:iagree::iagree: I know it's easier said than done since way too much has to change at our house when the IL's come visit. Good luck and if all else fails, pull on your "Ouiza" overalls from "Steel Magnolias" and take charge.

Since my oldest will only be in K this year, I've been stocking up on crayons. I know I should have waited but I had a Target coupon for $1 off a $2 Crayola purchase. I purchased boxes of 24 count crayons for $1. I am so blissfully happy. I probably should have waited til the clearance sale but the tic started in my right eye so I had to buy the crayons....that sounds good.

Woot woot!!!!!!!!! I've got my dancing pants on and am tripping the light fantastic for you! (Be very thankful you can't see it.) Congratulations!!!!!!!!!! What a major accomplishment!

Thanks! My 4 year old is already a huge fan of the Presidents thanks to a cheapie dinner table placemat from Wal-Mart. He will love this! He decided this past weekend he wants to be President after he finishes flying Navy Seahawks and being a Blue Angel.

What thoughtful parents! Your post gave me happy tears.

My family will eat their weight in Hopping John. Here's our recipe: 1 bag of black-eyed peas ($1.19) 1/4 of a package of salt pork ($.60 cents-here it is $2.29 for a package so I divide it to make it last longer) 2 cups uncooked brown rice ($.99 cents for a bag) salt to taste Soak peas over night. Cook on medium heat with salt pork til tender (approx. 2 hours). Add salt to taste. Cook brown rice according to directions. When everything is ready, spoon rice into bowls. Spoon peas over rice. Mix well in bowl. *Optional add ins: if you have onion or green pepper in the fridge, you can add it to the peas as they cook. **One more thing-you can cook the peas in the crock pot for 8 hours instead of using the stove.

Same here.

:iagree: Me, too, for all of the above.

I've had showers for all 3 of my children so far. With my first, I admit to going over the top more than I would care to admit to these days. I've learned my lesson from that, thankfully. For my second child, I had a diaper shower, which was a HUGE blessing. My third child was a girl so after 2 boys, I truly had no girly anything so a "pink" shower was another HUGE blessing. One of the ladies at church asked tonight about a shower for baby #4. I feel guilty having another shower so I asked if we could keep it very small, simple, and a diaper shower. Our church has done so much for us this year since my husband lost his job. Back in May, I was invited to a shower for a girl in our local MOMS club for her second child (and second son). She complained on Facebook and our email list that no one was giving her a shower. Some of the ladies had already gotten together and planned a surprise diaper shower for her, which we ended up having to tell her about due to her complaining. After the shower, she complained again via Facebook and email that she only got a diaper shower when she really needed a true shower. I never realized there was a distinction. To me, any shower is a blessing and should be received as such.

I just got back from the Southeast Homeschool Expo in Atlanta this past weekend. It was my first attempt at one of the conventions. I went in with a list of those I wanted to see, those I wanted to see if I had time and energy, and those I knew without a doubt I wanted to avoid. It was good for me because I am a "touchy-feely" person when it comes to books and curriculum. There were several vendors that I had been interested in and once I got to touch and feel, I was able to finally pin down what I wanted. I avoided all of the classes since most didn't fit what I was looking to learn at the conference and we are only doing K this year. If my preferred vendors had not been in attendance, I wouldn't have gone to the convention at all. I am looking forward to the Jacksonville, FL convention next year since they have a used curriculum sale (Jacksonville is closer) which the Atlanta convention didn't offer. Dh and I talked about attending another convention in a few more years when the oldest is moving into the later elementary/middle grades and our needs change. For now, we have a nice network of other homeschooling families that kindly allow us to touch and feel their curriculum before we commit real money to it.

My son shakes both his hands like that when he gets excited, upset, or is running around the room. I think for him it's a way to release some of the physical energy these situations bring on for him. Some part of his body is in constant motion, even when he sleeps. He's never been diagnosed with ADHD or Aspergers.

Wow! How amazing would that be to experience as a teenager.

:iagree::iagree::iagree: Same here. Worship time is for worship, not play. In reality, it's usually a very small (smaller than I would like, unfortunately) portion out of the week of everything else we do.

Stairs can be an issue. I lived downstairs for the first month with ds#1. It wasn't comfortable but trying to get up the stairs was worse, for me. The going-down the stairs was difficult and made my incision tingle. Is your couch one where you could take the cushions off and put the air mattress on the base? I know I had such a hard time rolling off the couch and/or bed with all 3 of my sections for about 3-4 days after coming home. I needed DH to push me off or pull me up. I slept at a 45 degree angle for the first couple of days on the couch. As for the party, it was very simple. Pizza and a chocolate chip cookie cake. If I hadn't had the good drugs to fight the pain, I don't think I would have done the party. But with all the family already in town, we had one chance to celebrate.

I have naturally curly hair but since I am always the one taking the pictures, I don't have a picture of myself and my lion's mane of curls. I have dozens of cowlicks, 3 types of curls (tight curls along my hair line, medium-sized bouncy in the middle, and large bouncy curls along my crown area). I have not been able to find a decent stylist since I moved to our small town. I use garnier fructis for conditioner every day, even the days I don't wet my hair and shampoo it only on Sundays. My hair is very coarse and thick. The longer it gets, the curlier it gets. My favorite conditioner is green, green, virgin olive oil. My hair soaks it up and it makes it feel so smooth. I dream of a pixie cut but have a long face that needs long hair to keep it from looking out of balance. ***I found one, finally. This was about 5 months after getting it cut into a layered bob. I didn't like it as much as I thought so I'm still growing it out. I find even with short cuts, I still have to pull it back out of my face since all my curls curl and fall forward.

My experience was that my second c-section was significantly easier than my first-to the point of hosting a family-only (all 8 of us) birthday party for my oldest who turned 2 the day we came home from the hospital. My first was emergency since my bp shot up and ds#1 was retreating back up into my womb. I was a complete exhausted mess the first go around. Second time, not a problem. Get up when the nurses tell you to so you can walk around and make sure to use their physical strength to help you. They know all the tricks to getting you up and around so use them and abuse them. I kept ds2 in the bed with me about 90% of the time. That made nursing him so much easier and my recovery mentally easier. I also limited the number of visitors simply due to exhaustion. With nurses coming in so much and family bringing the older dc by, I was worn out. Also, if you have a tendency to get nauseous after the surgery, there is something the anesthesiologist can add to make that easier to fight. I didn't learn that until the 3rd c-section. Bring plenty of carbs, if you eat them. I was starving all the time so eating Pringles and saltine crackers kept me going until the food services ladies came around.

Virtually present.

I wish I knew what chart they were using but unfortunately, it was a spreadsheet on one of many sheets outlining their standards for obese so that we could see our "ideal weight" if we later decided to join the health-improvement group to work towards a lower weight and insurance cost. For a 5'6" woman, the weight was 125. There wasn't a range, just a flat number. I battled anorexia back in my college days and even then I never got lower than 125#.

We are having that ongoing battle now with our local health department. According the BMI used by the health department, my 4 yo is obese. He is too tall for his age so I must stop giving him milk to drink (their words). He's 4'4' tall, which is the average height of a 1st grader and weighs 52 pounds. When the nurse told me he was obese, I literally laughed at her. I thought she was kidding. I lifted up his shirt so she could count his ribs since they show no matter how much he eats. He's just a tall, skinny, growing boy, just like his granddaddy who is 6'4". Recently, we've had to pay extra for our insurance since DH and I are both considered overweight. When we were looking at the charts for how much we are "supposed" to weigh, we were shocked. I'm supposed to weigh 115 pounds for my height (5'5"). I'm pregnant so I don't have a "true" weight at the moment but it isn't anywhere even remotely close to that. I haven't weighed 115 pounds since I left high school 20 years ago. Where are the insurance companies and health-related industries that come up with these obscene numbers actually get them? Barbie doll conventions?

With #4, I knew about a week before my cycle was supposed to start due to cramping and sheer hunger. With all 4, I would get ravenous for breakfast, which I rarely eat much of to begin with (mostly a couple of cups of coffee and a bowl of cereal). When I start craving sausage and biscuits and scrambled eggs and the full breakfast by 6am, that's my sign.

WOW!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations to your family!!!!!!!!! I loved 4H as a kid and wish our program was still active. But alas, it has been cut due to budget constraints. We're working with a neighboring county to get involved in their group when my dc are old enough. Again-YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Big hugs to you! This truly is not normal behaviour. I know from the same first hand experience you have. My mother was the exact same way. We finally cut off contact over 10 years ago. Unfortunately, my brother stayed and is now exhibiting the very same behaviour and passing it along to his children. I'll be praying for and thinking about you as you work with your family through this (even if they don't realize what's going on).

We're just starting although this year we're doing another year of preschool with my ds4. Thankfully, the GA laws on homeschooling are not strict, at least from what I've heard from other members of these boards. Here's the link for the GA DOE page on homeschooling: http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/askdoe.aspx?PageReq=ASKHome. Many areas in GA have homeschool support groups or coops. We're in coastal GA and have a couple of homeschool groups and a co-op, which will be nice when ds4 is older. Dahlonega is a beautiful area that's really growing and developing into a heritage tourism area. That's one of our favorite places to vacation as a family.

Sorry-I think the cabana boy slipped something stronger in my lemonade and I took a nap under tent. Man, those beach loungers are fabulous! What did I miss?

:iagree: I like that answer. Can I use it? My brain is too fried to come up with one of my own. I thought I had manage to salvage some it after #1 but then came #2 followed very quickly by #3, when all hope for brain power was lost. Therefore (ha-big word, I'm done for today), #4 must make me certifiable. I think chocolate is the only medicine that will truly solve this problem.