I had gallbladder pain early in my fourth pregnancy but then it didn't bother me again for years. Early this year it started again (coinciding with another pregnancy that unfortunately ended in miscarriage). Each time it was a severe pain directly under my ribcage in the center, it never localized on the right side. It was the worst pain that I've ever felt, far worse than my natural childbirths. I ended up going to the ER in the middle of the night during one attack and the next morning an ultrasound showed gallstones. I had my gallbladder removed at the end of February and have felt much better.

I watched a laparoscopic cholecystectomy (gallbladder removal) on YouTube before having mine done last week, then again when DS1 had questions and wanted to see it. Definitely something I could have done without!

Mine have nursed from 2-4 years and DS2 is still nursing. I know several people who are still nursing 3, 4 and 5 year olds. It may just be the group of people that I usually associate with, but none of it has been seen as unusual. For me, too old is when the nursing relationship is no longer working for the mom & child.

We live in a suburban neighborhood on ~1/4 acre lot. We have 4 hens in the fenced backyard. They have a coop over an attached run that they stay in at night and roam the backyard during the day. We bought them as week old chicks in mid-September and we just got our first eggs today. Mid-morning my 7 year old DS1 lets them out, then after dinner each night he gives them fresh food and water and closes the coop. Each night they've already gone back in their coop, he doesn't have to chase them. Once a week or so we clean out the upper area of the coop where they roost at night and dump it in the compost, we change/add more bedding down below as needed. There is lots of poop. Lots and lots of poop! When I envisioned owning chickens, somehow I didn't envision lots of chicken poop on my back porch, where they hang out looking in the sliding glass door into the kitchen! We have square foot gardens and container gardens in barrels. I'm not sure yet how we'll be fencing them in this spring to keep the chickens out, one step at a time.

We always buy oats in 50 lb bags and store them in the buckets with gamma seals.

I was a nuclear engineer and DH is in the military. I'm now staying home with the kids and he has been in the military almost 20 years, I still earned more than he currently does. My career was not flexible with locations, we've lived in several different states in the past few years.

I went to college in 93 and was hanging out one evening with a group from my old high school. One guy was visiting from a different university and mentioned that everyone had written him back but me, then I said that I never got a letter from him. They realized that I hadn't learned how to access my email account and promptly took me down to the computer lab! That was the beginning of the end, and many many skipped classes quickly followed. :D I would chat with my other friends (usually we were skipping class and hanging out in the computer lab together) and playing text-based online games.

Each kid has a gallon Ziploc bag (two bags for DS1 since his won't fit in one) with a change of clothes, including undies and socks, under their seat. I also have small bag with an extra jacket for every one and a spare shirt & pants for me in the back, in case I'm holding the child that gets sick. Tucked in the map pocket behind the driver's seat is a chux pad leftover from my homebirths, in case there is a car seat accident and the child needs something dry to sit on. My kids are 1, 3, 5 and 7. We don't need them often. A few times after some especially muddy park days, the occasional potty accident, DS1 is prone to bloody noses, or when we were 2 hours away from home and DD2 puked everywhere. :ack2: I change the bags out each season, updating sizes.

I've dealt with food intolerances in all of my kids, but DS2 (my youngest) was by far the worst. I read about different types of testing for intolerances, but just couldn't quite bring myself to trust them even though I desperately wanted to know what was bothering DS2 in addition to the dairy and soy.

No, DS1 and DD1 have been homeschooled from the start (no preschool either), I plan on the same for DD2 and DS2.

After two midwife-assisted homebirths (midwife there for the last 15 minutes), DS2 was born unassisted. If we have other children then I would UC again, barring any complications. I also used Hypnobabies for all of my births.

We're on one of their truck routes, I love Azure! I hate it when I miss the order day, like I did last week. :glare: We get oats, dried beans, spices, occasionally fruit if there is something that appeals to us, when the kids were dairy-free (cow milk, other milk was fine) I would get goat cheese and coconut milk yogurt from them. If I don't have enough to meet the $50 order myself I'll go in with a friend. I love getting our spices in the 1 lb bags from them, the price is so much better and we go through them so fast they don't go bad.

We've been using Virgin Mobile since 2004, we've been happy with it. DH's phone has been strictly pre-paid basic phone, he rarely uses it except for emergencies. A year ago we changed mine to one with a data plan and I've still been happy with them. I've loved not having a cell phone contract. We're getting ready to switch over to a contract with Sprint now, but only after serious consideration and due to the fact that I can't get the phone I want on VM. :o

Have you asked for a referral to neurology? My PCM is at Naval Hospital Bremerton and I see the neuro there. I also have a referral down to the neurologists at Madigan and I go there quarterly for procedures that the local neuro can't perform. My PCM was useless and I just told him that I wanted a referral to neurology, that Family Practice wasn't the appropriate care setting for my issues.

I did it here too! It was chaotic and there were some very frustrating days but we made it through. I had a newborn, 2 year old, and 4 year old when DS1 was in 1st grade last year. We did end up carrying some of our first grade subjects over to this year but we'll be back completely on track by the end of his 2nd grade year.

I have chronic migraines (daily if not on my meds) and I also have tension headaches, which can trigger even more migraines. I would go see your PCM and maybe get a referral to a neuro. I'm on Tricare and have been seeing neurologists for 10 years to help with my headaches. They've been great about working with me through 4 pregnancies and nursing. Some of my treatments aren't currently covered under Tricare if I go to a civilian neurologist but are covered at a military hospital. I see my neurologist more than I see my PCM. ;)

DS1 would have missed the K cut-off in our state by two days and I knew he would have been bored (and then entertain himself by irritating his sisters) if he had waited another year. I didn't consider public school, just slipped quietly into homeschooling. Now a couple years have passed and DD1 has started K at home also. It just seemed the natural progression for us, I didn't see a need to put them into public school.

I don't post there often but I've always found the forums at The Cat Site helpful when I have a question about one of my cats.

Congratulations! I just started again, for the 2nd or 3rd time, this week and have my second run today. I'm determined to not fall off the wagon this time!

Last year when DS1 was in 1st I had him doing GWG along with FLL and WWE1. It was too much, time-wise, and he didn't retain much at all from the GWG even though he could do the worksheets just fine. I dropped it (well, I had to hide it, he kept wanting to do it since he liked the cover!) and stayed with FLL. He's retaining much more from that without the busy work. It just wasn't a good fit for him. I'm not even going to try it next year when DD1 is in first. DS1 really is the "first pancake" when it comes to figuring out what I'm doing.

My older 3 all said chickens.

DS1 and DD1 look like DH, DD2 and DS2 look like me. "Do they have the same dad?" "You're done having kids now, right?" :glare:

I would unfriend and then, if the subject comes up when you see her again, pull out the "this is what works for our family". Subtly emphase the word our to show that her opinions don't impact your family's decisions.

DS1 did GWG last year (his request, we had the book and he liked the cover) and didn't retain any of it. We switched to FLL and earlier this week I gave him some worksheets to do so I could see how he was retaining it and he did very well. OK, honestly, it made my day that he was remembering what he had learned! I had my doubts because FLL was always so quick and easy but it did sink in.

Each week's project will hang up in the dining room until we do art again, including my copy. Then I'll save theirs and recycle mine. DS1 and DD1 are both doing Atelier, and DD2 (3) usually doodles or paints along with us. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to keep hers after we take them down or recycle them along with mine. She'll do the program in a few years, when she is 7 and DS1 is 5. I know I don't really need to keep hers, but it's harder to chuck hers than it is to chuck mine.