My little Punkin is 10 months old today. What joy she brings to my life. I am fascinated by her perspective on things and I love to watch her play with her toys and explore the house at her baby level. She squeals in delight when the dogs come near her; she claps when she sees us approach her with "puffs", her favorite snack; she points to everything in her bathtub book, inquisitive about the object's name; she has an assured determination when attempting new tasks, calmly trying until she is successful; she "speaks" her mind when she is frustrated, shouting loudly when she wants to feed herself, for example. She is a happy and confident baby.

Well, the doctor's office called yesterday with my hcg results. They were 23, a little on the low side. The woman said it could be because I'm just barely pregnant and the most important thing is that the bloodwork from today shows the levels doubling every 48 hours. So I went and had more blood drawn this morning, but we have to wait until Monday to get the results. What a long weekend this will be! I've also been taking progesterone supplements every night at bedtime. It's a suppository, so that's no fun. I have to take it daily until I'm 12 weeks, just as a precaution, since my progesterone levels were actually quite high when they were tested.

Big Sis

Although I won’t post this today, I am so incredibly excited to have learned this morning that we are expecting another baby! I actually went off birth control in December, and after a discussion with my doctor, we felt like it was time to try Clomid. This was my first month taking the medicine. I experienced a lot of side effects, including mood swings, hot flashes, swelling and pain in my ovaries, water retention, and weight gain. Not too fun, so I was so happy it took on the first try!

Mike and I are a little nervous about our financial situation, with the store still being new and the economy still unstable, but ultimately we want Mia to have a sibling, and we want them to be close in age. We think 22 months will be a great age difference – just like Missy and me! The economic and financial situations will be temporary, and our desire to have a child will not be, so we go with what we know is right in our hearts.

I feel so happy and blessed…and a bit scared. I will have to take progesterone supplements to try to keep the pregnancy, and I will go to the doctor every other day to test my hcg levels. Not sure what will happen beyond that. We will just say a lot of prayers and put our faith in God.