The Responsibility Chart

I LOVE this thing!

A few months ago I was trying to figure out a way to track Carter's activities thru out the day as well as reward him for good behavior. I mentioned it to my mom and she suggested we head to the Lake Shore Learning Center who carry school supplies, etc. They have big charts and little charts. Charts with words only and charts with pictures.


We picked the pictures so Carter could make the association between his activity and where to put the smiley face. This chart also has two blank areas where you can write your own chore or activity down. Now when he won't pick up his toys I say, "No smiley face if you don't pick them up".

It works most of the time..hehe

No Heartbeat

This is definately not the post I thought we would be putting up on this blog. I really thought this one would make it because the positive was so strong. The pregnancy had been going well and I wasn't sick. Thursday, September 4th we went for our first ultrasound. The baby measured 7 weeks, 3 days and had a good heartbeat. The doctor said after the baby measures 1 cm you have a 3% chance of miscarriage. Ours measured exactly 1 cm.

The next day we headed for San Deigo to visit the SD Zoo and Marine Land while celebrating Eric's birthday with our good friends the Leonards who are also pregnant with their second child.

Just before heading out I started spotting. Beck had the same thing happen, so I called the doctor and we all decided it would be best for me to stay back at the hotel and rest, which I did. The doctor called back and said it if stops no worries and Marine Land should be fine, but to come into the office on Tuesday for a check-up. We finished our fun filled Labor Day weekend out with no cause for alarm.

Tuesday, I went in and prepped for the ultrasound. The baby measured 8 weeks, so it had grown since Thursday, but no heart beat. Our baby was gone. They sent me to Hoag to confirm and then scheduled a D&C which I had last Friday. The tissue is being sent for pathology to confirm a chromosome abnormality, or my fear, not enough progesterone to support the child's growth. I would hate that be the reason the little one didn't make it since it's easily remedied with a progersterone suppository.

We will be seeing an infertility doctor beginning in October, after all the pathology is back from the lab telling the baby's demise and sex.

Yes, women have miscarriages all the time. It's just after seeing it wiggle and squrm with a heart beat and looking so full of life, I don't want to discount it's short time with us. When dad died, they said he stopped breathing, his heart stopped. He was alive and then dead. My baby breathed thru me and had a heart beat. He or she was alive and it counted. Now I have a someone new to meet when I get to heaven.

When we start trying again and get pregnant, I know we will all celebrate again.

Tummy Hurt

A few weeks Carter woke up saying, 'tummy hurt'. I thought it was because he was hungry and didn't each much for dinner the night before. We went into the kitchen where I put him in his chair and started naming breakfast items he might want. He said no to them all. Then Eric came in and said, "No, I think he really has a tummy ache". I thought, wow, my first 'mommy I have a tummy ache' moment. I looked at the clock. It was 8am. That gave me one hour to shower and get dressed before the doctors opened, if he was in fact sick. I put Carter on the couch and hopped in the shower. Twenty minutes later he was still sitting there and hadn't moved a muscle. He was definatley sick.

We jumped in the car and headed to the doctors which is five minutes away. On the way there, he started crying and yes, throwing up alllllllll over. Luckily he hadn't eaten anything so it didn't go far. We got into the office and got a room where I gave him some juice. ....bad idea. He proceeded to vomit all over me.. my shirt, pants, the floor.. you can see in the picture the towels and chair moved forward. I jumped up after he started throwing up and opened the door to call for help. It was great. The doctor was standing there, and said he'd be there in just a minute as I''m dripping vomit and Carter is behind me still yacking it up. Then we got some action. The nurses ran in with towels and a quick disolivng tablet of zophran. I called Eric to bring us a change of clothes and one hour later he was sucking on pedialite popsicles and ready to play.

When we got home Eric told him he could watch a movie because he had a tummy ache and gets to do special stuff.

Now when he wants to watch a movie and I tell him no, he says, "tummy hurt".. and I laugh.