Organizing Thursday: Trofast Storage
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When my son was a newborn, I was totally convinced we weren’t going to be those people whose child takes over their house. Now that he’s a toddler, it’s fully happened and I’ve given up trying to stop the inevitable — there are toys and various child-related products everywhere. Right now I’m considering my storage options, and this system is tempting me. I like that it has a design element to it, it’s colorful, and I won’t care if it gets destroyed over the years (months, seconds). I also like that my son can open and close the bins himself and discover what’s inside each. It’s $59.99 at Ikea, and it comes in white, white/pink, and white/orange. Trofast Storage
Did you want me to do some investigation about pumping while in Europe? I’m in the UK and have struggled to find a spot at the university but I think public buildings as well as corporations are better. The struggle seems to be that most women don’t go back to work while they are still nursing so places aren’t always equipped for it.
My 2.5 year old is obsessed with clocks and time, and likes to check the digital clock to see if it says “8” for bedtime or “9” for school in the morning. I’d love to get him a digital watch with no features (I’m afraid he’ll mess up the display if there are buttons and I don’t want to hear constant beeping). Ideally, would be something he could get on and off himself, but I can also deal with a normal buckle.
Should I consider analog and just teach him to look at the hour hand? Any recommendations?!
I don’t really care if he’s able to tell time but want to support his interest in it and let him figure out what it’s time for each day.
Thanks!
Would you rather…
My commute is about 45m – 1 hr in the car. I have a very flexible and generous boss who has let me do a 4-day work week, with somewhat longer days and mild email checking/responding from home on the 5th day. This has worked really well so far as I am very happy to save the commute, and I do a lot of personal things on that 5th day– haircut, dentist, etc. The downside is that my daycare-age kids go to bed pretty early and so in the evenings I usually get only about an hour with the 4-year old and some nights I don’t see the baby at all. My DH does all the pickup/dropoff, all the meal prep and mealtime, and lots of the bedtime routine by himself. (He is a teacher with a short commute, and has a more flexible afternoon). I want to do those things, too.
I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I am tempted to see if there is an even better way, i.e., 5 shorter days, home in time to see my kids before bedtime. Obviously, it would mean 5 days of commuting, an increase of 1.5-2 hours in the car, which is objectively terrible. There is also the possibility of that early dismissal creeping down and turning into the longer day that my boss has gotten used to (he often meets with me in the late afternoon– 5pm– since its pretty quiet by then). And its true that my kids will go to bed later as they get older.
So, for those of you who have tried some similar arrangements (and especially those with long commutes factored in): Would you rather a 4 long days/ 5th day “off” or 5 shorter days? Does it change when your kids are school aged?
My 11 month old son is suddenly refusing to eat finger foods or feed himself. We started him on purees at 4 months but transitioned to him feeding himself little bits of food around 6 months and he’s been a great eater all around. He would generally get yogurt and some pureed fruit in the morning more as a time and sanity saving measure than anything else, but the rest of the day he’d have toast, cut up fruits/veggies/cheese/meat, crackers. . .until this week. Now, suddenly, he refuses to feed himself and wants nothing other than baby food and yogurt, which I’ve been reluctantly feeding him just to get him the calories. Otherwise, he just clamps his mouth shut, shakes his head no, or throws the food on the floor. Is this normal? Is he just being a picky eater?
I know that this is totally a personal decision, but people on this site often suggest throwing money as a problem or outsourcing, whether it’s hiring house cleaners, extra childcare etc. when do ppl think it’s appropriate to tap into savings to do this or should one never use more than monthly income because tapping into savings is really living beyond your means. And if you or your spouse earn a substantial bonus, do you exclude that from your monthly budget if it’s not 100% guaranteed? The reason I ask is we recently had twins and I feel like I’m starting to feel like I’m drowning. We have no family nearby and I’ve heard the first year with twins is really challenging but then it gets better. Is it irresponsible/living beyond our means to set ourselves up in a situation for the next year that requires tapping into savings or relying on DH’s bonus rather than just our monthly income? Other than grad school, we’ve fortunately never really had to tap into our savings and I really struggle with when it’s appropriate vs when it’s not. I am also someone who struggles more generally with spending money.
3 unrelated, blood/birth-related questions. Did you do cord blood banking, delayed cord clamping or placenta encapsulation?
Cord blood banking to me seems really expensive and unlikely to be effective. Delayed cord clamping seems to make a lot of sense to me and I don’t know why it’s not standard practice. Finally, placenta encapsulation seems gross and never appealed to me, but my acupuncturist was going on and on about the benefits. I figure, if done properly, it couldn’t hurt right? I have mental health issues and am worried about PPD – obviously the encapsulation would not be a cure-all but am considering combining it with my more western therapies.
Thoughts?
DD came down with HFM on Monday (fever and starting to have rash). Will she be good to go for daycare next Monday? Fever is mostly gone but rash is in full force right now.
for preg anon (threading not workig for me on mobile for either site now)
-private cord banking seems like a good way to relieve you of money without much chance of benefit. public banking/donation to science is free and easy (but do look into it before birth—it’s helpful to have arrangements in place)
-check with your ob on potential harms of placenta encapsulation.
It is a rainy day in my neck of the woods, so I thought I’d ask kind of a fun question that’s been in the back of my mind. How do people recommending visiting Europe with preschool age kids (3.5+). All sorts of thoughts and advice are welcome – places to go, places to stay, adjusting to the time, eating, packing, etc.
We just had our third. Older kids are almost 5 and 23 months. We have a Joovy caboose whochbwe used wishing #2 was born, but it won’t work right now for baby and middle (middle does NOT want the back seat or the bench, but baby has to be in the bucket which can only go up front). We have a lot of stuff planned for this summer that will require some degree of stroller-ing, so I’m OK spending $$ on a used double stroller. Yes, we could put baby in a bjorn and the older 2 (or just the 2 y/o) in the stroller we have, but that’s not ideal.
What’s a decent double that is side-by-side and works with a chicco keyfit 30 bucket? The choices are overwhelming. We’re in the burbs, so fold-flat for easy car transport would be ideal, but I’m otherwose not too picky. Nice if it works well for jogging but not a must have. Will mainly be for theme parks/zoos/long walks in beach towns.
I don’t know what my question is, but something doesn’t seem right about this situation. I’d like input on what others would do, if anything. I am an attorney in a law firm, so my life is based on the billable hour model. About 35 attorneys total, with about six associates. I am an associate. There are three associates in my department – I have been there for about 6.5 years, then a 4 year associate, and a new baby lawyer. About two years ago after having my baby, I negotiated a decrease in my billable hour requirement from 1800/year to 1500/year. So about 83%. Because of the compensation structure at my office, my base salary didn’t change, but my bonus situation did. Basically, I’d say my firm’s usual associate compensation rate plus overhead is covered by about 1400 hours of work, and the rest is paid out in quarterly bonuses if you work enough. Since making the switch, I’ve definitely been treated as part-time. My yearly raises have been cut in half, and my bonuses are sporadic. I definitely get the economics of this and reap the benefits of being part-time at home with my family. My issue is this – the 4 year associate in my department seriously under-performs. Most months, I bill more than he does, his work is lacking, and he manages deadlines poorly. Whether I should know those things are not might be another issue, but they’re not exactly a secret. He has a reputation, but the firm hasn’t totally lost hope on him I guess because they’re not ready to do something about it. I also know that he rarely receives bonuses other than maybe a token at the end of the year. Bonuses don’t appear to be enough of an incentive to get him to work better/more/harder (I suspect because he gets gobs of money from his parents, including long term investments for retirement.) I have no clue what his raises are.
But the bottom line is that I’m sick of being treated as part-time when he is full time and I consistently out-perform him. Because of the whole base salary/bonus thing, I do truly believe (but don’t know) that I likely still make more. But I bust my butt to make my hours with quality work and live up to my home commitments (which aren’t small since I am part-time with the thought that I’ll pick up some slack at home). I’m just sick of working harder than him to be part-time, and him having no true consequence. I think what I might want is a bigger raise at my review in a few months, which I have no problem asking for. But is that enough? Sometimes I think being part-time really isn’t even worth it, but it truly does make my life less stressful (despite the busting my butt comment above).
Look for article by doula concerned that placenta ingestion inhibits breast milk supply development. No idea if the science is accurate but if you want to nurse, seems worth a discussion with your doctor/midwife.