Momof3littles
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Posts posted by Momof3littles
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We use Alba and California Baby. With physical blocks, you definitely still need to make sure you are applying generously enough and reapplying often. We prefer a physical blocker.
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Following along.
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Thanks. Picked one up :)
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From your list, I have only heard Shelagh Gallagher speak, and I really enjoyed her talks. Definitely recommend.
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Savvy Rest latex. Like it a lot, have had it for 8 years or so. DS2 has a Sleep Ez latex; had I known more about them, I might have gone that route to save some $$ over our Savvy Rest. I was able to try Savvy Rest locally, however.
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Two of my three kids have or had them. DS1 is 10 and doesn't seem to get them any longer, but he had them through maybe age 7-8, but less commonly at that point. DS2 is sick and had one last night. In both boys, having a fever was a common contributor. I've also heard in younger kids needing to pee can sometimes contribute. For my kids, thus far, it seems to almost always be related to getting sick or being sick, particularly with a fever. I think overheating in general is another known contributor.
We usually just sit with them. My DS1 would alternate sort of being terrified and crying with this weird maniacal laughter he never, ever did any other time. totally freaked us out.
My nephew is 4 and has had a few as well. I've read they can run in families.
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Wishing you strength in this difficult time. Your family will be in my thoughts.
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Permethrin is a little safer IMO than DEET. You can only use it on clothes, shoes, etc. and not on skin. You can also buy pretreated clothing. I believe you are supposed to avoid spraying anywhere near cats.
I've read that DEET may not be that great for ticks. It seems permethrin is preferable to me from what I've read. You can buy it on amazon.
We tend to use more natural products when we can, but DH had a scary encounter with what we think was Lyme last yr. It is rampant in our area and has been for a long time. I feel okay with using Permethrin.
http://www.tickencounter.org/prevention/permethrin
http://www.ewg.org/research/ewgs-guide-bug-repellents/faq
http://www.ewg.org/research/ewgs-guide-bug-repellents/ewg-repellent-guide
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In a previous home, the next door neighbors (neighbor family #1) let their dogs run free. Our house had an invisible fence when we moved in, so we used that for our dog. The neighbors said their dogs liked to "socialize" with the other dogs up the hill (maybe 1/2 mile-1 mile away). Houses had 1 acre-1.5 acre lots and backed up to a forest (state park).
So their dogs would poop in my driveway sometimes, charge our houseguests on occasion as they got out of cars in our driveway, and would bark aggressively at the mail carrier, UPS, etc. Well, my mail carrier would no longer deliver packages to my house because she was tired of being charged. So even though they weren't my dogs, every time I had a package, I had to go get it from the PO with kids along. I am a big dog person, and my dog has his own challenges. Their dogs did not bite, but one was a german shep, and the other a lab, and they did *bark* aggressively, iykwim. I'm not easily scared of dogs, but I can see how the two dogs would be very intimidating to anyone who didn't know them.
Our neighbors on the other side of us (neighbor family #2) also had a dog. They got tired of the dogs at neighbor #1's house coming into their yard (they also had an invisible fence for their dog). The two couples (#1 and #2) were friends, but neighbor family #2 finally said something to neighbor family #1 about their dog teasing their dog by coming in and out of their property all of the time. So neighbor family #1 then asks us if they can get a collar for their dog so he won't cross over to the yard of neighbor #2 (the house on the other side of us). They didn't care that their dogs would roam everywhere else in the world, they just wanted to sponge off of our fence so their dog wouldn't cross from their yard into the neighbor on the other side of us.
They also once said something to us about keeping our cats in so their dogs wouldn't kill them. My cats were indoor cats, but did occasionally go out onto our deck while we were outside and supervising. It wasn't said apologetically, it was kind of a, "well, you've been warned' thing. Basically, FYI, the dogs *might* kill your cats if they see them outside :/ It wasn't a, "we'll do everything we can to keep them on our property but can't guarantee it would never happen" kind of thing. No, it was a warning. Their dogs later killed a kitten they had brought home for their youngest DD :(
My current neighbor likes to mow right up to the raised beds (off the property line, we keep the vines trimmed back fastidiously) in our side yard. He takes the mower right up to the box and clips everything off, even though it is clearly on our side of the ditch that runs on the property line. The vines *do not* go onto his property. We are very good about that. But it doesn't stop from him mowing 3-4 feet over the line onto our property and clipping them off. He's a mild pain.
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I have a kitchen desk where I keep a lot of stuff, but I hate the whole configuration and would love to rip it out ;) I never, ever sit there, I use it exclusively to hold my stuff (and some of DH's) that we access frequently.
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I think some in the Lyme community have disputed the <24 hr rule, but YMMV. A friend who has a child who suffered from Lyme recommends having clothes treated with Permethrin. You can't put it on your body, but you can spray shoes and clothes, or there are companies that will treat clothing for you. REI and a few companies sell pretreated clothes. Permethrin is one of the best tick repellants, but you can't spray your skin.. I'd teach DC to tick check themselves as much as possible, including armpits, groin, folds of ears, back of neck, and scalp.
We are generally not into pesticide stuff, but permethrin seems to have a reasonable safety profile. Dh had a brush with Lyme last year (never had a rash, never tested +, did test + for coinfections, had pretty horrible symptoms), and while we generally use natural stuff, this year I bought a bottle of Permethrin for treating clothes and shoes.
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We have a room, but mostly for computers and materials. We still work elsewhere in the house (couch, kitchen table, dining room table, etc.). I do like having a central place for the "stuff" of HSing. We also have an armoire filled with art supplies in a different room (sunroom).
If I was building a house, I would probably want a workroom, ala the blog lifeingrace. Larger room with washer, dryer, utility sink, easily cleaned/durable hard flooring, largeish table, lots of bookcases. I'd like it off the kitchen, with a door that closes :) Lots of light, windows, but enough wall space for shelving. In an ideal world, maybe doors that open to the outside to allow for easy in and out for painting outside and then schlepping stuff back into the house to clean up.
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If the shaking hasn't been discussed with a care provider, I would do so. Is the shaking at rest, or when he's using his body? Just arms/hands "shaking", or head, etc.? Is his balance impaired? With tremors, some are "intention" tremors, and some are tremors that happen at rest. Noting when you see it can provide important diagnostic cues for a physician. They may not be true tremors, but a physician can tease some of that out.
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We are checked out too. We go year round, have family coming into town, dress rehearsals next wk for end of yr recital, stuff to do to prep for guests and a weekend get together. We are just doing history read aloud and math today, and that was it yesterday. And the kids are playing lots of monopoly. No guilt :)
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I am so sorry. We lost FIL one yr ago this weekend. He was 64, no signs, everything was so shocking and unexpected. It is still hard a yr later.
My heart goes out to your family. You will be in my thoughts.
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I would do a neuropsych or developmental pediatrician evaluation. They can take a long time to get into, so I'd look into it now. They can also be expensive. I would really want an ASD or Asperger's diagnosis ruled in or out, among other possible issues. Sensory and GI issues can be fairly common with kids on the spectrum. It may not be that, but I'd probably take it to a developmental ped or neuropsych doc. Even if it is something more anxiety related for example, they can do a better job of teasing things out.
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Well, the plot thickens my testosterone is elevated, normal is 10-38 mine was 98. Estrone was 86 and normal was 30-58. Progesterone is 65-500 range and mine was 159. Boy, I hope this guys has some answers.
Have you ever asked about PCOS? Insulin resistance is thought to be a major underlying issue with PCOS. Elevated insulin affects other hormones. Women with PCOS often have elevated testosterone, dhea-s, androstenedione, estradiol, and an abnormal FSH to LH ratio. It is very mix and match, you don't have to have all of those. Some women have increased hairiness, some have acne, some have acanthosis nigricans (darkish "dirty" looking ring around neck or under arms),skin tags, some have long or irregular cycles or cystic ovaries . You don't need to have all of those symptoms by any means . Many women with PCOS only have a few. And despite the name, you don't need to have ovarian cysts even. About half of women with PCOS are overweight, but there are also normal weight and thin women with PCOS. Unfortunately,many docs were taught originally in med school to look for hairy, obese women to diagnose PCOS, when now the diagnostic criteria are much different. Soulcysters.net has a lot of info on pcos.
My infertility and PCOS diagnosis is what made me understand IR.
Did you have other horomone testing besides testosterone? With PCOS, free testosterone is a better marker than total testosterone. I had an ob/gyn who didn't do a full panel of testing for PCOS when I was going through infertility and told me I was fine, when I most definitely was not. Two of my tests came back "high end of normal," which he insisted was normal. Coupled with symptoms, it was not normal. When I finally got in with a good reproductive endo, it was obvious with proper and more extensive testing that I have PCOS. I had a hunch after my initial "higher end of normal" bloodwork. My doctor insisted I didn't have PCOS since I am of a normal weight (which is diagnostically totally wrong, but many docs still go by outdated info and criteria with respect to PCOS).
Something to consider having ruled in or out, but you want to make sure they are doing a full panel. Many docs, like my first one, do a scattering of tests that won't give a full picture. They really need to do the proper bloodwork. For PCOS they also usually do thyroid testing (which already is an issue for you, but can coexist with PCOS. It is often used as part of a differential diagnosis) and rule out things like Cushing's (which can also look a bit like PCOS). Those are things I'd ask about.
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I think that's one advantage of getting proper testing. Many people assume hypoglycemia means they can't also have high sugar levels or an abnormal insulin response. I have always been a normal weight, but have PCOS, and therefore am somewhat IR. I used to have bouts of hypoglycemia, but I now know that was due to hyperinsulinemia. My levels aren't terrible, I've never had an issue with a regular pregnancy glucose test, never had an issue with fasting levels, but if you do a 2 hr GTT, you can see my response trends toward a more IR situation.
If you do something like a GTT with insulin levels, they can see how your body reacts to the glucose at various points in time, and ALSO what your insulin levels are doing in response to that glucose load. Some people with IR don't have super abnormal glucose levels, but you can see their body pumping out excess insulin in response to the glucose load if you test their insulin levels at various intervals. In order to really understand if it is IR, you need to look at both insulin and glucose levels, and over a period of time. I've heard a 3 hr will tend to pick up more abnormalities in those with hyperinsulinemia than a 2 hr.
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BUMMER! We ended up on an OM team through a school...it was really funny, because all the teachers (and even the principal) were really kind of giving us the side eye. Finally someone looked it up and said they had to let us in. I ended up becoming a coach for one of the teams.
Don't go to the school district for something like OM, if possible. Go to the school. A lot of them have email lists you can join at the beginning of the year, so you can get the emails the parents do. As long as it is legal in your state, show up at the OM (or choir, or whatever) meetings and say it is legally in your right. Also, offering to volunteer helps, too!
I was referred to my local school's club (within my SD), but that's where I ran into communication issues. The coach didn't know the answer, passed me off to district staff, and communication kind of went nowhere. My husband is a scientist, so would obviously have potential ability to coach, but I'm not sure if we can join. They specifically label it "co-curricular" on the district site, and I don't know how that aligns with access in our state to "extracurricular" activities. They couldn't really answer me. I usually don't give up, but I just didn't have it in me to keep going round and round.
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I have an 80s oak kitchen, a small master bath with small vanity, too many types of flooring on the first floor, seafoam carpet on my stairs. We are chipping away at renovations, but some of it just isn't a priority. We picked a well built house in a nice neighborhood, and in exchange gave up some cosmetic preferences. The 80s oak cabinets are well made vs. builder's grade, so I will probably keep them for quite a while. We'd like to put in hardwood, but I have an old dog and an old cat, and at this point I think the wise choice is to wait in case they start suffering incontinence. We've put laminate pergo type flooring in two rooms downstairs to ease cleaning. Not my preference for the long haul, but I couldn't take the carpet any longer in those rooms. We're probably holding off on pricier flooring until the dog and cat are no longer with us.
We have replaced appliances other than our cooktop. That was somewhat of a necessity though. Oven died (I did like the oven we had), dishwasher seal was replaced but we had a few issues with it (good brand, but 25 years old), etc.
We removed wallpaper in a few rooms when we moved in. And borders. I'm glad we got that finished before we officiallly moved in. I've lost my motivation since that point LOL.
We spent money a year after we moved in on a new roof. We knew it needed done within 2-3 years, so we just went ahead and did it. Oh how it would have been much more fun to do the cosmetic stuff vs. a roof :/ but that's part of adulthood.
We have to prioritize, and right now some of these just aren't high on the financial priority list, TBH. We are also not 100% sure this is our forever house, and I hesitate to pour a ton of money into cosmetic upgrades.
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Have you asked about being tested for insulin resistance? Hypoglycemia is often what is called reactive hypoglycemia. For ex with IR, a person eats (particularly something carby), then their body pumps out too much insulin to aid the elevated amount of blood sugar in going into cells. What happens is that after that initial blood sugar rise, they may find themselves hypoglycemic because their body pumps out too much insulin. Many doctors still only do things like fasting insulin levels. To test for IR, you really need a 2 or 3 hr glucose tolerance test with insulin levels. I learned that the hard way after having to repeat a test since the lab only took my glucose levels instead of the glucose + insulin levels at each draw as indicated on the script. Whether IR might be a possibility for you is something to think about, and perhaps try tracking to see if your hypoglycemic episodes happen more or are worse after eating something carbier vs something like a protein with greens and other lower sugar vegetables and some healthy fats. Talk with your doc about that aspect of things.
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If possible, talk with your fellow parents about how disciplinary issues should be handled. I think classroom management is one thing, but it is complicated by having parents in the vicinity. Some parents don't want their child sent out of class, some want to know every thing their child does wrong, etc. In my first co-op teaching experience, I found a particular child very challenging. As a small group of parents, we had to decide how we wanted other parents to handle our kids when they aren't listening and are being disruptive. Some of our small co-op classes are only 15 to 30 mins, so having to discipline or deal with constant interruptions has a big impact on everyone else.
Oh, and in terms of what to teach, we tend to focus in our co-op on academic content that is somewhat hard to get to otherwise. We do science, art, poetry, etc. We also do things like a lit circle that are harder to do at home. That way they get some experience working in a group and discussing with a group of peers.
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Where I live there is enormous competition to make the school sports teams starting in middle school. There are some nearby towns where parents start hiring private coaches and placing their kids in premiere level athletics around age 10 to improve their chances of making the high school team. Just stating that even if they allow access to try out it doesn't ensure participation. Most kids (public schooled and homeschooled) participate in rec or competitive level town sports which is comprised of various town leagues (not through the schools). It does cost money though and can become quite expensive for multiple sports and multiple children.
The school music program is different. My dd is in middle school band and it is a 45 minute class that she takes everyday. I don't personally know any homerschoolers that participate so I am not sure if they have access or not.
Yep, in our state they have to otherwise "qualify" for the team. Our high school is 4,000 kids, so sports teams are tough to make. As a result, I haven't really worried about pursuing it for my kids, as between politics and the competitive nature of getting onto a middle or high school team...eh. We find individual things for them to pursue that are HS friendly (dance, archery, martial arts)
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I usually do things lik pick up field guides for the area. We might bring a journal, or a loupe or magnifying glass, binoculars, and colored pencils. One beach we go to is part of a national wildlife refuge, and they have a great website. Years ago I printed out common birds, shells, and other things you might find on a beach (skate egg cases, for example). They have a photo and an explanation. I laminated and hole punched them, and put them on ring clips. There are maybe 20 items listed, but it is great for telling apart common seashells, for ex. That is great for the younger kids in particular as 1) it is pretty tough to ruin in comparison to a paper field guide 2) There are only a few limited items to look through vs. a big field guide. I still have the sheets, and we've taken them to other beaches 2-3+ hrs or so in either direction that have similar species.
We try to visit local bookstores and pick out 2-3 books to enjoy on our trip.
We will check out any cool historical sites, museums, nature centers, etc. We've toured lighthouses on vacation. We don't feel obligated, but if it works out and the kids are interested, we pursue those options.
I would not require regular school work. We keep things like the above open as options, and the kids usually are happy to use things like the field guides, etc.
Need tips on being good house guests
in The Chat Board
Posted
Send a gift basket after you leave. Penzey's, Harry and David, whatever you think she might like. I'd bring something smaller as a hostess gift when you arrive. Agree with heartfelt thank you from you and the kids. Offer to contribute toward groceries, or if you are out and about, call her and ask what you can pick up at the store for her. You'll do great :)