It usually seems to be an ear infection when this happens to my kids. It has happened several times and worried me at first. They never complained about their ears and it never even followed a cold. Fevers with no other symptoms tend to worry me a bit too. But then again, I'm a total hypochondriac and worry about every little illness in myself or my family. I try to give my worry over to the Lord, but that's easier said than done. I do not give meds for a fever unless it is starting to make my kids feel bad. If they have a fever and are still acting pretty normal, I let the fever do its job. Unless it is at night....I always give meds at night because I dont want it to suddenly spike unknowingly at night.

The only thing I've seen that is currently playing in the theaters is Marley and Me. It's a great story but the end is sad....which I know you are not looking for. I really want to see Yes Man. That looks pretty entertaining.

Barbies I do not have a problem with....now Bratz is another story. I would not let my DD (who is also 4) have a Bratz. But she has quite a few Barbies. She just chooses not to play with them much. She'd much rather play My Little Pony or Little People.

Hmmm...have you tried anything from Karen Kingsbury? I find her books totally addicting and I cannot put them down once I start one. She has lots of books out....some of them in a series and some of them are stand-alone. They have lots of Christian things in them....I'm not sure if you are a Christian or not. But the stories are very well written and the families in them become almost like your "own" family. Start with the Baxter series....loved that series. Ginger, I read the entire Twilight series....and I'm probably what you would call a more "conservative" Christian. I was hesitant at first, but ended up loving it. Two things that stood out that I didnt really care for was (1) the sexual tension between the two main characters when they were not married and (2) the way that Bella seemed to look at Edward as almost like a "god". He could do no wrong, she put him up on a high pedastool, etc. It was a good read though....it had me hooked. But I am strong in my faith, so I did not have any issues with it. I dont think I'd let my teen (if I had one) read them though, unless I knew they were absolutely strong in their faith.

I would think that it is sort of an "automatic" reaction to form some sort of opinion about a person we've never met before. I mean, we have to look at them and think something....not just some blank stare. That opinion may not always be correct if we're able to get to know the person though. I mean, if I saw some dude swaggering down the street, being loud, saying crude things, etc.....my mind would probably automatically think something along the lines of "he seems very obnoxious." Honestly, I dont know how I would train myself not to automatically think something like that. I dont think I could look at him and say "he's a clean slate...I dont know him, I dont know what he's like." However, I CAN choose not to base my outward actions on that initial thought. I wouldn't treat him any differently. And I would make a conscious effort to look for other traits in him that could change my first impression of him. Like someone else mentioned, you are in control of some of the signals that you send to other people.

Thank you for this post! With my last baby I had post-partum thyroiditis. My thyroid actually went hyper and it caused me to feel just horrible for months and months. I saw an endocrinologist and she told me that if I ever decided to get pregnant again, I would need to see her ASAP after I got a positive pregnancy test because I would probably need to go on meds. She said that the meds are no big deal in pregnancy, but that if I left the thyroid untreated, then that could cause problems. I've been nervous about trying again. I'm not ready to do so yet (my little one is 21 months old), but we probably will be in the next year. So thanks for starting this thread so that I can see everyone's response to thyroid medications.

We're not "tech-less", just "tech in moderation." We have a TV, a Wii, a Leapster, and a computer thing that hooks to the TV (the VTech thing), but it is all in moderation. I do believe that too much of that type of thing can be harmful to children. But I like "gadgets" myself LOL, so I dont think I could tell my children that they cannot have "gadgets." So their time with their gadgets is limited. I do commend others for their commitments to be tech-less. For me, that would be a big sacrifice so I'm always in awe of others who can do it.

That is absolutely adorable!!!! My DD (4 years old) spent her money on toys today. It would have been cute to walk out with something besides that.

Dont worry, I've done the same thing with my 4 year old. She absolutely adores her stuffed animals. So when she was being especailly whiny/disrespectful/having tantrums one time, I said "If you act out again, I will take Armadillo. If you do it again, I'll take Franklin." And so on and so on. I think that two animals got taken away that time. Yes, I felt horribly awful because she just loves those animals, but there has to be consequences sometimes.

My little sister is 15 and she has.... an iPod a Nintendo DS an XBox a cell phone digital camera digital photo album And she also has an old laptop computer that has been given to her by us. It isnt hooked to the net or anything and is a bit slow, but I think she just plays some games on it sometimes.

I agree with Melissa in FL. I think it depends on the type of gift. We had a gift that "missed" this year. My kids (ages 4 and 1) LOVED that Spike the Ultra Dinosaur that they've seen for the past two months in the stores. I wasn't going to get it.....but I finally caved a few weeks before Christmas because I thought they would be ecstatic. Well......they werent LOL. Actually, my one year old is terrified of it LOL. They didnt complain about it or anything. They just didnt play with it. So last night I asked them if they liked it or if they wanted to return it to the store to get something different. They wanted to return it. So today we went to Toys R Us and returned it. It was kind of pricey, so we only let them have back half the money of the dinosaur (they had already gotten PLENTY for Christmas). So my 4 year old was able to choose two movies, two Leapster games, a Webkinz, and a Little Petshop all for half the price of that dino. Our one year old didnt get anything because there was really nothing to get her that she would enjoy. I usually would not pocket any of the money from a gift, but in this case it was a very pricey gift and I had already gone pretty overboard on Christmas this year anyways.

We toss. We toss all boxes unless it is something electronic. Then we try to hang onto it for a few weeks just to be sure that everything is working okay.

Ugh.....while I dont think I could handle negative temperatures, I sure do wish it felt a little more like Christmas down here in FL! It's supposed to be 77 on Christmas Day. How Christmas-y can you feel wandering around in shorts???!!!!! I wish we had cooler weather here! When I watch Christmas movies and see the snow fluttering down, the snow covered trees, the people dressed in their warm winter hats....I get jealous! I would SOOOO love to have a white Christmas.

I've never drank anything alcoholic.

I think that if it is used for medicinal purposes....and used correctly as directed by a doctor, then it would be okay. Assuming it is legal and approved to use for medicinal purposes, of course. To use it recreationally, I believe that to be morally wrong.

I cant wait to see this. My sister has read the book and really liked it. And the previews look good. We'll probably see it sometime during the week between Christmas and New Years.

As a photographer, I always recommend that the family wear coordinating clothes. Not necessarily matching, just coordinating. Although I do think its adorable when small siblings wear matching outfits.

I have Guitar Hero and like to play it. It was purchased for me. I have Guitar Hero 3 and Guitar Hero Aerosmith. Honestly, some of the song contents are "iffy" to me. And I especailly dislike a song near the end of Guitar Hero 3 titled "Number of the Beast" by Iron Maiden. Google that song and you can find the lyrics. We're a Christian family and I'm not comfortable with music like that on a video game. I know that some kids like to purchase the sound tracks to the Guitar Hero games.....that would be a definite no-no for our family.

Ummm.....I spent $500 for our double stroller. :o But I have to say, it is very very nice and durable. I had tried out the DuoGliders and stuff like that and they were so hard to turn because they were long and they were also small and wouldnt hold a preschooler very well. And I tried the side by sides and I couldnt stand the fact that they couldnt fit through clothes racks when shopping. Then I came upon a Phil & Ted's Sport Buggy. It was the size of a single stroller but held two kids!! And both seats reclined!!! And it pushed effortlessly!!! And when my preschooler out grew it, I could use it as a sinlge stroller instead of a double!!! Yes, I paid a lot for it, but I love our stroller.

I have never heard of this! I love to read and it looks really neat. I'm just sooooo picky about what I read though.

I have a very "vivid" imagination, as you said that you do. I admit, I'm a worrier. A very big worrier. I do not leave my kids with people that I do not know. Heck, I wont leave my kids with people that I DO know LOL. My parents live right around the corner from us and my 15 year old sister and 24 year old sister live with them. I have four built in babysitters right there. They are the only ones that we use to watch our kids. But even then, we just do not leave our kids a lot. Kids are irreplaceable and I will not leave them with a strangers.

I just answer the questions as they come along....I answer what she asks and nothing more. My oldest is 4 years old, by the way. She has asked how babies get out of the mommy's tummy. I have told her that babies usually come out of a hole near the mommy's bottom. But sometimes, the doctors have to cut the mommy's tummy to get the baby out (she has seen A Baby Story on TLC and that's why she asked about the c-section part). She has yet to ask how a baby gets into mommy's tummy....but she does know that God makes everyone, so maybe that's why she has not asked. She has asked where she was before she got into my tummy. I told her that she was with God. She does know all about a woman's period. She's walked in on me in the bathroom opening a tampon. So I just explained that it is something that all women have when they get into their teenage years. She asked me if it hurt (she equaled blood with hurting) and I told her that no, it did not hurt. I said that sometimes my tummy area hurts, but it does not hurt to have a period. But so far, that's all she's asked.....and I'm glad LOL!

Ummmm.....my kids are 4 years old and 1 years old.....they are too young to understand how to play Guitar Hero.....but we have the game.....I got it for my birthday. :D So yes, I love guitar hero LOL!!!

My oldest is 4 years old and I really limit screen time and will continue to do so as my kids get older. I really dont want my children being addicted to their electronics, like so many kids are these days. Sure, it may still happen....but it will not be from lack of trying. My 4 year old gets two TV shows in the morning hours, immediately after waking up. She likes this time to wake up, drink her chocolate milk, and watch TV. Except on Sunday mornings....no TV time before church on Sundays. And her chocolate milk is like her coffee LOL! After those two TV shows (they are 20-30 minute shows like Franklin, Little Bear, Word World, Caillou, etc) she knows that the TV goes off and will turn it off herself. Aside from the two morning shows, screen time really varies from day to day. Sometimes she will get one more TV show in the evening, sometimes not. Sometimes I will allow movie time in the afternoon (such as right now the kids are watching The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown since Halloween is approaching), sometimes not. More often than not, they do not watch any more than the two shows in the morning. So probably about twice a week, they will either watch a movie in the afternoon or a show in the early evening hours. As for computer time.....DD4 likes to play some of her games sometimes. But she's never on for more than 30 minutes at a time, and only once a day. And if she's playing a computer game, then that takes the place of the afternoon movie/evening TV show. These are all educational type games that she likes....such as Jump Start, etc.

LOL, I guess I was thinking more about the home study and stuff like that, more than thinking about once it is all said and done, I can do whatever I please LOL. I just wondered if co-sleeping and homeschooling was something that I should not discolose unless specifically asked.