When I first married DH, his little brother was 12 and was so annoying because he always tried to be funny and just wasn't. It was awful. He never gave up though, and now he performs regularly at the local improv comedy club and he recently won an improv competition. He is a really funny 22 yr old now. I think it is just an age thing.

Before we moved here I saw a family dr. Here, I don't think any family drs see OB patients because of the liability. 9 weeks is about the earliest. I think most OBs start seeing patients around 10-12 weeks.

So, I just got back from my first ob appoint. I am nine weeks and have had spotting for 3 weeks now (I did with my other 3 pregnancies too). I had an ultrasound at 6 weeks and baby had a heartbeat and all looked good. He said everything still looked good today and he scheduled another ultrasound for next week since I am still bleeding. Anyway, earlier this week I had my beta hcg levels taken 48 hours apart and they actually went down 50. I have always heard that was a bad sign, but he said once they get this high they start leveling off so it was no big deal-small fluctuations are normal. Of course, when I got home, I looked online and I didn't see anything about leveling off being ok. So, now I am worried again. Can't wait till next week to have the ultrasound. I know worrying doesn't do any good and there is nothing that can prevent a miscarriage. I don't even know why I am worried. I am not a worrier in general, but for some reason pregnancy really brings it out.

Is that picture really from the raid (the one with the guys in helmets and guns)? It doesn't actually say that it is and the video looks much more calm-no helmets. I guess I am a little suspicious about the "raid." Maybe it happened like these blogs say. I just asked DH about his recent raid on the non profit and he said all they did was knock on the door, show the search warrant, ask to speak to the owner, and talked to the delivery drivers as they came in for the day. They took a bunch of officers because there were lots of people to interview. But, the way the media made it sound, you would have thought people were rappeling down walls and jumping out of helicopters to "raid" this place that could do no wrong. Again, I agree that regulating what people eat should not be what the government does. I just wonder if the story is getting a little sensationalized. Maybe it isn't.

While I agree that it sounds absolutely ridiculous, we don't know the whole story. My dh is on a swat team and just because he responds to something doesn't mean that they act all "swat"-I doubt anyone's child was in danger. Recently they raided a local non profit organization and people around here were all hysterical about it. The news went on and on about all the good this place did and why were they raided and why did it take all those officers/agents, why don't they use their resources to go after the gangs, etc. And, the officers don't exactly get to release why they are there, so the agency was the only one telling its story. BTW, I do think that it is important to keep feds accountable by pointing out possible abuses. We just don't know the whole story.

I have twice and both times I was more concerned someone would turn me in than that something would happen to the kids. The first time i was taking all 3 (age 3, 1.5, and newborn at the time) to my ILs who live out in the middle of nowhere. I had to use the bathroom so bad I really thought I was going to wet my pants. I stopped at a little general store that had several people at it. All 3 kids were sound asleep. I ran in, used the restroom, didn't wash my hands or zip my pants, and ran back out. I had the keys and the boys were strapped in. The second time I had to run into the post office and it was snowing. I ran in, could see the car the whole time, and ran back out. There were no other customers. Both times were less than 2 minutes.

My oldest definately recognized letters and could count and do a million other things at 18mos. I also played with him all day long. It wasn't until baby #2 came and DH deployed that I realized it was ok to do dishes while children were awake. My current 18mos old says moo when he sees a cow and we just think he is brilliant. He is much more likely to be on top of the fridge than playing with letter magnets on it.

IMHO most 2yr olds still need a nap. She probably still needs it-just doesn't want it. I don't think I would give it up. Most of the time when a child drops a nap, they don't sleep extra at night to make up for it. Maybe try giving her your undivided attention for an hour before bed. Then tell her that at bedtime she stays in bed and stays quiet. Would she like a reward for obeying? I really don't have any experience with strong willed children, so I don't have much advice. I just wanted to say that if it were me, I would find a way to continue the nap until she is at least 3 (my kids rest until they turn 6).

:iagree: Little kids do not normally overeat-maybe as they get older they eat for other reasons, but I have never met a young child that would day after day overstuff themselves. Just listen to moms of toddlers talk-it is always about how their toddler eats nothing. A 200lb toddler is not because of the parents. Also, if my kids overeat at a birthday party or something, they naturally eat less later because they aren't as hungry. And, they always stop eating. They have a great grma who they don't see often (like once a year) who lets them eat whatever they want-no restrictions. And, they still stop eating-even if it is their favorite food. You couldn't bribe them with anything to get them to eat when they don't want to-even if it is their fav food.

My dad and I were actually talking about this the last time I was "home." There is a little girl in his neighborhood who is the same age as my oldest boy (5). She is easily triple his weight-maybe more. (My son is in the 50th percentile). My dad was saying that he just couldn't believe her parents let her get like that, blah, blah, etc. I told him that you really just cannot judge that. I think if someone told me that my son had to become 80lbs overweight to protect his life, I would not be able to get him to be that big-short of feeding him thru a tube or something. I don't think a normal toddler/preschooler would eat 4 Big Macs in one sitting even if you bribed them with their very favorite thing. Something else has to be going on. Also, what is the mom supposed to do? Tell the kid "You're too fat-you have to stop eating." If a child is hungry, they need to eat-obviously it would be nice if it weren't Big Macs. There have been lots of studies done on fat vs. thin people and they show that for the most part people eat similarly. I honestly feel sorry for heavier people. It is something I probably won't ever have to worry about-no one in my family is overweight for generations. My cousin (adopted) is overweight and I see how people look at her when she eats a lot or eats junk. In reality, I don't think she eats any worse than I do and she weighs 100lbs more than I do. I am "allowed" by society to eat at Golden Corral or McDonalds but when she does I see the looks she gets. I think a lot of times people use fast food not because they don't have time to cook, but because they aren't home to eat. At least, that is when we tend to eat it. If we are home we don't go to Wendys-I cook. When we have church, then a birthday party, then an xyz activity we eat fast food. These people are going between 2 jobs and probably dropping their kids off to different places. They aren't home at mealtimes. And, I would LOVE to know how to make a sald in zero time. I swear chopping veggies is what I do all.day.long (but maybe I just have to chop small because I have littles)

My ped and ENT both told me explicitly and very clearly that a mom cannot protect her newborn from pertussis by breastfeeding. My nephews visited me in the hospital when I had DS. When he was 6 days old they were diagnosed with whooping cough. At his 1 week check up I told the dr about it-very unconcerned because I was bfing. He said that while bfing protects young infants from all kinds of things, pertussis is not one of them. My 2yr old had a followup with the ENT when DS was 15 days and he said the exact same thing-bfing is great-does not help one bit with pertussis. They also told me that most newborns that come down with pertussis get it from their moms, so they were not terribly concerned about the nephews passing it to the baby. If I were her, I would get the vaccine. I also would keep baby close to me on the plane. BTW, the National Vaccine Information Center is a very anti-vaccine group (which is fine, but please don't think that their info is unbiased).

I don't think it is just lawsuits. Some drs actually don't want little babies exposed to vaccine preventable diseases in their offices because they don't want them getting sick just because they care. We thought my son had whooping cough at just a few weeks old. His pediatrician put into place an "everyone must vaccinate on schedule (unless there is a contraindication)" policy the day he saw my son and it is still in effect. He said he had been in practice for 30 years and had already seen his share of kids dying from pertussis and hib and he wasn't going to see anymore. He gave people plenty of time to catch up on vaccines, but if they didn't want to he kicked them out. I have another pediatrician friend and she said she used to think it was just a few families-no big deal. Then she thought she could educate parents. Now she realizes that most people have already made up their mind and aren't going to listen to her. She said she is strongly contemplating only seeing vaxed children. We do have a peds office here that openly advertises that you don't have to vax to see them. OP, sorry you lost your ped. hope you find a new one you like.

I think it is true that you can always use more. I never believed it before, but at the beginning of the year DH is supposed to be getting a 10% raise and I already have tons of ideas on how to spend it-even though we already have everything we need. If I would have been asked at this time last year, I would have said I was completely happy with this income. Now, I am really looking forward to the extra cash-maybe upgrade from our 10yr old vehicles and get a babysitter every now and then.

Sorry, one more thing. The price is sometimes very high for letting a virus run its course. For smallpox (since we are talking hisorically), 20% of people who caught it died, over 80% of infants with it, and 30% who caught it were blinded. So, it possibly may have run its course and gone away on its own, but I don't think that would be better.

No vaccine is 100% effective and no one claims that they are. Vaccines create herd immunity so hopefully those who do not become immune to the disease from the vaccine don't catch it because the disease is much less prevelant. Not everyone responded to the smallpox vaccine, but enough people did to completely wipe that disease out.

I wouldn't want to play with other 2yr olds either. They don't play right. When he is a little older he and others his age will be more able to play cooperatively. ETA: Hope you get to feeling better soon!

7:00 is my rule too. If they got up and behaved ok, I may not mind. But, they get up and start pestering me for things and I have an agenda in the morning-exercise, make breakfast, shower, organize the day. Getting things down from the top shelves is not on my agenda, so I just told them they have to stay in their rooms till I come get them. They seem to not mind and our days go so much better.

I know I should give him love and encouragement and let him go at his own pace. I just feel like I have been doing it for five years and it has gotten worse-not better.

Thanks for the advice. Since he is my oldest, five seems old to me (though I know it isn't). I agree that I probably shouldn't have put him in a swim class. But maybe a better example is that we went to a new park-we were the only ones there and he still took most of the time we were there to warm up to it. He just sat on the bench and wouldn't play and saying he didn't like this park (it was a really cool park). About 5 minutes till time to go he loved it and didn't want to leave. Should I just ignore him and let him take his sweet time? This wasn't a structured or pressured activity. Or should I just go to our normal parks all the time? I get frustrated since he is the oldest, the littler boys start copying him sometimes or I feel like I have to spend so much energy talking him into playing and I really should be making sure my 1yr old isn't trying to jump off the play area.

I need suggestions for DS5, who is so slow to warm up. He has always been like this. For instance, today he had swim lessons and just sat and cried the whole time. He is in a 3-5yr old class and all the kids (mostly younger than him) did just fine. He will do fine by the end of the 8 class session, but this is very typical of the way he acts at the start of anything new. He doesn't like new anything-food, parks, games, reading words, etc. I really don't know what to do. I feel like he is missing out on so much life-he can't swim, ride a bike, pump a swing, etc-all because he freaks out about trying them. It makes it hard for him to make friends-he isn't shy it just takes him a LONG time to get comfortable in new situations. Is this just a personality thing that I should completely let go and let him decide when he is ready to do things or are there some ways I can help him?

DS3 discovered a tick on the head of his boy part while going to the bathroom before bed tonight. I am nervous about pulling it out-the head seems to be really buried in there. Reason for an ER visit? I am thinking so, but always second guess myself on these things. Thanks

I wish I had a choice. My two little boy (3 and 1) are both adament thumb suckers. I would love to get them to stop, but it isn't so easy. They are still pretty cute while they do it though!

I agree that sleepovers are definately not necessary. I don't know anything about the situation other than what you wrote (obviously) but i might cut the mom some slack about usurping your authority. Sometimes people only see things thru their own kids. It may be that her daughter really, really, really wants your daughter to spend the night with her and the mom is just trying to make that happen. In her brain she is trustworthy, she lets her daughter stay with you, so she just doesn't even see that she is usurping your authority by trying to talk you into it. She also may be a little like you and want her kids to spend time at home with her where she can supervise-but still be with their friends. She may want to get to know the friends better (obviously she can do that in the daylight). So, I think she should not try to go around your authority, but I also think maybe you should think about it from her point of view-not necessarily change your mind but give her the benefit of the doubt. I know my Ds would be really upset if he could go to his best friends house, but his bf couldn't come over here. He wants to plan the cool things to do with his stuff in his house sometimes too.

Is he bearing weight on his legs? My DS was accepted into our early intervention at 10 mos because he was not yet going from tummy to sitting or bearing weight on his legs. The crawling is not an issue, but I know that not going from tummy to sitting is considered a delay at 10 mos. It may be fine, but it is outside the "normal" range. We had a fantastic experience with early intervention PT. They gave me tons of things to work with DS on at home and it was really low cost. The therapist came once a week till he started walking then twice a month until he turned 2. As an aside, the therapist really wanted him to crawl because she said that newer research shows that crawling strengthens hand muscles used for fine motor work.