That is how I am! My DH would probably qualify as being hyperactive, but I would probably qualify more for the inattentive type. I only seem to be able to focus very well when I'm under a deadline; I guess it's the adrenaline and hyper-focusing. General time management -- I'm terrible at at that. I have a very hard time finishing things that don't have a strict deadline. And I lose things frequently, forget what I'm supposed to be doing, etc. I did very well in school, but I think that's partly because I did indeed do big projects last minute, but also because my long-term memory is excellent, and so much of public school success depends on being able to memorize and spit out facts. I probably also qualify as being hyper sensitive -- I'm super sensitive to light, noise, food textures, anything touching my skin, etc.

Congratulations!

I just keep the infant carseat in the house, and I'll use that as a safe place to set a baby while I use the bathroom or something, if an older sibling isn't available. We keep a very basic exersaucer in the kitchen for slightly older babies when they don't want to be on my back, or when I need to set them down for a second, because the kitchen has unpreventable access to the stairs (and the Legos, LOL). I do keep the schoolroom baby-and-toddler safe for crawlers (it's a no Lego zone), but if they're in there, they can't see me in the kitchen. Otherwise, I have slings, woven wraps, a stretchy wrap, an Ergo, and a couple of mei tai carriers, and I use them pretty much all the time. No stroller, haven't needed one (although it's possible I may need to rethink that for long day trips this time around, since DS3 will only be 25 months when the new baby arrives). No specific bed for a baby; they sleep with us. I did have a full-size high chair but ended up liking the kind that sits on a regular table chair instead, because I prefer to have the baby sitting up at the table with us. The one I had for the first two boys broke, and I replaced it with this one, which isn't very pretty, but as a seat, it's pretty great -- it's got rounded corners and is easy to clean, plus the straps are attached to the easily-removable back, which means it's really easy to wash them in the sink without undoing the entire chair: http://www.amazon.com/Graco-Blossom-Booster-Seat-Brown/dp/B002TUTQMM/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1360538466&sr=8-5&keywords=graco+booster Once they're eating solids (which is a year for my babies), I like a washable bib with sleeves and a small Klean Kanteen for water. DS3 just uses regular forks, spoons, and plates. (ETA: Best parenting decision I ever made -- to get rid of ALL sippy cups and sports bottles, except for ONE Klean Kanteen per family member, DH and myself included. Before we did that, we were lazy about leaving sippy cups of water in the car and stuff. Now, each child is responsible for keeping track of his/her water bottle, and they do.) But pretty much a few blankets, some clothes and a few hats, cloth diapers/wipes and wool covers (and snappi clips and pins and a wipes warmer, because *I* don't like cold, wet wipes), a hooded towel, nursing pads and bras, an extended-use infant seat, a diaper bag and wetbag, and a slew of carriers, and that's about all I need for the first year. And some gates once they start crawling, and maybe the occasional cabinet lock, mainly because I just don't need them dumping out all the school stuff. (We keep anything hazardous out of reach.)

Oh, Knoebel's is a lot of fun for young kids -- lots to ride, and you don't have to pay full price for parents if they don't want to ride many rides. Dutch Wonderland is also very nice, and so is Hersheypark, but Knobel's is probably the best overall value for families. May or September would be great times to visit PA -- not too hot, not too crowded, but pleasant time for being outside.

Oh, I forgot to put this. Names I would use (and which are on my list this time): Daniel, Jacob, Jonathan/John, Thomas, Joseph, Josiah, Nicholas, Michael, David. James or Matthew if they weren't already family names. Middle names: Steven, William. Girls: Katherine, Abigail (those are our top contenders right now), Elizabeth, Julia, Caroline, Alice, Emily, Susannah, Joanna. DH likes Brigid. Middle options: Joy, Grace, Ruth, Rose, Christine. Names I would not use: Anakin. DH suggested that; I vetoed it. We compromised a bit and used Luke for one of the middle names. It fit well with the first name we chose (and it means light; that child is our sunshine, for sure). I don't hate Anakin at all; I just didn't want to use something so obviously from a movie. Also, I love Isabella, but I wouldn't use it after the Twilight craze.

I strongly prefer very classic, very traditionally masculine or feminine names with common spellings. So far, I think all of our kids' names are of Greek, Latin, or Hebrew origin (then again, so are DH's and mine). Three of the four of them have family names for middle names (actually, one of those names is of Welsh origin; it was DH's grandfather's name). I don't love nicknames, but I chose names, especially for the boys, where I was okay with the nicknames if that's what the kids chose. Our first son always uses his full first name, but we tend to shorten the little boys' names (which are both three syllables, whereas DS1's is two, and so is the nickname). As for a theme, other than classic, we wanted Biblical names for the boys, and we inadvertently also chose Presidents' names for the first two boys. DD's name happens to be the name of a First Lady, which was not intentional, but then we felt that we had to keep the tradition with DS3. The pressure is on (and the pool is small!) for the baby due this summer so that he/she isn't left out! Have you seen the Nymbler site? It can be helpful in finding names that "go" with names you like. Then again, last time around, I typed in my first three children's very classic names, and Nymbler's first pick was Dexter, which IMO did not go at all, LOL. As for what I wouldn't do, I wouldn't pick names that are super trendy, but at the same time, the classic names (like my own, Sara) tend to be in the top 100 perenially. I think all three of my boys' names have been very close to the top at one time or another, but we know enough of them of every age that nobody thinks they're unusual, yet there aren't tons of them around either, which is a nice balance for me. I also don't go for creative spellings, personally, but that's because I've had my name misspelled many, many times. I also stayed away from the same first letter thing or other trends like that.

I was going to say that we have a gender reveal party -- via telephone when we call people and say, "It's a girl/boy!" (Although, if this baby is a girl, we might not even need the phone -- DD's shrieks of delight will probably be able to be heard around the world, LOL.) I don't see myself throwing a specific party for that reason, but I've also never found out ahead of time, so if I did, I could see doing something creative and fun, though a specific party sounds a bit over the top. But if family was getting together otherwise, I think the cupcakes thing would be kind of fun. (Or the PP who said she might bring colored cupcakes to her teen group -- that sounds so fun!)

I'd plan on stopping in Gettysburg (but this summer, it is likely to be very crowded, since it's the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg). Depending on how you're getting to the northern part of the state, you might head through the Lancaster County area; my kids really enjoy the living farm/settlement at the Landis Valley Museum. If you're heading through the center of the state, there are a lot of pretty places to hike and do outdoorsy sorts of stuff. We enjoyed our trip to the Wellsboro area a few years ago, but that might be further west than you want to be. We haven't quite made it to the Wilkes Barre area yet, though, so I'm not sure what all is up there that would be cool to see. You may want to check out this site to see if there are any historic sites that will be on your path: http://www.paheritage.org/pa-trail-of-history.html

I think you'll be fine. Maybe you need to add more good fats to your diet? But I agree -- as long as you're not living on french fries and Mountain Dew, it'll probably be okay, especially since your numbers are good. I am disinclined to pay attention to any estimates about baby weight, other than from the mother herself. Late ultrasounds can be off by two pounds in either direction; I've heard so many stories about mothers who were sectioned for supposedly 9-pound babies, only to find that the baby only weighed 7 pounds. My midwives always estimated my babies to be on the smaller side; after DD was 8 lbs. 11 oz., the MW for #2 said he felt "small to average." I thought he felt substantially bigger than DD, and I was right -- he was 9 lbs. 10 oz. (and easy to birth naturally). Estimates of size are only guesstimates; as long as you're eating mostly healthily, and your numbers are good, I would not worry about it.

Do your girls have some time/space apart from each other? My older two are a girl and a boy, so by this point, they naturally have their own rooms, but they do still share a lot of time/space and sometimes need a break from each other. I have heard from friends with two girls at similar ages to yours that they have to make a point for the girls to be able to have breaks from each other. Girls seem to have much higher emotions than boys, in general, and I can see why that might cause some clashes.

Actually, that sounds like a GREAT idea! My elderly grandparents were unable to travel across the country to my brother's wedding; I'm sure they appreciated seeing pictures and all, but live streaming would have been really cool for them! Or what if you have several internet group friends that are casual acquaintances but who live too far away to come (or if the venue for the ceremony just can't hold many people) -- live streaming sounds like a nice way to include people. "You're not invited" cards, though -- WOW! That does seem awfully rude. Then again, it's rude of people to say "did my invitation get lost?" as well. If the couple doesn't hear from Susie Jones, then they are the ones who should call her and ask if she got her invitation.

I like the idea of getting an iPad for you (and allowing the kids to use it occasionally); I really, really love the touch screen capability of my iPad. I have a case with a bluetooth keyboard for it, so it functions very much like a small laptop, and it has almost completely replaced my usage of a regular computer (which is a desktop for me). However, I think it would depend on what you use your laptop for.

It depends. I use the same history and science (just with additional supplements as needed for the fifth grader) for all of my kids, but they're using the same writing curriculum, just two different levels of it. For math, one uses Saxon, because it's a good fit for her, and the other uses Singapore and Miquon, because they're good fits for him. They have very different math abilities, though; DD did not like Miquon at all, and I don't think Singapore would really appeal to her, but DS1 loves them both.

In the right context, I could see how it could be useful. Like, if the weekend of the 24th, she's saying it's out because she'll be away the whole weekend, that's different from if she's saying it's out because her son has a soccer game, for instance. The former means she really is unavailable the whole weekend; the latter leaves room for you to say, "oh, the rest of the family is only available that weekend -- could we fit in dinner one night?" I agree with the PP who said that she might just want to avoid seeming like she's blowing you off; she really does have concrete plans. But if she's often like that, it could just be seen as bragging.

Absolutely, I count those days!

My sweet oldest boy is like that -- very much the absent-minded professor. My middle boy is not like that at all.

We're required to do some sort of PE (how much is unspecified); for a while, DD did ballet, but these days, we simply count bike riding, family walks/hikes, swimming, playing outside. I put a nice "spin" on it and mention that we "focused on fitness for life activities," because I think it's good for kids to have some sort of activity that they enjoy, even if they're not very athletically inclined, and I think it's good for those activities to be things that don't require special equipment or teams. If I really had trouble getting it in, I might opt for a ten-minute (or whatever) kid-friendly stretching or aerobics DVD or something.

Skimmed the thread, but if someone is coming from out of town, it might be nice to arrange a sitter/nursery so that they don't have to. But I'd only want to do that for nice family that I liked, not someone who was rude to me/my children! I don't think we arranged a nursery at our wedding, but that's because I wanted all the children there (I included them all by name on the invitations, or at least put "and family" after the parents' names) and didn't care if there were a few little noises. I also trusted that parents would remove children who made excessive noise, or that they would arrange a sitter on their own if they didn't want to risk that. Unfortunately, I think arranging some sort of sitter might actually be the best thing in this situation. Even though this woman was not actually invited, what if she crashes it and then allows her child to wander around, be disruptive, and make noise? If you've arranged a sitter, at least you could point the mom and her child in that direction and thus hopefully avoid the interruption. Vent away! That's why we're here! I'm sure it will be a beautiful wedding!

I think you can go to HUD and look for a reputable credit counseling service through them.

That seems a bit much, but a simple postcard or something as a heads-up doesn't seem inappropriate (though, no, it doesn't require an RSVP). My brother and SIL were engaged for over a year before their wedding, because both of them were away at college and not near the location of the wedding, plus with a summer wedding, it made sense to let people know as far in advance as possible about the wedding date, especially if travel was necessary. Our wedding was the beginning of August, and I know we sent out the invitations (but we did not do "save the date" notices) in early May to allow people who would want to be there to make vacation plans accordingly. But yes, the very fancy ones sound like money-grabbers -- but what isn't, these days? ETA: I do think it's really rude and tacky to send someone a "save the date" notice and then no invitation to the wedding!

Yes to this. The deal with a mortgage is that you pay the bank money or they get the house. They got the house, so you have fulfilled the terms of the deal (unless you live in a state where they can sue you for any deficiency, but I'm thinking that seven years may be too late for them to do that); I do not think you need to pay back that debt (morally speaking). Unfortunately, you do need to pay for the loan you cosigned -- I'm sorry you're in that situation. I would work on paying back the old debts; perhaps they will work with you on payments. I have heard that a secured credit card may be a good way to improve your credit, but I think you need to work on the old debts first.

Bethany, I'm so sorry you're hurting so badly. I just wanted to send you some hugs.

Congrats!

I set aside a small amount per month for homeschooling, and if we don't need it for activities or supplies that month, I'll save it for later. But I also get itchy around February (so, now!) and start looking for deals on the stuff I need for the following year. I like to have it all in hand by May so I can look through it all and get a sense of how to plan. I usually use some of our tax refund to buy the bulk of our curriculum for the year.

I think I'd be tempted to speak to a city manager or mayor or someone, because it's tax dollars that are paying this woman, and if she's repeatedly sending out letters saying that people are late on their bills, when they aren't, that's costing the taxpayers a lot of money. I think you have the right to be annoyed. It's not about the few cents; that happens sometimes, but it's about the waste of public funds. Think about what's being wasted if it's happening to several thousand customers frequently.