Congrats, from another mama of three boys! That is the singular biggest surprise of my entire life -- just how much I would love having little boys of my own!

I've heard good things about Zenni Optical online too but have never used them. We get DH's glasses from 39dollarglasses.com. They have been of decent quality -- not quite as good as his old pair (from LensCrafters) but also not the $300 that we paid for those either! $300 buys quite a few pairs of glasses if they're only $39 a pair. I think his last pair from 39dollarglasses.com lasted for about 18 months; they were a little bent, and he said they were a little scratched, but they were still usable. When they recently had a "$20 off every pair" special, we got him a new basic pair (which was super easy; his prescription hadn't changed, and they had all the info stored, so we just ordered the exact same thing) and a pair of prescription sunglasses (originally $59, I think), and he's been pretty pleased. He tends to be a bit hard on glasses (they've fallen off the nightstand and have been stepped on by a toddler a few times, that sort of thing), so cheap is good. :)

Yes, this. It sounds beautiful for January!

Not tacky, IMO! I think it's sweet. We've received checks as Christmas gifts before, from friends and from relatives, and we've appreciated them.

I think DH read that (actually, I think he might have listened to the audio verson) recently and liked it. DH likes history (particularly military) and has enjoyed several of David McCullough's books. He also likes Bill Bryson a lot. He's currently reading A History of the World in 100 Objects, by Neil MacGregor and seems to be enjoying it.

We've got Pergo in a few rooms in our house, and while I would prefer real wood, the Pergo is very nice. We are very rough on it (spill on it, track mud/dirt/sand in on it, have kids and cats running on it constantly, etc.), and it is five years old and still looks great. Easy to sweep/vacuum, and when I do mop it, it shines beautifully. I do wipe up spills immediately, but it seems to take a lot before it's a problem.

I have that E-matic e-reader, only in pink, and I like it just fine. It does not have the e-ink, so it could be hard on the eyes, and its volume for mp3s is pretty low. But it does the job fine; I use it mainly for the kids' schoolbooks occasionally and for pdfs of knitting patterns, and it works fine for those. The color actually seems to be pretty good, so watching videos might be fairly decent. I've not seen any other e-readers, though, so IDK how it compares to them. It does not appear that it can be used to borrow library books.

See, I find this offensive, because I don't have any chocolate. ;)

I don't think it's unusual, especially at her age, though if she has other symptoms of PCOS or hypothyroidism, I'd consider taking her to an endocrinologist. The follicular phase of the cycle (the first part) is pretty sensitive to stress and such, and it can vary for each woman and from cycle to cycle. (The second part of the cycle, post-ovulation, the luteal phase, is almost always the same for each woman, absent a problem, and it's right around 14 days.) I would suggest she try taking her temperatures every morning for a few cycles to see if the cycles are ovulatory or not; if they are, then she at least will be able to predict when her period should start.

Congratulations!

She's a little younger than I would normally suggest this, but if you have introduced dairy to her, I know one friend of mine had success with encouraging her toddler to sleep longer at night by giving her a big serving of full-fat yogurt before bed (and nursing). The toddler really was hungry and was waking frequently to nurse; they continued to cosleep for a while after that, happily. Elizabeth Pantley's is a great book!

Not crazy! I've got four, one of whom is just an infant still, and I still want at least one more. :)

I wouldn't let her cry, but I know you must be tired. I'd try to catch some naps for a while, or I'd see if DH could take some turns. That is, if cosleeping didn't help.

I try to make it relatively equal between kids who might notice. I don't necessarily match dollar for dollar, but I try to make it fairly comparable, the main gift. The 3yo doesn't quite notice if his gifts aren't exactly comparable to the big kids' (and last year, with all his cool gifts, his favorite thing was the battery-operated toothbrush in his stocking anyway), and the baby is only getting a couple of gifts this year, because he needs nothing and won't notice anyway. But I wouldn't spend a ton more on DD or DS1 than on the other, and if it looked like one of them had considerably more stuff, I'd put some aside for their birthdays (which aren't too long after Christmas), or I'd package up some things to go together.

We take turns and all watch each other. The exception might be if the kids are in the middle of something, and someone hands a package to DH or me; the kids might not be watching, and that's okay. Or if two children are receiving similar/the same gifts, we might have them open them at the same time.

I vote for going to church yourself if that is meaningful to you! (And the kids might go for corny -- mine would, but they're still pretty little, so ymmv.)

Mine were low (borderline low, IIRC) a couple of months ago, and especially with winter coming, I have been taking 4000-5000 IU daily (and not on weekends, to give my body a chance to use it), of D3. We like the chewable ones from NOW Foods, from amazon.

On the other hand, around here, it's pretty much just assumed that other families have guns in their homes. I would still ask, and I would not be offended if someone asked me about our household. Definitely regional.

Maryland is also particularly difficult. If driving from PA to VA, for instance, your permit is good in PA (and it might reciprocate to VA too. . . I know their concealed carry laws are good), but to cross through MD, you have to put the gun in a locked case in the back of your vehicle or something like that. To go to the shooting range, in PA, you can just put the gun in your holster and be fine (if you have a permit); you can't do that in MD.

Same here in PA. It's very easy to get a permit to carry concealed here, and it's allowed in all but a few places (federal buildings, national parks, IIRC). One reason to carry is because you can, to exercise your constitutional right and to make it more normal and accepted (sort of like why I breastfeed in public). But for practical reasons, the reality is that you just never know, and it's better to carry it and never need it than to wish you had had it. (And generally, a concealed weapon is going to stay concealed, and it's pretty unlikely that it will be discharged accidentally.)

DD is 9 but is getting (between us and my ILs) some clothes, new pajamas (with matching ones for her dolls), doll clothes, a game, girly Legos (her request; she wanted the box of pink ones), and colonial dress-up clothes (which I hopefully will finish in time!).

Is she very different from you, especially in her strengths and interests? You could unconsciously be comparing yourself to her and coming up short, not because you're inferior to her but because you and she are different. Or maybe it's that you and your DH feel strongly about establishing yourselves as a family and not just as "the kids," and she's still very involved in your lives -- maybe that feels like she's infringing upon your lives. Maybe you have a good relationship with your own mom and simply don't feel that you need your MIL as another mom. Take a breath and remember that you don't necessarily have to be best friends with her, but she sounds like she really tries. And remember: she is the one person who feels the same overwhelmingly strong sense of love for your DH that you do. (The more children I have, especially boys, the more I realize that someday, I am going to both love and hate some nice sweet girl. I'm going to love her because she's going to love my baby boy and share my opinion that he is the Best Boy Ever, and I'm going to hate her because she's going to get to keep him. And then I realize that my MIL probably feels the same way about me. ;) )

Yes, this. We always try to assemble gifts first, or to take the ties off beforehand. Little People were the worst about a zillion plastic ties! I'd wrap his presents. My 3yo is so excited about unwrapping things.

It's an adaptation from the Everything Slow Cooker cookbook; it's called something like "Spinach, Egg, and Cheese Casserole." (The original recipe calls for using a crockpot for a few hours, plus a flour base, and a stick of butter; I leave out the flour to make it a low-carb dish, and the butter doesn't really add much to the flavor, so I often skip it too.) For 10-12 eggs, I usually use a 16-ounce bag of spinach (two bags is too much) and a 32-ounce container of cottage cheese, plus about two cups of shredded cheese, but you can adjust to taste.

Mix a dozen eggs with a bag of frozen cut/chopped spinach (no need to thaw), a container of cottage cheese, and a cup or two of shredded cheddar cheese. Bake in a casserole at 350* for 30-45 minutes, until mostly set and lightly brown around the edges. So good, so easy; my kids literally cheer when I announce that this is for dinner.