I did it for 4 cycles after trying for 3 years with no luck. I ovulated each time according to the test, we did what we were supposed to do, but never got pregnant. I also have PCOS. My OB said if we wanted to pursue anything additional she's have to refer us to a specialist but we did not go down that road. Fwiw, about 3 years later I got pregnant unexpectedly, then when that baby was not even 1 year old yet and I'd only had one period post partum, I got pregnant again. I was 30 and 31 when I had my bio babies, I never ever thought I'd have kids. So that's maybe not super helpful, but I just like to tell people because there is still hope even when you've given up. You never know what will happen and doctors don't know everything. The thing I remember about Clomid is just being super sensitive emotionally, I'm not sure if that can be chalked up to the drug itself or just the stress of wanting it to work, you know what I mean? Very best of wishes to you! Good luck in growing your family! :) Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Officially, 29, then 30, then 31. Yeah 6 kids in 2 years (going on adoption and birth dates, not the dates the kids moved in with us). When the oldest 4 moved in with us I was 27 but they weren't adopted for 2.5 more years. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

This will be my first year with 3 kids. Last year I did teach my DD5 to read and write but this year we'll start on math and other things as well. She's sort of in first grade, bday is in October so she missed the official cut off last year but she'll be doing Saxon 1 and LLATL Red (the second grade book). So. I struggle with science. I had been doing TWTM method, with just mostly using library books and not doing any experiments or anything. In the middle of the year last year I just gave up, the kids were bored, i was bored, it was pointless to continue. I started letting them pick books from the library on science-ish stuff, read on their own, then 2 days a week write 2 or 3 sentences about what they were learning or even just copy sentences out of the book and draw pictures if they wanted. They learned about different kinds of bugs, rain forests, habitats, flying, all kinds of things. They enjoyed it. But I just don't know if this will give them the well rounded education I want for them. At the same time, I can't teach 3 different kids science, there's just not enough time. If I taught something to them they'd have to do it together. I guess I'm looking for feedback or ideas on something that would work. I hate science, I really do. Do you think it would be ok to continue this method? Or start doing something a little more concrete, if so then what? Any suggestions are most appreciated.

This is my favorite poem: http://m.sparknotes.com/poetry/frost/section10.rhtml I am not sure why. It's beautiful and simple. I was reading it to my kids a few months ago and actually got choked up during it. As a previous poster said, something in it just speaks to me. I so feel the desire to enjoy the beautiful, quiet things in life but also feel the pressure to skip them to do the things that "need" to be done. More so now that I'm a parent, but I've loved this poem since I first heard it. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

I don't have any super helpful advice, but I think one of the best analogies about trust that I have heard is "Trust is earned in pennies and spent in dollars." Your son's trust piggy bank is empty. It's not your fault if he has nothing to spend, don't let him guilt you into thinking otherwise. Teenagers are tough. Best of luck to you, so sorry you are going through this. :( Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

This is the water bottle I use (except I have an older version): http://m.footlocker.com/index.cfm?uri=product&model=200847&sku=4834NLBD&SID=9114&inceptor=1&cm_mmc=SEM-_-PLA-_-Google-_-4834nlbd&gclid=CNXToYHEoM0CFQIKaQodomcMRA I've had it for years and it has held up great. It can hold a key and snacks for super long runs, it's also easier to hold than a standard water bottle because of the hand holder thing. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

My kids clean up all the dishes after every meal. DS6 and DS8 take turns. So for one week one cleans the plates and loads the dishwasher, the other one sweeps the floor after meals and helps clear the table and gets drinks for everyone. DD5 sets the table and wipes the table after meals. I normally clean the big pots and pans just for my own sanity. I also normally cook so I don't feel bad about them doing most of the clean up. :) We tried having each person wash their own plates but that made for a long line and arguing about who was done first and still there were lots of things left to clean up. This system is working pretty well for us. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

I get up and run in the mornings before they are awake. We have quiet time every afternoon, they are able to be in separate rooms and the little ones nap and the big ones read. And I do whatever I want, which is usually working but it's got to be done. Sometimes I sneak a nap in though! Also when my 6 and 8 year olds get up in the morning (while I'm drinking coffee and having quiet time) here is what they are allowed to do: read a book, or work on their kid devotionals. No toys, no talking! They act like they are going to die but seriously, it's 20 or 30 minutes at the very very most. I also started playing soccer again, my hubby fully supports me and watches the kids and puts them to bed while I do that (one night per week). I joined the local beekeeping club. I don't actually keep bees (yet) but I love going and learning about them! Meetings are on the weekends (1 or 2 times per month) during nap time so that works out well. I have been known to take the kids to childcare at the gym on particularly horrid days, just to get a break. I hope you can find something that works for you! Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

I really liked the Maya Wrap which is a ring sling. It was perfect for us. I could nurse my wee babe to sleep, then slip the wrap on around him with one hand while holding him with the other. Then he could keep snoozing while I got stuff done! So easy. It was a little pricey but worth it to me. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

It's so fantastic isn't it? I've read so many books since I learned how to do that! Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Lol so funny! Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Do you have an SD card in your phone? If not you should see about getting one, that can give you a ton more memory. That doesn't help get rid of the apps you don't want but I'm not sure you can do anything about that. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

I'm considering purchasing the Latin 101 course http://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/latin-101-learning-a-classical-language.html It's on sale for $54. I'm doing a lot of running lately and thought maybe I could listen while I run. I'm hopefully going to start my kids in Latin next year so I thought that might give me a head start. Has anyone used these courses? Does that seem like something that would be useful? It's not a ton of money, but at the same time if it's not going to be helpful then I don't want to do it! :)

Yes! :) Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

I couldn't find any place to try the 45 in person. The 30 felt good on me. I did try the Farpoint 40 on, and that just felt like it was too long. Maybe I don't know how these things are supposed to feel but it was touching my head and my butt and it really bothered me. I am 5'2" with average proportions. I'm going to actually pack up my husband's farpoint 40 and try it again, maybe it will feel better with weight in it. I can still exchange my Porter at the local store I got it from. I'd love to have a little more room but like I said it is sufficient, just not much extra space for souvenirs and such.

My hubby and I just got the Osprey Porter 30 and the Osprey Farpoint 40. We haven't traveled with them yet but I did a lot of research on them and that's what we ended up with. I also bought a set of 4 ebags (1 medium, 1 small, 1 skinny small and 1 skinny medium) and packed them full and they fit perfectly in my Porter 30 along with the ebag toiletries case, with a bit of room to spare. I packed for a ten day trip. I am a small person though and if you're going to need warm/bulky clothes there may not be room. I got 10 shirts, 10 undies, 10 pairs of socks, flip flops, a light jacket, toiletry case, a pair of sweatpants, 2 pairs of jeans, 1 pair of capris, and makeup into my bag. Practice packing only, but I'm pretty sure I didn't forget anything. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

I change between F and T depending on the day, I'm pretty close to equal in those. We definitely have quiet time every day. I feel pretty guilty about it buuuut I figure it's better than the alternative (a stark raving lunatic mother!). So here's what is driving me crazy lately. The questions. One kid asks a question, which is answered by me. One minute later, another child comes along and asks the same question. At this point I may get the same question asked 4 times in the same ten minutes! And with kids in various parts of the house they didn't overhear when I answered the question the first time so it's not like I can just say "sorry, I already answered that question!" That and the hypothetical questions which are never ending. "Mommy, what would happen if we ate only grass? Mommy, do you think someone would ever (insert odd and irrelevant question here, such as eat pizza on the moon or kill a million mosquitos at once etc.)?" Followed up by related, yet also very strange, questions based on whatever my answer was. "Well what if they were REALLY hungry? What if there was a Little Ceasar's on the moon and they could just go there and get some? Do you think we could ever live on the moon?" Aaaahhhhh! So this is why we have quiet time. :D Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Well it's complicated. He had a huge melt down the other day, because I asked him to keep his phone in his pocket during church. It turned into a rant about how he shouldn't have to go to college to move out, we should just let him leave, he can take care of himself, then it turned into my name being on his birth certificate (that's what happens when you get adopted; we actually had no idea and were surprised to see that when it happened), he doesn't feel like he's a part of his bio family and not part of ours either, with a grand finale of him asking to just rent a room from us and be a "mediocre adult" with no rules for the next 2 years. It was all over the place and exhausting, about 1.5 hours of verbal explosion. I talked to his therapist about it, she said he's actually showing attachment to me as a mother figure and it's a double edged sword because attachment isn't safe for him, and he's probably feeling conflicted about leaving so he's creating some drama to tell himself that he ought to move out to get away from it. Him living here and not going to school would be horrible, the more free time he has the more trouble he gets in. So I'm encouraged that she feels he's showing some attachment though, that's exciting. Also dreading mothers day because he always tells other people's mothers happy mothers day (including calling all his friends' moms "mom") but will never say it to me, and even says it to people who aren't moms at all. Which I know sounds silly but it's hurtful. About 2 days ago he off handedly mentioned that he was going to college in July, so I think his meltdown was just a culmination of feelings etc and he's still planning to go. I'm working hard on taking care of myself to survive the next 2 months (making sure I get enough sleep and alone time etc.), and we are joining an adoption support group which we should have done before but just didn't. We just really need to be able to bounce ideas off of others who have been through similar situations, as well as just be able to relate to others who are going through crazy stuff like kids running away, etc. So none of that really answers your question but that's the latest anyway. He's supposed to enroll in the next week or two and get his official financial aid award and we will go from there. It really is exhausting and right now him moving out actually seems like a great idea. Once he graduates from high school I'll feel so much better about everything, at least that will be done. Edited to add: during his meltdown he also made comments such as "what do you guys get from taking care of me" and "I hate feeling like I owe you" and asking if his birth family would be mentioned if he dies (his biological great aunt recently died and he went to her funeral). There was so much other stuff he said I can't even remember all of it because it was so disjointed. I did ask him to make a list of grievances about living here so we could discuss them and have some time to think about them beforehand, he of course has not done this. And he took the ACT again and still got 17. D'oh!

My DS8 will be in 3rd grade this fall. I gave him the Orange placement test and he did it perfectly except that he didn't get the spelling correct (it was adding -ing and -ed to words, which in all fairness we haven't learned yet). So I gave him the Purple test, just for fun. He completed the reading portion correctly and completed 8 of the 12 skills correctly. The teachers portion of the test says that if he got 8 out of 12 correct then he can start with Purple. Purple says it is for 5th grade. He will be in 3rd grade. I don't want him to be bored but then again I don't want it to be too difficult for him either. He is a very good reader, he is reading constantly, so I'm not worried about that being too difficult for him. I'm more worried about grammar and spelling which we maybe haven't covered yet. Any thoughts on what we should do? I guess we can always start at purple and then go back to Orange if it's too difficult? Or would it be better to just start in Orange?

I'm so sorry for your loss. You are a help; it's helpful knowing we're not the only people in the world who are going through this or have gone through this. It's just such an odd situation, or at least it feels odd compared to everyone else we know who has teenagers (all biological). It's a hard place to be. We will see what happens. I have high hopes, not necessarily that he will come to love and appreciate us (ha ha ha) but more that we have shown him love and consistency and hopefully if he does have children that will help break this cycle. He sees the way we parent his younger siblings, I know he doesn't agree with everything we do but I think he does see the good. His mother was in foster care, it's heartbreaking to see the long line of dysfunction. Maybe that will end here, maybe it won't but we've done the best we know how and will continue to be there for him. He's a smart kid, even just in the past few months he's apologized for how he treated me when he first moved in and we've had conversations about some bad things he's realized about himself. I had realized those things years ago, but it's always easier to see faults in other people than in yourself and I'm proud of him for seeing those things about himself as a 16 year old and thinking about what he needs to do to change. Thanks for all the thoughts you guys. I really do appreciate all the input.

He's always been in contact with his bio family via Facebook. He recently bought a sweater and he had his birth last name put on the back. Of all his family members not one person tried to get him when he came into foster care, but they have him convinced that it was because his bio mom "wouldn't let them". We know that this is not true after speaking with the case worker (she even said from the beginning that there was a lot of family but also a lot of them had kids in foster care) but he'll always believe them over us or his caseworker and that's sad. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Thank you thank you thank you! She just did the test for the Red books and only missed one word on the whole list. So we are just skipping Blue. Thanks very much for the advice.

When I was (much) younger one of my friends told me she had cheated on her live in boyfriend with her boss at work. She was unhappy in her relationship but wasn't going to tell her boyfriend. I thought about it for, oh, an hour or so, and called her boyfriend and told him. So stupid. I should have talked to her about it at the very least before I said anything to him, I mean wow what a terrible friend I was. I am horribly honesty sometimes but need to remember that not everything is my business, that was a good lesson for me to learn but a hard way to learn it. More recently we were at an early morning running race, it was really cold (32 degrees and wind blowing 20 mph). It was an unusually cold day. I had dressed my kids in snow pants and winter coats, and the baby had a blanket as well. There was a little girl there in a stroller wearing just a jacket, thin pants, a thin blanket, and socks and sandals. She was crying. I should have given her the blanket we had, we didn't really need it. I went running and the kids waited in the car with DH since it was so cold but she was in the stroller while her mom did the race. Ack it kills me, why didn't I do anything? I had only a few seconds to make the decision before DH headed back to the car and my indecisiveness got the best of me. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

I'm looking into switching all my kids to this program. Basically I need to save time (mine) and this looks like a great way to do it. I was going to buy the Blue set to start with my 5yo and see how it goes before buying for the older ones. I know we may go through slowly, I'll be working with her more than I would with the older ones just because of her age, etc. My question is - are the readers necessary? She's already reading very well. But I wasn't sure if the lessons reference the material that she would be reading in those books or not. I think they'll be easy for her but I don't mind buying them if they are necessary. Then again I also don't want to waste money! Anyone who has done this program have any thoughts? Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Thank you, that brought tears to my eyes and you are right. All good things to keep in mind as well. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk