Siblings are quite possibly the best gift you can give a child. My second baby was a very easy transition in almost every way. It was so much easier to go from one to two than zero to one.

We've used both these resources with lots of success for our anxious kid--and as an anxious mom, they've helped me, too. I really like What To Do When You Worry Too Much to read with kids and Freeing Your Child from Anxiety for me as the parent.

Immediately.

I don't even know where to tell you to start with it--there is just *so much* there! But do you have diastase recti? Do you think you rib thrust? It's not uncommon to rib thrust more on one side than the other. This may be relevant: http://www.katysays.com/rua-rib-thruster/ And on this page, there is a free shoulder Alignment Snack to help with the shoulder troubles! http://www.restorativeexercise.com/move/#alignmentsnacks The other alignment snacks are excellent and they are each $5 for you to download and own forever.

Rib and shoulder stuff makes me think maybe Restorative Exercise would help you. Here is how you can find a teacher of Restorative Exericise: http://www.restorativeexercise.com/find-a-teacher/ Some also do Skype sessions if you're not close to one in person. It's kind of like physical therapy.

Probably the hardest mental switch in my twin pregnancy was thinking they would possibly come early (which my singletons didn't do *at all*) to realizing that they were definitely not even coming "on time" for twins.

Congratulations to them! Ha! Those 6 minutes that we only had 3 children . . . that is one of DH's favorite jokes. Our twins are #3 and 4 and the olders were 5 and nearly 3 when they were born. I am still alive!!!! :) The best advice I got was to eat at least 100 g of protein a day, like Farrar said, take a rest or nap each day (hard with other littles, but not impossible), and have lots of emotional support.

Yes, I think concepts like MovNat are basically based on the idea that you can practice and develop movement skills, starting where you are! I, however, cannot do this with a sword, or nun chucks, or flaming batons in hand. :lol: My Ubble age is 22, so I am going to send them a check for a hundred dollars for saying such nice things about me. :) I am turning 40 in a couple of months.

I want to institute this in our family.

These two that you mentioned are hormonal issues, which can definitely interrupt the milk-making cycle. Thyroid issues and PCOS are other possible hormonal causes of low milk. Hormonal issues do not necessarily respond to the regular ol' supply and demand of breastfeeding.

I have a credit, too, so I need to watch this thread!

I wish more women heard this message! It has been true for me! When I don't eat well or drink enough water, I get headaches, I get constipated, and I feel awful, but babies are just fine.

I've done a loose version of Weight Watchers while nursing and it's worked for me. Essentially I just try not to eat everything in sight--just most everything. :) I haven't officially rejoined WW this time, but I do try not to overeat (even though I am very hungry a lot of the time) and I'm just a few pounds from my pre-baby weight. Nursing makes me and a lot of women crave junk food, so a lot of it for me is reigning that in.

After going through way too many pairs of sateen sheets, I started buying everyone in the family the Target Room Essentials sheets, with a bit of polyester. <gasp> I really like them--they're cool and smooth and they don't wrinkle very much.

I don't want to like this, but I completely agree.

Oh sorry--I didn't see that you weren't worried about fit. Where do I put baby down? Well, on a blanket in a corner where she won't get stepped on, or I pass one off to a friend, or most often, I wear one and thus can hold the other or wrangle one of my other children. In the very early days at church, I occasionally had one in a carrier on my chest (a woven wrap or soft structured carrier like a Kinderpack, usually) and held the other in arms off to the side.

I don't really like the infant seats because I so rarely take them out of the car and I don't like to carry them around with a baby in them (or without, honestly). I would have completely bypassed the infant seat this last time around but I happened to have twins. I still wore one and put the second carseat in the basket of the cart. Weight of the baby is less important to look at for newborns in convertible seats than seated height. Some seats may claim to work for 4 or 5 lb babies, but the harness slots are so high that they aren't going to fit a baby that tiny--or even one that's 10 or 12 lbs. ETA: the same thing about harness slot height is true for some infant seats, too. They may say they fit 5 to 35 lbs, but some, because of the lowest harness slot, are not suitable for tiny babies.

Weekly, on Saturday morning. It's just the routine. Those old habits from my mother die hard.

The fluid that prevents the eardrum from moving properly and thus muffles the hearing can persist for weeks, even when the bacteria is gone--so don't be surprised if his hearing is still muffled for a while. I had an ear infection about a year and a half ago and it was weeks and weeks before I could hear normally on that side again. My doctor has always said it can be weeks for the kids' fluid to resolve, too.

My oldest (6.5) was diagnosed with a wheat allergy (but not celiac disease) by blood test after a few weeks like that. She's been much better since we eliminated wheat from her diet.

I actually live in a very conservative city, where SAHM is the ideal, and many SAHMs I know are sort of vaguely dissatisfied with "only" doing the work of caring for children and a home. Several of us recently read the excellent book All Joy and No Fun and the discussions we had were really interesting. I was surprised to hear that dissatisfaction voiced by women who, to me, appeared to be really happy cooking from scratch, gardening, organizing and beautifying their homes, nurturing their children, and the like. I thought I was the only one who wanted to do something outside of the realm of home--but I am very open about my dislike of cooking and cleaning. I definitely need engagement outside of home.

I work very part-time now, and I will continue to do so. We don't really have a financial need, but I like my work (research, writing) and I like the intellectual stimulation. I don't really have the time to work right now, but it's very good for my personal well-being, so I squeeze in a few hours after the kids are in bed. I volunteer, too, and will continue to do that. It's not an either/or--my work is such that I can do a little or a lot, and from home.

When it happens to me, I eat a whole bunch of bananas and it goes away. So it could also be potassium.

I think mine's pretty great, though I didn't always like it too much as a kid. I wished for something more androgynous as a child.

We love Klean Kanteen stainless steel bottles. They last forever, come in lots of sizes, keep liquids cool, etc.