I liked The Care & Keeping of You: The Body Book for Girls, by American Girl. I thought it was pretty gentle, and I liked that it included the stuff about periods and breasts and such along with less intimate stuff like pimples and deodorant. DD really liked it as well. I remember looking at the Nancy LaRue one and for some reason rejected it for DD. I appreciated the Biblical perspective, but maybe it had more discussion about love and s3x than I wanted? I can't remember. My DD is only 9, and I'm not interested in discussions about love and s3x for her yet (unless she starts asking questions); I just don't really want those thoughts in her head yet. But she needs the information about physical changes, and she's the kind of kid who doesn't want me to sit her down for a talk. I thought it would be best for her to have a book that was simple and explained the facts, so that she could digest them on her schedule, and then she can ask me questions if she has them. (This is a kid who has been surprisingly non-curious about how babies are made. She knows how they grow and has watched births and everything, but she's never asked for more explanation than the one I gave her several years ago of "a part from the mom and a part from the dad." And I've been pregnant and/or nursing, which affects my own cycles heavily, for the past decade, so her chances of walking in on me dealing with AF have been slim.)

I make a casserole that has spinach, cottage cheese, eggs, shredded cheddar cheese, and butter. Mix it all together (kinda use whatever proportions you like -- I'll use a bag or two of spinach, a large container of cottage cheese, couple generous handfuls of shredded cheddar, a stick of butter, and 8-12 eggs) and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, or until set and slightly golden on top. Those proportions fill a couple of two-quart casserole dishes. Cottage cheese with blueberries is also good.

I am wholeheartedly for the idea -- in theory. I love supporting local farms and farmers and think a CSA would be a good way to be "forced" to try new things so as not to waste them. We did a CSA once several years ago and generally liked the idea. However, in reality, it's not a very practical option for us for several reasons. -One, all the ones around here require a large amount up front and early. It might work out to a reasonable amount per week, but I don't generally have the extra cash to front it for several months (and if I did, I'd probably opt to buy a quarter of a cow instead). -Two, they typically seem geared to a family of around four people for the price, and that's too small for our family. (Sometimes you can add an additional partial share or something, but that puts the per-week price over what I usually spend on produce.) -Three, pickup times are often inconvenient for me (I think one around here is early Thursday evening, for instance, which is a horrible time for me to be dragging all 3.75 kids out), and it got to be a pain to do it every single week. -Four, I only buy extra produce to process for the freezer or such if I know I have time that week to deal with it. I won't buy ten pounds of tomatoes if I know I have a lot of other stuff going on that week, but with the CSA, you get whatever's available that week. -Five, some of my family won't eat certain veggies. Would rather not spend the money on them. For me, it works best to go to the local farmer's markets myself. There are several around, and they're on different days, so I can plan my other errands around which market I want to visit and vice versa. And I can buy the fruits and veggies that I want, and I'm still supporting my local farms.

I love Quicken, preferably an older version (mine is 2001 -- very cheap on e-bay). I tried a newer version and hated it; I can't remember what it was exactly, but the older one lets me tell it how much should be spent in each category (food, gas, etc.), and the new one didn't do that, exactly, or something like that. Quicken lets me download transactions from my bank, and then I assign them to each category. I can keep a running total of how I'm doing in each category per month too. I can also keep separate little accounts in Quicken -- one for each month's budget (and you can set up each month separately if your income changes month to month), one for Christmas expenses, one for each person's personal spending money, etc.

Congratulations!

As long as finances are allowing for it, we generally eat a lowish carb diet as a general family rule. DH, in particular, tends to gain weight with a lot of carbs, so he really prefers to eat very few grains and little fruit (mainly he just eats fruit occasionally, and it's whatever's in season locally and therefore Really Good). Whenever he feels that his weight is creeping up, it's because we've had more carbs, and when he drops them back again, he loses the weight and feels healthier. (And he's not stick-thin; I know he is not starving himself.) DH typically eats several eggs (preferably free range) fried in real butter for breakfast. Occasionally we'll have nitrate-free bacon or good sausage with breakfast on the weekends. The kids and I do eggs for breakfast as well, but we also will do regular non-sweetened oatmeal, with some combination of milk, butter, unsweetened shredded coconut, blueberries, cinnamon, and chopped nuts added. (I've tested my blood sugars after eating this a few times, and it does not seem to spike them, as there is plenty of fat and protein.) Lunch for DH is usually leftovers from dinner the night before. Some of the things we eat for lunches and snacks: cheese, hard-boiled eggs/deviled eggs/egg salad, sometimes salad, fresh veggies (with homemade bleu cheese dressing), peanut butter on celery, nuts, olives, avocadoes, beans/chickpeas, soups, fruit, smoothies. (Not sure how beans, fruit and smoothies fit into the glycemic index though, and I think carrots are pretty high on it too, but if they're too high, there's broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, celery, peppers, all of which are great for dipping.) My children are still all pretty young, so we haven't had tuna in ages because of the mercury, but that's a good option. Sometimes we'll have the nitrate-free hot dogs. I like cottage cheese with blueberries mixed in. Lunch is not usually anything too fancy. Dinner is the biggest area where we've made changes. I used to do a lot of stir-fry-type dishes over rice or pasta, and I really had to shift my thinking there. Some dishes will still work without rice/pasta, but some are lacking. I used to make spaghetti with meat sauce; that's not so great without the spaghetti, but I made meatballs and sauce instead (with pasta on the side for those who wanted it), and DH found that to be satisfying. On the ideal days, our dinners look like this: some sort of meat (grass-fed when possible)/poultry/fish, a green veggie, and a salad (with homemade dressing). Pork chops, ham steaks, baked fish fillets, roast beef/pork/chicken, salmon cakes, meatloaf, burgers, peppers stuffed with refried beans, grilled chicken/shrimp to put over a salad. . . I often just omit the filler oats/bread crumbs in things like meatloaf, and we don't miss them. We go heavy on the healthy fats -- real butter (organic/pastured when possible, but never margarine), non-hydrogenated lard when we can (it's not hard to make yourself, and it freezes well), olive oil, nuts, coconut oil, avocadoes, olives, cheese, and cream from raw milk. I do not buy into the "saturated fat is all terrible" philosophy; it makes no logical sense to me. I do try to get pastured/organic/grass-fed meat, poultry, and dairy products, and I have read that they are totally different from conventional animals. We do try to avoid hydrogenated oils and trans fats -- that kind of saturated fat I do think is bad for you. Hope that helps. I am not an expert, but those are things that our family has done that have worked. I like Nourishing Traditions for ideas on how to use natural fats and such too. ETA: DH doesn't snack much during the day; I think the fats and proteins help fill him up. The children seem happier too when they have a lot of fat and protein, but when they have more carby meals, they seem to get cranky and hungry faster. Some eggs and milk, or a big bowl of oatmeal, and they're full for several hours, but give them cheerios, and they'll eat two or three large bowls and then be begging for more an hour later. I notice a huge difference in how I feel as well when I eat eggs or cottage cheese for breakfast vs. cereal. So that is encouraging to me when I'm sick of eggs. :)

I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. I call my two sons "the boys," or the two older children "the big kids," or DS2 and the baby-to-arrive-soon "the babies/the little ones." I nannied for a set of girl twins, and while we didn't usually say "the twins" (probably because it was just those two children in the family), we often said "the girls."

Congratulations! Love the name Joshua! And yay for little boys!

I probably wouldn't go to a doc or anyone for that, but that's because that's typical for me. My body will start to get ready to cycle again, but it'll take a while, even a few months. I'll get the cramping and such for a while before my cycles come back; it's my body trying to ovulate, but not quite getting there, I believe. The follicles don't quite develop into full eggs for several months. Nursing affects my cycles very heavily; I won't get them back until well after a year postpartum, and then they're not regular or necessarily ovulatory for a few more months. (And yet, I've gotten pregnant while nursing frequently, three times so far, but not before the nursling was two.)

We have it through our auto insurance as well. It's very inexpensive, about $7 a year per car, I think. We've used it once, and it was handled well. The downsides are that you have to find the service person yourself, which can be hard if you don't know the area very well, and that you have to pay the person up front and get reimbursed later. We locked our keys in our car when we were on vacation, three hours from home; thankfully we were at a gas station, and we were able to use their phone book to find a local person. They didn't end up covering the entire cost of the unlock service, but they covered most of it; the insurance only covers a certain amount, and since the guy had to travel quite a distance to reach us, he charged more. But once we got home, it was very easy to call our agent and have him process it, and we got the check quickly. Not the greatest for vacation, but for towing or lock-out around here, within a reasonable mileage of home, it would be fine. Not worth the high cost of AAA to me anyway.

I'm anxiously awaiting the sales at Staples, maybe WalMart too. I will stock up on: spiral notebooks 3-prong folders (Staples had both of those items for a penny each, up to 25 of each for teachers, the last two years.) white glue maybe glue sticks (We seem to go through more of the white glue though.) crayons colored pencils (I'll buy the crayons and colored pencils now for our Operation Christmas Child boxes.)

For that long of a flight, I'd want the seat for the baby. That's a long time to hold a baby in a small seat. I'd really not worry about it for a quick flight, but for 8 hours, I'd want to guarantee a seat.

Build-up of shampoo/oil can cause baldness after a while, because it blocks the follicles, and they stop producing -- or something to that effect. I remember reading about it a while ago, but I'm kind of fuzzy on the details.

This has been my hardest third trimester. Usually I feel a bit achy but overall, pretty good. This time, I am having a much harder time sleeping (hormonal, not physical -- I'll wake up and then not be able to fall back asleep, though I'm not physically uncomfortable), so I'm much more tired during the day. Still looking for that nesting energy, and I'm due in about four weeks! (I have most everything ready and am determined to get it done this week, before I hit 37 weeks, which is the earliest I can homebirth. I'll probably go to 40-41, but maybe the last few weeks will be more restful.) I definitely feel best when I watch my diet and eat more protein, but I'm also taking B-complex vitamins, magnesium, and iron+vitamin C, per my midwife's recommendations; those do seem to help with my energy levels. (I was slightly anemic with my second pregnancy, and iron made a HUGE difference in my energy levels, very quickly.)

I also suspect that within about the first seven years or so of a marriage, the most *stuff* happens. Before our seventh wedding anniversary, we had moved four times, bought two houses (and multiple vehicles), sold a house, finished school (DH), started five jobs (between the two of us), adopted a cat, and had two children. That's packing a lot into seven years, and I don't think that sort of scenario is terribly uncommon. After a bit, the grand adventure mellows out a bit, and life is more predictable and stable. Maybe for some couples that breeds boredom, or they've been so focused on all the stuff going on that they've neglected to work on their relationship. I don't know. We've had ups and downs, times where we work well together and times where we're a challenge to each other, and I think that can happen whether it's been one year, seven years, or thirty years.

Maybe -- but if the toddler had had his own seat, the parents might likely have brought the carseat on for him, which would have made less room. I've flown with lap babies (short flights) and with carseats, and everyone's always been very kind. One time, I was flying cross-country by myself with two children (4 years and 15 months), and on the last leg of the return flight, we were all utterly exhausted, overstimulated from our trip, tired of being stuck in a seat, etc. The 4yo was sitting next to the window, and I had the toddler on my lap, in the middle seat, with a gentleman on my other side. I was trying so hard to keep the 4yo calm and happy, while trying to nurse the toddler so that I wasn't flashing anyone, all while trying desperately to stay awake myself (I had also driven a ridiculous number of hours the day before and had had very little sleep). This guy was so nice and gracious about all of it; I was so very grateful for his patience. Sometimes parents are doing all they can, and there's just not more they can do.

LOL, I believe that. My brothers were the same way, and my two boys, though only 6 and 2, are as well. They're forever climbing and wrestling and flopping on each other (and then falling asleep snuggled up together). At this point, since the little guy is still a lot littler, I just make sure that he's not being hurt or overwhelmed (though he generally gives as well as he gets and is very tough), but I totally expect that it will continue. (Shoot, when DH comes home, he's likely to rough-house with the children, especially the boys, much moreso than I am. I think rough-housing lets them exert energy, but it also provides a physical outlet for affection, especially among males. Older boys might not feel comfortable giving hugs, but rough-housing is the equivalent for them.)

Look into neighboring counties. Here, I am a resident of one county. Our library system is very good, with small branches in several towns (so a limited number of books at each branch), but since it's a small and rural county overall, the county's collection on a whole is smaller than the neighboring counties' collections. I can have my county order books from other counties, but I can only request a couple at a time (and I hate to keep bothering my dear local librarians with my many requests -- not that they ever seem to mind, but I do). Otoh, I can take my library card directly to the other counties' libraries and have it coded for those counties, so I can request books from those counties myself; I can request 10-15 at a time online and pick them all up at once. This has been such a blessing to me. Maybe your state has something similar?

We had good success with frequent vacuuming and getting Frontline -- the liquid for the cat, and the spray for spraying around the house. (Ours were mostly just in one area, though, not widespread.)

Can I just say thank you for the Guest Hollow website? It's really fantastic! I greatly appreciated all of the time you put into collecting and organizing materials for each time period of US history. It really made my own task of putting together our curriculum much faster. :)

I write my own science and history curricula/lesson plans. There might or might not be a good spine for starters, but while it's time-consuming to do the research and put it all together myself, I've been really pleased with it for the past few years. This has worked really well for me with combining multiple grades; my older two are three years apart and very, very different in ability. So using a spine that was just a bit above the 5-6 yo, but on the 8-9 yo's level, and then supplemental books that were more geared toward the 5-6 yo (but fun and reinforcing for the 8-9 yo) worked very well last year. (And sometimes I end up tweaking my own plans too. :) )

I would not expect that a teen or college student would necessarily have her own transportion. I can remember being picked up and taken home for sitting jobs in both high school and college; it was rare that my parents transported me (they probably did more transporting for me for full-day summer sitting jobs, same as they would if I'd worked at McDonald's, than for evening sitting jobs, though they always said that if I was concerned that the parents had been drinking or something, they'd come get me), and it was only a couple of years that I was able to drive myself. I'd expect that the sitter would at least clear the table and put dishes in the sink, for any meals/snacks she'd fed the children. Same with toys or activities; if they were gotten out while she was on duty, it would be nice if they weren't still sitting out, but you might need to tell her that. "After dinner, you can just leave the dishes in the sink, and I'll put them in the dishwasher later. Please have the children clean up any toys they get out before bed." That way, it's polite but firm. (Helps to say that in front of the children too, especially if they're old enough to pull the, "Mom didn't say we had to" thing.) But if the baby or toddler was especially needy or something, I wouldn't be too worked up about a mess; I'd rather the children be comforted instead. Personal things should wait until the children are in bed/napping, but when I was a full-time nanny, it was perfectly acceptable for me to read, pay my bills, etc. during naptime, and if the kids were playing happily, nobody minded that I talked to my husband occasionally on the phone, or if he came over for a bit (the kids liked him and thought he was a great playmate -- he was!). But that's a bit different from an occasional sitter; I did not talk on the phone or have a friend/boyfriend over when sitting when I was a teen. If the sitter is very good, and you feel comfortable with her otherwise, maybe just give her a few gentle guidelines. Maybe she is unsure of messing up your personal tidying system, or maybe she's not bothered by mess and doesn't realize that you are. ETA: For college students, it might depend on the situation. I went away to college and lived in the dorms. Freshmen aren't allowed cars, and even for upperclassmen, it's expensive and fairly difficult to have a car. Bus transportation only works so well. I worked in the campus daycare and babysat for a couple of the families on the weekends; it was handy when I was able to borrow my boyfriend's car to drive myself, but none of the parents ever expected that and always asked if I needed a ride. For a college student living at home, though, that might be different -- you'd assume that that student would be driving him/herself to campus, or to a different job.

Unless it was an OB office, or they could otherwise tell you that there was some emergency (I can understand if they needed to squeeze in a sick child or something, for instance), 45 minutes, if you were on time, was ridiculous. I understand having to wait if I'm late, but I think more than about 10-15 minutes is unacceptable. 10-15 would account, IMO, for every patient before you taking a tiny bit extra time, and that wouldn't bug me too much, but 45 -- no. I'd let them know that you waited that long and that you weren't happy about it. (I have noticed that when I have all of the children with me, if I'm right on time, they do tend to get me in and out of there faster, especially if it's not a particularly kid-oriented office. Not much to do + long wait = kids getting bored and noisy. So that's handy. :) )

Those sound a little high in general, but you might be able to bring them down. With the fasting numbers, you might examine what you're eating the night before. A friend of mine (full diabetic) said that absolutely, a high sugar evening can affect your next morning's readings, even that many hours later. It's been a little while since I was testing my sugars regularly, but unless I've eaten ice cream/sweets before bed, my fasting numbers are in the low to mid 90s. My 1-hour numbers after eating egg breakfasts are more like 90-110. Otoh, the other day, I ate an egg fried in butter and a muffin for breakfast, and then I was feeling icky a while later (maybe an hour or 1:30 later), so I took my BS, and it was 170! Okay, clearly, carbs for breakfast are not my friend. When my BS is running high, I feel woozy, shaky, dizzy, kind of faint. Not fun. I feel best when I eat mostly protein and good fat for breakfast (veggies, like in an omelet, optional; last I checked, I could also handle a smoothie of plain unsweetened yogurt, banana, and berries too, without my BS going up too high), and when I drink a lot of water early in the day too. My friend said that her doc told her that if she had a few days of high numbers to have a few days of drinking water and peeing as much as she could. Also, she said that taking a walk after high-carb meals helped keep her numbers low, but I'm not generally up and moving early enough to do that before it gets too hot. :) The 177 seems a bit high to me, but I think it would matter more if that was a one-time sort of thing, or if it happened regularly with that sort of meal. My body definitely does better with carbs like brown rice in the afternoon/evening than in the morning, but my midwife says it's really about seeing what works for *you* and that everyone is a little different.

I'm so sorry. :grouphug: