Makeup & Beauty Monday: Clean Bee Ultra Gentle Facial Cleanser

Operation Baby #2 is officially underway. Having lots of mixed feelings about this especially with a 13mo terrorizing our house. We had a relatively easy time conceiving #1, but my cycle seems wildly different now. I definitely do want a second and pretty close in age (less than 3 years).
Anyone want to share some positive sibling stories or thoughts on how your life changed after a second kid?

My kid’s school bus was an hour late this morning. Actually, it pulled up on time, opened its door, didn’t let any kids on but said another would come, and drove away. Took an hour and several phone calls for one to come.
All of that to say, I was heartened by the fact that when it came, all of the parents just shouted “Thank you!” to the driver who came. Of course, it wasn’t her fault, but that usually doesn’t stop people from being rude or taking their frustration out on an innocent person. I found it to be an oddly encouraging start to my day!

Anyone else feel like their kids can’t be left alone for a second and just want to give up? Working from home with a new to us babysitter since no camp this week … less than an hour in, the 7 year old takes advantage of babysitter being in bathroom to pick a fight with the 4 year old and ends up hitting and kicking…

Cute kid things….because Monday.

Just overheard my 4YO talking to herself that “Grammy goes M-O-M-M-Y” as she is “reading” my contact list to call my mother from my phone. Reminds me of the commercial in the car where the kids think they are calling their mother and end up calling their grandmother.

Hi everyone, apologies for the long comment in advance. I am writing for some advice on what you have all gone through in some form or fashion. We have a 5 yr old girl and have been thinking about baby #2. Well, I learned two days ago that I am pregnant and while my husband is super happy, all I am feeling is panic and anxiety. I guess I am looking for your advice on how to calm myself down and not zoom in on doomsday scenario as the baby is very much planned and wanted.

I am drawing from my first rodeo, where the pregnancy was uneventful but the birth was the classic intervention cascade (pitocin to induce labor due to unexplained bleeding, epidural, C-section with so much anesthesia that I felt I was dying) with very little information provided to me on next steps as things were hurried, and our baby had to spend the first few days in the NICU on formula. I then had a very tough time breastfeeding (lots of pain for 2+ months) and ended up pumping for a year. Our daughter also had low weight issues and we were at the peds every week or so for the first two months. Of course my career took a hit (I left consulting and went ‘in-house’), but what I wasn’t prepared for was the recovery from the C-section and the complete loss of personal freedom. It took me a long time to be able to get out of the house for even a walk (esp. because of breastfeeding challenges, it had to be within a certain time window). Complicating everything is that my husband has gone through two major bouts of depression, when baby #1 was born and then when she was ~2 years old. There were times he was barely functional. We don’t have any family in the country and with Covid, I am not sure we will be able to call them over to stay and help. The first pregnancy also left me with an umbilical hernia (which has returned despite surgery), and I now have hypothyroidism (also likely because of the pregnancy).

I have now (finally!) lost a bunch of weight and come down to my pre-pregnancy weight, I am now finally able to strength train with all my medical issues. And now I am pregnant. I fear I will lose all the gains in my physical body, but may also end up with new medical issues after this pregnancy. I worry about being stuck in my job for another year and a half (I was starting to look on and off). I worry about being on the hook for two kids with no spousal support if another bout of depression hits. I worry about even making it through the pregnancy without having to have emergency surgery for the hernia or some other medical issue. I worry about falling into post-partum depression myself after having seen a close friend go through it, someone who very much wanted two kids.

The good parts? I absolutely love and enjoy our 5 yr old! I think two kids would make our family complete and our first born will make a great older sibling. Husband clearly wants it and at some level I want it too (I have imagined aborting and it makes me very sad). But I am scared of the ‘price’ I may have to pay. We just had a huge fight about this last night and I have been crying since then. I don’t feel like I can speak with anyone as my parents will panic even more (‘what will happen to your job?’, ‘how will you manage two kids?’), and close friends have warned me to think hard about baby #2 given husband’s medical history.

Looking for support…I need to not be sad and anxious any more. I want to feel happy about this.

Any tips or advise for a two year sleep regression? Asking about my 27 month old son. The internet seems to suggest this is a real thing, but it’s a huge shock to me and DH since kiddo has been a truly excellent sleeper since 2 months old, and we have not had any of the “typical” regressions at all. I guess I thought we were just past all of the sleep regressions. (Maybe this is just payback?)

Basically he will fall asleep just fine, but then be up from about 3:00/3:30-5:30/6:00 every 30 minutes crying for DH or me (normally sleeps from 7:30-7:30). Generally, as soon as we open the door to his room, he stops crying and calms down, and we give him a hug, kiss, tell him he is safe/everything is okay and maybe some back rubs. Sometimes we rock for a few minutes if he doesn’t calm down right away when we go into the room and then put him back down. Then we leave and 30 minutes later he’s crying again. Diaper will be dry, temperature of kiddo and in the room is fine. DS is a kid that certainly needs his sleep, and drop-off this morning was terrible.

Any thoughts/suggestions/advice would be helpful!

I’m interviewing a potential new nanny this week. She seems like a sergeant. Career nanny, clearly very creative, nurturing and probably excellent. She comes with her own 14-page contract that I’m expected to sign. Should I be more open minded? Gut reaction after the hour long call was she’s probably outstanding and provides the kind of structure my family could benefit from, but when she told me about the contract at the tail end my gut was maybe she’s challenging to work with. What do you think? I’ve only hired one other nanny before and it was someone we knew previously. Is this a red flag or is it a sign of strong planning, potentially even a positive?