My kids had a ball a couple years ago when we used the colored goldfish crackers to make graphs (how many blue, how many red, etc.) after reading "One Fish, Two Fish."

I'd go for the beef. Grain is not at all the proper food for the cow, and grass-fed beef actually has cancer-fighting properties.

Congrats, Nance!

Yep, same here. I've seen other girls of the 10-11ish range bringing AG dolls to co-op and such; it doesn't seem like a big deal to me at all. No different from my kids bringing their Transformers or Lego creations to play with in the car. I don't generally allow them to bring toys into stores or appointments, with the exception of the toddler, unless I know it's going to be a particularly long and dull time (in which case they bring books or ask for my iPad, LOL), but I don't think they've asked in ages anyway. I figure kids have their whole lives to be big, so if they want to hang on to stuffed animals or dolls for a while, I'm fine with that. Also, I could see my 8yo and almost 11yo playing with baby dolls still -- if they didn't have real babies around. They argued over who would get to wear DS3; I expect more of that with the new baby.

He can buy probiotic capsules to take instead of the yogurt; he's right that he needs to fill his body with healthy bacteria, since the antibiotics will destry both good and bad bacteria.

Definitely a NetiPot, especially if he feels one starting to come on. When I feel sinus stuffiness that hasn't progressed to a full-blown infection yet, I do sinus rinses with salt water and a bit of grapefruit seed extract. It really helps!

I don't think of manipulatives as being a crutch, and both of my kids have quit using them when they were ready. I still pull them out for my 8yo occasionally, especially when introducing a new concept. Just this week, we talked about cups, pints, quarts, and gallons; the c-rods made it really easy for him to see the relationships between each unit of measurement. He tells me when he no longer needs them because he can visualize in his mind. After I introduce a concept, I won't pull the rods out unless he seems to need them.

I have read that you need quite a bit more vitamin D than the recommendations. I can't remember exactly, but it was somewhere around 1000 IU for every 30 pounds or something. So, my 4yo gets 1 1000 IU tablet, my 8yo gets 2, my almost-11yo gets 3, and I (nursing/pregnant, and I was a bit low when I was tested about 18 months ago, not disastrously low but a little bit low) get 4-5. We like the NOW Foods chewable vitamin D3 tablets, which we get from amazon.

I think that's the key -- that *she* is concerned. I think I'd just tell her, gently, that more protein is what she needs. And I'd brainstorm with her about foods that she likes and can prepare on weekends or that she can otherwise grab and go. Especially since you said she's tired and is concerned, I think you could just tell her that she needs more protein for energy. It doesn't really matter why she's tired (whether it's from stress, busyness, night nursing, etc.), unless there is a medical reason for it; she needs whatever will help her get more energy. It does sound like she eats a lot of carbs; even milk first thing in the morning can spike her blood sugar levels, and then when they crash, she'll feel worse. Then she's eating a bagel and hot chocolate, which is also high in carbs, so it's perpetuating the cycle. So she's getting through a large portion of her day without really great protein sources. I would really encourage her to have some easy-to-grab snacks on hand for the fat and protein.

My third (soon to be middle) child is a 4yo boy. I have tried spending time with him first, but in reality, I need to spend time with the big kids first, so that they can do math and other hard work while their minds and bodies are still vey fresh. Also, the 4yo and 1yo are usually pretty happy to play on their own with toys for a while first thing, whereas even if I spend time with the 4yo first, he'll still get bored later and want to bother his big brother. So, after I help my 4yo brush his teeth in the morning after breakfast, I give him a kiss and hug and remind him that it's schoolwork time for the big kids, and that his job is to play nicely. I make a point to tell him that if he can play and not bug big brother (whose work is fairly short), I'll have time to spend with him later. 4yo has his own workbox, and I keep crayons and markers and paper in it. If the big kids have a printable (like a maze) that the 4yo would like, I might give him one of those, or DD or I might write some letters on a paper for him to trace (he desperately wants to do school himself and begs for stuff like that). We have the workbooks from Rainbow Resource, as well as a big preschool-K workbook of basic skills that I picked up cheaply somewhere. He has free access to those if he wants. He also has chalk, stamps, stickers, paper, scissors, etc. I want to make him some feltboard stories to play with; he likes retelling stories and would love to do that for his little brother. Sometimes I get out watercolors or play dough for him. We have a bin of preschool-appropriate activities, some of which are from the Activities in a Bag thing: pattern blocks, objects to rub, numbers/shapes/letters to match on paper, memory/matching cards, the Fit-A-Space puzzle from Lauri, sewing cards, magnet animals to stick on a board, puzzles, beads to string on string or pipe cleaners, magnetic dress-up toys, sticker books, collections of things to sort. . . I pull out a couple of them every so often to rotate into his workbox, but he will also get them out on his own. Somewhere online I found a bunch of pictures of various dogs in different sizes, with little pockets so the child could sort them according to short or tall. (I can't find it right now, but it was a printable to go along with Angus Lost.) That is a big hit with my 4yo. When it's the 4yo's turn with me, we do reading lessons, read picture books, do his workbook, read Bible stories, read a few pages from the "Can You Find Me" book by The Critical Thinking Company, whatever he wants to do. The promise of that time with me really does help him to keep himself entertained while I work with the big kids. :)

We do sort of a four-day week. The fifth day is for science, projects, art, music, stuff like that, or co-op, or errands. It almost always counts as a school day, in terms of our necessary 180 days, because even if it's errands, we still listen to music or literature in the car (and our drives are substantial). We do log over 180 days every year. At this point, none of our curricula have more than 120 lessons plus tests (DD's math), so it's pretty easy to get them in. But I would just double-up a bit, or skip some less important portions (or do them quickly -- maybe orally instead of a lot of writing, or only half of the exercises or something). Or just assign one subject on the fifth day, especially if it's something that can be done in the car or in a waiting room. (Two of my children get speech therapy once a week, so for my DD, I pack schoolwork that can be done easily while she waits for her brothers.) We do take a small summer break, roughly six weeks or so, from about mid-May to the end of June. It's just enough for everyone to have a break and be rejuvenated for the upcoming year, and it's at a time of year when it's generally pleasant to play outside (before it gets super hot in July and August). Then we will have some days over the summer when we do little or no bookwork because of park days with our support group, or swimming with visiting grandparents (though those get included as PE days). This summer, I will probably be cracking down on those days a bit, though, because with a new baby expected in mid-August, I want to pack in a lot of bookwork between July 1 (when our state allows us to start counting days for the portfolio) and the baby's arrival, so that we can take several weeks off after the baby arrives if we need. Starting early also lets me start gently, a couple of subjects a week until we're up to full speed. But by early September, we should have covered quite a bit of our curricula.

Some people do just lose a lot of weight while bf'ing, and I don't think weaning her baby is necessarily the answer. Is it possible for you to pack a lunch for her (or at least snacks -- apples, cheese, bag of nuts, hard-boiled eggs, etc.), and/or to make a breakfast for her? At least she's drinking milk in the morning; it could be worse, but something a little more substantial would probably be good for her. Maybe if you handed her a bag of food as she was running out the door, she would be willing to eat it. Homemade granola bars, or muffins if you can toss in some extra protein powder, or, my favorite, breakfast sandwiches (scramble some eggs, put them on bread with some cheese and ham/bacon if you want, and toast it all for a few minutes)? Having the food right there might mean she'll eat it, and since she's working so hard, she might appreciate someone else taking care of her needs a bit. (And she might appreciate not having to spend money on eating out.) But really, she IS eating, and her diet could be a lot worse. (((HUGS))) to all of you. It sounds like she's doing very well and is caring for her baby quite admirably.

Yep, it's free for the iPad; I assume it's also free for the iPad mini.

Considering how long it takes to become a full-fledged medical doctor, for instance, being ready to be a pharmacist by 36-37 doesn't sound so bad to me. I'm 35 and don't feel old at all! I think you could easily work a few decades as a pharmacist, even starting at 36-37. I say go for it!!

I love my iPad so much! I use Notability for sooooo many things and love love love it. Also, there's an app that will do spreadsheets and word processing -- QuickOffice HD, and it's nice too. Both are, IMO, worth the few dollars for them. If you don't have a printer that will print straight from the iPad, get Dropbox too. I love the Kindle app, and the ibooks app is nice for non-Kindle books. I have the Chrome app. I have tried the apps for gmail and Facebook but prefer just to use them through the Chrome app instead. I do like the Weather Channel's app. I use the NBC and ABC apps some too. I also like the allrecipes app and Kitchen Buddy (for storing recipes). My kids like Angry Birds, Draw Stars, Ant Smasher, Presidents vs. Aliens, and the Lightning McQueen appmates app (you can buy a special car to go with it, but my 4yo just drives the picture of McQueen with his finger). DH downloaded an animals picture/sounds app from Alligator Apps, and although I'm not big into babies playing with the iPad, it provides a pleasant distraction for my toddler on occasion. For a while, I got the emails from one of the free apps for kids things and got a lot of free educational apps that way, but we haven't tried most of them out yet.

Oh, y'all should totally move to PA! The cashiers here are all SO nice and don't make me feel rushed. They even take the time to let my 4yo help bag (he LOVES doing this) and tell him what a great job he's doing. And I almost always have a lot of groceries. Then again, that's just kind of how everyone is here -- super friendly, acting you are just the person they've been waiting to see all day.

Well, sometimes it's hard. Sometimes I do just have to tell the kids (or DH, or myself) that X or Y just is not in the budget, no matter how great it sounds. That's just life, and if it's something that we'd be okay with, if we had the money, I tell them that. I believe in honesty. Now, we do try to make a point of doing things that ARE good values for the money. A few dollars for a movie, or an outing that is free or a good deal. When something is a particularly good value for a large family (like, if the small boys are free or something), we really try to do that. My kids think popcorn and a DVD or family game/poker night is GREAT fun! (That being said, we do splurge occasionally -- we took everyone to see The Hobbit in 3D in the theater. It wasn't cheap, but we also do that very, very rarely, and so the kids really appreciated it. Small splurges occasionally can help them not feel deprived other times.) I have the kids help me in the kitchen. They like to help with food prep, and I think that makes it more fun. There's generally a bit of room in the budget for small treats too, either bought or home-baked, so that helps too. We do talk about how much of a better deal it is, for instance, to buy ice cream and toppings and cones at the store, rather than going out for ice cream. My kids generally will understand that it's better to have ice cream twice on a weekend than once! My kids love shopping at the thrift store. We're all always excited when we get a good deal; I think mine and DH's excitement for that has carried over to the kids. Also, I keep our thermostat pretty high, 72 minimum. (I'm not sure that's accurate though; it's an old, somewhat drafty, house, so some rooms will be too warm in order for other rooms to be tolerable.) But I refuse to be cold and dislike bulky sweatshirts and sweaters. (However, our main floor is heated by wood, and DH says a few degrees really doesn't make that much of a difference in how much wood the furnace burns.)

My older two are three years apart. I originally started GSWL with both of them, since it's all oral, but my older child is very linguistically inclined, plus she was reading fluently, and she very quickly outpaced her brother. They tend to have very different strengths and tend to be somewhat competitive with each other, so I just stopped doing Latin with my son and let DD go at her preferred pace. I'm going to start GSWL with my son next school year, when he's in third grade. We do combine for art, science, history, and readalouds, but it just really doesn't work for everything.

I haven't read all of the replies, but I just wanted to say that my son was only barely reading when he turned seven just over a year ago. There was nothing wrong with him; he is just a late bloomer. At eight, he's a very good reader. Some kids just need a bit of extra time. That's not to say that there isn't something you need to look into, just that it might be okay that he's not reading yet.

Another recommendation for GSWL. My daughter and I started it together, neither of us having any prior Latin knowledge, and it helped both of us a lot. I like how incremental it is, and how it's very well laid-out. Easy to follow.

My first baby was posterior toward the end of my pregnancy. They tried hard to get her to turn during labor, but she never did and was born sunny-side up. Labor was really not too bad; I actually dozed through a lot of it (11 hours). I had a lot of back pressure, and an early urge to push, but not a lot of actual back pain. (I have friends who said the back pain of a posterior baby was awful, though.) Pushing took 1.5 hours, but IDK if that was because she was posterior, or because she was my first. (My others have been MUCH faster in pushing -- 20 minutes, 5 minutes, and 1 minute. None of them were posterior, though one had slightly sticky shoulders, and another had the cord around his neck.) For what it's worth, I didn't tear with DD, nor with any of the others, and they've all been pretty big (two were over 9 pounds, and one was close to 9), with big heads. Honestly, that labor was easier than my second. I was so determined to avoid another posterior baby that I spent a lot of time leaning forward, encouraging #2 to stay anterior. Well, he did, but also ended up really far forward on my pubic bone, and it was pretty painful, trying to get him back and under it. After that, I gave up and decided I'd sit however I wanted, and if the baby was posterior, so be it. Don't worry too much -- it might be just fine!

Yep, raw milk (and raw butter, raw cream, and even raw yogurt) is completely legal here in PA, if you have a license to sell it (which means you have done the necessary testing and all). Some states make it legal to sell as "pet food," or as part of a cow share, but in some states, PA included, it can be sold straight from the licensed dairy/farm with no trouble at all. Realmilk.com has a good map and listing.

I've had to mostly night wean my 19mo due to pregnancy, because it's too painful to nurse him for very long, so I've had to have DH cuddle with him (or take him downstairs) some, but I've also started handing him his water bottle (18 oz. Klean Kanteen with the sport top, not filled all the way), and that seems to help. I also do the rocking/walking/ssssshing thing with him sometimes. Your little guy is younger than mine, so he may be genuinely hungry (whereas I think mine is very often thirsty). I have a friend who had some good success with giving her child full-fat yogurt before bed (I do think her child was a bit older, though); the fat helped to tank the child up well.

Around here, we can get butter from an Amish-run farm, and their cows are 100% grass-fed, and the cream is not pasteurized. It's very delicious -- but it's also $9 a pound (and a 45-minute drive each way to get it). I can buy butter from mostly grass-fed cows (on close to organic pasture, not certified, but the practices are organic) that is pretty good too, from a closer creamery, for about $6 a pound, or the organic butter from the grocery store for about the same. I usually buy organic butter for cooking or for eating on things like bread and vegetables, but cheap butter for baking. Also, I think the difference may be in the variety of cows. I know the Amish-run farm uses one kind (Jersey, I think), and their raw milk has much more cream than the raw milk from the closer creamery (which I think is a mix of Holsteins and Jerseys). I like the taste of it better as well.

During my last pregnancy, my midwife okayed a low dose of Unisom for me, because. I was desperate, and it really helped. She also said that upping my magnesium intake would help too, so this time, I am trying NaturalCalm to see if it helps. I hope you find something -- insomnia is so annoying!