Health update

I have been going into the hospital every week for blood tests. My OB has been monitoring my quantitative HCG levels, because they indicate pregnancy. I am still considered pregnant until the levels reached below 5. My levels started that first day I received the methotrexate shot at 12000, so you can see I had a long way to go. Monitoring these HCG levels was also a good way to tell how effectively the drugs were still working to terminate the pregnancy.

My HCG levels dropped quickly at first, from 12 thousand, to 9 thousand, to 6 thousand. Once I got below 100, though, it really slowed down. Two weeks ago, I finally made it to 18, but then last week I only dropped to 14. I worried that it would be another month or two at that rate before the levels got below the target of 5. But FINALLY, on Thursday my levels jumped down to 3. It was a very large drop for being at the end, where it is supposed to slow each week, not triple. But I'll take it!

Now, the next step is to go in for a Hysterosalpingogram (HSG). It is a procedure often done after an ectopic pregnancy to determine if there is a blockage in the fallopian tubes. It is basically an x-ray. This should be scheduled for some time in the next 2-3 weeks.

So that is where we are. Its good to finally be officially not-pregnant. I look forward to being officially pregnant again. Hopefully soon! Thanks for all the prayers.

State Fair

Last weekend we went to the Utah State Fair. We got there in the evening, and one of our first goals was to get to the little hands farm. On the way, we had an accident. Carly was sitting on daddy's lap and all of the sudden, Daddy was a little upset and a little wet. We are still in diapers, so it was pretty bizarre. I guess the diaper wasn't on quite right. You can see how wet daddy got, so you can probably imagine how wet her pants were. She spent the rest of the evening pantless. Poor cold baby.
The little hands farm was fun. Carly got to dress up and carry a basket around learning different farm tasks like feeding animals, planting and harvesting veggies, and milking a cow.

Carly was pretty afraid of the giant plastic cow she was supposed to feed and milk. She wouldn't let daddy get too close to it.

At the end, they got to take a picture as a Future Farmer of America. Too cute.

After that, it started to get cold, and out little pants-less baby looked pathetic. So we decided to buy an alpaca poncho. She walked around in this 15 dollar poncho without pants for the rest of the night. We looked so white trash. lol.

Throughout the day, Carly got to meet lots of different animals. We started at the pony ride first thing. We waited in line for 20 minutes and then it was her turn to ride a pony while daddy walked next to her. She was terrified. She was having nothing to do with that horse.

So we decided to start small and work our way up. Here's Carly with the chickens. She was fine because she was bigger than them. Well, she was actually about the same size as this one. It was the huge monster chicken.

Then we made friends with the ducks.

The first animal Carly was willing to pet was the piggy. And it was only because we convinced her that the piggy had ears. She loves to point out ears: her own, ours, strangers', ears on tv. Now she knows that pigs have ears.

Then we hit the jackpot. Carly loves sheep. Who would have guessed. She didn't want to be held anymore at this point. So we let her walk around and we just followed behind as she went from pen to pen saying hi to the sheep.

Then we moved on to the cows. We started with a calf.

Then a momma cow.

Then this giant freak of a cow. It was so big Carly was signing elephant. We told her she was right.

Warning: Pic heavy

Playing catch-up:

Okay, for anyone who didn't already know, we now have a toddler. She is her own little person, and it is so fun to watch her personality come out each day.

She really, really loves to wear daddy's hats. She'll take them off his head to wear.



We now have to childproof EVERYTHING. Her favorite hiding place for her shoes, cups, tv remotes, cell phones, you name it, was the trash can. So we had to fix that. She's not too happy about that.

We have entered the era of disney movies. Carly LOVES little mermaid, and she even got comfy to watch 101 dalmatians last week. Yes, her favorite movie watching spot is the edge of the coffee table. She jumps right up there on her own.




Along the line of princesses, Carly now is very interested in everything fashion. If she can put an article of clothing on, she will. She also loves jewelry. We didn't hear from her for a while last week, and when we found her she was in our room playing dress up all on her own. Here she is in a nice island themed ensemble: mommy's bathing suit and puka shell bracelet. She picked this out and put it all on by herself, no joke. Yes, her head it through the leg hole. lol.


Another thing that goes along with being a princess is always getting her way. Carly wishes she always got her way. Unfortunately there is a bigger princess in the house: her mommy. Carly doesn't get away with much. And when she hears "no," tantrums ensue. It is a wonderful new part of toddlerhood. Complete with flailing, kicking, and head banging. This tantrum moved from the couch to the floor.

Needless to say, we are starting to implements time-outs this week. So far it is a lot of Carly laughing, and mommy making her sit in the time-out spot again, and again, and again.

Carly also likes to hide her food for later. She will stash it here or there. One time we found a drawer full of dried up lima beans that she had hidden when still fresh. This time it was grapes. So now we are only doing food while seated at the kitchen table.


Her hair is also getting longer and curlier. Sort of an oxymoron, since you can't tell the length unless it is wet.


When I was at Walmart yesterday, I found a great deal on some winter boots (who can say no to 13 dollars?). So Carly has been practicing walking in her first hard souled shoes. She isn't much of a fan of walking in the boots. She would NOT smile for any of these pictures. But she likes to hold them and pet them because they're furry. Cheap pet, works for me.


Carly went to the season opener BYU game a couple weekends ago. She did really well and actually watched most of the game. She did such a good job, Marshall got her a present. What's that saying? Train a child in the way they should go, and when they are grown they will not depart from it. We are banking on it. We consider this an investment in her college education.

Where were you 7 years ago?

I was getting ready for early morning seminary watching the 6am news. I saw footage of the first tower hit as I was tying my shoe laces. I still remember what shoes I was wearing. But no one knew it was an attack yet, just an accident. I got into my friend's car for the ride to church, and she turned channel to channel on the radio trying to get anything but the news. But all we heard about was the world trade center, and that's when I heard that the second tower had been hit. Our seminary principal was crying when he came in to tell our class. We didn't have a lesson that day. At the high school (I was a senior) my first class was american government, and the teacher didn't believe us that something monumental had happened. He hadn't heard and wanted to continue on the normal lesson. I got up and left his class and went home to spend the day with my mom and watched the footage over and over and over again. I was in shock.

My husband was in the MTC. THAT'S a bizarre place to be when huge news happens...lol. They were told what happened, but were never shown any footage, and they just continued with classes as normal. They did get to listen to the church fireside later that week. But even now, he has never actually seen the footage of the towers falling. He felt like he was sheltered from those images and refuses to watch them now.