:hurray: My ds will be SO happy! Seriously, he asked me one night to video him coughing so I could share it with everyone. He said he didn't want anyone else to get it. My dd's cough was scarier for her, so I never got to tape her. Both were VERY scary. I'm so glad to read this (and I'm a never-give-an-antibiotic-unless-absolutely-necessary type of mom!). My 16 yo had his first round of antibiotics two years ago when he had cellulitis. So, I get it. :grouphug:

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: I am so sorry you are going through this. When we went through it, nobody wanted to test my kids! They couldn't have it because they'd been vaccinated! Right. They were diagnosed with everything else and given antibiotics (early on, but not early enough to stop the progression), so they wouldn't have tested positive. Luckily I had a doc who who was willing to diagnose on symptoms and not the stupid tests. It really is horrible. My then-10 yo asked me to video tape him because he wanted to save other kids from this horrible disease. Watching your kid go purple from coughing is just not fun!!! (I'm happy to share the video!)

True. But, it's also dangerous for those who have a weakened immune system. Asthma fits that bill. Dangerous? Maybe no. Scary as HELL for three months while it cycled through my family. Definitely. ETA: I just went back through my videos to see if it was as bad as I remember it. It was. And worse. I can send you a video of my ds - then 10. He is coughing so hard he's vomiting over our back porch. He's whooping. He's sweaty from all the coughing. He'd been at it for over an hour. I'm in tears remembering . . .

Depends on the activity. Here are things we are involved in: piano - he walks, 1x/week, school year karate - they walk, 4x/week, year round Little League baseball - 1 mile, spring - 3 - 5 x/week Travel baseball - practice field 15 min. Games - up to 2 hours away. Spring/summer. Violin - 20 minutes each way, 2x/week, school year gymnastics - 25 min each way, 3x/week, year-round Boy scouts - he walks, 1x/week Rowing - 20 minutes each way, 5x/week in the summer (we carpool) Both my oldest boys have jobs within a mile, so they walk I think that's it.

It is an absolutely horrible disease. HORRIBLE!!!! I had three (vaccinated) kids with it last summer. My guy with asthma was BY FAR the worst. He would head outside when he had to cough (it was the worst in the morning) and he would cough for an hour, vomitting over the edge of our porch. My daughter would awaken in the middle of the night coughing SO hard and then she'd get TERRIBLY scared because she couldn't catch her breath. My oldest didn't have it too bad. But, he would cough and cough and cough and cough. My asthmatic was at the allergist A TON. He was on steroids and they didn't help. Breathing treatment didn't help. Nothing worked except time. They were all put on antibiotics because then they wouldn't be contagious after the full round. We did it. We didn't want to be responsible for spreading it. :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: I pray you don't have to deal with it. My kids were sick ALL last summer. The entire summer. Then, my youngest got every blasted cough all winter. She never used to get sick.

You look beautiful!!!! Congratulations!

Oh man! That just stinks! And, I am totally in agreement with the father and child in this case. My dh and I have a lot in common with this family - we both ran the concession stand (NUMEROUS hours). And, we are both VERY involved in Little LEague. And I agree that LL needs to step up here and help in this case.

We just got THAT call. My dd had two friends (sisters) over to play last week (Monday). They had an annual doctor appointment and were checked there on Tuesday and were officlally lice-free (?). But, one girl had an itchy head. I got the call today. The girls have lice. I'm SO grateful that they called. But, what can we do to protect ourselves??? I've checked all my kids and dh (nothing). I'm washing the bedding they played on and putting all stuffed animals and dolls in a plastic bag in the garage for two weeks. Is there anything else we can do? How long should I continue to check everyone? (My kids have asked me to check every night! They thought it felt SOOOO good!!!) TIA!! FYI - Dd had her hair in a braid the days we were together. The girls are in gymnastics together, if that matters.

:001_smile: I've never felt "liberal" before as a parent! I do have to add that at that time that we allowed our older boys to go off by themselves, we were meeting every couple hours. And, I was DESPERATE! Four kids of differing ages at Disney is VERY hard.

:iagree:

With cell phones? 10 or 11. We were there a couple years ago and my dh got sick. I was at the parks with 4 kids by myself. I let the older boys go off. Two of them had a phone. They were 12, 10, and 6. All was fine!!! I don't think I'd let my now-6 yo go out with a 12 yo. But, I was desperate and alone and I had a 1 yo!

You will LOVE it!!!! It'll make you want to re-do every room in your house though! I should show you pictures from our newly-organized closets. We used mostly Ikea stuff. I leave my closet doors open not because they make me so happy! Question - how did you sell your kids' clothes? I have a bunch of really nice things from when dd was a baby that I think I could sell - Hannah Andersson, Gymboree stuff.

I read this earlier, but don't know about official rules and all, so I didn't post. My oldest is a runner. He does it by himself and looks up training plans based on his goals. We enter a few local races each year. He has won a few of them for his age group! Good luck to your daughter!

I feel GREAT! I just finished three hours of Insanity, followed by an hour of P90X! What a high! :001_smile: Actually, I enjoy reading about people's workouts. It inspires me!

Awesome! I'd never have the guts to do that!

:grouphug: I don't know. But I do feel for you. I hate it so much when my kids are sick. Especially with tummy stuff. Watch for dehydration and don't hesitate to go in to the ER. :grouphug:

Don't be afraid of Detroit! Definitely make it over to the Henry Ford and Greenfield Village!!!! It is really an amazing place. Are you interested in more to do in Detroit? We live in one of the suburbs and we go in to Detroit a LOT!

I love the feet on the beach photo because I can see myself in their "shoes!" LOL

We've done it a number of ways. We've stayed off-site at a condo and bought our tickets and made ALL our own food. That was definitely the cheapest, but it was quite stressful cooking all our own food and packing it up for the parks. We could have gone back to the condo - but that just took too much time! I think that vacation was about $2000. Not to bad. We've also stayed on-site with free dining. That's what really makes it affordable for us. This next trip, we're staying at Port Orleans Riverside (a medium-priced resort) for five nights with two day passes to the parks and free dining for $1600. Now, we were only able to do that because other relatives are going at the same time and we are technically putting one of our kids on their reservation. The rooms at POR sleep 5. We also did a longer trip a couple years ago and paid for our meal plan. I think we were there for 10 days. That was very expensive!!! One more thing about budgeting - be sure you keep in mind all the savings you'll have because you aren't at home. We find our electric/gas/water bills are down by a bit. We don't grocery shop for that week - so that's extra money for our vacation!

You really do get me!!!! I love the dining plan! Love it! It makes it a true vacation. No cooking! No dishes! We have stayed in a condo and done Disney, but it really is a different vacation!

I LOVE WDW!!!! I think if you want to go every year and you can afford it, you should do it! I found WDW a wonderful place for families because there was something for everyone and they were really good with ds' food allergies. So, we do go nearly every year. But, we can drive. I think the idea of taking one or two for birthdays is really nice! But, if you do it for one, you'd have to make sure you do it for them all. These are fun decisions to make!

That makes me want to cry! I want to give that woman a hug. My kids? If they did that? I don't know. I can't imagine any of mine would. They'd better not!

No to all three. But, I keep going. Same with dental.

:iagree::iagree::iagree: with all the others. :grouphug: I can see this happening to me. :(

:iagree: But, St. Augustine is beautiful! Have you seen Celebration? It's absolutely gorgeous! I'd love to have a place there!