I am 7 days a week however I have Fibromyalgia. some days the pain level is just a 1 or 2 but vary up to a 10. There is not 1 day that goes by that I have no pain at all. I have been newly diagnosed so we're trying to figure out the best treatment plan/medication combinatioin. Sigh... It will get better... I hope:)

I highly recomend www.mpix.com

I feel for you. The questions I get are " so is her mom tall? Or is her dad blonde? Things like that. I always respond. No I'm short... Oh are you referring to her birth mom or birth dad?? I am her mom!!! It drives me nutts!!!

LOL seriously how did I see this if it was 3 years old. I wasn't doing a search and wasn't way into the threads. Usually If I'm off here for a few days I maybe go over 20 pages. This cracks me up :)

It seems to me that you are putting family first and not the all mighty dollar. Good for you. It sounds like if you needed to absolutely come up with more money you would pick up more hours. Don't let what other people say bother you!! Just use selective hearing and ignore those comments. I get the same responses as you but I flat out told my mother the other day that I am choosing to spend more time with my daughter and I am willing to cut back and not do things or buy the newest item out there if It means I get to spend more time with my child because they grow up too fast and you can't get that time back.

Well I have decided to say something to her nicely this weekend. Yesterday was the last straw. We had the windows open yesterday since it was so nice out. I had decided to lay down with my 2 year old to take a nap because we both were feeling under the weather. 30 minutes into our nap I hear yelling and screaming and then crying. Yes, it did wake my 2 year old. Look out my bedroom window and there is the neighbors 2 year old and 10 year old playing in out back yard and the 2 year old is throwing a tantrum because his brother took the basketball from him... I yelled out the window that they needed to go home and they can not play out back unless they have permission from me. I've been waiting for the mom to call me but she hasn't. Not sure if the 10 year old told her what happened. I am for sure having the conversation with her this weekend.

I also say a nice photo frame or a nice photo album. It doesn't even have to be a wedding album but just a nice photo album so they can start putting photo's in it from their new life together.

The thing is She has my cell phone # so even if we are not home she could have always called or texted to ask. I was at my moms yesterday and she texted me a picture of her son playing in my daughters play house. I'm going to think of how to word this to her with out trying to sound like a witch . Have I told you yet I don't like confrontation?? LOL

I would love to put up a privacy fence but we have over an acre and that would be very costly. We are not close with the neighbors at all. I am so nervous about saying something to them because I hate confrontation but this is really bugging me.. Maybe I can have my hubby do it :) Thanks for letting me know I'm not over reacting. I don't want to be the rude neighbor that causes problems.

I am the same way :) I am a photographer and I am always taking photo's of other people. There are hardly any photo's of me. I have gained about 40 pounds the last few years and I am embarrased of my appearance. I haven't been able to lose the weight so I guess I just need to get over it and realize that this is me and this is how I look and my kids love me no matter what and they will probably appreciate having pictures of me when they grow up.

Congrats to you. We celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary yesterday.

Maybe I'm letting this bother me and probably should just let it go. My neighbors seem to just help themselves to things in our yard to use. We came home a couple of weeks ago and they were sitting in their back yard around a fire pit. I though oh they got a new fire pit, oh they got a fire pit just like ours... then they yell over at us. Hey we're using your fire pit hope you don't mind. Well the last week I have come several times and they are in our back yard with their 2 year old playing in my daughters play house or on her playground equipment or playing on her riding toys. Is it me or shouldn't a normal person ask permission before coming on your property and using your stuff? I guess if they would ask I would be ok with it but it bothers me they never ask. Plus could I be liable if they get hurt while on my property? Am I over reacting?

see the update in the first post. Thank you to everyone for suggestions and really for listening.

We are in Indiana. I'm really torn but I think we have decided no money from us because we are scared the requests will continue over the years. She has moved from county to county so I'm trying to figure out where to start looking for help. We have recently changed churches and don't really have a relationship with our new church yet. After thinking about it I was thinking social services or even a shelter for a few days until she/we can find other resources to help her out. She didn't have a good home life growing up but she has also done things herself as a teenage that caused a lot of problems with in her family so I am wondering if she has burnt those bridges. I think I'm going to message her and just say that I we are unable to help financialy but we aretrying to locate resources for her if she would be open to suggestions and to give me until tomorrow to come up with some idea's. My brother's best friend's sister is a social worker in our county which the birth mom has never lived it but maybe she can atleast point us in the right direction and maybe have some suggestions. I'm going to try and get ahold of her. Thank you to everyone for their suggestions so If you can think of anything else please let me know.

*** update. I called social services in the county I know she has livedin off and on several times over the past 5 years or so. I explained the situation and they have me a # to call that is set up for the Childrens Bureau to help in these situations when Children are involved with out her having to worry her kids will be taken away (as long as they can tell the kids are not being neglected or abused) I also located 4 or 5 emergency shelters for for women/children. I am messaging all of this information to her. She needs to be the one that actually gets in contact with them because I don't have all the full details. I believe I have done my part to help but I know I will still worry about the kids. ****************** I don't post that much , mostly lurke every day :) I am real I promise :) We adopted our now 2 year old daughter from birth and was involved with the pregnancy.. My aunt knew a teenage couple having their second child at age 19 that wanted to place a baby up for adoption. The birth mom stayed with my aunt during the pregnancy. She know's our names and we know hers but the adoption is closed in the fact that she has no contact with our daughter. We do send pictures each year around our daughters birthday. Oh and she had another child 13 months after our daughter was born. so 3 kids in 3 years. Fast forward to last night. I get a FB private message that basical states she is living in a hotel with the 2 kids, her car is broke down, she has no money. she has tried churches, trustee's and no help and don't know what to do. She would live in her car but with it broke down it would have no heat. She has to be out of the hotel on Friday. She says her family and the baby daddy's family can't help. She says she's scared and stuck and doesn't know what to do and wants to know if we know of any resources or if we can help her financially for a short time. Ok so what do we do? Part of me wants to help financially but the other part of me knows I don't know if I can really trust what she is saying because of past experiences during the pregnancy. Plus if We give her money will she just keep coming back for more until we say no. Or do we just help find resources to help her... I'm not sure how to respond. My husband wants to help financially but that would not be easy for us and would put our family in a bind . He thinks i'm being cold for not wanting to give her money. I am so torn and don't know what to do. Any advise? Know of any places that would help a person and her children in these situations?

Way different. I didn't get much parenting from her at all. My mom was a single parent and worked 2 and 3 jobs my whole life to keep a roof over our head and food on the table. I appreciate her hard work however I don't have many memories of her as a parent growing up. Most of my memories growing up are of my grandparents who helped raise us while she worked. They are the ones who helped with homework, took care of us when we were sick, went on field trips and so on. She has a much much better job now and luckily gets to be very involved with her grandkids but it's hard for me some times to get advise from her on parenting because she really wasn't there.

My grandmother did not own a pair of pants until the age of 75. She wears them quite often around the house however if she goes somewhere she pretty much always wears a skirt or a dress. She now even wears blue jeans every once in awhile. It's soo cute:)

I saw on Oprah once that someone suggested to use unscented baby wipes. It takes make up off like charm and my face always feels so fresh after....and soft as a baby's bottom.. LOL But seriously I have been using baby wipes for years now because my skin is so sensitive and other products made my face break out more. I hardly ever have acne now.

My oldest daughter is pregnant and having a boy and naming him Madden Wyatt I also like for boys Dawson Oliver Sawyer

I added your blog to my favorites. I just love blogs.. they make me happy :)

Here are some of my favorites http://bluelily.squarespace.com/ http://bingerina.wordpress.com/ http://blog.thebecker.com/ http://www.audreywoulardblog.com/ http://herdofbirdz.blogspot.com/?expref=next-blog http://www.booshay.blogspot.com/ http://shuttersisters.com/ http://www.freshsugarblog.com/ & here is my website. http://www.melissahansonphotography.com/Home_Page.html I had started a blog but haven't updated it a log time ago but I'm trying to get inspiration to really start blogging. I really need to also get a more modern up to date website. I'll post more links to blogs if I can think of any others.

I don't know anything about the color blindness but you mentioned the dr said something looked abnormal with the optic nerve. My daughter was born with optic nerve hypoplasia of the right eye and has partial blindness in that eye. The optic nerve did not fully form in the womb. We see a pediatric opthamologist that diagnosed it. We went because we thought she just had a lazy eye. It might be worth it to find someone that knows something about that condition to take a look at him.

Thanks everyone!

So I am not home schooling at this time. I have a 23 year old daughter who is expecting my first grandchild. I also have an 18 yr old son who will be starting college int he fall. 2 years ago we adopted a baby girl from birth. I'm really interested in possibly home schooling her when the time comes and I just happened across this forum. I've been lurking for about 3 months and decided to throw myself into the mix. I work part time time for an investment company and I also am a photographer. I'm excited to learn from you all.