Ugh sore throat got so bad last night that it was painful to swallow and radiated into my ears and I couldn't even sleep. I took extra vitamin c, water, and ate some honey. Dh went to Walmart at 12:30 AM and bought me Tylenol and chloroseptic spray. He proceeded to give me four sprays of the stuff (it said to do 5) which I swallowed- and then saw it said to keep it on affected area for 15 seconds and then spit it out!!! I freaked out and called poison control, which I've never done in my life, because I was afraid it would be harmful to the baby, and a very nice nurse named Michelle assured me it wouldn't be and that I'd have to swallow more than what was in the whole bottle for it to do any real harm. So then I slept better. My throat still hurts this morning when I swallow though. But only 12 more days til the ultrasound!

Yeah I love reading about how it changes and grows! :) Thanks, Ibby! It's still sore but no worse than yesterday so hopefully it won't get any worse than this. Gargling with warm water and salt is a good idea! Well, I'm down to under two weeks to wait for my ultrasound...13 more days to go!

Beats me. I want to finish up our curriculum. It's a 36 week curriculum and we've completed 27 weeks. We are behind. We usually finish by the end of May, but even if I consolidate and skip a bit (which I plan to, I don't plan on schooling for nine more weeks!), not sure we can pull that off. We had a few weeks of sickness, my daughter fractured her wrist/forearm and we took time off for that, we still took holiday and spring breaks, and now obsessing over this pregnancy and whether everything will be okay with it, I still haven't been getting as much done as I probably could/should (though we ARE getting stuff done, just not as much as I'd hoped). So I have no idea at this point when our last day will be. I refuse to go past mid June though. :P With all that said if you feel you guys did enough and want to just stop for the summer, there's certainly nothing wrong with that!

I drank beer and smoked pot starting in 7th grade. At that time, I attended a public school. A lot of my friends did the same thing. (And a lot didn't). When I was in 10th grade my mother decided to send me to a private Catholic school to see if that would be "any better." It wasn't. I met quite a few kids there who also drank, smoked cigarettes, smoked pot (sometimes even AT school), etc. ETA: Like KidsHappen said below, most people I knew did not use any harder drugs, and either did I.

lol. So, years ago my husband used to frequent a pool hall owned by this guy, David Adamovich. My husband knew him from there and did some painting for him. He was a non-denominational minister, and when my husband and I decided to get married, my husband asked him to officiate. We got married (while I was six months pregnant with my now 11 1/2 y/o daughter, I confess) at this guy's beautiful waterfront home on Long Island (where we are originally from) and he wouldn't even take payment for marrying us, just said "give me a bottle of wine." All these years later, we find out he went into knife throwing and I found this excerpt about him: The Reverend Dr. David Adamovich is the world's faster and most accurate knife thrower. Better known as "The Great Throwdini," Adamovich holds 25 world records and the Guinness world record for "Most Knives Thrown Around a Human Target in 1 Minute" (102, in case you were wondering). Adamovich only began throwing knives at the age of 50; he holds a doctorate of education degree in exercise physiology from Columbia University and taught graduate students for 18 years. He is also an ordained minister, and he has managed a billiard hall. The Great Throwdini is a currently fixture in the New York sideshow and burlesque scene, and he has performed in venues around the globe. In 2009, he received the Merlin Award from the International Magicians Society. I'm so amused. Can this be my claim to fame or something? :lol:

Sometimes salt only, sometimes ranch dressing, and sometimes cheese and beef gravy. Yum!

:iagree: Or sometimes respond with something like, "That sounds like so much fun! Let me know when you plan to do it again, I'd love to tag along!"

If somebody was driving my kid around and was going to be 30 minutes or more later than they said they would be, I'd want a phone call, or I'd worry. Two hours with no call and not answering a phone is beyond unacceptable!

:iagree: But why didn't the author of said tags fit in care, rare, and Nair? :lol: The cover...eh. Don't like it, don't dislike it. I just can't work up any feelings about it one way or another. I do agree they could have made it look much more natural (like some of the other pics someone linked), but obviously they weren't going for that. btw I started weaning my son at 15 months and finished at 19 months. My daughters, years before, had only been nursed 3-4 months each. So he WAS "extended" for me, but, really, I just don't care either way how long other moms choose to nurse their kids or where or how they choose to do it.

I sure hope so! 14 days to go! Unfortunately, I've now got a killer sore throat. Need to call the dr when they open and find out what I'm allowed to take for it. But in more fun news, at 5w1d if all is well the baby has gone from being the size of an orange seed to the size of a sweet pea lol.

Thanks, all! 15 more days... :D

Haven't read it yet, but it's on my list!

I love OM, too. I've used OMK with my son and really enjoy and appreciate the gentle, non-academic, story, nature, movement, and craft based approach to beginning school. I've also used OM4, OM5, and OM6 with my daughter and while I love that it continues to be a curriculum that isn't dry or textbookish and which integrates a lot and allows for a lot of hands on creativity, there is DEFINITELY a lot more expected when it comes to literature and writing assignments. So it's the kind of thing where if you're going to go for it, go for it. If you want to supplement a little go ahead, but I don't recommend grade skipping out of fear that it's "not enough" in K (seriously, how much does a 5 year old really need academically if s/he isn't in public school) because if you end up with a very young 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th grader still using OM due to that, they may end up over their heads when you reach that point. So my advice is to just enjoy, treasure, and have fun with those younger years. It'll get more academic soon enough.

I know there was a TTC/Pregnancy social group but it seems it hasn't been active in a long time. If anyone is interested, I just started one for women who are pregnant and have due dates in 2012 or 2013. Feel free to join in! I started a couple of discussion topics already but anyone is welcome to start any others at any time! http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/group.php?groupid=175

A framed picture/poster called La Jeune Martyr (The Young Martyr) by Paul Delaroche. It was the first wall decoration my husband and I ever selected together when we first moved in together, before we even married. It's kind of dark/intriguing to me. http://www.amazon.com/Jeune-Martyre-Poster-Print-Delaroche/dp/B000EEQR4U

Oh, to the Chinese take out place, you mean??? :lol: j/k. It's been raining for days, and cold, too. Today says mostly cloudy with 40 percent chance of scattered showers and a high of 72, so I might be able to fit a walk in sometime today!

Well, here girls that age will sometimes get temporary colorful highlights- like pink for breast cancer awareness, green for Saint Patrick's Day etc. The colors can last for months as they go to a place that does it. It is common to have phones with unlimited texting and talk if they just get added to a family plan with their parents, and their parents want them to have a phone so they can get in touch with each other. My 11 y/o has a phone (and she chats and texts her friends on it, although not nonstop or anything) because she's reached an age where she leaves our block to go play at the playground etc, and I want her to always be able to get in touch with me, and I want to always be able to touch base with her. I choose who goes in her contact list that she can call or text. And I can remember having my first crush on a boy in like 3rd or 4th grade even though I didn't "date" until I was in my teens.

It sure did take long enough but today, at 17 dpo (4w6d pregnant) I took another one of my dollar store pregnancy tests, which I haven't done since the morning of 15 dpo, and for the first time ever, it FINALLY looked significantly darker to me. Not as dark as the control line, but not so faint it worried me, at least! Attaching a pic of today's test by itself, and one next to the tests from 13 and 15 dpo for comparison. The one from 13 dpo is so light it doesn't even show up in the picture- it's there, but ridiculously faint. And today's is definitely darker than the one from 15 dpo! :) I guess those dollar store tests DO just take a long time to darken because my tests were taken from 10 dpo to 17 dpo! P.S. 16 more days until my ultrasound! :D P.S.S. In case I haven't said this, I am SO grateful for all of your encouragement, support, feedback, and just being there for/with me through all of this! :) And not just now but ever since my ectopic last summer. It means a lot to know there's always someone "there" who gets it and/or sympathizes and/or celebrates with you, even if they are "just" your Internet Buddies lol. ETA: Katie, congrats on your positive, too!!!

Thanks, all! My doctor's office called today to let me know what my results were, which I already knew. Since the numbers look good, they are not repeating any blood tests. And it was decided I would wait until I reach 7 weeks for my first ultrasound and appointment so that they'd be able to see more. I'll be 7 weeks on 5/24, and my appointment is the morning of 5/25. Hopefully at that time I will see a heartbeat!! 17 more days to wait! I've had a blighted ovum in the past, too (an empty gestational sac) so my next hurdle is seeing that embryo and heartbeat. Trying to stay positive though now that I at least have good news about my hcg levels! :)

On my phone so I can't link, but go to YouTube and look up "Where The Wild Things Are (as read by Christopher Walken)." It was posted by Randumbify. It's HILARIOUS. Not really appropriate for young kids. You watch it before you show it to any children. He reads the book and makes comments about the illustrations which just get funnier and funnier.

Apples with peanut butter, pistachio nuts, and grapes and cheese, or watermelon, and things like that are standards for me!

Yep! Oh and if you're by any chance overweight, that does, too! lol

I am still taking it. Not sure what my dr will say about it but I've read it should be continued through like 2nd trimester and that stopping it might even lead to m/c! Don't joke! My mother had twin boys, and one of them had twin boys, so surely the odds of me having them too are pretty slim, even though my mother couldn't resist pointing out that the older you are and the more pregnancies you've had, the more likely twins are. I think I'd have a heart attack lol. I just hope this one sticks! Thanks so much for all the prayers, well wishes and support through all this, everyone!

Was able to get today's results! 11 dpo: 34.28 13 dpo: 58.49 15 dpo: 131.31! They more than doubled this time!!!! :001_smile::001_smile::001_smile:

Well, generally speaking, I agree with all of this. I would not feel right about telling any of my kids, even if some of them were stepkids, that they couldn't/shouldn't visit me if they felt so inclined to on Mother's Day. Maybe she does want to be with you and your kids and her dad. Maybe she feels it wouldn't be right of her to NOT visit you on Mother's Day. She could be sitting there thinking "I'm a mom, this is my day, I'll do whatever I want, I have no obligation to visit my mother or stepmother"- but she wants to spend her Mother's Day visiting you. To me, that DOES mean something. However, after you said all this: I can acknowledge that this really IS a difficult time and situation for you. So in this case I don't think you'd be out of line to say, "I haven't been feeling well this pregnancy, as you know the house is already packed with my family, and to top it all off, I have a bathroom remodeling project going on, so we either need to visit another time this year, or you would need to get a hotel room and just visit for a few hours. You're welcome to help with the project, if you'd like, if you do that! :) " But the thing is it doesn't sound like this is just about this weekend, or Mother's Day, but about your relationship with her and feelings about her in general.