I am still working on my weight loss. It is a very very slow journey as I have adrenal crap going on that makes it feel impossible at times. That said I have been making progress gaining muscle and strength, so my composition is changing more than my actual weight. I have learned I can not go too low carb or I become murderous haha and can't control my temper. So low carb is okay but atkins, whole30, keto etc are not a good fit for me. I am just starting to look at tracking macros and think that will be my best bet in addition to the exercise I do.

Um she is 5, she can be sad all she wants, as the parent it is up to you to protect her and make the big decisions, such as when to start homeschooling. Outside of the bullying issue, no way would I have my kids in a school run by a crazy person.

Now that my email has blown up with notifications from this thread I decided to pop over to the hive and check with everyone :) Hey everyone, long time no see :) Love what you have done with the place haha

If your period is not due until the weekend you would not be experiencing pregnancy symptoms yet. You would only be implanting around now an most people would not even consider the likelyhood they ,may be pregnant at this point. Chances are it is simply hormones and pms causing your "symptoms". Have the glass of wine and relax. As for the connection between drinking and adhd etc, I have 4 with adhd and never drank during pg, rarely drink at all (3 glasses of wine per year at most). As well, I do not believe for 1 second that a glass of wine with dinner is going to affect a blastocyst that may have implanted a couple days before the dinner party. Give me a break. We may as well put a ban on drinking for all sexual women of childbearing age, (looking back I see others have said this too). Enjoy the dinner party with your husband, pee on a stick on Sunday and then come back and tell us what it says. Or by one of those early first response tests and pee on it on Wednesday am and decide based on that if you want a drink with dinner.

Okay totally an aside but I use mom lectures (and teacher lectures at work) as a "threat". So at work for example today I had a couple young girls breaking the rules, I looked at them and told them they needed to make an immediate decision. They could follow the rules and show me they do in fact know them or I could break out one of my handy-dandy lectures and talk nonstop until I felt they knew the rules. They both broke out into giggles and chose to the follow the rules minus the lecture. With my own kids if I see a conversation heading towards disaster due to the actions of one, so lets say son is wanting to blame everyone around him for why his life is apparently in shambles rather than correcting his own actions and part of the problem, I will give him the option to either stop speaking, take the time to think and come back when ready for a civil conversation or I can break out into a lecture about being in charge of your own actions, they tend to choose option 1 lol So mom lectures do in fact work....without having to actually state them (though I have in fact given my fair share of them over the years for the kids to know exactly how long I can beat a dead horse lol)

In my home "I statements" are the best way to talk to my teens "I hear you saying...", "I am feeling..." Everything focused on the I, reason being as soon as a conversation turns to a you statement "you need to..." people get defensive and shut down. When I read the example of the conversation I can see why your teen is not feeling heard. So you agreed that X is undervaluing him, why carry on from there? Is it not enough to say "That sounds really frustrating when someone undervalues you." period. When someone is feeling frustrated with a situation they are looking to feel heard and validated not told how the other person is important too and to basically suck it up. Those might be the truths of the situation but in that moment not at all what your teen needs. You could expand and say "would you like some help brainstorming ideas of how to fix that?", "How can I help?" etc. Most likely your teen already knows the other truths you mentioned but in that moment just needs to vent, decompress, whatever and be truly heard. Another bit, about the labelling things as being entitled etc. Would it be okay for him to name call you or others for that matter? I doubt it. So why is it okay to name call him? How does that add to the conversation? Instead of saying he is sounding entitled, why not stick with "I can not make that work in my budget/time whatever right now, if that is important to you why don't we figure out how you can make it happen" and then make some suggestions of ways he can earn the money needed, or carve out time needed if that was the case etc. He may very well be behaving in an entitled way BUT what purpose does it serve to label it/him in that moment? I know my mother labelled me that way a few times as a teen because I asked for something over and above what she had intended. I labelled her right back in my head as a b*tch. It is so much easier and more conducive to keeping dialogue open to offer to be a sounding board for their ideas than to shut them down and label things and then get mad when they shut down and get defensive. If the issue comes of of rude tone from teen then I simply tell them it is not okay to speak to me in that way, and when they are ready to try again with an appropriate tone I would be here. The same as I would hope any person out there would do if someone was speaking rudely to them. At any rate, I feel your teen has a valid point about how he is feeling the conversations are going and while his perceptions of your motives are not correct, his reasoning behind feeling that way has merit.

Couple of thoughts as I read the thread, to me while the threat was over the top I do not think it warranted a note home, a reminder to the boy of appropriate words to be used at school by the teacher should have been enough. As well, he is a young child who is saying ridiculous things, even if he says rude things regularly that means he says rude things not that he is a terrible child.Third, I see so often in my line of work so many people crying bully when the behaviour is simply rude or mean. Pushing into a mud puddle is mean but not bullying, saying what he did is rude but not bullying. Bullying is not just intent to do harm, it is someone intending to do harm through the repeated and consistent targeting of someone. This child may have undiagnosed issues, he may simply be a child who needs more supports and guidance in prosocial behaviours, or he may be a child being raised in a home where rude behaviours are the norm. In the end he is still a child that needs to be actively taught appropriate behaviours and not be labelled as a trouble maker, bully, etc at only 5 yrs old. A child already clearly hated by family will not care if they learn the proper behaviours because they are already labelled in a negative way.

I'll pop you a pm in a moment. I have been with several different boards over the years for different reasons and currently thinking ahead to next year if I want to stay with the board we are with or switch again.

Big hugs. If it helps ease your mind about the other kids, just because it is congenital (there from birth), does not mean there is any high risk for your other kids. Most likely you and them are just fine, it just happens sometimes. Hope you gets some good answers from the cardiologist.

In my house it never ends, my 18 yr old doesn't play it much though he never did. My 13 yr old loves his lego. I play lego with them or at work with the kids because I enjoy it, I never got to play legos as a kid, my folks would only buy it for my brother because he was a boy, us girls got dolls and tea sets. My brother still buys himself lego sets from time to time, and he is 33.

Absolutely not, and if they do that they are unfit to be your doctor. Mental illness needs to be evaluated for by a mental health professional.It takes more than just a single visit as well. A proper Dx especially for something as complex as bipolar needs a lot of evaluation. If the person is in acute crisis then taking them to the hospital for admission and evaluation is the best bet.

meh, may not be the same choices I would make but not my kid, not my decision. I have never seen that movie one the first one for that matter but also don't overly worry about movie choices. Youngest went to dead pool in theatre, and I know many would not have taken their kids to that one. She has also seen the movies my teens enjoy on dvd (they are into movies I would not normally watch that have lots of gore etc). If if bothers her she can hang out in a different room like I do. While the parent did not make the same decision I would that does not make it poor parenting or wrong, it just makes it different. Different families have different values, concerns and censor different things. That does not make one more right than the other.

Dd17 got gold for each of her dancea today. My folks came out to see her and decided to buy me off...lol I jest but really when I am very angry at them they buy me things. Today is a hotel rooom for the night, dinner for me and the kids and gas money for going home again tomorrow. Which is awesome and saves us driving an hour to the city tonight and then back at 7 am tomorrow (this place is 2houra from home). Just at the pizza place now getting dinner for the crew while my folks entertain my youmgest 2at the hotel. They will hit the road back home as soon as I get back.

Start of dd17s second dance festival of the season (and second last of her life) tomorro; an she went to bed with a migraine tonight. Hoping it is gone with no post migraine fatigue. Tomorrow she has her solo and tap group piece, Sunday is contemporary, ballet and hip hop.

Happy, guaranteed f/t hours come september, leaving the after school care and my role as assistant director and switching over the regular daycare side of our program as a regular staff. Hourly wage stays the same but now get 40 hr weeks, and a set shift instead of my current 25 hours a week, and working split shifts that can drag my work day out for 11 hours. Big change for me, but comes when I need it most. Child support completely ends at the end of July. Also job #2, looks like I will be getting more than just the 4-5 shifts a month I was initially scheduled for. A staff was just let go and they are scrambling to fill the spots she was scheduled to do in may and june so that helps before summer, and she normally does 3 weekends a month so over the summer I can pick up more shifts plus I am subbing at the daycare side, so we will be able to make it. Bills are getting caught up for the first time this month since my ex blindsided me cutting off 1/2 our support on new year's. Down side to working f/t next year it may torpedo my plans to bring youngest back home to hs again, she may be better off staying in the school for another year and doing 4th grade there. she is sick of the kids, and it would be the same ones, but she enjoys school itself and the teachers, and I have to admit I like knowing she is safe during the day doing something, rather than at home fighting with the boys. We will see.

I can see why you want to keep it under wraps. Like you need the worry of their reactions on top of everything else. That actually makes me really angry that they are like that, I can understand what's going on with your spouse and know that regardless of how hard it is, it is the illness and not himself behaving and speaking this way. But with people like your folks that have threatened to take your kids and knowing that you do not have a proper support in them, that makes me angry because that is not due to an illness that is due to being controlling and mean. I am sorry you have so much on your plate at once and not the level of support you really need right now to see him through this episode.

Why is he not taking medication for this? Has he been to speak to a psychiatrist since this episode began? I know it is the mental illness making him speak and think right now, but this is not healthy for you to have to go through either. and while you feel the kids are mostly shielded from it, the fact is kids are more aware of what is going on than we think. I would say don't engage with him when he goes on his rant about how horrible his life is, change the subject, move on from it whatever, but don't feed the illness. I need to keep reading to see if I have missed important information. Also when he goes in to see the psychiatrist about this I recommend therapy for you. Living with someone with a mental illness is far from easy (trust me I know, my oldest son has mental illness and keeping him on his medication is a battle daily, but a necessary one). Having someone to talk to about the challenges his behaviours bring and how it is affecting you is really important for self care.

See that is a regional thing. I make $17.25/hr as my base pay in a daycare/out of school care PLUS I get an hourly top up from the gov't because we are an accredited centre (it is an incentive for centers to go the extra mile to get accredited, which is over and above the expectations of just being licensed). So as a childcare worker my hourly wage works out to $23.87/hour. If I worked as a teacher's assistant in the schools here I would be making close to the same as my current base pay (based on having the 1 yr college certificate, not a degree). This is in a rural setting where most are low to middle class incomes. BUT my province's minimum wage is currently $12.20/hour, going up to $13.80 in October and to $15 in October 2018, because my province is a HCOL one. Jobs are scarce right now across the province unless you are looking at fast food type gigs, when the economy dropped due to the oil patch downturn our province was hit so hard and unemployment was high. I am lucky to have not just this job but the 2nd one I picked up even though the 2nd one is only 4-5 shifts per month. I don't know what the foster care rates are out here to compare that. I just know childcare rates, COL and current min wage.

That is crazy, out here infant childcare is closer to $150 a week low end if in a licensed daycare. Babysitting rate our here is $10/hr. Even at my afterschool care the drop in for someone that comes for a nonschool day (so here for over 3 hours) is $45 for the day, and that is a big kid that is independent. $40 for 6 hours with an infant is more than reasonable.

I would not be promising anything about 3 funerals, plus once she is gone, what's she going to do? haunt you if you don't do all 3? As if, elderly parents can say what they want, but I would not be planning and hosting 3 funerals all over the danged country.

My kids know to tell me where they will be. When my older 2 were younger they would take off and I would be in a panic driving up and down streets searching for them (they did stupid crap like ride their bikes across 4 lanes of busy highway to chase a rainbow at ages 10 and11, go into farmer's fields to interact with the horses etc once we moved out here to the country. in the city they would go to the lake, or the library, or the various parks, or in the case of my oldest he would go in search of an elevator) etc. So it became very clear I need to know where they are, they let me know so that if I need them I can find them quickly. Only dd17 has a cell so otherwise they are out of contact range. I do expect that when I go to work and have left them all at home I am able to get ahold of either dd17 on her phone or one of them on the houseline if I call from work. If for some reason they are all heading out somewhere (rare) they call or fb message me to inform me so I know. They have limited rules other than don't break the law and don't be a dick. As long as I know where they are, and youngest is home for dinner and bath etc I am easy going about it. So not instantly able to contact, I will need to walk or drive to where they are to do so but I can do so within a reasonable timeframe. I will say small town living has it's advantages, I have been known to call the library for instance if I know say ds13 is there while I work and a pass a message on to him via the librarian, but that is usually reserved for those times when just sending him a fb message wouldn't suffice, so rare.

Jeeze louise weirdos. I would not be okay with that at all. It's not like ya'll are planning a couples bbq while the kids play, it is bizarre that a man would not be at work during the day and able to tag along in the first place. I would not be comfortable with it, especially the "oh he'll just sit there and not interact" blaise way she put it. That is not normal, we may be weird unsocialized homeschoolers but even we think this is crazy lol

Unless the fever is really high or making them completely uncomfortable we only treat with cool compresses and rest. The last time I gave ibuprofen for a fever was 7 Yrs ago when the kids got swine flu.

Depends how soon after one meal, before the next. I make enough food at each meal that they can have multiple servings and be full. in between meals they can have fruit or veggies if not within 30 minutes of the next meal. Basically if they are hungry enough to nosh on carrot sticks etc they must be hungry, if they are simply searching for carbs to snack on, then they need to wait. (Course with teens in the house they just eat all day everyday and prepare it for themselves)

me too!