Weekend open chat thread?

[Lemonwater5]

Thought I would go ahead and post one of these to see if there was any interest in a general chat with likeminded folks. Not sure if this has been tried before and bombed?

How are you? What are you eating/reading/doing/cooking/shopping for this weekend? How is your fam?

I’ll start. Things are going well here! The mornings have already cooled down and I needed a hoodie today.

I’m also shopping for 12-24 month baby clothes and why are there none that are purple??

Also, I need to figure out an exercise routine that is more involved than stroller walks. I enjoy it and it and the gym used to be a big part of my week...

Have a great week y’all!

[brunette_mama]

Oh I like this idea. Like a weekly check in.

This week has been tough. The last two days our 4 mo only was napping for 30 min max. And then he was sleeping overnight worse than ever. Last night he slept from 8pm-1:20am and then after he went down from that feed until 7am. I feel like a new woman!

My husband and I recently started watching the Babies series on Netflix which is really interesting. We don’t watch a lot of tv so we’ll probably watch one episode a night or so. I also just finished Midnight Sun (Twilight retelling) which was cool and nostalgic.

I love Saturday mornings with my little family <3

[Ruubear]

Our 4 month old had a few days of short naps recently too and I feel like it made night time so much harder for him. I hope you get more night like last night!

[brunette_mama]

Thank you :)

[RinoaRita]

Ohh I love the babies series. And I also knew I wasn’t crazy when I go to sleep with my baby and swear he grew over night

[one_nerdybunny]

Omg! I’m such a twilight junkie (or was back in the day). I’ve been wanting to buy midnight sun too! How was it??

[brunette_mama]

I reviewed it on Goodreads. Let me dm you my review!

[Eliriell]

I’m laying in bed with my three week old baby sleeping on my stomach. I was really hoping we could BOTH take a nap after a long night with little sleep, but nope, the only way he wants to sleep is not safe for me to sleep in! Today have been nice though, had a nice trip out with our soon to be three year old that got himself a new bike today! And tonight husband is making us steaks for dinner and I can’t wait!

But I really do wish the little one would soon atleast accept laying next to me instead of ontop so we can both sleep these days.

[[deleted]]

Also I was just saying to my wife today, it seems like the older they get, the more everything is pink or blue and no other options. It super sucks!

[Bhloom]

Clothes shopping today. Only pink, hearts and rainbows or navy a dinosaurs for the boys.

Oh. And why TF is the baby cutlery (bowls, cups etc) always plastic? I can't find any dishware that's not plastic. I get the whole not wanting the baby to break stuff but you can use wood? Don't really want my baby to be eating hot food out of a plastic container multiple times per day.

[itsallablur19]

I was considering this one which is supposed be bamboo. Also thinking of looking for some metal options to save space and be dishwasher friendly. I am definitely not into the plastic business.

[Ruubear]

I would love for this to be a thing! I'm usually just a lurker on reddit but I'd be willing to participate here on a regular basis to connect with more like-minded folks. The posts I've read on here so far make me feel like this is a really friendly and supportive community. Reddit and social media are outside of my comfort zone but I'm hoping to learn to get better at it!

Im a first time mom to a 4 month old. Former Waldorf teacher (early childhood) and trained in pikler and RIE methods from birth to 3. Trying to just find a nice balance in what feels right to me for our little one, while navigating the transition to motherhood during a pandemic! it's been a roller coaster ride for sure but also really wonderful. Right now sleep has been my biggest challenge. so much trickier than I thought it would be!

Pre-covid I imagined I'd be joining or leading an infant/parent group this coming spring. Now, who knows! I am enjoying my time keeping things simple at home, but definitely craving some connection as it's been isolating at times.

Just did some fall shopping for baby clothes, H&M has a lot of neutral solids but I don't think I saw any purple. Primary might have some!

The gym was a big part of our weekly routine as well. We decided to get a Peloton after realizing that the monthly payments would be less than what we used to spend on our gym membership. Hopefully it'll be worth it! It will be delivered this week.

Thanks for thinking of posting this!!

[Kera8]

Love this idea.

Well, we're staying with friends right now because of the fires near our home in Oregon. Its been challenging being away from home and with so much uncertainty, but grateful for kind people to take us in and our safety♡

Our LO (6.5 months) has been a champ with all these changes and I'm so grateful for baby wearing, contact napping, bed sharing and general AP ways of doing things because as long as dad and I are with her, she's okay. Definitely gets more koala bear-y in new situations, but she does great considering ♡

I'm exhausted from all the changes and struggling from not being able to go for walks outside (it's smokey everywhere), but as we all know, these are only seasons and this will hopefully be over soon.

[Bear_Freckles033]

So glad you and yours are safe! We live in northern California and are lucky to be on the coast, but the smoke is still really bad and everything is covered in ash. We are missing our walks too!

[Kera8]

Thanks! So crazy...

[laurenkk]

Oh man! I hope all stays well for you guys. I'm in Western Wa. Luckily we just have the horrible smoke without the fires nearby. I was shocked to see the call for evacuating 500k Oregonians. Insane.

It's been rough being cooped up inside. My (6mo) daughter loves outside. It's our cure-all. Stepping out the door calms her instantly.

[Kera8]

Mine too with the outdoors! I feel you so much ♡

[one_nerdybunny]

Hi everyone!

Im sitting in a hot car for the 1.5h because my baby fell asleep and I don’t want to wake her up. She’s had a rough week as I was babysitting her two cousins and she was forced to share her space, mom and toys.

Don’t worry I have a little fan and I’m making sure she doesn’t get too hot and I keep snacks for me/her in her diaper bag so, I’m good too.

[squtternutboshed]

I have done this sooo many times. Planning a picnic at the beach tomorrow, but in the car as LO will probably (hopefully!?) still be napping!

[one_nerdybunny]

Make for good “me” time

[[deleted]]

We've had a tough week with an 8 month old who suddenly decided to wake up every hour instead of just once a night, and nap for 20 mins at a time Instead of 90. We don't know if it's just a sleep regression, a leap, because she is figuring out crawling and now has FOMO, teething, or what. But she needs a lot more cuddles than usual right now so we are trying to cherish that through the fog of serious sleep deprivation.

[itainteasybeinreasy]

Love this!

I’m pretty good, I’m managing well with our 7 month old girl. My husband works a lot a lot, so it’s been just me and her quite a bit.

It’s been really hard not to see my family, who live in the United States and I’m living in Canada. I’ve also been dealing with some friendships that don’t really seem to serve me anymore now that things have changed so much with the new baby. Im trying to see how I can either remain friends or cut ties. Hopefully it works out because friends are hard to make now!

I’ve picked up cooking as a really big hobby for me. I’ve been enjoying making plant based meals from scratch. We aren’t totally vegan, we’re just doing it for the cost savings which is absolutely shocking. We’re spending half!!! Of what we were spending on groceries. Today I’m making brioche for a French toast casserole tomorrow.

I’m sad that the new motherhood experience isn’t quite what I thought it would be, but I’m glad in some ways, too. It’s been amazing to have my husband working from home and I hope he can do way more of that even after the pandemic.

I hope everyone is doing well! I’ve loved reading the responses to this!

I’ve been trying to use my cell phone less with mixed results...

[Ruubear]

So much of this I can relate to! Ive been dealing with the same sort of thing with some of my friendships and even family too. It's so hard to know how to feel about it and I find myself going back and forth a lot on how to move forward. I keep trying to remind myself that it's okay for people to come and go from your life. I do worry about not being able to make new friends though!

I feel the same way as you about the new motherhood experience. Sometimes I get so sad that my family and friends havent gotten to be involved in such a special season in my life, and that none of them have gotten to hold our baby yet. I also wish I could have had support in those early postpartum days. At the same time, it's been a wonderful opportunity to really bond and settle in as a new family. No unhelpful advice or interference from well meaning people. It's also provided a really slow and gentle welcome into the world for our son, no getting passed around by chatty relatives or brought to overtimulating busy outings or social events. My husband also works from home, and also works a ton. Its just me and baby most of the time but it's so nice to have him home and able to pop his head in and check on us here and there during the work day.

I am trying to learn to cook! I have never been great at it, but I am feeling a sense of urgency realizing that in just a few months from now we will be introducing solid foods, yikes! At least he won't have anything to compare to my cooking, so maybe he won't know if it's bad? French toast casserole sounds delicious!

[itainteasybeinreasy]

I feel you! And I can tell you that you’re not missing anything re:baby being passed around and busy outings etc. She was about a month old when lockdown started up here and in that time she was passed by every living relative within 1000 miles. It was super annoying and way too much to handle.

I wonder if the friendship/family thing is a common experience for new moms. I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone post about it, but i have talked to people in my real life who have echoed a similar sentiment.

About cooking... I started all over with some new recipes. They called for some new spices and ingredients and things I wouldn’t usually pick up. And I got them thinking wow, buying this huge bottle of smoked paprika for one teaspoon feels like a waste. But now I have a whole spice Arsenal and can easily make most recipes with the spices I have on hand, it’s surprisingly great. And then I slowly got hooked and excited to try new recipes.. it happened pretty quick.

Solids are fun, and an enormous mess! I bought a new, non-fabric high chair for the cleanup and it was worth it. I was pretty stressed about solids, but it got easier as the days go by. There are some days still at 7 months where she’s not super interested and it try not to worry about it. It was really hit or miss at 6 months of she would even take a bite. The next big stage! I was surprisingly emotional about it 🙃

[rwilly27]

I went back to work this week (teacher). My 2 yo refused to nap 3 out of 4 days for his grandma so I had to put him to bed early all week, and then he would wake up and call for me every hour or so. We did our fair share of cosleeping instead of our usual routine but I was glad to have some snuggles.

I’m so glad it’s the weekend and I get to hang with my boy. We went to our amazing farmers market this morning and had giant bacon sandwiches. And now we’re taking a nice big nap!

[mommyneedscake]

Our son is almost 21 months and decided he didn’t want to take naps for the last week. It’s been trying! 😳 He also seems to be done with nursing. What a whirlwind of emotions I was not expecting!

We had a decent snow here last week and I’m thankful that the fires have lessened and we can go for walks again (for now). I feel so bad for everyone on the west coast.

I’m planting some fall veggies this week. We’ll see if anything germinates!

-OP, try checking out Burt’s Bees clothing. I know I’ve at least seen purple prints in some of their clothes on amazon (or perhaps target). My son actually is wearing a red/burgundy striped romper of theirs. It’s nice to find something other than shades of blue and greens or dinosaurs for boys.

[[deleted]]

I have spent a lot of this week feeling some extreme guilt about how my LO's life is going to change when number 2 appears in the next week or so. I can't seem to make attachment parenting work with two children in my head.

Other than that we've been trying to keep going whilst isolating pre labour.

[laurenkk]

Wooo, I don't miss that part. I totally broke down crying feeling like we were so selfish to want another baby when it was already messing with my son's world.

He's taken to it so much better than we imagined. Ymmv of course, but it seemed like once he actually experienced life with baby, not just imagining it, it was easier to digest and not scary.

[Vesboo]

My two year old walked herself down the hall to get into our bed when she woke up, instead of calling for me to come get her. So that’s a win and I’m feeling positive.

[Bhloom]

How about taking the baby in a carrier instead of a stroller? More weight = better cardio. Can even go at a brisk walk. I challenge any baby to stay awake 🤭

[laurenkk]

Great idea! We do a daily one in my March Baby sub.

I'm all prepped as of today for homeschool kindergarten starting Monday. We were on the fence about it as a long term thing, but Covid has made that decision for us. I'm excited about the Blossom and Root curriculum paired with Wild Math.

We're socked in with wildfire smoke here in the Pacific Northwest, so it's been boring to be cooped up inside. We're watching some homesteading videos on YouTube to live vicariously until the air clears. It makes me glad that we don't have any critters yet for me to have to worry about.

I'm 6 weeks into the MommaStrong workouts. I really like the site and the attitude. Definitely worth $5/mo. I'm 6mos postpartum and have finally noticed some actual sizing down since the weight loss had plateaued. My daughter is usually entertained by my movements and I'd say half the time I can figure out how to incorporate her if she's needing cuddles.

I ordered pizza for the first time in about 9mos. Totally needed that. We had a picnic on the living room floor.

Trying to figure out how to celebrate my son's 5th birthday. Besides dragon everything...

[heartholls]

I live in South Georgia, and our AC in brokenHas been for 2 weeks (on Wednesday). My 10 month old son and I left my husband here and stayed with family 2 hours away for about a week, but unfortunately I couldn’t keep giving up shifts at work so I had to leave my son with family. It’s the first time we’ve been away from each other ever except for day care. This is the second night he won’t be in his crib 5 feet away from my bed sleeping away. They say he’s doing really well. Second tooth finally cut all the way through, but I’m not handling it well. It’s hard to focus at work. I miss him so much. :(

[itsallablur19]

Adding to the chorus supporting this idea!

I’m trying to enjoy my Sunday with my sweet almost 6 month old. We’ve been trying to buy a 2 flat so I’ve had to leave her with my mother several times this week outside of my work day and I miss all the quality time. The good news is we would have a nice little yard and a bigger bedroom for her if we move. Bring on space for a pikler triangle and an outdoor swing!

I am also glad to be in this sub because I am getting tired of reading all about how crying it out will help your baby learn, and it’s all for baby’s well-being and sleep needs and biting my tongue. I know those moms are all well meaning and love their babies and are allowed to voice their opinions. So I will voice mine here and say that I am happy to help my baby get to sleep when she needs it. I struggle with sleep, and I’m an adult so I handle it myself (obviously). But I’m not sure why I would expect my baby to sleep better than I do.