15 Month Checkup

Eli had his 15 month checkup today. He's still just a little guy, but has stayed on his normal growth curve so our pedi isn't concerned. She was impressed with how vocal he is and his ability to say two syllable words  and was surprised at his lack of stranger anxiety (he ran right over to her and said, "up!"). He got 3 shots (MMR, Varicella, & Flu) which made him pretty upset until I pointed out the cool snoopy band aids and then he was quite fascinated by them.

All in all, it was a good checkup and he is healthy and thriving. =)

Stats:

Age: 15 months, 8 days

Weight: 21 lbs 2 oz (8%)

Height: 31.5" (59%)

Head: 45.7cm (13%) 

Words: 12+ 

Favorite words: Up! Cracker! Car! Meh! (Eli-speak for "I'm hungry and I see something I really want!!")

 

New House! And an Update...

We have been in our new house for 6 days now. The full box mountains in every room are slowly growing smaller while the scary empty box everest grows at an alarming rate. The kitties are really enjoying scaling it, however...

So far only Eli's room is completely unpacked (trying to locate diapers, socks, his favorite snuggly, etc in the mess while manhandling the up-monster was an exercise in frustration). The kitchen and family room are almost unpacked and will be done in the next day or two.

Overall we are making a lot of progress and are on track for being ready to host Thanksgiving. =)

Day 1: Is there a kitchen in here?

Day 5: Why yes, we do have a kitchen!

Day 5: Kitties taking a rest before attempting to scale the mountain...

On a sadder note, as we suspected, we have received confirmation that this pregnancy is not viable. I asked for another blood test on Friday since I continued to feel off, and that confirmed that my beta hcg numbers had dropped to 69. I had a second blood draw this morning to make sure that my numbers continue to drop so I can hopefully avoid having to undergo a D&C. Emotionally, I'm actually okay with this result. I've felt pretty strongly from the start that something was wrong with this pregnancy, so I'm actually relieved to have it end sooner rather than later. We will do one more IUI with Follistim injections as soon as my doctor clears us (probably in December or January).

In other news, Eli is as cute as ever!  =)

Thumb break

Good morning!

Cautiously optimistic

So my beta level rose unexpectedly from 83 on Monday to 258 today. That is a doubling time of 29.3 hours, which indicates either a very strong pregnancy or (gulp) multiples. A doubling time of 48 hours is considered average. The bleeding seems to have mostly stopped today as well. I have an ultrasound scheduled for November 21st to see if this really is viable... I'm staying guarded about it as there is still probably a 50/50 (or more) chance of miscarriage. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

...And here's a photo of Eli in his adorable baby bat costume at my office halloween event yesterday. =)

October update

I can't believe it's already the end of October. Eli is almost 15 months old and in teething hell, we sold our house, went to Taiwan, bought a new house, and are moving in a week! To say life has been hectic is an understatement. Through all of this, we've been somehow managing to get through another IUI cycle.

So, I'm officially pregnant. My beta this morning was 83. However the bad news is that I've been bleeding since Saturday. My RE's office are staying optimistic about it, but I know that the most likely scenario is that I'm miscarrying. We will know for sure on Wednesday after a followup beta hcg test. I'm okay with whatever the result is. It's good to know that I can still get pregnant. If this one fails, we will do one more IUI (probably in December) and be a lot more aggressive with the meds to give it one last solid try. 

Anyway, in better news, Eli is doing great. He's walking and climbing and getting into everything. He's talking a lot too -- I think he's up to 10 or 11 words at least. His favorites right now are, "no," "up," "more, and "car!" He can't pronounce "r" sounds yet, so he sounds like he's from Boston. =)

Look at all those teeth!

My favorite boys. =)

He's been teething like mad -- working on 6 at once, including 4 molars! We had a few pretty rough nights last week and my mom had a difficult time with him the week Chad and I were in Taiwan. Fortunately now that all of the molars have broken through he has been much better.

So many pumpkins...

Walking!

Eli is walking! Over the last week he has really been practicing a lot, and he's starting to get much steadier. I suspect he'll be running before we know it...

In other news, we had a very successful open house yesterday. Over 80 people came to see our home and we received 3 offers, with more coming today. The top offer is currently at our asking price, so we are thrilled!