Many prayers for little Tripp’s family.  We can’t know his joy, but I pray the healing for the family rains down in comfort and peace.

God bless that family. I accidentally came across that blog the other day—Thursday, I think. I can only say that I guess God wanted me to see that blog, so that I could pray for that little boy and his family at the end of his journey. But, that was one hard read. It made me very sad and upset and I had a hard time coming back to myself and parenting my own children. If you haven’t read there, my advice would be to visit that blog when you have a moment to yourself (good luck on that) and when curious little eyes aren’t peaking over your shoulder. The pictures are very rough to look at. I did end up on the Debra site about EB and it certainly is “the worse disease you’ve never heard of.” Sad, sad story.

I have seen pictures of that little boy on the blog circuit before. So sad. Those parents will definitely see a wonderful reward in heaven for the cross of caring for an ill child and seeing him lose the fight. Wow. I will be praying for them.

Normal and typical as long as it is a coping with frustration mechanism not a repetitive behavior that he is doing ‘just because’.
I have had a few head bangers. All boys. One of two things happen. They eventually realize it hurts and stop. I had one who would throw himself down, start to slam his head into the floor but then stop just short of the floor and lay his head down without hurting himself. Another who would full on slam his head and went around with a perpetual bruise on his forehead.That one, I’d just pick him up around the waist and place him on a carpeted or grassy area where he wouldn’t hurt himself. I currently have an 18 month old who will throw himself down and wail but he is always very careful not to hit his head. They all grow out of it eventually. It is a tough age learning how to deal with being denied and frustration especially for boys who may not have much expressive language at this point. Their receptive language is usually quite good. They 100% understand that you are denying them something (no, you can’t have that, give it to momma, get down no jumping on the couch etc…) but they have no way to communicate back that they are not thrilled with that other than getting upset and throwing a fit.

My son, at that age, when confronted with having something taken away, at the beach, threw himself down in the sand.  And got sand all over his face.  So I had his big brother take him out into the water, where it was….quite….cold, and say, “oh, your face is dirty, we have to wash it”.  Little Boy didn’t like that, so the next time he went to throw a fit (‘cause, really, that’s all it was) he threw himself face down in the sand, while carefully hovering his face so it wouldn’t get sandy.

The hardest part for me was not to laugh out loud.

thank you, just needed someone to assure me he would grow out of it!  Prayers for everyone.

Oh - JeniP, you have my sympathy!  I pray that you have a healthy baby and no more incidents!

Many, many prayers for you. And be careful these last two weeks. I was always so clumsy and accident prone toward the end, too. Good luck and prayers for a healthy and safe delivery!

When they aren’t eating, do they breathe with their mouths shut?  Do they have allergies or other issues that may be causing sinus congestion? 

I know from personal experience that if you have a hard time breathing with your mouth shut (due to congestion) when you aren’t eating, you’re going to continue to have a hard time breathing with your mouth shut when you are. 

Try having them blow their noses before meals and see if that helps.  It helps me.

It’s amazing what a short-term memory kids have!  I suspect that you just will need to be patient and keep reminding them.  They will get it eventually!  Speaking to what cjmr said, though, I had enlarged adenoids when I was a kid, and they weren’t removed until I was 9, and I will never forget how it felt to be able to breathe when I ate!  It was amazing to me!  So I think her advice is good about checking to see if they can breathe well through their noses.

We’ve traveled cross country a couple times with a lot of kids. Anywhere from 6-8.
We’ve done hotels and we’ve done the RV.  With the hotels we’d have a boy room and a girl room. Dh and the boys in one room and me and the girls and baby in the other.
RVing it is fun but can easily outrun the drive car/hotel rooms in expenses because of the gas necessary to tow a large enough camper to accommodate a large family. Our van would be lucky to get 10 miles a gallon towing a camper that slept 10. The most cost efficient way is to tent camp but that takes a lot of planning and organization and a lot of patience. As for safety we (and many, many friends) have stayed in camp grounds, RV parks all over the country and never had any issues at all with safety. honestly, most campgrounds/RV parks are probably safer than a lot of bargain hotels. I’ve been in hotels and heard gunfire, police called, strangers knock on the door etc…never had anything of the sort in campgrounds. Usually just nice helpful older folks and other families.

We stay at hotels with adjoining rooms.  My kids know not to open the door without looking to see if it’s a family member.  They know to keep the safety chain on the door (both to keep little ones IN and to keep strangers OUT).  Chains like the Drury Inn offer suites with more than one bedroom, which helps too.  We have also camped.  They are generally safe and family friendly.  Some parks have cabins for rent, but they probably only sleep 6-8.  If you decide to fly, you may be able to find 12-15 passenger vans available for local rental.  My inlaws have rented such vans to move boxes and small furniture when they didn’t want to rent a moving truck or trailer.  ENJOY YOUR ADVENTURE - and remember, it IS an adventure.

PS. If we drove cross country again and I didn’t have to take gas vs. hotel cost into account we would rent another RV. The kids had a great time when we drove from CT-WA and stayed in hotels. It was a wonderful trip but the trips where we rented an RV they have even better memories. As Michelle says it is an adventure going cross country but even more of one in an RV and camping.

Sometimes you can get a 2 room suite (w/ kitchette) for less than 2 rooms.  You may still need to get another room at some hotels though.  That’s what happened to us at one hotel when we only had 6 kids.

If you take the hotel route have a plan:
1. How do you want to unpack, who will unload, what will the kiddos be doing during this time?
2. Will dinner be ordered in or will you all go some where (we packed a cooler and another box of paper plates, napkins, apples, snacks, etc.)? Pizza is easy or delivery from a food place.
3. How will the evening be spent when Daddy is trying to mentally/ physically rest from the drive (even though you are probably exhausted too, it’s key that hubby relaxes and understands that you both have a plan for at least an hour or two before bed time roles around)? The pool is fun, walking around the hotel, think ahead.
4. The hardest, getting everyone to sleep. Are there consequences if little ones get out of bed, talk, wake up Mama and Daddy in a non emergency situation? Make sure they know clearly that it’s time to sleep. Also, not opening the door for anyone or leaving the room must be stressed.

Hope this helps!
God Bless.

I’d also check out http://www.vrbo.com , “vacation rentals by owner.”  You can sort based on where you want to stay, and sometimes can get much more space for the money than in a hotel room, and would have access to a kitchen.

I had to have the same thing at 28 weeks and all was well! The rough measurement that the doctor does is just a benchmark, so when you are a little off, they want to check to make sure that everything is growing properly. For me, I am tall and carried the baby more internally (which the doctor said was common in taller frames), which made the measurements smaller, but the baby was just fine! There are many other reasons why your measurements could be off without worry, but the positive thing is that they are checking and can be watchful if there ARE any problems. It’s so hard not to worry about each little thing in pregnancy, but you have to leave it in God’s hands and you can just do your best to grow and protect your baby!

I know I’m late replying, but I had a growth ultrasound with my previous 2 pregnancies, and wouldn’t be surprised at all if I have another one with this pregnancy.  Just like Jen said, all turned out well with both pregnancies.  Although I am short, I have a longer torso than most women my height, and the baby was stretched out inside.  Also, sometimes insurance companies will only cover 2 sonograms (early, and then 20-week anatomy check) without a specific reason from your doctor.  If he/she is curious about how big the baby is, or what position the baby is in, checking the growth can be an excellent reason to have another ultrasound. Prayers to you!

Hi
The same thing happened to me for both my pregnancies..I went to the dr’s around 32/33 wks and they measured me quite small for how far along I was, and I had ultrasounds which both times discovered that my amniotic fluid level was low. They kept sending me in for ultrasounds once or twice a wk to keep monitoring the dropping fluid level and once it hit too low (5.2 for first baby, and 4.7 for second baby) they induced. First time went very well, I was able to have a natural birth, but induction failed the second time around and I ended up with an emerg. c section due to the baby’s heart rate that was in the 50s and not coming back up! According to my midwife, low amniotic fluid is one of the most common reasons for measuring small. Normal amniotic fluid levels are above 8, once they’re 8 and below, they would start to monitor.
Hope all goes well, I’ll say a prayer for you!

I have had tight belt wearers and close to the table sitters and tightly laced shoe kids.  I only have made them as tight as I felt was safe and if they complained, I have told them it isn’t safe.  Perhaps a few times I have had to threaten “no belt at all” if they argued about it not being tight enough.  As long as it is not very frequent, expect that it will not last long, that she will grow out of it.  Her feet won’t be permanently deformed if she scrunches them up once in a while…I have taken my growing children in for new shoes to discover they need 2 or 3 sizes up, and they had not been complaining.  The feet recovered.

Thank you very much Michele for your response.  That is very re-assuring and practical.  You made me feel better.  I will just keep a close eye on it and hopefully she will grow out of it.  But thank you for replying.  I often post late at night and it is too late for a response.  I appreciate it