I am so grateful. Not only do I have two beautiful children, but they are healthy and happy.

My very supportive husband's catscan came up empty. Whew! If the pain in his lower abdomen persists, he will have to see a specialist. But as far as we know, it is not cancer.

As for my sister, she is feeling much better that she started running errands on her own yesterday. That takes the pressure off me who has been blending her food -- she can't swallow -- and shuttling her everywhere. Yes, all is starting to look up on my end. Now, if only my adorable baby would sleep...

From the mommy blogosphere: I have been following the homeschooling woes of Ella at most/least blog. Even though she is against “the idea of schools,” she has decided to place her son Harry in a local public school after reaching “rock-bottom personally.” Ella is taking care of a baby at home and is pregnant with her fourth child.

A very big thank you to everyone who emailed me after I reached such a low point last week. Many of you were surprised that Harry has gone back to school and were worried that I had rushed into the decision…

I sort of want to go into all the details of why I decided to return Harry to school. The first year of homeschooling is always difficult, but actually it had gone pretty well and Harry’s progress was wonderful. But I have reached rock-bottom personally after weeks of terrible sickness, Harry was refusing to do school work, I was feeling that the unschooling methods I had to use over the summer were not teaching him enough and perhaps worst of all, Ben who is a feisty, sometimes adorable, but mostly difficult twenty-one month old was being so demanding that Harry and I simply couldn’t really concentrate while he was around. Not Ben’s fault of course because all one year olds need a lot of attention but Harry’s education was suffering. Add to that the prospect of the new baby’s arrival next Spring and the fact that I will have even less time and it all felt like too much.

Reading this made my head spin and I was appalled at the people who e-mailed this poor woman to question her decision. Only in this country would we expect a woman to feed, clothe and educate her four children by herself. Insane.

On moms going insane: MomsRising.org is collecting “scary stories” about what it is like to raise children with inadequate resources. (Read expensive healthcare and childcare or lack of time with our children to pay for it all.) I felt for the women -- at least 10 of them -- who wrote in:

Hi all, yesterday my 2 year old son was sick when we woke up, so I took him to the doctors in the morning at 8 am. I left a message for my boss explaining the situation and telling her I'd be in a little late. When I came in later she became very upset and said, "I run a business here not a daycare!" I was shocked, not only because she could talk to me like that, but because when she hired me she knew my situation with a small child and she was a single mother to boy who is now a grown man. She must have forgotten what it's like to be a working mother, that's scary!

I am sure every generation says motherhood is easier for their own progeny. But don’t you sometimes get the feeling that the pressures and stakes have never been higher?