Dh's absences for military training were good for me in the sense that I learned I could do a lot by myself. He works a lot in his civilian job too. It's almost more frustrating when he comes home "late" from his regular job because I've been expecting him and my sanity hinges on him coming home to help. Whereas, when he's gone for weeks or months I just have to suck it up and muscle through. It's almost easier just planning on reinforcements never coming through than waiting for it and being disappointed.

I am trying to work up the courage to start it this month. I need to go over sample menus and acceptable foods and make a plan for myself if I have any chance of lasting any more than 3 minutes without shoving chocolate chips in my face. I did it a couple years ago and quickly lost 10 lbs. My post-baby weight loss plateaued way too soon and I am stuck higher than where I want to be.

I agree it's a continuum and that it depends on age. I also think that there are certain things you can "guide" even little kids in that some don't. I've heard multiple people complain about the daily battle getting their Kers dressed for school because mom wants them cute and accessorized and kid has their own ideas. For me I don't care except that it must be clean and you can't be naked. Except for Sundays, special occasions and family pictures where the standards are a bit higher.

I know you said no tile, but I really like the look of the "wood look" tile. It looks like wood. It's hot here though so I don't mind it underfoot.

We have 6 kids and a dog and lots of dirt and plenty of spills. I am not sure what it is. It looks like knotty pine. It has a couple chips in it but because of the pattern you can only see them if I point them out. It also "floats." I think. I remember DH put down some kind of thin pad or lining and then the boards clicked into one another as he laid them down. Like I mentioned, we found it clearance but it has held up so well. Our dishwasher leaked once and the boards warped but smoothed back down again when it dried.

We have a wood laminate of some kind that we found on clearance. Dh had to go to several Home Depots to find enough of it for the area we needed. It has held up surprisingly well. We put cheap carpet in the bedrooms and family room. It's only 6 years old but it's looked bad for the last 3. It makes me so sad. I would put laminate everywhere except it's so loud when my kids go running around. I wonder if I could carpet the walls instead to dampen the sound. :)

I thought my bill was high. That's insane. A few days before DS was born I went to the hospital and checked into triage bc my blood pressure was high. It was evening and that's where I was told to go. They did a bunch of lab work, but my bp came down on it's own and I felt better so they discharged me. The hospital's bill was over $4000 for just 2-3 hours of me sitting in triage. I don't think that included the labs. Insane. I only saw the bill because they had me as uninsured when I wasn't. If I paid the bill in cash, it would have been $3k. But still. It seems so high.

Only my mom. When mil calls she says "this is Mama Lastname." I'm not sure if the other ILs call her mom or by her first name. But it would be super weird to me to call her mom. She's not my mom.

My oldest used to pee in his bedroom when he got sent to timeout. I am still paranoid about lingering smells.

I am currently stripping them to see if it helps. (I had been washing them in a small lingerie bag to keep them together and I wonder if they weren't getting clean enough.) But it's also not just the pads. The baby smells too when he's been drooling on his clothes or if I catch a whiff of his breath.

I keep avoiding this thread because it's still hard to talk about. My mom died over 2 years ago. At the time I never thought I'd get over how bad it hurt. It still hurts, but life goes on anyway. Now, it seems like yesterday, but it also seems like forever ago. There are times I feel overwhelming grief all over again-- usually when life is difficult and I just really need my mom. :grouphug: :grouphug:

Ha! You should see the cloth diapers I've had for the past 9 years that are falling to pieces that I can't yet throw away or put in the rag bin. (The diapers are not contributing to the smell as baby is currently in disposables in a size I'm trying to use up before he outgrows them)

Are you curious about whether I talking about bowel movements or breastmilk? . . . . . BOTH! Everything smells like sweet buttery popcorn... aka: poop from a breastfed baby. (Ftr, I don't find it to be a terribly unpleasant odor) One day I was sure I had baby poo somewhere on my clothes, only to realize it was my cloth nursing pads! The smell is so strong and I can't get away from it. It's. All. I. Can. Smell. My cloth nursing pads are 5 or 6 years old, so I am wondering if I need to "strip" them to get out any old residue. There's a faint smell when they are clean and dry. But even the baby smells that way when he's got a clean diaper on. What is wrong with us?! He's baby #6 and I have never had this overwhelming breastmilk poo smell going on. It's like living in a movie theater without the movies.

I've seen you mention these before and I keep eyeing them. The best part about maternity jeans is never having to mess with a zipper or button. These look amazing. I hate to buy jeans online though when I can't try them on. Have you tried the bermuda shorts? It's about to be a billion degrees here and I won't wear jeans again until October. Are the shorts as amazing as the pants?

The pediatric dentist office we quit didn't allow parents. But dd has T1 diabetes and I insisted I go back with her. We quit them bc of a couple questionable billing errors that made me think they were less than honest. I love our new dentist and I usually wait, but I am allowed to go back there and I do with my littlest. Plus, the dentist calls me back towards the end to go over care.

No. I don't like it.

Define "living wage." I read that if you make over 35k/year you are in the top 1% globally. Poverty is the default. Only a tiny fraction of the world's inhabitants have ever enjoyed the prosperity that our middle class enjoys (like running water, electricity, adequate food, cars, TVs, multiple clothes, etc)

It certainly seems that attacks are increasing. But we also get news almost instantaneously from around the world. However, attacks on "unbelievers" isn't anything new. This has been going on for centuries.

How old are these boys?

Who's going to supervise this and make sure each kid is getting their play time? As a former teacher, this sounds like an excellent way to make life more difficult for the teacher. Blech. It's all wrong. I feel bad for b5 who apparently doesn't have very good social skills. But when you're not nice, other kids don't want to play with you. Sorry if that hurts. I think it's fine to encourage b1 and b2 to include b5. Sounds like he needs good friends and needs good behavior modeled to him. But to force this arrangement is just icky.

When we sold our last house and I *only* had 3 little kids I was better at keeping up on the mess. But our house was a tiny 100 year old home with hardly any storage space. Our realtor said it was better for closets and storage space to be half empty so it didn't look like we didn't have enough storage. We emptied out everything we wouldn't need in the next couple months and put it in a storage unit. Our house was so much easier to keep clean and show. and it sold fast!

I am only 35 and I feel like my hands look old already. In fact my 7 year old told me I had grandma hands. *faints*

Sometimes I think when scheduling the appointments they tell me a time 10 or 15 minutes earlier because my reminder call gives me a different time. I have assumed it's because they figure if they tell people an earlier time they are less likely not to be late. It bugs me because then I'm just ridiculously early.

This was my family's experience as well. She passed away within the hour. I think she needed to hear us say that it was okay for her move on.

Because I just can't take it anymore. Everything hurts. It hurts to walk. I can't roll over. I can't sleep. And I also have big babies. Three of my babies were born at roughly 2 weeks early at each were already 8.5 to 9.5 pounds. I'm so glad they weren't bigger. With the exception of my preemie, all were wonderful nursers. My last baby was the only one I was "induced" for, if you consider stripping membranes being induced. With my others (except the preemie) we just got busy and figured if it happened,it happened.