I shouldn't admit this. I don't worry about it much. The crawling babies are always within eyesight of me and we generally try to keep small things off the floor. They don't dump out a bucket of Legos in that room but rather behind a gate or in their rooms. We pick up 2-3 times a day and I keep an eye on the areas I am putting the baby down in. Once they are walking they seem to have better things to do, like splash in the toilet :) and even then they are kept near me although not quite as close. But it just hasn't been a big problem. Maybe I'm naive. Coins and balloons worry me way way more than Legos or Polly pocket shoes.

We take an ice cream bucket with a lid for vommitting. This is a regular problem :( We line it with two grocery sacks and then folded paper towels. We have Lysol wipes for cleaning it out after. We came up with this system after to many ginormous messes. Yuck.

Double post

We take turns as moms staying with the ones too young to attend events even if its just for our sanity. BUT I do agree with you that businesses often don't get the need of homeschoolers. We were working with an arts center trying to get a theatre class and they wanted a class for each grade. No multi level classes. Not going to work at all! We didn't have those kind of numbers.

Hahaha!!! That reminds me of the time my oldest (then about 6-7) saw a beer display at the grocery store. He got so excited and pointed and said look there's the football juice!! It should be noted that we are lds and no beer had ever been drunk in his presence. This was totally the fault of advertising during games ;)

I have 8 and this is what I was going to suggest. We have bedrooms upstairs and they are not allowed down until they are dressed and hair fixed. Everyday except "pajama day" aka saturday. Ideally their beds and room done too but ... On Sundays when we have to be there at 9, they don't eat until they are dressed including shoes and hair is fixed. We use aprons and bibs but it really hasn't been a problem. Not often do my kids take off clothes unless playing dress up so once they are dressed for the day they are dressed. We keep all shoes and socks in the mudroom downstairs so in the event we are home for a few hours with no shoes on(again not Sunday) they can quickly put on shoes and grab coats and go. And yet we have still managed to arrive somewhere with someone shoeless. Sigh. It's life. But we are rarely to never late. I just plan more time then is needed. In fact we are often way too early.

I love love love the wonderful wallaby hoody and my kids get compliments every time they wear tem. I've made two and they look adorable on one year olds of either gender. Sorry no link.

Did I ever say anything to lead you to believe that my husband doesn't respond lovingly to my needs outside the bedroom? I'm sure I didn't. This is obviously a very loaded topic for some and my point of view is being skewed by that view. That's cool. Forums are like that. But I stand by my stance which is part of a loving relationship is being willing to choose to be intimate and enjoy it as much as possible when one partners needs are higher than the others. It's not coercive or unbalanced. In fact it is very balanced. He does things for me that might not be at the tippy top of his things he wants to do in this exact moment in time and so do I. Bingo. Happy marriage.

You expressed this really well. I agree.

I like the duggers but I totally agree with this. I didn't like the article at all. I was just responding to the question in the op.

That's a gross misinterpretation of what I said. I never ever said it was the only way?!?! Where do you get off extrapolating like that? We were talking about one aspect, one choice in a loving marriage.

This is not what I'm saying at all. I can have and will say no. But I will say yes way more often because it is important to him and I love him and want to make him happy. It's not about me. And in his view its not about him. Sure he wants to, but he goes way above and beyond to make sure its worth it to me too. And I just revealed way too much info but I feel this topic is really important.

It not duty or entitlement. It's love Look the ones who have a pretty equal balance of desires between partners probably don't see the need for this. But if one has a once every three months desire and one has a three times a week desire there has to be give at take and it shouldn't always be the one with the higher desire that has to give. That is not ok. We believe that it goes both ways and the man should be willing to show love to his wife even if he's not in the mood too. And that has been the case here too. These conversations often focus on the women because often they are the ones with the lower libido especially during the years of pregnancy and breastfeeding (for me the past 17+ years). It's not that I don't want to. It's that sometimes by body is slow to respond. But that's ok. We can work with that if I have a desire to show love to him and not just brush him off and make him wait until three months down the road when I feel in the mood one time. That is not loving to him.

Exactly and he is convincing ;) but early in our marriage if it wasn't my idea or if I wasn't immediately convinced I said no which left him frustrated. Now I know I can and will enjoy it so I allow myself to. Even if I might rather be sleeping because its important to him and I love him. He very much appreciates this attitude and as a result is very understanding when I am just too dang tired. But that's because he knows the vast majority of the time I will chose to meet his needs.

I don't fake it. I willingly make a choice to enjoy it. And I do. It takes being willing to go ahead and relax and get into it rather than go to sleep(which might be easier but would not being loving to him if it was way more frequent than not)

Yes I believe in being available. It has been a very positive thing in our relationship. If I am obviously sick or extra tired of course he is understanding and not demanding. But I would be in the mood maybe 1/10 of the time he is(or less...) and so I do it anyways as a way of showing my love. It is NOT about me but about him and be willing to unselfishly give my all to him. He would definetly have a hard time with the frequency I would desire and I do not feel that would be fair to him. There are things he does for me that he doesn't feel like either. Doing only that which we feel like is not a recipe for a healthy life or healthy relationships.

This is helpful thank you. It is probable they weren't small enough. And I used patons kroy. I wondered if the yarn was just a bit too thick. I have done sleep socks in sport or even worsted weight and we love those. Really comfy.

I must be doing something wrong as my knitted socks don't fit well in shoes at all. But they are very comfy. And fun to knit.

I guess scanning was easier and I find seeing the typeface and illustrations interesting but I can't actually use the scanned books. And I'm one that loves ebooks so its not that. I just find it very not user friendly and nothing at all like a kindle book.

There are two tethers on each bench. Back seat sits 4 but is in two pieces so we almost always have half of it out to create space for stroller etc.

Full size van is really the only option that meets all those requirements. We chose a 15 because we wanted the trunk space. But a 12 would be big enough for you for now. We had 7 kids at the time. You get used to driving it. Parking is always pull through unless absolutely impossible and then I make sure park where there won't be cars behind me when I back out. We love our van!!

Not. Your. Kids. If they were endangering your kids or passerbys fine. But please leave them alone. eta: if it is illegal to ride on the street then maybe I could see turning them in. But I still wouldn't.

I worry about this. I do feel more tired etc but I have a strong love for little children and honestly get so excited to do things again with my younger set so I feel I will be ok. Just this am I started reading the little house books to them(again for me and prompted by recent threads!)and realized several of them haven't heard homer price an can't wait to read that again. I can't really figure out what my youngers could be missing. I still get down on the floor and play and snuggle on the couch etc. we go to park days and homeschool coop. I don't do the library. Ugh. the library and i don't get along but we have more money then we did when the olders were young and so therefore have lots of books! Watching the bond between the oldest ones and the youngest ones make it all worth it. Just today my oldest came home from his CC classes and the 15 month went running for him and gave him a huge hug and clung to him. My oldest trotted him upstairs chatting with him and just generally being cute with him. My second oldest set up a surprise at lunch for the youngers (pretended to serve them happy meals). I remember those moments when I'm tired and it makes it all worth it.