Electrolux and GE are both well respected manufacturers in the cooking area. In terms of induction ranges, I think GE has gotten slightly better reviews in terms of long term reliability, but there are plenty of people happy with their Electrolux. GE refreshed their Profile line not too long ago with a new look, so you may not get as many reviews if you search the new model number, but people really liked the older version. As I understand it they're mechanically identical. I assume you're looking at free-standing ranges? If so the Whirlpool built induction range becomes an option. It's sold under the Whirlpool, Maytag, and KitchenAid brands. There's also the less expensive Frigidaire freestanding made by Electrolux. If on the other hand you are looking at slide in ranges another option to look at that is very new (so not many reviews) is the new sharp looking Bosch Benchmark series. Besides Electrolux, GE, and Bosch the only other slide in induction to my knowledge is Kenmore, which is made by Electrolux. OTR microwaves are pretty much all the same. The brand doesn't matter so much as whether you're venting it outside (which you are). They mostly come out of a small set of Asian factories where many different American brand names are slapped on them. Most people just buy the one that matches their range. I think Sharp is going to have to have the edge in quality in this area though, and as far as I know they're the only one making these in the US. I don't know if that's true of all models though.

I have a 6 year old SD and Im 7 months pregnant, Im actually afraid that I can't love SD like I do my own daughter. I always thought I loved SD like my own, but I can see how that is probably nearly impossible. Sure, she can be terrible sometimes, but she's 6, that's her sole purpose in life right now. And that's also your sons purpose being the age that he is. I don't think it's so important that your husband love your son the same he does his own children, but it is important he treat them all equally and not let your son know that he's taking the back burning because your husband can't "deal" with him. It's not fair to your son, don't think your son doesn't notice every time he's left out, I was always the child everyone forgot about, Im so very careful now not to ever let any child be left out in my presense. I remember one time when my mother was dating my now step father. I was 12. I have two other cousins. It was Christmas time and he brought glittery stockings filled with gifts and candy to my two cousins (11 and 7) and wrapped presants. He was very aware that I was over my aunts house because she was "babysitting" me while he and my mom went out, he appologized for not bringing me anything and told me they were out of gifts at the store, and later brought me a black and yellow striped plastic backpack. I've never forgotten how it made me feel, and somthing as trivial as mcdonalds probably doesn't make you son feel too great either. Maybe if you husband paid more attention to him, then your son wouldn't do things to annoy him so often. ~Shari

Yah that's bad.. Cat38, the next time you take him to the doctor and the doctor states the situation. tell him that bm will not give meds and has not taken her son for a second opinion. There are smokers in the house. Dr. can call child services and have her investigated since she is a RN. Which is alarming to say the least that she would not acknowledge the signs and symptoms. To top it off, you can't brain wash a doctor when he's run routine tests...lol..an rn should know this. My husband agrees, you call Child services immediately and get all the health records, letter for the doctor. And do not send the child back to a smoking environment. Also get the nurses association involved to investigate mother dear. Yes, it will get very ugly. But he'res the alternative. You do nothing. And God forbid your Ss passes in his sleep if its as dangerous as you describe. My husband said this to me ' he'll pass away in his sleep eh'...that is veyr dangerous. Is his breathing worse after he comes to your home from mom's??? does it get better when he stays longer at your place? I wish you all the best, I know your in a tough position, but your SS is sick and he needs help. I just cannot understand why a mother would allow her child to be on so much medication. If the third antibiotic didn't work on my child i'ld go to the emergency. This did happen to my son by the way. He had an eye infection, then an ear infection, then it came back...and then by the 4th week his eye was infected again. I took him to emergency and they said it was a flesh eating bacteria and he also had Septisemia. Straight IV antibiotics. It cost me 400 /day for the treatments for 10 days....thank God i had visa to place the costs and then my insurance gave me back the money and i repaid visa. It was scary.

Okay. Believe whatever you want, everyone. This is the only place that a person like myself can even post about these issues without being called a bed-warmer and being told to leave and/or being otherwise insulted. Many of you act as if people don't divorce because they just can't stand each other anymore. IF there was abuse, I could reasonably argue that BM dished it out as much as she accused. Why did take so long to Fiance to get his requirements finished? Well, please don't think for ONE moment that I haven't been UP his a$$ asking him why he waited so long. I've said all the same things to him that you've said to me. For one, he never even saw a copy of divorce decree before getting it from the courthouse himself in December. He had to pay them to fax him a copy. BM swears upon all that is holy, that he signed for and received the papers and that she has copies of his signature(s), but then she refuses to produce them for him. This is usually something she brings up when she wants extra money from him (the last time, it was over the fence that she wanted him to pay for). December '07 is when he learned the specifics of what was required of him. And he's finished those requirements. He was already paying his child support and he kept the same job so the kids were already staying covered for health insurance. Why didn't he do something LEGALLY back then? Well, I completely agree it wasn't smart of him to be so ignorant of his situation. She left him and took his kids without any warning and he was feeling very sorry for himself. He was a WRECK. I've heard it from him and from his friends. He wasn't happy with BM, but his kids were his world. But the biggest reason is this: until he and I got serious, he already had them at his house, every other weekend, and often more than that. It wasn't until she had issues with that and went back on her word that he stopped being able to have them at his own house. In fact, before I came along, she'd talked about giving him legal rights for visitation in court, because she was already bring them over all the time. In short, he didn't go to court because at the time he didn't have to. Stupid, but true. In addition, many divorced men talk about feeling utterly helpless, and feeling like maybe it would be easier on the kids to just move on. Fiance didn't move on, but he thought about it. Men are mostly powerless in custody issues; that's just the truth. There is not a day that both of us don't wish he'd fought this from the beginning. He was ignorant. fiveinall, I find it hard to believe it's so difficult to see that an abuse accusation was the PERFECT out for BM. It ensured her complete control over the situation and now she had a meal ticket until the kids turn 18. It made everyone feel sorry for her and rally around her. No one who knew fiance fell for this, however. This happens ALL the time. I'm not sure what's so hard to believe about that. She wanted out, but was probably afraid of how she'd support herself. If she wrote about exactly how the baby blacked his eye, and didn't change her story until 5 months after she left, well, come on. She's lying. My guess is that she doesn't realize that the entry about that is publicly viewable. Why on earth would she describe it in such detail if it didn't happen? And maybe you're not familiar with walkers that have built-in toys all over them. But I've seen the actual walker in their garage. If he was throwing a little tantrum, and he threw his head around the way he still does, it doesn't surprise me in the least that he'd get bruises. So how does this not add up?? And I will mention, again, that he was 4 or 5 months old when she left. She's written both ages at different times. He was not "a couple of months old at best". Someone mentioned that it sounded like she'd had a job at some point. Yep, 10 whole hours a week at a pizza place. She didn't start school until last year. Someone please explain to me how it's so unbelievable that they didn't have sex much until she wanted another baby?? That was one of *my* biggest complaints in my last relationship. We didn't even have kids! Happens. all. the. time. And no, we didn't cheat on each other. I finally picked up and moved on. TOS (and a few others), you take it upon yourself to be very condescending. Concern for me is one thing, but maybe you could respect that not everyone is an idiot. Fiance made close to $15 per hour, and still does, not that it matters. And he didn't have time to worry about finishing school. He had two people to support, and then 2 more. Providing became his #1 priority. BM didn't even make it through one semester without flunking. I wasn't good in college when I was younger, either. You seem to be judging my fiance by what he earns, which is pretty crappy, and a really good way to keep people from hearing the good points you might make. By the way, I'm well aware that one might see my distaste for BM's laziness as a projection about my own mother. I don't really care. It was reprehensible then, and it's reprehensible now not to pay attention to one's kids. It was evident at the party Saturday that someone was up and about unsupervised again. He had red stains all over his face that I'm guess was makeup, but could also be markers. That's one thing, but they were *this close* to losing their son numerous times for not watching him! That should make anyone angry. Finedreams, please look up retinopathy of prematurity. Fiance can only see very near to him. He can't even read license plates that are right in front of us. Also - he's not settling for unsupervised visitation! That's why he's hiring a lawyer! That's why he's starting a 2nd job today! People are so paranoid here sometimes that they don't notice things that I've already made very clear... It's rather frustrating to go through this and then to have to repeat myself like I'm on trial. Ages! Dates! Could my fiance be lying to me about his vision? Jesus! And finally, can we please get over my screen name? It was the most general thing I could come with off the top of my head. I'm not naive. There's a reason I'm not married already. That's why I'm HERE. I'm not making any decisions or rushing into marriage AT LEAST until he gets his visitation worked out. Having to defend myself though, as a child of divorce myself, against being completely clueless about how all this works, is hurting more than it's helping. Hook line and sinker? PLEASE. That's rude, and not remotely necessary. So I'm going to bow out of here now. Thanks to everyone for their comments. Hope everything works out.