Organizing Thursday: Deluxe Puzzle Storage Rack
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This is one of those things that I didn’t know existed until I saw it at a friend’s house. My kids have never been too into puzzles, but if yours are, you know how it can be a pain in the butt to store them. This looks like a great solution if the collapsing pile of puzzles in the corner isn’t your speed. It holds 12 small and large puzzles and is available at Amazon (with Prime), where it has a ton of good reviews. (No puzzles included.) Melissa & Doug Deluxe Puzzle Storage Rack
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How do you find babysitters in your community? We desperately need someone for occasional evenings and weekends. Our standbys have all graduated from college and moved away. I’ve asked a few colleagues with older kids and I’ve been surprised by how many have said, “Oh, Chloe doesn’t do that. She’s a little too flaky and irresponsible.” Or, “Chloe doesn’t really like kids.” (I mean, what in the world. I was babysitting at 12. But I appreciate the honest warning, I guess.)
We live in a neighborhood full of little kids, not teens/college students. I know exactly zero people who fit that description. :) Most of our friends and neighbors have significant help from the grandparents or have found sitters through church and word-of-mouth. However, they’re reluctant to share contact info.
We live in a mid-sized city. I’ve looked at care.com but I can’t get over the impersonal nature of it. I think people around here would be very weirded out if I interviewed them because it’s not the norm at all. But how else are you supposed to trust someone that you let into your home and watch your kids?
Jumping off from the thread above… What are the risks, generally, if you have a healthy, fully vaccinated toddler around unvaccinated children? The unvaccinated child is about one year old, and I don’t think she goes to daycare.
DD1 was combo fed from the start, so I’ve got some blurry memories of those first days of formula feeding.
I probably wouldn’t stock up on formula until you’re sure of the brand/type they baby will tolerate, but once you do decide, the premade, premeasured bottles were amazing in the middle of the night–no measuring or mixing needed. Another middle of the night option: measure the water into the bottle, and keep pre-measured powder ready to mix in. Mixing right before feeding eliminates the need for a fridge or cooler.
We bought a box of Enfamil nipples from Amazon, they fit our premade bottles perfectly, and if one sat too long, I didn’t care about throwing it out.
For daytime, we really liked the Dr Brown’s formula mixing pitcher. We’d mix up the day’s formula in the morning and pour out bottles as needed. This was also great when she was drinking 3oz at a time, but the scoop only measured out 2 oz worth of formula, with no way of measuring out half a scoop.
Extra burp cloths were also super useful in those first days, but that could have just been my baby.
I’m full of questions today! The thread above about what mom needs in the first few weeks after baby is born is giving me flashbacks. I can relate to so much of that because so much of what is needed is because – nursing! The open cardigans, setting up stations around the house with trail mix and water… .yup.
This time around, I’m not planning to nurse. While I might nurse in the hospital or sporadically at home, my focus will be on developing a good, consistent routine with formula.
How do your answers change to the above question if you’re not nursing? What is it like having a newborn with formula? I imagine I’ll still be up all hours of the day and night, but endless nursing sessions will not be a thing…
You all are full of brilliant ideas so why not ask? My sister is expecting her 2nd baby any day now. She lives abroad, so I can’t be there personally and it’s driving me crazy! Any bright ideas to brighten her day leading up to the baby’s arrival?
I posted a month or so ago about my nine-year-old beagle mix (he was my husband’s dog before we met) who was driving us crazy, barks all the time, gets into mischief, has severe anxiety. He’s a hot mess and very hard to train. We recently tried putting him on Prozac and it didn’t work. He was lovably annoying pre-kid. Post-kid, he’s about to put me over the edge. I’m now working from home and he is severely hindering my ability to get my job done, between barking, scratching at the door to leave whatever place he’s in, finding things in the house to destroy or eat, like our other dog’s medication or the baby’s toys/socks. His barking also wakes up our six month old.
I feel so horrible even thinking this, but giving him away would be a huge weight lifted. When I think about life without him, I am not sad at all and am so relieved. But then I think about things like who would take such an annoying dog? Would he end up spending his life in a kennel, or being bounced from home to home, or euthanized?
It is so hard because on one hand I feel like, as the human being, my need to work/have people over to the house/not tiptoe around my own home for fear of setting him off on a barking jag, and my kid’s ability to take a nap without being woken up by random howling when a car drives by, are more important than the needs of an animal. But then…he’s a helpless animal and we should have worked harder on training him when he was younger.
Any advice? I just feel like such a horrible person and also I feel 100% stuck.
I’m considering applying for a position in a Big 4 accounting firm. They are talking a good game about supporting part-time employment (basically, 9-5 Monday-Friday with no evening or weekend work, and calling that 80%). Does anyone have experience with how the Big 4 handle that kind of schedule in practice? Is it totally dependent on supervisor, or are there institutional level workflow processes and supports to protect those hours?
I’m in tax, a lawyer (not a CPA), and have 10+ years tax experience, so probably a “manager” level (although I admit that I don’t know accounting firm titles).
I’ve been out on vacation (yay!), but I’m back and can answer a couple of the questions I saw after my combo feeding post:
1. My weekend feeding schedule was more or less like the weekday schedule. I nursed maybe once more on the weekends than I did on the weekdays, but typically kept the same schedule. I didn’t want to confuse my body or make enough milk to get engorged during the workday.
2. I saw a question from Amelia Bedelia about doing a day in the life post to explain how we made that kind of a schedule work– the answer is that it was too hard to manage and we both have different jobs now. DH travels a ton, but works a regular schedule. I do the same kind of work I did before, but at a much more laid back work place with an immensely better work life balance.
Thank you for all the kind comments. This is such a great place to be able to honestly tell my story without being afraid of being ripped to shreds.
WWYD? We are going on a week long beach vacation with husband’s family this summer, our daughter will be 9 months old. Eight other kids will be attending- the four oldest are vaccinated, the four youngest, ranging in age from five to one, are not. The parents, the two moms in particular, felt that they had some “unanswered questions” about vaccines. To put it mildly, my husband and I both strenuously disagree with this position, as well as worry because our daughter will still be too young for the MMR vaccines, which is given at 12 months. We brought this issue up at her 6 month check-up, but at the time we only suspected the kids weren’t vaccinated. The pediatrician urged us to check (said maybe it could be a teachable moment for husband’s brothers if he talked to them about our concerns) and said that we could discuss at her nine month appt, a week before the trip.
So husband talked to his brothers and now we have our answers. Of the four unvaccinated kids, he may have made some headway on getting one vaccinated. It’s the other three i’m most concerned about though- they are home-schooled and attend a church that does mission trips to undeveloped countries where measles are more prevalent. The brother offered to check them for rashes, report on illnesses, etc, if it would make us more comfortable before the trip. But my understanding is that measles is contagious before a rash develops (but will discuss more with pediatrician at next check-up).
Part of me wants to just say, too bad, we’re not going, I would never forgive myself if my daughter got measles, even though I know the risk is low- that article in the Washington Post about the recent outbreak in the Somali community in Minneapolis was heartbreaking. But not going would devastate husband’s parents, who rarely have all of their children together and are very excited for this week, probably cause a real rift in the family, and I’m not sure my husband would be on board with it either. I thought about just not letting the younger kids near my daughter, but I suspect that won’t do much in terms of controlling germs either? And I’m sure the topic will come up on the trip, since we opened the box, and now it turns out the sisters-in-law are on the same page against vaccines and I’ll be the one defending our choices and looking like the bad guy if the little kids aren’t allowed near their cousin (anyone have any suggested talking points?) Thoughts? Opinions? Advice?
Well, so…. here goes.
After 3 IVF transfers and an ever-growing list of obscure drugs, here I am: 7 weeks pregnant with a “perfect” little blob with a nice strong heartbeat. This is about to get real, y’all.
Seems a little premature to be posting here but it turns out the RE discharges me in like 2 weeks….so I need to find an OB. Help?
Seeking recommendations for 1) hospital preference and 2) actual OBs. I’m in NYC, Manhattan specifically. I seem to recall that people have strong views about which hospital is best, but obviously I can’t remember anything. Extra points if you know the OB is used to dealing with neurotic infertiles like me who are going to have a hard time adjusting from weekly scans and check-ins to the benign neglect of normal prenatal care. Also extra points if you know they take United Healthcare.
Thanks!! Excited to even get to hope to be here.
I have entered full-on nesting (last night I cleaned underneath the oven, which is a first for me, embarrassing I know). What all do you wish you had on hand for the first couple weeks after birth for yourself? I feel like I know what baby will need, but what about me? I am feeling like I’d like a few cute-ish options for when visitors are over, but also don’t want to spend a ton of money on things that may or may not fit. Ideas?
With my first, I was really passionate about having a natural delivery. I read nothing about c-sections because I honestly believed that there was no way I would need one. After 26 hours of labor and 3 hours of pushing, I had a c-section!
I’m pregnant with my second and while my practice is supportive of VBAC, I have no desire to go through that again and will be having a scheduled c-section. I truly don’t believe I am meant to give birth through the more traditional passage and the risks associated with VBACs scare me.
What’s it like having a scheduled c-section, particularly if you had a similar scenario with a long labor and c-section once and then a scheduled c-section the next time? What should I expect in terms of how I’ll feel afterwards? How do you mentally prepare for elective, major surgery? How long did you stay in the hospital? With my first, I stayed 3 nights after he was born and that felt like almost too long. I felt ready to go after 2 nights. I imagine I’ll feel better not having labored and been up for days like I was before my first was born, and I like my own house and bed, but now I have a toddler at home!
I would just love stories, advice, commiseration, etc.