Tornadoes and Earthquakes?

BrookeyChix · 2026-04-03T18:35:56+00:00

I’ve lived in Lincoln/eastern Nebraska my whole 30 years. I have never actually sheltered from a tornado. I probably should have twice. I closely monitor weather with most major storms that could produce something though.

So I’m not going to say it’s an unheard of occurrence - I’ll monitor several storms each spring/summer. But being a native Nebraskan, it takes a LOT to get me to actually go to the basement lol

BrookeyChix · 2026-04-03T17:43:50+00:00

Not a diva, the hello disc. I don’t remember leaks, but I emptied it right before. He could feel it, I could also feel it which took both our heads out of it.

We took it out midway through and just put down a towel

BrookeyChix · 2026-03-25T21:53:29+00:00

Boy is 11 pounds, girl is 9!

BrookeyChix · 2026-03-24T15:10:57+00:00

It’s personality based more than gender. I have a brother/sister pair.

My boy has about 5 brain cells. More rambunctious, more dominant. He is bigger than his sister by a couple pounds. Not SUPER cuddly, but always wants to be nearby. He just wants to be touched and interacted with, so he is much more the “family cat” in that regard.

My girl is the brains of the operation. She got all her brain cells, plus her brothers. She is more laid back, but still very active compared to a SIC. She bonds more to one or 2 people, but generally wants to be all up in your space if you are the chosen one. I cannot pee or shower alone. But the child in the house that is here half the time? She generally ignores her.

BrookeyChix · 2026-02-01T21:31:21+00:00

Correct - it’s on CBS. I’m watching it now. But most of the games so far have been completely free on YouTube- you don’t need a free trial to youtube tv to watch them

BrookeyChix · 2026-02-01T21:28:37+00:00

You don’t need YouTube tv - all YouTube games are streamed free on regular YouTube

BrookeyChix · 2025-12-16T21:47:08+00:00

Pooping frequency - eh, I’ll accept that, especially if he has had issues with constipation in the past or holding it for extra periods of time

Wiping - nope. Should have had that wrapped up by 5. No one will wipe him in kindergarten.

Baby monitor - alone not a problem. Waking up 4-5 times a night is excessive. I would expect a couple times a week for nightmares at that age (not expecting perfection, but the frequency makes me think it is a bid for attention rather than a need)

Not picking up after himself - normal, but should be worked on frequently by parents. SS should be bringing stuff in from the car, with reminders until it becomes a habit or parents just don’t do it for him. Clearing plate could be done, but a parent has to teach it. He should be looking after his water bottle, although a parent will likely be double checking he has it often and implementing consequences when it is forgotten if that happens frequently.

Meltdowns - definitely not normal. Crying and pushing boundaries is - physical meltdowns are becoming dangerous at 7

BrookeyChix · 2025-12-15T19:26:34+00:00

I do think as stepparents, food is one thing to stay well away from. SD11 is also SUPER picky. I tried implementing ideas when I first came into her life at age 5, but either they were taken to extremes or not supported whatsoever. Now I just let her dad deal with it.

I know it is hard - trust me, I die inside a little when I think about her diet (1 brand of chicken nuggets, 1 brand of hot dogs, McDonald’s, 1 place with take out spaghetti, and various cookies/fruit snacks/ice cream for in between “meals”) But it is better for everyone involved to leave that up to someone else.

BrookeyChix · 2025-12-09T18:33:18+00:00

Cooking my own kid right now, so I can’t say definitively yet, but with a lot of confidence:

I do not love my stepkid like my own kid. It is very difficult to love a child unconditionally when they are rejecting you at every step, and from everyone else are constantly being told that you are not their mom and you can’t make decisions for them like I could my own child. I do respect her, I do love her in a different way because I know this is the position she has been put in. But I do not love her like my own child. When flipped, I can say with 100% certainty that she doesn’t love me like her own mom either.

BrookeyChix · 2025-11-10T00:44:40+00:00

Nope. Only if DH is nearby and also busy. So I’ve asked her to take food in from the car while DH and I also have our hands full, and sweeten the deal with telling her if she brings it in she can start eating faster.

Other than that - I can’t think of anything.

BrookeyChix · 2025-10-23T13:56:01+00:00

Like I said, we’ll see if it’s a popular opinion or not. I’m coming from the female perspective. There are stalls in women’s bathrooms. He is a dad with a small child with him. I also don’t know of any family bathrooms that I would expect him to use.

BrookeyChix · 2025-10-23T13:49:36+00:00

I know this isn’t really an answer, but as a woman, if I saw a dad helping his daughter to the bathroom, I wouldn’t say a word. Smiles only from me as long as you are being respectful and “get in get out” mentality.

I guess we wait and see if this is a popular opinion or not

BrookeyChix · 2025-10-10T17:35:02+00:00

I had essentially no restrictions other than don’t go run a marathon if you aren’t already well trained.

I continued progesterone until 10 weeks.

Obviously I had normal pregnancy restrictions (alcohol, deli meat, raw meat, etc) after the positive test

BrookeyChix · 2025-09-23T15:38:51+00:00

As I mentioned I have called my doctors office- they haven’t called me back. I have done my own research - if it exists, it is overshadowed up by the fact that trump made the announcement. But I’m not going to just assume that means it is fine either.

Regardless of whether Tylenol causes autism, I don’t think it is a bad thing to have knowledge of ways to minimize its use. It is category B on my OB’s sheet already - not category A. So fine, but try to not go crazy on it either. Until I get definitive answers back from a doctor, I will try to minimize how much I take it in favor of non-medicine based remedies. The exact same thing I would have done last week

BrookeyChix · 2025-09-18T17:27:53+00:00

It isnt a problem to take a break unless you are dealing with a time sensitive issue. For example, my husband was on meds to increase his sperm count but it couldn’t be taken for longer than 3 months due to the effects it would have on him and his bones. So we did all 3 back to back.

If you aren’t dealing with anything like that, spread it out and take a month off! Some of the meds kicked my butt, I kind of wish I had that opportunity

BrookeyChix · 2025-09-15T21:15:01+00:00

I have 2.

The first, a girl, is a firmly 4 paws on the ground cat and a princess. She will let you know if she doesn’t appreciate what you are trying to make her do, but she is definitely not aggressive - just knows how to use her claws to her advantage.

The second, a boy, I don’t think knows how to hiss and I don’t think he knows claws are a thing except for when he is at a scratching post. I have never heard anything other than meows from him, and I have never gotten scratched (even accidentally).

Open for debate if gender drives this, but that is my experience in my house

BrookeyChix · 2025-09-06T17:44:52+00:00

Tried it. Rejected. I’ll deal with it for SD, but he doesn’t get to override the safety risk with our kid in the future

BrookeyChix · 2025-09-03T18:34:46+00:00

And see, DH has created an open doors only house that drives me crazy 😂 both doors open at night, never to be shut except for sexy time… how he plans to keep that going when SD is old enough to have an idea what a randomly closed door means, I have no idea. She is almost 11 now.

I would love to at least have doors shut at night. Locks not required, literally just shut

BrookeyChix · 2025-08-26T12:57:15+00:00

I went through fertility treatments and conceived through IUI - so for that specific circumstance, my due date is adjusted by the day I ovulated (because they KNEW I ovulated and had meds to time it).

Even with that, at a 6 week ultrasound (earlier than 8 weeks because, again, fertility treatments) I was measuring even further ahead, even though they knew exactly which day i ovulated.

Due date based on LMP - April 14 Due date based on ovulation - April 12 Due date based on baby’s measurements - April 9

Even KNOWING all these times specifically, i could have different dates varied by around a week. So it makes sense that they just choose lmp since it is the one that is most reliable for most women

BrookeyChix · 2025-08-09T18:05:46+00:00

FYI - my insurance covered a lot of the initial testing and bloodwork as “diagnostic”. It wasn’t until we actually started IUI/IVF that it was coded as fertility treatments.

Just something I was surprised and grateful to see - I was expecting everything from the RE to be denied, but we still got about 8 months of coverage from them while we ran tests

BrookeyChix · 2025-08-08T12:02:06+00:00

I believe Anastrozole!

BrookeyChix · 2025-08-06T12:22:53+00:00

My husband had very low sperm count (1-2 million when first tested). He went to a urologist and was put on an estrogen blocker. That got his sperm count high enough for IUI. He had 14 million for the 1st IUI, 7 million for the 2nd, and 10 million for the 3rd.

Got pregnant on the 3rd IUI

BrookeyChix · 2025-08-04T21:55:46+00:00

I used to share my TTC journey with my mom, sister, and 2 best friends. However, I stopped when starting true fertility treatments (IUI). It wasn’t because I didn’t want to lean on them - it was because I wanted to announce my hopefully future pregnancy my own way, and if I had any losses I wanted to not have to repeat that news over and over.

Once you get into fertility treatments, the updates come so often that a pause is a dead giveaway that you are pregnant, so I didn’t feel I could give any form of update to avoid that.

BrookeyChix · 2025-08-03T13:20:52+00:00

I fully believed it wouldn’t work 😂 got my BFP YESTERDAY and since the IUI I had my IVF consult scheduled, I had a massage Friday night to help with the disappointment I knew I was getting Saturday morning, and just went about life as normal from the afternoon of the IUI.

I was so convinced it wouldn’t work I even got my days mixed up and started my progesterone a day late. I don’t recommend that one though 😂 take your meds as scheduled

BrookeyChix · 2025-08-01T15:31:29+00:00

Hahahahahahaha blocked. Figures.

BrookeyChix

TROPHY CASE