1. No question.

I'm an RN. You NEVER sleep at work. Ever. Never, ever, ever. I would complain (about the sleeping, blowing off your concerns about the monitor, and not paging the physician when you requested) and escalate that complaint until something was done. Sounds like your son has a fantastic patient advocate! Hope your son is on the mend soon.

Yes, with each of my 5 pregnancies. Although the debilitating nausea ended around 20 weeks, I continued to vomit until delivery. So here's my weirdness.....all of my kids were born around the same time of year (spring) so I was newly-pregnant in the summer with each of them. I have had nausea each and every non-pregnant July and August. It's like a memory-induced thing. All the summer stuff reminds me of being pregnant and puking.

This is the basic premise, particularly the last paragraph. It's a very hands-on, low-stress, playful approach to "meeting" new foods.

Sending prayers and good healing vibes your way! Hope they find an answer very soon!

Thanks, everyone. It's a big deal for us and I'm kind of really excited. Thanks for letting me share!

Those are beautiful! I'd love to see some in the US.

The best "goody" I ever did was the $5 t-shirts from the Disney store. (It was a Phineas and Ferb themed party - the only themed party we've done - and they just happened to have shirts available to match.) The party was 3 years ago and kids we know still have the shirts. If I were you, I would feel comfortable skipping the goody bags. The venue is more than enough.

I posted a while back about my very picky eater 4 year old. Briefly, he was a super eater until age 2, when he started eliminating foods from his diet. He ended up with about 5 foods that he would eat (chicken nuggets, plain pasta, bread & butter, chocolate milk, and some potatoes.) Our pediatrician blew me off and wasn't concerned. His growth chart had dropped off significantly and, at one point, he was losing hair. I was quite seriously concerned. At his 4 year old check up, I asked for a referral to our local hospital's pediatric feeding clinic, which they gave me. He had his initial evaluation and has been to three therapy sessions. The evaluation was wonderful. Like super awesome wonderful. It was the first time I've been able to detail all of our eating craziness and have someone understand and offer constructive, useful advice. ("Oh, so he only eats off of blue plates? That's okay!") The take-away message from our evaluation was that picky eating isn't normal, shouldn't be considered normal, and it's something that can be treated. Also, my pediatrician was wrong. I felt hopeful! He's been to three therapy sessions so far; they are scheduled weekly. They've determined it's a sensory issue for him (not an oral-motor issue or anything else) and are working to desensitize him to different foods. (They use the SOS method, if you're curious.) The occupational therapist is awesome and he loves his "food class". It's amazing to see the progress he has made. He has actually eaten green beans, cheese, pretzels, butterscotch pudding....whole bunch of things. The first time he came out to the waiting room to show me how he could eat a bean, I got teary. This week he started "homework" where he has three foods to eat a bite of each day. (This week it's the butterscotch pudding, cheese, and a dorito. Kind of weird, yes.) He's tried at least one of the items each day; yesterday he tried two. He's less fearful of trying new foods. We went out for italian ice the other day, and he tried and finished it. (And yes, I know it's a sweet, and should be easy, but this is the kid that wouldn't eat any sweet other than plain chocolate for nearly two years.) That was a big deal! So that's my update. My mommy-sense feels vindicated and I'm tickled pink that he is trying new foods. Mostly I'm thankful for the feeding clinic and wish that I had known about it sooner.

Ooohh, that looks like fun. We listened to the audiobook in the car last week on vacation and it was nearly better than the movie. (Of course, having seen the movie umpteen times, it was a bit like watching the movie in my own head. Still great.)

I have a Kitchen Aid blender that I got off of Amazon. It's been awesome. Love that it has a glass jar. Especially love how it crushes ice (I mostly use it for smoothies.) I've had it for about a year and a half and have no complaints.

I do have a small handful of memories from prior to age 2. They are all brief, almost picture-like, but have been verified by my mom (and none of them exist in photos.) Most of my memories are age 3 or later.

We add several shakes of worcestershire sauce to our mac and cheese sauce (also usually use extra sharp cheddar, pinch of mustard powder.) It's my secret (not so secret) ingredient.

Over the years we've ended up with several different sets - pirates, Egypt, Romans, Western, Safari, police, some camping stuff - it's been a slow accumulation, some of it has been gifts from grandparents, some of it I find on sale and stash for later. The kids would happily own every set, but we try to focus on one set at a time. The sets do change or phase out periodically and that way, we haven't had too many random bits and pieces. Our Roman set is our least complete and it bugs me. That doesn't stop the kids from playing, though, and my kids love mixing sets and coming up with some crazy creative stories. Playmobil has been, hands down, one of our best toy purchases. Given the age spread of our kids, most of these toys will be used for 15+ years, after which they'll be packed away for grandkids. (My mom and MIL still have playmobil from when our families were young.)

Thanks for sharing, that was pretty amazing. Their website has a great FAQ section that addresses all sorts of things....I'm sold. I want a solar driveway. :thumbup1:

Before baby #4 came, I had basic clothes, a wrap, a carseat, a breast pump (leftover from other kids), diapers, and a pack 'n play with the bassinet thingy on top (gift.) I didn't start buying until near the end. Like you, most of our baby stuff was out of the house and we were starting from scratch. I've bought things as needed, but honestly, I didn't need much else for that first year. I still had an ergo for when he outgrew the wrap. I don't use swings. We had our crib and changing table, but of the two, the changing table got more use. I opted not to use a high chair for space reasons, and he happily uses one of those booster seat things that fastens to a chair. The minimalist approach has worked out well with this one. Good luck to you, our surprise #4 has been such a great addition to our family!

Key lime, strawberry, peach, or apple. Or pumpkin. Oh, and lemon meringue. Coconut cream.... Does this remind you of Harold and the Purple Crayon, with the 9 kinds of pie and the hungry moose and the deserving porcupine? We like to name our favorite nine kinds of pie when we read that part. And now I want pie. All nine kinds of pie....

:grouphug:

I've use this site to figure out what old savings bonds are worth. It will give you their maximum maturity date, etc. Kind of a fun thing to find, huh?

Ditto CLE. We switched from MM this year to CLE when it became apparent that DS needed to switch to a spiral program. It has been wonderful. Take the placement test and, as a PP pointed out, you can skip quizzes and "just for fun" lessons if you are using it for remediation.

No reviews, I hadn't heard of these until you posted....but I'm very curious! They definitely look fun and I can see the potential for these working in our homeschool. Wondering if this would be a way to get my very reluctant writer to practice his handwriting this summer. Hmm. The novelty factor just might work!

I love being outdoors. I love camping and hiking and cooking outside and all that jazz.... BUT... I have a phobia-level fear of snakes and am kind of afraid of fish. I do realize that there are a few spots in the world that are supposed to be snake-free. I would go there and run through meadows and sleep under the stars. But until I can leave PA, that won't be happening much.

I recently purchased a One and so far it's stayed where I put it. I don't worry about losing it. Usually, it's clipped to a pocket or to my bra. DH got one, too, he keeps his on his waistband. Did you know that on an average day, I go up the stairs 30+ times? I was impressed with myself. (I'm rather disorganized and so am constantly running up or downstairs to look for something, and then I forget something else....really, I should be a lot thinner.) Fitbits are a lot of fun.

We have a house across the street that's crazy....the lady there was running an unlicensed daycare there last summer. They had TWENTY SEVEN kids in their backyard pool with 2 adults there. They didn't want the wet kids in the house so if they needed to use the bathroom, they peed in the lawn. Several neighbors called on that one. They have lots of little crazy, but that was the worst.