finally!

Whew! I am finally getting back to myself and wanted to share the u/s photo from yesterday. Speck is doing great! We finally saw a heartbeat and it was a good strong 161 bpm. He/she is measuring right on target again and is still due Dec. 25th. My b/p was actually kind of low at 106/64 but I attribute that to having a stomach virus. I'm maintaining the 4 pound loss and am still at 158. My OB gave me some Phenergan for the nausea/vomiting from the virus and holy crap! That stuff knocked me out for 14 hours. Won't be using that stuff unless there's no other choice!

first ultrasound

And we have a baby! Well, sort of - we have a yolk sac and we sort of saw a baby but it was nearly impossible to get any sort of picture of it. They kept going back and forth between abdominal and vaginal u/s, and the tech finally decided I might be a week less far along than thought. The due date has tentatively been pushed back to Jan 2nd, but I'm going to wait until the next u/s in 2 weeks to see if that changes again before I worry about it. They got a measurement of 6w2d abdominally and 5w5d vaginally. I know for a fact that this baby can't be *too* terribly far behind the due date. I was in there forever! Other than that, all of my bloodwork for liver and kidney function came back great, which was good to hear! So far everything looks good. Can't wait to see an actual baby in 2 weeks :lol: Here's what we can see so far. I'm calling this one Speck LOL.

All the other stuff looks good. I was down to 158, blood pressure was I believe 124/76. Obviously I was wrong last time and the top number was in the 120s, not the 160s.

beta number!!

So I got my beta number today from the blood draw on the 29th. I was either 5w6d or 6 weeks exactly depending on how you calculate things. I'm going to stick with 6 weeks - nice even number and it matches the Christmas due date. That whole dating thing is still so confusing. Anyway, the number was 5371. I think that's right down the middle of normal. We like normal! I go in Tuesday morning for the first ultrasound - looking forward to that!! I should be a day shy of 7 weeks. I have a feeling Monday is really going to drag! Hubby is taking all of Tuesday off because we're taking the kids to a surprise pool party for one of their PE buddies after homeschool PE. I wonder if he'll be brave enough to come to PE and be the only guy?

6 weeks!

I've decided to start blogging again. Why not, right? So I'm 6 weeks today with baby #4. Here's the timeline so far:

BFP on April 19th
1st OB appt on Apr 27th (BP 120/82, weight 162)
labs on Apr 29th (24-hour urine, quantitative beta, progesterone, creatinine plus creatinine clearance, CBC w/differentials, uric acid, ALT, and AFP)

Since I had such horrible problems with Coral - severe pre-eclampsia, HELLP, ICP, placentomegaly, polyhydramnios, premature labor, abruption, and delivery at 30 weeks - my OB is keeping a very close eye on things. Dr. K ordered all the bloodwork from today to get a baseline reading on how well my kidneys and liver are working considering how sick I was last time. She was actually surprised that I didn't have any of this done after I had Coral. I have a 50% chance of developing pre-e again this time. I'm terrified at the thought of winding up on bedrest in the hospital, or having another preemie, especially earlier than Coral was. Six weeks in the NICU was heartbreaking enough. At the same time I feel like such a different person from who I was last pregnancy. Now that I know what can go wrong, I don't feel so passive and so clueless. I know to ask questions and let my doctors know if *anything* feels amiss.

On the day-to-day front, I feel pregnant! Nauseous, upset stomach, fat. Luckily the lab was awesome today and we were in and out in 15 minutes, with one very clean stick. Amazing how I'm the one who does the bloodletting and the kids were the ones who got lollipops and stickers! I'm also looking forward to my first ultrasound next Tuesday!

Pumpkin Spice blog train kit!

Download the 300dpi version here.

Download the 72dpi version here.

This kit is part of a collaborative Pumpkin Spice blog train and includes 7 papers, 3 frames (1 glitter), and 5 elements as shown. Be sure to pick up all components of the kit at the following blogs!

Follow the blog train!
CMB Desings http://twocutiesmom.wordpress.com/
DigiDream Digitals http://digidreamdigitals.wordpress.com/
Eden Lane Designs http://edenlanedesigns.com/?cat=1
Gifted Goose http://giftedgoose.blogspot.com/
Hurricane Ranch http://hurricaneranch.blogspot.com/ you are here!
Kat's Creations: http://princessk316.blogspot.com
Krissy Jo Designs http://krissyjodesigns.wordpress.com/
le pingouin designs http://www.lepingouindesigns.blogspot.com/
Man in the Moon Designs http://maninthemoondesigns.blogspot.com/
mommatrish designs http://mommatrishdesigns.blogspot.com
My Little Flutterby http://mylittleflutterby.blogspot.com
Princess Kate Designs http://princesskatedesigns.blogspot.com/
Sava's Scraps http://savamama.wordpress.com/
Shanmomto4 designs http://shanmomto4.blogspot.com/
Spinky Dink Scraps http://spinkydinkscraps.blogspot.com/
TDesigns http://tracysdesigns.blogspot.com
Un-Leash-ed-Scraps http://unleashedscraps.blogspot.com/

school time! 1st day Aug 18th

I'm going back in time a little bit but I decided I wanted to add every day of lesson plans for our school to look back on and to share with others! To highlight, our first day was August 18th. Alexei is 7 and in 2nd grade with Florida Connections Academy (FCA), a virtual school. Basically we homeschool using a private school curriculum (Calvert) that is funded and overseen like a public school (i.e. we're still responsible for marking daily attendance, have to make adequate progress and take tests/receive grades, have a teacher we can talk to and must call once a month, and must take state testing starting in 3rd grade). It's a great program with a lot of flexibility and we love it! Alexei did FCA last year and I don't have enough good things to say about it. Ibis is 5 and being homeschooled in kindergarten (due to FL's changing laws she may not be allowed to enter a virtual school without attending a year of public school first - that is never going to happen! We are using Harcourt materials for Ibis.

Alexei - week 1 lesson plans
Monday :
math - completing addition wheels
science - reading about an ocean explorer and seeing how objects look on land versus water
lang arts - writing parent/student goal for reading for the year
art - taking a line around a page and coloring in the shapes

Tuesday:
math - adding single-digit numbers with sums greater than 10
soc stud - learning about The Star Spangled Banner

Wednesday:
math - counting up to ten and addiing the difference to add single-digit numbers
science - reading about science safety (during experiments, observations, etc)
soc stud - learning days of week/months of year and # of days in each month; studying a calendar

Thursday:
math - adding using doubles (plus or minus one)
soc stud - overview of 5 themes of geography (location, place, human/environment interaction, movement, regions)
lang arts - read Len and Linda's Picnic and learning how to predict, decode phonics, clarify

Friday:
math - using week's strategies to add
science - learn how to use meter stick, thermometer, and magnifying glass
lang arts - go over spelling words (ask, sat, fan, map, hand, cap, sad, fat, bat, as) and create a journal entry
art - draw an outline of a human figure

week 2 lesson plans
Monday:
math - review addition facts to 12
science - learn the steps of a scientific investigation
lang arts - reviewing beginning consonant sounds/consonant clusters

Tuesday:
math - counting back to subtract
soc stud - learn about land/water forms (island, lake, river, valley, hill, mountain, plain, ocean) and create a land and a water collage
lang arts - digraph sounds (ch, sh, th, wh) and practice writing complete sentences
edu tech - practice keyboarding numbers/letters

Wednesday:
math - subtraction patterns (5-0, 5-1, 5-2, 5-3, 5-4, 5-5)
science - test
soc stud - human/environment interaction (clothes for seasons, how people use the land)
lang arts - review short vowel sounds, trace hand and write one idea about yourself on each finger, then write a draft composition about yourself with a sentence for each finger

Thursday:
math - counting up to subtract
soc stud - quiz
lang arts - putting letters together to make words, word bank (bought, kitchen, roll, front, until), edit and publish draft
edu tech - keyboard letters along rows

Friday:
math - related subtraction facts (9-4=5, 9-5=4)
science - learn about roots, stems, & leaves and how plants get water
lang arts - spelling words and journal entry
art - draw forms of transportation

TS Fay, moving?!, and sleeping woes

We are on day 3 of the darned longest tropical storm I've ever seen! Rain bands from Fay started up on Monday, and lasted all of Tuesday with winds and showers. All day Wednesday as well because this baby likes to stick around. We're still getting rain and wind and it's Thursday! Craziness.

We are also expecting to move at the end of the month. That leaves us 11 days to organize, pack, clean, move, and arrange all the details like boxes, a moving truck, utilities, phone, cable, blah blah blah... We are really excited to be moving to a house with a HUGE stinkin yard, from a house with essentially 20 feet of weed patch and no access. I am really in the moving blues though. Not looking forward to the process, or the change of landlords, or (as much as I hate to admit it) leaving this little house behind. We've been here for almost 4 years and even though we really want out, at the same time it's been our home and safe haven and the thought of leaving it is really hard! Luckily we'll be in the same general area so we won't be looking at new stores and parks and stuff too, but I still have this half-swallowed lump in my throat and a nervous gurgling in my stomach!

I'm up at 12:08 am in part because I'm a night owl and I'm nervous about this move, and in part because Coral has decided she's not going to sleep until 11:30 every night. I've never seen such a young toddler in such protest of sleep! I'll finally get her to sleep because she'll pass out on the living room floor or in my arms. She refuses to nurse to sleep, and shakes her head vigorously no if I try to sign to her (can't blame her there!) She knows that warm milk and soft songs and a glider are sure to send her to dreamland, so she resists them with all her might and attitude. Finally Coral will lay on the floor and her eyes will roll back in her head and she'll be out for the night. I'll get her into bed around 11:45, and she'll wake sometime between 2 and 5 to nurse and be back out. Then she'll awaken around 7 for more nursing and if I'm lucky she'll go back to sleep until 9 or so. Then she's up for the day! I can barely get her to nap anymore. Two nights ago she fell asleep in her feeding chair at dinner! I picked her up and put her in her crib and she lasted 30 minutes and was raring to go until 11:30. Where does this baby find the energy? It's like she can't stand to miss a moment!