I was going to wait for my first "normal" period to start charting but after reading the first half of tcoyf I can't wait to get started! I have a couple questions though that so far haven't been clearly addresed in the book. If I haven't started mensing yet (so far its just been light spotting) then I haven't started a new cycle yet, right? So if the first day of my last period was April 19th, that means I'm on cd50? Wow! And so how do I chart such a long cycle if the chart only goes up to cd40?

You just keep on going. have you signed up with fertility friend yet? it's free and they have a lot of tips on charting.

in order to really count af as cd 1 there has to be a normal flow.

Stay on cd50 and mark the spotting/mucus. you can buy graph paper and do it that way, plus write in a journal to keep track of what's taking place.

hope that helps.

Thanks Esther! What I did is just changed the cd # on a chart so that cd10 is actually cd50 for me and charted the temp I took this morning and noted the spotting that I've had the last 3 days. I guess I'll just go from there. Ty for the journal suggestion... I know if I don't write this stuff down I'll never remember what and when things occured.

I agree with Esther - when I had long cycles and ran out of room on one paper sheet I just went on to another and made note that it was continuing from the prev. chart. Never thought about using graph paper though - that is a really good idea.
FF is fun and taking notes really helps, too.