The kid thread: Planning, pregnancy & parenting

[Sam_2.0]

Family get together yesterday. My sister was there with her kids. I told A she could play outside in the yard with all the kids together, but any trouble and she would be inside with me. Yep...that only took about 20 minutes. A got in trouble and had to come in. Niece was yelling and causing a fuss, so sis & her family left. Once they were gone, I let A go back & play with the little boys and she did great. Ughghghg.

TCU - if you go for the 3rd, it gets even crazier We just laugh & say #notthefirstkid all the time. He did learn to say Uh Oh recently, which is super cute. Even if I should be concerned about why he is saying it, lol! DH seemed concerned that T doesn't have a lot of words yet. I said its because he doesn't need them - he just says "A-ye!" and Al gets whatever it is he wants.

[alabamagal]

Sept 10, 2018 9:26:39 GMT -5 Sam_2.0 said:

Family get together yesterday. My sister was there with her kids. I told A she could play outside in the yard with all the kids together, but any trouble and she would be inside with me. Yep...that only took about 20 minutes. A got in trouble and had to come in. Niece was yelling and causing a fuss, so sis & her family left. Once they were gone, I let A go back & play with the little boys and she did great. Ughghghg.

TCU - if you go for the 3rd, it gets even crazier We just laugh & say #notthefirstkid all the time. He did learn to say Uh Oh recently, which is super cute. Even if I should be concerned about why he is saying it, lol! DH seemed concerned that T doesn't have a lot of words yet. I said its because he doesn't need them - he just says "A-ye!" and Al gets whatever it is he wants.

Sounds like your niece has some bad behavioral issues. I think you handled well and should continue to limit A interaction with her.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Just did annual checkups for the kids.

K is 4 feet 10.5 inches tall. Weight got screwed up somehow because thete is no way she's 171 lbs. She's 10 years old.

C is 4 feet 11 inches tall. Weight is 123 lbs. He's 8 years old.

Both kids have clear ears. Yay! We're starting the school year with good ears. Lol.

No flu shot today ad they have ninja class tonight. I can schedule a nurse's visit for that. Might try for Friday.

[cael]

So Ant had an EI evaluation last week, which he did well enough on that the test scores didn't qualify him for anything. However they can use 'clinical judgement' to qualify a kid if they think it's needed even if they pass all the tests, so they used that to get him an evaluation from a speech pathologist, which I'm waiting to hear from. The coordinator said clearly he communicates well and is very verbal, but his articulation is so poor that just meeting him for the first time she had no idea what he was saying 90% of the time. So hopefully he can start to make some progress after I hear from the speech person.. he's starting to get more upset when we don't know what he's saying to us. :/

Daycare is going great, he has 3 6-hour days a week there now. He loves it! His new favorite word now is No though haha, the daycare effect I guess. He's doing well in his toddler bed/converted crib, but now comes running out for us when he wakes up. Some nights are better than others but we just have to work on it and take him back to bed each time, he does go back to sleep well most of the time. We do let him stay with us in bed if it's after 4 or 5am generally, which isn't awful, but this morning I let him fall asleep and tried taking him back to bed and he woke up and cried and was very upset to come back with us, so I just gave in lol. Working on clearing out his new room so we can start to plan what we have to get for it! He seems like such a kid now, not a baby anymore

[debthaven]

Sam_2.0 you handled that very well.

I agree with alabamagal, your niece seems to be having issues. It pains me that your sister is not more communicative with you but you have to look out for A, and you're right to keep on top of it.

[NastyWoman]

Sept 12, 2018 14:25:02 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Sam_2.0 you handled that very well.

I agree with alabamagal , your niece seems to be having issues. It pains me that your sister is not more communicative with you but you have to look out for A, and you're right to keep on top of it.

 and because of this repeat behavior I would totally do what NomoreDramaQ1015 at one point said: ban your niece from your home. Also, keep an eye on A. since she seems to be a follower and may easily get sucked into something that she would not come up with herself. She seems to be a very good kid that needs a little extra help in finding her way around standing up to peers.

[muttleynfelix]

I'm hoping this isn't triggering to some of you (bsb), but I would like some ideas to help out.




One of Jocelyn's best friends is going to have major surgery (on her skull because that isnt terrifying or anything) next month and be in the hospital for about a week and then recovery at home for 4 to 5 weeks afterwards. What are good things to do for a care package for her? I think we will try to take her brother (a good friend of Ben) and sister(she's 4 and awesome) a couple days in that time to help out her parents (although they do have a very large support network, their oldest (of 4) is severely disabled and they have a large network, plus respite workers for him). What other ideas do you all have?

[Pants]

Sept 12, 2018 17:33:30 GMT -5 muttleynfelix said:

I'm hoping this isn't triggering to some of you (bsb), but I would like some ideas to help out.




One of Jocelyn's best friends is going to have major surgery (on her skull because that isnt terrifying or anything) next month and be in the hospital for about a week and then recovery at home for 4 to 5 weeks afterwards. What are good things to do for a care package for her? I think we will try to take her brother (a good friend of Ben) and sister(she's 4 and awesome) a couple days in that time to help out her parents (although they do have a very large support network, their oldest (of 4) is severely disabled and they have a large network, plus respite workers for him). What other ideas do you all have?

Thanks for the concern Mutt, that's really sweet. I would say taking the other kids is a great idea. As are hospital and home visits. One of the hardest things to deal with was the monotony, and we were always so grateful for people willing to sit with B and like, watch a movie while we went to the bathroom or just walked around. (There's only so many times an adult can watch Shrek2.)

This is likely a little different as they have advance warning, but anything you can do to take things off their plate so they can focus on their kids is so helpful. Like, can one of you (or Ben) now their lawn or shovel the walk on a reliable basis? Just tell them, hey, we got this. Deliver basic groceries once a week. Anytime you're at the store, shoot a text that says "Hey I'm at the store is there anything i can pick up for you?"

Woll think of care package stuff.

[Pants]

Sept 12, 2018 17:33:30 GMT -5 muttleynfelix said:

I'm hoping this isn't triggering to some of you (bsb), but I would like some ideas to help out.




One of Jocelyn's best friends is going to have major surgery (on her skull because that isnt terrifying or anything) next month and be in the hospital for about a week and then recovery at home for 4 to 5 weeks afterwards. What are good things to do for a care package for her? I think we will try to take her brother (a good friend of Ben) and sister(she's 4 and awesome) a couple days in that time to help out her parents (although they do have a very large support network, their oldest (of 4) is severely disabled and they have a large network, plus respite workers for him). What other ideas do you all have?

Care package - for skull surgery, that means regular clothes or even PJs will be hard to take on/off. Maybe some adaptive clothing PJs? (aka, pjs that you can take on/off without taking t over your head.) Or a bathrobe, similar idea. I know Target launched a line of adaptive clothes not long ago, might be something to check out.
NO stuffed animals - she will get 100. B got so many we donated a ton. People mean well but everyone wants to get the sick kid a stuffie, there are too
many to ever use.
Movies? A netflix gift card? 4-5 weeks at home boredom is gonna be a beast. Books with CDs of the book being read? A homemade gift certificate for a weekly library run? I bet that would go over well - you do the work of having new books delivered to the house on a rotating basis. I would have loved something like that. Even better if Jocelyn can deliver them.

For her there also might be an issue with hair. (Shaving the operation site), tenderness on recovery. Depending on her type of hair, keeping it tangle-free might be a real challenge (the side they lay on gets matted very quickly). Or they might need to shave her whole head to deal with it. If you know which (or you learn during the course of things) a good detangling brush with detangling spray, or some fun scarves (if her head is shaved) could be a good addition.

Obviously, this is a lot of things. These are just things that we found helpful or I think would have been great to have. I would say, the things that were the most helpful were the things that people just *did*. Like, don't ask what they need, just volunteer to do specific things and then take care of the rest. (If they don't think it's helpful, they. an always say no.) Hope this sparks some ideas.

[alabamagal]

I like the “Hey I’m at the store, do you need anything?” Even if you are not at the store.

[azucena]

Sept 12, 2018 18:52:41 GMT -5 Pants said:

Sept 12, 2018 17:33:30 GMT -5 muttleynfelix said:

I'm hoping this isn't triggering to some of you (bsb), but I would like some ideas to help out.




One of Jocelyn's best friends is going to have major surgery (on her skull because that isnt terrifying or anything) next month and be in the hospital for about a week and then recovery at home for 4 to 5 weeks afterwards. What are good things to do for a care package for her? I think we will try to take her brother (a good friend of Ben) and sister(she's 4 and awesome) a couple days in that time to help out her parents (although they do have a very large support network, their oldest (of 4) is severely disabled and they have a large network, plus respite workers for him). What other ideas do you all have?

Care package - for skull surgery, that means regular clothes or even PJs will be hard to take on/off. Maybe some adaptive clothing PJs? (aka, pjs that you can take on/off without taking t over your head.) Or a bathrobe, similar idea. I know Target launched a line of adaptive clothes not long ago, might be something to check out.
NO stuffed animals - she will get 100. B got so many we donated a ton. People mean well but everyone wants to get the sick kid a stuffie, there are too
many to ever use.
Movies? A netflix gift card? 4-5 weeks at home boredom is gonna be a beast. Books with CDs of the book being read? A homemade gift certificate for a weekly library run? I bet that would go over well - you do the work of having new books delivered to the house on a rotating basis. I would have loved something like that. Even better if Jocelyn can deliver them.

For her there also might be an issue with hair. (Shaving the operation site), tenderness on recovery. Depending on her type of hair, keeping it tangle-free might be a real challenge (the side they lay on gets matted very quickly). Or they might need to shave her whole head to deal with it. If you know which (or you learn during the course of things) a good detangling brush with detangling spray, or some fun scarves (if her head is shaved) could be a good addition.

Obviously, this is a lot of things. These are just things that we found helpful or I think would have been great to have. I would say, the things that were the most helpful were the things that people just *did*. Like, don't ask what they need, just volunteer to do specific things and then take care of the rest. (If they don't think it's helpful, they. an always say no.) Hope this sparks some ideas.

Some great ideas here.  I want to reiterate the bold.  When you're involved in medical care, there are hundreds of decisions and concerns to be addressed so someone asking what can I do can feel like one more.  Pick a few routine things and just say we got this.  Keeping the other kids will be a huge help.

- pjs and other tops that button up
- I love the idea of a library run every 3 days or so.  Books, DVDs, music - try to pick out a few things for the mom/dad too to take their mind off waiting.
- a one month audible subscription might be nice. wondering if too much reading/tv will cause headaches.
- coloring books and interesting pencils/crayons/pens
- activity books for kids and adults
- stickers for the 4 yo for waiting time
- you can pass a lot of hospital time with old school card games
- hospital food gets old, so even just dropping off subway could break the monotony

[Pants]

Sept 13, 2018 8:59:04 GMT -5 azucena said:

Sept 12, 2018 18:52:41 GMT -5 Pants said:

Care package - for skull surgery, that means regular clothes or even PJs will be hard to take on/off. Maybe some adaptive clothing PJs? (aka, pjs that you can take on/off without taking t over your head.) Or a bathrobe, similar idea. I know Target launched a line of adaptive clothes not long ago, might be something to check out.
NO stuffed animals - she will get 100. B got so many we donated a ton. People mean well but everyone wants to get the sick kid a stuffie, there are too
many to ever use.
Movies? A netflix gift card? 4-5 weeks at home boredom is gonna be a beast. Books with CDs of the book being read? A homemade gift certificate for a weekly library run? I bet that would go over well - you do the work of having new books delivered to the house on a rotating basis. I would have loved something like that. Even better if Jocelyn can deliver them.

For her there also might be an issue with hair. (Shaving the operation site), tenderness on recovery. Depending on her type of hair, keeping it tangle-free might be a real challenge (the side they lay on gets matted very quickly). Or they might need to shave her whole head to deal with it. If you know which (or you learn during the course of things) a good detangling brush with detangling spray, or some fun scarves (if her head is shaved) could be a good addition.

Obviously, this is a lot of things. These are just things that we found helpful or I think would have been great to have. I would say, the things that were the most helpful were the things that people just *did*. Like, don't ask what they need, just volunteer to do specific things and then take care of the rest. (If they don't think it's helpful, they. an always say no.) Hope this sparks some ideas.

Some great ideas here.  I want to reiterate the bold.  When you're involved in medical care, there are hundreds of decisions and concerns to be addressed so someone asking what can I do can feel like one more.  Pick a few routine things and just say we got this.  Keeping the other kids will be a huge help.

- pjs and other tops that button up
- I love the idea of a library run every 3 days or so.  Books, DVDs, music - try to pick out a few things for the mom/dad too to take their mind off waiting.
- a one month audible subscription might be nice. wondering if too much reading/tv will cause headaches.
- coloring books and interesting pencils/crayons/pens
- activity books for kids and adults
- stickers for the 4 yo for waiting time
- you can pass a lot of hospital time with old school card games
- hospital food gets old, so even just dropping off subway could break the monotony

Yes. Again, for us we in crisis vs. being able to pre-plan some of this stuff, so they likely have different needs than we did. But a lot of people would say "Let us know if you need anything." It was kind, but it wasn't particularly helpful. Because we needed a thousand things that I couldn't even begin to get my mind around because what I really needed was to not have a kid in the hospital. Decision fatigue and caregiver fatigue are real. (I just remembered you went through something awful with your husband after J was born, so I'm sure you actually know some of this stuff, so I'm hoping maybe this will help someone else with friends/family in crisis.) 

People who were actually really helpful were people who offered concrete things. For example:

"I would like to come visit and sit with Child on Tuesday - is 12 a good time?" 

"If you ever need an emergency baby sitter for Kids X and Y, or even just someone to get them out of the house for a couple hours in the afternoon, I am available to do that. All you have to do is text."

Or, more specifically, make that offer on a time-expiring but ongoing basis "I'd be happy to take kids X and Y for an afternoon - either Monday or Thursday this week would work. I'll text on Monday morning and Thursday morning and you can decide how the day is going." 

"Jocelyn and I would love to run to the library every week for Child. We can pick things out ourselves, but is there anything that's her favorite that we can pick up while we're there? Anything we should be aware of that she can't have due to recovery restrictions?" 

The grocery store thing was hugely helpful. My boss at the time would do that every other week. She would bring what I asked plus other generic stuff - pita chips and hummus, granola bars, baby carrots, apples. 

As were people who just listened when I vented. Or people to whom I would say things like "I wish B had more games," and then would show up with a box of their kids old used games. I was just fretting, really, but some people would listen and just... do those things. It was wonderful. 

[chen35]

This has been such a helpful conversation. A neighbor was diagnosed with breast cancer at 20 weeks pregnant. She had the baby a few weeks ago and just started chemo up again. She can't really have visitors or have any prepared meals brought in because of germ potential. Offering to pick up groceries is a great idea! 

[Pants]

Sept 13, 2018 9:58:50 GMT -5 chen35 said:

This has been such a helpful conversation. A neighbor was diagnosed with breast cancer at 20 weeks pregnant. She had the baby a few weeks ago and just started chemo up again. She can't really have visitors or have any prepared meals brought in because of germ potential. Offering to pick up groceries is a great idea! 

Oof. I cannot even imagine. 

I'm glad it was helpful, though.

[muttleynfelix]

BSB- thank you so much for the suggestions. I need to do better of just doing things rather than just offering.

[Peace77]

In addition to what's been suggested already for a hospitalized child, I suggest colorful things such as a colorful throw for the bed or a colorful hat.

[singlemomky]

Sept 13, 2018 10:57:48 GMT -5 muttleynfelix said:

BSB- thank you so much for the suggestions. I need to do better of just doing things rather than just offering.

The bolded part is true for many of us in a multitude of situations.  I have two close friends who lost spouses in the past year - they both have elementary aged kids.  They have both said that it was more helpful when someone would say "can I do x or y for you tomorrow" instead of "what do you need".  They couldn't think of what they needed but if someone would offer to shop for them, clean a bathroom, do a load of laundry, pick up the kids from school or mow the lawn it made it so much easier.  They both have said they had the ability to say "yes, thank you" or "no, that's taken care of" but could not formulate a list of things they needed.

[Cookies Galore]

Coloring books! Or any other kind of activity book. When I had my hip surgery last year I worked from home for six weeks. The best days/evenings were when friends came over to drink wine and color. Obviously kids can't drink wine but give them grape juice boxes and coloring books!

[gs11rmb]

My 10 year-old DD has been begging for a phone because she's "literally" the only one in class without one.  That's not true... anyway, I did allow her to have my old iphone6 which she can use in the house with WiFi.  She is too obsessed with it for my liking already and I want to limit usage without getting into a huge fight.  (And yes I know that I am her mother and get to set the rules...).  Does anyone have any recommendations on how to set a timer on the phone so that she can only use it for one hour?  I don't mean the phone timer.   I want something that calculates how much time she has been on the phone in a 24 hour period and switches off when the time is up.

Also, any spyware recommendations?  I'm generally not the snooping type but I need to know who she's interacting with online.  

[raeoflyte]

I think swasat has her kids phones and devices set up similarly.  Hopefully she'll chime in.  

[swasat]

Sept 14, 2018 8:19:01 GMT -5 gs11rmb said:

My 10 year-old DD has been begging for a phone because she's "literally" the only one in class without one.  That's not true... anyway, I did allow her to have my old iphone6 which she can use in the house with WiFi.  She is too obsessed with it for my liking already and I want to limit usage without getting into a huge fight.  (And yes I know that I am her mother and get to set the rules...).  Does anyone have any recommendations on how to set a timer on the phone so that she can only use it for one hour?  I don't mean the phone timer.   I want something that calculates how much time she has been on the phone in a 24 hour period and switches off when the time is up.

Also, any spyware recommendations?  I'm generally not the snooping type but I need to know who she's interacting with online.  

Right Thanks to raeoflyte for tagging me!

She is right that we have all kinds of controls set up on our kids phone and iPads and on their chromebooks.

My son has an iPhone and you can use the "Guided Access" feature to control how much time she can be on an app. When the time limit expires, the device locks itself till the parent puts in the parental password. That feature allows you to set up time limits PER APP, so if you are wanting to limit your DD's time on specific apps, this is your best bet.
Details are here: www.howtogeek.com/251365/how-to-set-a-screen-time-limit-on-your-iphone-or-ipad-with-guided-access/.

If you are wanting to limit her time OVERALL screen time then you'd better go with a web protection software.

We use K9. Its a free parental and web control software and works wonderfully on both Windows, Mac and on iPhones and Android phones. It allows you to restrict/allow access to websites, permits safe searches and blocks any porn sites, or unsuitable web material.

 Details can be found here: www1.k9webprotection.com/

Here is how you can use K9 to set limits on device usage: www1.k9webprotection.com/support/kb/K9126.html

We have a Smart TV, so we have limits there as well. But thats entirely through the parental controls provided by Samsung. It allows us to set up hour limits on TV usage after which the TV shuts off automatically. We have controls set up on YouTube, Amazon and Netflix as well, so it only works with parental passwords.

Let me know if you have any questions

[raeoflyte]

Sept 14, 2018 10:30:36 GMT -5 swasat said:

Sept 14, 2018 8:19:01 GMT -5 gs11rmb said:

My 10 year-old DD has been begging for a phone because she's "literally" the only one in class without one.  That's not true... anyway, I did allow her to have my old iphone6 which she can use in the house with WiFi.  She is too obsessed with it for my liking already and I want to limit usage without getting into a huge fight.  (And yes I know that I am her mother and get to set the rules...).  Does anyone have any recommendations on how to set a timer on the phone so that she can only use it for one hour?  I don't mean the phone timer.   I want something that calculates how much time she has been on the phone in a 24 hour period and switches off when the time is up.

Also, any spyware recommendations?  I'm generally not the snooping type but I need to know who she's interacting with online.  

Right Thanks to raeoflyte for tagging me!

She is right that we have all kinds of controls set up on our kids phone and iPads and on their chromebooks.

My son has an iPhone and you can use the "Guided Access" feature to control how much time she can be on an app. Details are here: www.howtogeek.com/251365/how-to-set-a-screen-time-limit-on-your-iphone-or-ipad-with-guided-access/. That feature allows you to set up time limits PER APP, so if you are wanting to limit your DD's time on specific apps, this is your best bet. If you are wanting to limit her time OVERALL screen time then you'd better go with a web protection software.

We use K9. Its a free parental and web control software and works wonderfully on both Windows, Mac and on iPhones and Android phones. It allows you to restrict/allow access to websites, permits safe searches and blocks any porn sites, or unsuitable web material.

 Details can be found here: www1.k9webprotection.com/

Here is how you can use K9 to set limits on device usage: www1.k9webprotection.com/support/kb/K9126.html

We have a Smart TV, so we have limits there as well. But thats entirely through the parental controls provided by Samsung. It allows us to set up hour limits on TV usage after which the TV shuts off automatically. We have controls set up on YouTube, Amazon and Netflix as well, so it only works with parental passwords.

Let me know if you have any questions

You are awesome!  I love the ability to limit per app which I didn't realize was available.  That will be very useful for us.

Question for you on the tv/video game stuff in your house with your limits.  I know you have their tv/video game time pretty limited.  Do they share their tv time?  Or can they double their time if they agree on movie/game?  I was thinking your kids are pretty close in age.  When we limit right now, it's pretty much screen time is allowed (or not allowed) at these hours, but when they don't agree on what they want to do it becomes a pain for me.  

[swasat]

Sept 14, 2018 10:40:22 GMT -5 raeoflyte said:

Sept 14, 2018 10:30:36 GMT -5 swasat said:

Right Thanks to raeoflyte for tagging me!

She is right that we have all kinds of controls set up on our kids phone and iPads and on their chromebooks.

My son has an iPhone and you can use the "Guided Access" feature to control how much time she can be on an app. Details are here: www.howtogeek.com/251365/how-to-set-a-screen-time-limit-on-your-iphone-or-ipad-with-guided-access/. That feature allows you to set up time limits PER APP, so if you are wanting to limit your DD's time on specific apps, this is your best bet. If you are wanting to limit her time OVERALL screen time then you'd better go with a web protection software.

We use K9. Its a free parental and web control software and works wonderfully on both Windows, Mac and on iPhones and Android phones. It allows you to restrict/allow access to websites, permits safe searches and blocks any porn sites, or unsuitable web material.

 Details can be found here: www1.k9webprotection.com/

Here is how you can use K9 to set limits on device usage: www1.k9webprotection.com/support/kb/K9126.html

We have a Smart TV, so we have limits there as well. But thats entirely through the parental controls provided by Samsung. It allows us to set up hour limits on TV usage after which the TV shuts off automatically. We have controls set up on YouTube, Amazon and Netflix as well, so it only works with parental passwords.

Let me know if you have any questions

You are awesome!  I love the ability to limit per app which I didn't realize was available.  That will be very useful for us.

Question for you on the tv/video game stuff in your house with your limits.  I know you have their tv/video game time pretty limited.  Do they share their tv time?  Or can they double their time if they agree on movie/game?  I was thinking your kids are pretty close in age.  When we limit right now, it's pretty much screen time is allowed (or not allowed) at these hours, but when they don't agree on what they want to do it becomes a pain for me.  

Mine are 3 years apart, DS is 13 and DD is 10. We have had these limits since last 5 years. They can share their screen time if they agree on a movie or show. But we have a strict limit of 1.5 hours of screen time on a weekday and at most 3 hours on a weekend. So if they combine their screen time and it falls within this range then they can go for it! If they cannot agree on anything then too bad so sad. Whining gets them nowhere and they know that so .............

We also have exceptions to the rule. If they have friends over on the weekend then we relax time limits. Also sometimes when they have been exceptionally good. And sometimes during sucky weather when there is seriously not much they can do.  It never exceeds 4 hours in total for a day though. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

Thank you swasat. This was really helpful.

K is making noises about a phone too. Right now, she texts or calls one friend using my phone. She'll also answer my phone and send emojis to dh. I'm ok with her doing this.

[Deleted]

Screen time and restrictions has been one of my parenting failures.  My 16 year old is the techie in the family and built his own computer which he's the admin and I have to ask him how to do things on it.      I was doing ok until he got to high school and there everything they do is on the computer and communication is through texts and a school app so he has to have his phone on him all the time too.  He jumps through every hoop I put up.  He as to keep his grades up, he doesn't really complain when I ask him to help with something around the house, he is in extracurriculars and volunteers for school and scouts, but every minute not spent doing these required things is spent on his computer.  Probably 25% schoolwork and 75% gaming.   He mostly just plays Kerbel Space Program and Survival Evolved which are at least kind of thinking games (at least I like to tell myself that).  I get really mad at him though because it seems like such a waste of time, but I guess it's no worse than me sitting on the boards or binge watching Criminal Minds.  He watches almost no TV. 

[gs11rmb]

swasat that's wonderful information!  I'm about to go and research K9.

Thanks so much, it's really appreciated.

[taz157]

Thanks swasat. DD doesn't have a cell phone, but she does have an iPad that we need to limit her time on, especially with Netflix and Youtube.

[zibazinski]

Sept 10, 2018 9:26:39 GMT -5 Sam_2.0 said:

Family get together yesterday. My sister was there with her kids. I told A she could play outside in the yard with all the kids together, but any trouble and she would be inside with me. Yep...that only took about 20 minutes. A got in trouble and had to come in. Niece was yelling and causing a fuss, so sis & her family left. Once they were gone, I let A go back & play with the little boys and she did great. Ughghghg.

TCU - if you go for the 3rd, it gets even crazier We just laugh & say #notthefirstkid all the time. He did learn to say Uh Oh recently, which is super cute. Even if I should be concerned about why he is saying it, lol! DH seemed concerned that T doesn't have a lot of words yet. I said its because he doesn't need them - he just says "A-ye!" and Al gets whatever it is he wants.

At least now you know for sure. But now how do you avoid your niece tactfully.

[steph08]

I went away to a friend's house this weekend and left DH home with the kids. It was so nice to be "Steph" for 1.5 days and not just "Mom."

Came home and DH is basically not talking to me - I even took the kids and left for 6 hours to give him peace. I came home and asked if he's mad: "Well, I spent most of the weekend hating you, so..." 

Jesus dude. We've had kids for 4+ years, I have put them to bed and did everything for them probably 97.5% of the time. Friday, he only had to put them to bed. Saturday, they spent half the day at his parents' house, then my parents took Harper, so he only had Chloe the rest of Saturday and I was home at 11 on Sunday morning.

I'm just tired of this crap. I should get to be a person, too.

[Pants]

Sept 17, 2018 8:18:03 GMT -5 steph08 said:

I went away to a friend's house this weekend and left DH home with the kids. It was so nice to be "Steph" for 1.5 days and not just "Mom."

Came home and DH is basically not talking to me - I even took the kids and left for 6 hours to give him peace. I came home and asked if he's mad: "Well, I spent most of the weekend hating you, so..." 

Jesus dude. We've had kids for 4+ years, I have put them to bed and did everything for them probably 97.5% of the time. Friday, he only had to put them to bed. Saturday, they spent half the day at his parents' house, then my parents took Harper, so he only had Chloe the rest of Saturday and I was home at 11 on Sunday morning.

I'm just tired of this crap. I should get to be a person, too.

Men are assholes.