30

Today is my sweet Husbands 30th birthday. FINALLY! Now he will join me in the 30's bracket and will maybe stop telling me how old I am (not likely. I seem to constantly stay 1.5 years older. Cougar.). I got him the coolest present ever. Seriously, I am so excited to give it to him. And I would tell you all what it is, but from time to time he stops in here to see what his wife is babbling about and today may be one of those days. So... you must wait. But I will tell you I am excited. It isn't like a cruise or anything. Don't be ridiculous. It's just awesome.

Anyway. I am making him a picture slide-show for his Big Birthday Bash we are having next weekend (pushed back a week due to UK's amazing run to the FINAL FOUR!). I would show you that, but too many people who will be at the party also read the blog. So... you must wait to watch 11 minutes of Nicholas filled glory. But, since it's his birthday, I will show you a few of my favorite pictures. Just because I am rather fond of the guy. So here is a little walk down the memory lane of Nick's first 30 years.

Look a little like someone we know?

Hanging out with Big brother Chris and a tiny little dog.

The middle school years

Some girl shows up in the pictures around 2000

A master fisherman. Clearly.

He studied hard in college. And got an amazing dog.

Seriously. He is adorable.

He married that girl in 2006. It was a good day.

He built her a house with his own two hands. Or at least part of a house.

They love the Bengals. And doing stuff together.

He always makes her laugh.

They decided to have a baby. He was really excited.

Oh how he loves his boy

They are exactly alike.

And he likes to teach him stuff.

Happy birthday, my husband. I can't wait to start our next 30 years together. xoxo

The New Plan

Well I had my appointment today, and I feel so good about it. I only teared up two times, and tears never actually rolled, so I was pretty proud of that! Doc told me how sorry he was that it hadn't worked. That for 2011 they have had a 75% success rate with FET's, but he was very sad that it couldn't be 100%. I told him I was too, and there just wasn't much more to say about the failed cycle after that.

We then moved on to our Last Chance cycle. I jumped right in and was honest about be interested in using a different protocol and wanting to be more closely monitored this time. For some reason I was worried he would be angry or roll his eyes or tell me to get off the internet, but he didn't. He was great! He seemed to think Lupron was a very good idea for me this time, since I had a hard time with the birth control last time. He wasn't sure the blood work was necessary at first, but agreed do a baseline check after my period and then also check at my ultrasound on cycle day nine. The more we talked about my history, the more he seemed to think the blood work was a good idea. He was not at all for the trigger shot, but he completely explained why and I am 100% okay with that. He really said that was for a different type of protocol all together, one that he stopped doing years ago because it's success rates were much lower.

He gave me lots of options, talking about the pros and cons of different drugs. He took his time and made sure I was 100% comfortable and on board with every step. He told me if I thought about it and wanted to switch things up later that it was perfectly okay. If felt like we were a team, and I can say without a doubt that when this cycle is done, win or loose, I will know that I have no regrets about how we did it. I asked my questions and feel like we are doing everything we can to give these embryos their chance. That's the most I can do.

So I start injections on April 15th. Good bye to the idea of a cycle without shots. This one will have one a day for two months. May 25h I start my patches, June 7th I have my ultrasound and blood work, June 14th we transfer in our sweet last chance embryos. I can't wait.

FET Questions

Tomorrow is my follow-up appointment to discuss our FET with Doc. What went wrong, what can we do differently this time, things like that. I have been anxious about the appointment since the day after we found out the FET didn't work. Mainly because there were issues I had with our FET. Issues that I wish I had been more vocal about from the start. And really, I have no idea if my issues amount to a hill of beans when it came down to result time, but I just felt like things started off rather shaky. So when the final results came back negative of course my mind goes to the things that had me worried from the start.

When I started the birth control pills to regulate my cycle, I started spotting. And then I never stopped. I was suppose to go off the pills and then have a period, but since I had bled the entire month, that of course didn't happen. They had me come in for an ultrasound and everything looked good, but still. It bothered me. Then when I started my patches I started cramping really bad. I mentioned it at my monitoring appointment on cycle day nine, but he said everything looked good and we were go for transfer. Now, looking back, I just feel like maybe my body was rejecting the cycle from the start.

I know lots of different doctors have different protocols, but Doc doesn't do any blood work for an FET. Is that normal? When we did our IVF my baseline blood work was off and the cycle was canceled. I ended up having to go on Lupron for a month leading up to the cycle to get everything where it should be. I asked Doc this time if that was necessary again and he said no because levels don't matter for an FET. Is that true? Do some people do Lupron prior to starting a Frozen Transfer? Is it wrong that I want to do it, just because in my head it helped with Henry?

What about a trigger shot? Does anybody know why some doctors do this for FET's and others don't? I hate to go in and say "Well I read online that all the other doctors do it!" without some sort of facts behind why it might be better. Still. I just feel like I want more monitoring, more medications that these other doctors use. I mean, clearly they believe it helps. I know my doctor doesn't feel they are necessary, but what if I want to try them anyway? How hard do I push for that?

I trust Doc. I truly do. He gave us our sweet Henry and just because our FET didn't work doesn't mean I am jumping ship. I just feel like they have a standard FET procedure that didn't work for us. I am now interested in other options to see if they might give us better results. The one thing I know is that this is our last cycle, so I am doing everything I can to make sure when it's over I am not sitting there saying "I wish I had spoken up" or "I wonder if it would have made a difference". It's my last chance to fight for this, so there will be no more just assuming the doctors know best. They might, but I want it explained to me so I know I agree.

If you have done an FET before, I would love to hear your doctor's protocol!

A Gift

I have been struggling a lot this past week. Struggling with the negative, and struggling with the limbo of having our final two frozen embryos, but not being able to transfer them because of lack of money. My fears of the extra time making things worse for our odds of success has been killing me. And the thought of just not knowing, as months and months pass, has constantly been heavy on my heart. We found out today that we no longer have to worry. At least not about the wait or the money. My amazing Nana told me this afternoon that she wants to pay for our final FET. I am touched beyond words. Truly. Just overwhelmed with the love and support.Thank you Nana. I love you so much. I can never truly tell you how much this means to us all.

So here we go! Our final cycle. Not in six months or a year, but starting now. I have my follow-up appointment for this failed cycle on Tuesday. I will get the details and time line then for our next attempt to bring home our baby #2!

Focus

On Wednesday, as I was laying on my couch, I had lots of very important thoughts rolling around in my head. Things like how to get away with robbing a bank, or how much I hate insurance companies ( I hate them a LOT, if you are curious). But I also thought a lot about working on a little self improvement during this required wait for our final FET. I looked down and realized how unhappy I am with myself right now. Not just for my body letting me down on the entire baby situation, but on how I have let myself down on filling myself full of crap for the last six months and putting on 10-15 pounds that a year ago I fought like hell to take off.

Around the time we found out about Missy's cancer I just decided it wasn't worth keeping track of what I ate. Not that I am blaming it on her cancer of course, it was just at that point that the stress level reached a point in my life that deems calorie intake unimportant. So I just ate what I ate. Then the holidays rolled around and food was delicious. Then it was the new year, and the FET was just around the corner. I cut caffeine and artificial sugar, but I replaced it with lots of real sugar. A couple of weeks ago I headed up to the attic to bring down clothes that actually fit me. Clothes that were set with my maternity clothes because although they were normal sizes, they were ones I only ever expected to be wearing again when I was post baby.

I told myself that it didn't matter, that I would lose the weight after the pregnancy. That there was nothing to be done about it now. Although I still mentally kicked myself for allowing myself to return to the weight I was after IVF when I was first pregnant with Henry. The weight I thought was HUGE but wrote off to the hormones and OHSS. And here I was, there again. With no real excuse except stress.

So Wednesday I decided that between now and our next FET, whenever that can be, I am going to be much healthier. I am not going back to Weight Watchers yet, mainly because I don't want to spend the money. But I know how to lose weight. Move more, eat less. So Wednesday during Henry's nap I got off my butt and decided to try The 30 Day Shred. I mean, I heard it was sorta hard but Jillian totally has me hooked on The Biggest Loser and if they can do it, SO CAN I! Plus, it was day 1, and it was 30 minutes. How hard could it be, right? OH MY GOD. It was so hard. SO SO HARD. Like 15 minutes in I thought I would die. And 17 minutes in I became a quitter and turned it off. But I am not done with the shred. I just needed a half day to start. I WILL BE BACK JILLIAN!

I have also cut what I am eating. The pop tarts are no longer a breakfast option. At least not everyday. I am switching breakfast to fruit, and trying to eat lighter healthier meals all around. Cut the snacking cut the sweets. My new mental motto is that if I wouldn't let Henry eat it, then I shouldn't eat it either. He can't have kit kats for snack everyday and smores pop tarts for breakfast, so I need to stop eating them too. Last night for dinner I made a home made French Onion Soup that was AWESOME and a salad. Nick and I both loved it and it felt nice to eat something that was healthy. It's a start. Something I can focus on besides no being pregnant. I will let you all know how it goes. Hopefully I can get back in my normal size clothes soon and put these clothes back next to the maternity box where they belong.

Overwhelmed

You all are so wonderful. So very very wonderful. Your love and support through blog comments, twitter, text messaging and phone calls were a life saver yesterday. Truly. It was an extremely hard day for me, but every hour or so I would log in to see what you all were saying, and although I replied to nearly nobody, know that I read every single message and that they helped me more than I can say. Thank you for your being here and for understanding how painful this has been.

I guess I didn't realize how sure I actually was that this had worked. I know I told myself again and again that it was a 50% chance either way, and to not get too excited, but there was just no denying it. I was making plans. Expecting to be pregnant this summer, planning on moving Henry to the big room, thinking of how to do vacation this summer with a baby on the way. I was planning. I knew I was going to ask for a second beta on Friday and have them check my thyroid, and it never occurred to me that I wouldn't need that second beta. That the simple answer would be no. My mind completely and utterly knew it was possible, but nobody told my heart. My heart already believed I was pregnant. And my heart broke when they said the words, "I am sorry. This time it didn't work".

This time. But it did last time. And I am holding on to that. Before we made the call Nick said that even if it's negative, it doesn't mean it didn't work. We have our Henry. Our miracle boy. And this was a bonus. I listened to him and totally agreed. I told him I was ready for it to be a no. That I knew we were lucky. And then I broke down as the nurse informed me that this was not our time. That 2011 would not be bringing us a second baby that we so desperately want. Because even though I agreed with Nick before we made the call, I didn't really believe it mattered. Of course we are lucky to have Henry. And we would be lucky again. But infertility doesn't work that way.

So what's next? That's what I spent most of yesterday thinking about. That and how much this sucks, but we can move past that. We have our last two frozen embryos. If I could, I would go in tomorrow and sign up for next months cycle, but we just don't have the money. As much as it kills me, this will have to wait. It is around $2000 to do a frozen transfer, and although that doesn't seem like a lot, we just handed over $2000 two weeks ago. We have spent an alarming amount of money on this infertility journey and we are simply tapped out. There is nowhere else to pull from, so we will begin the process of saving for it. As soon as we have the money, we will go back for our last two. Hopefully one will stay. Oh god, hopefully one will stay, I can't get ahead of myself and start making plans for if that doesn't happen. For now I just need to get there. To the point where they get their chance.

I am truly hoping to be able to do it by the end of the year (to avoid the $400 fee for embryo storage) but it honestly may be next spring. I hate waiting. I hate that we can't just do it. I worry about giving my endo another year to get worse and make it harder and harder for me to get pregnant. I want Henry and these maybe-babies to be close in age, and I hate putting another year between them. I hate going back to limbo and waiting and hoping. If we can't have another child, I just want to know. And really, I am ready to pregnant now. I want this so bad but as I type this the tears are coming back. But we will get there. We will give these last two embryos their chance. Just as soon as we can. And that will have to be good enough for my heart. At least we have one more chance, whenever we get to take it. That is more than most people get.

Negative

I know I will have a lot to say. Lots of emotions inside of me that I will want to talk about. But that will be later. For today I am just utterly heartbroken. There are no other words. Just utterly heartbroken. This hurts so much more than I expected.

24 Hours and More Life Lessons

We are now 24 hours from Beta. I plan to go in as soon as the lab opens tomorrow and then call for results with Nick around lunch time. I will post the answer one way or anther sometime tomorrow afternoon. I have symptoms that perfectly match how I felt when I was early pregnant with Henry (super thirsty, tired, upset stomach, a little crampy, emotional), but they could just as easily be symptoms of my period. On this day with our IVF I posted that I was 55% sure I was pregnant, and that I knew it would hurt that much more if I was wrong because I really believed this was our time. This time I would say I am 52%. A little more than half the time I think I actually am pregnant, but maybe not as confident as I was with Henry. Which of course worries me because shouldn't I be MORE sure since I have done this before? Then that flips me back to the "maybe not" train of thought. I just don't want to let myself get too sure, because the crash after seems like it would be that much worse. The one thing I do know is that I am not afraid of the pregnancy test. I am excited. And nervous. And just really ready to know.

Anyway, I gotta do something between now and tomorrow to keep myself entertained, so here is another post full of Henry's Life Lessons for your (and my) enjoyment! (here is the first)

Ponies are awesome. Always.

Always bring your A game. And Go CATS!

There is always time for a Sunday drive

Four different train loops is the perfect amount.

When planning an attack, bring reinforcements

(and this one is from Mama)

Putting 83 candles on a cake will melt it. Because it's FIRE.

Happy Birthday to Granddaddy, Uncle Chris and Papa! (Nick's isn't til March 31st and will get a much bigger post then because it's a BIG one!)

And now the wait continues. Until tomorrow...

ICLW

Believe it or not, it's that time again! It's International Comment Leaving Week. This last month has just flown by. To bring new visitors up to speed, we did an FET on March 15th in hopes of a baby #2. I have stage four endometriosis which led to infertility. In 2008, after three failed IUI's, we did an IVF that gave us our Sweet Henry. You can see our TTC time-line here if you are interested in the details. For this FET we transferred in two perfect five day blasts and I will be going in to take a beta on Wednesday. That's only FORTY-EIGHT HOURS AWAY!

I am on the fence about everything with this cycle. I have random symptoms that were similar to our IVF, but a the same time, I am on all the same hormones. And lots of these symptoms mirror how I feel when I am about to start my period, so who knows. I literally will go from one extreme to the other during the same thought. Positive it has worked and terrified of how we will handle twins to having no doubt that it didn't work and that it never will, and trying to picture us as a forever family of three. So... I am losing my mind. But that's okay. That's what all these hormones do, right? RIGHT? Either way we know in 48 hours, and that is beyond exciting.

So anyway, welcome to Bio Girl! Stick around for awhile. I promise I am almost always nice and only crazy about 25% of the time. That's not bad for a girl who tells all the details of her life to a computer!

Along for the Ride

Last weekend Henry went to South Carolina. Nick and I stayed home. This was big news, and the fact that I somehow never blogged about it is still a mystery to me. He went with Nick's mom to visit his SC family for his Great-Mawmaw's birthday. You all, we missed him. We missed him bad. It wasn't the first time for me or Nick to be away from Henry for three nights, but it was the first time for Henry to be away from both of us and away from his home for that long. In the past Nick or I have been the ones gone, so this was totally different. All of a sudden it was just the two of us with our empty house full of toys. With Henry not just at his grandparents house, but a fill six hours and three states away. Nick and I spent time with friends, went out to dinners and movies and bars. We had a wonderful child free weekend, and couldn't wait to get our arms around our sweet boy as soon as he got home.

When they first arrived in South Carolina I talked to my mother-in-law to see how he did with the drive. She told me he did great. That he watched Toy Story, he loved the tunnels, he was perfect. Then she told me something that, even though I didn't see myself, has become this picture I keep thinking of in my mind over the last week.

While driving through the mountains Henry was napping. He woke up and the sun was shinning in the back window. He took both his hands and put them up behind his head and turned his face towards the sun and smiled. Just kicked back, relaxing and enjoying the beautiful drive through the mountains. And I can picture it because it is SO Henry. My sweet sweet boy being his laid back self. Just along for the ride through the mountains to see his family. Happy and content. It is a tiny thing, but that picture of him, I love it so.

*This picture has nothing to do with this story, but it sure does show his sweetness.

Confession

I have been reading infertility blogs for a very long time. I started reading way before we ever even started trying for a baby. The ones I started with were girls who also had endometriosis, but then sometimes I just found girls I loved. As I read, I learned all the terms and initials and random infertility lingo. I felt fairly in the know about everything by the time I realized I too was about to take my blog from personal diary to infertility blog. But there was this one thing that I just could never work out. People used it ALL the time, and although I knew it must be obvious, and I knew it was some sort of count down, I just COULD NOT figure it out. It was all the

2dp3dt

5dp5dt

10dp3dt

WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ALL TALKING ABOUT?

Seriously. I was lost. I tried to work it out. I DID. And that makes it more embarrassing that I COULD NOT figure out what it meant. I looked on peoples infertility keys on their sidebars. Nobody listed it! I knew it was a count down, but how does it work? For awhile I thought it was like "2 days past 5 days to" but that didn't really make since because the two numbers didn't add up to the persons pregnancy test day. I never cared enough to ask, but whenever I saw it, which in the infertility blogging world is a lot, I felt like I was missing something obvious. And I was. One day I was on Aly's blog and saw this:

9dp3dt and 10dp3dt

I was a title of her post, and then it hit me. Just like that. The key was that the second number never moved. I had NEVER noticed that! And I knew she did a three day transfer. And then it clicked. That means THREE DAY TRANSFER. The second numbers don't change!! It was like this long term light bulb finally clicked on and I just said YES! I GET IT!!

So, there it is. The mystery is finally solved. And I thought of posting today about how I am 2dp5dt, because I finally CAN because I know what it means! But then thought about those other poor souls who have not freaking clue what means. So here is finally a post that explains the obvious. For fools like me.

2dp5dt = two days past a 5 day transfer

Tomorrow I will be 3dp5dt. And on 8dp5dt I will be going in for my beta to see if I am pregnant. As you add those two numbers, the closer they get to 14, the closer they are to their test.

Look at me. Learning.

Embryo Update

Remember our little extra embryo I told you about yesterday? As a brief summary, they had to thaw four embryos to get two for us to transfer. At the time we were at the clinic three of the four were still alive. Two looked very good, one was a little questionable. We always knew we wanted to transfer two, and were really not comfortable with the idea of changing our plan and transfering in three. This meant that we transfered the two best looking embryos and that they would keep an eye on the little embryo that was thawed and alive, but not being transfered. If he (or she) survived the night they would re-freeze him and could be kept along with the other two frozen embryos we still have.

Well, I got a call this morning and the little embryo didn't make it. And I was really sad. Sadder than I expected. I didn't feel that upset about the first one that didn't make it at all. We always knew that not all the embryos would survive the thaw, but still, this one felt different. Becuase when we were there it was still alive. And then... it wasn't. It got me thinking about the two we transfered. How are they? They were alive yesterday, but are they still? And that means we used four of our six for this one transfer. Just two left. Which could be plenty. But still. Just thinking.

Anyway, that's all. We lost the extra, but still have two frozen and we have our two great looking embryos that were transfered. Keeping my fingers crossed that one (or even both... eek!) of those sweet embryos decide to stick around and become our much hoped for baby #2.

Embryos on Board

The transfer was a success! We now have two perfect five-day embryos on board. I am hoping and praying that at least one of them decides they like it enough to stick around. Of our six frozen embryos that had to thaw four to get our two to transfer. For some reason our clinic froze in sets of two, so when they thawed out the first two and saw one didn't make it, they had to then thaw two more. Both of those sweet embryos survived the thaw, so that left us with three live embryos. We decided we still wanted to transfer two, so the will keep an eye on the third one and if he looks okay the will re-freeze him and he will join our other two ice babies. I should know details about that sometime tomorrow.

We found out that we can test next Wednesday, which will basically be the day before I would start my period if this was a normal cycle. That way I can find out one way or another on my day off and not have to worry about work stress. That means only eight days until we know!! Between now and then I will be doing lots of resting and doing my best to show these sweet babies that this is a place worth staying.

24 Hours

In 24 hours I will be just a little bit pregnant. I will start looking for symptoms and thinking lots and lots of "maybes" and "what ifs". I will spend the next two days resting and hoping and thinking of my future maybe-baby. The one that will hopefully complete our little family. That will love his or her big brother more than anybody else in the world.

Will this baby bring pink and princesses into our lives? Will we be a family of full-time trains and football? Will this maybe-baby get to really be a baby? Could we be that lucky? We have already been so blessed, I just don't know if I can truly believe it will happen for us again. But this baby already has such a place in my heart, I can't imagine that place not being filled with a sweet real baby in my arms. A newborn, a toddler, our child. Our second born. Wanted just as much as the first. Maybe even more, because now we know what this love feels like.

All prayers and sticky, sticky thoughts are really appreciated tomorrow morning at 9am. I will update once I am home, tucked in on my couch for a couple days of bed rest to help this little maybe-baby settle in for the next nine months.

Two

So as always, I was off work yesterday. I usually just have Henry on Wednesdays, but yesterday I had my niece Cici as well. At one point I was feeding Henry spaghetti for lunch and had just made my own plate when I heard Cici up from her nap. I went and grabbed her and opened some bananas for her. I was thinking it was going rather well when I looked over at Henry. Apparently during the time I was feeding Cici he had taken both marinara covered hands and rubbed his entire face with them. Then ran them through his hair. At that exact moment Cici spit out a huge mouth full of Banana all over me. I looked over at my plate with my cold untouched lunch and seriously questioned what the hell we are doing planning on having ANOTHER one of these. Like two, ALL THE TIME. When days like yesterday aren't just funny stories, they are just LIFE. Two at the grocery. Two at the mall. Double strollers, two car seats, two high chairs. TWO. Of everything.

After I got everyone cleaned up I put Cici down on a quilt in the living room and started making dinner for a family friend who recently had surgery. Usually when I am in the kitchen Henry is right under me. Wanting to be held, wanting to help. Wanting to be a part of the action. After a little bit I noticed my helper was missing. I peak into the living room and see them. Laying on the floor side by side looking at each other. Cici makes one of her patented adorable Cici Screeches and Henry repeats it back to her. She screeches again, then so does he. Then the two of them burst in to a fit of giggles. Cici rolls towards Henry, reaching for his face and he cackles with joy. Two. Two times the laughter. Two times the love. Two best friends who will always have each other. That is exactly why we are doing this. Sometimes one plus one adds up to something much better than two.

Green Light!

Well I went to see doc this morning and got the green light for our transfer! It will be next Tuesday at 8:45. My lining was 8.5mm and he said I looked perfect. Always nice. We talked a lot about percents of success and numbers of embryos, but overall it was a pretty basic appointment giving us the green light for baby #2. I am starting to get excited. And nervous. And maybe even a little hopeful.

Out of Hibernation

Every year at about this time I get this itch to get out of the house and do something. I guess the feeling isn't that surprising seeing as how every single winter Nick and I go into this winter hibernation where we lay around and eat and watch TV every night for about four months. Then, once I begin to see my dear friend the sun again, I realize, "Hey, I like people...I like going out in public... I like showers. Why don't we go out and DO something?" So anyway, the de-hibernation is yet again upon us and if feels awesome. After the park on Wednesday I felt the itch coming on, and then that night I saw on Facebook that one of my good friends had gotten engaged that day. That settled it. It was high time to see my friends! I sent out an email first thing Thursday morning with a list of dates I would be available to be social. Clearly I believe that my friends must emerge from their hibernation at the same time that I do.

We actually met for lunch at a local book store, and me and Boo got there a little early to pick up a couple of things. When we went down to the kids section we realized they were having a Cat in the Hat party! Henry thoroughly enjoyed himself.

His very own, self-mad Cat in the Hat Hat!

The Cat in the Hat was actually at the party, which was cool. Henry got THIS close. Which was close enough to earn him a sticker. Which he promptly stuck on his cheek. The coolest kid at the party, obviously.

And here are the kiddos at lunch. Love these three!

Our group minus the Bride-to-Be, who had to run out for a dress fitting. I like how Henry is way too cool to be involved with this mass picture nonsense.

Anyway, all that is just to tell you that I went out with my friends on Saturday. Like a grown-up! And we laughed, and talked and truly enjoyed each other. It was the first time in way too long that we got together and I can't wait to do it again... this coming weekend. Because that was the second date on my email. When I get rolling I get rolling!

The Evaluations Continue

Well yesterday Henry and I spent a huge chunk of our day meeting with people about his speech delays. We started the morning at the hearing test center, where Henry managed to destroy the toy section of the office. The hearing specialist informed me that he was the first child to ever do such a thing. I am pretty sure she was kidding. (I laughed, so I hope so.) After several tests on his ears she determined that he can most definitely hear. SCORE!

Next we ran home for the meeting with the case worker and his speech evaluator. Well, actually first we went to Chic-fil-a because Mama wasn't up for making lunch. And OBVIOUSLY Henry needed a treat for doing so awesome on his hearing test. A kid needs some waffle fries when it is proven he can hear. After that we went home for the meeting, which went really well. It was more or less just a review of his evaluation and discussions about setting goals for his next six months in therapy. Henry was a ham the entire time. Seriously, he was in love with these women. He kept getting on the back of the couch, then rolling down so his head was in the coordinators lap. He brought them books to read him and toys to play with. They laughed and played and told me again and again what a sweet boy he is. How lucky his therapist is to have him. As I watched them loving my Henry I knew this was the right decision. We start his official speech therapy in two weeks. I am excited to learn the techniques to use to help our him start to really use language.

After the meeting and his nap we went to the park. Because every good boy should get to run outside on such a beautiful day.

We can't wait to hear what you have to say, sweet boy.

He fills my heart.

Valuable Life Lessons (According to Henry)

Pants are for Chumps.

Sometimes the Time-Out is Totally Worth it.

Play Hard. Sleep Hard.

Nothing Beats a Best Friend.