Ds was sick this week while away for Thanksgiving and we visited the ER for breathing trouble. Bronchiolitis, they said, and sent us away with an inhaler. We arrived home tonight and are taking him back to the ER for trouble breathing. We had given him his inhaler and he didn’t seem to respond to it. We have a oximeter and he was in the 92-94 range. I don’t know how accurate it is. We could also hear some crackles and noises through the stethoscope. So please say a prayer that the ER can make an accurate, quick assessment and get him home feeling better soon! Dh took him this time, so I’m home to wait and worry. There are many things to unpack/put away, so I’ll be busy at least.

My last 2 babies have had tongue tie. I pushed for both of them to be clipped while at the hospital, because of too many stories of pediatricians taking a wait and see approach. I would try to find a way to have it clipped.

Oooh, that sounds fun. I haven’t been to that side of the continent before. I thought Seattle sounded interesting, too.

It is a fantasy! I have no idea if this will happen, but it is fun to dream. I actually think 3 nights would be more doable, but dh wants to dream bigger than that. :-)

For a week by yourselves, where would you go? What would you do? Dh wants to dream of a vacation in a year or two, and I’m not full of ideas.

I made 10 pounds of mashed potatoes Tuesday night and refrigerated them for a potluck at lunch on Wednesday. They were not eaten, because the crock pot did not warm up in time and people brought lots of potatoes. One of the organizers had set the crock pot to warm instead of on low. By the time lunch was over they were very hot. I kept them plugged in on warm until we left co-op around 3:30, then came home and put them back in the refrigerator. I was thinking they would be fine if we microwaved them for lunch, but some of the top potatoes (where aluminum foil was) has turned grayish. Would you still reheat individual portions and eat them? Or reuse them in another recipe?

Thank you, Rod! Extremely helpful. We have the next evaluation on Tuesday. I’m hoping all will go smoothly! The fee for this evaluation also includes the conference for results and 3-4 sessions afterward.

My nails are great! They grow quickly and are strong. My paternal grandmother had very thin hair, so I'm sure part of this is genetics, plus the nursing baby. Thank you for all the tips! I will try some of them and see if anything makes a difference!

Baby girl has taken my hair, LOL. Seriously, it’s never been thick, but I can lift it up and see most of the scalp. I lose hair every day. So, any tips for getting it thicker? (I did have blood work done and all is normal.)

I’m trying to fill in gaps for my 8yr old. Is there a succinct way to assess what skills are lacking? She did great on her end of the year test, but seems to be going through a funk. We have always used Saxon, but she is still counting on her fingers for single digit numbers (like numbers to make a 9), and has a shaky grasp on place value. These are more glaringly obvious, but I’m also concerned about any less obvious gaps. She is forgetting things she knew before - she needs a lot of repetition to cement things, which I thought Saxon would have plenty of. I thought to go back to the beginning with another program, but I’m reluctant to spend the time (and money) if there is another way. I thought maybe filling in gaps, like focused work on certain steps would be easier. I do have all levels of Math Mammoth, and Life of Fred through Mineshaft, and Math Lessons for a Living Education (the old, first version). MM is too busy/cluttered for her, and LoF is too wordy/quirky, and I would have no idea where to start with MLLE. Math U See would probably work, but $$. She likes to have manipulatives. Any suggestions for a test to find where she needs work?

I can commiserate, except today this is my 8year old dd! The 11yo dd is actually on the ball! So, why can’t they BOTH be on task at the same time? Sigh.

How many kids do you have? 4 Do you plan on more? Nope, but plans change 😉 How old do you feel is YOUR cutoff age for babies? Now - 37. I had my first at 25. Parenting was a total shock to me, and I loved every minute. At the same time, I was sure I couldn’t do more than one baby at a time. So we had #2 when I was 28. Life that year was hard, dh was overseas, we moved, I had ppd. So we waited again, but the next pregnancy was an early miscarriage, as the one after that. We figured we’d be done. God had other plans, and #3 came when I was 33. I savored every moment! And now, at 37, I have the distinct honor and pleasure of savoring all the little moments again. With that being said, it is much more taxing on my body to be up all night with a fussy baby, especially knowing that the next day will be filled with little people who need me, (and can’t watch cartoons all day) because learning still has to happen. If we were to have another one, I’d be 39 or older (my cycles don’t return while breastfeeding), and I feel a bit like that may be unfair to the ones I have now. I love babies, but the time and energy would not leave much of me to go around. Plus, dh feels done, and it’s a joint effort! I wish I had started earlier, though. I was married at 21. I listened to my parents, who encouraged us to wait for a few years after marriage. I don’t think that advice is good for everyone.

I love it, too!! Mike Rowe rocks! ðŸ˜

We’ve had a step 2 plastic kitchen for 9 years and 3 cross-country moves. It looks just the same as when we put it together. Hopefully it will outlast the baby - I don’t want to buy another! So I think if a plastic one is a good quality and/or design, it would be okay.

My kids have started their lists already. Highlights are: iPhone 8 (ha!), new baby (um, nope), a real seahorse (what? 😂) Have your kids started a list? What are their most-wanted items?

I have heard Elderberry is not good for people with Auto-immune issues, which is why my family hasn’t tried it yet. Anyone else know about that?

Dd 8 had an initial evaluation for developmental vision issues. Convergence excess, tracking, binocular vision were terms used to describe her. They said she needs to come back for another, more thorough evaluation before the doctor sits down in a conference with us and tells us her treatment plan. Is this a normal sequence? What does convergence excess mean? Are there any exercises we could do at home?

We saw Primary Care today....initial diagnosis of particularly bad plantar fasciitis. Very unusual for age 8. :sad: X-rays and bloodwork were done, which hopefully will be normal. And physical therapy will be the treatment plan, but we probably won't be able to get into one until next week. Why can't things move faster! If the NP we had seen on Monday would've put in the referral, we could have had a PT appointment already! :banghead: Oh, and no dancing for at least 4-6 weeks. :crying: :bigear: I need some recommendations for really cushy footwear for a size 3, please!! :bigear:

She sure does! Wow!

I hope to!!

She had some toenail polish that was in its last stages. 😆 I am calling our clinic back tomorrow and will try to be nice, but I am seething about the appointment today. I just can’t believe how the NP saw this crying child and couldn’t offer anything but Motrin. If she didn’t have the ability to refer us, why did we see her? Such a waste of a day!! Ugh.

She’s dancing 1 time per week for 45 minutes to an hour. She’s only a beginner, so no crazy moves, no pointe. I will let her teacher know; she may have ideas for us, too.

All of our referrals have to go through a Primary Care Manager. So I’ll have to get into an appointment, and hope s/he agrees and lets us explore other options. Nothing gives her long term relief. Icing does help some at the time. She has done ballet before, but entry level classes and it was a couple years ago.

Please help me brainstorm what could be contributing to dd’s sore and painful feet. Wednesday evening dd8 had her 3rd ballet lesson. Thursday her left foot was too sore to walk on. She has had lots of problems with this foot, beginning two years ago when her sister collapsed on it. She has re-injured it by dancing around the house several times. Friday both feet hurt terribly. And over the weekend she has times of hardly walking. She’s in a lot of pain and sometimes grits through it. It seems to be concentrated to the bottom of her foot, where she flexes at. So if she flexes it hurts, when she walks it hurts. It is very very tender to the touch. I have a few ideas to explore: structural problems (high arches?) arthritis (she has an autoimmune disease already), or just tender/prone to injury ligaments. Any other ideas for me? We went to the dr today to see if they could help. So frustrating! We saw an NP who couldn’t do anything - couldn’t give referrals, or strategies, just “take Motrin and call me in the morning†and “talk to her PCMâ€. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

80s. Great times!