a Branch on the Family Tree (intended parent/traditional surrogacy, weight loss)
44. Elusive Take Home Baby (recurrent miscarriage, infertility, frustrations)
45. The Handprints on my Heart (adoption, family)
46. A Field of Dreams (parenting, weightloss, humour)
47. The Port of Indecision (RPL, DOR/POF, smartass)
48. Diary of a Mad Infertile Woman (new to infertility, gonadotropin injections, anovulatory)
49. Buzz Off Infertility (pregnancy loss, TTC, pregnant w. #2)
50. We got hitched. We bought the 4 bedroom house. We had twins. Now what?!? (parenting, twins, life)
51. Chasing Our Stork: Our Journey with Infertility (unexplained, ivf, faith)
52. Lifeslurper (IVF after 40, donor eggs, depression)
53. Colours Of Cattiz (male factor, ivf, uk)
54. Our New Plan A (natural-ivf, gluten-free, dor)
55. Our Fertility Journey (miscarriage, mind-body connection, hypothalamic amenorrhea)
56. Bodega Bliss (miscarriage, loss, grief)
57. Seeking Shirley (infertility, IUI, miscarriage)
58. for all the things we hope for (infertility, miscarriage, nursing school)
59. We’re Making a Baby… (twins, IVF, infertility)
60. Shorty’s Adventure (pregnancy after IF)
61. Three Cats and a Baby (infertility, adoption, green parenting)
62. Leading Mama (motherhood, psychology, leadership)
63. As Fast As My Baby Can (infertility, ivf, unexplained)
64. Compromised Fertility (PCOS, miscarriage, infertility)
65. A Year On…. Our New Beginning (hopefully) (stillbirth infertility IVF)
66. Mommy Odyssey (miscarriage, healing, humor)
67. Therapy Is Expensive (open adoption, life, relationships)
68. As Good As It Gets (parenting after infertility)
69. The Bushey Life (high risk pregnancy)
70. The Ladies in Waiting Book Club (infertility, books, crafts, writers)
71. Life as I Know It (emotional, motherhood, decisions)
72. Mommy In Waiting (IV#4, hope, mfi)
73. Just Us…For Now (infertility, miscarriage, IVF)
74. Garden Variety Mama (cooking, health, toddler twins)
75. My Voice (life, family, humor)
76. Surviving the Secondary Infertility Madness (PCOS, loss, pregnancy)
77. Failed Genetics (infertility, adoption, family)
78. Musings of a Hormonal Egg Basket (baby after infertility)
79. Random Thoughts From Angie (FET, life, family)
80. Removing Roadblocks (adoption, infertility, faith)
81. The Road Less Traveled (pregnancy after loss, embryo donation)
82. wanna bee (foster/adoption, craftiness, loss)
83. Sluice (california, white ceramic animals, home decor)
84. The Unbroken World (family, fertility, future)
85. Frogs In Texas (baby milestones family)
86. The Infertility Therapist (psychological aspects infertility)
87. Transplanted Thoughts (grief, baby loss, life)
88. Everyday Blessings (infertility, life, motherhood)
89. From IF to When (infertility, adoption, health)
90. In a Nutshell (azoospermia, ivf, immature eggs)
91. Bakery Closed Until Further Notice (miscarriage, relationships, non-ttc)
92. Unglamorous (marriage, toddler, finances)
93. Our Life Journey (infertility, pregnancy loss, faith)
94. Storm in My Teacup (FET#2, greyhound VW bus)
95. Stumbling Gracefully (parenting, photography, waxing philosophical)
96. Babies, Balanced Translocations, and Being in My 30’s (IVF/PGD, balanced translocation, RPL)
97. I’m Just Ducky, Thanks (ivf, medical issues, adoption)
98. Zero Guarantees (IVF, surrogate, life)
99. Jen Has A Pen (infertility, writing, marriage)
100. Survive and Thrive (infertility, EFT, fertility telesummit)
101. Infertility And Me (azoospermia, MFI, father)
102. MissConception (pcos, IUI, ttc #1)
103. Almost All The Truth (green, parenting, change)
104. I Believe In Miracles (parenting, infertility, adoption)
105. Creating Our Miracle (IVF # 2, TTC # 1, MFI)
106. Wishing and Hoping and Thinking and Praying (infertility,life, teaching)
107. MissConception (pcos, IUI, ttc#1)
108. It’s Definitely Possible (SMC, IUI, 2WW)
109. I Want to be a Daddy (male infertility experience)
110. One Day At A Time (infertility, hypothyroidism, weight loss)
111. Life Without Baby (childless-not-by-choice, coming to terms, infertility)
112. Your Great Life (fertility health advocate, emotional support, family-building)
113. On Tap for Today (life, humor, Boston)
114. Whitney & Erick (recurrent loss, immune, IVF)
115. Waiting For Our Miracle (pregnancy, IVF, infertility)
116. Mac and PC (IVF#1, anovulatory, health)
117. Amiracle4us (infertility, IVF, hope)
118. The Daily Miracle (secondary if, ivf, life humour)
119. Digital-Damita (ttc, frugal, green)
120. Love In the Bump Dump (infertility, humor, marriage)
121. And Then There Were Two… (infertility, miscarriage, ttc #1)
122. Lissie’s Luck (infertility, PCOS, frustration)
123. Our Little Family’s Journey (family, ttc#2, FET?)
124. NOT so Fertile Mertile (endometriosis, domestic adoption)
125. Everything After (parenting, marriage, TTC)
126. A Virtual Hobby Store and Coffee Shop (food, news, prayer)
127. Junebugs Musings (if, adoption, life)
128. The Journey to a Little One to Call Our Own (pregnancy, infertility, life)
129. Trying Not to Scream (infertility, IUI, miscarriage)
130. To Those Who Wait (early pregnancy #1, triplets from IUI)
131. The Chronicles of Violetta Margarita (unexplained infertility, life, humor)
132. Too Many Fish to Fry (miscarriage, parenting, joy)
133. Adventures of a Dam Engineer (adoption, infertility)
134. Trying to conceive (ivf, icsi, support)
135. Waiting for that Positive (infertility, male factor, being positive)
136. Fearlessly Infertile (FET #2, weight loss, Ireland!)
137. Wonderfully Ordinary (parenting, infertility, life)
138. Pontifications of a Twin Mom (twins, parenting, celebrating life)
139. Going For It (domestic infant adoption)
140. The “G” Fam (baby j, sahm, ivf #2 (?))
141. Oven Seeking Bun (pcos, ivf#1, yoga)
142. My Broken Oven (miscarriage, anxiety, pregnancy)
143. Watering Faith’s Seed (infertility, faith, marriage)
144. Somewhere In The Middle (infertility, adoption, waiting)
145. Busted Plumbing (humor, PCOS, awesomeness)
146. This non-American Life (travel, expat life, Germany)
147. Flogging the Muse (art, painting, creativity)
148. Greetings from Nowhere, NM (infertility, hypothyroidism, rural living)
149. The Deep Silence of a Long-Suffering Heart (MFI, IVF, secondary infertility)
150. My Hopeful Journey (IF APP, advocate, support)
151. My Cheap Version of Therapy (iui#1, pcos, weightloss)
152. Heeeeere Storkey, Storkey! (twins, life, pregnancy)
153. Tippy & Tidy (TTC#1, IVF, unexplained)
154. Weathering the Storm (2ww, life, adoption)
155. Baby Magnesi (infertility, MFI, TTC)
156. Inconceivable! (TTC #1, IVF)
157. IFSerenityNow (ivf, fet, loss)
158. Confessions of a wannabe mom (trouble making babies)
159. Hope Springs Eternal (ivf, life, infertility)
160. Hope is a Four Letter Word (annovulatory, first ivf)
161. Sparkles and Fairy Tales: Waiting on my Fertile Godmother (infertility, pregnancy, marriage)
162. The Childless Mom (male & female infertility, humor, ICSI)
163. Trying To Get a Bun In My Oven (optimistic, sweet, tough)
164. My Dusty Uterus (humorously stubborn eggs)
165. Baby Talk (infertility, hope, treatments)
166. The Unfair Struggle (mfi, speedskating, life)
167. Gingersnap Alley (kids, play, how-to)
168. Getting There (adoption, settling in, life)
169. Traditionally Nontraditional (infertility, hope, wishes)
170. Cheese Curds and Kimchi (adoption, family, preparations)
171. Just Us Two (IVF, infertility, anxiety)
172. The Infertility Overachievers (pregnant after IVF)
173. A Nuttier Life (TTC, hope, awesomeness)
174. My Hormonacoaster (ivf, ttc#2 10 years, loss)
175. My Blog Is Boring (life, love, happy)
176. *Our Wish* (ttc family miscarriages)
177. IUI to Roux-en-Y (appointments, goals, weight-loss)
178. The Diary of My Fertility Roller Coaster (infertility, pcos, hope)
179. The Inadequate Conception (infertility, humor, new book)
180. The Climb (twins, parenting, infertility)
181. The list for March is now closed.  The April list will open on 3/31/11.

Q: What if I miss a day?

A: Catch up the next day by doubling your comments–12 comments instead of 6.

Q: What if I have two blogs? Can I sign up twice, listing both blogs?

A: Yes, but you also need to double your comments. If you have two blogs listed, you should be leaving 12 comments per day.

Q: What is an Iron Commenter?

A: Not for the faint-of-heart. People who wish to be an Iron Commenter and be entered on the Iron Commenter honour roll need to leave a comment on every blog on the participants list (exceptions are blogs that require you to have a special log-in, such as some LiveJournal accounts or other similar situations). You can spread out this commenting any way you wish over the whole week, but the final comment needs to be left by midnight on the 28th (EST). Reaching Iron Commenter status is done on an honour system. Please email me if you earn Iron Commenter status so I can add you to the wall of honour.

Q: Why do I have to add that bit of code to my sidebar?

A: The code is the latest icon (the icon changes colour every month so you know that you’re on the right list). This month, the icon is green, the next month it will be teal, etc. The reason is two-fold: (1) it enables more people to find out about IComLeavWe and (2) it gives you easy access to the current list once the commenting week actually begins and better ensures that you’ll use it. Too many times, people sign up and forget to actually do IComLeavWe and this icon gives you a daily reminder (with the dates on it) every time you open your own blog. The icon is linked back to the current list. On the 28th, remove the icon from your blog. A new one will be created for the next month.

Q: It’s the 23rd and I just saw this for the first time on my friend’s blog! I want to join the list–why can’t I?

A: Because IComLeavWe happens every month, once the list is closed, it’s closed. If you’re finding out about this on the 23rd, you can’t join the current month. But leave yourself a note to check back in a week on the 1st and you can sign up for the next month.

Q: You said the list closes on the 21st. Well, it’s still the 21st where I am. Why aren’t you moving my information onto the list?

A: All dates and times are U.S. Eastern Standard Time (UTC/GMT -5 hours). The list closes around 11 p.m. EST on the 21st.

Q: What if no one comments on my blog and I have no comments to return?

A: Well, that really doesn’t happen for the most part, but in that case, simply choose another blog and add an additional comment. The goal is to hit 6 comments daily as a minimum. Going over that is fantastic and encouraged.

Q: Mel, my question wasn’t covered at all. What do I do?

A: Email me; I’m quite friendly. It helps to place “IComLeavWe” in the subject line. You could also check this post which contains the history of IComLeavWe and see if you can glean anything there.

Looking for the comment section? It has been closed on this post. Use the form in the directions to add yourself to the list.