Dear Renny...

My best friend is not only my "BFF" but also my oldest and dearest friend I have, I've literally been friends with her since we were 1. She's literally a sister to me. She has a 3 year old son and the father is no longer in the picture. My problem is that her son, though I love him to death, is SO rotten! She still lives with her parents and all three of them let this kid walk all over them. He's greedy and doesn't listen and is just as ornery as they come- all of this is due to the way they raise him. Recently I went to the mall with her, her son, her oldest sister and her mother. When we sat down in a restaurant to eat, she wouldn't put him in a high chair so he was just on free roam. He would crawl under the table and pull up on the side that her mother and I were on and take food off my plate try to drink out of my cup nearly knock me off the bench. This just went on and on and she wouldn't do anything but threaten to put him in his high chair. I was to the point that I almost walked out of the restaurant because I was so frustrated with his behavior. This is the kind of behavior that goes on all the time. They have taught him to eat his food by saying "I'm gonna eat your food..." and he will scream "NO!!!!" and snatch it up and shove the food in his mouth- that's just pure greediness!

I am aware that it is not my place to make comments on the way she raises her son but it is to the point now that I DO NOT want to go anywhere with the two of them any more. Like I said, I love her so much and I love her son just as much but his behavior is out of control and I don't know what to do about it. She always expects me to go places with them and I know that if I tell her why I don't want to anymore it will ruin my friendship. Does anyone have advice on this subject??

This is going to be a little long but please bare with me...

My fiance and I have been together for a year now and in that year we have moved in together, got pregnant and engaged (in that order). We moved our relationship so fast that I think I have whip lash and I think I'm the only one that's seeing the problem with that.

We fight so much, and it's not like normal, healthy fighting- it's a screaming match. We are both hot heads and very hot tempered. Since I've gotten pregnant I've tried to calm myself and try just talking to him like an adult when there is a problem but he gets so defensive and starts spitting acid in every word so I just lose it. Most of our arguments happen when he's drunk, to which he's admitted that he has a drinking problem and wants to do something about it. Right now he is working on quitting smoking so I don't expect him to jump right into quitting drinking at the same time, Rome wasn't built in a day. Also, when we fight he feels the need to punch walls and doors (our house has been looking like swiss cheese until we just recently fixed the doors).

Our recent fight started out to be about our sex life- it's been a once a week thing (not on purpose) because I'm exhausted and basically have a lack of libido lately. Not to mention I'm completely questioning our relationship at this point. Of course it spawned into other issues and one thing came up that has been rotting in my mind. He said that I don't do anything for him (like his laundry) and I told him that I don't mind doing it every once in a while but I'm not his mother and he is grown man and should be able to do it himself. He started screaming that it's "HIS HOUSE" and he "PAYS THE BILLS!" I have offered to help pay the finances but he refuses because I do no make enough to barely cover my own bills and he makes more than triple what I do. (Don't get me wrong, I do my part around the house, i.e. cook, clean, etc.- I just don't think I should have to do his laundry.) When we're not fighting he claims it is "our house" but when he is off on one of his drunken tangents it is "HIS HOUSE!" I'm sick of this getting thrown in my face. I threatened to leave the last time we fought and he straightened up but then once again we're off and running with the fighting. I've insisted that we get couples therapy but he refuses and says that he doesn't need to see a therapist because he's not crazy. I don't know what else to do, I love him and want to wait to see if quitting drinking helps our situation but I'm just so scared and I feel like I can't take not another fight.

Please, realistic answers. I'm pregnant and I don't know if I'm strong enough to walk away.

This might be a little long but I'm desperate for help... I would like anyone's advice, guys opinions would be appreciated a lot!

My fiance and I just recently got engaged (about 2 months ago) but we've been living with each other for 10 months now in his house (he has stated that he likes to think of it as OUR house, not just his) that he bought before we started dating. We just found out that we're going to be having a baby in about 6(ish) months. My problem is that before me his mother was the one to take care of him and did all his home furnishings. She decorated his house, bought his furniture, arranged his cabinets and decor to her liking, everything but painting. Now that we're starting our own family I would like to make some changes and turn his clingy, over-baring mother's house project into OUR home. When I bring this up to him he says that he "doesn't like change" but I'm suspecting that he just wants to keep it the way his mother did it. To me this is empowering her over-baring character.

Personally her and I don't share the same taste in decor or furniture for that matter (she got him orange-y red couches- ICK!). I want to paint because the walls are just plain white and decorate so that it's not her's, but to make it ours. Don't get me wrong, I like her and she's not the worst thing I could have had for a mother-in-law but even when I do a little decorating here and there she will come in when we're not home and move things!!!!!! It drives me crazy!

Am I being selfish? I don't want to make him do anything he's not comfortable with but I also don't want to be painting when we have a new born in the house. Please be honest but not brutal here, I'm pregnant and sensitive :) If I'm right about this, any suggestions on how to go about changing things in a subtle way as to make it less dramatic (for him and his mother)?

My boyfriend and I just recently found out that we're pregnant the WEEK before we went on vacation with his family. When we told his parent's, before the vacation, it was a shock to them (as it was for us too) and they didn't seem very happy about it (we're not married so it's a sin and all...you know). While on vacation they both seemed to "warm up" to the whole situation. His mother, whom, let me explain her personality, she's a spot light HOG. She has to be the center of attention and if she's not she just gets louder until she is. She chooses favorites between her nieces and nephew's and even between her own children! Now my boyfriend's brother and his wife found out they were pregnant 2 months before we did, so that's just been a whole other story. Getting back to his mother, she announced while on vacation that she would like her grandchildren to call her MOMMA. I find this completely offensive because it's so close to Mommy and some kids even call their mothers Momma when they're little. I know it seems simple but it bothers me so badly but I don't know how to handle the situation. I just think it's a little strange to want your GRANDchildren to call you Momma...especially since she's such an attention hog. I just don't want her thinking that she can step in and take over my position as the mother.

Does this sound weird to anyone else? Am I making a big deal out of nothing? What would you do in this situation?

To start off, I have PCOS (Polycystic Overy Syndrome), so I have an irregular period and I take birth control to regulate it and I am NOT ttc. Recently I didn't refill my prescription for the BC, so I was off it for a month. My period should have started around August 19th but never came. When I realized I missed my period I took a pregnancy test the following week on/around Wednesday- it was negative. So I just chalked it up to be my irregular period due to the PCOS and haven't taken another test.

Now, about 3 weeks later I'm having cramps and a lot of bloating after I eat (I have to take anti-gas medicine to help with the bloating). The cramping started about a week ago and it's been mildly intense, like a normal period cramp for me, but my period never started. Lately I've been having some mild nausea. I've also been really exhausted all the time. My breast don't seem so different but my nipples are sore.

Anyone have a similar experience that could help me figure this one out?

I've noticed lately that I've been feeling really hungry all the time. I feel like no matter how much I eat I can't get this hungry feeling to subside and it makes me feel nauseated. I'm trying not to eat a lot so I've been eating crackers and fruits but my stomach actually growls. It's just a constant state of hunger. I've been having really bad dizzy spells lately as well. Can anyone help? Anyone ever have symptoms like these?

If I am pregnant, I would only be about a week and a half, so it's still really early. BUT- my period is supposed to start this week sometime. I have PCOS so I don't know an exact date that it will start, it's usually Thursday or Friday but sometimes it will be earlier or later...so I can never really tell. How soon can I take the test to get an accurate result? If I took a test tomorrow morning would it be accurate since my period is supposed to start this week?

I am 24 yrs old and I have Polycycstic Ovarian Syndrome so I have never had a regular cycle. About 14 to 16 days after the start of my period i started having really bad cramping on my right lower abdomen and also was having some brownish discharge (I told my mom about it and she said that I was ovulating). Well, before I knew exactly what it was my boyfriend and I had unprotected sex twice. I know it's strange but I don't know my body very well since I've never been able to predict it so I don't know what to do.

I don't know if I'm pregnant or not because it's only been about 9 or 10 days since we had sex during my "ovulation" and I always thought it was going to be impossible to get pregnant on my own with out IVF treatment. My question is, does anyone have or have experience with PCOS and gotten pregnant on your own? If so, when should I be able to tell if I am? My period should be starting this week sometime...

I'm pretty scared so any help would be appreciated.

I have had this habit that I've done since I was a baby and had long enough hair and it's very hard to stop. I play with my hair in a way that it splits my ends and I have to get a hair cut so much more often then I should. It's almost like a nervous habit- it's very comforting to me to play with my hair this way but I really need to stop. Help!!

A little background...my best friend and I literally grew up together, we've been best friends since we were 1 year old. We've been friends for so long that I consider her my sister and her 3 year old son, my nephew.

Now with that said, she met a guy at work and they started dating and were seeing each other for about a year, sort of. He works 3 jobs, the job he works at with her, a tennis coach and another job that I'm not sure what exactly that it is. Along with the 3 jobs he also gives tennis lessons, so he's a pretty busy guy. This was fine at first for her, but after a year it started getting really tough. He would go days to weeks without so much as a phone call or a text message and would only come over to her house at night when her child was asleep. There were several times that she called me crying wanting my advice on their situation or because they broke up, only to get back together the next day. He's pretty much an awkward guy, very weird and no one in her family likes him (i.e. mother, father, 2 sisters, and brother), and as her best friend, I can't stand him. A few months ago, they went about a week and a half without speaking, not without my friends efforts. She texted him, called him and he never responded but maybe once telling her that he was sick, but that was it. Finally she had had enough and sent him a text message saying something along the lines of, "look, I can't take this anymore. I haven't heard from you in weeks, this is over if you don't respond." He never responded so she deleted his contact information and moved on with her life. A few weeks ago he texts her and now they're talking again and she's already invited him out with us, knowing that I can't STAND him. She is bringing him around her son again, and I'm really worried about this. He's terrible for her and I'm not shy about making that known to her.

My concerns are not just for her but also for her son (whose father is not in his life). I just don't think he's the best role model for him because he's not reliable and has hurt his mother so much.

As her best friend should I keep pushing the subject that he's not good for her or just suck it up and bare his presence for her sake?

I have been friends with a girl since we were in 11th grade in high school, so about 7 years now. Now we are in our early 20’s and still friends, we work in the same building and have lunch together every day. Almost 2 years ago her boyfriend decided to propose and she accepted, then about 6 months ago, one night full of drunken debauchery, she asked me to be a bridesmaid. I was the first person she asked and I felt honored, even though we were both pretty drunk at the time. She discusses the wedding details with me everyday at lunch, sends me emails with pictures asking me for my opinion, and even discusses her grievances on different things for the wedding. One of those grievances is the fact that her fiancé doesn’t have enough friends for her to put everyone that she wants, as a bridesmaid, in the wedding. As a good friend I offered to step down to save her some grief never thinking that she would accept the offer, since I’ve always been a really good friend to her, and as I expected she didn’t. A few weeks later she sent me an email asking me to step down, since I had already offered, so that she could put another friend of hers (whom she's known for a great deal longer than me, but hasn't been around a lot since we met in 11th grade) in my place, so that she wouldn’t hurt her feelings. I agreed, as it is her wedding, but was still very hurt by it, and she has since admitted that, though she considers me a really good friend, she was very drunk when she asked me and that she jumped the gun and shouldn’t have asked and that it all came down to length of time known. Now looking back at our friendship throughout the years, I feel like everything has been one sided, I feel like a friend of convenience to her. Every time I call to hang out she won’t commit to any plans with me, or will go out with other friends and not invite me. It just feels like she only calls on me when no one else is available. I told my boyfriend, of 5 months whom she introduced me to (he worked with and is friends with her fiancé), about how hurt I was by all of this and now he doesn’t even want to go to the wedding. Anytime I bring up her wedding, which is in October, he will automatically say, “We’re not going.” I just want to know if I was right to be upset with her, and is my boyfriend right in not wanting to go to the wedding? As a friend I still feel the obligation to go, but in the back of my head I feel like my boyfriend is right and that I shouldn’t want to go.

Is this right?

I'm trying to get my boyfriend a really special birthday present. He is a huge Caps fan and an even bigger Nicklas Backstrom fan. I have been searching and searching the internet for a game used 2009-2010 season Nicklas Backstrom hockey stick. I swear I have searched every website on the internet for one! If anyone can have mercy on me and help me find one I would be really really greatful! PLEASE HELP!!!

My house is brand new and the walls are completely white...I can't stand it. I've already picked out colors for the kitchen and the dining room so far but I'm completely at a loss for the living room and foyer. The house is set up so that in the foyer, the walls go all the way up to the second floor where there's a balcony looking down into the foyer at the front door. So whatever color I paint in the foyer has to be the same in the hall way upstairs as well. Now the kitchen is going to be a lighter olive green, which works for what I want. The only problem is that there is one great wall that extends from the kitchen and into the living room. The couches are like an orange-red color (I didn't pick them out...ugh!). What color should I do the other walls in the living room without sticking with a boring off-white color that can match the couches and the olive green but can also work upstairs as well?

I'm gonna try to make this as short as possible. I've been hung up on my ex of 3.5 years for almost two years now. He broke up with me and shortly after that I met a guy that I work with. It was like an instant attraction and we've now been seeing each other for a year and five months now. During this time we've never been an official couple with the title or label. I love him and he loves me and we tell each other that and I feel like it's time to move our relationship to the next level but everytime I bring the subject up it always causes a big fight. He refuses to put a title on us. He says that if I would just let it be eventually I can call him my boyfriend and he wouldn't have a problem with it. He claims that I'm the only person that he loves and the only person that he's sexual with. But he says he can't trust me and is constantly accusing me of stuff like getting with other guys and stuff. He thinks I'll leave him in a second for someone else. I dont know what to do. I love him and he's the only person that I love more than my ex. When I've tried to see other people I end up not being able to be with them because I can't stop thinking about him.

Please...I need a man's advice about this. Please help me.