Washable Workwear Wednesday: Side-Tie Long-Sleeve Sweater

How long did it take your feet to return to normal or settle in size after my birth? After my first, I think my shoe size increased slightly – enough to make tight shoes unwearable but looser shoes then fit perfectly. Now that I’m 3 months pp with my second, I’m wondering if I should wait to buy new shoes or if I’m probably just a half size bigger now. Additionally, anyone have any luck with at home shoe stretchers?

Has anyone launched or lead a women’s network in their company? Any tips or things you wish you’d known beforehand?

For those of you who have little girls, how do you (or do you) explain periods? My 4 year old found my menstrual cup and was playing with it, and, when I tried to explain that it was not a toy, she had about a billion questions about what it is for and why. We try to be pretty frank, use the real names for body parts, that sort of thing, but something about telling her that someday she’ll have blood coming out of her [redacted] sounded a little too intense. I recall a couple years ago, she followed me into the bathroom and saw it in the toilet, and it really freaked her out. (And, hey, it’s not exactly my personal favorite part of life with a uterus, either.)

My baby turns one next week and I’m having a lot of mom guilt because we aren’t having a party. Please tell me it’s fine! We just moved to a new area and don’t know a lot of people, and our family is far away. Her birthday is also on Halloween and we aren’t dressing up or doing anything particularly festive, so it’s like a double whammy of guilt. Everyone seems to be throwing these crazy 1-year-old parties with rented venues and caterers. I intend to bake her a little cake and give her a couple presents from us and family. She won’t remember any of this anyways. It’s ok right?

Somewhat related to the sleep question above – my 13 mo has apparently decided to drop to 1 nap. Previously, he would nap for about an hour in the morning and 1-2 hrs in the afternoon. He would go to bed around 8 or 8:30 and get up around 7-ish. Now, he seems to nap from about 11:30 to 1:30 and has decided against sleeping in his crib. I’ve been putting him down around the same time – 8ish – because I’m afraid if I put him down earlier he will wake up too early. But by 8, he’s pretty darn tired. I nurse him to sleep and then put him in his crib, but he usually wakes up after an hour or so and stands up and cries. We’ve done CIO a couple times during his lifetime and it worked after just a couple days. But he seems more upset now that he’s older and he can stand in his crib, so CIO seems harder and sadder! Should I put him to bed earlier? Realistically he doesn’t need to get up until 7:30 a.m. Should we let him CIO if/when he wakes up in his crib? We co-slept with our older child for far too long and I don’t want to do that again, but sometimes sleep wins out and we just bring him to our bed so we can all get some sleep.

I have a friend who is a mom to a 6 month old. We don’t live close, but talk often on the phone. She had a severe case of prenatal/postpartum depression that required hospitalization and treatment. She was doing a lot better when I visited her a few months ago. In the last few weeks, she seems to be off, having delusions. I sent a message to her husband that I found her behavior worrying. I don’t know what I should do to help her. It’s really sad …. Should I continue to talk to her? And how do I respond to her delusions … I don’t know what I am looking for here but just wanted to share this with someone. Mental health issues are so difficult for the person suffering and the people who care about him or her!

So I checked back on the second salmon mom post and I’m glad I did because of the comments about my contempt and tone. Husband and I are from different backgrounds, my family is not White and I am disabled in a noticeable and generally recognized by other people way while husband’s family is White; there’s no ability to relate to my disability or my kid having autism. I’ve never expected them to accommodate my physical disability (and they don’t) but I am not happy with how my son is treated (I guess we want better for our kids than we get for ourselves). Culturally it’s very bizarre for me the general failure to accommodate on any level, be it provide a chair my kid can actually sit on (they have barstool things), a plate that he can eat with without the risk of china/porcelain breaking (we bring our own and they comment on it every time and refuse to let us keep a plate there) etc. I have always felt that they are hoping the Autism will cure itself if they ignore it and putting up with this for the time before diagnosis and the time after has honestly emotionally bankrupted me. I am very tired.

I appreciate though that the vibe I am putting out is not helping anything. So I’ll try here but honestly everything from the moment we arrive at their house is like watching a horror movie for me. TBH I am very quiet at these dinners and watching my kid like a hawk (if nothing else there is a real risk he will wet himself since he refuses to go to the bathroom on his own at their house, the smart toilet scares him and he cant reach the sink).