Very pretty! Happy Birthday!!

:party: Congratulations! He's adorable.

Ooh, thanks for posting this! My older 2 used to watch Oswald, and I don't think my youngest has ever seen it. I'm dying to get her hooked on a quieter show...she discovered Rugrats on Netflix a couple of weeks ago :glare:. My least favorite kid show ever. The voices make me want to tear my hair out!

Yeah, I would never ask for somebody to throw me a shower. It's just like asking for presents or something. If somebody offers, that's great....although my MIL and mom offered to for this baby and my last one and I turned them down. Even though there was a huge gap in my pregnancies and I could've used some stuff it just didn't feel right. At this point in my life I feel like I should be prepared (even though this pregnancy was a surprise and we totally weren't). Then again, we don't have room for a lot of baby stuff and we don't really want a bunch of things we aren't going to use. The baby will sleep with us, so we don't need a crib or bassinet. I'll be breastfeeding do we don't need bottles or formula. I have my old sling so we don't need a stroller, etc etc.

:iagree: It takes a lot of hand-holding at first. For my son, it was years before he could do a narration on his own (without me prompting him with questions before every single sentence). This was with Story of the World, as he was so overwhelmed by narrations we scrapped FLL. But now, he is able to complete Writing With Skill (the upper level of WWE) narrations with no problems. I'm actually amazed at how well he can read a book and narrate it back to me. This is a kid with ADHD and had major issues concentrating. It was a long process, but we kept at it, and I'm very pleased with the results. My oldest DD went through FLL, SOTW, and is also doing WWS. She's never really had a problem with narrations. I think if she did, though, and one of us was getting really frustrated, I probably would have backed off on one of the programs until she got the hang of it.

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: I'm so sorry.

I grew up on Miracle Whip. My mom used to mix it in tuna for our sandwiches. It wasn't until I married DH and he pointed out how sweet (and gross) it is that I made the switch to mayo. Haven't had Miracle Whip since! :tongue_smilie:

:hurray: :iagree: I'm due next week with #4, and am having a homebirth. My first two babies were hospital births, my third was a home waterbirth. Even though my labors were quick with no complications, I had to fight the doctors and nurses to get the natural births I wanted in the hospital. I did so much research before #1 was born, made a birth plan, etc...I expected that my birth plan would be followed. Not so. They made me feel like an idiot when I wanted to move around during labor, and push while I was on all fours. With baby #2 I had to argue with the attending doctor (mine was out of town) when he was about to give me an episiotomy. My labor was only 3 hours long...what was the rush? My 9 lb 1oz son was born a few minutes later and I only had a small tear. If I went through that much arguing with my 4 hr and 3 hr labors, I can only imagine what women who have to be there for 12-24hrs deal with. They must be completely exhausted by the end! I finally watched The Business of Being Born the other night and it just made me mad all over again. Yes, I can understand interventions *when they are needed.* But a lot of hospitals treat every woman like they are high risk, which leads to more and more interventions, and sometimes unnecessary complications.

:grouphug: I'm almost 40 weeks so I've been looking into this for a bit just in case. :001_smile: Two of my babies were early, so I really expected to go into labor before this! I've heard that the crying thing is good, and also laughing, so renting a really funny or really sad movie may help? At least it will take your mind off things a bit and relieve some stress. Also I tried this recipe a couple of weeks ago because I was trying to go into labor before my husband left for his business trip http://shoppingfortwo.com/Articles/Pregnancy/breakyourwatercookies.htm These cookies are delicious! Even though they didn't put me into labor (I obviously wasn't ready yet) maybe just the act of making them would help and also get your mind off of things. Fresh (not canned) pineapple is supposed to help too. These are some of the things I was willing to try because they aren't too invasive (and most of them involve food :tongue_smilie:) Also a PP mentioned Hypnobabies...I'm using the program right now, but even if you aren't, they have a couple of free downloads to listen to here. I recommend the "Relax Me" track. (This is coming from somebody who had no hypnosis experience, and had no desire to learn.) I just kept hearing good things about it, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Just learning how changing my breathing could help me relax really helped me. If you're under a lot of stress, it may help you. They also have tracks you can buy separately, and there's one called "Come Out Baby" that's supposed to help moms who are past their due dates. My husband is coming back from his trip tonight so I'll probably be trying some of these things again. I'll let you know if any of them work!

:lol::lol::iagree: :iagree: :iagree: Those are the only two Berenstein Bears books I can stand. The actual Berenstein Bears series is such a drag to read. They're long, boring, and in-your-face about morality. If I'm going to be reading a book aloud to my kids, it has to have a good plot, or interesting characters....something to keep my interest too. ETA: My dislike for the books doesn't have anything to do with the dad being a bumbling idiot. As a PP mentioned, it's done for comedic reasons, and I can't imagine my kids looking up to the Berenstein Bears as role models.

Am I the only one that thought that the "saved" people were vaporized? It wasn't until the other people started looking distressed that I realized they were the ones being punished.

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: When DS was 10, he was missing for 45 minutes. He'd left our house because he heard the ice cream truck. Unfortunately he couldn't find it, went too far out of the neighborhood and got lost. We live in a small town, and my in-laws and DH's best friend both live a few blocks away, so they were out looking for him too. I went on foot, DH took the car, and both DDs stayed home in case he came back. I was frantic, especially when I found the ice cream man, who knew DS but hadn't seen him that day. I was in a complete panic. DH was the one that found him, about 8 blocks away. He'd crossed a fairly busy street and was walking back and forth along it, unsure of what to do. I've never been more relieved. The nice thing was, when I had talked to the ice cream man, I ran into some kids I didn't even know who asked "Are you looking for _______?" Turns out that word had spread around the neighborhood that he was missing, and several of the neighborhood kids were looking for him. That really warmed my heart. :001_wub:

Oh man, I forgot about that one! That line gets me every time. That and ET were my first childhood cry movies.

E.T., when E.T. tells Gertie to "Be good." The Help...any of the scenes with Aibileen and Mae Mobly (having read the book, I knew what was coming). I think Toy Story 3 wins the prize for turning me into a sobbing mess though...it just hit every single soft spot, especially since it was one of the first movies we saw with my oldest. :(

Thanks for sharing, everyone! Wow, lots of variation of dates and labor times. Out of curiosity, has anyone here had their water break naturally *before* labor started? That has happened with all three of my births. It always happens when I lie down after a day of cleaning the house, either going to bed or taking a nap. Baby will be very active and then "pop," my water breaks. My oldest DD even remembers that happening when I was pregnant with my youngest, as she was lying down next to me. She actually heard it. My labor always starts within an hour after my water breaking, and progresses quickly. Just a bit worried that that won't happen this time, you know? I like having that definite sign that baby is coming! :001_smile:

I think I remember a similar thread about this subject not too long ago, but I can't find it so I thought I'd post. Backstory: The good news is that DH found a job with great benefits after months of being underemployed (and non-insured with a recently diagnosed chronic illness) The bad news is that he will have to fly across the country for 10 days for training and will arrive back 3 days before my due date. Two of my kids were born a week or more before their due dates. My middle child was born on his due date. We are having a homebirth, and I have a history of quick and fairly easy labors (knock on wood) but of course I'm hoping DH will be there for the birth. So, if anybody wants to share how close you were to your due date when your kids were born, and length of labor, I'd appreciate it. Yeah, I know it won't have any bearing on when this kid gets here, but hey, it gives me something to think about while I worry. :tongue_smilie: Here are my stats: Baby #1 (9 days early) 4 hr labor Baby #2 (right on time) 3 hr labor Baby #3 (16 days early) 5 hr labor Baby #4 ????

:iagree: Our ultrasounds were wrong 2 out of 3 times. The funny thing is that every one of them was supposed to be a boy. I guess they were seeing the cord or something. We decided to keep this one surprise (since we don't have a lot of faith in them anyway). We didn't even get an ultrasound this time around.

Oh yeah...I didn't finish that season because I was so mad! When they voted Kristie off I quit watching. Now, see, I liked Russell (after a few episodes). That first season he was on, he was an amazing player. Colton was just a whiner and a bully.

I've watched Survivor since the first season, and I've never been happier to see someone leave! Now if only Alicia would go next...I cannot believe she's a special ed teacher. She seems like a very nasty human being. I couldn't believe how they were bullying Christina. And why didn't anyone in their tribe come to her defense?

Thanks! :)

Ooh, DH and I have been playing that constantly the past few days! I'll add you tomorrow (probably too late to start a game with you tonight, huh?)

Does anyone know if they carry any low sodium foods?

I agree with PPs about junior high. My experience was pretty bad. Kids that age can be awful! I think one of the problems with some bullying, is that (especially with girls) it can be emotional instead of physical. I imagine it's really hard to punish kids who ostracize other kids...they could just be making sideways comments, or pretending like the victim doesn't exist. I don't know if that's what happened in this case, but two years of being an outcast would wear anybody down. And how does a kid fight back against that? Social media had changed a lot, too. When I was a kid, somebody could pass around a note with mean things written on it, but of course that could be torn up and thrown away. Now kids can post things on Facebook for everyone to see. That has to be hard to deal with. :(

:iagree: I read the Sears' books when I was pregnant with DD1. They were a nice alternative to What to Expect.

Yes, even though we school year-round. We took a lot of time off around the holidays, and I've been slowing down a lot due to this pregnancy. I've just had no energy this time around! I may end up concentrating on math, history, and literature just because I want to keep us on schedule for those, and hopefully work in the other stuff as we go. My oldest two are supposed to do their standardized tests this year, so I really have to keep them up on math.