What I don't understand is this continual statement from various companies etc that say kids need to learn how to use a calculator. It isn't very difficult and certainly doesn't require "learning" and continual practice like math facts do! No calculators in my home until trig.

First- 11 weeks and dh felt it from the outside... Second 9.5 weeks she kicked the doppler off my stomach and inch. The midwife looked at me dumb-founded. Did that really happen? Yes it did and I FELT it! She still was too small to pick up the heartbeat though! Third- 16? weeks. I think her placenta was in the front of my uterus and thus I couldn't feel her. Fourth- 8-9 weeks I felt tickly bubbles but I wasn't sure. At 11 weeks this one kicked the doppler hard, although not off my stomach. I almost told the midwife not to bother looking for the heartbeat since I could feel the baby wiggling EVERYWHERE trying to get away from the doppler. So, no, it isn't too early to feel the baby.

There is a whole book of math games from RS. You might play multiplication and division games with him using the RS games book.

My son is not finding the humor in this... after she played daddy last night, she set it up again with the queens and kings switching places. My son doesn't care that his little sister knew all the other pieces but that those two (the two I still mess up) were wrong! :lol: And as for the credit card numbers- OUCH! Quickly hiding my card that was on my desk so I could do some orders yesterday!

My 7 yr old is loves chess and will play his dad any time he gets a chance. A few days ago my almost 3 year old found the chessboard on the floor and the pieces were not on the board. She proceeded to set up the board correctly in order to "play mommy"! I was shocked that she knew how to set up the board correctly. Then I second guessed it because perhaps my son had set it up and then left to do something (he sometimes does that) and she had taken the board over. Tonight, after my son was in bed, she was matching all the pieces talking about them "now the bishops"... and then proceeded to set the board up again to play daddy. Granted the only pieces she moves correctly are the pawns, and there is absolutely no strategy to her random game, but I was shocked that she knew how to set up the board without anyone ever telling her how. Anyway, I needed to share with someone. I hope you ladies will understand.

I use leeks for potato leek soup or I will use them instead of an onion in a sauteed veggies dish. I don't usually make eggplant- but during the summer I sometimes make ratatouille and that is yummy with eggplant. Poke around online for recipes. Fatfreevegan.com might be helpful. www.herballegacy.com has some recipes. I browse the cookbook section of the library and try a few. You might like something you find there.

Hang in there- it depends on how addicted you were before. It will end and you will feel really well.

For the most part, my son is academically synchronous, or close enough that I don't notice. However, emotionally, he is extremely asynchronous and physically quite a bit too. It took me quite a while to figure this out. I used to think, "Oh no, what is wrong with my child!" because at the time he was 4 or 5and would have outbursts like a 4 or 5 yr old but talked and thought and mostly acted like a 8-10 yr old... When I finally figured out that indeed he was emotionally the same as the other kids his age, I stopped stressing and just accept it. Now if only my MIL would accept that! AAAAACCCCCKKKKK

A nurse taught my mom that if we are begging for water or something during the rest the tummy phase to let us rinse our mouth out with water and SPIT IT OUT. Obviously he is too little to do this, but you might try a damp washcloth or something to wet his mouth with. I have always followed wait 2 hrs after throwing up to allow any fluids and then start slowly with an ice cube or 1 tsp of water, etc. Very similar to what was posted from the ped's website. I have never had the throwing up not stop. Another thing to remember, initially, the body is purging something toxic. Don't fight that. Just don't encourage the continual throwing up by putting more in until the tummy resets.

Nope- you can't block part of a site and not another part. This is why the advice of having the computer in a busy location, don't have the kids on by themselves, etc. I tell my kids that it isn't about me not trusting them- I know they will stay exactly where they say they are, but sometimes, they might accidentally click a link and not realize it (my kids are younger than 11 and this has happened while my son was playing an educational game and boy did he freak because his game was gone!) or someone might have hacked a good site. I don't trust the weirdos who post garbage. I got the recommendation for k-9 from a person who has struggled with problematic internet activity and truly wants to overcome that. He wants my kids protected and recommended k-9. I have used other programs but this works much better. It will block facebook, myspace, etc. too unless I release it. It blocks banners too on some websites (depending on the coding) so I can still see the perfectly harmless website but the distasteful add is blocked. This isn't true on ALL websites though- it depends on the coding.

If you do move up here, I can say I wouldn't look at a map of where Renton is vs. Swedish, or anything else for that matter. Traffic patterns are WEIRD here in that depending on surface streets, freeway access, and direction of main commute determines your total commute time. My dh works in Renton and when we first moved here, we stayed for a month in Renton not 5 miles away from where he was working. It would take 45min-1 hr to get home... then we bought a house 22 miles away and it still takes 45min-1 hr to get home! I didn't understand that coming from central California. There are many many little around here that feed commuters into Seattle. Coming from CA and never living North of Santa Cruz, I was freaked out about the weather here. Yes, the winters are grey and we have drizzle- rain much of the winter, but there are blue sky sun breaks too. I look forward to those and always make it a point to drop everything and go stand in the sun when it pops through the clouds. This keeps me happy. I also made sure to buy a house that wasn't surrounded by trees too badly and had lots of windows so it is light in my house even on grey days. I have a thing about turning on lights during the day- drives me NUTS. I rejected a few houses we looked at for that very reason- they needed lights on in the day. There are so many opportunities for homeschoolers here. Various places will do homeschool days- for example I went to homeschool days at the Space Needle where they opened up for homeschoolers at school field trip rates. The Seattle Children's Theatre is amazing and one lady puts together annual homeschool days at the SCT where we pay a fraction of the normal cost of admittance. Some of the YMCAs do homeschool programs and then there are places like Wilderness Awareness School that run programs geared to homeschooled children.

I love k-9. The nice thing about k-9 is that it is not running like a virus scanner so it doesn't slow your computer, but it is VERY effective at blocking inappropriate stuff. That said, I don't think you can block part of youtube but not all of it. One feature you can use is that it blocks the site and then the administrator can override the block for permanent or for a designated amount of minutes, etc. So if it is a good time for you to be near to the computer, you could unblock youtube for 15 or 20 minutes so they could search and then the block returns. K-9 is free to individuals. Many corporations use it on their computers.

I can't tell you how grateful I am for swift action on the part of the moderators for dealing with the really horrible spammer that ran through here tonight!

The body creates cravings for two reason- either you are missing a nutrient or you are detoxing. In this case, you ate a fantastic day's worth of foods. Your body then begins to release some of the stored up toxins into the bloodstream. This reminds your body of the food that created that toxin store and you crave it. Hang in there, it WILL go away. Raw cacoa nibs are nice blended into some raw almond milk with a little raw agave or honey.

I don't know where she will be able to buy products, but I can tell you that I have a dear dear friends who had 5 children. She is married to a hearing man and she is deaf. She is raising 5 amazing children quite well. After the 4th was about 2, she got a cochlear implant, but she did the baby thing. I know the main thing for her was that she had baby sleep with her- you can feel baby move if baby wakes up. She also carried baby with her always- a sling would be very helpful. Many deaf people raise babies into adults. Don't let her get down!

I have made fabulous peach jam with agar. I used the recipe from the book Putting it up with Honey. It does have honey in it. Other than that, I have always used Pomona. The only thing with using the agar is that after it has been opened and sits out for a little bit, whether on the counter or in the fridge, you will notice little white dots in your jam. That is the agar. You can't taste it or feel it, but sometimes it can look strange.

I gave my son lots of picture books and fairy tales with pictures so he would read outloud to his sister. Many picture books are actually quite difficult. He became obsessed with the Titanic so I handed him the Magic Treehouse book about the Titanic and he was off and running. At first the smaller type, less pictures, and length of the book were daunting, but because it was a subject he was interested in, he was ready to go!

What is the reason your midwife is suggesting wild yam? As was mentioned before, progesterone cream is derived from wild yam, however, your body won't convert wild yam into progesterone. Personally, I don't like the idea of using progesterone cream, even naturally derived, because it forces a change in hormone levels without addressing the problem that caused the imbalance in the first place. Second, you don't know how much your body truly needs and if you give your body progesterone, it may lower the levels it is making on its own (your body has a reason it isn't making progesterone, so if you supplement and don't deal with the imbalance, eventually, you don't make your own). In addition to all this, using progesterone cream can really screw up your cycle including preventing ovulation. Personally, I like Dr. Christopher's Hormonal Changease to balance out the hormones naturally. There are no hormones in the formulation. Instead, there are several herbs which help the body to regulate itself. I also like the Master Gland formula because it helps regulate the pituitary gland to be able to regulate the other reproductive hormones more efficiently. I also like Red Raspberry Leaf tea to help regulate hormones.

How about Cricket in Time Square? EB White books. My son read those right after Magic Treehouse.

If one leaked, the juice will get on other jars. In my experience, jars tend to get a little sticky on the outside and I have never had a problem with that- as long as they are sealed.

I am in the same library system as you... I pick up dh's holds all the time (they are really my holds on his number anyway!)... all that was required for me to be able to check out his hold or he mine was to add his name to my account and vice versa so when I go to the checkout desk instead of the self-help desk, I tell him my name and his and they let me check it out. In fact, I discovered that our accounts are linked in some way because I had a huge pile of holds and he had a couple too. I had them do his checkouts and since I was standing there let them do mine but they didn't need my number or anything, they just switched accounts on the screen. BTW I think the comments were very strange myself.

All kids are so different! I felt like it was so slow and progressed so slowly that I might scream at times... In our case, my son went through B and enjoyed it, and we went through half of C. At that point, he really was pushing to take off on his own. He found a Singapore 2B book and finished it within a week. I had a hard time with the teacher intensive aspect, but I am using RS B with my 5 yr old this year because I know that RS B gave my son a fabulous mental math foundation as well as a strong grasp on place value. I love the abacus!

I can't tell you about MUS, but I can tell you that Right Start lessons are quick. I know that Right Start B gave my son a good solid foundation in place value. After that, he wanted to move fast and furious so we switched to Singapore. I only used B and part of C for him. Both had lots of hands on work.

Start with the food and then work on the vices :) Can you substitute one of your cups of tea with an herbal tea? Red Raspberry leaf, if you buy quality leaves like those from Mountain Rose Herbs, is often a good substitute for tea. Can you substitute some almond milk or something else instead of milk? Baby steps :)

I really don't want to reinvent the wheel. I want to create some sort of wall chart that we add to for all the books the kids read throughout the school year- a castle or caterpillar or something else. Has anyone done this and any suggestions? Any templates out there?