:grouphug: Glad he's down safely.

:grouphug:

It's amazing how far pet owners will go to protect their dogs...even to the point of denying the severity of an incident. We have a neighbor who had a Jack Russell terrier. He bit several neighborhood children. He bit my best friend. He bit my son (no broken skin or I would have handled it differently). From the time he bit my son my kids were no longer allowed to go into their yard (yard was fenced so dog was only a problem if you were in their yard). One time when a few of the neighbors were together the dog owner said that her dog had never bitten anyone. Nipped, yes, but bitten? Never. I was dumbfounded, looked at her, and said, "If teeth make contact, it's a bite." She was obviously taken aback. I think she had somehow rationalized that this beast was not biting. That said, I had a dog who snapped a few times at our family...I had seen an increase in her aggressiveness and was watching. One day one of my sons (then age 2 or 3) dropped a piece of food and bent to pick it up. The dog bit him. The dog was put down a few hours later. It was a difficult thing to do, but necessary.

Atkins tends to be high fat, low carb. South Beach is low fat, low carb. Not familiar with paleo. We did Atkins and then SB. We now, like Wendy, do our own thing. We mostly eat low carb. I have no problem serving bread and rice, but they are only whole grain. We make our own food and use nothing processed. I don't worry about fats so much (we do eat cheese and I love bacon!) but we only eat meat a few times a week, and lean cuts when we do. We eat seafood once a week and vegetarian quite often. The real key for us, though, has been consistent exercise. Both dh and I work out 5-6 days a week (cardio and weights), averaging about 40 minutes per workout. We feel fantastic and do not have to watch our weight at all.

It is complicated, and it is a crap shoot. The important thing is that you give them a good foundation and teach them how to learn. How you go about it really isn't the issue...different philosophies work for different people....it's just that you do it. No need to worry over the unschooling methods since that's not your thing. Just do what you are comfortable with and trust that your children will learn and grow.

I read your post and immediately thought, St. John's. Might not be the same school, but I have heard exactly what you described about it. Anyway, wait out the first semester...she'd probably be better off finishing the year there, but by the holidays she should know whether or not she wants to transfer and can work on that during the spring semester. Sorry she's so unhappy. :grouphug:

I double majored. I put it on my resume.

Do the best you can. Love your child. Hope for the best, whatever that may be. Be prepared for the unexpected, because while most kids will take advantage of the opportunities you provide, not all will. Be willing to accept the unexpected with love and support. That's really all we can do. We don't control our kids, and at a certain point they become independent. What they do at that point is out of our control.

Mine don't do competitive sports....there is no competitive wilderness canoe tripping, lol. Money-wise, though, what my kids do probably compares to year-long competitive sports ($7000 per child for 6 weeks). It's worth every penny. The benefits: self-conficence, self-reliance, a sense of accomplishment, friends who will last a lifetime, happiness, a chance to do something very few people ever do, the chance to travel to places so remote that they may have been explored a few times in the past 100 years...lifetime experiences.

Yes it does. Really. There are days, eh? :) You guys are great. I feel better already. I know this will be ok. I think I really need to focus on my sons here at home. I have been so preoccupied with the eldest son, but he's an adult, chose to be a Marine, etc. I think I got a good wake-up call today about who really needs Mom right now.

Ok. I can relax and get off my soapbox now. Whew! :) Sorry if I overreacted. There's some scary stuff out there and pregnant women often have no idea.

I remember reading the book to my six kiddos many years ago. We laughed and laughed. :)

AUGH! NO! Talk to a pharmacist first. PLEASE. There are so many drugs that cause problems. This combo might be just fine, but please, please, please ask a pharmacist first. They can look up how harmful drugs, vitamins, etc are to the unborn. I work in a pharmacy. Just because something is OTC does NOT make it safe for pregnant women....

Ds 15 was at the store with some friends. Got pulled into something really dumb. Yes, he could have said no but he did not. Long story short, police were involved. Ds will not have a record but is going to do some community service. The police asked how we wanted them to handle it and we chose the most involved option. This boy is NOT getting off easy. The police even thanked us for being so supportive of them and for caring enough to be firm. He's a basket case at the moment. I know he's ashamed, embarrassed, mortified, etc. He got very upset when we got back home and seems to think I don't like him and that now I'll have zero respect for him. I am worried. I think my distress over the son in Afghanistan has made me pay less attention to someone who really needs it right now...someone who needed my attention more than I realized. Those teen years are so tough and I've been more than a little absorbed in circumstances across the globe. I had a long talk with ds. Then I had a good cry. Then I took a Xanax. Yes I did. I have good kids. He is a fantastic kid...smart, hysterically funny, great to be around. I just wonder where on earth his mind went. I hurt because he's so upset. And yeah, I'm disappointed, but that seems minor compared to his heart hurting. :(

If you exercise hard and regularly (cardio plus weights) and watch what you eat, absolutely, you can do this. Dh started to exercise (cardio 6 days a week...he built up to running 2.5 miles/cardio day and weights 4 days a week) and didn't alter his diet (but we do eat well...no processed stuff, whole grains, not too much meat) about 8 months ago. He just wanted to feel better. Well, he's lost over 30 lbs and has gone from a size 38 waist to a 31. You can do this!

Ack, yes, we have projects. We are rearranging all the upstairs bedrooms in order to fit my new elliptical machine into our new gym room. The basement has some water damage and we need to work down there, too. But first I must take ds 17 clothes shopping because he literally outgrew everything while he was in Canada this summer. His girlfriend will be going with us...she's a blast and has much more fashion sense than I so my son will end up with a decent wardrobe, lol.

I thought thrush as well.

When dd moved out, we put our home gym and treadmill in her old bedroom and made it an exercise room. It was great. Then I ran so much that I started ruining my ankles. The doctor recommended doing more of a low-impact workout, so I ordered an elliptical machine. The new elliptical wouldn't fit in the existing gym room, so we moved boys around and took the largest kids' bedroom for the gym stuff. We left a bed in the room for ds when he's home from college. Fast forward to today: the new machine has been moved upstairs and it will not fit in the room with the bed. The bed must go. So now we have to move the bed from gym room into bedroom 2. The bed in bedroom 2 must be swapped with the bed in bedroom 3 because the one in 3 is the bunkmate. The gym room must be rearranged. This project will take hours! Two of the three boys are gone today, of course. Dh is all sweaty and looks like he could use a beer. LOL. And we haven't even started on fixing the flooded basement yet. It really does seem that what is supposed to be easy always morphs into something unimaginably difficult...

LOL....your names says it all. :lol::lol::lol:

I'd pop in a video or let the kids play Wii before bed, and have a cuppa before your dh leaves for work. Once he's used to the new work schedule I'm sure his interest in teatime will reappear. ETA: some new sexy undies might help with that, too. :grouphug:

This. :lol::lol::lol:

I had my 6th child in my mid-30's and I was much more tired during that pregnancy than I was with my previous singleton pregnancies, especially during the 1st and 3rd trimesters. Twin pregnancies can make you feel more tired, too. Just sayin'. :D It sounds like you are doing everything right. Hang in there! :grouphug:

I'll continue to pray, Jean. I agree with the others about people food...whatever works at this point. I have a feeling her appetite will pick up now that she's back in familiar surroundings. I'm not sure what type of painkiller she's on, but narcotics slow the gut and decrease appetite, so it's quite possible that her meds are suppressing the appetite a bit. Just keep trying.

On Sept 11 when American airspace was shut down, flights were rerouted. Many returned to their points of origin, but many landed in Canada. Gander, Newfoundland, is a small town of 10,000 people. On that day, 38 passenger jets landed there, swelling the population by almost 7,000. Tom Brokaw did a remarkable story about Gander and how the town turned out to help the stranded travelers during the next few days. There is some footage of the Twin Towers (not much, just letting you know) but the real story is how this town helped people in need. Some even housed the travelers in their own homes. This video is 45 minutes long, but it's one of the most amazing stories I've ever seen. I watched it when it was broadcast during the Olympics, and it's now online. http://jaretmanuel.com/msnbc-gander-tom-brokaw-911-operation-yellow-ribbon-story (Note: when I clicked it there was an ad in the beginning that was in very poor taste....just ignore it....the film starts shortly thereafter)

LOL. I do get some points for having survived 16 years of homeschooling! :) Sit down and figure out what you want, and try to simplify. You'll get there.