Our kids are 22, 9, and 2. They are very close, especially the 9 yo and 2 yo, because those ate the two still at home. All visits home by the college kid are breathlessly awaited. They love each other where they are, for who they are. They don't have to be at the same stage of life to be close. Those age differences will seem to shrink as they become adults anyway, and that will be the majority of their lives. DH is 12 yrs older than his little sister. They are close. My brother is 8 yrs older than I am ... We are not close, per se, but as close as we can be for two radically different people. ETA: that is the most hysterical typo! I just can't edit it out. It should have said "are" but I phone typing and said my kids ate each other!!

Never called it partying. Didn't use party as a verb - pet peeve. :) But I spent plenty of nights in dark bars listening to great bands. Followed a tour one year. Good times. Oh, and I did go to my share of drag shows with my bestie, in my very early 20s. Almost forgot about that. Some of that qualifies as clubbing. We were long distance so that was on visits home. I got married at 27. DH is a musician. We both have interesting histories.

I'm so, so sorry. Sending big hugs. It's hard to lose a friend. :(

For a funny gift... An aunt of mine gave her hubby a flock of forty flamingos on their front lawn. Tacky, funny!

Yes, DH and I are probably spoiled, but we enjoy watching shows once they've filmed quite few episodes so we can have nightly marathons instead of waiting for the next episodes. :) We are currently about to finish up Luther, and looking for our next addiction.

Yes, thank you. We have been waiting to watch the last season so we can do it in one big fell swoop, as opposed to being left hanging every week. We aren't patient here. :)

Ditto.

Still hoping for a positive (for all) resolution. On a slightly different note, I was fascinated by the Crazy Cat Lady comments, and looked it up. Very interesting article here.

Happy dance!

Phone typing, so this will not be complete. I am a gut person. Lovely title. :) Also had long stints of abx for Lyme (hence the y in Spryte). I could write a book on the gut issues. In fact, I'm on meds for a gut issue right now. I'm always on tons of supplements, but abx at the moment. First, since you don't want to go to the doc unless you must... Are you taking a good quality probiotic? And a good quality S. Boulardii? The second is a beneficial yeast, also helpful in restoring gut balance. That is where I would start. Do you have yeast issues? An anti yeast diet might help. Intestinal Dysbiosis is an imbalance in the gut. There's a lot that you can do to fix it naturally, but you need to have a general idea of what's going on. An integrative meds doc helped me a lot. I took a ton of supplements, and still do. I can share the names with you, but they are tailored to me. Let me know, if that would help. Are you sure you didn't contract the bacterial infection that was isolated to leafy greens this summer? Do you live near those recalls? And... My mother is allergic to lettuce. Totally possible. :( TBH, if this continues ... You might want to have things ruled out by a good doc. Hope you feel better soon!

Any news? Did you speak to the crazy cat lady? Hoping that your kittens come home soon.

:lol: Watch out, he'll be onto the getting-the-hair-wet trick soon, that's how it all starts!

(Oops, I posted on your duplicate thread. :blushing: Trying again...) Have they tried the one where they turn the water on for a while, stick their head under the water to get it wet, and try to say they showered? DSS used to do that one, when he was about 12 or so. :) Good times. ETA: It gets better when they discover girls, though that comes with its own set of pitfalls.

NM - duplicate thread.

Thank goodness she is doing well now. That must have been so scary. DS has never had an attack that didn't resolve quickly with his rescue inhaler, I sometimes forget how scary it can become.

Oh no. :( I hope she's feeling better now. Just wanted to mention that we removed the carpet and put hard floor into DS's room, on his allergist's advice. We saw a difference right away. I know you're on the fence, and it might not be the magic bullet for you, but just wanted to pass along our experience. It is so hard to figure out allergies.

I got nothing. I heart Apple. But I will send you a sympathy card. :) FWIW, Best Buy just had a special deal - free upgrade to a 5. No charges at all. They'll probably run it again. But if you don't want Apple... I got nothin'.

Oh my goodness! I had to laugh. We're in the same boat. Only I've only got one kiddo in VT, thus far. DS is starting VT tomorrow. And my own doc has been after me to go to CT to see a vision therapist there, who specializes in a particular type of VT. DH asked about me at our parent conference, and our local VT is evaluating me in 2 weeks! He did a quick eval on the spot to verify that my doc is right. Yep, sure enough. Midline shift and something else here. Mine is not developmental, but comes from a brain injury. I find the thought of doing therapy with a lot of kids pretty funny. :) Our insurance doesn't pay a dime, but we are getting a family discount. Oh! And yes, my adrenal fatigue progressed to Addison's Disease. Cautiously optimistic that treating might resolve that. My doc also feels it will help with chronic migraines and a muscular issue I have going on in my neck/shoulders.

We are starting VT tomorrow. :) We can be VT newbies together. This is our only therapy, but I can imagine the rounds some of you face. We have merry go rounds of doc appts, but not weekly therapies. I admire you! Binocular Fusion Disorder here, convergence insufficiency, diplopia and a few other diagnoses. We are cautiously optimistic. DS has trouble reading small font and blocks of text, though he's fine if it's larger, double spaced font.

This just made me hungry. Mmmmmmmm....

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: I'm so sorry. Can you send him packages and let him know you're thinking of him often? It might help him remember that he's not his environment, once he's in the new place, that he's more than that, and that he's loved.

You and my DH. :P Something about sound wave compression or some such... Actual CD is usually better quality. I probably bungled that. FWIW, I've had a Pro and never used it to its full capacity. I agree that one should be a photographer, film maker, etc to get the most out of it. I am using an old MacBook till I get an Air. :)

Lazy day here, and loving it. Kids were outside playing with butterflies, now they are dancing to Ben Folds in the kitchen. I don't have to clean because [gasp!] the housecleaners were here yesterday. The dogs have just been groomed. School rocked last week, so we're all caught up on everything there. Life is good. Sunshine and rainbows here. And, nope, having a house cleaning service doesn't make me lazy, and we can afford it. What my DH says about it is, a-hem, "I'd rather have a happy and healthy wife!" True story. He says it with a smile on his face. We've fought through years of illness, and he wants my energy to go to teaching kids, parenting, and keeping the immune system strong enough to maintain. In fact, he called the cleaning service to set it up, and manages them. :) I big smoochy heart that man. Lazy wives unite!

:grouphug: I'm sorry. It probably doesn't help to hear this, but you're not alone. Just keep fostering the creativity and the spark that is in your daughter. She is getting what she needs - from you. You're doing a great job.

We do most if the above. I could have written kbutton's post, but she said much better than I could have. :) We use BlueAir air purifiers. We bought them online from Costco, and I order the replacements from BlueAir directly. We find the "smoke stop" type best - not because we smoke, but because they are carbon and filter VOCs, and DS reacts to those. You may not need that level of filtration. We limit any new purchases to those that low outgas. We replaced his new mattress with an organic cotton and wool one which doesn't outgas. Again, you may not need that, but if all else fails you might consider it. Obviously removing carpet, curtains, blinds that collect dust/dsnder all helps. Wash everything else weekly in hot water. Change house filters more than you think you should. We have our dogs groomed every two weeks, too. That made a huge difference.