"My FIL just had to have it done at age 79 in a nursing home. It was horrible. Repeated UTIs were the reason because he was not mentally aware enough to keep the area clean (he has Alzheimers). And guess what? The aides they employ at nursing homes DO NOT do that for you...no matter what they might lead you to believe. I spoke to his personal physician who was in charge of his after-care and he said it happens all. the. time. to elderly uncircumcised males. Not if they've been circumcised though. Food for thought. " Thanks for bringing this up. Yes, young healthy men may be able to care for themselves, but as an RN I see a lot of UTI's in non-circ'd elderly men. Also, our first had to be circ'd at 2.5 after repeat infections. He had to go under completely and came out of anesthesia hysterically. Our second son we circ'd at the hospital.

To be honest, that seems really small to me, especially as your children get larger/more independent. My friend's family of six fits in 1200 sf. She loves it, but I think it will be crowded when her four kids become teenagers. She has hoarder tendencies, though, so if you are extremely streamlined maybe it would be comfortable?

My ds is currently in therapy for this now. You have to be absolutely religious with the exercises, which, to be honest, after 4 weeks of vacation and sickness, we haven't been. I haven't seen progress yet, and the therapist made us repeat a week for our faithlessness. He doesn't use straws, but he is supposed to keep the orthodontic rubberband in his mouth like the pp stated for an hour a day at this point. DS is ten and had speech therapy through the ps. Our district will allocate money toward private therapy since we homeschool, which is how we found this therapist. Schools will not address a tongue thrust, even though his speech therapy wasn't making much progress. It was because of this tongue thrust that he's speech is off. He's such a handsome boy when his tongue isn't hanging out. :tongue_smilie: I'm really glad to hear people have had success with an exercise regimen. Back to work for us.

Comparison is the death of contentment. Love that pp. So true. That being said, I totally get wanting to vent on-line anonymously. The two neighbor kids came by after Christmas to show our kids their new little laptops. DD9 got her first (used) DS this year. That's about as tech as we get. It's a fine line between kids needing to know new technology and giving them that freedom. I really, really want a fun toy myself (or even a phone that rings more than once), but I'm putting my Christmas money towards some elective dental work. I figure a nice smile will pay off more in the long run. :D

UPDATE: After a closed ear all night and aching, I managed to get into an ENT this morning. The ear canal was scratched and things were tender. The ENT used a tiny vaccuum to noisily and painlessly suck out the wax. I'm feeling much better now. He gave me antibiotic drops for the next day or so while the scratch heals. I will never, ever have that done in a doctor's office again!! Thank you for the concerned and informative comments.

Yes, before going to the doctor's office. I have, cofession, an earplug addiction when I sleep, so I know the wax is totally packed in. I tried breaking the addiction when my first was born, to no evail. I'm such a sensitive sleeper, that I could easily hear him fussing in the middle of the night, even with earplugs in.

Sorry, the sleighs already packed and ready for deliveries!

I have been having problems with excess earwax, so I went to the doctor's office this morning to have it removed. The nurse who did the procedure was very forceful during the removal. At one point the right ear began bleeding while she was poking around. Sound is now muffled and mildly painful. The wax is still in both ears. I was crying. I'm not an emotional person, but it really was a perfect storm of pregnancy hormones and needing lunch. The doctor was very kind when she returned to the room. The procedure was excruciating, I still have wax in both ears, and my right ear is now blocked and softly ringing. I drove home with cotton in my ear to catch the blood. I'm supposed to return next Tuesday, but I think I'll try an EENT instead. Could the nurse have ruptured the eardrum? The doctor didn't comment, but I didn't ask either. Is it always so excruciating? Anyone with advice or a similar experience? I'm really upset still. UPDATED ON THE THIRD PAGE

Too funny. We actually fly to St. Lucia at 8 tomorrow morning. We'll be back for Christmas, but we're going to miss a lot of the festivities. Just getting my last WTM fix.

It actually never occurred to me. They both pass the screenings at school and peds office. We don't have a vision plan. Interesting thread.

Anybody else? Sorry, I don't mean to be beating a dead horse, but I'm planning to post an ad on our local homeschool board. I want to have a clear idea of how much is reasonable. Unfortunately, I don't have anyone really close that I can ask that would really do it for free. I will suggest offering an exchange in my ad, though. Unfortunately, with only an SUV it would make us housebound for the day, but maybe the trade-off would be worth it.... The day would be like from 8:30-6 one day a week.

Anyone else? No way would I pay someone $10/hour. That would make my work day not very lucrative. Maybe a swap situation would be better. Sigh. I AM awfully desperate to get out of working nights.

Just a brief reply here... I homeschooled my daughter last year- she was very difficult and fought me the whole time. After a month homeschooling her this year and hearing complaints of being lonely we decided to send her back to ps. She has been happier and really enjoys being around other people more. She has been easier to discipline at home. I think she was sort of depressed homeschooling, despite my trying to get her involved. It reached a point where she was learning so little from me that I figured she couldn't learn less at at ps. She's actually learning MORE now. DH was concerned that ds would be weird if he was home with only a baby, but he's more appropriately challenged and less agitated by her antics. It's worked for us so far....

Hahahaha! DH would so NOT wear that, either.

I probably wasn't real clear on my first post. He could be picked up at 8:45 or so. I think dh would be... uncooperative with dropping ds1 off at daycare and dd at ps AND ds10 at someone's house. I could take him, but my shift would start at 7, and, YES, it's way before we're normally up and going around here. Unless, the family would be willing to watch dsalmost2. Then I don't think dh would mind dropping them both off. I just meant if they happened to be going somewhere, it would be swell if ds10 could go to, like a parkday or whatever. Of course, we'd pay for him. Frankly, I'm just fishing for ideas here. I, personally, wouldn't want to do it either. :)

Anyone? Someone mentioned that they payed $40/day for a child. I'm wondering if that's sort of the "going rate".

:grouphug: If he took care of your mom for so long during such great illness, he deserves some happiness, even if it seems sort of soon.

We are about 15 minutes from our church, which on a Sunday morning rush seems too far. I think it would be difficult to be very involved with a church an hour away. It certainly couldn't hurt to check out the 30 minute church.

Ick! I sort of cringe during the handshake portion. Then I make sure that we use hand-sanitizer on the way out. I suppose if you are part of this community and it was a one time event, I wouldn't worry about it.

Take another test. :) I bet it's positive.

I'm still trying to get off of working nights and want to work one day a week. Ideally, ds would have (minimal) guidance on his own schoolwork, be able to sit in on science/history lessons, be picked up from our house (or dropped off at 6:30am), fed lunch, and go to any homeschool fieldtrips/activities scheduled for that family that day. DS is 10. How much would you charge/pay for this service? How much if DS2 was to be watched, too? (I was trying to organize it with his enrichment day, but I don't think there are any families from this area going out there.)

Snort. :)

:iagree: Yuck, sorry.

Benedryl- yes it's the ingredient in Unisom, but you can more easily control the dosage. I'll often just take a half. Melatonin gives me horrible nightmares, but I suppose that's worth a try.