I didn't want this to get lost in the other thread. But many of you in my thread about my daughter's eczema recommended allergy testing. So this morning I called the pediatrician's office to see if they would refer us to an allergist, and they said they could do allergy testing right there in their office. (I don't know why they never recommended it to me then knowing she has eczema but whatever). He asked if she gets a lot of congestion or sneezing or itchy watery eyes or anything like that. I said no. Anyway, they said I can bring her in Wednesday morning to have the allergy testing done and they said it is done via prick tests to the back and they don't know how many, the doctor will decide what he wants to test for... I said "I assume there are allergies commonly related to eczema and he'll test for those?" and he said "yeah." 1. Is there anything I should be going in knowing and/or insisting on 2. Any specific questions I should ask while there 3. I don't imagine my daughter is going to love the idea of getting pricked in the back, it makes me cringe a bit. How much does this hurt? Does it feel like getting a shot? 4. ETA: How long does it take to get results?

No. He has female customers he's 'friendly with' when he sees them in the shop but no female friends that he goes and spends time with outside of the home or work. And to do so would definitely NOT be okay with me. When he's not at work, he spends most of his time with us, his family. And if he's going out with a friend now and then, it's a male friend. Or we're going out with or getting together with couple friends. Likewise, I would not go spend time with another guy who wasn't my husband or relative or develop a relationship with a guy that goes to that extent. I guess if I worked with someone and became friendly with them at work, I'd remain friendly with them at work, but not to the point of 'hey let's you and me get together outside of work and hang out without my husband' or anything like that.

:grouphug: I'm glad!

Cool!! I've read it- twice- I've read and loved the whole series (and will probably always have a bit of a crush on Jamie haha)... but this is good to know. :)

Thank you for all of these replies. There are SO many different things to try, so I'm going to start with a few of them and see what happens. First, I'm going to ask her ped to refer us to an allergist. I'm going to wait on cutting out dairy or any other products until she's been tested for allergies. I have ordered that CJ's BUTTer stuff to try and LET ME TELL YOU, she is SO NICE!!! I placed an order for one tube just to try it out, on her website last night. And in the "additional comments or instructions" thing I left a brief comment that said: "I have heard good things about this product- I have my fingers crossed it will help with my daughter's eczema. It gets bad in the winter and the poor kid (age 10) is miserable as she's starting to get flare ups now, and it's not even the end of November yet. Will this be safe to use on her face? Thanks!" And this morning I awoke to find an email from her that said: "Dear Nancy, *** Yes, it's most definitely safe for her face. I'll throw in a stick o'BUTTer for her backpack, too. :) *** Respectfully, *** CJ ***" :):):) Now, if only it does help, I'll be so happy! Also I just wanted to say that my daughter has had eczema since she was a toddler and it used to only ever be on her inner arms (creases of her elbows) and at her wrists. Then one year it showed up behind her knees, too. But LAST year, at age 9, it was the first time she'd EVER had it on her face (oh and also some by her navel). It was the worst year she'd ever had. And now here it is only November this year and she's already got it on her face again. This is how I feel. It did work for us and help us for quite a while. We already do limit her showers...I will try looking for the soap you mentioned... We will try a humidifier, thanks!... I am thinking at this point I will see what the allergist says before going that route (She doesn't go crazy with dairy products but they never bother her like April through October so I am just struggling with the idea of that if she gets eczema in November-March it has to do with dairy? I don't know, but I will def request a visit with an allergist and see what they say. If it does come to that, what do you do to replace any vitamins/nutrients/calcium etc that she would have gotten from the dairy products...? Thanks for this... I don't know ANYTHING about fish oil... where you get it, what you do with it, how you know how much to use etc, any other tips on this? Anyway I wish I could reply to everyone separately but that would get long lol...everyone is being very helpful and there are so many DIFFERENT ideas in this thread that I'm just going to try a few and see what happens for now! But I've made a list of some of the other tips, too. P.S. I'm attaching some pictures we took of her eczema last winter (Feb 2010), on her face, neck and arms (and behind her knees would look pretty much like her arms). That was when we took her to the determatologist. And he gave us the prescription for the medication I use now as needed and we managed to get it cleared up quite a bit by being pretty aggressive with the medicine for a while there, and then he said to just ALWAYS use lotion to prevent flareups, and to use the meds as a last resort if the flareups came, and we've been really diligent about that, but already, here we go again. I hate winter.

Ok so I will ask my ped to refer me to an allergist... and I'm going to order some of that CJ's Butter stuff mentioned to see if that helps... and in the meanwhile, we'll keep up with our routine of regular lotion/medication as needed as best we can... I hope SOMETHING helps, because this really stinks! It makes her feel so miserable, not to mention self-conscious when she starts getting it on her face of all places.

You know, I don't know. It was always what was prescribed to us and then one day I asked for a refill but they gave me something else instead, and the something else worked just as good so I didn't question it... this stuff I'm using now DOES definitely help if I put it on before it gets too bad (and even if it is bad a few applications usually gets it more manageable). But I just hate to put the stuff on her FACE regularly if I don't have to and I don't know if there's something else I should be doing for her face. Being as she tends to get this mainly in the winter, does it still seem worth seeing an allergist? I guess I have nothing to lose by it! I will call her ped and see if they can refer us to one. I feel so helpless. Blah.

***UPDATE TOP OF PAGE 6*** I hate this, I feel so bad for her. My 10 y/o daughter suffers from eczema- she tends to get it much worse in the winter (in the warmer weather it's very mild and often goes away for long periods, but in the winter, it's just awful). Here it is not even the end of November yet, and she's already getting flare ups. We've been trying to do preventative measures all along (even in warmer months) by using only plain soaps like unscented Dove for sensitive skin, and she puts lotion on her problem areas regularly- these days I'm trying to remind her to do it more than once a day- and we have prescription medicine to put on if it starts flaring up even with the lotion, and we use that as needed. So far that's working okay for her inner arms (like the crease of the elbow) and behind the knees, where the flare ups haven't gotten TOO bad yet and I've been keeping on top of making sure she does lotion regularly and medicine if it starts to look at all bad. But she's starting to get it on her face. First the area around and especially under her eyes gets red and kind of dry/scaly looking. But now she's got redness on her cheeks and around her mouth, too. It itches her so she starts clawing at it, and of course that makes it worse. What can/should I put on her face?? We have this Eucarin calming lotion here that I tried, and a couple of other unscented lotions, but it seems no matter what I put on it, she starts getting really upset and saying it burns AND itches...I finally put the prescription medicine on her face to see if that helps it overnight, and of course she says that burns too, and that it still itches...she's miserable, and I feel awful for her. Oh, and her hands are starting to get irritated too. (We used to use elidel, which her pediatrician initially recommended; now we're using something that says "fougera triamcinolone acetonide ointment, USP, 0.1%." which a dermatologist prescribed). The pediatrician doesn't seem to be able to do anything else for her other than prescribing the medicine to use as needed. The dermatologist (we eventually asked the pediatrician to refer us to a dermatologist to see if he could do anything more than what the pediatrician could) seemed kind of snotty when we saw him and basically lectured me on that we have to stay on top of preventing it to begin with by using lotion regularly and mild soap and so on. Well, we're doing all that. And the kid is still miserable. I don't THINK an allergist would be relevant since this seems weather based, and not like food based. Is there someone else we should be seeing? Something else I should be doing? Something I can do for her face in particular? (And as an aside, did anyone's kid deal with this but outgrow it in their teens/adulthood, or is she going to suffer with this forever?!) Thanks for any advice or help you can give us. ***UPDATE TOP OF PAGE 6***

I confess: I really liked it! And yes, I LOVED the special effects. But I just liked the movie in general, really, too.

Congrats!! :)

Oh you should just go see a live ballet! I bet it will be easy to find a local or student production somewhere for the holidays. Go check it out. :)

Do you HAVE to have a "dining room"...? Our house started out with a "dining room" which was also my computer room, which also became our "school room" in my earliest months of homeschooling. But then I ended up moving the dining room table into the kitchen and making it an eat in kitchen instead. It's a little small, but we made do. Then the "dining room" became more of a "computer room/den" and we do written work in the kitchen but I have more room in the "computer room" for things like: bookshelves, an old china cabinet that got taken over for school and craft supplies, a little loveseat, and so on. I also took over the small closet that's in the "computer room" for homeschooling and craft supplies, games and science kits, a small filing cart etc. It's been working pretty well!

I'm reading "Meridon" to myself (it's the third and last in the "Wideacre" series by Philippa Gregory- "Wideacre" was the first book she ever wrote). I'm reading "Johnny Tremain" aloud with my 10 y/o. And I have "Deconstructing Penguins" started but haven't touched it in a while (in fact I forgot I had it and only found it on the floor behind my night table while searching for something else yesterday heh).

No, I'm sure he wouldn't.

:lol: Ok that is all SOMEWHAT of a consolation LOL.

I'm currently reading the third book in the "Wideacre" trilogy by Philippa Gregory. (Wideacre was her very first book). I've been alternating between this series and "The Hunger Games" series. (finished the Hunger Games books and now finishing up the Wideacre books).

Same exact thing happened to my oldest daughter. About gave me a heart attack. I didn't think it was a breast bud because for some reason I assumed they would develop at the same time- but that's exactly what it was! :)

Pizza, sandwiches, and/or chinese food :D

:lol: But... Wait, your 5 year old can count to 600? Mine goes: 1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9....10....11...12....14....19...2070, a million two hundred... or something random like that. He just turned 5 this month. Tell me yours is closer to 6? Please? LOL.

5 y/o son: "Mommy, can I have a turn on the beeputer?" (don't ask me why he puts "bee" in front of so many words instead of what's supposed to be there. But he does. In fact, in case you didn't know, girls have beeginas, we eat beenanas, we use beeputers, and I'm sure there are a bunch more I'm not thinking of off the top of my head- but did something happen BEFORE? No. That would be Afore. Go figure). Okay, I'm getting sidetracked. Ben: "Mommy, can I have a turn on the beeputer?" Me: "Hmm...." Ben: (in his best wheedling tone of voice) "If you let me, I'll rub your back for a whole day the next day." :lol: Me: "Okay." So, I guess I'm outta here for a while. It's Ben's turn on the bee-puter. <goes to watch a little TV>

I spend a good bit of time, gradually, over the summer, here and there as I feel up to it, looking through the weekly lessons in my Oak Meadow syllabus and breaking them down into daily lessons in a Wordpad document on my computer. Then, throughout the school year, I can open that document each week, highlight that week's lesson, and print "selected text" and I have a document of what must be done each day that week. I then use that for the week as our checklist, crossing off things as we go. Yes it's a bit time consuming when I'm setting it up but it makes the school year a breeze. Of course, now that I've done that for two years running and I've become really familiar with OM and how long I can expect things to take and so on, I probably don't HAVE to do that next year- I could probably just use the syllabus and look at the weekly lesson plan they provide and pick and choose from there what we want to get done each day- but then again, I might find myself unable to resist doing it anyway. Time shall tell lol. ETA: Here's what this week's looks like: LESSON 11, Pages 87-94 EXTRA THINGS NEEDED THIS WEEK: N/A MONDAY Vocab: Vocab words alphabetical order, definitions. Grammar: Continue reading Johnny Tremain. Look up unfamiliar words. Take notes on index cards regarding events that led to Revolutionary War. Will be writing report next week, backing it up with specific examples and details from book. Read about diff types sentences Pg A1. Identify sentences on Pg 88. Math: TT5 Quiz 4 Spelling words 5X each. Finish Reading Tituba of Salem Village. TUESDAY Johnny Tremain, look up unfamiliar words, take notes on events that led to the Revolutionary War. Do No. 5 on Page 88 (writing two statements for each type of sentence using assigned words). Begin reading "Toliver's Secret" Review spelling w/bubble letters. Begin making an outline for your "Johnny Tremain" report. WEDNESDAY Math: TT5 Lesson 29. Johnny Tremain, look up unfamiliar words, take notes on events that led to the Revolutionary War. Social Studies: Read info about “Spanish Explorers” on Pages 88-90. Do Activity 1 (researching one of the southwest missions and writing a bit about it. Also draw a picture of it). Review spelling w/construction cutouts. THURSDAY Continue reading Johnny Tremain and looking up words you don’t understand and taking notes on index cards about events that led to the Revolutionary War, adding to outline. Social Studies: Read about French Explorers on Pages 91-92, stopping to do map activity. Do extra credit activity if we have time. Finish reading through Pg 94. Do activity 3 (imagine what might have happened if the French had won the French and Indian War. How might your life be different today?) Environmental Science, Lesson 11, Protecting Animals: Read Pages 44-46 and do Activities 1 and 2 on Page 46 (writing paragraphs on how you feel about spiders and mosquitoes). Math: TT5 Lesson 30. Orally review spelling while tossing ball back and forth. Use this week’s vocabulary words in sentences. FRIDAY Continue reading Johnny Tremain and looking up words you don’t understand and taking notes on index cards about events that led to the Revolutionary War, keeping up with outline. Math: TT5 Lesson 31. Science: On Pg 46 & 47 in science book, read Activity 3. Write a paragraph about it? Try to do no. 4, seeing if we can find a spider to watch and doing as many of the steps in Activity 4 as we can. If we can’t find one today; add this to next week’s Monday activities and spend some time on it next week. Music: Read about Cello (on http://www.makingmusicfun.net) and listen to one on Youtube. Work on Cursive workbook. Review geography. Spelling quiz.

Maybe the American Diaries books?

No, No, and I haven't even heard anything about that.

I will read the first Harry Potter book with my daughter very soon. She turned 10 last month. I think 10-12 (and up) would be a good range for it, depending on the kid.

Very cute idea :) Beautiful, lots of decorations, and yes they have parades. Ridiculously so. Sorry. lol. And FYI...I don't know where you live now or if you've ever been to Florida that time of year but it can be COLD there, especially at night, but sometimes even during the day that time of year. So don't just pack summer clothes! :D