You guys are so great! What would I do without you? I'm continuing to food diary, but not eating too great because I've had a horrid cold (gross green goop from my nose and throat). Thank you so much for the insight you all!

A few days ago, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Wednesday, I meet with the nutritionist/dietician. Our baby is due the day after Thanksgiving, so we have ~8weeks to go! I have been keeping a food diary for a few days and making a list of questions for the nutritionist. I am trying to watch my carbs (and eat more fruits/vegetables/protein) and watch my portion sizes. What else do I need to ask the nutritionist? What are your experiences with gestational diabetes? What do I need to know? Thanks in advance for any information and advice you can give. We want a healthy baby!!! :D:DI've already made Loverboy promise to bring me chocolate in the hospital! :D:D

Jeepers Creepers: A Monstrous ABC by Laura Leuck (It's so good, it never got packed back into the Halloween box last year, and we have been reading it all year round!)

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: I am so sorry for your loss, and the hard decisions that you have had to make in this situation. I am shedding tears for you and your poor lost wee babe. I know you may not be ready to hear this, but I am also happy that you are alive. Your life matters, too, and there are people who need you and would be devastated by the risk or loss of you if this had not been treated.

I grew up with well water. We moved to the acreage when I was 5. In our household, we had a pump in the basement, that had a light when the pump was running. Sometimes the toilet would not flush properly, and would run and run and run...until the well was dry. We had confirmation that the well was dry because, in addition to no water, the pump light was on constantly. Then my mom would have to make a trek to the basement and turn the pump off for 20 minutes. In our situation, this usually gave the well time to recuperate. In your situation, you may need to let the well/pump rest absolutely for a longer period of time. Is it possible that the well liner was damaged (due to this or before this) and now you have sediment in your well/pipes? A few other things about wells: 1)The water is not fluoridated. Make sure that your kids brush their teeth religiously. I have a mouth full of cavities (and so do my siblings) because of the combination of well water, and parents not encouraging good oral hygiene. 2) My mom had to manage her water use throughout the week. She would only do 1-2 loads of laundry/day to keep from overloading the system and making the well run dry unnecessarily. I'm not sure any of this helps, but we've been there, and it's gotten worse over the years, in spite of deepening the well a decade ago. Good luck to you.

Dd is 3. We told her about the new baby a few days before the u/s at 18-20weeks. A part of this is because it is hard for 3yo to comprehend the time. A part of this is because we didn't want to tell ANYONE until we were sure that the baby was a total go. A part of this is because we didn't want her to blurt it out to my folks, who would be judgmental if the pregnancy didn't work out. Dd's knowing has helped her to understand some things about the pregnancy: mom is tired; the baby is making mommy throw up; the baby makes mommy's hips hurt; the baby makes mommy's nipples hurt, so you need to be extra gentle when nursing. Dd agrees that it takes a long time to make a baby. (8 weeks to go!!!)

Ask each of the kids what they would like to visit. A national park? A specific event? A place? Do you have friends/family in any of these locations? When I was 10 (1980) my family took 3 weeks to travel the west. This was the longest vacation my family has ever taken. We traveled in the orange volkswagen van (no air conditioning and no dvd player!) We visited relatives that we had never met before and haven't seen since! We rarely stayed in hotels, but often crashed on people's floors. The other advantage was doing laundry at people's houses and not having to eat out for every meal. My parents planned that we would stay at relative's houses for a day or two or three, then splurge on a hotel for the next leg of the trip. I don't remember camping on that trip, but even a tent pitched in someone's backyard (with access to showers in the morning) can be do-able. We ran out of money at 2.5weeks and came home early. A part of this decision was also Mt. Saint Helens erupting, and people's cars being destroyed by the ash as far away as Oregon (our final destination). Travel safe!

I am atheist. Loverboy is Mormon. I grew up fundamentalist Christian, so many of the "values" of Loverboy and his family are identical to what I grew up with. This helps. Dd is only 3 at this point, so it is easy for us to speak philosophically about how we will raise her. I hope that we can be wise enough to weather our relationship and our parenting in this matter in future years. Currently, if Loverboy wants to take dd3 to church/Sunday School, I am not opposed to it, as long as she wants to go. Likewise, if I see Christians in the media who are not respecting separation of church and state, etc, Loverboy gets to listen to me rant. (With the history of Mormon persecution, many Mormons are sensitive about this issue, too). We do say prayers that mention God before meals...but it is our own version that also gives credit to those who actually grew, bought, and prepared the food. (See the meal prayer thread for this). We celebrate "Family Home Evening" (a Mormon thing) that sets aside one night a week to be together as a family and read stories, sing songs, do an activity/craft/game, and have a treat. Sometimes it is more religious, sometimes it is pretty secular. I LOVE family home evening! We attend several church activities as a family each year. Trunk or treat is coming up, where the kids go Trick or Treating in the church parking lot, and there are more activities in the church gym. I have made many good friends through Loverboy's church, and see them more often than he sees his church friends sometimes. When Mormon friends come to visit (or my own fundamentalist folks), and it is prayer time, I do not bow my head or close my eyes, but I am quiet and respectful. I expect the same quiet respect AT A MINIMUM from dd3 if she chooses to not participate in the prayer.I am usually the one who suggests prayer time (before meals usually) because I know it is important to others. I have read the Book of Mormon, and I have been through the series of lessons that the missionaries teach. There was never any hope that I would convert, but Mormonism has been a big part of Loverboy's life, and it would be wise of me to learn as much about it as I can. I have also read through most of the bible. ("Read Through the Bible in a Year"...I got to the end of October). For our last two vacations, we have spent time visiting Mormon historical sites. We live in Iowa, so there are several in Missouri and Omaha. When we dated, we went Navoo on the Iowa border. Part of my motivation is as listed in the prior paragraph: I should learn as much as I can about this important part of Loverboy's life; and part is that we may not always live where we do, so we should visit the sites when they are close and accessible. Idealogically, I will never become a Mormon. I am just too skeptical of a person, and I read wayyyyyyy too much, but I think that I am a "non-Mormon Mormon." I love being a sahm, I bake my own bread and grind my own wheat for it, I plan to homeschool, I love kids, I love family home evening, etc, etc. There are times that I want to rant about religion in general or Mormonism in general to Loverboy, but I have mostly learned to keep my mouth shut about such matters. I need to be wise about this and see the big picture of our love for each other and our family. I also hope that I am wise enough to be a good parent to dd3 (and dd due in November) about religion. I hope that I can let each make the choices that are right for them. How hard will it be for me as a feminist if they make conservative choices in religion that result in them being treated very poorly because their religious convictions dictate this? (Loverboy and I have seen this ON OCCASION even in his local church community; we have discussed it). What if my daughters choose to marry within the church and the Mormon temple? I would be excluded from the temple ceremony because I am not a church member. This would break my heart, but I hope that I can be mature/wise enough to support the choices that are best for their spiritual journeys. I know that this sounds as if we are raising our daughters to be Mormon, but we really are a mostly secular household. Loverboy drifts farther and farther from the faith of his childhood. Sometimes he feels bad about it, but only from a guilt perspective, not from a practical one: "I should be doing XXX," rather than "I want to do XXX." I just hope that I can be the partner he needs me to be in this situation.

Obama. Then I'd have bragging rights that I had had dinner at the White House. Or better yet, that I had cooked for the President. :D Dead president: Madison or Jefferson.

First: :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:{hugs}{hugs}{hugs} He doesn't deserve you as a daughter. Second: :iagree: Rise above this. Rise above. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and rise. It will help you to heal. Third: My mantra is, "I get a second chance at a parent/child relationship." Plan a special day with your kids to let them know how extra special they are to you. You get a second chance to be the parent that he never was to you. Love yourself and love your children. Love yourself by loving your children. {hugs}{hugs}{hugs}{hugs}{hugs}{hugs}{hugs} (The website limited how many hugs I can give you!!!)

We wrote our own. We're an unusual family because I am atheist (but grew up fundamentalist Christian) and Loverboy is a less-active Mormon. I wanted something to express thanks to those who actually did the work and to reflect our daily and humble gratefulness that we have such abundance of food; many are hungry even in our own country. Loverboy wanted God mentioned. It's also a subtle way to teach little kids to wait politely until everyone is at the table before "digging in." "Thank the Lord; and those who grew, bought, and prepared this food." No one bows their head or closes their eyes, but we join our glasses in "cheers" at the end. What the heck are atheists supposed to do in this situation????

I'm sorry that your daughter is in such a terrible situation as a teen worker. Get her out of there and reassure her that there ARE good bosses that will appreciate the intelligent, hardworking employee that she is. Her current employers will never find someone as good as she again.

More banks went under in the past year than the year before. I'm sorry that I don't have a specific statistic for you, but it was in Newsweek about 3-4 weeks ago. I must have actually tossed that magazine out after reading it. --Duckens who has been depressed about the economy since I started reading books about economics. Its so much easier to be ignorant.

Yes, you can freeze apples. My mom and paternal grandma did it all the time. Peel them, core them, cut them up, and pre-measure them into bags for the amounts of recipes that you like and label. Example: apples/ 6c/ Sept 2010 1) My parents would make cider from their apple tree (their apples weren't good for much else, but the cider was sweet (w/o additives) and deep. We froze many, many gallons of it each year.) 2) I just made two pies of this recipe. http://www.food.com/recipe/yummy-crunchy-caramel-apple-pie-31128 One is frozen after cooking, but I have never frozen pies before. Anyone else know if this will work? 3) I made applesauce, and I hope to make a second batch to freeze for ice cream topping this year. I will freeze it in 2c portions for my family size. 4) Loverboy LOVES this Pampered Chef recipe I brought home last year for apple dip. You might need to double the recipe! http://www.pamperedchef.com/our_products/recipesearch/recipedetail.jsp?recipeId=11844

I have no deep wisdom for you, but lots of hugs for you and your kids. :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: If it's any comfort, the summer I turned 12, my best school chum (I was public schooled) moved out of town, AND the family of my best friend from church changed churches. (We had a small church, so this left me alone again). This was after a year of "waiting patiently" for my school friend to arrive at the middle school (she was a year behind me) and of being in a different class at Sunday School than my church friend (she was a year ahead of me). I had "waited patiently" all year to be closer to my two friends. It didn't work out that way. It WAS a tough year for me, because I had waited and not complained and been philosophical...and it just didn't work out. :( So, this happens to public school kids in established activities, too. As an adult, I have the skills to understand that I would rather "be alone that wish I was alone," and to consider the time gained rather than lost as long as I spend the time doing things that I love to do. But that was a tough year alone as a kid for me.

I guess that we are underemployed, but we are in better straits than most. Loverboy has a PhD in a science field. He is very competent at things like PCR and all things molecular, etc. He JUST got a promotion, and is now making $48K...which is not a lot for a PhD who did two postdocs. It's the most he's ever made. The position he has just filled was previously held by an individual with a Bachelor's degree. BUT Our housing is paid for. We live in a 10yo trailer that we were able to buy outright thanks to Loverboy's savings and help from his folks. We just pay lot rent, which is less than even my cheap apartment was. We live in an affordable part of the country, with a good standard of living: good schools, comparably low crime, nice parks, fabulous library, lots of free or low cost events for kids. It is a small college town of ~50K people, so no long commutes to get anywhere. Loverboy works 3mi from home, up from 1.6mi when he worked at the university. We have no debt because we are lucky AND careful. My grandmother paid off my school loans when my father realized how sick I was. Loverboy had no school loans. We are boring people who don't go out to the movies, don't eat out much, and don't do a lot of entertaining. Because I never finished school, and I have been so sick, it would make no sense financially for us to put Dd into daycare for me to take a minimum wage job. This would be true even if Loverboy made half as much! My time is better spent raising dd, washing laundry, and cooking from scratch. I know in many households it is a luxury to have one parent stay home. I feel lucky that I am able to do this. And this is big: Loverboy works for the federal government. When he was hired, there was a delay in his hiring because, among other things, we had to wait for the governor to approve that there would be funding for his job for 25years. Yes, we are in much better straits than many people, in spite of the "underemployment." Our hearts go out to those who are struggling in our country right now, and we hope that they, and our country, can find their way through these tough times.

I think that depends upon how we vote. I think that either way, we ARE in for the long haul...like the decade of the 30s Great Depression. Remember that two years ago, we didn't even know if we would have a financial system that would survive. That situation was brought about by a few decades of poor choices; it will not be fixed overnight. We know what the lessons of the Great Depression are, and we know many of the lessons of the recent stock market crash (of a few years ago, as well as the Asian and European financial crashes); and we know the bigger picture of true wages falling for decades and the growing gap between richest and poorest in this country. We know many of the things that will fix the situation. 1) Do we choose to be educated about these things, or ignorant? 2) Do we choose to hold our representatives responsible to truly represent us, rather than the multi-millionaires and the "legal person" corporations? Most people I listen to locally are not interested in statistics and history. They disagree with it philosophically, therefore it is not true. They would rather hear anecdotes and emotional arguments. They are not interested in programs that work statistically and facts that blow their emotional arguments out of the water. Unless we vote differently, YES, this is the new standard. --Duckens who has been depressed since she started reading books by Nobel Prize economists

Super! If the police choose to "laugh" at you, they can be sued or at least embarrassed if this bullying continues. The local paper would LOVE to see the local police not taking sexual harrassment of a local teen/minor! That would sell papers! DOCUMENT EVERYTHING! Documentation is your friend. Let them know you are writing it down: date, time, names, titles/positions/badge numbers. As a pp said, let your son look back 10 years from now and know that you protected him like a roaring lion. Do everything possible to let the offender and his parents know that this behavior is NOT acceptable. The schools prior threats haven't been enough, and suspension only removes the offender from the situation -- temporarily! Maybe he will respect the police better. ETA: Be the parents my parents never were. BTW, I am not on good terms with my parents because they never advocated for me over years and years of this sort of situation. I am 40yo and done making excuses for them.

I nannied for a family that had a summer home in France. We spent two summers there (1991, 1992). 1) Buy good travel books. I like the Fodor's series. The first summer I did nothing. The second summer, I did lots of touristy things. Fodor's also has/had lots of guided walks with points of interest. Example: http://www.amazon.com/Fodors-Switzerland-45th-Gold-Guides/dp/1400008220/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1284515566&sr=8-1 If nothing else, see what your local library offers, and pick the travel book that fits your family. 2) Carry a dictionary in your bag everywhere you go. French/English or German/English or Spanish/English: whatever you need. If you are trying to communicate with someone who doesn't speak English, you can look up the English word that you want to say and point to it in the dictionary. They will see the Spanish word, and know what you are trying to communicate. Likewise, if a native is trying to communicate with you, you can hand them your dictionary, they can look up the Spanish word and point to it, and you will understand the gist of what they are saying. 3) Carry a pen and a pad of paper everywhere you go! Same idea. When I lived in France, I had only 2.5 years of high school French from 5+ years previously. I knew what I wanted to communicate, but I coudn't pronounce it properly. I wrote out the sentence, and got my message across....and my pronunciation corrected! Another time, we were in Germany, where my boss had lived for 10+ years before returning to the states. We were ordering ice cream sundaes, but he couldn't remember the German word for "strawberry." I whipped out my pad and drew a picture of a strawberry. Mission accomplished! 4) Look around for someone who is reading something in English. If someone is competent enough to read English, they can probably answer your questions, too. This is how I confirmed that I was in the right line for the TGV to Paris!

1) Do it with them. 2) I sit on the floor. The hard part for me of cleaning the living room is all of the getting up and down. Then I call to the kids one at a time: "E, I need your help!" She comes over, and I hand her half a dozen blocks. I tell her to put them in the block box. "C, I need your help!" He comes over, and I hand him 3-4 cars. I tell him to put them in the car box where the toys are organized. "E, I need your help!" I give her a few miscellaneous items that go into the general toybox, and I direct her accordingly. "C, I need your help!" I give him his shoes, and tell him to "Put these where they go." This system works for us. The kids are 3yo. Everyone gets half of a flavorice popcicle as a reward, but there ARE natural consequences. Anyone who does not respond when they are called repeatedly gets put on the couch, and gets either no flavorice or a lesser proportion of the flavorice. One day, after repeated prompting (as above), the kids still did not help. So Loverboy and I ate flavorice IN FRONT OF THE KIDS with none for them. I had LOTS of help cleaning up the next day!

I am not a praying person, but you've got even the atheists concerned for you! I wish you strength and wisdom at this time to achieve the things you need to do. Please be good to yourself, and know that we care about you. :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

The issue with sedation is that there ARE risks...especially with an older cat. Our vets demands bloodwork for all cats age 5+ before any sedation. Then if there is a problem with the bloodwork, they know the risks before sedating the cats.

:grouphug:

I would use the lawyer. Yes, $680 is a lot of money, but this is a major investment. Consider this: When my grandfather passed away he had lived in the nursing home for a few years. Before that, he and step-Grandma (he remarried after being widowed) lived in a trailer in town for a few years. Before that, he and step-Grandma lived on the farm. (They were married in their 50s, and celebrated 25years of marriage before step-grandma passed away). When Grandpa passed away, my mom's cousin came a-knockin' AGAIN for inheritance money related to the famly farm. Confused yet? Is it complicated enough yet? Here's the real history of the family farm: My mom grew up on the family farm with a 3-generational family: mom and her sister, my grandparents, and her grandparents (G & G Young). The family farm passes from Grandma Young to Grandpa Young: When Grandma Young dies, my grandma's sister (according to the will) got a cut of the value of the farm. The family farm passes from Grandpa Young to my grandma (his daughter): When Grandpa Young died, he owned two farms: one in Iowa, and one in Wisconsin. My grandparents got the Iowa farm, because they lived there. My Grandma's sister got the Wisconsin farm. Grandma's sister was not happy with the Wisconsin farm, so my Grandparents cleaned out their savings to keep Grandma's sister happy...and to keep peace in the family. The family farm passes from my Grandma to my Grandpa: When my Grandma passed away unexpectedly, her sister's sided of the family hired a lawyer to stake claim to her part of the family farm; and ANOTHER settlement was made to appease that part of the family. My Grandpa remarried (step-Grandma) a year later. The family farm is sold: At or near retirement, Grandpa sold the farm to a neighbor with the agreement that he and step-Grandma could live there as long as they wanted as long as they didn't sink a new well. The neighbor made monthly payment to Grandpa and step-Grandma to subsidize their meager retirement. (Newsflash: Grandpa was not a very good farmer, but that's another story). Again, the cousins of that side of the family demand a settlement according the deed and the former family wills. Grandpa dies: Many years later, Grandpa and step-Grandma have moved off the farm. First they are in a trailer in town; then the nursing home. THERE IS NO MONEY LEFT FOR THE NURSING HOME, AND GRANDPA IS TOTALLY FUNDED BY MEDICARE. When Grandpa dies, the cousins again hire a lawyer to evaluate their cut of Grandpa's will. What cut? There's nothing left to cut! This saga runs from pre-1968 through 2005, and much of the turmoil is due to will that were written long before I was born. Do you really want to not use a lawyer to tell you what is going on with this land? Really?

:grouphug: Did your computer have a name? How shall we remember him/her? --Duckens a nerd who names her computers