Makeup & Beauty Monday: Fishnet Stockings

Just found out a proposal I submitted several months ago to present at a conference was accepted. The only problem is, I got pregnant in the interim and will be 34 weeks at the time of the presentation. It’s a cross-country flight away. I’m not all that committed to doing the presentation for career reasons (this happens frequently enough that it’s not a particularly important opportunity) but I am also aware that my boss may roll her eyes if I have my colleague (already attending conference, reports to me) present in my place if it’s not a reasonably acceptable request. Is 34 weeks late to do this trip? Last time around, I cut off travel at 28 weeks but that seems a bit conservative.

Potty training on the go! We did the bootcamp method with my daughter over the long weekend and it was moderately successful. But we haven’t yet hit the stage of running short errands or going to a restaurant in underwear. We dropped her off at school this morning and tried to have her sit and she was a wreck, so I expect that new toilets will be challenging for a while. In part because the school doesn’t have a smaller seat for the toilet (WHY?!) so it was a little too big for her.

What travel potty training gear can I get to make leaving the house a little easier? We can carry a backpack and use the basket under the stroller, but we can’t realistically carry around a potty seat (plus, she refuses to sit on them).

Ideas for kid’s clothes storage? Kiddo has a big 6 drawer dresser right now. I’m in the process of cleaning out her closets, which have been used for storage, with the idea that I can then move her clothes into the closets and free up space in her bedroom for playing. BUT – I haven’t found a dresser narrow enough to fit into the closet and still be able to open the drawers (the opening is barely 30″ at the narrowest), and I don’t want to hang stuff. I’d also like kiddo to be able to easily get her own clothes and put them away without making a giant mess.

I have a bookshelf in there now, so I could put fabric bins on the bookshelf with clothes in them – I’m afraid those could easily be dumped on the floor though. Any other solutions I’m missing?

Has anyone baptized their child outside of their own religion-by-birth? I am born/actively raised Catholic, including Catholic high school. We’re considering a baptism in the Episcopalian church, and then also becoming a more active attendee/member of the same. I have two primary issues:

(1) For a while now I’ve been an inactive Catholic, disagreeing with many teachings and practices. I haven’t really done anything about my feelings, apart from not getting married in the church and just being a Christmas&Easter Catholic.

(2) More recently and significantly, we went through 2 years of fertility treatments to become pregnant with my first, due in the spring. I cannot bring myself to baptize my child into a community that teaches (and I know I’m paraphrasing) he/she essentially should not exist.

I think my northeast traditionally Catholic family will groan, and it might put my Irish-Catholic grandma in the grave early, but I can live with all of that. Practically speaking though, does anyone have stories of having done this themselves – baptized a child in a church different from their own, and maybe becoming active in said new church? Is this a crazy idea? I’m struggling to articulate what my concerns are, but I think I’d simply take comfort in knowing this isn’t completely stupid.

try Ikea – they often have scaled down furniture because it’s used in many European homes which are smaller. Don’t just look at the dresser section – some of the three drawer nightstands have a good amount of space in the drawer. Three drawer nightstand plus a hanging organizer bin might be your solution.