DD is almost 18 months and she loves her new shoes and clothes, she is too funny. DS1 is 4.5 and he loves his V-tech handheld. Loves the Lincoln Logs great grandpa bought (massive amounts of them from an auction) They look like they were never played with and it is a tote full! He also loves the Jumpstart Wii game and Diego games he got. DS2 will be 3 in a few days and got a Zippity, he loves to play it and is slowly getting better :) He loves his tractors he was given as well. As a family we've been playing the memory game and the Cooties game, even DH has been having fun!

Weight watchers. I love the program b/c it teaches you to eat better. Exercise, I loved loved Zumba- it was like going to a party :giggle2: Water, I pretty much only drink water. I am pregnant now, but I plan on going back to Zumba and WW after the baby is born and I am only drinking water now anyways. I think one of the most difficult things is getting used to drinking water all the time- now it is like a habit for me and I don't really care for anything other than some juice and milk.

I thought you could increase supply by pumping, but you have to pump for an additional 15 mins on each side after the last droplet of milk is express. That is a long time with other kids! I always pump extra to have it back, but I have been blessed w/ an abundant supply so far. Do you drink a lot of water, oatmeal, and mother's milk tea? But yes, eventually your milk tapers off and you won't feel engourged. This comes faster every time you bf b/c your body has done it before :) And I agree if you sleep w/ the baby they are more likely to nurse more and this will help w/ supply as well. Enjoy your newbie :wub:

:lurk5: I am the same as you, always managed to do well in math, but am not a huge fan of it. Math is the #1 important subject to my DH. Reading is my main concern :)

While a Moby will last, it won't last in terms of use. At about 20lbs the weight of a baby is just too much for a stretchy wrap :) It starts to say and readjusting while chasing after older kids is just a pain.

I've owned every type of carrier and many many different brands :) How old/big is your LO? Do you like the idea of a wrap, sling, or something easier? A Moby doesn't last long, if you want a wrap invest the money in a woven wrap, mine has been seriously abused and holds even my 40 lb. DS. My moby gave out on us when DS2 hit 19 lbs and I hated having to boost him back and up retie. I also love Soft Structured carriers. I have an Angel pack LX that is great.

That I am not sure of. I know when I did my student teaching in 3rd grade the teacher I worked with was amazing at fluency work. She made (I think they are called) dictaphones? out of the big PVC pipes so they can hear themselves reading. Basically it was a tube that went from the mouth and turned to their ear so it made a tunnel and they were able to work on fluency with these. It was amazing how much they helped, I will make them for my own children even for use at home. Maybe someone else has more to add or a link or something??

My pastor's wife was a 1st grade teacher for many years. She told me that she had the tattle jar and if a student wanted to tattle they could write it on a slip and put it in the jar. She figured if it was important enough for them to take the time and write down then it was worth looking into and doing something about. I always thought this was a great idea for those old enough to write :)

I am not sure this will help, but in PS they don't work on fluency until the end of 2nd/3rd grade.

So do you think if the animal world looks fun, just to buy the small squares book and look up my own stuff online? :)

I would love some information on this program. I'd also love to know how it compares to MFW K if anyone has done both. I would be looking at using it with my DS for his kindergarten program. Or would WP Hidaways in History be better? Thanks :)

I really want to make letter bean bags, but haven't found the time :( I guess I need to get on etsy and find some. I also had a friend tell me to make a big letter I wanted him to learn and tape it in the middle of the floor. And to use wipe off markers and put it on the mirror in the bathroom. I thought those were fun ideas as well. I just know DD is 18 months and will try to undo the tape if I tape a letter into the floor :rofl:

Yes call someone, you don't want to founder it :( Plus you have to be more careful what a horse eats than a cow. And switching a horses diet too much isn't good for it. What a crappy situation :(

Thanks everyone :) We have some leap frog stuff, he just doesn't always get into it. he is very much a lincoln logs type guy, lol. I am getting ready to start HWOT prek with him and my younger DS so I am hoping this helps as well. I also make sure to always tell him what letters are, he just doesn't seem interested yet. He was the same way w/ colors. I think he knows them, it just doesn't make a difference if he knows them or not. Now the sounds he enjoys b/c he knows he will be able to read. Both boys beg to do Starfall so I try to fit it in a least once a day. I love the ideas for practicing letter, thanks! DH and I are going to try to get him a sand/water table for his birthday in May b/c I know it would get a ton of use w/ 3 others behind him to use it.

Thanks! I know it will fall in, I guess what irritates me is all the comments from family members that have children the same age and how he doesn't know the actual letter names :( I start to second guess myself.

DS1 is 4.5 and we are working on the 100 lessons book. He is picking it up super fast. he has no trouble remembering the sounds that they make. We do it twice a day, one to introduce a new lessons and to review so I know he is retaining it. I am going to get the Explore the Code books as well. The problem is he can remember the M says mmmmm, but doesn't know that it is the letter M, only the sound it makes. Is this a problem? He can blend sounds very well b/c of this. I guess I'm wondering if we are on track, if ETC will help, and if you would suggest anything else? Thanks!

Can I make a suggestion? :) I'm not sure if you did this or know about this, but if you did use miracle grow it is a big no no on tomato plants until After they start to bloom. If you use it before they bloom then they use up all the miracle grow on making beautiful, tall, lucious plants that look great, but will never produce any tomatos :(

Some counties have specialized clubs. I know our county has clubs for each district, but if you don't like a certain club you are allowed to travel :) Some clubs are more lax than others in our county. We also have specalized clubs for the animals, ATV, Firearms, and a few others. And I know in our area that they really don't advertise too much, I think they send stuff out for the first year to the schools and then after that it is up to you to contact them :(

I really wanted one and didn't get one. Funny b/c I did want one and have heard everyone that got one in family gift exchanges complaining b/c they didn't want one :rofl:

Yep 5, 6, and 7 are my most commonly used. Where did you order from? I have found knitpicks.com to be a great place to buy needles if you spend $50 you get free shipping :)

We don't do organic, but I really like Rupp http://www.ruppseeds.com/ However, we plant about a 2 acre garden and they cater to larger volumes of buying. But it is a neat one to get and read through. I'm a big dork and order every catalog possible and read them :blush:

I agree that my LYS was overwhealming when starting out, I also found that I spent way more when I was going in w/o know what I wanted. On Rav. I can pick it out and usually already have a yarn in mind and then I have an interchangable set so I usually have all the needles I need. It has saved me a lot of money and time spent starting at patterns and books I wasn't even sure if I was going to use, lol.

I say sign up. What are you using to learn? I love youtube searches and http://www.knittinghelp.com I am very much a visual learner and these both cater to that :giggle2: Then you can make sure before you buy a book that you like the patterns, use free ones, and they have groups you can join to ask questions and such. What all have you made so far?

I usually take my own pictures, but you can slurp them and use their pics. I just usually make sure to credit that it isn't my picture ;) But yes, inventory of yarn is a good thing when you hate digging through all of it :giggle2:

I love Ravelry! I am the same name :) What I always do is check all the notes on free patterns before starting, sometimes the patterns are not perfect and you can learn from someone else's mistakes and less frogging is always good, lol. I also like to see what other yarns have been used and to look at how the colors look before I buy new yarn. I also love that I can search for yarn FS b/c my LYS can be expensive at times :( Oh and the best part is that I can keep inventory of what yarn I do have so I don't have to dig through my massive totes to try to figure out what I do have b/c well once you get so much you tend to forget hehe. ETA: Looking through what patterns are in a book before buying always saves me money as well! And I can ask questions if someone has knit a project before and I have a question.