Allison P

My cycles are ALWAYS 28-29 days. I always get premenstrual cramps a few days before AF.

This month I started bleeding on day23. It caught me off guard as I hadn t had any of my normal warning signs. The bleeding was pretty light at first, but enough to leave a stain on my underwear, and I had slight cramping. The cramps got worse, but were manageable and not as intense as my usual AF cramps (which require pain meds). The bleeding stayed pretty heavy for the next 2 days and seemed different than my usual AF. The first couple days of AF it s always bright red with a few clots. This, although the flow was quite heavy, was a lot more watery, the color more pink and no clots at all.

After those two days the bleeding became lighter and it became more brown. This went on for 4 more days. I finally stopped bleeding yesterday.

I wasn t tracking my ovulation this month so don t know exactly when it occurred. But if ovulation happened when I believe it should have, the bleeding would have started around 8dpo.

I took a pregnancy test yesterday (the day I was originally expecting AF) and BFN.

I don t really feel pregnant, but have been extremely tired the last few days, very hungry and thirsty, and have had waves of nausea here and there. I ve read a lot about implantation bleeding and most info says it shouldn t be heavy at all. But part of me is wondering what is going on. It is NOT normal for AF to come 6 days early, nor did this bleeding look or feel like it normally does. Thoughts?

I always hear people saying "don't send anything you wouldn't want the world to see, the pictures actually aren't gone forever" No? Where do they go? How do I get them back?

I met this guy in April of last year and we've been talking ever since. For the first five-ish months it was pretty casual. Just getting to know each other, establishing a friendship, etc. In October he admitted he really liked me, and although we both agreed we wanted to take things slow, he did say he wanted to talk more and see where things went with the goal of eventually dating. So from then till around the end of December, he would text me daily. Every single day. We both have pretty demanding jobs so we text each other whenever we had time during the day, but our conversations would always start with him saying something like "good morning beautiful" when he got up in the morning and end at night time with him saying "good night/sweet dreams gorgeous" or something along those lines. We live about an hour and a half away from each other, but I would go to most of his hockey games on the weekends and he also came to see me a bit too. Over those months, he's told me that he thinks I'm amazing and that he's never had a chance with anyone as amazing as me, that he wishes he could be with me every day, that just seeing me for a minute makes him so happy, that if he's having a bad day he just needs to talk to me and he feels better, he's said multiple times that he's so worried about screwing things up with me and that if he ever did anything to drive me away he'd never forgive himself, etc. For Christmas, he got me a $100 gift certificate to my favourite clothing store (which to me was a HUGE gesture, as nobody EVER spends that much on me besides my parents). The first time he came to my house to visit me we watched a movie and cuddled and made out some, and after he left he texted me that he had such an amazing time and that he was so sad to be leaving. He took me out on a few "official" dates and each time made me promise it wouldn't be the last time.

I really like this guy. We get along great and have a lot in common. I've never met anyone with such similar morals and interests as me. And he's just the sweetest. A genuinely nice and respectful guy, and that's difficult to find these days.

HOWEVER, this past month has felt different. The first week or so of January were normal but then he suddenly stopped texting me every day. I'm not a clingy person at all so not talking every single day isn't a big deal, but it was just weird because he usually did want to talk to me every day. And then I went to one of his games and he barely talked to me at all the whole night. I texted him the next day and asked if everything was ok. He said yes. I asked him what his intentions with me were (at that point we still weren't officially dating, just kinda "seeing each other") and he said he doesn't know what he wants. I asked what that meant exactly, but all he would say was "I don't know". He finally said (word for word) "you are amazing and I really like and want you, but I just dunno, not sure if I'm ready for all this". I told him that I was cool with him taking some time to think about everything if he needed to, and he hasn't talked to me in about 2.5 weeks now. Didn't even say hi to me when I went to his hockey game this past weekend.

If he's not in a place where he can have a relationship, that's fine. I can't be mad about that. I've been there. Sometimes we all just need to be single and focus on ourselves. I'm just REALLY confused and honestly quite upset that he spent MONTHS making me believe he wanted something with me if he was never actually sure. He basically led me on all this time. That's just not fair and it hurts like hell. I don't know if he was just bored the last few months and was bullshitting me or if he was actually being sincere but just recently decided he wasn't ready. Either way sucks, ya know? I'm trying to be patient and give him the time and space he needs, but I am really worried he's gonna either not ever going to come back or he's going to text me one day saying he for sure doesn't want anything. What should I do? Wait to hear from him? Or just basically say "peace out" right now? I do really want him, but the thing is I don't want to be involved with someone who doesn't really want to be with me. If he has to think about it, he obviously doesn't really want to be with me...right? Am I right to be upset?

My dad's iPad has the iTunes symbol and I don't know how to get it off. What do I do to fix this?

**He does not have a computer to hook it up to** I have my laptop, but it has my iTunes on it with my apple ID, my music, my apps, etc.

The photo frame I have does not have a shuffle feature, and I don't want the pictures to go in order like they do now

This is happening with a few different songs/artists. I have everything how I want it in iTunes on my computer: song name, artist, and album name are all correct. But on my phone it displays the album as something different.

For example, I have three songs by Thomas Rhett, all from his It Goes Like This Album. Everything is as it should be in iTunes, but on my phone says there are 2 albums, one called Thomas Rhett and the other Thomas Rhett - EP. I want JUST the one It Goes Like This album. How do I fix this?

I work at a daycare and we have one little girl who always holds books upside down. Always. I know it's common for babies and toddlers to hold books upside down because they don't know any better. But this girl is 2 years old. She talks pretty well, she'll tell you when she wants to read a book, she knows what it is to read a book, she can identify pictures, she knows a few letters, etc. But she refuses to hold books the right way. And I mean refuses. I have NEVER seen her hold a book the right way. She'll be "reading" by herself and it'll be upside down. If she grabs a book and opens it and realizes it is the right way she'll turn it around. Even if you are holding the book and reading to her she will fight you until the book is upside down in your hands. Her parents say she does the same thing at home. Always has apparently. They don't seem too concerned, they just laugh it off. Is this normal?

My grandpa and Bob were first cousins.

My friend's great grandma and Bob's mom were sisters.

Are my friend and I related?

I work at a daycare. On an average day, we have 10-15 children ages 6 months to 4 years. There are three other staff members working there, four including me. Two of the ladies are fairly new to Canada. They came from India not too long ago. I am having a very hard time working with them. First of all, neither of them speak very good english. It's hard for Kelsie (my other english-speaking co-worker) and I to explain things to them. They have a very hard time communicating with the kids, because half the time they don't know what the kids are saying and most of the time the kids have absolutely no idea what they're saying. They can't pronounce a lot of the kids' names correctly, so if they try calling someone by name the kid won't respond. Kelsie and I pretty much have to do EVERYTHING, because when you're working with children, communication skills are extremely important. We have to do ALL the disciplining, because we can speak firm and clear enough for the kids to understand. For example, if one child takes a toy away from another child and it causes a fight, only the two of us can tell them "No, you don't take toys, that's not nice, please give it back" in a way that the kids will understand. If the other ladies were to handle the situation, they'll say "give back, must to be kind and play appropriate" in broken english...kids just don't respond to that. Especially not ones that are just learning to talk themselves. When a parent comes to drop of a child, most of the time they'll have specific things to tell us, make us aware of, show us, etc. Kelsie and I have to always deal with the parents ourselves, because the other ladies won't understand most of what they're telling us. One day we had a new kid come and his mom told one of the Indian ladies he's allergic to strawberries. I was busy dealing with something else but thank god I was listening in on that conversation too because what's the first thing she did at snack time? Give the little boy strawberries because she didn't understand what his mom was saying when she dropped him off. I was able to catch it JUST before he put the strawberry in his mouth and had to explain to her "he's allergic to strawberries...he can not have strawberries!" I could go on and on...

Anyway, does it make me a bad person because I would rather work with english speaking people? I completely understand that immigrants need jobs and I'm not at all saying that they shouldn't be hired. I would normally think it's totally cool that a daycare would have a multicultural staff, and yes I think that young children being exposed to different cultures and races is a very good thing. It's just that it's extremely hard to work them with, given our faced-paced, always-on-the-go, have to have eyes in the back of your head type of work environment. With kids, especially so many really young ones, there usually isn't a whole lot of time to spend explaining things to people who don't understand anything you're saying.

Btw, yes I have talked to me boss. At this point, there's nothing she's willing to do. Hiring immigrants and having a multicultural daycare is more important to her than making sure all her employees are able to do their share of the work. I'm not sure if it makes me a bad person, but I hate the fact that there are 4 daycare providers technically, but only 2 that are able to pull their weight. I'm sick of having to do my job AND their job. Is that wrong of me?

My friend just got a new iPod touch. She does not have a computer so she wants me to fill it for her with my computer. I want to make her her own apple ID, but if I do that and set my iTunes to her ID, will all the apps that are already on my iTunes go on to iPod with her apple ID or mine? How do I plug her iPod into my computer and have everything under HER apple ID?

Why does the same thing cause AND cure canker sore?

I have iTunes on my computer that I use for my iPhone, and my mon just got an iPod Touch and wants me to fill it for her. I'm going to use her computer to do this, which currently does not have iTunes. Once I download iTunes, can I use my own Apple ID to download songs and apps onto her iPod? Is it possible to do that without disturbing what's on my phone, or do I have to make a whole new iTunes account for her?

My mom is 50 and my dad is 55. I feel like they are ALWAYS complaining about their age and how their bodies just aren't what they used to be. Even when they are not actually complaining, they constantly act like they are 70!

Both of them complain every single day of sore bones and muscles, my dad cannot get up out of a chair without grunting and cringing in pain and a lot of times he walks hunched over because his back is so sore, my mom is a kindergarten teacher and she can no longer sit on the floor with the kids during Sharing Time because she won't be able to get back up without help. Neither of them can see worth a crap without their reading glasses, my dad reads with a magnifying glass (along with his glasses) and my mom often needs her reading glasses, a magnifying glass AND a flashlight to read a book or the newspaper, they are CONSTANTLY asking me "what does this say? I can't read it..." You literally have to yell at them if you want to have any chance of them hearing you when you talk to them, the volume on the TV is always up so loud you can barely hear yourself think. I swear to God they need hearing aides but they refuse to admit that it's that bad, but trust me IT IS!! My mom has hot flashes at least 20 times a day and nearly freezes the rest of us out when she opens every single window in the house in the dead of winter time. They both take about 10 different pills and medication a day, their memories are TERRIBLE (if I tell them something today, there's only about a 30% chance they'll remember it by tomorrow), I am sooooo used to telling them the same thing countless times over because they forget from day to day, they need to take at least 1-2 naps a day or they can't function, they cannot stay up later than 10 or 11 at night (even on new years), they refuse to drive at night now because they say their eyes can't handle the lights of oncoming traffic, etc etc etc. The list goes on and on and on.

I understand that as we age, our bodies change and as is commonly said, "things just aren't what they used to be." I totally get that. That's just a fact of life. But really, are the changes your body goes through this drastic and this sudden? My parents weren't like this 5 years ago! And really it's only been in the last year or so that I've noticed these things getting A LOT worse. They seriously act like they are 75 year old senior citizens, when really they are only in their early to mid 50s! Is it like this for everyone? Because seriously, this scares me! Not only because I am not married yet nor have any children and I don't want my parents to be in senior homes and completely dependent on my sister and I before they become grandparents, but I don't want this to be my life when I get to be their age! I look at them and think "wow, this is what I have to look forward in only 30 years, what a nightmare!"

Is 50 REALLY the age when your life (or more so your body) starts to go down hill?

So I've been seeing my current doctor for about 3 years now. She's awesome, I love her. She's friendly, patient, caring, gentle, understanding, thorough, willing to listen to all questions and concerns and will answer them in a way that's easy to understand...everything you could ask for in a Family Doctor.

However...I called about 10 months ago (end of February) to make an appointment and the receptionist told me that my doctor had gone home to India for a vacation and would be back in a month. I was a tad annoyed because I was sick and really needed to see a doctor, but it wasn't too big of a deal because I ended up going to a walk-in clinic and seeing a doctor there. Plus, everyone needs a vacation every now and again, especially if you are from a different country and don't get to go back very often. No problem.

She was not back "in a month" and when I called to ask when she'd return, the receptionist said "we're pretty sure she'll be back in May". I didn't really know what to say to that, considering they weren't positive on her return date, plus the fact that that was 3 months away! Anyway, to make a long story short, it is now December, she's still not back from India, and the office has no idea when she'll be back. In fact, when I called last week and asked if she'd EVER be back, the girl said "well I certainly hope so" and couldn't tell me anything beyond that. What?????

Is it just me, or does that seem SUPER unprofessional? I understand she needs time to go back to her country and everything and I am not sure whether she just went for a vacation of some sort of "family emergency" or something, but regardless, she has patients waiting for her here and wondering when/if ever she'll return. And by the sounds of it she hasn't even let her office staff know what's going on. She hasn't even gotten any doctors to fill in for her!! (There is another doctor in the same office who is taking patients, but there have been many many negative reviews for him so not many people are willing to see him instead) I know MANY people that go to her, and a lot of them have gotten fed up and found new doctors. I'm thinking it's about time for me to do the same. It just sucks cause I've never seen a doctor with such professional and caring bedside manner, and I honestly loved her for that. Finding a doctor who is taking new patients is hard enough as it is in this city, let alone a doctor like her.

What do you think? I am right for being upset about this, cause I kinda feel bad cause what if something bad happened to her family or something back home? She has every right to go back,

Ellen had that family on with the four adopted boys. At the end she gave them a new car. Did anyone else notice that the car only has five seats? Three seats in the back and two in the front. There are six people in the family. Why would they give a family of six a car with only five seats?

I have a friend who I love dearly. We've known each other 3 ish years now. For the first couple years of our friendship, I felt completely comfortable talking to him about anything. I was kinda going through a hard time, and he was always there for me and made me feel better. No matter what it was, he was always willing to listen and try to help. And I, in turn, did the same for him. He'd talk to me about stuff and even told me that I was the one of the only ones he felt comfortable talking to about certain things. We had a great dynamic and although we talked about a lot of deep stuff, we had a lot of fun too. He was one of my best friends, and I was one of his.

Now, though, things have changed drastically. We hardly ever talk anymore. He doesn't return my phone calls or texts, so the only way I can get a hold of him now is by email, and a lot of times he won't even return those. He has become so absorbed in his work and other projects at home that at the end of the day, picking up the phone and talking people in his life has become "too much work"...therefore he goes months and months without talking to anybody.

So it's not just me that he's doing this too. Whenever I do get to talk to him (well, "talk" via email...we haven't actually talked since July) he tells me not to take it personally, because he doesn't have close relationships with anybody anymore, not even his family. I have been doing my best not to take it personally when my phone calls aren't returned or when I text him saying "I need to talk, can I call?" and he replies with "can't talk...too busy". I DO know that he treats everyone this way, and it's not just me. But what bothers me is the fact that we aren't close anymore. I feel like I barely know the guy! It bothers me that he doesn't care to know what's going on with me anymore. I am ALWAYS interested to hear about his life. I want to know how his job is going. He is currently in the process of building his own cabin, and I always want to know about the progress and how he's doing with it. etc etc etc. Big things are happening in my life at the moment and does he care enough to ask about any of it? Nope. It bothers me that the only time he'll ever contact me is when he is bored to death (which is a VERY rare occurrence). It bothers me that instead of a good friend he really cares about, I have become just someone he talks to occasionally to pass the time when he has nothing better to do. It bothers me that I am putting forth a lot of time and effort into our friendship, and I am getting NOTHING in return. We don't talk very often now as it is, but I feel like if I stopped trying to contact him and initiating conversations, we would never talk again.

What should I do? I oftentimes think that I'd probably be better off to just let everything go and move on with my life, with or without him. It's just hard, ya know? I have known him know for only 3 years, but I feel like he's been in my life forever. We got along soooo well, had soooo much fun together, and were basically best friends. And to lose that would be devastating. I feel like I am in denial, though, because I think the reality of the situation is that I have already lost it. What do you think? Should I stick around for the sake of the friendship and hope that one day things can become good again? Every day that it's not hurts...really bad.

I think it's really cute!

Could also be spelled Kaibree, Kabri, Cabri, etc

I had head lice about a month ago. I treated it with NIX twice, and for a while the lice seemed to have went away. But now, my head is really itchy again. Really REALLY itchy! I don't have anyone to go through my hair and check, as my parents don't live in the same city as me and none of my friends have any idea of what to look for. I do, however, comb my hair with a nit comb every day. I was under the impression that if you do have lice, the nit comb would take the nits and lice out of your hair, but when I comb there is never anything on the comb. Why? It makes me think I don't actually have lice again (or still), but my head is so itchy all the time and I don't know why else that would be.

Is it possible to have lice even when there is absolutely no sign of them when using a nit comb?

I work in childcare (in a daycare situation) in Canada. The two other ladies I work with are not originally from here. They are both quite new to the country...one of them immigrated from Congo almost a year ago now and the other from India only about 6 months ago. These ladies are both very nice and I love that I am getting the opportunity to work with interesting people of different cultures and backgrounds.

As you can imagine, however, there is somewhat of a language barrier and that's something that I haven't quite adjusted to yet. Although I've been working with these women for about four months now and am slowly getting used to everything language-wise, I still have quite a few issues with it as they both have VERY thick accents and are not AT ALL fluent in english. I am finding that to be quite challenging, as I'm sure anyone would when in any work environment, but it seems like it's especially difficult in the field of work that I am in. We work mostly with very young kids and toddlers. It's not very often that we get kids older than 3 years of age. Most are just learning to talk, and lot of times they don't know what you're saying at the best of times, let alone when the person talking to them is very poor at speaking english. I'm the only childcare worker that speaks their language fluently and as a first language, therefore I am the one having to deal with most of the typical children things like fighting, not sharing toys, tantrums, etc. They have a difficult time communicating with the children. They try, but most often the kids have no clue what they are saying. Sometimes I don't even know what they're saying, let alone a child who is just learning to talk! Like I mentioned, I am the one who has to deal with the not-so-fun aspects of looking after little kids, like when they are throwing a tantrum for example. Sometimes it's easy to calm a child down by distracting them with a toy or something, but a lot of times you have to actually talk a child through it by saying things like “it's okay, calm down, your mom will be back in a few minutes, don't cry, etc etc etc”. These ladies are never sure of what to say to make the child calm down. This also happens when children fight with each other. While they do try, my co-workers cannot ever successfully handle a situation like that because whenever they try to discipline the kids, the kids don't understand what they're saying! For example, when telling the kids to use their manners and say please when they want something, you would normally say “Use your manners! Say please!” The lady from Congo always says “must to speak please” which is fine, but she says it in a VERY thick accent. I have never, in my four months working with her, ever seen a child respond to that phrase when she says it. They just look at her with a blank stare. Whereas when I say “say please!” they immediately do as they're told.

It's even gotten to the point where the parents, when dropping their kids off at daycare, won't even go to the other two with instructions anymore. They'll make a point of waiting until I have a free minute so they can talk to me, even if the others are standing right in front of them empty-handed. I don't mean to make it sound like anybody is racist or anything, because nobody is. The parents will always try to make conversation with the women and everything, but will save the important stuff for me because they don't want anything to get lost in translation, so to speak. When it comes to your child, any parent would want to make sure the daycare workers are fully aware of everything from their eating habits to their sleep patterns. We've had quite a few instances in the past where instructions have been given to the non-english speaking women and they have misunderstood and have wound up making mistakes.

I just find it challenging, because it's always go-go-go-go-go-go for me since I am the only one who knows perfect english. I am the only who can successfully break up fights, console kids who are upset, discipline them, communicate with the parents, etc. I feel like everything always rests on my shoulders, and it's hard for my co-workers to take much of the weight off when they don't understand nor can they communicate well enough to do so. And don't get me wrong, these women are very lovely and pleasant people and I have absolutely nothing against them on a personal level. I feel like the worst person in the world for complaining about this, because it's not their fault at all and I know they're trying, but it's just a bit of a struggle at times. Working with children is my passion, and I wish I could really and fully enjoy my job rather than being stressed all day, ya know?

If anyone has any advice on how to make this situation work better and run more smoothly, I would very much appreciate hearing it! Thanks so much :

I work at a daycare and the majority of the kids that come are 3 years and younger. We deal with a LOT of babies.

Two of the ladies I work with can never tell if the children are girls or boys. They always have to ask the gender. Most parents tend to dress their children in gender specific clothing, and you'd think that'd give it away...but nope, not for these ladies! Today, for example, there was a baby girl who had on a pink ruffly shirt with flowers on it, jeans with pink embroidery, a pink and yellow bracelet, a big flower headband, and her fingernails and toenails were painted pink. Not to mention her mother brought her in a pink car-seat with a pink blanket. (I know, a little overdone on the pink!) One of the ladies still thought she was a boy! At one point I referred to the baby as "she" and she was like "oh, it's a girl?" I felt like saying "well, duh! hence all the pink!"

Now, I should mention that both these ladies are immigrants, one is from India and the other is from Pakistan. The only reason this may be important is because I'm thinking that maybe this is a cultural issue. Maybe it's common in those countries for boys to be dressed in pink? (not that there is anything wrong with a boy wearing pink, it's not all that common, ya know?) I'm just wondering if you can provide some insight. Do you think it's just a coincidence that both these ladies can't tell the gender by looking at a child or do you think it might be a cultural thing?

Btw, I'm sorry if I sound really ignorant and naive...I promise I'm not trying to be!