Weekend & Family Friday: Spikeball
This post may contain affiliate links and CorporetteMoms may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
This is a really fun lawn/beach game for older kids and adults. My husband is always trying to recruit people to play with him, and this past summer I successfully avoided getting my butt out of my beach chair to play. (It’s a fun game, but I am more of a book-reading beachgoer.) I would describe this game as a combination of volleyball and foursquare, and maybe a little bit of tennis. It’s played by teams of two, and you have three touches to spike the ball into the net to change possession, whereupon the next team needs to do the same. Each time the ball is spiked into the net, the other team has to recover the ball while keeping it in the air. When it’s your turn and you miss, the other team gets a point. It’s fast-moving, you’ll work up a sweat, and it’s a fun competition. Spikeball is $59.99 at Amazon and is eligible for Prime. Spikeball
This post contains affiliate links and CorporetteMoms may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more details see here. Thank you so much for your support!
Just started my child’s laundry…you know, so that she can refuse to wear clean clothes instead of dirty ones. The fantastic irony is that this weekend, we’re going pants-less for potty training. Pray for me.
Did anyone ask for services on a baby registry instead of items? We tend to buy second hand, use swaps, and neighborhood groups to make purchases. Most of this is an effort to help reduce the amount of environmental impact we are making – yay reducing waste! I also love the rush of finding a good deal. We are minimalist and I hate clutter. We are going to be using services such as a postpartum doula and cleaning services after the baby is born. However, we can 100% afford these items, way more than most of our friends and family can. We also live in a different community than most of our families and they might read postpartum doula and have to hold back an eye roll or wonder why the heck we can’t scrub our own toilet (they might forget that they had their mom come over to help clean when they had a little one, and we don’t have that luxury).
People are asking what they can get us. So we need to make a decision. Should we 1) suck it up and ask for baby registry items even though we don’t really need them/want them 2) ask people to put money towards services such as a cleaner 3) Ask them to donate to a child’s college fund 4) Ask them to send a kid’s book and sign it 5) say nothing is perfect thanks.
I need some structure around family meals. Right now we’re in chaos and just eat too much ready made/take out/pasta + canned sauce. I have time for meal prep (to a degree), I just need to focus on this. I need crowd-pleasers because I have a strict “you get what you get” policy on meals esp with my boundary pushing toddler.
-DH is eating low-carb, hates tomatoes. I don’t cook around this, but I do try and at least make something he can work with (eg. Not a dinner of pizza or chicken nuggets). He will often just eat double meat/double veggies and skip the carb.
-5 y/o isn’t big on super spicy. She’s good with mild salsa and lightly seasoned ground beef for tacos, but no more than that. Sausage, for example, is usually too spicy. She’s otherwise a good eater but hates tomatoes (unless in sauce!
– 2 y/o tolerates spice fine, but is your typical 2 year old who is hot and cold on everything. The only veggie she will reliably eat is broccoli, and black beans if those count :-). She often likes raw cucumbers esp if presented with a dip.
– I’m nursing a baby
– my children apparently missed the memo and do not like mashed potatoes, French fries, or most potato-derived side. Rice is hit or miss with the little one.
That’s it! No allergies or anything.
Need some non casserole inspiration.
I want to find a couple casual nursing tops (or nursing-friendly) that AREN’T the dreaded maternity/nursing combo because I hate those. I don’t like the looks of what’s available at Old Navy. Anyone familiar with Latched Mama? I never really nursed on the go with my first, but I anticipate an increased frequency of whipping them out this winter with nursing two. I’d rather not put a nursing tank underneath a regular shirt, but I want to be able to nurse and maintain stomach coverage.
Any suggestions for newborn gassiness? Our three month old was sleeping great up until this week, but now he is waking up three or more times per night with stomach troubles. Nothing has really changed. He’s been combo fed from the beginning, we are using the same formula, and I’m pumping some now that I’m back at work. Otherwise, we have tried giving him probiotics and simethicone drops, but nothing is really making a difference. He’s our second, so I know this will naturally improve within a few months. But I feel bad for him, and I miss sleep (this has conveniently aligned precisely with my return to work…). Please give me your tips!
Does anyone else read the parenting advice column on Slate? It really irked me that the advice was not to say anything about a 5 year old boy’s bad behavior because he’s only 5. Sure, it’s a sensitive subject and you don’t want to accuse your friend’s son of causing problems in the future, but I think this is exactly the age where this discipline needs to happen.
DS is almost 4 and we are starting the conversations about consent. “When mommy says she doesn’t want to be tickled, you need to stop. When your friend at school doesn’t want to be touched, you need to stop. Conversely, if you don’t want to be touched, say no. If the person doesn’t stop, walk away.” Also, modeling behavior. If your son sees daddy talking down to mommy and disrespecting her, he’ll think it’s ok.
Those of you whose partners travel for work…Before kids it never occurred to me to be worried about what happens if I slip and fall in my apartment and can’t reach my cell phone, or what if there is an emergency in the middle of the night and I call a friend’s cell and they don’t answer (mine is on vibrate so I wouldn’t hear my own phone and none of my friends have landlines and we don’t have family nearby), etc. Now we have twins and I find myself worried about these things. I know that some of this is my PPA talking (I’m getting help), but some of these things could actually happen. Do people have plans in place for these or similar scenarios?
This morning I thought I was in labor. Persistent, dull cramping, nothing countable. An hour with the heating pad and a hot shower, and here I am at work at 38w+4, trying only slightly to disguise my misery. (Surely this means actual labor can’t be far, though, right?)
Can anyone share how they felt AFTER Hashimoto’s was treated? I’m trying to set reasonable expectations of how I might feel once my thyroid levels are normal, and how long it will take to get there.
Also, do you have any resources where either the research or community of persons are valuable?
I hope I am not too late here, but I am wondering if you ll have any recommendations on laptop sleeves. I just got a Dell laptop (14 inch I think) for work and am trying to figure out how best to transport it. My tote bag has a padded area so I probably just need a sleeve.