The birthday person gets presents, but they also give everyone else a little present. Something small, like a box of crayons or a coloring book or a jump rope. Kind of like a hobbit birthday party. :) It works great with little kids, because the little gift is enough of a distraction that the birthday child is left in peace to play with their cool new toys. And everyone ends up happy. (Just to clarify, our birthday parties are just DH and I and the kids. We don't have 80 people over getting crayons, lol.)

We have the super basic Ikea table (Jokmokk? Something like that.) $100ish for table & 4 chairs, used every day. After 5 1/2 years the table is fine, as are two chairs. The other two broke because we had two friends who were on the larger side who would absentmindedly tilt the chairs back on the rear two legs while sitting. So assuming you don't have that problem, for $600-700 I'd want at least 10-15 years from them. You're talking to the girl who shops at Ikea, though, so my expectations could be way off. :)

Well, no good comes of swimming at 1am where there are rip tides. And that's usually what the people who drown in my general area are up to...

For some reason they always remind me of that episode of The Office where they have the shower for Michael's ex after Astrid/Astird was born, and Angela tries to take artsy shots of the kid on a plate of vegetables. In other words, I can't take them seriously. :)

I like the color of the candle flame scarf but the look of the feather one.

I enjoyed Eccleston's doctor a lot, but I had totally forgotten what an angry/borderline jerk he is at times in the early episodes lol. It works over the course of the season, but he's not the most lovable character in the pilot. :)

If you want an episode with the current doctor and current companion, "Hide" from Season 7 might work. There are a few references to Clara's backstory, but I think it stands alone better than her other episodes.

The Empty Child/Doctor Dances two parter is a brilliant story but so creepy to watch right before bed. Especially if you have small children who tend to call for you in the middle of the night. You've been warned. :D

I love the show, but I think the first couple of episodes of Season 1 were meh. (Attack of the garbage cans and farting aliens aren't my thing.) You could try starting with Season 5. It's the beginning of the 11th doctor and doesn't really rely on you having seen earlier seasons. If after a few episodes of Season 5 you still don't like it, it might just not be your show.

If I knew your daughter's name, I would guess Julie. Otherwise it could just as easily be July.

See, I was thinking Shade as in shade under a tree or something. So it would be like naming your kid Rain or Storm or Willow. Around here that's more probable than Shaw-day.

I'd replace Alan Cumming with David Tennant. How did he not make this list? And I'd drop Charlie Rose and Bill Nye and add Michael Kitchen (Foyle's War) and Peter Davison (All Creatures) Too bad Inspector Lewis is over. I loved Hathaway.

I second Jakers - check your local PBS channel because sometimes it's on a random times on the weekend, if you want to get a feel for it. A bunch of the Beatrix Potter stories were animated (I think by BBC) back in the 90's and they came out on DVD within the last few years. They were really well done - you could tell they made an effort to stay true to her illustration style. We also love Octonauts, although I'm not sure if the DVDs are out in the US yet. Lunar Jim is a cute show as well, if you have Netflix.

I read it for my 9th grade honors lit class, unabridged. It's one of those books that certain 13 or 14 year olds could probably handle, but give it to 30 of them and read it aloud in class and it can very quickly turn into a giggling trainwreck. Unless your son's class is far more mature than the kids I went to school with.

Slice it into circles, grill it, and put it on a burger. (Or use it instead of a burger)

Ok, makes more sense now. I agree with Spy Car then; school through the summer or this is just going to snowball.

I might be completely misinterpreting what you wrote (and if so, I apologize) but you stopped homeschooling while you were pregnant and then for an additional three months after the baby was born? So it's been 5 or 6 months since Dd did schoolwork on a regular basis? And then you would be adding another 2 months onto that break if you took the summer off?

I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt that the invite got lost in the mail. And twice this summer I've had different people inquire why I didn't RSVP for events that they thought they had invited me to, when it turned out my name had been accidentally left off when different drafts of the guest list got combined/addresses added/whatever. If someone was notorious for ignoring RSVPs, or showing up with an additional 8 people, then I'd be annoyed. Otherwise I don't really mind calling a few people after the RSVP date and finding out what's up. I don't know what other things people are dealing with in their lives - sometimes life gets a bit overwhelming and people legitimately forget.

Pilot makes disposable fountain pens that I get on Amazon. Using a nice pen for planning/lists makes me happy, and these are cheap enough that I don't panic if I can't remember where I put them for a few days. :)

Eh, DS's was fairly mild and the doctor thought it had more to do with the way he was sleeping than anything else. I wouldn't want them as a long term solution with no other explanation, but for short term until he got better at not migrating all over his bed, I was ok with it.

Ah, see I had originally read it as the doctor was fairly sure it was reflux. I see your point with meds screwing up the results of diet trials.

It could just be acid/reflux. DS improved immediately once he started the meds, so it's worth trying in the meantime, should you decide to go ahead with other testing.

P.G. Wodehouse is usually my default recommendation. His stuff is a quick read and pretty much impossible to read without laughing.

I'd get a basic toaster and then you can heat up frozen waffles or toast. Hard boiled eggs are really easy if you make a bunch in advance.

Byron Barton's books don't have many words per page, and they're about trucks, trains, dinosaurs, etc. Simple without being maddeningly repetitive. I love the illustrations in Jane Hissey's Old Bear books, but they might be a bit long for a 20 month old to sit through. Worth checking out if you think detailed illustrations would keep him interested while you read.