Regarding the hospital: I had a baby 8 months ago and the hospital let me send him to the nursery anytime I needed time to rest. I had a c-section so he also stayed in the nursery at night, because that's what I preferred. It was nice to be able to recover the way I felt was best for me. I nursed but that was my preference. However, my SIL had a baby in the last few months at a different hospital and that hospital did not even have a nursery. Really. She had a c-section and did not have anywhere for the baby to go if she needed to rest. A few hours after my nephew was born she was left ALONE with the baby in her room while her DH took MIL home. It was maybe 1/2 hour max but she was drugged up and had a c-section. I would have been miserable there. My point isn't to scare you but rather tell you to research the hospitals that you would like to deliver and make sure that they allow babies to go in the nursery, etc.

I'm so sorry. :grouphug:

When we go to MI we bring back (TX) Vernors and Sweet Chili Doritos. My DH loves those Doritos and for some reason we can't find them here anymore. We also bring back a cooler full of Chinese food from our favorite restaurant there.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

Growing up we had an elderly neighbor in a very rural area that had a big house with no plumbing, at all. He had an outhouse and a well with a hand pump to get water. He had lived there his whole life and his parents lived there before he was born. It was legal because of being "grandfathered in". Once he passed away and the property was purchased they had to put plumbing in the house. They could still keep the outhouse but had to have a working toilet in the house.

Heather, I lived in Japan for a few years without ever coming back to the US. I know exactly how you feel. It's very hard when you are different but all your loved ones want you to just pick up where you left off. When I came back to the US I really had culture shock. Add that to my family not caring about my experiences, it was hard. I found that a few friends were very supportive and interested in my experiences and embraced the ways that I changed and that really helped me. I hope that your anxiety lessens as you find that there are people that see the different you and enjoy the experiences you have gone through! :grouphug:

Thank you for sharing! These will be so helpful for us!

I'm so sorry for your loss.

I'm so sorry, Rosie. :grouphug:

I didn't eat cream cheese and green olive sandwiches but I did eat cream cheese and green olives spread on doritos. Yummy!!

I'm not sure I am posting this in the right place. My DH's cousin's dd is in kindergarten at a public school. She is in their "gifted program" and goes to another class for part of the day which has harder spelling words and reading than the regular classroom. In math she is also advanced but does not go to another classroom for that and does the same work as everyone else in her regular class. The math is too easy for her. Her parents are upset about it but were told that the advanced class focuses on language arts not math. The problem is that she is bored in math and then gets in trouble because she talks and interrupts. The cousin has talked to the teacher and they have come up with the solution that if cousin teaches her dd advanced math concepts at home and sends in worksheets/homework she will do that when the other kids are doing the regular classroom math. I am skeptical about this whole thing because 1. it's the end of the year (6 weeks left) and 2. the poor teacher is going to have to answer questions if the kid needs questions answered and she isn't teaching the material to begin with! But that's really not the point. Now that I gave the reason for the question, here is the question: What curriculum and/or workbooks would you suggest for this type of situation? I don't know what to suggest to her. We have always used singapore for my dd but I'm not sure that would be a good fit in this situation. Any ideas? I would be very grateful!

My dd is also in Highland. To answer the pp's question...for Highland you have to practice the dances to perfect them for competition. It's not like other types of dance (my dd also takes ballet). I would definitely encourage her to practice if she is competing. My dd practices a lot. It wasn't always that way. We had to make it part of her routine. After many weeks of having to specifically remind her to practice she started doing it on her own. If it's just for fun then I don't see why to push practicing.

No. I wouldn't even consider it.

Beginning of June here, too.

I'm a couple weeks behind you and I have the worst insomnia. I wish I could nap...I wish I could sleep at night. Just last night I was up at 1 am and fell asleep around 4 and woke up again at 5 and have been up since. I'm exhausted and there is no relief!

My older boys call it "Chuck E. Sneeze" because both times they went (with friends) they got sick! After the second time they both vowed they'd never go again!

I would say Rosacea.

Mine cost the same as they would have if I had gotten regular braces. They do hurt but I don't think any more than when I would get my braces adjusted/tightened when I had those before. They are very nice because you can brush and floss without issue and you can eat anything because you just take them out. Also, regular braces would cut up the inside of my cheeks and lips but Invisalign doesn't do that. The best part is that they are not obvious at all, some of my friends that I see on a regular basis had no idea that I had them until I mentioned it.

There is no way I'd leave a tip in either of those instances. What was your DH's reasoning for giving a tip in those cases? I just can't imagine any justification for leaving a tip!

You are living my worse fear in life. I love my mom but I seriously would go insane if she lived with me. She lives right next to my sister and about 1000 miles from me and she keeps telling me when she can't live by herself anymore she is going to move in with me and not my sister or brother. Seriously...no way. You are definitely a better person than I am!! :grouphug:

We also love OPGTR. my dd (6) finished it when she was 5 and is reading at a 5/6 grade reading level. It's not a pretty curriculum but it is terrific!!

I currently have invisalign and am very pleased with it. A lot of my friends didn't even know I had them until months after I started treatment and these were people I saw multiple times a week! They are just not as obvious and I can take them out when I eat so it's just easier. I needed them because I had braces as a teen but my teeth were shifting and I would get headaches because of the pressure of some of them and because they were starting to be noticably crooked and it bothered me.

My dd is 6 and is reading at a 6th grade level or so. She has been reading silently since last spring. I sometimes will ask her comprehension questions to make sure she is really reading but I should know better! She can tell me every little detail of books...I wish I had that kind of memory!! It's so much quieter in the car when we are driving places and she brings books!! :001_smile:

We changed pediatricians when my dd was an infant because he acted like we were crazy that dd was constipated since she was breast fed. The new pediatrician listened and gave us ideas but it wasn't until she was 5 that we found a solution that worked for her (minus miralax, which we didn't want to use). It was a long, frustrating time. I still get angry when I think of how we were treated by the first pediatrician, who was highly regarded in our area.

We get one every year and none of us has had complications. No flu either.