I can't tell you what the right thing to do would be. I will say your peace of mind is important. Moving there could stir up memories and feelings in you. That may not be a bad thing because God may bring you more complete healing through it. If you do move there, it might be helpful to find a good counselor to work through things with. I think that by knowing about this neighbor, you will be well empowered to keep your children safe even if you live there. The sad truth is that there are many abusers out there who are not registered, who no one know about. I think they could be an even bigger threat, but we would nevere know who they are. I hope that you are able to have peace with whatever decision you make or allow the unsettled feeling to bring you to a place of greater healing.

I feel like by mind is numbed and everything else in the world is kinda dulled. I feel slow moving and not quite all with it. I am glad we are not starting our school year for a few weeks. Hopefully baby boy will be sleeping longer stretches by then or my body will adjust to this new schedule. the first couple nights were okay, but today I am completely spacey!

I discovered the Maya Wrap puts him right to sleep! he slept for three hour stretches through the night. That's not bad for a little guy!

I am glad the evening ended well for you. I am so sorry to hear about your basement! The same thing happened to a few other families in our church and one of our other families from Cubbies. This week is busy with medical stuff, but we are around on Tuesday. If you need a place for the kids while you are cleaning up from the flood, you can bring them over here. Absolutely feel free to come by and snuggle this little guy. He is so sweet. I love the sweet little baby smell and all the little cooing sounds he makes as he falls asleep. I will only have him a few weeks, but we will enjoy every minute of it! AWANA kicks off September 17th in the new building. We will have so much more spcae and won't have to do as much set-up at the beginning of each night. Our Cubbies will have their own bathroom right in the classroom and about twice the space we had last year!

The little one month old I picked up today is not much into sleeping. He has taken little cat naps through the day. It takes a lot of work to settle him, and then he can't seem to stay sleeping long at all. I have a feeling it could be a very long night!

I guess if her mom isn't concerned, she is probably right about how her daughter responds to exposures. There is such a thing as a bi-phasic reaction though. These can happen hours after the initial reaction. I would watch her very carefully for any signs of a returning reaction. With my son, I have been told to give him the Epi if he has any trace of peanut even before he starts to react, but different kids have different levels of allergy. The scary thing is that with repeat exposures, the reactions can worsen. Don't be too hard on yourself though. Her mother needs to be very clear about what she can or can't eat. If you don't have food allergy kids, you just won't naturally think of these things.

One other reason that I am sure is not so common - it is a recommended alternative to cutting for people who self-injure. They can pop the rubber band against thier wrist instead of cutting.

This isn't exactly what you are looking for, but we have fun doing them at the beginning of each month. http://www.littlegiraffes.com/handprintcalendar.html I had a link to cute calendar pages, but it seems to have vanished into cyberspace oblivion. If I find it again, I will share it.

I am so excited to be getting a tiny baby for the next month or so. The little guy is a month old and is a preemie. They said he is still in preemie clothes. I am so looking forward to snuggling him! I will miss my sleep, but I love the little ones.

The cucumbers have amazed me the most. I only have two plants, but I have harvested anout 3 dozen cukes! The cherry tomatoes have been plentiful and tasty. We have harvested a few sweet peppers each week and had lots of green beans a few weeks ago. There is one watermelon about the size of a softball and a couple squash. It has been a decent harvest for our first year of gardening.

That just doesn't make sense to me. What about kids in private schools? It sounds like the programs can only be used by public school children. Are the programs through the school? Are there programs that insurance could cover instead? It seems if they are public programs, you pay the same taxes and your children should still be able to get them. I guess not knowing what services your children might need makes it harder to have any advice for you. It sounds very frustrating. Having children with special needs is so hard. I know I have times where I wonder about my choices and question what is best for my son. He needs to be a kid, but sometimes I fear that letting him do the things kids do will cause sickle pain or other medicl concerns. As moms of these special kids, we need to listen to our hearts and keep making the choices we think are best for them at that time. Wish I had better advice for you.

My dds best friend's dad trains some of the basketball players.

Just this week mine started turning red. It seemed they were on the vine a long time before they ripened, but they are plentiful and delicious now!

Hmm, I just read the article about the Olympics and electronic devices. Maybe that explains why I still can't find my friend who seems to be missing. I have a strong feeling that she may have gone to China for the Olympics. The one call I did get from her had lots of people in the background, but the reception was so bad that she couldn't hear me. With these warning out, I wouldn't be using a phone or computer there if I could avoid it.

Tammyla - My son saw you avatar and asks does his high five have to be with the sword in you hand?! Sleepy - He says he likes his hug.

Actually, my son is getting chemo to treat his sickle cell disease. it isn't standard treatment for all cases of sickle cell, but it helps with severe cases, sometimes. He hasn't been on long enough to know if it will help or not. His hematologist is hoping it will help enough to delay or even avoid monthly blood transfusions. Eaglei, I hope your son continues to improve. To follow my son's story you can visit carepages.org and visit THELITTLEENGINETHATCOULD.

If I weren't a parent, I would be in the mission field. I had always pictured myself working with young girls rescued from pr*stitution in Thailand. I spent a summer in Bangkok, and some of the things I saw there have never left my mind. A woman in the market tried to give me her baby. The child was maybe 6 months old, wearing an oversized, dirty t-shirt. The mother held the baby out and asked me, "Please, please, take. Take to America." I will never forget that baby and the mothers look of agony. I often wonder what happened with that child.

I would hate to think I could ever be so busy that I wouuld feel inconvenienced to look for a child or wait a few minutes while a lost one is found. I remeber year ago when the bradley sisters disappeared in Chicago. In my opinion their mother was negligent leaving them home alone and letting them leave the house. It didn't stop me from joining the police and other volunteers for a few days of handing out flyers about the girls and walking the areas they could have been. I never once felt inconvenienced. I only felt it was the right thing to do. We never found the girls.

Another egg replacer that I use in baked good is milled flax seed. One tablesppon flax mixed with three tablespoons water equals one egg. Mix it up and let it sit a few minutes before using it. Most people don't even notice the substitution.

My children love looking at the smileys in everyones posts. My ds just said, "Wow, look there's my hydroxyurea!" :chillpill: :chillpill: :chillpill: This looks just like the capsule his chemo comes in. He says everyone better be careful not to touch it!

"if you son is truly allergic to egg, be aware of unusual products that may have egg in them, like vaccinations" Yes, he cannot get the flu vaccine, and we administered the MMR at the hospital in the allergists office. There are certain anasthesia meds he can't have. The anasthesiologist even said he can't have the dye they were going to inject him with as contrast for a CT scan. We have egg and peanut figured out. Soy seems like it is going to be more difficult because we have been told to even avoid soybean oil and soy lecithin. It seems to be in everything. I make most things from scratch already, but now even the few processed things we did eat seem to be unsafe for him. I am sure we will get it figured out and will probably all eat healthier as a result.

I have wondered about things like leaky gut. My ds is on lots of different meds including a chemo med, and I wonder what thta does to his GI tract and how it all plays together. He sees his GI in 2 weeks, so maybe we will get some answers.

I found out today that the allergist wants my son to be completely off soy and sesame. We have been completely avoiding any trace of egg or peanut. Now I have to research the foods we have thought of as safe and see if he can still eat them. So far things are not looking good. Our options are dwindling. Eating out will be nearly impossible. The allergy testing was done a few months ago. At that time the doctor did not say to avoid soy or sesame because it was not nearly as bad as the other allergies. But now my son has had chronic abdominal pain for which we can find no cause. His allergist thinks perhaps it could be because of the soy and/or sesame in his diet. In two weeks when we come in for his chemo bloodwork we will also redo the RAST testing and see what the numbers look like now. Until the results show otherwise, he wants my ds off soy and sesame. I am starting my research now. If anyone has wisdom for me on managing these allergies, please share. Thanks!

I am trying to make the refrigerator pickle recipe because I thought I had all the ingredients. Turns out I am missing turmeric. Is there anything that could be a good substitute so I can avoid a trip to the grocery store? Thanks!

How scary! Allergies are no fun to deal with! I would ask the allergist about things with eggs baked in it. My son can't have anything with a trace of egg. I bake with milled flax seed in place of eggs. It works well. I am glad you caught it and your little one is okay!