Never mind the thread about movies. . . THIS post, and your post about your ILs made me teary. :) So glad you had so many special blessings this Christmas, and so glad you have one extra special blessing coming home in a few weeks!

Well, right now, I'm spending the first part of the week drinking hot chocolate and sitting in my pj's with my baby in my lap and my 3yo playing with Lightning McQueen on the floor next to me. IOW, relaxing and chilling out. :) We had my brother, SIL, and baby niece here last week and my ILs here yesterday; later in the week, we'll go visit my other brother and his family, and then my parents will come for the weekend. DH is off part of this week and probably next Monday, so we won't start back to school until Tuesday of next week. In between, we have some catch-up projects to do around the house, and DH wants to spend some extra time with the kids, since he normally works long hours and rarely has a day off during the week. I'm also working on planning out the next several months' schoolwork.

I have done that several times. Little People were the worst. We have probably 300 LP figures (that is not an exaggeration; I think we have just about every set made between 2002 and 2006), and every single one was tied in with at least one plastic cord. So frustrating for the kids to wait, so I always undid them before wrapping.

My mom and I have a generally pretty good relationship. We have very similar views on a lot of things, like parenting and homeschooling, for instance, and I do think that helps. Things that I think have also helped us: -She was around a lot when I was a kid/teen. She really put in the time to mother us. Sometimes I felt that was too restrictive (and I do still think that sometimes she was a bit overboard), but I always knew she cared. She took the time to know where I was, who I was with, what I was doing, what happened in school that day, etc., etc. I can remember just sitting next to her while she cooked dinner, babbling away about my day and whatnot. (Even now, my sister and I call her all the time just to chat about random stuff. She actively wants to hear from us, even for no particular reason.) There's really no substitute for that. -She has really made it a point to keep her mouth shut. If I ask her advice, she gives it (and I respect it), but if I'm happy, she doesn't meddle. (I think this makes her a fantastic MIL to my brothers' wives as well!) There's no subtle disapproval from her. Like, we cosleep with our babies, and we're really happy with that arrangement. It wasn't her choice to do that with us, but she never has disapproved of that to us, and if I mention that a baby had me up several times in a night, her reaction is sympathy for me, not "well, just put that baby in a crib and let him cry." She homeschooled my younger siblings (and wishes she'd homeschooled me) and is 110% behind us homeschooling, but she's been very careful to respect my brother's choice to have his kids in public school, and if we decided to do that, she'd keep her mouth shut. I really hope that when I'm a grandmother, I will have that grace as well. -I have forgiven her for things that I wish she'd done differently. I really can see that she did the best she knew to do in any given situation. I see her apologize sometimes for things (like not homeschooling me), and I feel badly about that, because I know she was intentional about what she did or didn't do. If I do something differently, I am careful to let her know that I am doing what works for our family, right now, rather than reacting to what she did. I would like to be a little more approachable about tough topics with my kids, but I also understand where my parents were coming from. They found themselves in a position they didn't really expect (their 14yo in a very serious relationship with a slightly older boy), and so I think their whole dating philosophy was thrown out of whack. I think their parents were also pretty stand-offish about tough topics, so they found it hard to be open about them themselves.

It depends on the numbers. If I got enough to pay off my entire mortgage, or a very significant portion of it, such that I could then refinance to better mortgage terms, I'd use the money for that. Then I'd take the money I was saving on mortgage payments and save up for the remodeling. However, I'm in the early stages of my mortgage and owe quite a bit on it, so it's unlikely that a bonus would be enough to do that. If we got some unexpected money, like a few thousand or so, and we had everything else taken care of (ie right now one of our cars needs significant work), I'd go for remodeling over paying down a small amount of the mortgage. It would also depend on what type of remodeling. If it's the kind of thing where you get a lot of bang for the buck, like painting, or where it adds significant value to the house (which would potentially be good for me, because if DH's job situation suddenly tanked, and we needed to move, it would be better to be able to sell the house for more than we could now), I'd go for that over stuff like "I wish I had X but the Y I have is good enough." I would love to replace flooring in some rooms, but what I have is good enough for now; otoh, the house really needs paint in several rooms.

Mine know way too much about every random character from anything in the Star Wars Universe. Before that, it was every obscure Hobbit and Elf (DD scoured websites about LOTR until she discovered that there was, in fact, a relative of Bilbo's with her name). Before that, it was every character and detail from Oz. I think there is a theme there. :) They also randomly quote from those books/movies, as well a strange collection of other books and movies -- everything from Winnie the Pooh to Monty Python (they've only seen a handful of Python clips, just the clean ones). Every time the 6yo leaves the door open, which is often, the 3yo goes, "Frodo, the door," a la Bilbo in Jackson's Fellowship. They also know a fair amount of Scripture and a reasonable amount of classical music, and the Kings and Queens of England (thank you, Beethoven's Wig CDs!). DD is also halfway decent at identifying birds, reptiles, plants, and trees, and she could also write an accurate book on natural childbirth, breastfeeding, and babywearing. They know a lot of random stuff. :P Multiplication tables, OTOH, not so much yet. :)

How fun, and what a great way to tell the girls too!

My fourth grader knows most/all of the Presidents and probably most/all of the capitals and has for a while. However, it's only because of the Animaniacs songs that she knows them. :) (That's how *I* know the order of the Presidents myself!)

I have an Andrew, a Benjamin, and a Zachary, so obviously I'm partial to those names. In our case, we wanted Biblical and inadvertently chose Presidential names for the first two boys and thought we should keep the theme for the third one, but if we hadn't done that, other names that would be on the list would be Isaac, Elijah (I think that would fit nicely with your other boys' names), Jacob, and maybe Nathaniel/Nathan. (As for middle names, we have Avery, named for a great-grandfather, Luke because we liked it and it fit well with the first name, and Paul, which is DH's middle name and his other grandfather's name. Steven is also high on my list for a middle name, as it's my dad's name.)

Oh, shoot, I cry at everything. I get all teary when Lightning McQueen gives up his chance for the Piston Cup at the end of Cars. There are a lot of scenes in the LOTR trilogy that make me cry. Steel Magnolias makes me cry. The one movie that actually had me sobbing in the theater was The Green Mile; I'd read the book and knew the ending that was coming, and it did me in -- I buried my face in DH's shoulder and sobbed.

I would be so angry about that! Both the cost, and the fact that I'd then have to prolong treatment for a sick child. I would make the doctor's office prove that they sent the request for the correct type of meds, and if they did it right, I'd keep complaining up the chain in the pharmacy. If the doc's office was indeed wrong, I'd keep complaining there too; talk to the office manager if they have one. I'm becoming increasingly angry with the amount of things that we allow to waste our money and time, and I think we really need to speak up and be heard.

Audrey, I am so, so sorry for your family's loss.

I have really liked some books by Emilie Barnes -- More Hours in My Day and such.

Looks so good! My children loved when DH read them The Hobbit a couple of years ago, and they all absolutely LOVE the LOTR movies. They can't wait for The Hobbit! (I wish they'd put the LOTR trilogy on the big screen again, so the kids can see it.)

My older two don't look a lot alike; she looks a lot like me, and DS1 looks more like my DH's side of the family (a LOT like my FIL, actually). If I didn't know, I might not guess that they are siblings, but if you know DH and me, you can see that they both have ways in which mine and DH's genes are visible. My third child is a mix of both big kids (I don't think he and DS1 look alike much at all as infants, but DS2's infant pictures look a lot like DD's, though as DS2 leaves babyhood, he looks more like his big brother). The baby seems to vary -- sometimes he looks a lot like DS2's baby pictures, and sometimes I see DS1's face in him more. When you see the older two with either or both of the little boys, you can tell that they're all siblings. My family is similar; my two brothers don't really look much alike, but with me in there, you can tell that we're all siblings, as they both look like me (as does my sister).

My sister and I got a picture taken one year with the two of us and my then-1yo DD; sis wore dark green, I wore navy blue, and DD wore purple. Looked great; jewel tones are a great idea!

Eat slowly, and maybe up your good fat intake -- use a generous pat of butter, for instance. When I cook a 16-ounce bag of brussels sprouts, I use an entire stick of butter. But you do adapt too.

Some questions about it: -No color, right? -E-ink, yes? -Needs to connect to computer via USB in order to download anything, yes? -Can you use it to borrow books from libraries? I'm wondering if this might be a reasonable thing to buy for the kids at some point. If it is something DD could use at bedtime without a big light on, it might be great for her, but we don't buy a lot of books; we borrow them from the library, so if I couldn't do that, it wouldn't be a good plan. Needing to connect to the computer via USB is a good thing. Okay, I looked at it on amazon; it does appear that it could have the option of Wifi or not. What about the screensavers/ads -- are they child-friendly? Do libraries generally have good selections for the Kindles, for kid/preteen chapter books?

I like my E-matic e-reader fine, but I paid about $70 for it, and it does not have e-ink. I am a little bummed that I bought it a couple of months before the $79 Kindle was available. (Otoh, I really wanted color, because I wanted it mainly for pdfs of knitting patterns, and I don't know that the $79 Kindle has that. For e-books, I'd go for the Kindle, I think.)

Re: sweeteners. I've been using liquid Stevia for some things, like hot tea, or with hot milk and a bit of vanilla. It's kind of expensive to buy at first, but a little goes a long way, as you only need a few drops. It's supposedly good for blood sugar levels.

I think coordinating, without being too matchy-matchy, looks the best. I think you in pink and the males in various shades of blue will look great. Our last family photo was a total accident; we happened to be wearing similar colors, and we happened to get a good photo (on Thanksgiving). I'm wearing a light blue shirt and navy blue pants. DH is wearing a navy blue shirt and jeans. DD is wearing a navy blue jumper over a light blue shirt. DS1 is wearing a navy blue sweater with a white stripe across the chest and grey pants. DS2 is wearing a grey sweater with a navy blue design on the chest, a white turtleneck, and navy blue pants. Baby DS3 is wearing grey overalls over a navy blue shirt. When I realized that DS1 and DS2 would be semi-matching, because they both had nice sweaters that happened to be similar, I chose something for DS3 so he could match them. The rest was a coincidence. The effect is harmonious and coordinating but not too contrived.

We do eggs for breakfast, fried in real butter, omelets often. Or oatmeal with blueberries. I've also made zucchini fritters and cauliflower pancakes, both of which are low-carb and pack in good protein and fat without being too eggy. Lunches/snacks -- soup, beans (yeah, high in carbs, but cheap, and with fiber and protein, less impact on us than bread), fruits, veggies, homemade bleu cheese dip, nuts (not cheap but a pound can last a while for us), cottage cheese, cheese, smoothies, zucchini (grilled and topped with goat cheese, when goat cheese is on sale), peanut butter on banana or apple slices. . . whatever we have around, based on whatever's on sale. Dinners -- ground beef (meatloaf, burgers), stew beef (grass-fed stew beef and ground beef are pretty cheap around here), whole chickens, chicken breast only when on sale (and sparingly -- cut up in stir-fry dishes, rather than a whole breast), bean dishes (without the rice), frozen fish fillets when they're on sale. There's almost always a green veggie on the side, usually prepared with real butter or olive oil (if I saute green beans in EVOO, I toss in a handful of walnuts -- doesn't add too much cost but adds a lot of flavor and some good fat and protein too), and often a salad. Or sweet potatoes, sometimes winter squash. (In the summer, we do a lot of salads topped with grilled chicken or shrimp, plus a green vegetable.) Or soup.

I failed the one-hour with my first two babies but passed the three-hour. I was deemed not to have gestational diabetes either time, and my second baby was still nearly ten pounds. Fwiw, the protocols were different for the three-hour test both times -- one time they had me avoid all bananas, all simple sugars for several days beforehand, and the second time, they had me eat something like 300g of sugars for several days beforehand. So I concluded that the test was not accurate *for me.* Either I had GD that wasn't caught by the three-hour test, OR I didn't have GD and just grow big babies. I also absolutely detest the three-hour test. Therefore, for my third baby, I skipped all testing and just tried to eat sensibly. He was just a few ounces smaller than my second baby (though born a few days sooner too, so I think they would have been the same size at the same gestation). With my fourth baby, I opted to use a glucometer to test my blood sugars while fasting and after eating. I found that it was easy to keep them low if I ate good proteins and fats and saved the grains/sugars/lots of fruit for the afternoons. I felt better too. My MW said this gives you a much better picture of how your body reacts to the foods you normally eat. If I'd found that I couldn't keep the numbers down, then I might have looked into treating for GD. (And fwiw, baby #4 was born quite a bit earlier than the other two boys but was on track to be the same size at the same gestation.)

Congratulations!

My state (PA) allows philosophical exemptions; maybe yours does as well.