This is so true. My father had this surgery at 50, between C3 and C5, and he was in pretty good shape, never one to milk an illness or injury. He was in pretty bad shape for the first 3 weeks. I had to help him shower, and he had a plastic urinal by his bed so he didn't have to walk to the bathroom. I basically had to help him walk everywhere. I had to take time off of work and also recruited a few of his friends while I was back at work. I didn't have to deal with his wound at all because it was dissolvable stitches and waterproof tape. There will also be a decent amount of physical therapy to do afterwards as well.

We've tried this too, but all the kids we know that are his age will be out of town. Our neighbors' kids might have come, but they think the pool is too babyish for them.

I really wish I could get a refund, but they only do refunds for bad weather. This is a really neat kids pool with a Noah's Ark theme and small waterslides and it's his favorite pool, so I don't think we could move it. We were so excited to find a date that it was open, that we didn't think about it being a holiday weekend until a few weeks later.

I'm so disappointed and upset for DS. His birthday party is this Sunday, and I haven't heard from any of his friends' parents. I'm so afraid that no one will come,and he'll be really upset. I know it's because of the holiday weekend, but the pool that we're having it at only had this date available. If no one comes, it will just be DH and I, younger DS and my mother and her boyfriend. Which will be very awkward because I don't get along too well with my mother anyway. Any ideas to make this better for DS? I'm so at a loss as to what to do. I would start calling around to his friends' parents, but they are friends from his former school and I don't have anyone's phone number. I'm also really upset about the amount of money that went into this party. It was about $350 just to rent this pool for 2 hours, and then I spent a lot of money at Oriental Trading for favors and plates and decor. This is the first real birthday party he's had since his first. Normally we jut go somewhere nice to eat with family. I had no idea how crazy expensive kids parties could be, and then to spend all this money and no one is coming. I just want to cry, and I'm really hoping that DS won't get too upset himself.

Well, apparently the Texas Homeschool Coalition is still having the Duggars at their Arlington Convention. http://www.thsc.org/events/texas-home-school-conventions/arlington/ Hopefully they realize they need to uninvite them.

I'd take them if someone offered them to me but not out of the trash. My only reason for this is silverfish. I would be afraid they might have been in a garage for a time and gotten infested. I've had several books all eaten up by silverfish, and they are just plain creepy bugs.

You might want to check again. Last night I saw that they had Blackadder, Fawlty Towers, Coupling, Call the Midwife, Top Gear, and all 10 seasons of Red Dwarf on Prime. Even when Netflix had Red Dwarf, they didn't have season 10.

We have Vivent, and I love them. We have sensors on all windows and doors(glass break in both of my sons rooms, regular on all the others), motion detector in the main part of the house, smoke detectors, and video cameras on the front and back doors. They installed all of it for free, and we pay $50 a month for monitoring. Also, I can remotely arm the system on my iPhone or iPad as well as view the camera footage. We are away from home a lot and our neighborhood has had some issues, so I feel much better with the system if anything were to happen while we were away. We had one false alarm because a friend hadn't shut the back door well, and the police were here within 2 minutes. I also have Door Guardian locks on both the front and back doors. These are really more to keep my 4 year old from unlocking the door and walking out while I'm in the bathroom or something, but they will keep someone from breaking in unless the break the entire door jam out.

Be sure to get some Shoo Fly Pie. It's amazing.

I totally agree with this. There needs to be a female chaperone and not his sister or his wife.

I loved my stay at Port Orleans Riverside. We stayed in the Alligator Bayou section, and everything was perfectly themed. I especially loved the wood log posts of the beds, and the beds were the most comfortable beds I have ever slept in at a hotel. Tons of Hidden Mickeys to find for the kids, but the room is really rustic themed. Plus, there was a trundle bed if you needed an extra bed. The food court had quite a selection, the restaurant was very good, and the pool was awesome. Edited to add: Also, there are rabbits and ducks roaming the property, and there is a fishing pond (I think it's catch and release). You can also rent surrey bikes to ride around the property. I really wanted to do that, but XH thought it was a waste of money.

Sounds like the neighbor wanted to play the "hero". I'm so tired of this attitude. I had a woman getting ready to call the cops on me last summer because I left both my boys in the van to get a shopping cart. I kid you not. I was less than 50 feet away from the van (which I had left running with the AC on because it was 102), and when I started walking back to the van she had already pulled out her phone and yelled at me, "Oh my God, I thought you were leaving them. I was fixing to call the police." I yelled at her, "They're fine. The AC is on, and I would never leave my boys." Seriously, I was so angry. Here I am trying to keep them safe in the van until I had a cart because there was less chance of them getting hurt there then me trying to get a cart with a running 4 year old and a baby. People really need to learn some common sense and learn to mind their own business.

I'd love to hear about this as well. I just ordered the brain gym book from Amazon, and I'm really hoping it will help my DS with his sensory issues.

I've been showing my DS The Muppet Show, and I now have the only 4 year old who asks to watch Leo Sayer, Lou Rawls, and Pearl Bailey. I love it!

Please not Caillou! He is the whiniest child on tv.