We use the Nalgene ones. G has the top that opens and snaps closed. X has the sippy top. Both have gotten nearly a year of use and have held up well. When these break we'll buy more.
shevacc that chart is great! I guess twin/full aren't much different and queen/king is a luxury they can have when they pay their own bills ;-) I think I like your idea of trundle now and bunks in a few years.
I'm debating looking for a set of bunk beds with a trundle that also can be separate beds. Depends on if I can find something reasonably priced. Then I can just buy beds once and start with the beds separate, only using 1 bed plus trundle, then later bunk them.
I've been looking into bunk beds that can separate into two beds, and also trundle beds. I think we've decided to get Xander and Genevieve a bed with a trundle for now, she gets the bed he gets the trundle. Then get bunk beds when the kids are bigger. X scares me with his climbing and I don't really want him falling out of a top bunk.
ETA - You can also look into twin extra long beds/mattresses. That's what my college had so you get the length but don't have to sacrifice the floor space. They don't need the width, really. A full is the same length as a twin...only the queen and king are longer by several inches.
I'm sorry shevacc . Brady does that crap to me all the time. I usually put Amelia to bed in my room then transfer her to their bed
Do they share a bed? I wish my kids did!
We put R to sleep first in their room then put her to bed once he's asleep and she thankfully stays quiet
We're trying to get him to sleep on a crib mattress on the floor of her room (she's in a twin daybed). He's only ever slept in my bed so I feel like it'll be a long process. He's happy to lie down on "his" mattress and listen to stories, but when he's actually tired he's come running back to my room crying for me for the last two nights. Our eventual plan is to get her a bed with a trundle and have him sleep on the trundle.
@jayhawkali, we definitely need to try getting them to sleep at different times/in different rooms. Maybe DH can read stories with G downstairs (or actually my bed would work for that too).
DH is trying to get Xander to start sleeping in Genevieve's room. He's WAY overtired tonight so I tried putting him to bed in my room like usual but he got woken up by his sister right as he was falling asleep and is now hyper. DH was supposed to be helping her settle but snuck out waaaay early to do his own thing. She napped this afternoon and keeps popping out of bed to talk, disturbing X so I called DH back to deal with his own mess. I tried for 40 minutes to get X to sleep so now I'm done.
I have to work today so I can take off Thursday for Genevieve's food challenge part 1. But DH made chocolate chip cookies with the kids before taking them out to the mall playground to run around indoors on a rainy day. Yum!
Kids come in many different shapes and sizes. I was always off the top of the growth charts in height and weight and while my parents always fed me reasonably healthy foods and I swam/danced/ran around, I was never going to be skinny, though I was proportional and my pedi was never concerned.
The thing I most wanted to comment on was the idea of pudgy kids needing to eat less or otherwise diet. I wouldn't have been described as pudgy but I had (and still have) a big appetite. I still distinctly remember the anxiety I felt being served typical kid portions at daycare and in school, and being ravenously hungry after. I would eat my one slice of cheese pizza and still be starving, ask for another (and often be denied) then frantically look around for any pizza that might be going to waste that I could eat. My body was telling me I needed to eat more, and that gnawing hunger quickly became all I could think of until I got something else to eat.
I was lucky that my parents fed me as much as I wanted, giving reasonably balanced options, and I grew up with few issues surrounding food. I'm thankful they didn't try to limit me based on some arbitrary outside standard. I don't think it would've worked and would've made me miserable.
If you're up for a camping adventure, here are my suggestions. I sleep much better on an air mattress than a ground pad when camping, and with a real pillow. The kids need at least a ground pad of some kind and a small pillow. We have a big Costco 2-room tent which is much nicer than the small 3-person one DH and I used to use.
We bring a lot of things that involve boling water since that can be done quickly on the camp stove before the fire gets started and doesn't involve washing pots . Instant oatmeal is our breakfast most mornings with tea (or coffee) and hot chocolate. We also always cook pasta one evening.
I love camping but I agree that camping is a vacation itself. Cooking meals takes several hours since you generally have to build a fire first, or set up a camp stove and walk to get water. I plan to be back at the campsite daily by 4pm when possible. And every time we've gone camping something has gone wrong for us that we've had to solve, but it's part of the adventure (rain in our tent, chipmunk bit a hole in our tent, etc.).
I AM SO FREEKIN' EXCITED FOR YOU GUYS I WANT TO SCREAM!!!!!!!!!!! We are also awaiting the hospital for a go in this trial!I pray every night we get in. They opened up the interest list but enrollment hasn't started yet. I pray we get in the patch over the OIT! THIS IS IT!!!!! IT'S HAPPENING YOU GUYS!!! A TREATMENT AND MAYBE EVEN A CURE FOR SOME!!!!!
I know the food trial is so scary, but she is in safe hands and they are going to be on top of everything. Has she ever had the Uknow peanut component test? I bet they are doing it this time for the trail. It will let you know which peanut protein(s) she is sensitized to.
The tentacle thing offshooting from the wheal is called a pseudopod. L had them two years ago at his first allergy appointment. It was either the peanut or the walnut that caused it. It is usually indicative of a definite positive reaction. Don't let it scare you! I believe that sometimes they are even a one off thing as he has never had another pesudopod at any of his other skin tests.
I'll message you some of the food allergy trial FB groups...there's one specifically for the patch.
I bet he will get in! They were excited to work with a 4-year-old since most of their phase 2 patients are pre-teens and up, so I hope that means L will get in too.
She did have the component test and was allergic to multiple components, including Ara h-2 (I don't remember which other ones, I kinda think they didn't give us written results for that test). I imagine they will do that test -- they collected 4 vials of blood. I know they're getting a specific IgE number for her so they have a baseline comparison for future blood draws.
I'm excited about the possibility but also sooo nervous about next week's food challenge. We won't know if she's getting the peanut or placebo until we see if she reacts. Then we come back on Monday for the other one.
We are having a GTG on Friday, but the main thing is that I have never been away overnight. I know, I know Super lame. I just needed more than a week to plan and prepare.
Aside from the fear of being away overnight, is this an event you would enjoy? Be able to relax?
This could be good for you! It could be a stepping stone to a weekend away with your DH.
This!
And I get it, I've never been away from Xander overnight, and only twice away from Genevieve. Once was a bridal shower, the other time was when Xander was born. The bridal shower was with my college friends and was SO MUCH FUN, I was shocked what a great time I had. I missed her, but she did great with DH. It was amazing to be able to go out to eat, then stay up late talking with my friends without interruption. Do it!!!
I'm so glad she might get to be in a trial like this! I'll be interested to hear the blood results--Thad scored almost negative on those but still had a scratch test reaction.
I'll definitely let you know when we hear. I know she was "highly positive" before but they never told us actual numbers.
A negative blood test sounds like a good sign for Thad! DH has been joking that he wishes Genevieve wasn't such an over-achiever on this particular test.
We're trying to get Genevieve into the phase 3 clinical trial of the peanut patch. It's a small adhesive patch containing peanut protein that's worn on the skin to help desensitize kids with peanut allergy. They're hoping to get it approved by the FDA in 2018. It would be amazing to know that she can safely eat trace amounts of peanuts since we wouldn't have to worry as much about cross-contamination.
Baked goods! Birthday party treats!
Her appointment was on Tuesday and they gave her skin (scratch) testing and drew blood to test how allergic she is. The plus is histamine, the minus is saline, and the P is peanut. You can't see the raised welts that popped up in this picture, but the pen marks show you the size. Apparently that tentacle thing on the peanut one is concerning, and consistent with a severe allergy. They're also doing a blood test, which we'll get results from later. Next Thursday and the following Monday we have to take her to Seattle Children's Hospital to do a 2-part food challenge to verify that she reacts to peanuts and not to the placebo. We'll then also have an idea of what amount she needs to ingest to react and how her body reacts. I'm really nervous, even though I know it will be good to have this information.
ETA - If she gets into the trial, she has a 1/3 chance of getting the placebo. After the initial introduction period, we'll change the patch daily and she'll wear it in the middle of her back for a year. I think it's postage stamp sized. Participants in the phase 2 trial often saw a 20x increase in their ability to tolerate peanuts in that time period.
I let DH have it in the car on the way to work this morning. I'm still pissed that he's basically unwilling to take a turn staying home with a sick kid, or routinely suggests sending the sick child to daycare instead of him working from home/taking the day off. He wants me to cover all the sicknesses, all the extra kid projects, and most of the housework while working full time. His work is "too important" while mine apparently isn't but then he doesn't understand why my career is stalling. </rant>
You mentioned square footage earlier...we used to live in a 1400 sft. 3 bed 1.5 bath house with a basement. The basement wasn't included in the sft and had a 600 sft. bonus room, so it really was more like 2000 sft but on paper just 1400. It felt waaay bigger than the 1200 sft apartment we moved from. Something about the stairs providing more separation and that extra basement space made a huge difference.
I'm irritated with DH today. He talks about how we both work and he's 100% willing to trade off with me for sick kids, etc. Then we have a sick kid and he's "busy that day" or he tries to argue how the child isn't really sick and should be fine at daycare. It pretty much never fails so about 90% of the time it's me staying home. The other 10% of the time I basically have to make him stay home, and he complains like crazy.
Yesterday I stayed home with Xander. I told him yesterday afternoon to plan on staying home with him today. This morning he acted shocked and confused when I said something about him staying home, then he told me he thought he was going to stay home with Xander tomorrow. Then he claimed it should be fine to take him to daycare since he doesn't have a fever. So I said fine I'll stay home again. I've worked 2.5 hours since Monday and will burn 2.5 days of PTO this week (no sick leave).
I made my case again tonight that we're getting a nanny for baby girl if he doesn't want me to stay home. He wants to have my salary to spend, but doesn't seem to get it that one reason my career is limping along is all these sick days. I guess good thing I wasn't planning a vacation anytime soon?