Floradix is a more favorable iron supplementation. It is non-constipating and is assimilated by the body better than iron pills. Does wonders for raising hemoglobin levels! And if you have really low levels, you can do Floradix and chlorophyll.

Try at least one full cup a day. Many women who were coffee drinkers and stop have constipation issues. I don't fully support the recommendation of stopping the prenatal if you are taking a whole-foods based. If you are, that shouldn't be the issue. Of course you could always give it a try to see if it helps. Also make sure you are getting plenty of water AND fiber. There are several other great recommendations! I also tell women Colace if nothing else natural helps. I would venture to guess that's due more to hormones than the lack of coffee. How did you take it? Straight? Mixed in with something?

Yesterday went a little something like this: Me: "...and what did God create Adam out of?" Them: *crickets chirping* "..ummmm...." 9yo: "Mama, I needed help with something in English." Me: *looking at the book...I see very detailed directions on how to make a web for the personal narrative* "Ok, did you read the directions?" Her: "Yes." Me: Begins guiding her through the lesson 11yo: "I need help with Math." Me: *looking at the book...she's to figure the area of a square...not a new concept and she has the directions written out in a spiral notebook* "So what are they asking you to do?" Her: "Find the area." *blank stare* Me: "And how do you do that?" Her: *a much deeper blank stare* And now...the Wednesday edition! Hopefully the information they need today will be present in their brains. :lol::tongue_smilie:

And did you stop drinking that coffee? ;) Or I should ask...did you stop drinking the coffee and then notice a change? Or did you stop a while ago and this constipation is a new symptom? A whole-foods based vitamin (i.e. New Chapter, Rainbow Light) won't be harsh on your tummy.

http://doulaheather.blogspot.com Macrina ~ LOL!! The nursing Mama felty is adorable!!!!!

Were you a coffee drinker?

I've always just done the whole "wing it" method. Once they know the letter sounds it's a matter of putting those sounds together to form words. So far at least that has worked, I still have one more so that may not work for him. ;) We did it in progression like this: - Learn the short vowel sounds - Learn consonant sounds - Start putting words together: at, am, an, as it, in, if, is on, of, up, - Then build bigger words: cat, sat, hat, mat, bat; ham, sam, ram; ran, man,; has, sit, bit, mit, fit; fin, bin, pin. ...You get the idea. :) By the time they are doing that you can get library books that she can read. Dr Seuss books are great ("Hop on Pop", "I am Sam")!! But many have these sight words in them even if you read together. You read the bigger words and she can read those that she knows. At this age it's so very easy to just have fun and make it a game. Once my girls could read basic sight words we moved on to R&S 1. However now, with my third, we're using CLE LA 100. Those help reinforce what they have already learned plus begin teaching phonics rules.

I didn't take it as being rude. :) It's a very valid question b/c I know those midwives and doulas are out there (including doulas who will refuse clients who leave the option open for an epidural or those who actually leave a birth if the client gets and epidural!). ;) I just said that IMO a *good* midwife will not be pushy about her personal beliefs but help support her clients in making decisions that are right for them.

Just a little bit off. ;) IMO a good midwife will help direct parents-to-be to evidence-based information. With that in hand it is up to the parents to make the best decision for their child(ren). I am anti-circ. My midwifery partner is not. When we have clients ask us about our thoughts and what we decided personally, we do tell them but we also make it known that it is their decision to make. Yes, there are many midwives against things like circumcision, vaccinations, bottle feeding, and shaving (:tongue_smilie:). A lot of that comes from the whole natural approach midwives have and that we should not interfere unless medically indicated. But even with personal convictions and/or opinions, it's not our job to shove it down our client's throats (and there are some mw's who do...I know of some midwives who won't take clients who are planning to bottlefeed!). Just like it's not our job to talk every expecting woman into a home birth.

I installed it and played for a little while. No issues here.

How fun! Thanks for sharing the link!

We have one but we don't have room for it right now. When we do have room for it, we LOVE it! It's great to curl up in and read. :) This one has held up very well! It belonged to my dh when we were dating (we met in 1995). I'm not sure where it came from before that, if it was purchased new for him when he moved into his apt. or if it was a hand-me-down from family. The only thing we've had to replace is the cushion. His parents bought us one, I think after we got married in 1997, and it's just now needing to be replaced. The last few weeks we had it in the kid's room w/o the cushion holding stuffed animals. LOL I took it out so I could put up a bookcase. The frame we have is almost exactly like this one.

Chris ~ I have both. My Body is for my younger two and The Body Book is for my older two. Dana ~ Thanks.

:hurray: Congrats!!!!

My apologies if this is an obvious question. I've looked through the book and don't see the answer other than the models can be fitted on top of each other to have a full human body. Would this work if I got butcher paper and attached the finished models to it? I'm just thinking otherwise we're going to have all of these loose cut-out models laying around until the whole thing is done.

Lori ~ Yes, both she and I looked over all the LL samples. Including showing her what they have for High School. Exactly. Which is why I think I had her in too low a level with CLE. Elizabeth ~ High School level. Ohhh..yes..I looked over that too. It's definitely something I want to use someday but I just can't spend that much right now. I went ahead and ordered CLE6. We'll stick with CLE for now and see how it goes.

I asked her (again) earlier why she didn't like doing it. Did she not like it because it was hard or was she finding it boring b/c it was too easy and not challenging her?? She told me the latter and I believe her. I had her in level 500. She did excellent on the LU pages and tests but hated doing the work each day. I am going to bump her up and see how it goes. I just can't find anything else out there to fit what I'm wanting to teach. I LOVE CLE too but in seeing her boredom I thought maybe we should switch to something else. I just need to :chillpill: LOL!

Oh..I've been through all the threads here about LL. Which is one reason I say I see mixed reviews and I'm having a hard time deciding. :( It seems most are really pleased with the depth that CLE Reading teaches. I'm wondering if I had my dd in a level too low for her. Thus the absolute boredom she's feeling. Perhaps moving her up a level or two will provide more of a challenge.

If you're have some intestinal/GI issues it could be aggravating your uterus. Similar to how castor oil works to bring on labor, by irritating the bowels and thus the uterus. If you are feeling aching/pulling near the sides then that's related to the uterus growing and stretching the round ligaments. Getting plenty of water (1/2 your body weight in oz) will help. Upping your fiber intake too can help with the constipation. It all sounds very normal to me (I was just asking similar questions to a client... about as far along as you are...just the other day who was complaining of similar symptoms). Of course, if you are concerned then it's worth a call to your OB to ask their advice and/or to be seen. Keep up the water and rest! And don't sleep on your belly! :tongue_smilie:

You mention your stomach feeling iffy, any irregular bowel issues?

Has anything changed since upping your fluid (which should be mostly water...not juices) intake? Is the aching near the middle of your belly or off to the sides? Thought of another question...not sure what # pregnancy this is for you but do you usually get braxton hicks with your pregnancies?

We're dropping CLE Reading. Yesterday I learned about Lightning Lit. It looks good and like something my dd would enjoy, but I see mixed reviews. Is there anything else I should consider? I've looked at Teaching the Classics before and I don't think it's my cuppa. Oh..I should add..this is for my oldest dd who is in 6th grade. LOVES to read!! We haven't done much writing however. Discuss. :lurk5:

:iagree: In addition, to my understanding (I've read this somewhere..I'll have to dig it up. But it's 1am here so I could be thinking of something else. Someone correct me if I'm wrong please): - it does not cover all strains. - of those it does cover, the % of those strains causing cancer is VERY low.

Here is a sample from the Ancient Egypt/Greece book: http://www.truthquesthistory.com/store/pdf/greece.pdf The entire book is laid out just like that. I've never seen SL texts IRL so I have no idea how TQ compares to that. From your description it sounds somewhat similar. With TQ you read real books (going thru the TQ book you follow the topics chronologically), she gives some specific history texts/spines, and there are no activities like the SOTW AG but it's easy to add them in (and like I mentioned, some of the library books ARE activity books such as The Little House Cookbook when studying about pioneers). You can choose how much time you want to devote to each topic. So as far as planning goes, it's mostly up to you. Nothing is laid out in the guide as far as, "Spend two weeks on Greek gods", "Spend 1 week on hieroglyphics". Oh, and it's a religious text. At times it's almost too much for me and we are Christians. I agree with some of her points but I've skipped a good portion of the religious slant.

I have no idea what SL is (Sonlight?) but we've done both SOTW and TQ. TQ is literature-based. It goes through the time period chronologically and lists topics to cover. She does give a little intro/background to the topics, some more than others. They aren't read-alouds like SOTW has. After that intro she lists books and their grade levels. There are fiction and non-fiction choices. For many of the books she'll give a very short synopsis (i.e. "Classic, don't miss this one.", "Beautiful illustrations.", "The story of a girl and her doll who travel through time as ninjas" :tongue_smilie:). If you have a great library system you should be able to find enough to teach the topics. Tulsa has a pretty good library and there are some topics that I will only find 1-2 books for. When I get a new book I sit down at the library website and go through the TQ book, typing in books that look promising (lol) to see if our library has it. Ones they have I check mark. That way when it's time to put books on hold, I don't have to waste time finding which ones I can get. There are no activities suggested in TQ. But sometimes there are suggestions for library books that supply those ideas.