Both my younger son and my daughter got it when they were about 3-4 months old. Since neither had eaten any kind of solid food at that point, I'm fairly sure it wasn't diet related, although I know it could have had something to do with my diet. It does get worse during the winter; the dryness seems to aggravate it. The best solution that works for my kids is to bathe them daily. Just a short soak in warm water, about 5 minutes. Take them out and without drying them off (I wrap them in a towel to keep them from getting cold, but don't actively scrub them dry) and put hydrocortisone cream on the outbreaks and slather them with lotion all over their body. I only use homemade goat milk soap on them. I like this company the best. It's expensive, but totally worth it to have a comfortable baby. I just found goat milk lotion and I really like it, but I can't say for sure how helpful it was, since I found it this summer and their eczema isn't a big problem in the summer. The best store bought lotion I ever used was by Curel and it came in a big purple bottle. I also keep them in 100% cotton.

What is Tanner stage 2? Ok, I'm gonna guess 12-14 based on everyone's responses. I wouldn't be surprised if Pigby was earlier and Digby was later. Although I know of boys who didn't hit their big growth spurt until 20ish, so I won't be surprised if that's the case either. But reading about everyone else's kids growing up makes me cry. I'm guessing I'm just hormonal today. I know the alternative is worse, but I can't imagine my babies so big. Ok, thanks everyone for the cry. It's normal for me to cry over weird things.

It dawned on me today eventually Pigby and then Digby will grow taller than me. I would say baby girl possibly could, but I need her to stay a baby forever;). How much longer do I have? My husband and I are average heights; me 5'6" and DH 5'10". Five years have already gone by so fast, I have a feeling I'll blink and the next five will be gone too. :crying:

Thank you everyone. Now I won't have to recommend Twilight! I really didn't want to have that on my conscience. ;)

:eek: Thanks for the heads up. I don't actually have to read any of the books; thank heavens. I think I wouldn't sleep for five days in a row! (see previous post about being a big chicken) (PS are you going tomorrow? I am. :))

My hero!!! Thank you!

Don't worry, I am a major wimp. I can't even watch M. Night Shamalan movies without having to keep the lights on. And hubby between me and the door. For the next three months. The only vampire book I've ever read is the Twilight :ack2:.

D'oh! :blink: I mean, of course I had it on my list. Obviously. Only a complete nitwit would forget that one. :leaving::lol: (thank you)

I hope this is not cheating, but my next article is about the best vampire books. All I've got so far are Interview with the Vampire (and series), The Vampire Diaries (and series), and the one that must not be named (oh all right, it's Twilight). I really don't want to have to recommend it, so if anyone knows of ANY other good vampire books out there, please let me know.

My son started reading at 3. And when new words/concepts were introduced, sometimes he just couldn't get it. I would take a break for a week or so and give his brain a rest. It was bizarre. We would take a break and come back and he read them all perfectly the first time.

Oh my heck, that has me drooling. :drool:

Thank you for that advice. Would you say MUS is one of those good curriculums? I've been so worried about teaching upper level math and NEED the DVDs. I know it might not give them as much real world application, but I figured I could supplement that part of it. I chose not to go with Math Mammoth because she has no plans to finish the curriculum through high school, she just told me that I would need to get a regular boring math textbook and teach with that. But I don't even understand how things are explained in textbooks, so I'm sure I'd do a horrible job at trying to teach someone else. My plan was to just stick with MUS the whole way through and if it did not work and I could not make it work, I'd switch to Teaching Textbooks, so they could do most of the teaching for me.

Yes that is a big help. My goal is to do "tot school" with Digby in the morning and Pigby can join in, because he loves it so much. I have to do the seat work after lunch because that's when Digby takes his nap. Please let me know what core books you are using. I have Galloping the Globe. Maybe I am over thinking it too much because it seems like such a pain to try and find the specific book and gather all the supplies and do the project, then clean up the huge mess. Please tell me the memories are worth the mess. I had been considering FIAR, just because it's supposed to be so much fun. I guess I'll have to get over the mess making. I've been looking at Dickblick and they have lots of craft and art projects. Maybe I can get some good inspiration. Thank you everyone. I am just feeling so pathetic, like I need someone to hand me a container of supplies and saying, "Here's the supplies, here's the instructions, go have fun"

Can I beat myself up a little here? I just came to the realization that I'm really boring. We took the entire week off last week for no really good reason. We started again yesterday. Pigby was more reluctant than usual and it dawned on me that all my curriculum choices are either worksheets (MUS, ARFS) or me reading out of books (FLL, OPGTR). There's no hands on stuff. There's no fun projects. There's no exploration or really cool books to read. We're not even doing geography or science right now as I was trying to baby step my way into this year. Mommy guilt has reared its ugly head and I feel like I'm going to fail him. Somebody please tell me how to snap out of it. Or give me ideas of fun projects to do. Or tell me I'm not alone. I don't have time to go searching lots of blogs. Maybe I'll do a little during Digby's nap and use Pinterest. Ok, thanks for the vent, maybe I can do this. (and because I'm sure someone will ask, we're doing reading and math because he loves them both. i'm following his lead on this. we're doing HWOT because I think he needs the practice to build his fine motor skills. We're doing spelling because he likes to write and I'd rather have him learn how to spell correctly than getting in a habit of spelling works incorrectly. he does seem to love spelling and math. We're doing grammar because I thought that was what we were supposed to do when we were almost done with OPGTR, which we are. He doesn't even seem to mind that either. It's just that I know he'd love fun stuff so much more.)

glad to hear he's doing well. tell him we all say he needs to cooperate. :)

Good for you! Absolutely no harm in trying it. In the documentary he makes a statement about how even if someone ends up quitting before the end, it's still a success. He said so many people are like, "Oh I could NEVER do that," but never willing to give it a try. Good luck!

I have no experience raising teens, but only remember what it was like as one. I think in a situation like this, it would be easy for the girl to try and test her boundaries and then blame the stepmother when those boundaries were enforced. I think the girl is old enough to have a conversation with your friend about what she thinks the rules ought to be. They need to work together to create a list and the consequences for breaking rules. That way all emotions are taken out of it. That way the girl can own her behavior. Once that's out of the way, the step mom should really make an effort to love on her and spend time with her and make her feel important. They should be doing lots of things as a family. I side with you thinking her hygiene is probably more about depression. If the parents can afford it, the step mom and girl could go on mini shopping sprees looking for new clothes, makeup, perfume, getting pedicures. All that should encourage better personal hygiene-"go shower and we'll doll you all up". This was how my mom taught me how to use these tools, mini shopping sprees and practice. (not like I had a problem with showering) A lot of department stores will show you how to use the makeup and give makeovers. A good Mary Kay consultant ought to be able to teach these things, without an obligation to buy. A store like bath and body works has so many yummy smelling items: shower gels, body sprays, lotion, she could probably find something she likes there. Things like laundry and cleaning up after yourself would come from house rules.

I voted for chicken, even though it really is a toss up between that and ground turkey. Eh well, hope that's ok.

Awwww....Sounds like a great read. I will probably be crying the whole way through. :crying: Alzheimer's is a huge fear of mine.

Any body have any favorite books that they've used for their book clubs? :bigear: I mention it every other week, but I love the Fitzwilliam Darcy, A Gentleman Trilogy by Pamela Aidan.

Baby girl has outgrown her infant head bands and hair bows. She is currently wearing 12 month clothes (she's only 7 months) that my mom got her. They won't last through the winter. My mom got her a denim dress, but she'll need to wear tights with it. I have a pair of used tights that are really nice and thick and cute but they are too big for her this year. We'll be going to thrift stores and consignment shops for the clothes. But where do you get the headbands, hairbows, and tights? (And for the record, I'm so excited to be shopping for baby girl stuff as 99% of her clothes were given to us. It's all very cute, but I want to shop too!)

I'm not sure. Have you Googled? To me, it sounds like a bigger hassle than it's worth (picking leave, drying leaves, making a tea) and even if I could, I would probably just buy it. Especially when pregnant, but I'm super lazy when pregnant, but that might just be me :D

What size bed is in there now? If not a king, can you afford to upgrade to a king? Can you afford the one that doesn't transfer motion? (I think they're Sealy Posturpedic. All I remember is a commercial with a glass of wine on one side and someone jumping on the other). If not, I would probably put two twin mattresses side by side on the floor and see if that would help.

Oh I so needed some place to talk. Even though I have nothing really to say, I find myself answering polls just because I want some adult conversation. Anyway, breakfast: The kids had toast with peanut butter. I, um, forgot to eat again. I may just do an early lunch instead. On that note: What's for lunch: Leftovers. Last night I cut up and cooked extra chicken. It's in the fridge waiting for me. I need to make extra quinoa and peas and we'll be good to go. What will throw off my schedule: My article is taking longer to write than I thought. I gave up at 130am and had to go to bed. I am almost done, but need to finish it soon and get it turned in. Looking forward to: My first payday in seven years!!! Cooler weather. Dressing Chuck in some absolutely adorable cool weather clothes my mom bought for her. Getting ready for Halloween (Pigby wants to be a superhero) and Christmas (homemade gifts this year)

Since I love polls, I voted other. I have never seen it and have no idea what it is. :D Although I'm assuming it's a kid show, I couldn't tell you anything more than that.