Well, me being me, I'd look at ebay first. (Actually, I won't be, as we have 3 family heirloom FHC dresses. So, no pretty dress shopping for me, even when DD is the right age.) You could certainly try your normal stores and look for a white-ish Easter dress. FWIW, though white is traditional in the US, it's certainly not mandatory.

Well, ours our 7.5, almost 6, 4.5, and 1. We do morning time together (religion, poetry/art/music appreciation/telling jokes/nursery rhymes loop, history/science/fairy tale loop, and quality literature). Then the 4 yo does his reading, with the 2 oldest tagging along (he watches Word World or Super Why). Oldest then does a phonics lesson, followed my copywork and maths. I do not require anything formal until they turn 6. Those not being directly taught run off and...entertain themselves, with the goal being them not needing to talk to me at all during such times. So once DD turns 6, she will have her phonics time immediately after oldest, before we start table time.

Wait...do people really wash things after being used once? I mean, socks might get washed, but not hats, snowpants, gloves, coats...I can't figure out how it creates that much more laundry. Gloves get washed slightly more often than socks. Hats/snowpants/coats? They get cleaned if actually dirty or before being packed away for the season. Anyway, OP, with a 7, 5, 4 yo, and a baby, I feel your pain!

This is me, exactly, too. Recently we went to visit my parents. I had a couple apples and maybe a couple string cheeses that I wanted to put in the fridge. Yeah...I couldn't fit the apples. My mom's fridge stresses me out because it's so full. There is not one open inch of space. I don't get it as it's just her and my dad. But it works for them! OP, I don't have any ideas that I haven't seen already suggested, but I hope you can can an easy solution.

Right, but you aren't going around touching things with your rear end, are you? (If the answer is yes, please just pretend you never saw this question.) Who cares if a few extra poop molecules get into your undies. They are rubbing off there all the time. I once heard that the average person has about a teaspoon of poop molecules hanging out in their undies. I have no idea if that's accurate or not, but just due to the nature of shedding skin, everyone has some, you know? As for bidets, I once rented a place (it was in Europe) that had one in the main bathroom. Yes, I tried it out. There really wasn't any splashback once I got the hang of it. You use the toilet, stand, step to the side, use the bidet, wait a second to drip dry, and done. I never used TP or a dryer afterwards. FTR, I, being from the US, have no idea if that's the correct way or not. But it worked for me!

Okay, I come from a family like this. Stockings are big and full of millions of things. There's a tootbrush, toothpaste, travel shampoo and conditioner, lotion, tic-tacs..you get the idea. Each and every thing (okay, not the candy cane nor orange nor apple) is wrapped (in wrapping paper). It's...a lot. My mom still does this for my siblings, our spouses and children. We have asked (and asked and asked) for it to stop. So, as someone who has grown up in a family like this, I say a few things. a) why the heck do you wait until Christmas Eve to wrap? That makes no sense. I do absolutely no wrapping Christmas Eve. None. Heck, I am usually done at least by the 3rd week of Advent. b) Why do you continue to make them so full? You can cut back! Fast forward to my sister and I having our own families. I know that our children get way less in their stockings. I aim for 4-6 things in them, plus a candy cane, apple, and orange. So know that your children might be overwhelmed at the thought of this tradition and modify it so it works for them as they grow up! IOW, maybe they'd like the change! Merry Christmas no matter what you do!

Not even to your kids? You'd never say "you may not hit your brother with that wooden mallet*"? What would you say? *Feel free to insert whatever thing you never would have guessed you would need to explicitly tell your own children.

All of the responses like this made me smile. Mostly because I am the opposite. To me, it was quite clear before reading other responses that "may not" meant "is not allowed to." Reading it any other was wouldn't have occurred to me.

Well, it was certainly created/intended as a stand-alone program. And there are many, many people who do use it that way. All I can tell you is my experience though. Our oldest (currently 7) was not ready for formal, written maths work at 5. Heck, even starting at 6 was pushing it for him. So I tried to make sure we were doing lots of mathy things in life and just pointing out number things everywhere. Now, at 7 1/2, Miquon is working really well for us. Our oldest does like variety, so I do throw a worksheet in from a random workbook for him to choose once or twice a week. And he can always choose to do the work on a whiteboard. Plus, when introducing new concepts, I don't show him any sheets for a few days. We do it solely with rods/the whiteboard/other things. My goal at this age/stage is to get my children a very solid conceptual understanding of math. It seems to be working. So, yes, I think that if your child is ready for Miquon, it does serve as a stand-alone program.

I love to vacuum. It is such a wonderful chore! In the dorms in college, I would go around asking others to let me vacuum their rooms because I love it that much. We need to vacuum the living room and kitchen every day. In reality it gets done every other day or slightly less often.

I'm jealous of the adoration on Christmas! I don't know what we will do. To make our priest's life less hectic (he serves multiple parishes), our parish decided to cancel one of our normal Sunday services. For reasons I can't fathom, they chose to cancel the most popular time one. So we either need to get up super early on Sunday to go to 4th Sunday Mass, or go Sat. night. Except we are going OOT on Sat. to celebrate with some family. I am currently searching for an early Sat. evening Mass in their town so we could drive home after. Then we'd go to our church's 11 am Christmas Mass. It will be packed, but it's better than the evening Midnight Mass. And there's no way we want to go the super early service.

Re: still doing stockings...my mom still does stockings. My sisters and I wish she would stop. I mean, Santa fills stockings! So why do I/DH/our kids need/get one from her? It makes no sense! Plus, it's just more stuff. We don't need more stuff. And even though she tries to fill them mostly with consumables, we end up giving a bunch to our goats and chickens. my mom would be so sad if she knew that. But...why, oh why, can't she understand that I don't want a second stocking? So please, if that's one they want to let go/continue in a new way (as in, doing it with their spouse/children), be open to change. (Sorry for venting/hijacking this thread.) FWIW, OP seems like a lovely person from the posts of hers I've seen here. So I am sure she will be open to change if that's what the family is asking for. Really, I just hope not to force traditions on them that they aren't attached to. That's easy to say now, though, as our oldest is only 7!

Well, there are people who have visited us multiple times who are unaware we have a cat. My cat hides. Heck, even our children and DH rarely see her. I am the person she really truly likes. So, like other people say, I don't quite understand why this is a problem.

Huh...I've never heard of such a wreath. I'll ask DH if any stations around here have one.

I am so sorry for your loss. I will continue to pray for you and your family. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.

I will continue to pray for your brother and family.

Indeed it was! Thank you!

I feel as though there was a thread here semi-recently about sugar cookie recipes. Either that or I dreamed there was. Can someone with better google skills link that thread here. Or just feel free to link your favorite sugar cookie recipe here. 'Tis the season after all! All recipes welcome, but I am particularly interested in ones that result in fat, soft cookies!

The pole barn talk is a red flag. Unless you live in an area where that is common and your husband has worked on pole barn houses with these same subs, then that is a terrible idea. There are alternative building methods that you CAN find subs experienced in, SIP's, ICF's, log cabins, timber frame etc. Even those are never worth it in my opinion. I've never heard of a pole barn house that wasn't a bachelor farmer DIY project. The weakness of engineering types is that they know what is possible better than what is practical, and appreciate their own creativity and intelligence much more than the grunts who are doing the work will appreciate the reasons that their job is now much harder. If Dh has built houses of the type with the subs that are available to work on this house, that's another story. If Dh has experience in building, in that he is an engineer who does engineering for buildings, that's not a qualification for being a GC. The engineering for the vast majority of houses comes off a couple pages of tables.

I haven't read all of the other replies, but I just wanted to say...you have a lot on your plate. I know. Our 4 are currently 7, 5 (almost 6), 4, and almost 1. So I know what it's like to be a SAHM who is HS this age range. I really, truly hope you are able to implement some changes that work for you. Whether that's your husband helping more or hiring help or lowering your standards or something else will depend. And it might need to change a lot through your pregnancy and postpartum experience. Also, I also hope some of your solutions lead to some self-care/you alone time. I can say that is vital to my being able to be a SAHM, HS mom.

Wrap everything. Anything and everything is in danger of being wrapped around here. I just can't wrap my mind around gifts that aren't wrapped, be they in the stocking or not! What's the fun in that? I had no idea that Santa doesn't wrap gifts or stocking stuffers for some families until my sister got married. It turns out BIL grew up in a "Santa doesn't wrap" family. To me, that takes some of the fun out of Christmas. It's so fun to try to guess what's in each package. I must be right because Santa wraps in their house too!

I sometimes do, sometimes don't. Women got along without them for a long, long time. Yes, but why does that matter? Oh look...it's a girl! She has the body parts of a girl! I just can't understand why knowing whether someone is wearing or not wearing a bra matters. Nor do I care whether or not other undergarments are utilized by others. If it makes them happy or comfortable, great! If not, not my body, not my business. OP, as you put "needs" in quotes, I just wanted to point out that there are people of all size b00ks who do choose to go without. I hope you find something she likes if she chooses.

In addition to all the previous suggestions, eat raw garlic. Mince it up and throw it in some salsa or something and eat it for it's anti-infective properties. I find a warm bath and massaging/expressing works better for me. FWIW, I've had multiple cases of mastitis over my nursing career. I took antibiotics the first time as I didn't know other options (kid #1 was only a few weeks old). And apparently the antibiotics didn't eliminate it completely, as it came back very quickly with a vengeance. the lump/blockage/sore spot was bigger than my fist. I decided then and there that I needed something besides antibiotics and started treating with all the suggestions here and raw garlic. I haven't taken antibiotics for mastitis since. However, if I ever had a fever for more than 24 hours with it, I would absolutely consider it. FWIW, I've never noticed a reduction in supply due to mastitis, but ymmv.

Easy Off FUME FREE Oven Cleaner in the BLUE can for soap scum, not healthy, not caustic, but will dissolve soap scum like nothing else. I hate pumice on fixtures, they'll be scratched and never be easy to clean again. If it's hard water in the toilet, flush it with a bucket so most of the water is gone, then fill with vinegar and leave the bowl brush in there to repeatedly slosh on the deposits above the water line. CLR for rust stains.

A junky house, a cat house, and not taking care of oneself don't mean much to "the county" if somebody is with it enough to fight them. Carols suggestion to help physically get stuff out of the house is good. I've known people who were so cheap that paying for garbage service was the best incentive to clean up, don't want to waste space in the dumpster you've already paid for. If he's not that motivated, then finding someone local who can haul a can as often as he can fill it might help. Also, a way to check in every day so if he dies it's not after being stuck there for days. I wouldn't touch the guns, you have no idea you'll get them all, and it would do the most to confirm his suspicions. Now if he was motivated by money, you could suggest selling his guns for him. Or "selling" his excess junk for him, even if it meant personally making a donation to him and throwing everything out.