To Jenni-after your niece had her tonsils and adenoids out, was she all better? Was it worth it?

As far as anasthesiologists go, our next door neighbor will be doing the surgery with the ENT, and I trust him, I just worry about how it will affect someone so small. I know the risks, and even with the most trusted doctor, I worry about how difficult it will be for such a little body.

Thanks for the thoughts and prayers. 

I have a three year old also. I have noticed she goes through cycles of behavior like that. She'll be super interested in others and playing and school and then sometimes she get COMPLETELY obssessed with some new toy or make believe game (or lately its the My Little Pony Movie), and she'll want to be up in her room for hours or if I would let her parked in front of that silly DVD, not wanting to go anywhere or do anything.

I am totally comfortable with this behavior in my child, it suits her personality and its not a drastic departure from things I would see in her as a baby. By that I mean, she's an intensely focused little kid sometimes and even as little as before two years old she would become preoccupied with something and want to be by herself with it until she a. figured it out or b. got bored of it.

I guess (in my opinion) the question that needs to be asked it, does it suit the child's personality or is this behavior beyond weird. If it is a big change, or unlike anything they've seen before maybe they should look more into it, but if it's just an intensification of a pattern they have perhaps seen in the past, I think at three kids really start to want some independance and maybe even personal, alone time. 

There is this book called Baby Let's Eat by Rena Coyle. It is fabulous. Not only does it provide healthy recipes, broken down into age groups, it also suggests weekly menus based on those recipes. The 6-12 month stuff suggested is mostly puree stuff, but some examples from the 12-18 month age group are  Zucchini Pizza Strips, Brown Rice Salad, Eggplant and Cheese Stacks, Garden Gazpacho, etc.

Also, I agree with Easton's Mommy, Morningstar products are great for when you're in a rush.

Good luck! Teaching healthy eating habits is so important, but looking our for all the bad stuff is really a pain! 

With my 3rd child I had morning sickness where I lost ten pounds within the first four months (I didn't ever have to be hospitalized though) had a fabulous end of fourth/fifth months and then at 28 weeks they noticed I was having contractions and my cervix was changing so they put me on bed rest since my 2nd child came a month early and spent just under two weeks in the hospital.

This last pregnancy was a trying pregnancy and then out popped the most perfect baby ever. (He was not a great child to have as my last because now I think I should have ten more because he's so good.) 

I was fortunate to have family able to come a stay for weeks at a time to help. Also, I was (and am) involved in MOPS (mother of preschoolers) and those ladies had meals to my house and offers of help transporting kids to and from school, taking them off my hands for a time, etc. I even had a girlfriend come over and clean my house (she threatened violence if I tried to stop her :-)  ).

If you have the support, you can do it.  Time it to where you know you will have family and friends that can rally around you!

Good luck in your decision! I hope all goes well! 

Where do you live? I don...

We just bought our first home two weeks before my youngest baby was born. It is a perfect home for us. The house itself is the perfect size (I imagine once my kids are older we'll need something a little bigger), I love both the interior and exterior, our yard is a perfect size and the neighborhood itself is one isolated block that travels into a valley (our block is separated from the bigger part of our neighborhood by about 1/2 mile). Our neighborhood consists of mostly young families, with children all around my kids' ages.

I couldn't ask for more. 

I like Hunter too. I've known plenty of Hunter's and they've all been really good people.

About having a smaller baby...my first was close to nine pounds, and my second was not even 6 pounds (she was early) and she came flying out! It definitely made a difference. 

I'm going to make a nice dinner for my husband after the kids go to bed. I got really nice New York Strips, so I'll make those.

We don't have any big plans, I can't complain though because my parents live near us and normally they let us go skiing every weekend, they just decided to go out of town for their own Valentine's day weekend. We get lots of dates as it stands, so no big plans, but I'm very happy all the same. 

I was an exchange student in Germany when I was in high school, and my host mother gave me honey and onions and insisted I wear something warm around my neck (i.e. scarf or bandana).

It helped!

Goood luck! 

All the spring planting cat...

We have been in prayer abou...