Thank you all for your responses, and for your understanding and compassion (for us and for our health aide). He actually doesn't work again until Tuesday because of the way the schedule works, so thankfully we have plenty of time to talk and process everything. I do hate the idea of letting him go, just to protect "us," but on the other hand he is making a decision to take a risk. I will post with a follow-up to let you know what happens!

Hi, I'm coming out of lurking to get the boards' opinion on a personal situation. Let's say you had a health aide who came to your home for 12 hours 4 days a week to provide in-home care for a family member. This morning, said health aide (from Sierra Leone) mentions to you that he has visitors from same country who have been here 2 weeks and will be leaving in a week, so they'll know before they leave if they develop symptoms of ebola. He frequently has guests staying with him from Sierra Leone. With the new cases coming out in the news, this is obviously on everybody's minds. This health aide also relies on this income as his sole financial support. How would you respond? Actually asked the pediatrician today because we were there for a well visit, and she said she'd get another health aide until he has been clear for 3 weeks (and impose the same quarantine any time he has visitors from back home). What would you do? I don't want to be ruled by fear, but I don't want to be foolish either! Thanks for feedback!

We went to the zoo in an (unsuccessful) attempt to see the new baby panda! We did see some other fun animals, though, and we're going to start watching the panda cam to see if we can find a pattern. Then we'll try to go at a time when she is awake and active. I'm hoping it's first thing in the morning, when the zoo is also the least busy!

I have 5 ages 1-12. My dh isn't home for dinner 3 nights a week also. I have an assigned kitchen helper (rotates weekly) and, especially on the nights dh isn't home, the 2 of us fix plates together at the counter/island and put them on the table. When dh is home, we generally have 1 main dish that he and I dish up and pass plates, and then we pass around sides, including any toppings. I think it's a nice mix, actually, and it teaches us all a little patience on the nights when we pass food around! Sarah

I have thought about that! Are they expensive?

This is my philosophy too. And I hope that you feel better soon! :grouphug:

Thank you. I really appreciated your response. You're right, it not "nothing" that's wrong, there's just nothing they can do that I can't do myself! And I am a FIRM believer in the power of homemade chicken soup! :001_smile:

I've been there, too. We waited a couple days (on 2 separate occasions) on both my dd and ds and it turned out they had fractured wrists! With my ds, he actually high-fived the dr. with his broken wrist, and even the dr. was surprised it was broken. Mostly, I am so very thankful for our good doctors and medical care, and that I can go get a prescription or advice!

Thanks for all of the input. Except for you lucky ones who have super-kids or something (I'm seriously jealous), I feel like I'm probably pretty normal then. Generally, I give an illness at least a week, but once a fever pops up at the end and they're getting worse, we go in. I've just figuring out with my baby that fever seems to be her "go to" and doesn't necessarily mean anything. After our $1000 ER bill for her ear infection though, I'm more inclined to just pay the $80 copay and take her to the dr. to rule out anything. And for peace of mind! -Sarah

wow! That's a new one for me. I would have brought him in too. I hope you can laugh about it now!

Hi, I was at the dr. this morning with my 14 month old. She's had diarrhea for a week and now a fever; no cold symptoms. She's also been grabbing her throat a lot. A couple of my kids had the stomach flu over the weekend. I didn't like the fever coming up now, so I took her in. She's also been REALLY fussy for this whole week. I had a feeling the dr. wouldn't find anything, but I just wanted to be sure I wasn't missing anything. And there was nothing. Well, she took a urine sample to check for UTI, and those results won't be back until tomorrow. This is the 5th time I've been in to see them in the past 6 months. One time she had a double ear infection, and one time she was "fine" but we ended up in the ER a day later with a fever of 106 and an ear infection that popped up. So, I'm 2/5 basically. All this got me wondering if I'm "normal"? We have to pay for every visit (out of our HSA, which technically my dh's company pays half of) until we meet our deductible. I'd really like to know what your "record" is. FWIW, I have 2 little ones, ages 3 and 1, and 3 older kids (but the older 3 almost never go to the dr!). Thanks! Sarah

I'm sorry I don't have any ideas--I'm in the same boat myself with my dd (13 months). She has been consistently waking between 4-5 for about 6 months now! I was hoping to see some magical new idea here! CIO is not an option for us either; even if I wanted to, she shares a room with my dd (10), and we're all on the same level so I think she'd just end up waking all the other kids. She is starting to transition to just 1 nap and I'm hopeful that eventually she'll start sleeping longer now that she isn't sleeping so much during the day. I do try every morning to rock her for a few minutes and then put her back in her crib. About 25% of the time she does go back to sleep, and it seems more likely on the days when she only had 1 nap. I know that she's my last baby, so I keep telling myself to just enjoy the early morning snuggle time. Somehow that sounds more possible right now than it usually does at 4am! :) Hang in there! Sarah

double post~

I think it really depends on how your kids handle hot & humid, very crowded situations. It might be kind of neat for you to go down to the mall during the day for the festival. It really is something just to see all the people! I went down several times to see the fireworks as a child and it is something that I will never forget! They'll probably be better than you, honestly! :) Just on a side note, if you can get up and out on the 5th, that is a less crowded opportunity to visit some of the more popular tourist sights. If you go first thing, parking isn't a problem pretty much anywhere you want! We live just outside the city, so please feel free to ask me or pm me if you have any questions! Sarah

We LOVE books on cd. We check them out from the library, and most are listened to in the car. Here are some my kids have really enjoyed (like, let's go drive around in the car so we can listen to our story): Chronicles of Prydain Benedict Society Chronicles of Narnia Lemony Snicket series Sisters Grimm series Land of Elyon books Dark is Rising series (currently on book 1, but I can already tell they're going to be looking for the rest asap!) As you can see, we like the books that are series. Or maybe those are the ones I remember best since they went on and on! -Sarah

Is there a special name for this grammar error? Misplaced modifier or something? We got this traffic alert and it just struck me as funny: Traffic Alert FYI for anyone who travels through Bethesda, the President of the United of the States will be in Bethesda landing his helicopter just after 2pm today and then will take off around 5:30pm. Please be aware that ALL SURROUNDING STREETS will be closed off so plan accordingly. So he has to fly his own plane now? Is this the result of the "fiscal cliff"? :laugh:

My parents just built a house for my handicapped brother. I agree with above--most things like wider doorways and doors don't cost any more. You should also look into tax credits. We're on the east coast, but I do think that my dad was able to get some kind of tax credit for the handicap accessible aspects. One things that I haven't seen mentioned but is common would be lever door handles instead of doorknobs. They set up their house so my brother is in the master suite on the main level, accessible to all the main living spaces, and they have more bedrooms downstairs. For the shower in the master suite, they just tiled the entire thing and they just have an open shower in there. It's so easy now to give him a shower in his shower wheelchair. There is a toilet in there (although he is not able to use that) and the sink is just outside the door in the corner of the bedroom. It is the BEST arrangement of all the different scenarios we've had. I hope you are able to do it; it's wonderful to be able to care for loved ones in your own home; rewarding but challenging! Sarah

I just finished Surviving the Island of Grace: Life on the Wild Edge of America by Leslie Leyland Fields. It is nonfiction, but I was completely enthralled with her depiction of her life in Alaska as a commercial fisherman. Not exactly the beach you had in mind, but it was such a good read! She is a Christian, but I would not call it a Christian book at all--not all Bible quotes or anything (not that there is anything wrong with that). I also loved The Geography of Bliss, above; very interesting. I will have to try to think of some fiction titles, which is what I most commonly read. Hoping some people will add to this; now that school is almost out I look forward to some summer reading!! Sarah

I can totally understand how you are feeling! I have been going up and down that same roller coaster! (I have 11, 9, 7, 2 and 5mos) I think that the first thing is that you will have good days and bad days. Try not to let the bad days drown you! I have a REALLY hard time letting go, fearing that I will get behind, etc. However, I think if I was in your shoes I would try setting a time limit for yourself that you will slow down. For example, after a terrible January, I decided to ease off of the nonessentials for February. So, no foreign languages, art & music only if we have time. Honestly, I probably should have let science and history go too and just focused on language studies (writing, grammar, handwriting, reading) and math. Figure out what is essential for you and just focus on that for a time. Set a time limit for your day, regardless of what baby's schedule is. My school right now is 9am-3pm, no exceptions. We have one hour for lunch and one hour of rest time scheduled into that time. I was like you, doing school past dinnertime (and dh works late and long hours also) and that's not a good situation for anyone. The kids need time for their stuff, and I need time to just be mom! At the same time, I'm trying not to rush through things--I think it's better that they learn something well and we take a week to do it than to try to have them teach themselves and end up not learning it or doing it wrong! I'm told that this will fade, but it is HARD. I'm reading through these posts and getting some ideas myself! As others have said, I also have the kids doing a lot of household jobs and I think that my house is actually relatively clean. I'm trying to keep to a schedule where they do the cleaning weekly and I do each thing once a month so it's really cleaned at least one time. Hang in there!

I guess the benefit of a September baby is that I'm REALLY motivated to have all my plans for the school year set. I'm hoping to start the end of August with school and try to keep the ball rolling as much as possible (baby's due mid-September). Here are the 2 recipes you requested - and I'll just say that these are HUGE favorites around here. I try to only make things that we really like or I don't feel like using them! Blueberry-Cranberry Muffins Crumb Topping: 1/2 c flour (I use white whole wheat) 1/4 c sugar 1/4 c brown sugar 1/4 tsp baking powder pinch salt 1/4 c melted butter Mix dry ingredients; stir in buyer and pinch together into crumbs. Batter: 2 c flour (again, I use white whole wheat, but the original recipe was all-purpose flour) 1/2 c sugar 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda pinch salt 1 c plain yogurt 1 egg, lightly beaten 1/2 c melted butter 1 1/2 c fresh or frozen berries (I use 3/4 c each of cranberries and blueberries--I buy extra bags of fresh cranberries at Thanksgiving and toss them in the freezer just for this recipe!). You could use any combination of berries you like, though. 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar Mi dry ingredients. Mix yogurt, egg, butter; stir into dry ingredients until blended. Toss berries with sugar and stir in. Divide into 12 muffin cups lined with cup liners (this is really important; I find that the berries tend to stick to the pan no matter how much I spray it with cooking spray.) Divide the crumb topping evenly over top and press just slightly. Bake 20 min. @ 350 degrees or until done. Cool 5 min. in pan. To freeze, I let them cool completely on a wire rack and then put them in a ziplock freezer bag or large tupperware. Reheat each one about 30 sec. in the microwave and serve immediately! Buttermilk Herb Chicken (8 Servings) 8 boneless chicken breasts 2 TBsp. Dijon mustard 2 TBsp honey 2 tsp salt 1 tsp pepper 1 tsp thyme 1 tsp sage 1 tsp marjoram 1 tsp rosemary (If you want to substitute fresh herbs for any of these, use 1 Tbsp chopped) 1 c buttermilk Mix all ingredients in a ziplock bag. Freeze or marinate overnight. Discard marinade and grill. If frozen, thaw before grilling. Enjoy! Sarah

although I'm mostly doing it because I have a baby due in September! For right now, I'm basically doubling recipes and putting one in the freezer. So far, I have: Breakfast: Blueberry Cranberry Muffins Banana Muffins Apple Bran Muffins (I pull them right out of the freezer, microwave about 30 seconds, and they're almost as good as fresh out of the oven!) Dinner: Taco meat, cooked and ready to go Boneless buttermilk herb chicken (thaw and grill) Meatballs Lasagne Chicken for Fajitas (again, needs to be thawed and grilled or stir-fried) Pizza (homemade) Chili Sides: Rolls Italian Bread Mashed Potatoes If you'd like any of the recipes for these, I'd be happy to share. Just let me know which ones! Sarah

:iagree: And I don't think that those people should be judged. Saying "I'm surprised to hear that there were such young children there." is a world away from "those idiots, what were they thinking, it's their own fault...." And I CERTAINLY haven't heard anybody here saying that. I have heard nothing but sympathy, horror, and shock. And, yes, surprise at the young age of some of the victims. I think it's understandable to assume that a PG-13 movie at midnight would have meant children were unlikely to be in the audience, and to be shocked and saddened to hear that very small children were there and injured. I don't agree that equates with blaming or judging the parents.

I guess that's what I meant - I don't look at comments on public news sites, so maybe that's what OP is talking about (which I do think is really inappropriate). But on a board like this one, I think it's understandable for people to want to discuss it. Stupid, public comments probably should just be ignored!

I have seen the comments about who would bring young children to a movie, but I haven't felt like any of the ones I've seen were blaming the victims, just needing to talk about it. In the right context, and with the right tone, I think we should let people respond how they need to and try not to blame people for that either. Maybe they are trying to figure out how that wouldn't happen to them - is that really so terrible? Let's not judge them for needing that, if that's the case. I would propose too that some people just say stupid things in these circumstances, some of which are better ignored! It seems like it's touched a nerve with a lot of people who feel like they are being judged for bringing infants to movies or staying out late with their kids, but that's still missing the point. It would be nice if, instead of getting angry and making an issue about how people respond, we COULD keep the focus on praying for the victims of this crime. There are many groups and politicians who will eventually (or have already started to) use this tragedy to score a point about something. Rather than wasting energy arguing about parenting styles in this context, or being angry at people's response to this, WE still have a choice to think about the victims and not respond/participate in the blaming! Sarah

Drinking that glucose isn't so hard for me, but my digestion system suffers for DAYS afterwards - one of the main reasons I don't want to do it again! I'm sensitive anyway, so that huge dose of glucose really messes me up! Sarah