About the same, 10ish. Now that ds is almost 12, he's "babysat" twice for about 45 min.

I'm glad to hear people like the wood ones, too. Thanks for all the feedback. We'll need another set in a few years, so if we go this route we'll be able to get some that match.

I mentioned in the other thread that my dad found his biodad when I was 12. It does open a can of worms. Whatever circumstances there were, there will be some things that just hurt. When he found his dad, he also found out that ggm worked against his parents being together, that his dad had been to our area several times during his growing up, but never saw him, and that he went on to have another son, who got to be raised by biodad, that he also named after himself. (this one particularly bothered him. Even though he had changed his name at 18, it made him feel like biodad didn't care that he even existed.) it all worked out in the end. We all went on to have a good relationship. But there wee things for my dad to work through. All that to say that there will be things for tou to work through. Things will surface that you didn't know about and it will hurt. Some of it will be easy to overlook or understand. Some of it will cut deep. You should not persue this until you are ready to deel with these things. I don't think you are neccessarily truely ambivilent to all this. Maybe you are. Maybe you forgave her and have moved on and don't have a need for this. That's entiredly possible. It's also possible that you have a well of emotions buried down so deep even you don't know it's there. Only your heavenly Father can work through that and He does it gentlly in perfect time. Hugs. You have no obligation here.

We need new bunks for my girls. We were given a metal set a few years ago, but the railing threads were starting to strip. We babied it along, but it's no longer safe. Has anyone had these bunks? How sturdy are they? Do they hold up well? I prefer wood. But we had a pine bunk before this one and it split right down the side on both beds. I don't want to spend the $$! To get an oak bed that might hold up better. And we need this to last longer than 2 years. (I'm tired of having beds that fall apart!) Would this be ok, or should I keep looking? I'm hesitant To buy on CL because then I don't even know how it was cared for. I don't want to spend $ on something used and have it fall apart next year! Metal seems like it would hold up better, no?

It doesn't have added sugar. Just regular milk. We buy it from a local dairy. Maybe it is just that her blood sugar was down and now she's fed. That would make sense.

Yeah, that's a good idea.

I guess not, but something else? Just wondering if she could be reacting to it in some way. Doesn't seem like she should act wired whenever she drinks it. Or is that normal.

Does this indicate anything, like an allergy or something? Or could it just be from the sugar in the milk? I've noticed dd (the 1yo) acting really wired after drinking milk. Right now she's running in place, then in circles, laughing, general silliness. I onow much of it is general toddler stuff, but she seems to really get going when she's had her milk.

My last hospital birth was horriible. (well, it ended with a healthy baby, but the whole process was horrible) I arrived at an 8 and they still insisted on an IV (which they pushed so fast my arm felt worse than the contractions), a monitor they wouldn't le me get off of, (every time I sat up too much, she'd move the bed back down), and then my OB was in such a hurry (it was the middle of the night and he obviously wanted to go back to bed) he stuck his hand places he shouldn't to manually stretch out my cer., demanding I push even though I wasn't fully dialated. I had an easy, very tolerable labor before that, but the the hour and a half at the hossy was hell and left me so exhausted I didn't even want to see the baby right away. (the baby I had prayed and longed for for over 3 years) I won't go back there unless it's a real need. As to the people who say no one's forcing you. That's true. And I kicked myself for not speaking up sooner. (I did eventually tell him to get his hand out of me) But it is also true that this is such a vulnerable time for a women. You have put your trust in these people to provide care and support durin this time. You shouldn't have to be on guard to whatever new intrusive thing they come up. It's hard enough to birth a baby wothout battling a hospital at the same time.

My dad's parents never married and he never knew his dad. When I was 12ish he tried to find him. He called down a list of every person in the state with that name. He called quite a few people and eventually did find him. He had gotten married and my dad had 5 half brothers and sisters. We met them a little later.

I missed your situation, so I'm not sure all that's going on. But what I notice at others homes is the bathroom floor. Usually it's my neat friends; the dirty friends clean the bathroom before guests. :) and I'm not judging. My bathroom needs a good wipe down usually, too. But I do notice dust and hair on the bathroom floor.

We all know what kind of business this appears to be, :) what kind of business is it?

Yes. He's in a respiratory therapy program through his community college. But the level of work he's doing is more comparable to the end of college than the first two years I did for an associates. :) I imagine it's like getting a nursing associates. You're going for a specific thing, not general ed.

My uncle is finishing up school as a respitory therapist right now. The program is *intense*. I believe he said something like half the starting class ends up graduating. It's also heavy in math. He has to calculate O levels in his head and has to account for all kinds of things I couldn't imagine remembering what he was saying enough to relay to you now. He does love it. And he already got a job offer, so it's definitely worth it for him. But if you decide to do this, go with open eyes realizing it's not going to be easy (especially as a hsing mom).

We ended up with 2 pet mice after live catching "the cute one". DH left to release him and stopped at Petco instead. :lol: The kids got excited, but unfortunately wild mice don't make good pets. As soon as DH tried to move him to his new "home", he jumped and ran off before they even realized what was happening. DH then made another trip up to petco and came back with a cute little grey mouse. She, of course, then needed a friend.

I think it was you. With the black cabinets? Beautiful! DH had the idea to put a row of cabinets in our dining area also. We currently have a baker's rack there. I really like this idea. (though it will up the price. If it gets out of budget we can just wait to do this part since there aren't cabinets there now.) I'm thinking we could put some kind of stone or something in the kitchen area and butcher block in the dining area. I'm thinking we'll also put glass front cabinet on the top in that area and finally have a place for our china. :D

I've heard quartz was more durable than granite. That might work. We'll have to go to a class; seems there's more to think about than I originally thought!

Never heard of it. (Or swanstone) I'll have to look into it. :)

lol, yes, it seriously did get old. DH was the softie. I finally just bought the other traps without telling him.

:iagree: with this, too. If your dad helps you now, and you divorce, half the house will be dh's. If you wait until after a divorce, dad will be helping you and your children. I'd wait a year and see what happens and if this relationship is salvagable.

Is there room in house #1s basement to add a bedroom? If yes, go with that. If no, 2 brs will not work. You have a boy and a girl. Eventually they are going to need separate rooms. You need a 3 br house. I would not want the small yard in either of the other 2 options. So, I'd probably just wait and see what else comes up. Don't be in too much of a hurry and settle for something that isn't going to work in the long run.

That's awesome. :D

Yes, they are hard to get rid of once they are established. We had a renter upstairs who was a bit of a hoarder and things were *disgusting* after she left. We use the apartment as bedrooms for the kids, so there isn't even food up there now. It still took awhile to get rid of the mice. I'd find dropping in the girls' dressers. Gross! We started with live traps (you do need to release far away, over 2 miles) Then I got sick of handling live mice. (DH would release, but I'd have to put them in a container and keep the cat away from them until he got home.) The snap traps worked at first, but then they got smart. They would lick it clean and not get trapped! So I set out poison. That finally did the trick.

My sister didn't grow for a few years and then shot up skipping a few sizes. So I think it's sometimes normal for a kid to just stall out for a little bit. DD's (new) pediatrician did send her for blood work, just to make sure we weren't missing something. But it came back fine, so she/we're not worried. I was a small baby, too. So she just takes after me. (She was 17lbs at a year. I got out my baby book and I was 18.) (DH was a tank as a kid, solid. The older girls take after him)

I totally understand. My two middle girls have always been on the upper end in weight and about 40% in height. They would also chub out just before a growth spurt. I dreaded taking them to the dr, wondering if she was going to tell me how they needed to eat better (and we'd go over what they ate and it was fine) or whatever, but they were too big. Do they look big? They look fine. They fit in normal sized clothes. They are on the same curve they've been on since birth (and have spiked up a a few percentages just before growing since birth. They always come back down). They eat and are just as active as their brother. Hmm, perhaps it's just the way they're built. This last time everything was fine on the curve, whew, then she pulls out the BMI. Good Lord. She then asks all the questions and lectures me about how eating out twice a month is too much. Things got a little heated and ended with her telling me, "Well, she's getting too many calories somewhere." She's 7. Can we wait a little while before making her paranoid about her weight? And just to prove my point, #4 is built just like her brother, lean from birth. She's now moved up to the 5th percentile. I understand both ends of it! They're all in the same family, eat the same food, play together, ect. Lets just leave them alone and let them be kids. We grew up just fine without growth charts telling us something was wrong with us.