All three as listed in my sig, though the wee one doesn't have any curriculum yet. She thinks she does. She had a ” booka” of her own that she makes ” circos” in while the big kids do their math. OEs are pretty much wall-to-wall around here, inc. DH and I.

I second 1 and 3 completely, though I did room with my second C-section baby (the first was put on an antibiotic and stayed in the NICU until she was off). Having younger DD room in was actually a comfort to me, as my son got so sick at the sitters that DH and I reluctantly decided the best thing was for Daddy to take the two olders home and look after them. I was really lonely without him, so having baby there really helped emotionally. I did send her to the nursery for half the night one night so I could sleep. Moving really helps the recovery and pain meds make the moving possible. Also that trick where you hold a pillow across the incision when you sneeze, cough, or laugh.

Same here, except we're not coffee drinkers, so I don't know what those cups are like. Baby's bottle often requires a little more cleaning, inside and out, because of the milk inside and the places she's left it behind (bathroom floor, etc.) My MIL dishes out disposable cups at the beginning of every family gathering. You have to put your name on it with a marker, and that's your cup for the duration.

I'm a Naot fan myself. This is my "dressy" pair, for church: Gerda, and this is my every day pair: Mikaela.

My last was born on my 44th birthday. She's healthy, energetic, and intelligent. Someone pointed out to me that though the risk of having a baby with a genetic disorder triples if Mom is over 40, that means that it goes from a 1% to a 3% percent chance. If you flip that, an older mom still has a 97% chance of having a healthy baby. Mom's health is another matter. I had borderline high blood pressure and I was overweight before I got pregnant. I didn't exercise regularly during pregnancy (walking) with the last. I developed Preemclampsia when I went into labor, and my blood pressure never did go all the way back to normal. (I'm on meds now.) (She was born by emergency C-section. I'd been trying for a VBAC, but you do what ya gotta do to have a healthy outcome.) Getting up with her in the night was/is a lot harder (she's almost two, but still wakes up more nights than not.) I don't plan to have another. However, even knowing what I know now, if I could go back into the past, I'd still do it again. I think if a potential mom knows the risks, is reasonably healthy, and doesn't have unreasonable expectations about energy level, etc., a baby later in life is very doable. I should say, I had a very supportive OB: he and his wife have six kids, and the last was born when she was in her 40's, so he was completely cool with it. (I never considered the midwife and/or homebirth routes: I was almost 37 when my first was born, so I've always been "high risk.")

Speaking of the kids helping with the set up, I had to show this photo of our youngest helping our oldest with the stabilizer jacks on the back of our rig:

I had to read that one aloud to DH. That is too funny!

I can't speak to rental costs or procedures: we own our RV (a fifth wheel); nor can I speak to the National Park campground experience: our rig exceeds the 28' limit most of the NP campgrounds have. There are many advantages to RV over car and hotel travel, but cost isn't one of them. Here are some real advantages: Routine: the kids go to bed every night in the same bed, so the bouncing off the walls that happens in a new place only happens the first night or so. As soon as you close the door, you are "home." You can bring more stuff and don't have to worry about accidentally leaving it behind. You can get in as much or as little schooling as you like. The kids can bring their most treasured toys, books, etc. It's a great way to manage special diets. You have a pantry (albeit small) of the foods you know can be eaten and you are still eating "homecooked" meals. And some disadvantages: Extra cost of fuel. And then, campgrounds aren't usually a huge savings over a cheap motel. (Though they are generally safer.) Unless you bring a "toad" (a vehicle "towed" behind your rig), your home is also your car. You will be parking it at all the museums, etc. that you visit, or maybe down the block if their parking lots aren't big enough. (On the other hand, if someone needs a nap, your home is right out there in the parking lot.) Part of your day will be spent "hooking up, " "unhooking," and "dumping." It gets faster with practice, and the kids can help, but it is a factor. There's a little more wear and tear on the driver, so you may need to factor that into the number of hours of driving you go for each day. Because we have a toddler, we find about four hours a day (with a break in the middle) is really all we can happily handle. We love RVing, though. DH likes this site for picking campgrounds in advance: http://www.rvparkreviews.com/ We recently took a trip from Utah to Missouri and back, traveling on I-80 one way and I-70 back. The climb over the continental divide was unremarkable on I-80 and steep on I-70, followed by steep downgrades. That really cut into our gas mileage. If you join Good Sams, they have a place for members on their website that lets you find out about driving conditions along your proposed routes. DH has looked at it, but I haven't. (And you'll get 10% on campgrounds that are affiliated. We also have KOA membership.)

DH is diabetic. He catches everything that comes through the office. We get the flu shot.

Man, I totally jinxed us with that one! Guess what we were just asked to do?

Except for the Children's Museum, we only have done free stuff. My kids loved the Cactus Gardens outside the Ethel M Chocolate Factory. They were 7 and 5 at the time, and discovered that lizards live under the rocks in the Cactus Gardens. I think we were there for almost two hours. (At Christmas time, they light the Garden.) On the strip, they like the MGM lions (now only there for very limited times), the birds at the Flamingo, the M & M store, the living fountains and the fish aquarium in the Caesar forum mall. There are several local history museums, inc. one on UNLV campus, but we didn't get that far... We haven't stayed in a hotel in a while. We had our fifth wheel with us the last two trips. We stayed at Motel 6 on Boulder Highway one trip. Small, old, and somewhat scruffy, but no smokey lobby to walk through. I don't remember if they had a pool or connecting rooms, though.

I'm not a pianist, but my kids are taking lessons. (I did take lessons for a couple of years as a kid and I majored in clarinet at college.) We have a "real" piano in the house and a keyboard we keep in our RV so the kids can practice when we travel. A keyboard can work. Your son won't be able to practice with the pedal when he gets to that point in lessons, and you'll have to devise a way to adjust either his or the keyboard's height so that he is sitting in the correct position. Other than that, make sure you find a model with touch-sensitive keys (they play quietly when you press softly and loudly when you press firmly), full-sized keys, and more than four octaves. (Keyboards have obvious advantages in mobility, space, and the ability to plug into headphones. But not necessarily price. I think we paid about $350 for our keyboard, and I paid $500 for my "real" piano from someone who just wanted the space.) For lessons, you want someone comfortable with all the books in whichever course you or the teacher prefers. Some beginning or less knowledgeable teachers only use the "lesson" book, but you want your child to learn from the "technique," "theory," and whatever other books are offered. You don't necessarily need a "professional" teacher with a degree and membership in whichever associations. Most teachers in my area are SAHM moms needing a little extra income, including the teacher we use. A personable teacher experienced with kids is more important. Some teachers won't accept children until they are 8 and/or reading well. My children's teacher will take younger children, and she uses Faber, which does offer a level for pre-readers. Other courses may as well. There lots of courses out there now; I think we had to choose between Schaum or Thompson when I was a kid. At his age, you and the teacher should only expect a short lesson (15-30 minutes), so you aren't going to want a teacher an hour away. Umm, what else can I offer? Can't think of anything at the moment...

When I first tasted it in Austria back in 1987, I was told it was "new-tell-uh". It's possible to kind of like that thick, black German rye bread if you slather it with Nutella and slice a banana on it. ;) Dang it. There's a jar in my kitchen right now, and I wasn't going to have a bedtime snack.

Very old experience. When I was little, flat-footed kids were put into those stiff, high-topped shoes you sometimes see bronzed. My parents' pediatrician said to let me go barefoot whenever possible, and to wear flat shoes like Keds if I had to have some. I'm not flat-footed now. (I'm 45.) It may or may not be related, but I still don't like to wear shoes.

My FIL died youngish and my dad has had so many micro-strokes it's difficult to have a conversation with him. Take him up on his offer. Your kids will remember the stories because grandpa told them. You can provide the context later when it fits the cycle.

If it were my child, I'd watch him overnight. I'd watch for a temperature, and I'd take a pen (sharpie, etc.) and mark the edge of the rash in an inconspicuous spot. If he develops a temperature, starts acting sick, or if the rash is obviously spreading, I'd go in at that point. If happened to have retreated from the pen mark by morning, we probably wouldn't even do urgent care unless it bothered him.

I haven't researched this or anything, but I don't believe they level out in most cases. I think there are two types of kids that are most likely to become early readers: those who have been surrounded by books and literature since they were born, and those who are gifted. I believe the former will always stay about that level ahead (i.e. if they read two years early, they will always be about two years ahead). It is my personal experience (my sibs and my kids) that the later not only stay ahead, but they continue to widen the gap. Mine read about a year early, but after a year, they tested two levels ahead; after two years, they tested three and half levels ahead; etc. I suppose if you took a group of kids of similar intelligence AND similar environment, some of them would read first and others would catch on to math first, etc. Amongst that very narrow sample, the kids would probably level out.

Did your pharmacist not include some kind of doser? Ask them for one. Is it liquid or powder? If it's liquid, you can probably buy something at the grocery near where they sell children's cold medications, if you don't have something left over at home already.

Part three. Up I-84 into Oregon. We drive this stretch to visit extended family yearly, but don't always stop for seeing things. Here are a few we've done. If you have to stop at the first rest area in Idaho (we always do), take a second to read the markers there. The prehistoric lake, Lake Bonneville (covered much of Utah and Idaho), is mentioned here, as well as some wild life to watch for. There is a conservation area for a bird (can't remember what - some kind of hawk, I think) nearby. We've stopped at the Malad Gorge State Park. It's right off the I-84 near Jerome, Idaho. Not a lot of interactive stuff, but a spectacular view and lots of basalt. There is a picnic area with a playground down one of the loops. The ranger station is unmanned, on-your-honor, so having some ones on you helps for paying. Boise has a children's museum near campus (off the freeway a ways.) It's small, but the kids liked it. In Baker City, Oregon, take the time to go to the Oregon Trail Interpretative Center. There are several along the trail, but this is one of the best. The little Chinese cemetery off the freeway on the other side of the freeway from Baker's main drag might be worth a stop. (The website I linked pretty much shows you the whole thing. We went there geocaching.) If you've got time, you can go to Sumpter, Oregon from there to ride the train and see the Dredge. That's about the boundaries of my experience (my extended family lives in Baker), but near Portland, the hikes to the falls are spectacular, especially Multnomah and nearby Bridal Veil. I've heard the Maryhill Museum across the Columbia on the Washington side is good, but we've not been there. Portland has OMSI, of course, but you'll be able to daytrip to there once you're settled in your new home. Portland is also home to my son's favorite train, the 4449 Daylight, but it is on private property and can only be seen when it comes out for excursions. They do Polar Express runs at Christmas.

Part two. Now you're in our home turf. Just as you come out of the canyon into Salt Lake City, you'll hit an interchange where you can take "Foothill Drive" for about 15/20 minutes to the turnoff to Hogle Zoo and directly across the street, the other end of the Mormon Trail, called "This is the Place." The zoo is experiencing a lot of reconstruction, so might not be worth the price right now, but This is the Place does have a living history museum. You don't mention Nevada and you do mention Idaho, so I'm surmising that you are leaving I-80 in Salt Lake and moving to I-15, then I-84. In Salt Lake City, you can see all kinds of Mormon history things, including Temple Square, etc. There's also the Family History Library if you are into genealogy, but they don't have any thing to appeal to littles. Close to I-15, though, in the Gateway Mall, we have a decent children's museum, called Discovery Gateway, and almost next door, the Clark planetarium. The shows at the planetarium cost, but the exhibits are all free. Also in Salt Lake City, but not especially near the freeway is the Tracy Aviary. The park, Liberty Park, that surrounds it has a fountain where the kids can wade if the weather permits. You can stop to see the Great Salt Lake, but the places to get up close are along I-80. The only way to approach it from I-15 that I'm aware of is via Antelope Island State Park. It's not near the freeway, maybe 30-40 minutes. About 20 minutes north of Salt Lake City, you can stop at the Hill Aerospace Museum. This has a huge collection of military planes, but also has some great hands-on children's activities. Watch for those and a neat plaque about women in WWII along the west wall in the second (all connected by indoor walkways) building. Driving north of Salt Lake along I-15, Ogden has a train museum/old car museum/Browning gun museum in it's old Union Pacific building. There's a dinosaur park in Ogden, too, but we haven't been there. North of Ogden, at Brigham City, you can detour, about 45 minutes, to Promontory Point National Park, where the Golden Spike was driven and the Transcontinental Railroad was completed. On Saturdays, they do a reenactment. My kids had fun doing the Junior Ranger booklet.

Long. Part One. We just drove the stretch from Utah to Omaha last month, with kids age 8, 6, and 1 1/2. There's a built in field trip already there, in that that stretch parallels the Mormon Trail, the Oregon Trail, and the Transcontinental Railroad. We let my son plan most of our stops for his "Family Travel" belt loop for cubs, so these are VERY train heavy, but here's what we saw (trying to work backwards): In Omaha, we were supposed to go to the Henry Doorley Zoo, the Omaha Children's Museum, and the Mormon Winter Quarters (where the Mormon Trail starts), but saw Camping World and a tire place while our rig got repaired instead. We did see a small rail museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa. In Kearney, Nebraska, we stopped at their "Trails and Rails" museum. It was small, but does include a recreated town in the back. We just looked into the open buildings on our own, as it was just a lunch stop for us, but they offer a guided tour through most of the buildings. It has a church, a blacksmith's shop, a one room school house, etc. In North Platte, Nebraska, we stopped at the Golden Spike Tower. Our son loved it, because he could look down at the working rail yard. Our daughter was bored, but did find an interactive computer where she could "color". We also stopped at Cody Park, trying to see the train exhibit, but missed closing by ten minutes (the website was wrong!) There were several play areas there, as well. In Cheyenne, Wyoming, we stopped at the Cheyenne Depot Museum. It had the standard train stuff downstairs (son was happy), but had a surprising hands-on museum upstairs, which my daughter loved. It was set up to show luggage and contents from around the turn of the century, which the kids were encouraged to touch, had hobo codes hidden around the room, which they could interpret, and even had a wooden train table, which made little daughter happy. We also really liked the Lions/Kiwanis park, which had a train, but also hosts a small amusement park, a botanic garden, a small "history" walk, a petting zoo, and a bunch of other stuff. (We also stopped at Holiday Park, which has one of the last remaining "Big Boy" trains.) In Utah, you'll pass through Park City, home of the U.S. ski team and the Sundance Film Festival. We haven't been there in years, as everything is ski resort prices, but it is also an old silver mining town.

Well, I try to stay off the road....:lol: .....seriously, I blew right through a red light about six months ago and didn't even realize it until everyone was honking at me.... (driving is where the exhaustion hits me most.) My oldest, DS8, was born two months before I turned 37, then DD6 almost exactly two years later. DD1.5 was born on my 44th birthday. I really didn't have much trouble energy wise with the first two, but then, when DS fell asleep, I slept, too. I am really tired all the time now with the youngest, but it's gradually getting better now that she sleeps all night, and the older two are great friends to each other, so I was able to grab a nap now and then. It CAN be done, if that's what life deals you. We are more laid back about our parenting than most of the parents of our children's peers. Survival mechanism. We allow more TV, we let the kids play in the yard more (unattended, even), we taught the kids how to use the microwave earlier, and don't stress about junk food as much. (Is it really that bad to have P,B, and J for breakfast once in a while, if he can fix it quietly, by himself, while we sleep another half hour?)

The mail just got here. It did contain the last of the curriculum I was waiting for, but....it was folded in half. I assume to save the mail carrier the ten steps or so it would take to leave the vehicle and walk up to my porch. It isn't creased, so I'm trying to stay calm, but it isn't flat anymore, either.:mad: On the other hand, it is here, and the UPS driver delivered my other package quite nicely.

Most people in our area don't even look for a degree in music, just someone who plays well and is willing to teach. Both of my brothers' wives teach piano, for instance. One has a degree in music, but not in piano. The other has a degree in special ed. (She's the better teacher, IMO, and my kids take from her.) They both hold recitals, etc., usually either on their own, but sometimes through a local music store. If a child shows a lot of interest and ability, then his or her parents will probably seek out a more "qualified" teacher. It's quite rare, on the whole, here, to look for that level.

Preassigned here, too. The baby is in the middle so the other two can't reach each other easily. I may be the only mother in Utah who doesn't drive a minivan, so they are all crammed into the back of my sedan. (At least it's a four-door!)