Thank you so much for all of the words of support. It really does mean a lot, and it does help. I called my doctor this morning and they want me to go in at 3 PM today for an ultrasound to see where things stand. The bleeding has gotten a little heavier but I still have not m/c yet. I really doubt they'll send me for a D&C late this afternoon/evening but maybe she will give me the option to go in the morning if nothing has changed by then. I will update again later.

Thank you for the colander idea...I had not thought of that. That will definitely help ease the stress of trying to figure out how to retrieve it, at least. Of course, it still sucks all around and I can't imagine it not being traumatic having to see and collect everything..but that is what I will do if it does happen naturally. I'm still going to call dr in AM though and ask if they can just do it surgically, if it hasn't already happened by then. I just think it will be less traumatic and stressful and maybe give a bit more of a sense of immediate closure. I've spent so much time hoping, wishing, praying for a normal healthy pregnancy and for it to work out and now I'm just wishing for it to hurry up and end already. Kind of ironic. I just really want this over with though. It's not fun waiting this out and having to try to steel myself to see it, gather it, identify it, bring it to the lab... just, ugh. :( :(

So as you already probably know, last Weds was when I got news that the baby at 8 weeks 3 days was still only measuring 5 weeks 6 days, which was the same as it had measured the week before- it hadn't grown at all. Heartbeat was still there, but was still slower than it should have been. I knew it was just another miscarriage waiting to happen. Thursday and Friday with no spotting or cramping or anything I went ahead with planned field trips, just trying to stay busy and distracted and not think about it. Saturday, I started having spotting. It was pink and only when I wiped, but not every time, just sort of light and sporadic. So I decided I better not leave the house. But nothing happened. Sunday, the spotting became brown and there was more of it. Continued sticking around home, but nothing else happened. Today, it became red, sometimes with brown mixed in, and it's not just when I wipe anymore but on a pad, too. It's been like a light period all day. I've been mildly crampy on and off. I figured today would be the day I would officially miscarry. But here it is, after midnight, and it still hasn't officially happened. I haven't left my house for three days because I'm scared it will happen while I'm out somewhere, and I feel like a prisoner here. I've already started canceling scheduled events, probably can't get the kids to scheduled activities this week, I know it sounds petty all things considered, but I hate feeling "stuck" at home. I don't know what to expect exactly, it didn't take this long last time from the time I started bleeding. I lost it by the next day. I dread it every time I go into the bathroom. I am a nervous wreck because I'm supposed to be able to retrieve it for chromosomal testing and I am still not sure how I'm supposed to accomplish that without it just slipping away down the toilet bowl or whether I'll recognize it for being definitely "it" and not just other tissue or whatever. I am so sad that this is going to be my third loss in a row, I am so stressed over what to expect, when, how to retrieve it. I am exhausted and having an impossible time falling asleep and keep feeling like I have to go to the bathroom again and again to check what's going on. I just want this over with. I can't even stand it anymore. I think I might call the doctor's office first thing in the AM and ask them if they can just do a D&C or something so this can be over with and so THEY can retrieve whatever they need to retrieve for testing. But who knows if they'll say yes or how long I'd have to wait for that to be scheduled or if it will happen on its own before then. I could REALLY use some sympathy right now. This is just miserable. :( ETA: update page 13 :(

Breathe. It sounds like you've got a good plan, you're a concerned parent, he sounds like a bright kid. Many schools just aren't that impressive these days and odds are you'll do as well or better than they would have. And if there are some "gaps" if and when you send him back to school, so what? They'll bring him up to speed. Don't beat yourself up, do your best, enjoy the experience, remember that curricula isn't the be all end all to education and learning, and I'm sure everything will be fine. Keep reading positive stuff about homeschooling too, it helps settle the nerves lol. I know pulling a kid out of school can be a bit nerve-wracking and my daughter was only in 3rd grade. But I haven't looked back! :)

Still no attempted contact. I heard from her leader just a few minutes ago and she told me that she just talked to the boy's father, who was very apologetic. He confirmed to her that the boy does have some issues for which he sees a psychiatrist and he's going to discuss all of this with him. He also said that he had no knowledge of the attempted suicide the boy mentioned and was thankful that I brought it to the attention of the girl scouts leader so that she could bring it to him. They said we should not have any further contact from the boy and that if we do I should let the leader know and she will talk to the dad again. So at this point it seems pretty resolved!

Look on meetup dot com and see if there is something in your area you may be interested in- a stay at home mom's group, a homeschooling group, or something interest based like a book club or knitting group. Maybe once a week you can use the car even. Maybe your library has things going on there. Or maybe you can volunteer somewhere- daycare, nursing home, environmental... Once when we lived in a gated community in the poconos that had its own message board type thing we posted asking if other couples wanted to get together some evenings to play cards or board games and had a few couples respond.

It's sort of like this with us. We do have our assigned work but I do believe that curricula is just one small portion of how kids learn. We go to the library regularly and pick out books to read together and alone. We watch documentaries, go on frequent outings and field trips, play games. I encourage varied extracurricular activities and let the kids do them for as long as they are interested. For my daughter right now that's judo, which she's been doing for almost two years, Girl Scouts, which she's been doing for over five years, guitar lessons, which she's been taking for about a year, library book club, periodic homeschool bowling leagues, etc. If she has an interest in something, I try to figure out how it can be pursued. She wants to be a tattoo artist like her dad, so we send her to work with him sometimes. She expressed interest in theater and acting, so I took her to audition for a small local play. She loves artsy things so I sign her up for summer art camps each year. She is starting to be interested in photography so I let her use my camera to take pics. She likes rocks so she collects them, I got her a rock tumbler, look for free programs at local state parks regarding rocks and minerals. Sometimes it's just about trying different things and helping them find out what they happen to be interested in or good at!

Make sure the litter boxes are cleaned frequently. If there are clumps in them some cats don't like to go in them. Don't leave towels or clothes on the floors. Shut the bedroom doors and don't let her in the bedrooms.

Pay attention Don't let the cat out

If you mean soft boiled, we peel them, put them in a bowl served warm and use a spoon to eat them with, sort of breaking them up and eating/dipping toast into the yolks. If you mean hard boiled, I peel them, sprinkle salt all over them, and eat them while holding them with my fingers (and sprinkling more salt onto the yolk as I get to it). In that case, I eat them cold. I also like deviled eggs and egg salad sandwiches!

I have one by Cornelia Maude Spelman called Your Body Belongs To You. It's geared for preschool through 2nd grade.

Definitely awesome!! Happy birthday to your son!

A bounce house would be fun! So would a zombie versus humans nerf tag game! Designate some as humans and some as zombies and they have to try to shoot each other and maybe capture the other team's flag or whatever. Carnival games would be fun with candy prizes like someone else said. They could take turns wrapping a teammate in toilet paper like a mummy and then having relay race type things. I like the punch in a cauldron and they sell plastic eyeballs you can float in there! Instead of cake you could do cupcakes and decorate them in halloween colors and themes.

Thanks for all of the input (and positive feedback on how my daughter handled things!) It's been like five hours since the last text from my husband, and he still hasn't contacted either my husband or daughter again. I hope it stays that way! I just got a text from the girl scouts leader saying "I have left a message for the scout master with that pack but he hasn't returned my call yet. As soon as I hear from him I will update you. If he doesn't return my call by tomorrow I will call him again until I get a response." I thanked her and then offered to email her a transcript of all the text messages so she could see and share exactly what was said. She said that would be great actually, and so I just went through all the texts and typed them up and emailed them to her so she can see them, show them to the scout master, and they can decide what steps they need to take next on their end. As far as I'm concerned, I'm done with it personally unless he starts texting again! I will have to talk further with my daughter about who she should and shouldn't give out contact info to in the future but I think enough has been talked about for today!

I like Nathan's and Hebrew National!

Thanks, all. He still has not tried to contact any of us again, so hopefully this is the end of it. I told my daughter that when she gets her phone, she should not text him, she should not delete any of his texts in case we need to refer to them, and should let us know immediately if he texts her. She agreed and I think I can trust her on this. Hopefully the scout master will be able to convey to him whatever message and lesson is appropriate for the situation. Boy, you really wish your kids would never have to be exposed to tough issues, and it's like flying by the seat of your pants trying to figure out how to be honest and real with them and do damage control as necessary and protect their innocence as best you can all at the same time- I'm just glad she has a good relationship with us and that we keep open lines of communication and that she always tends to come to us with questions, things she hears, stuff like this...

Unfortunately, no. We had an issue with someone in the past whose number we wanted to block, and when we called AT&T they said the only way to do it was to pay for Smart Limits. So far no further contact.

Well my husband texted him from his phone and said who he was and that our daughter is only 11 years old and we do monitor her text messages. He said the things you were saying to her were not appropriate or something a girl that age should have to deal with and because of that and your age, she is not allowed to stay in contact with you. Please do not text her again, we will be monitoring her phone closely. In the meanwhile, her leader called back and I explained what had happened and that we were texting him back to ask him to cease contact and wanted to let her know as well in case there is anything she had to do on her end. She plans to contact his scout master and will keep me informed. Then the kid texted my husband back and said sir, I am a good kid, what did I say that was inappropriate? My husband replied, she is only 11. She does not need a 14 year old kid she met 24 hours ago talking to her about suicide and personal problems. You do not need to contact me or my daughter again. He wrote back, sir that was a long time ago. I am not like that anymore, I am a Catholic, and Boy Scouts changed me a lot. Dh replied I understand that, but you talked to her about it today and it is not a topic appropriate for her age, or for someone you just met yesterday. And you are too old to have a relationship with her. I hope I have made myself clear to you that I do not want you to contact me or my daughter. I will not be responding to any further texts from you. Going to leave it in the scout masters hands now and hold onto dd's phone for a couple of days to make sure he doesn't start texting her again. I did praise her a lot for coming to us and that I was proud of her for not trying to keep an inappropriate secret etc.

Yep. Annoying. In fact, I might have to respond with, "Seriously? Why don't YOU take a turn cleaning the da*n kitchen for once?"

My daughter, who will be 12 in a week and a half, spent the day at a camporee type thing with girl scouts yesterday from 9 AM to 10 PM. When my husband picked her up, he told me, "She gave her number to a 14 year old boy and he's texting her already." I asked what a boy was doing at a girl scouts event to begin with, and was told he was there helping show them how to tie knots or some such. So when they got home, my daughter said that he had asked her if she wanted to exchange numbers so they could stay in touch, she did so, and when he texted her, we said she could respond (it was just stuff like "hey," "did so and so take my phone number, too," "what town do you live in") but that we were going to monitor these texts and if anything inappropriate was said, there would be no more contact. Then he asked her what she was doing tomorrow and if she wanted to hang out, "just a friendly thing." She said upon our instruction that she is not allowed to "hang out" with teenaged boys. He asked "why not?" and said, "It's not like I'm going to hurt you or do anything to you." We had her say, "Sorry, my parents won't let me," he said "OK," and we sent her to bed, keeping her phone with us. Today she came to me and told me he'd texted her again today, and showed me the texts. He asked her if she could keep a secret and started saying all this stuff to her about when he was in school from K through 6th grade he was bullied badly and even considered suicide and she couldn't tell anyone because he couldn't go through that again and would have to kill himself if she told, and how he also has ADHD and OCD and a bunch of stuff like that. She had answered with things like, "I'm sorry," a sad face, whatever. He asked if that was "too much" for her and she said no, and he said, "then you can be my new best friend." I told her she had done the right thing by showing it to me, that he had issues that were not at all appropriate to discuss with a girl who is still just 11 years old, that I did not want her communicating with him any further as she did not need any of this stuff on her shoulders, etc. She was mildly upset/felt a little bad and wanted to know what was she supposed to do, just ignore him, and I said I would discuss it with her father and I was keeping her phone with me for now. I mentioned it to my husband, and I called dd's girl scouts leader, but just got a voicemail and am awaiting a return call. I have her phone in my pocket and he's periodically texting her "What's up" and "hello." Again, I'm going to discuss it with the leader so she can do anything she feels necessary on her end, and I doubt he's going to be at any further girl scout events for quite some time, if ever, but I really don't want him texting her anymore. Who knows what else he might say. Should I text him and say that I am her mother (or father) and that the things he has been telling her are not appropriate and too intense for a girl who isn't even 12 years old yet and that we have told her she is not allowed to text with him anymore, and then hold on to her phone for a couple of days to see if he abides by that? I suppose I could block his number but I'd have to call AT&T, sign up for "smart limits" which has an extra fee each month, and then block him through there once it went through. I guess I may not have much choice, though. What would you do? Please don't quote, I may delete this later.

We are using OM6 and I still do a lot of it with my daughter, but it's fun! The social studies and science lessons are pretty brief so it doesn't take long to read them with her. Then we will look over the assignments and some she just does on her own with me checking in or looking it over afterward, and some I hang out with her for and help, watch, or offer guidance. It depends what it is. If the literature is something I'm interested in, I might read it with her, other times I have her do it on her own. It all depends on the kid, and on you, but we really enjoy it, and she does get more independent every year!

I've used OMK and currently OM1 with my son, and OM4, OM5, and more than half of OM6 so far with my daughter. So far it's all been broken down into 36 weekly lesson plans, although in my OM6 (I have an older version) social studies is broken down into days. There is a lot of writing but I like that there are almost always creative choices of things to write about, hands on projects and activities, living books, lots of integration. And sometimes instead of writing they can choose to draw or make a model of something instead, and you can always modify if you feel there's too much writing- shorten it, do some of it orally, skip some of it, whatever. I blog a lot about Oak Meadow if you want to check it out.

Don't feel bad! We are just teasing, not in a mean way! Hope everything's ok!

Except on Mondays, of course. (I agree that the Wednesday and Thursday people are petty)!

That only annoys me on Mondays.