We moved here (near Seattle) from the southeast 10 years ago. I was initially determined to move back home as soon as possible, but this quickly became home. It was a big adjustment from the sunny southeast to the grey PNW winters, we moved here just in time for 30 days of rain. I love it now though, and we've settled here to stay. I don't live in King County, but I have a library card there through the reciprocal agreement with our library. I don't often make the trip for physical items, other than the IEW TWSS a year ago, but I love their selection of e-books.

This is the time of year when I find out that everyone has grown a couple inches and I need to search the clothes boxes for the next size up in jeans, and their feet grew and none of their sneakers fit (they live in sandals all summer). My girls have completely different builds, so jeans that were a great fit for tall, skinny DD1 will show 2 inches of butt crack on DD2. I'd much rather finish my book, and then maybe the next two in the series, before going through all the boxes again. There are probably 20 pairs of shoes stored near the front door and I know that most of them don't fit. Or for some reason Pinkie Pie (DD2) can only find 3 left shoes and is mixing & matching with DD1's similar pair.

We have a runner in front of the sink & dishwasher side, a rug in front of the fridge, one in front of the stove, and another by the sliding door. I would rather get rid of all of them except the one by the back door, it just looks too cluttered to me. DH likes them. It makes it so hard to sweep and keep it clean, unless Roomba runs every evening.

I enjoyed it when we would go to a military ball about every other year. Right now I wouldn't want to have to find a formal dress I liked (backlog of baby weight), but it was something I occasionally enjoyed. I always ended up dancing barefoot also.

Mine is missing too, I've been looking for it on the internet.

My uncle always put ice in his milk when I was growing up. If I drink milk (usually only crave it when I'm pregnant) then I put ice in it because it has to be very cold. Now DS1 does the same thing when he wants milk. We don't serve milk with meals, we usually drink water though sometimes DH and I will have tea.

I bought one so I could get some exercise and the kids (especially sensory-seeking DS2) could use it. Unfortunately a nice one wasn't in the budget and I got a cheap one to start with, the cover around the edges is completely destroyed and it's now out in the garage. I'm going to get a nicer one soon, before the cloudy/rainy season sets in.

Count me in! I have the baby weight from the last 3 babies that needs to start coming off.

My husband got one a couple years ago, it seemed to help him (though he still has problems with staying up too late). I need to start using it myself because I'm having a really hard time getting going in the mornings. This is the one we have: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0093162RM

^ This is me too. Except they haven't poured stagnant water on their heads yet today, but it's only 10 am.

I have 6 and have several friends with 5, 6, 7 children. Yes, I know that's a big van (that's the reason I got it!). No, I don't have a lot of patience. I don't make any assumptions about other families I see, either large or small. I'm usually just trying to get in the store, get my shopping done, and get out before the toddler melts down or someone needs to use the bathroom again. We're not religious, we're not conservative, we just like sex. (Yes, we know what birth control is. And that it isn't 100% effective.)

Gig Harbor is nice (DD1 goes to chorus there on Saturdays), but the toll across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge would be something to take into account. Bainbridge Island is nice but anywhere on the west side of the Sound and you have the ferry ride to consider. We moved here from the southeast about 10 years ago and love it.

We've had one for several years for use in our tile kitchen, dining room, and entryway. Some models come with something they call lighthouses, which act like a virtual wall. We put them in the doorways between the dining room and kitchen, so Roomba will finish all of one room before moving to the next. We have 6 kids and (*quietly mutters a number larger than 2*) several cats. The kids sweep and then we run Roomba each night after dinner, it helps keep things under control. It's motivation for us to keep the areas Roomba-ready (hey, things are chaotic, it doesn't always happen) and definitely keeps the house looking much better. Now I just need a Stair-ba, or something that automatically vacuums the stairs. Without an attitude. <side-eyeing my 10 year old>

My youngest is 2 days younger than yours and her sleep has recently gone to crap (teething, trying to walk, separation anxiety) - I just want to crawl into bed (by myself!) and sleep for a couple days. I was hoping we would be able to use this summer to make up for some of the time we took off after her birth but that didn't work out. I can totally empathize with you.

I love my Keen Mary Janes.

I found out after having 23andMe testing done a couple years ago. Many of the symptoms fit but I wasn't too familiar with MTHFR until a friend of mine mentioned it to me. A little over a year ago I had a life-threatening cardiovascular event and underwent a lot of testing looking for genetic clotting conditions. I mentioned MTHFR to the doctors while I was still in the ICU but some doctors seemed unfamiliar with it and others just dismissed my mention of it.

What musical instruments do your kids play? - DS1 plays violin and is adding in viola this year. DD1 plays violin and is adding in cello this year. (She also does chorus.) If you play(ed) any instruments yourself, do/did your kids play the same one(s)? - I play the flute & piccolo, however so far none of the kids have been interested. If you have multiple kids, have their musical instrument choices (or your choices on their behalf) been the same or different? - I'm encouraging them to learn a stringed instrument since we have a good strings program in our area. They choose which one they want to play, though I'm not sure how we would fit a bass in the van if that was the choice.

*hugs* I'm so sorry you're going through this. I agree with the PP - he's telling you who he is, please listen. It's OK to mourn the marriage that you thought you had, that you wished you had, however that doesn't mean you have to stay in the marriage that this apparently is. I know you mentioned some financial records are missing. I would locate other important paperwork (kids' birth certificates, social security cards) and get them somewhere safe where they won't disappear.

I like Mother Moon Pads on Etsy. The underwear/pads sound neat, but changing them in the middle of the day sounds like a bit of a hassle if you're away from home.

I wasn't able to sign up yesterday (the form would never submit), but it worked today using a different browser. Thanks!

My 6 year old plays on the computer, though she tends to favor creative mode more than survival mode. My 5 year old plays the pocket edition on the iPad, we don't have a PC Minecraft account for him yet. My 2.5 year old likes to play it on the iPad too, though he digs himself into a hole and get frustrated.

3+ seemed large when I was growing up. I knew one family with 4 and that seemed huge to me. I was on only child until my (half) brother was born when I was 11. As an adult, a large family always seemed to be a kid or two more than whatever number I had at the time. My family doesn't seem large to me, but when I see other families of the same size it seems large. The full-size van in the driveway tells me we've probably creeped into large family territory.

Something similar happened with a different store account of mine, luckily I was online at the time the email notification came in and was able to immediately cancel it. Someone used a stolen CC number, added the card to my account, and purchased an e-giftcard. In this case, I was able to find the contact info of the CC and contact her, let her know her card had been compromised.

My older 3 play on the computer, my 4 year old plays the pocket edition on the iPad. I play with them in our "homeworld" on the LAN, as does DH. Addicted? No, but DS1 does ramble on about it more than I would like sometimes. It's something we all enjoy playing.

I learned magic loop as a beginner, it was easy to pick up on (I don't do well with DPNs).