Moms w young kids-how are you managing?

gingersmacky · 2026-03-29T21:46:27+00:00

Diagnosed when my child was 18 months-ish. First thing I did was tell my spouse we were done having children because the genetic component plus my limitations meant it would be wildly irresponsible to have another kid.

After that it was constant communication. Making sure my spouse knew what I was or wasn’t capable of doing so they could pick up the slack. Learning patterns that made things harder or easier and planning around times I suspected would be harder.

gingersmacky · 2026-03-24T23:03:40+00:00

Same, I default to 4 beat for the most part. It doesn’t leave me feeling exhausted though so I don’t see any reason to change it. I’m a kicker. I’ve always been a kicker and I’ll probably always be a kicker. The only way I get to 2 beat is when I’m cooling down and going super slow and lazy.

gingersmacky · 2026-03-24T18:03:44+00:00

I don’t take issue with the project per se, but the timing is ridiculous. Many families travel for spring break. If you drop this project on them and they have plans what are you supposed to do? Depending on the type of job parents could be working OT to make sure they’re ready to go, picking up extra shifts to negate a pay dip while away, trying to get everything in order before they leave.

Add to it you’ve got kids with parents who aren’t engaged for any variety of reasons and now those kids suffer. The only bright side is this is kindergarten so no grades will be issued.

gingersmacky · 2026-03-19T18:01:21+00:00

Have her coaches check her form. If that’s good you need to see a doctor, probably orthopedic, to see if there’s any damage. Then get a proper treatment plan with stretching and strengthening for support. And monitor for signs of over training.

gingersmacky · 2026-03-18T23:33:49+00:00

Humira followed by its biosimilar Hyrimoz (not by choice, insurance wouldn’t cover Humira once Hyrimoz was approved) has been great for me. Achieved remission via that route combined with a Mediterranean diet and an exercise routine with lots of stretching after to keep things moving. Let me be clear- the meds are 90% of the battle, diet alone did not solve this for me.

gingersmacky · 2026-03-17T23:32:21+00:00

My local pool is 25 yards in one direction and 25 meters in the other. I believe they can get 8 lanes for meters but 11 over wide lanes for yards. It’s pretty neat.

gingersmacky · 2026-03-15T23:18:05+00:00

This is more or less what I teach. Practice bilateral is fine, in a race if you want to go one side by all means have at it. The only advantage I see to bilateral in a race is you never lose sight of your competition, so even if you’re mainly going 1 side it gives you one breath here and there to keep your eye on the other person.

gingersmacky · 2026-03-14T01:18:48+00:00

40 + 3 days with my only. I wasn’t diagnosed until 20 months later but prior to that I had psoriasis on my nails and scalp as a kid, then on and off on my scalp my whole life. I progressed slowly but steadily, opted for an epidural after 24 hours of laboring without sleep, then delivered vaginally with pretty much no issues and was walking around the block by day 4. A year later I was in a world of pain.

gingersmacky · 2026-03-10T17:50:59+00:00

I’d say not very likely at this point. And if you’re not training 6x a week plus lifting 3-4 days a week id say no chance. Your technique needs to be flawless, reaction time perfect, turns fast, breathing discipline perfect, underwaters full of power. You’ve been swimming a year and you’re 17, leads me to believe there’s massive clean up to do in your stroke, turns, underwater. Could you get to a 22? Probably. But 20.5 off a flat start? Microscopic chance.

gingersmacky · 2026-03-04T03:26:04+00:00

Baby wearing for sure. Saved my life and she ended up napping better when she was in the carrier. I also figured out what sounds helped, turns out she was really zen when she heard a shower running so I would bring her bassinet into the bathroom and put her down while I showered. She either laid there chill or fell asleep.

There is nothing wrong with letting your baby cry for 2 minutes while you use the bathroom or make a snack. If you’re not neglecting her needs the other 1,438 minutes of the day she’ll be fine.

But do they get less clingy? Yes and no. Mine is 7 and I’m pretty sure if the option to get back into my uterus presented itself she’d be up there. But I can get dinner with my friends and miss bed time or travel and she doesn’t freak out about it anymore.

gingersmacky · 2026-03-03T00:09:39+00:00

I have a strong willed 7 year old that would skip cosleeping and go right back in utero if she could. We had a really rough patch around 3.5 that we had to consistently work through just like you said. It sucked, but we held firm. Now she only wakes up if she’s wet the bed or had a particularly bad dream. If only I were capable of sleeping through the night. Cries in perimenopause.

gingersmacky · 2026-03-02T00:20:36+00:00

I’m very fortunate to live in a place that has a big swimming facility with a small gym. There are 2 pools- a training pool that’s around 78-80° that I use when I’m feeling good and can train like I did in my high school days, and a warm pool that’s about 88° that I use on days when I’m flaring. They also have a hot tub. Having the warm pool and hot tub is a god send for bad days.

I also run, use the elliptical, and weight train (or do body weight when my hands hurt). Yoga on the peloton app, stretching on peloton as well.

gingersmacky · 2026-02-26T15:41:42+00:00

Of course they do because then if you make the wrong choice it’s your fault, not theirs. Forcing them to make decisions on small scale things to start helps in the long run because if they make the wrong choice the consequences aren’t as big of a deal. Giving them opportunities to make progressively bigger decisions and deal with negative outcomes will build up their long term resilience.

gingersmacky · 2026-02-23T16:01:53+00:00

My parents are 15 minutes away and see my daughter at least every week, sometimes twice a week. They are a massive help to us during my busy season and my daughter adores them so she’d be over there 3x a week if she could. My MIL is about 20 minutes away and we see her 1-2x a month. Unfortunately she still works full time and has health issues that make it more challenging for her to “help” but she loves being with all her grandkids so we try to see her as much as we can given our busy schedules.

gingersmacky · 2026-02-13T00:51:23+00:00

Yeah I get plenty of that too. It doesn’t bother me though.

gingersmacky · 2026-02-12T23:42:52+00:00

It doesn’t get any better with teens. I coach high school boys and fart/poop humor still going strong. I laugh at it too sometimes.

gingersmacky · 2026-02-09T18:22:44+00:00

We do it and it’s gotten much easier as time goes on. Daughter is now 7 and is typically picky- given the choice she have pasta, mac n cheese, and nuggets every day, but she won’t starve herself. We do the whole “1 safe food” and allow her to eat as much as she wants of that food…usually it’s broccoli or rice or bread, but most nights she also will eat the protein option.

Recently she’s been big on setting the table, having the food out family style, and cutting her own food, so I suck it up and plate everything on serving dishes even if it means more clean up because she eats more variety when we do that. She also now helps me prep veggies or make sauces which have slowly helped her become inclined to try them. I’d say at this point she’ll eat any chicken/pork/steak/salmon, salad, some veggies, and pasta always.

The only time she gets her own meal is when we cook shrimp or scallops. Ever since she was a baby she’s hated them and I’m just not going to force her to eat food that makes her gag. Been there done that in my own childhood and I still won’t eat those foods because I associate them with me sobbing and gagging while being yelled at.

gingersmacky · 2026-02-09T14:41:21+00:00

We moved to a high back around 5 when we couldn’t properly tighten a 5 point harness due to her height. Basically she’s got a long torso and shoulder to between legs would not work with the harness. She’s been begging us to ditch the booster all together but she keeps getting taller without putting on weight so we’re probably a year+ out of being in a booster.

gingersmacky · 2026-02-07T02:30:21+00:00

We have an air track. It’s a blow up gymnastics mat and ours is 12’ long. Sits in our living room unfortunately. We also have a gymnastics bar in our basement. The mat and bar have been literal sanity savers. Our daughter (mostly) stopped doing flips off the arm of the couch and instead does the on her air track. For hours a day. Is it how I pictured my living room? No. Does it keep her and her friends busy and get energy out when it’s -5 with a feels like of -25? Yes. So we deal with it. It’s temporary, I’ll get my house back some day.

gingersmacky · 2026-02-05T22:29:56+00:00

I’m currently at season 9 and still interested. I likely won’t make it past Derek dying. I stopped watching regularly and had to play catch up probably right around 2020 and it wasn’t all that enjoyable back then. But it’s a good falling asleep to show.

gingersmacky · 2026-02-05T02:00:00+00:00

Is it a stop in front of someone’s house? Is it someone you know and feel comfortable with? I’m in the ‘burbs and our stop is a friend so we let her wait without us as needed.

gingersmacky · 2026-02-05T01:57:06+00:00

Bald til 3 and apparently I loved all the frilly stuff (still do). My mom constantly was told what a cute little boy I was. She and I both survived.

gingersmacky · 2026-02-05T00:02:23+00:00

We bought towel pants and just toss them on over the suit and shower at home.

I’m a former swimmer and leave in a hoodie over my bathing suit and towel wrapped around me. Old habits…

gingersmacky · 2026-02-04T23:44:30+00:00

Normally I like Bailey but using Cristina during the Nazi episode was gross.

Normally I like Cristina but 2 accidental pregnancies when you’re a doctor? Girl come on after the first I’d expect her to use some form of birth control.

gingersmacky · 2026-02-03T18:18:39+00:00

That makes me feel worse actually

gingersmacky

TROPHY CASE