My aunt was 48 when she had her 2nd child (no fertility treatments).

I don't have any experience in terms of diet affecting a child's behavior (I haven't tried eliminating foods from my kids diet) so I can't add to that. My ds is 2 and has been more challenging than my girls in terms of throwing stubborn fits. Like your son, my son's tantrums can start over the smallest things. When he gets unreasonable (when nothing pleases him) and he's unwilling to be comforted (I always offer to hold him and I stay calm in the face of his fits), I pick him up, put him in our bedroom (by himself), tell him calmly that he needs to settle down (before I leave the room), and wait for his tantrum to wind down. Once I hear the intensity of his tantrum lessening, I open the door and ask if he's ready to come out and "be nice". Once he's calmed down, I hold and snuggle him for 5-10 minutes until he's ready to start playing again. I don't know if it's the best approach, but it's one that I can handle. Otherwise, I feel frustrated and overwhelmed by his tantrums and he will wear down my patience. Even though ds still throws tantrums, it seems to be getting better (less severe and less frequent) as the weeks/months pass so I hope this is just a phase he's going through. I hope you're able to find a solution that you're happy with. Sorry if this isn't too helpful...:grouphug:. ETA: Pops on the bottom don't affect my son either. Also, he usually spends 5-10 minutes in the room by himself before he's ready to calm down but a couple of times he's been in there closer to half an hour.

August was a very wet month for us here with record amounts of rain. This led to lots of mushrooms growing around around the yard. Some of them were very stinky and I had to go around the yard disposing of half a garbage can's worth of mushrooms (yuk!). Maybe it's the mushroom farm?

I'm not advocating that you have it done if you feel uncomfortable with the procedure, but I just wanted to add that I've had it done with all 4 babes the day before their due date (all by midwives) and I went into labor within 24 hours and had natural births with no complications. Each time, though, I was soft and already 2-3 cm and the sweep did not really hurt (just uncomfortable for a second). Maybe my record has more to do with my body than the membrane sweep. :grouphug: Best wishes!

I have a similar shape in that the difference between my waist and hips measurements is smaller than the "normal" proportion. Also, I need petite inseams but I need a tall rise (my waist is farther from the crotch of the pants than is petite pants allow for). I've had good luck with these from Old Navy: http://oldnavy.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=7520&vid=1&pid=675504&scid=675504002. I buy them in Tall and then hem the pants so they're petite. The pants themselves are also higher-rise and are "straight through hip and thigh." Another option is to look for pants cut like trousers and buy them to fit your waist. That may help with the hips being too large since I've found that trousers don't closely follow the contour of the hip and thigh, so you won't find it to be so awkward to have obvious extra fabric around the hips (don't know if I'm explaining clearly). Maybe like this: http://www.nyandcompany.com/nyco/browse/productDetailWithPicker.jsp?productId=prod4370057&categoryId=cat790030&FLCat=cat1890008&productId=prod4370057&categoryId=cat790030&addFacet=1002%3Acat790030 The price may not be right but the cut looks good. HTH!

I was born in another country and when I immigrated to the US at age 4, I only spoke a less commonly known dialect of Chinese. My parents mainly spoke Mandarin Chinese (most commonly spoken dialect of Chinese) at home as well as the other dialect occasionally. Within a couple years I had learned Mandarin Chinese and English. Now as an adult, I barely remember my first spoken language, I have a perfect Mandarin accent and the vocabulary of a 5-year old in Mandarin Chinese, but I have an excellent grasp of English. If you're trying to "hang on" to another language, it's very common (in my experience of Chinese friends in the US) to have your parents emphasize speaking only the other language at home since children usually attend English speaking schools. It's very hard to stay fluent if you (and your parents) don't take extra measures. Gotta run so can't finish entire response, but basically, I think the child will be fine, especially since his mom is conscious that he needs to improve his English and is actively looking for ways to increase his fluency.

:lol: :lol: Thanks for the laugh this morning.

How neat! I just finished watching the segment. I think it's fascinating how your grandfather was the first to target women's desire to be thin with exercise records. Camp's materials seem clearly targeted toward men. Thanks for sharing.

I don't bring any income in but it is definitely "our" money. However, I think it's important to recognize that DH's efforts make our homeschooling lifestyle possible. So I don't mind people saying that the husband pays for things. The real issue is who controls the money. Ultimately I can do what I want since we have a joint account but out of respect we always talk things through so we have the same financial game plan. Also, sometimes I need him to talk me out of purchasing things that I don't need (I do the same for him). It's not really a case of "He won't let me" and more of a situation where he's helping me achieve my own goals by providing some measure of accountability.

Wow, that's fascinating...never knew that. We're not allergic to anything, but I know my mom developed an allergy to penicillin later in life.

:D Funny, ladies... I agree with the first, but for the second item, I think it refers to a parliamentary procedure where a pending question is "tabled"--I think it means to set it aside with the option to take it up in another session. ETA: Sorry, I missed that other posters already saw this... This is probably just me, but I can't stand the word "modernity". I heard it endlessly in college classes and can't stand it anymore. Ugh!

I don't insist on it, but I prefer Miss [First Name]. To me it seems respectful without being too formal/unfriendly.

Van: charcoal outside w/gray leather inside Sedan: silver outside w/gray leather inside We like neutrals in general; wouldn't change a thing.

This should work-- http://www.midomi.com/. You'll need to digitize the song (I think) or have a microphone (my laptop has one built-in) in order for the site to "hear it", but it should be able to identify it for you. It's worked really well for us helping resolve the maddening question of "what song is that?!" Hope that helps!

I loved using cloth dipes! Do you mean 4 covers and 12-18 prefolds for each child? The number of covers sounds fine; you can handwash if they get poopy and hang them up to dry; they'll dry by the time you need them again in the rotation (I'm assuming you're thinking of vinyl or nylon diaper covers). If you don't want to have to do that, having 6 covers would give you extra coverage. For the prefolds, I'd prefer to have 18-24 each child. Also, from what I've heard, the Gerber prefolds are not as absorbent as the Indian/Chinese ones you can order online. I'm not sure if another poster's already mentioned this, but you'll have to change cloth diapers more frequently than disposables in order to keep baby's skin dry.

:iagree: We don't buy much Hanna stuff because of the price, but I'm willing to splurge on the underpants. The elastic is totally covered in cotton and one of my girls is sensitive--these are the only ones that work for her. In terms of a panty policy, I agree that undies are a must under pant-less things (skirts, dresses), but wouldn't it be okay to go out without if one's wearing pants?

I believe many Lands End fleece items are made from Polartec fleece, which is very high quality (doesn't pill after washings). You can look online for fabric stores that carry Polartec fleece. Here's one good source in terms of variety (not sure if they're lowest price, though)--http://www.milldirecttextiles.com/default.asp. For a throw, you'd want 100, 200, or 300 weight (the higher, the thicker/plusher the fleece).

I was kind of confused at first, but mschickie's got it right, except for Should be 7 = (x+3) + x.

I don't have any recommendations about specific laptops (we love Lenovos, but I'm sure most brands are fine). I just wanted to mention that universities usually sell computers and software to students at a discount. Have you checked if your DC's school offers discounted laptops?

My first child made 2-3 babbling sounds (total! I was never separated from her and I paid very close attention to her behavior) until she was around 23 mos old and she said her full name (not a simple name, btw), perfectly pronounced. She's incredibly bright and a perfectionist by nature so I like to think that she was just observing and absorbing until she felt she could speak perfectly. So for us, not being verbal turned out just fine.

I've ordered from www.fabric.com and www.denverfabrics.com before with no problems. You might also want to consider extra-wide fabric (like 108 in. wide), so you would need 17 ft x 2 (for gathering) x 12 in/ft = 408 in. of extra-wide fabric = 11 1/3 yds plus a little extra of course. You could search for extra wide drapery fabric or quilt backing fabric. If you go with regular width fabric, it might make sense to buy an entire bolt of fabric if it's less expensive. Denver fabrics sends out coupons once in a while if you sign up for their emails as well. Have fun!

My DD who's 7 does this. She's very social and is very open and positive personality-wise, but when she's nervous about being in trouble, she smiles and giggles (sometimes it's clear that she's embarrassed to be smiling). She just can't control it. Note that this does not happen every time she's nervous. Once I understood that she wasn't doing it on purpose, I stopped being upset by it. She's one example of a child not on the spectrum who does laugh inappropriately when nervous/upset.

I like their nuts and dried fruits (great prices). We also regularly pick up frozen mangoes (so good in smoothies), frozen tamales, extra virgin olive oil, sesame oil, and grana padano cheese.

It must depend on the market you're in. We paid 2 mos rent as a security deposit in CT.

I'm Asian but not Korean. My parents always brought gifts whenever they visited someone's house (especially fancy fruit--yes, they love asian pears, also called apple pears sometimes). In Chinese, Japanese, and Korean cultures, there is a strong emphasis on "face". Hard to explain , but found this quote online: In fact, there is a phenomenon of committing suicide if you've really "lost face" (CEO's of failing companies, people in heavy debt, sometimes even trivial things, sadly). From your neighbors' point of view, they probably felt indebted to you for helping them and feel better being able to give you a nice gift (otherwise, they owe you, see?). Not to put anyone's motives down, but an expensive gift can also be an intentional sign of their financial/social status. I don''t think it's necessary to give them an additional gift; the thank you note would probably be enough. They may feel that they've balanced the scale of responsibility and if you give them something else, they'll be at a disadvantage again. Maybe save the chocolates for Christmas, not right now. Perhaps in the thank you note you could list your phone number and let them know you would be happy to look out for their house while they're in a hotel? In terms of the neighbor's wife, I agree with PP's that she may not feel confident in her English. My parents have been in the US for 30+ years and my dad's English is still heavily accented and awkward sometimes. Obviously, the other explanation is that she just isn't that friendly. We all know crabby people... HTH!