Another Better Binder girl here. We've got dividers with pockets - I picked them up at Staples. They are heavy duty poly stuff. We've used them for years. :) How old is your kiddo? Not sure if this would work, but I ordered a student planner from successbydesign, and DS likes it. It's 3 hole punched so it could theoretically be put into a big binder.

Hair splinters. Oh, yes - they hurt! :lol: 2 dogs here - one sheds, one doesn't. We do thorough vacuuming weekly (the kind that involves moving furniture and vacuuming under couch cushions), a quickie job once a week in between the thorough job, and daily sweeping. But we have these amazing air filters on every floor and they suck up a *lot* of hair, so I have help in that area. We only have one area rug in the house, but still, it shows hair quickly. What we do isn't enough. We really need to vacuum daily, but I just can't. And DS can't - he's got asthma and the vacuuming stirs stuff up. I fantasize about a roomba sometimes.

Good girl. :) Keep us updated. And go drink some chocolate milk when you get off the phone.

KK, call the doc. :grouphug:

I don't view the lifestyle changes as sacrifices, but from the outside looking in - they could be viewed that way. Hmmm, what about stepparents? I moved across the country, leaving my career behind, to be near my skid. Again, I didn't view it as a sacrifice, but it was a huge change. We drove 60 miles per day, and spent 2 - 3 hours in traffic getting him to/from school each day (crazy parenting schedule - every other night). That's a lot of wear and tear on a car, but it gave us lots of time for bonding. Maybe that was a sacrifice for our other son - he was an infant/toddler on lots of those rides. I don't know, I can't view the changes I made to be a stepparent as any more sacrificial than the changes I made to parent the kids that were "all" mine. It's just what we did, it was the right thing, it felt good, and it was life.

Great list. I was going to suggest Falling Skies, but someone beat me to it. :) It's on Amazon Prime.

You might look at Winston Grammar.

Star Trek here. :)

Pets? Oh my. I had no idea.

I currently have a sinus infection plus strep. Doc has me on (real) sudafed, plus a nasal spray (it's either flonase or nasonex, I can't remember which), plus abx, of course. I'm supposed to do the neti pot a few times daily, too. Maybe some of those ideas would help you. Hope you feel better soon.

This doesn't really matter. But I have strep, after a month of being ill with other things, and I'm just thinking, trying to figure out how yet another germ has been introduced to the petri dish that seems to be our home... (yes, I am sanitizing like crazy but we have 2 family members with compromised immune systems so we tend to catch everything). We have friends who have strep frequently. In fact, they just had another round of it last week. I have wondered if maybe one of the parents is an asymptomatic carrier. On Fri night, they sent dinner to DH and me, because we couldn't make it to a party at their place (because of we were all sick with sinus stuff). So they sent us a plate of awesome BBQ and other goodies, and we enjoyed every bite. :) Sat night, in the middle of the night, I started getting sicker, and I *knew* it was strep. Went to a drive up doc on Sun and got the positive test. Could a plate of food have transmitted strep? I wonder if maybe I was more susceptible than DH, since I've been sick off and on all month (along with the kids) and because my immune system is compromised? Or maybe I picked it up somewhere else, who knows. Just a random thought.

Yep. Take a picture and let it go. It doesn't sound like you're going to give these to your kiddos someday, either, so there's double the reason to let it go. Don't make your kids do it when they are adults. If you *must* save something, save a baby bootie. :)

You have great suggestions already. :) I have a talker, and have used lots of the suggestions above. It gets better with time. Or your ears go numb, I'm not sure which, really. One thing that always helped here, when I was absolutely desperate for some quiet time - audiobooks. DS could put on headphones and listen to an audiobook, and I'd be guaranteed some quiet time. Will your kiddo listen to an audiobook and illustrate it or something? It's not a real solution, but more of an emergency measure that you can save for moments when you *must* have quiet.

Oh, that's interesting. I have a host of viral infections, also transmitted by ticks. I see no reason to think that a bacterial or viral infection wouldn't trigger this. FWIW, I also have Addison's Disease, triggered by the above. The Florinef also treats that, along with Hydrocortisone. Plus Hashimoto's - triggered by the same. I call them my souvenirs from the very sick tick that bit me. I haven't noticed side effects specific to Florinef, but to be fair - I have so much going on, it's hard to tell one thing from another. The site I linked above has some good advice for basic things to do to help with POTS on a daily basis. There are little tricks, that I did instinctively - you probably do, too, but just in case... Things like sitting with your legs pulled up under you, shifting position often. You might read through and just see if there's anything you could add that might help your tachy. When I'm in a flare up, my doc has me drink a quart of water with salt added every morning - sometimes I add lemon for flavor. She has also mentioned trying tincture of licorice, but I have not tried that.

Glad you found a way to get the meds into him, and he's on the mend. :) And hoping that you'll feel better soon, too! Sleep will help. No improvement here yet, but it hasn't even been 24 hours. So far, I'm the only one on meds. The kids were on abx for a sinus infection anyway, so hopefully they'll be fine. ...I had forgotten how sore a sore throat could be! Ouch.

I take Florinef for the POTS. It helps quite a bit, and when I've tried to go off of it, I've seen a recurrence of symptoms. My POTS has come and gone for 20+ years, but all of that time I also had undiagnosed tick borne diseases. Once we found and treated those, the POTS improved drastically. It is the worst for me when Babesia is active - Babesiosis is a cousin of malaria, but transmitted by ticks - I am currently in remission. Several people in my support groups have said the same thing - Babesia brings out the POTS. I'm not suggesting you have Babesia, so much as reminding you that there are underlying causes to the POTS that you'll want to find. Of course, I'm sure you know that. I had not heard of treating POTS with an SSRI. That's interesting. I do take an SSRI for peripheral neuropathy as well, but have never noticed a change in POTS symptoms. But it may not be the right SSRI. For the most part, I increase fluids and salt when in a flare up. This website has been quite helpful, if you haven't already found it: http://www.dinet.org/

How's it going? I thought of you today. Our family has been sick off and on for a month, too. Mostly sinus infections, kids were negative for strep. But I felt worse and worse, and went for a culture today. Yep. Strep. Sanitizing the entire house and contemplating getting the kids and DH cultured again. Ugh. Hope your little one is taking his meds and feeling better!

Ouch. I hope she feels better soon.

This is not an attitude I've seen personally, though I can see how it happens. Most of the parents I've known hope that their kids do exceedingly well, and when they do - it's taken as a result of "good parenting" so it's a reason to feel proud. :seeya: I support your business! And I'm happy that the tiny bit I've paid toward curriculum might contribute in some small way to your life. You certainly made mine easier by planning out our 5th grade year. So this is just a tiny, off topic thank you!

You just described our Disney vacations. :) We've been twice (a week each time), and had a fabulous time both visits. We never used Fast Pass, and the longest we ever waited in line was 20 minutes. We eat breakfast at the condo, pack a cooler with lunch and go to the park. The cooler is more of a back up plan in case we have trouble finding allergy friendly food, but of course it's Disney and there is always allergy friendly food! There are tons of places to grab a quick bite without reservations. We go off season, during the week. I'm just not a planner, but it's worked out beautifully. Maybe if you have princess kids or something specific that you want to do, it will be different? For us, we just *go*... And it's perfect.

Oh no. :( I'm so sorry. Sending you hugs.

It seems to help here.

Beaming you some good wishes! Glad you are home!!!!

I would probably get the whole family vultured. :) Or even just treat everyone. Don't mess with strep.

I hope you get answers. And quickly. FWIW, I get different results on the hr tests - some days are just more "potsy" than others. I do have things well under control now, too, though. Heat and humidity are still triggers though. Pushing salt and fluids has been helpful. And meds. :)