Drop-down menu problems

I hope someone can help me with this. I’ll describe the issue and if you can offer a logical solution, I’ll be eternally grateful.

In my movie, I have constructed a drop-down menu. When you click a menu item in this drop-down, it loads a new swf into a new higher-numbered layer. When expanded, this drop-down menu covers a large part of the stage where the newly loaded swf resides.

It all works until this point: after you click one of the buttons on the drop-down menu and the external swf loads onto the stage, it actually covers up the drop-down menu. If you mouse over the main button to expand the drop-down, you don’t see it because that new swf loaded on top of the drop-down and now it is hidden behind it.

I’ve tried to structure the entire movie in a different way. I’ve tried different ideas with combining movie clips and loading into different layers and etc and so far I’ve had nothing but frustration. It’s probably a logical solution that I’m just not thinking about - but if anyone can help or offer suggestions, I’d really appreciate the help!

Many thanks in advance,
CJ