Mandi*7*

I am getting married in April of 2011, in Claremore Oklahoma. I am looking for either a very talented amateur photographer who would be willing to shoot my wedding, or a reasonably priced professional. I am NOT looking for someone who is going to rush through all the pictures, who is going to take stilted, formal, unrealistic shots. I want something very natural, and photojournalist in nature. I would love to hire an amateur because i feel like they will be more inclined to take the time and effort needed to make beautiful photos. Every professional i have ever worked with just hurried you through the sessions. If anybody has any tips or knows anyone in the area whom they would recommend i would very much appreciate it!

my fiancee is allergic to cedar trees, the problem is that i have always had a real christmas tree. i hate artificial ones. it just doesnt feel like christmas to me. is there a christmas tree that isn't cedar? i mean i know that there are lots of different species of christmas tree, and i was wondering if we could find one that wouldn't make him sick. that would just make christmas perfect!

i have the mirena iud. this may be tmi, but i really need information. My periods have just about stopped (i got it inserted at the end of july) but i still have some spotting. However every time i have sex i bleed. Its only during the actual act itself. Its a serious mood killer, and what is the point of bc if i can't have sex? My fiancee says he can feel it 'pop' before i start bleeding. Has anyone had this happen to them before? Please help, i am starting to worry there is something wrong with it, and honestly can't afford to go to the doc if it is something normal that will go away.

My son is three years old. His entire life we have spent pretty much going from doctor to doctor trying to get an answer. He has been diagnosed autistic, and then specialists (psychologists, therapists) have said that he isn't. He has had seizures, but the neurologists say its not a seizure disorder. in fact they can't find anything organically wrong with him. all his tests come back normal. He is about a year and a half delayed in language and communication skills. He doesn't relate well to his peers, in fact on a bad day he doesn't relate at all. He has had mri's eeg's cat scans, blood work, urine tests, if there is a test they have done it. His pediatrician, special ed teacher, and my own research point to autism. His psychologist says a seizure disorder, his speech therapist said sensory perceptive disorder, and his neurologists just scratch their head and say they don't know. i don't know where else to look. I don't know how to treat him if i don't know what is wrong. I am at a complete loss. after a year of intensive therapy he has only gained about six months of skills. He has asthma, is lactose intolerant, and is allergic to codeine and red dye. I don't know where to go for help. ECI put him in therapy, but can't help us find a solution to his problems. I don't want to know how to deal with him, i want the answer. I refuse to accept that there isn't one. It frustrates me because everything that has happened we have had to push and fight for. No one wants to listen, and the 'experts' don't know what to do with him. Does anyone have any ideas where to go next? I would be willing to fly across the world at this point. I would love a name of a doctor who could help, or just advice on how to find one. I don't even know what kind of doctor i should be looking for now. I just want someone to help him.

I just need to know that i am not the only one in the world that gets so angry. I read all these questions on this site and just get so mad i could cry. Some parents are whining cause its hard to teach their THREE YEAR OLD to READ! My three year old doesn't even speak in full sentences yet. He has an IEP before he is technically even old enough for school. My son has more hours of therapy in a week then some adults work. And there are parents who complain about play dates. God don't get me started on play dates... my son doesn't interact with other children well, and only recently started interacting at all. Try fitting in over 20 hours a week of therapy and special schooling plus drive time to and from all these places, transitioning a child who doesn't handle transitions AT ALL (we're not talking he gets fussy, we're talking full on temper tantrums that only another mother who has been there could understand). Then add in all the doctors appointments, the special diets, the urine specimen collections, trying to potty train, trying to teach some semblance of table manners so i can someday eat in public again, not to mention the normal stresses of his baby brother, and I am fixing to implode. Don't get me wrong, I love my children. i wouldn't trade them for the world. But sometimes i feel so alone in what i am dealing with. And listening to some people on here whine because they can't claim the kid they don't raise on taxes just throws me for a loop. Am i alone?

I was interested in using the acai berry diet, in part because i am trying to lose weight quickly for the army, i need to lose 17 pounds to enlist, and although i have adjusted my diet, and am exercising (gotta be able to do PT lol) the weight isn't coming off. I am losing clothing sizes, but no weight. I HAVE to make the scale move! It's not an option. Has anyone actually used any of the products they tout online? Any success stories? I need some help!

i just had an iud put in place this past friday. I was on the last day of my period when it was inserted. I had some heavy bleeding for the first six hours or so, then it tapered off to what you would expect at the ende of your period. By sunday i had stopped bleeding, but now i am again! its really light, but enough that i have to wear a pantyliner, which by the way i am allergic too (i wear tampons but can't for ten days). i know breakthrough bleeding is a side effect, i am just wanting to hear someone else's experience with the iud, mostly for reassurance. i have the mirena. Oh and for the first two days it 'poked' me. is this common? i mean like the strings were sharp and i could feel them poking me. it hurt and i would have to shift around for it to stop, kinda looked funny walking thru the mall!

I have two children, and am enlisting in the army. i know i cannot have custody of them to enlist, and can't have them as a single parent during my first tour. I could get married, but it would only be a marriage of convenience. I need to know if anyone knows anything about custody rights in oklahoma? or where to find out more information. i want to be able to sign custody over to my parents without giving up my parentel rights. i love my children and want the best for them, which is why i am joining up, i cannot financially provide for them on my own in the civilian world. My parents are good with them, and are young enough to keep up with them. My hope is that by the time my boyfriend gets back from iraq (in a year and four months), we will be ready to get married and i can get them back. I just need to know what to do to ensure that my kids are well cared for but that i don't lose all rights to them.

I just received a friends extra download of Office 2007, but my computer won't upload. It errors out every time with no explanation, just a little sentence that says that Office 2007 has encountered and error during installation. I have tried this several times with the same results. The disk is fine, and the access codes are correct. I tried manually removing my old office program, Office 2003, but Windows Updater isn't working. How do i tell if i am running windows in 'safe mode', or if it is installed incorrectly? is there a way of reinstalling windows updater, so that hopefully i can install my new program?

I know a girl that has two children with two different fathers already, both of the girls has called at least 4 different men dad since they have been born. Now she is pregnant with her third, doesn't even know who the father is. Her kids got taken away from her once cause she was driving drunk with them in the car. She is lazy and won't work, lives on social services and the random men she sleeps with. She says she loves her girls, but all she cares about is looking like a good mom. Not actually being one. To be fair her oldest is a half sister to my youngest, but there is no jealousy or animosity there, as we are both seperated from their dad. I just feeling like running and taking care of her kids myself. I have two of my own, and have been a single mom, but my kids have never been in danger from my stupidity or selfish actions, and they are always well cared for. It just frustrates me that she is so selfabsorbed. I know lots of women like this. Why do they even have children if they don't really want them, and why do they keep having more. Birth Control is free after all.

Okay, i have a two year old son. I think it is time to start potty training, but how do i know? He doesn't talk really, but he is speech delayed, and i don't want to wait until he can talk, because that might be a while yet. He takes off his own dirty or wet diapers, and comes to 'tell' me if he needs changed. I also don't know whether to use a baby potty, or to get the ring and step stool for the toilet. He has his own bathroom in his room, but there is no way for me to keep my 11 mo old out if i open it up for him to use it, and i am afraid that with the baby potty my 11 mo old will just play with it (yuck). Any suggestions? Comments? I am just confused, i am totally ready to do away with diapers, but don't know that now is the time. Oh yeah and he goes to daycare, how do i approach the topic with his teacher?

Have you noticed that sometimes moms act like they are the most knowledgable things in the world, and then you meet their kids, and they are just as badly behaved as yours, if not more so? Seriously, i have a friend from school i just reconnected with, we were talking over the phone, and she was telling me all about how her little girls never fight, don't like being dirty, and always do as they are told. And then just as i am feeling like the most awful parent in the world, i meet her kids. They are dirty, with awful diaper and heat rashes all the time. They do fight, and she couldn't control them with a cattle prod. I just wonder why moms feel like they have to lie to be 'cool'. Why is being a better mom then someone else so important to all of us? (I say US, because i am just as guilty of it as anyone else)

I am a formerly single mom of 2 boys under 2. My and my fiancee have been together for six months on the 26, and we moved in together in July (we have known each other for eight years). His parents moved to Oklahoma City, which is about 3 hours from where we grew up and now live, about 2 years ago. He stayed in the area to take a job and live on his own for the first time (was only 19 at the time). Well now we are living together, and MY parents live only about 2/10s of a mile down the road, (totally not intentional, we rented our apartment without seeing where they bought their new house, surprise surprise, right?) Anyway, i love it, my parents are close to help with the babies, my little bros are around to give my kids lots of attention, he has a great job, (kinda deadended, but it pays well). But my fiancee wants to move to OKC to be nearer his parents. He argues that he would make more money working with his dad there, and that i could afford to stay home with the kids. (we both really want that but can't afford it right now). I want to know if you think he is expecting too much of me to pick up and move somewhere i have never lived, to be closer to people i barely know, or if i am being unreasonable and should go to make him happy? I am really confused about it, and would like an unbiased opinion....

Note: i am putting it in this section cause i want a moms opinion. I am worried about the effect of the move on my kids...

My two year old son doesn't really talk. All of his doctors agree that he is behind, but no one can seem to find the cause. We have been to see a neurologist, speech therapists, an ear nose and throat doctor, and three different pediatricians. They all seem confused by his behavior, which vocally is that of an autistic child, but he has no other signs or symptoms. I am just curious as to when all of your babies starting talking, and how long it took for them to be able to successfully communicate. (more then just the words 'mine' 'baby' 'bye-bye' and 'bubba')

My son will repeat sounds if you really keep after him, and sometimes will point to things out of the clear blue and mumble the names, but usually he whines and points to get what he wants. Any suggestions or help would also be appreciated. I am very frustrated, not only with his delays, but also with the doctors who just kinda shrug their shoulders and scratch their heads. I am terrified that my 11 month old is going to outpace his big brother in a couple of months, and I don't want my older son to feel stupid or like he isn't as smart. He is already in daycare, (mostly for the interaction, we thought it might him develop speech) and i am afraid that as he gets older my really very bright child will be deemed stupid.