What about girls??? My 4-year-old DD whines constantly and it drives me NUTS. I keep praying it's a stage.

There is a possibility I have a membership here and have been known to pull DS out of school for a day to go. I actually think there would be plenty to interest a 13-year-old. Destiny USA and the ropes course, both at the mall, are good. The Syracuse zoo is nice. Not so big to be overwhelming but large enough to spend a nice afternoon. You are also not super far from the Thousand Islands, which is my most favorite place ever.

Oh thank you. I know it doesn't help you but reading that I'm not the only one helps....

Started out with an interview for a summer intern position in human resources that I was really excited about. It paid well, great hours. I graduate with a second B.s. In HR management in December so it would be perfect. I get there and the HR director who was supposed to be interviewing me couldn't, so she passed the job onto another HR employee who spent her time telling me how much she hates her job, hates dealing with the union, and the only reason they are looking for an intern is because corporate said they have to. Well, then. I came home and DD decided to make herself a snack of cereal while I took care of the baby. She dumped fruit loops and my last gallon of milk on the carpeted floor. I burned all the spaghetti which I had promised the kids for dinner. I ordered delivery from the local Italian place, put it in a dish, and told my kids I made it. Then while I was cleaning up dinner, DS decided it would be a great idea to take a glassful of cranberry juice into the kitchen, where he proceeded to spill it all over my phone and two loads of clean, folded laundry. Oh yeah, and DH is working a 39 hour shift. Is it bedtime yet?

In all fairness, I would be strongly suspecting postpartum psychosis combined with grief. It can turn a person into someone completely different.

I did CPR on the former resident of my house, on the floor of what is now my kid's playroom. It was my bedroom before that. It didn't bother me. I obviously knew before we bought the house. Still doesn't bother me. there are no ghosts in this house. The house I grew up in is another story. I am convinced it is haunted and I am usually a very rational person. It wasn't until I was an adult we found out there was a suicide there.

I used to be vehemently prolife. Then I got pregnant with my third child. Most of you have followed the story, but in short---it was a very, very risky pregnancy. The chances that neither one of us were going to make it were high. I had no idea that getting pregnant was even a remote possibility, but there I was, pregnant. It was bad timing; my husband was dealing with an injury, I had just gone full time at work, we were in the middle of dealing with evaluations and therapies for my oldest son. And, oh yeah, all the specialists told me I was going to die if I did not terminate. suddenly everything wasn't so clear anymore. Not so black and white. I had a 4 and 2 year old who needed their mommy. I had a family that needed my financial support, not nine months of bed rest. And--we were very happy with the family we had. I don't know that I have it in me to fault a woman who would terminate in that situation. Even my staunch Baptist fundamentalist husband told me it was my choice and he would support whatever I chose to do. The baby is now 1. We are close to financial devastation over his multitude of hospital bills and the stresses the pregnancy and birth brought to our life have put a lot of strain on my marriage. I wouldn't change a thing and I am thrilled he is here. I am glad I chose to carry that pregnancy. But until you've faced that horrible, horrible choice...I just no longer have it in me to respond with anything but love and compassion. And yes, I am still prolife, but I am less inclined to picket abortion clinics and much more inclined to listen, to cry, to offer babysitting and diapers.

A mom break? What a hilarious concept.

He wouldn't mind if I bought the keurig, to be honest. He knows he buys himself things for Father's Day and won't be upset if I did the same within reason. I just kind of wanted him to do it for the kids lol. I stopped looking at Facebook and I feel better. :)

I know it's super silly. I am just coming off of a--literally--100 hour work week and would have loved an afternoon to just chill by myself. Also I may have point blank said that since he uses Father's Day as an excuse to buy himself new tools, he needed to go out and buy me a one-cup, less expensive Keurig. I even pointed out the $80 on Amazon. Nope. Ok. It is silly. I know. It's been a rough year and I really wanted one afternoon.

m One of the places I moonlight as a paramedic has a large concentration of Old Order Amish and old order Mennonite, both non electricity users. I am in and out of the hospitals as well so I become familiar with local health histories. They very much have the same rates of childhood cancers, adult cancers, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases as the general population. I would seriously question the validity of this research. (I know this is an old thread but I didn't want someone who had just found it looking for specific information to be unaware either that this research is probably not valid)

You can tell me to grow up :) DH hates holidays. He wouldn't celebrate Christmas until we had children and I forced him to. He considers Mother's Day to be ridiculous and refuses to acknowledge it. Fine. It's not like this is something new. My kids are too young to know about it themselves, except that I make sure we give the grandmas something. So I knew there would be no acknowledgement today. But on Facebook all I'm seeing is moms enjoying some time alone or a special lunch of whatever...and I am feeling a tad bit jealous. DH would probably be fine if I told him I was going to the mall alone, but he has to be back to work at 5 tonight for a 39 hour shift so he's sleeping most of today. So...thanks for letting me vent. I will stay off Facebook the rest of the day and go back to doing laundry.

Yep. He has a truck and a wallet and he knows where the store is. I don't pack lunch for him. If he wants lunch the leftovers are in the fridge. He's a grown man and I'm not his mommy. As far as encouragement---I guess I don't know what you mean. I support his goals and his dreams and try to help him come up with ways to achieve those. He is a hard worker and a good provider and I tell him how much I appreciate those qualities. He also does most of our cooking and I tell him I appreciate that as well. But it's not my job to make sure he has what he needs. It's my job to make sure my children have what they need. DH is not a child.

It's a huge problem and there's no good answer. I get PTO with no seperate vacation/sick days. I used almost all of it up for the year when my baby was hospitalized this winter. Now I can't afford to get sick or to have either of my other two kids get sick. This was never an issue for my parents, as they were a one income family and mom was always home to care for sick kids. The world has changed significantly, and it would be nice for businesses practices to catch up---yet I don't know how that's fair to the company, either.

When I first got married, we lived in a crappy apartment that turned out to have a serious black mold problem. I became very ill after just being in the apartment and wound up hospitalized several times. In a six week period, I took thirteen days off of work, all accompanied by doctor's notes that I was hospitalized and could not come to work. I was fired for excessive absences. And I live in a right to work state, and they were perfectly within the law to do so.

I know someone with a kid on an elite traveling hockey team. They pay close to $30,000 a year when all is said and done. My partner at work has a daughter who does competitive cheer. They probably paid $15,000 last year including travel.

I have children like that. I purposely looked for someone older who had experience with children.

Except those are only available in urban areas, where you would also assume there are car dealerships. There is a strong push to bring both to upstate NY right now, but it will still be only limited to the large cities, such as Buffalo.

Caden's first birthday. As I sit here pondering over where I was a year ago at this moment--in post-op, alone, not knowing if my son was alive or well or what was going on, and very sick myself--I am amazed. This morning Caden cuddled me in bed after waking up to eat at 5 am, and when he woke up two hours later he climbed on top of me and kissed my face. We are so everlastingly grateful.

Actually, my parents have 8 daughters, spread out over seventeen years. Their wedding solution has simply been to offer X amount of money(around $5000, I think, I was married seven years ago and paid for most of it myself; my sisters mostly made due with what they were given) and if the bride and groom have paid for the rest. It's worked out fairly well.

My parents gave X amount. They did increase it over the years as prices went up. I married later in life than my sisters and DH and I were financially comfortable by the time we got married, so we contributed the rest to make the wedding we wanted. My sisters married much younger and much less financially secure, and simply made due with the money they were given. It was fine.

Me too! We are studying the states this summer so it would be perfect!

This may not seem much now, but a diagnosis of "severe autism" will help you get services and will open doors that would be shut otherwise. It is not necessarily predictive at this point but he will be able to get services. I also recommend Medicaid waiver wrap around services. I am fighting to get them for my son, but his diagnosis isn't severe enough. You probably won't have to fight for them. I have heard great things about ABA; its at least worth trying.

He is in the self contained classroom for classroom behaviors. He is set off by sensory triggers and it is the only class in the school where sensory stimuli is specifically kept low. The reason for not getting services is that any "issues" he has disappear when the sensory stimuli is controlled. The school has done testing and we've had private testing done, and he simply isn't deficit enough. He got the ASD label because he stims when overwhelmed, struggles with transitioning between activities, and has very narrow interests. Socially, he's pretty good when it's one on one or a very small group of peers. He shares, takes turns and will enter into imaginitive play with another child. He picks up on some social cues, especially as far as how other people are feeling. His teachers say he does not seek out the other children, but will play with them if asked. His teacher actually feels he doesn shave any significant social deficits as long as the sensory stimuli is controlled. He will seek out the adults. I just know myself and that even at 34, I struggle to pick up on social cues and I don't prefer to interact with anyone outside of immediate family. Getting him involved in things would be difficult for both of us, but I also feel school may be aggravating some sensory issues.

He is in the self contained classroom for classroom behaviors. He is set off by sensory triggers and it is the only class in the school where sensory stimuli is specifically kept low. The reason for not getting services is that any "issues" he has disappear when the sensory stimuli is controlled. The school has done testing and we've had private testing done, and he simply isn't deficit enough. He got the ASD label because he stims when overwhelmed, struggles with transitioning between activities, and has very narrow interests. Socially, he's pretty good when it's one on one or a very small group of peers. He shares, takes turns and will enter into imaginitive play with another child. He picks up on some social cues, especially as far as how other people are feeling. His teachers say he does not seek out the other children, but will play with them if asked. His teacher actually feels he doesn shave any significant social deficits as long as the sensory stimuli is controlled. He will seek out the adults. I just know myself and that even at 34, I struggle to pick up on social cues and I don't prefer to interact with anyone outside of immediate family. Getting him involved in things would be difficult for both of us, but I also feel school may be aggravating some sensory issues.