Dh and ds saw it yesterday, they loved it. Dd didn't like the previews on the Lego movie, so I took her to see Frozen instead. We liked that as well.

Haven't read the other posts, but in the Bible it says Abraham was as good as dead when Isaac was born. I don't want to get into a discussion about the Bible, but that's what popped into my mind when I read the topic of this post :)

Our Costco carries them in spurts. I don't need them right now, but saw they had them in stock last Monday. However, they were out of the frozen wild blueberries that I do need at the moment. We had this for breakfast this morning even though the temp outside is below freezing: 2 frozen bananas, a handful of flax seeds, a tsp of vanilla, about 1/2 cup of soy milk, and about a cup of Costco's frozen cherries. Blended until smooth and creamy in the Vitamix. Split b/n 2 kids and myself, and topped with crushed walnuts. That is the best breakfast in the world. My husband has refused to eat all non breakfast meals the kids and I love for breakfast, but the cherry banana swirl with Costco's frozen cherries converted him, so I will likely make this again when he is home for breakfast tomorrow. The cherries are great just defrosted slightly and eaten plain just as well. I also make cherry muffins with them. I sure hope OP's Costco restocks them soon.

Update, I called the dentist office the week after this post and the assistant didn't think the iron pill would cause the greying (the liquid iron definitely does though). She said I could try brushing with baking soda added to the toothpaste some. The baking soda helped, but the greying came back within a day. My son had his follow up visit for lab work at the MD office today. The MD said it was the iron side effect and won't be permanent.

I am glad you found a safe place to vent here and have gotten such supportive responses. I am glad you recognize the many overwhelming factors piling up on you at this moment, and that you are giving yourself a break. I don't know much about ADHD, but to back up what some said about diet I would research for yourself and see if gluten free casein free would be good for you to trial with your dd. My son is very high energy, but most of the time joyful and he has an extremely good attention span. I would never suspect he had ADHD (unless just the H alone could be a diagnosis). We eat low wheat because of husband's allergies. I am currently giving my son gluten everyday to get an accurate test on a celiac lab panel, and within 2 days of eating a larger amount of gluten he started driving me crazy! I couldn't even do school with him one day because he couldn't focus, was crying at every little bump in the road in the lessons he normally loves. I even emailed the MD about it, who probably thinks I'm bonkers for thinking wheat could do that to a child, but the MD did say I can back off on the wheat. Ds has gone back to normal school days with wheat only once/day, but he is still more hyper than usual.

Publix, Costco, Amazon, Netflix, Chick-fil-a, and our local Aldi's. I was in a customer service class where I used to work. The leader asked for examples of exceptional customer service we have received in public. One lady shared that she purchased groceries at Publix for her whole family for the week, then realized she'd forgotten her checkbook or card when she went to pay. They told her not to worry, she could leave with the groceries and without paying. She offered to have her husband come and bring the money, but they insisted she not worry about it. The leader of the class that goes around doing seminars regionally training in customer service said she had someone share an exceptional customer service story about Publix in every class. Later, my husband was at Publix with our baby. His debit card wouldn't work in the machine. He bought around $11 worth of food. The manager said they were having trouble with that machine and for him to to worry about paying. My husband offered to go through a different line,but the manager said it wasn't necessary.

To my knowledge, he has not been swallowing his toothpaste, he doesn't use mouthwash. The iron deposit theory is new to me, but it makes sense. Not sure if it would be because he was loosing iron or getting too much iron from the supplements, if that's what it is. I asked my husband look at his teeth again tonight since he is more objective than me, and dh still thinks they are grayish. We will at least put a call into the dentist next week and ask if it could be too low or high iron. The dentist isn't in his office till Wednesday though. SarahW, I did brush with baking soda + toothpaste a few days ago. It helped a little, but you were right that compliance was difficult. Next day, grey was back. Hopefully, it will polish off with cleanings since it did help some for that day. Kbutton, my son eats a ton, is also skinny, and either stays around the same weight, or has lost and regained some with health ups and downs the past year. I don't understand how he stays so skinny, his sister eats the same things as him, mostly whole foods with some treats a few times/week, and she is about to catch up to him in weight.

The last line of this post is precisely why I am asking here first before asking the dentist or doctor. I get more insight into these type abnormal issues from other parents than I do when I ask a dentist or doctor something that's out of the scope and sequence of their textbook training!

I am leaning toward doing this next week. We have a nice, thorough family dentist that my husband saw many years prior to us marrying and having children. The dentist would be glad to look at his teeth. It's just that I don't want to take ds if not needed (the office is 30 minutes away), as I tend to be overly cautious and have gone to the dentist for my own ailments before and it turned out to be nothing.

My son's teeth recently started to have a grey tone to them. These are his permanent teeth toward the front, the back molars look fine, some of those in back have sealants. A few new things since we noticed the color change: he started taking iron supplement pills, we started vegetable juicing, and he had walking pneumonia a month ago. I thought it might be the iron supplements, but online I read discoloration is mainly a problem with liquid iron. My son takes his pill quickly so it doesn't sit in his mouth, plus I have him drink lots of water after the pill. Then I thought it was the carrot/beet juice, but I dilute the juice with water, have him drink it through a straw, have him drink water straight after the juice, and now have him brush his teeth shortly after drinking the juice. (Can you tell I'm obsessed with googling problems and solutions for this yet?). The antibiotic he took last month was a z-pack, and I don't see why a few days of that would have caused his teeth to discolor, plus that was several weeks ago. We don't think he has celiac, but he is being retested for that in a couple weeks, since when the first test was taken I didn't know wheat had to be consumed daily on average vs. the few times/week my son was eating wheat at time of testing (that's a whole other story on another post). He isn't sick at all eating wheat daily, just more hyper. I read that celiac can produce dental enamel changes, which leads me to suspicion that nutrient malabsorption is causing the discoloration. I think I am being paranoid, but even my dh who isn't worried that ds had a slightly low iron level despite a diet rich in high iron foods and isn't worried that my son has celiac, is now concerned about the obvious greying of our son's permanent teeth. Our son was at the dentist the end of November, a week before the pneumonia, and got a wonderful report on his dental care then. Am I missing something with what could be cause? Or do I need to just not be concerned? Please tell me it's something simple. :) TIA.

Before reading the above post, I was going to ask if I am a stereotypical homeschooler because I wear black yoga pants or loose knit pants most days. I like them because they are comfortable, easy to dress up or down, quick to put on, and go with T shirts or long sleeves equally well. Same reasons I liked the denim jumper in the early 90s till I got accused of being pregnant when I wasn't. So, as above poster mentioned, are lounge or yoga pants the new jumper?

Funny, I had a denim jumper in the early 90's as a college student. I was not married, dating, homeschooling, or pregnant. Plus, I was skinny. I was in the line at the grocery store one time and the man in front of me in line kindly insisted I go ahead of him in line. I wasn't in a hurry and had more groceries than he did, so declined. Then he said, "Since you're carrying a baby, I insist you go first." How awquard for him when I said I wasn't pregnant. That's the last time I wore a denim jumper.

Coming in late to this thread: I don't understand how Dave Ramsey has gotten so rich teaching people simple math that your income has to be more than your spending to not be in debt. I had already figured that out before his books became popular and am kicking myself for not writing it down for others before he did. When people find out I am a SAHM and ask in surprise what I do all day, I want to reply, "The same thing the person you pay to keep your children are doing all day" (Nothing against working moms, I have worked full time and part time as a mom and will do so again if needed, just have a problem with the attitude that SAHM moms work less than a nanny or daycare provider). I don't think cleanliness is next to godliness. I can't stand chore charts with stars and smiley faces for kids, but nothing against those who do. To each his own. Eating out at a nice restaurant and paying someone to wait on you is overrated. My husband disagrees, so for my birthday we go to self serve restaurants and for his birthday we go to a nice sit down restaurant. I think Sweet CiCis and other self serve yogurt/ice cream places that don't offer a small kid's cup that makes an adequate amount of ice cream look filling to the kid are cruel. It feels nice to get this off my chest! Thanks to OP!

Call Amazon, they have been helpful in the past when we've had such questions.

I used Danskos for working on a nursing floor. I have a high arch and regular/a tad wide width. Also, at a shoe store similar to Walking Co. I had someone fit me for inserts into my tennis shoes, perfect fit and has lasted a long time. My husband has a flat arch and got fitted with a completely different insert and brand by the same worker. It depends on the shoe salesperson if you great service like the poster mentioned above. My husband works a desk job, but for working out he likes the inserts he got at the shoe store. For general being on his feet out and about he likes Birkenstock.

I had to get induced for low amniotic fluid close to 40 weeks with my first, wasn't dilated, and never noticed my plug. I lost my yucky mucous plug with 2nd baby around 37 weeks, was already dilated around 3cm, and the baby's head was low. I had to get induced at almost 41 weeks! I used to be an L&D nurse, and there was no rhyme and reason to knowing if one will go into labor soon after loosing the plug or not. Maybe a tad leaning towards going into labor sooner vs. later after loosing the plug.

Liking all the above suggestions. 2 other suggestions are chicken haystacks (rice, chopped chicken with broth gravy topped with whatever toppings one chooses such as chopped celery, pineapple tidbits, slivered almonds, chopped bell pepper, shredded cheddar cheese for those that eat dairy, coconut flakes, and much more). One other suggestion is lettuce wraps with seasoned ground meat filling and shredded carrots for some crunch.

In addition to above suggestions, I would incorporate a health class into your homeschool. Watching movies like Food, Inc, Forks Over Knives, Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, King Corn, The Gerson Miracle, and Supersize Me (I may be rusty on some of the titles). They may not agree with the nutritional opinion of the movies, but regardless it would be good for them to see nutritional documentaries from a new viewpoint other than the SAD diet that is the former norm for them and probably those around them. One side of me would say "I'm the mom and you will eat what I make and do it with a thankful heart or you won't eat, end of discussion" . The other part of me would say "I know you are used to eating the SAD way we used to eat and this new way is so abnormal to you, so therefore I will allow you to transition slowly into this new healthier diet." We were SAD eaters for most our lives. Now we are weird to our family, friends, doctors, and acquaintances because 75% of our diet is what you describe you are transitioning to. I am sorry for your current trial and I pray that The Lord gives you and your family wisdom in the best foods to eat, in addition to giving your children grace in the new changes you are making in the interest of everybody's well being.

This is my vent with FB: These prior posts are exactly why I don't like Facebook. From a couple responses, it seems the OP is being insensitive to unfriend an old friend she has no communication with. My social life got much more cluttered and complicated with a FB account. People from high school I had one class with years ago sent requests I ignored, then they didn't understand why I accepted requests from those in high school I was actually friends with. My niece came to town for the 1st time in years and I didn't know it. My niece said, "But I wrote it on my FB page." I don't hide my niece on FB, but I don't use FB to keep up with everybody's everyday life details. My good friend who I hide from the news feed (because she posts too many critical political posts) discovered I was hiding her when she saw a comment I posted on a mutual friend's post, yet that same day I didn't comment on a post about her dog dying. She is a close enough friend that I would have called and offered sympathy in the loss of her pet, yet I didn't know until I talked to her a week later. The list goes on, and I'm already in danger of hijacking a post, sorry. I sort of want to deactivate my account, I go back and forth, but there are some things I like about FB just as well as the things I dislike. To OP, you handled the situation gracefully, but if you hadn't replied that would have been fine too. It sounds like the person you "unfriended" has some weird attachment issues to not understand that some people don't keep up with the FB lives of everyone they once knew and liked personally.

Like others my son was tested for CF at age 6 for starting to loose weight at the same time his reactive airway problem turned into full blown asthma. I have 2 cousins on my mom's side with CF. My son's test was negative, but his immune system is not right. I started a thread here about discovering my son has either a wheat allergy, gluten sensitivity, or celiac. His celiac blood test is in a few weeks. I never heard of some of the other conditions listed above, but something new to consider if ds doesn't get better on a gluten free diet. My heart goes out to you, because I remember the couple weeks waiting between the sweat test being recommended and waiting to get the test done. I thought the results would take a few days, but they were called into me several hours after the test.

Thank you everyone for your posts. I am sorry that your children have had difficult times. I knew about celiac and gluten intolerance before now, but never dreamed it would be my child. I am thankful to have this push to put him on the typical Western diet amount of wheat now, so now I know the limited amount I was giving him the last few years may be the reason for multiple odd health issues. It is now hard to say our typical blessing before every meal "Thank You Father for this food, help it to grow us healthy and strong" when I know the food I am serving for this gluten test is what is making my son sick. So glad to hear his situation isn't so strange after all like I thought it was 24 hours ago.

I set a trap in the garage once and next day the trap was gone! Sent dh to investigate and he found the dead mouse and trap in a different area of the garage. It was disgusting to think the mouse travelled around the garage half dead. So now, I put the baited snap traps in an open brown lunch sack. I find the dead mice inside the sack, fold up the bag and discard. No touching of the dead mouse or the icky trap is involved. Would love to get a cat instead, but some of our household have allergies to too many things, I don't want cat fur around to create more allergies. I love cats though.

It is good to know I am not imagining the reaction is due to wheat! Normally, I keep Ezekiel bread for the kids to eat toast or PB&J sandwich every few days, but offer them the choice of their dad's gluten free bread and they choose from either choice. When out of the home, they usually eat white bread. My son doesn't react this way when he is at grandma's house or camp several days and he eats all white bread most meals. I think it has something to do with the whole wheat hitting his system stronger. I can see why the grain free diets I read about on the Internet help many people. The only reason I am going to continue this for a month is the importance of knowing whether or not he has celiac. If he has celiac, the gluten is poison to his body. If he's just sensitive to gluten, I can eliminate it, but I won't have to worry if he eats something with gluten by accident. Hopefully, some bright researcher will soon invent a test for celiac that doesn't involve high doses of an inflammatory food into the body before a diagnosis is made.

My son was recently tested for celiac among other things. Everything was negative, except a mildly low iron/hematocrit level. My son eats a healthy diet with tons of high iron foods, but the MD prescribed iron supplements and wants to recheck his iron/hematocrit level next month. When the tests were done, I didn't tell the doctor that we don't eat a lot of wheat at home because my husband has a wheat allergy. My son does eat whole wheat bread or tortillas a few times/week and eats regular bread and treats outside the home a couple times/week. After I told my friend with celiac about the tests, she told me my son's gluten intake wasn't high enough for a positive celiac test and explained she had to go from eating minimal gluten to eating it nearly every meal for a while before she took a celiac test. So I emailed the doctor confessing I didn't know it was important to mention I cook most meals wheat free since my son has a steady dose of wheat in the diet. My doctor asked me to give my son a "normal" gluten diet and will recheck the celiac labs next month. Funny, I didn't think my son was on an abnormal gluten diet just because he doesn't eat wheat most meals. Within 24 hours of giving my son wheat with each meal, he is so hyperactive! He is acting exactly the way he acts when he has to take his albuterol inhaler for asthma more than a day or how he acted the couple of times he had to take oral steroids. I don't know if he has celiac or not, but I am certain gluten or wheat is causing this. Even if my son's 2nd test for celiac is negative, we are thinking of putting him on a gluten free diet for a trial after the testing is complete to see if his health, weight, and iron level improves since he is reacting to the increase wheat intake. Has anyone here had experience with themselves or their child reacting to wheat or gluten with hyperactivity? Can you share the outcomes and if gluten free diet helped? Thank you.