First, Rachel your photos are INCREDIBLE!! And thanks for the info. I don't think I've seen a wood thrush from your explanation, just the Brown Thrasher. Hey Donna, here we are another year...hope it's a quiet one :) Anyway, last year a Brown Thrasher made a nest in the most unlikely place IMO. In a abelia bush (attracts bees) right next to the steps from the deck to the ground, the steps that my husband and I and 4 dogs pass CLOSELY every day, several times a day. Somedays I'd just see the beak of the one on the nest. There were 3 eggs but only 1 hatched. One day the 3 eggs were there, the next day just 1. The baby thrasher was cute as cute could be. I watched it takes its first 'tumble' out of the nest and then it's first flight. My DH cut back the bush TOO MUCH (I said 'trim it.' Grrrr......... Oh well, maybe it will find a place to nest where I can still watch it. Now if I can only find the wood thrush who's singing the non-thraster/mocker/catbird song. Do they nest like the thrashers and robins do? Thanks again, Linda...

Speaking of thrushes and thrashers, I thought I might share with you'all pics of a applique/quilted wall hanging I made. It's called "Forest Fragmentation" with a Wood Thrush and her nest. The nest is made of tangled leftover embroidery threads. One of her eggs has been taken by a female Brown-Headed Cowbird, who replaced it with her own spotted egg. (Forest fragmentation makes our deep-woods nesters more open to threats from cowbirds, and the Wood Thrush is often considered the "poster-child" of our declining migratory birds.) One of these days I will have to post pics of my bluebird quilts too. BlueBars

Gran was clearly hurt by someone's comments. Beyond that, there's A LOT of assumptions being made about her here, probably compounding that hurt. So where's all the self-professed - ad nauseam - wonderful, caring, Christian, loving, blah, blah, blah fellowship that should be manifesting itself in empathy toward her? Instead, many people have chosen to express how THEY feel or have felt. ME, ME, ME. For all the "I'm so wonderful because" . . . comments on these forums, please explain to me how any of the following comments are "constructive" here: trotting out social bromides Who died and made the critic the authority on proper social behavior; audacity to issue an edict; rudely demanded better behavior; lecturing the masses; I don't know or care about the OP a really bad hormonal malfunction day jump out at us again instruct this group on how to behave, what they should post, and how to post it. chastise other members beat about the head I don't care I continually find it amazing that some of you who spend inordinate amounts of time posting on these forums DO think that you have an elevated status. This is a public forum. You don't own it by virtue of squatting here. There's a BIG difference between constructive criticism and cruel criticism, and IMO, there are plenty of times that people on this forum take advantage of their anonymity to be unnecessarily harsh or just plain mean. In those instances, there is no intention to help the OP at all but, rather, an opportunity for someone with low self esteem to puff up by bragging, or putting down someone else in order to build themself up. I would like to know what Gran is referring to also, but I can't blame her for not returning. I'm sorry that your feelings were hurt, Gran. I hope that you will stick around and continue to lurk, or even post again, NO MATTER AT WHAT INTERVAL. As you wade through this thread's comments, you will see the intelligence shine through in the comments that are made with care and thoughtfulness, in an effort to be kind and helpful. They're worth digging around for. As you read more threads on these forums, you'll recognize these people by their manner, and their advice/comments will come to be of value to you. As for the others, let their obnoxiousness be like water on a duck. Unfortunately, you do have to have a thick skin at times, but consider the sources. There is a lot of great info here and there are people who do truly want to help, not hurt. I personally feel that it IS important to be considerate. Am I perfect in this regard? Nope. But I try to be, and I see less and less consideration and empathy around me every day. It IS sad. If I were the person who hurt Gran's feelings, I would feel lousy and want to apologize.

Does anyone know how long is too long for a baby and mother to have thrush? My baby is 7 1/2 mos. old and has had it practically all her life! I believe this case is so bad because of a misdiagnosis by her first pediatrician. I told him about the thin white patches when I first noticed them before I even left the hospital after having her! He told me they were just milk curds from breastfeeding and not to wipe them away. Later on I told him about the "needle-like" pain I would feel every so often in my breast when I would breastfeed, and about the pink-pearly look of my nipples. I was told by the doctor's associate what I was feeling was pain from a crack in my nipple that was so small I couldn't see it. That kind of insulted me. I know the difference between pain on my nipple and pain deep within my breast. I did some research on my own and came across organic Mamaki tea from Hawaii. I drank the tea myself (my baby won't take rubber nipples). Those leaves worked wonders! I saw remarkable results starting the first day of drinking the tea. Then I got a bad sinus infection and was given amoxicillin. Right after taking that, with no success, the yeast came back. Then my baby caught some bug that had me rushing her to the emergency room with 104.9 fever! She was given antibiotics, antihistamin, and tylenol. She now has the worst case of thrush I have even seen with my own eyes! I myself am now getting over having a clogged milk duct which, once "unplugged", resulted in that one duct giving out "salty milk" (thankfully the salty taste hasn't affected my baby's nursing at all). I almost stopped nursing on that breast until I read nursing frequently is one of the best things you can do for a clogged duct. The saltiness is finally going away after about a week or so (curiosity led me to see what the milk from that duct tasted like after the lump started going down, since the milk was in there longer than normal). Unfortunately, I myself am no longer covered by medical insurance, so I'm doing alot of very careful self-dianosing. The baby still has coverage, thank God, but now I'm wary of just following doctors orders without a little research of my own along with it. I have since been given Nystatin for her by another doctor. It hasn't worked and just makes by baby throw up when I give it to her! I've tried gentian violet also, but now realize I didn't try it for nearly as long as I should have (was afraid because no one around me was even remotely familiar with g.v.). After some researching, I will now try the gentian violet again and Mamaki tea also (this time I will give her some directly as well as drink it myself as I did), along with some other alternative treatments such as garlic tabs and lecithin mentioned here on this informative website I came across during the same research session which led me to this forum. Go to: http://breastfeeding.com/all_about/smith_anwers1.html I'm near my wits end, yet hopeful that I'll make my way though this bout with the yeasty beast for the baby and myself. If anyone out there has any other helpful suggestions, please don't hesitate to share it!!! Other helpful sites: Concerning Plugged Ducts and Mastitis http://www.lalecheleague.org/llleaderweb/LV/LVMarApr93p19.html Helpful advice on the use of Gentian Violet http://www.angelfire.com/md2/moodyfamily/thrush.html P.S. Breast Milk is EXCELLENT to use on eczema! I saw miraculous results after using it on the advice of another mother from a baby eczema forum. Thank God for these forums! Good luck to us all! :) Here is a link that might be useful: Treating Thrush and Yeast Infections