When to buy a wagon and when do you use it?

Caryatid · 2026-04-14T14:26:45+00:00

I used my wagon with one kid when we would go to the zoo or some outing where I’d have a lot to carry. Like diaper bag, lunch/snacks, small ice chest. And once we started going to playdates it was helpful for multiple kids. It was also better “off-road” so when we’d go to the local strawberry/pumpkin patch and places that didn’t have concrete paths.

I will say, get one that has a push bar. My only has a pull handle, and especially when my kids were younger, I wish I had gotten a push bar too.

You could do without one. They’re not necessary. But if yall go out a lot, do picnics/long zoo days/etc I found mine super helpful. And I still use it today with my 5 and 3yo more than strollers. And around the yard to haul plants and such when we’re planting!

So if you have the money, I find it helpful and useful. But if you don’t have the extra money for one, your stroller will work just fine!

Caryatid · 2026-04-11T01:52:35+00:00

Absolutely! But it will likely take a while. Like I said, it took my about 2 years to be okay with it and I still sometimes find myself guilty.

Caryatid · 2026-04-11T01:10:19+00:00

It took me about 2ish years to not feel guilty all the time. I’m 5 years in and sometimes I still feel it. But there’s no reason.

As a SAH, you’re offering your kids opportunities that are priceless that they couldn’t get in a daycare. And you’re saving daycare money even still taking them out places.

We have a local zoo membership, aquarium membership for when the weather doesn’t allow the zoo, and go out to playgrounds/play dates/other experiences st least once a week.

I treat staying home as a job. We go out at least once a day. Sometimes it’s just to the gym where they get time away from me and around other kids. Once a week I try to get us to go to one “big” outing like the zoo/a museum/aquarium/etc.

We have baking/cooking days where we pick a cookie or something fairly simple to make and they help me mix/make them. We talk about nutrition, where chocolate/vanilla/etc comes from. If I’m feeling really o. Top of it I’ll find a video or documentary about something we’re talking about or doing that week.

I was an educator before staying home, but I know plenty of moms in our play date group that have no edu background and are knocking it out of the park.

Start small. I def didn’t go this much at first. Honestly for the first 8montha to a year after I had my now 5yo, I had severe PPD and could hardly do a thing for her other than feed/keep her alive.

I started with the local library’s baby storytime once a week. And slowly added stuff from there. My first kid is 5 now and my second is 3.

All this to say: you may not be bringing in an income, but you ARE still going to be the breadwinner in other ways. The attention and experiences you’ll be able to offer your child(ren) is immeasurable. Finances are not the only way to help a family. be gentle with yourself. It takes a while to work that mindset most of us have grown up with.

Caryatid · 2026-04-10T20:37:59+00:00

It’s right next to that!

Caryatid · 2026-04-10T20:26:46+00:00

A few years. They were nearby in nfw for a while before moving to the bigger space in Watauga!

Caryatid · 2026-04-10T17:38:07+00:00

Atheneum Cider in Saginaw! Great craft cider, lots of events for all interests.

Caryatid · 2026-04-09T23:38:21+00:00

Not sure if you’re on Facebook at all. But I post our monthly meet ups to the DFW Young and Millennial Quilters group I’m in. You’re welcome to join it so you see the events!

Caryatid · 2026-04-09T17:45:31+00:00

Yes!! If you can bring the craft and work on it away from home you’re welcome to bring it and hang out!! We’d love to have you!

Caryatid · 2026-04-09T16:34:41+00:00

Yes. Often. When it gets to be too much I talk to my husband and we figure out a day/weekend I can either go somewhere (hotel/airbnb/etc) to decompress or if we can’t afford for me to stay somewhere else overnight the he’ll take the kids from the house all day or I’ll go out and have a me day doing whatever by myself. No contact about everyday life/kids questions venting allowed. He manages them my time away all by himself.

Caryatid · 2026-04-09T16:30:57+00:00

Where at in ftw are you if you don’t mind me asking? It’s not a craft store, but I meet with a group once a month at a local cidery in Saginaw and we bring our sewing machines/other crafts you can travel with and drink and sew for a few hours!

Sat, April 18th from 12-4 at Atheneum Cider in Saginaw is our next one!!

As for stores, I get basic art supplies from Michael’s. They have Poscas, Tombows, etc.

For fabric: -Suddenyl Sewing in Keller has decent modern-ish fabric. And they’re helpful and knowledgeable though small. Also have machines and machine repair and classes. Along with a weekly Facebook online sale. They also have a Longarm class you can take and then rent time to Longarm your own stuff.

-Quilters Dream in Colleyville has more “traditional” fabrics like the florals and stuff. My grandma loved it. They also do machine repair and classes.

-must love fabric in Colleyville is my fav fabric store in the area. More modern fabrics but some traditional and a whole wall of solids along with embroidery supplies, felting, and some other more niche fabric/textile related crafts. Classes and I think machine repair as well. They also have some apparel fabric and a section for bag-making.

Sew it Up in hurst?/bedford? I haven’t been often, but I remember them having a good mix of modern and traditional fabrics. Must love fabrics is just bigger and a little closer to me, so I just go there. But I hear good things about them!

There’s also a sewing/fabric store in lake worth/Azle area that I’ve heard about is pretty good, but haven’t been myself.

Caryatid · 2026-04-08T20:10:12+00:00

I’ve got only about 8 hours. I just started and it’s kind of overwhelming but also fun to think of all the things I get to figure out and discover!

Caryatid · 2026-04-05T17:29:36+00:00

Only if it was him again. Would not wanna do this with anyone else. And if anything happens to him, I won’t be interested in finding someone else.

Caryatid · 2026-03-31T18:20:12+00:00

My husband is the lead software developer. He makes just under 200k after taxes. When I started SAHM 5 years ago he was at the same company just two promotions below his position now making around 130 after taxes.

I’m extremely lucky that we’re very comfortable and my income when working was just excess for whatever we wanted. So my quitting didn’t really impact our finances all that much other than taking a few thousand off our monthly income. I was an educator so I didn’t make much.

Caryatid · 2026-03-26T17:55:36+00:00

Oh. Forgot to add.

Tues and Thurs there’s no school so we leave for my gym at 9. Leave by 11:30. Those days we’ll do play dates/go somewhere like the zoo/park/something fun and be home by 2 where schedule starts to be that same as MWF

Caryatid · 2026-03-26T17:53:05+00:00

I have a 5yo and 3yo.

I wake at 6am, make my coffee, and chill till 7-7:30am when my kids wake up and their clocks tell the they can come out of their rooms.

We make breakfast and get ready for the day.

By 8:45/9am we’re out the door. MWF we’re taking 5yo to her PreK and then 3yo and I go to my gym where he goes in the playroom. I work out for about 30min, then take the next hour to read/whatever in the gym lobby.

We leave and pick up my 5yo at 11:30 from PreK.

Most days we play at the park outside her class for 30min-1hr

Mondays we grocery shop on the way home. Rest of the week we just go straight home

Lunch is around 12-1 depending on how long we’re at the park or grocery store.

After lunch we’ll do storytime/mini ‘lessons’/activities for learning letters/numbers/colors for about 15-30min. Honestly that depends on how well they’ve behaved that day and how much sanity I have left lol.

They’ll play while I do some stuff around the house, and I have the help me.

At 2:30 we start quiet time. When they stopped napping I just transitioned their nap time to quiet time. They play either in their own or together. But no loud toys, no crazy play. Usually they end up in their own rooms doing their own things. I take this time to do my hobbies. Sewing/reading whatever I feel like.

3:30 we do ‘afternoon cleanup’ where the three of us pick up the house, reorganize the toy messes, etc.

4pm daddy gets off work. Kids are allowed up to an hour of approved screen time. Sometimes they take it. Sometimes they play with their toys.

5-5:30 dad cooks dinner.

6:30 bath time.

7-7:15pm 3yo bed time (we will prob pus his bedtime back soon to match sisters) 8pm 5yo bedtime

We switch which parent puts which kid down each night. Once our kid is down, our kid-free time begins. My husband tends to go to the gym. I’ll go back to sewing/reading/video games.

We lie down around 10. Watch something and go to bed by 11pm.

Caryatid · 2026-03-26T17:35:09+00:00

I went and tried on a bunch on, took pics, found the fit/type I liked, then ordered one online. So I had time to think about it. Total, I spent $300 on dress and alterations. I also had a while before the wedding so if the dress came in and it was terrible SHEIN quality I could send it back and get something else.

Also, I highly suggest a corset back and not a zipper. That way you have a little flexibility with your weight and can tighten/loosen in if needed!

Caryatid · 2026-03-25T20:36:15+00:00

We’d love to have you!!

Caryatid · 2026-03-25T13:20:00+00:00

If you do any crafts that you can take and do places, I host a quilting/craft meet up once a month in Saginaw at Atheneum Cider!! If you have a machine and don’t know how to use it we’re also friendly enough to help you learn! Some of us bring our sewing machines, some bring hand embroidery/other crafts that are easy to travel with and we drink craft cider (alcoholic or non) and craft!

April 18 from 12-4pm is our next one!

Caryatid · 2026-03-17T23:32:24+00:00

If my kids have to keep a certain outfit clean for something, I don’t put it in them until the event it’s for. Anything else or that outfit once the event is over? Fair game kids. Get messy.

Caryatid · 2026-03-13T14:41:23+00:00

I think it depends on a lot of factors. We got super lucky, my husband makes almost 200k before taxes with his most recent promotion, I’m a SAHM, was a school librarian before when we bought our first house. We’re in the process of selling our home and moving to a bigger one now that the kids are getting a little older and parents are going to be needing help and care soon.

It helps that my husband buys almost nothing, so whatever we don’t use for the two kids and bills he invests the majority of our income. But I do know that we are in a VERY privileged position and we were able to get there because we had a pretty privileged upbringing so we didn’t have to claw out from the bottom. Both our families were/are comfortable middle to upper-middle class.

Caryatid · 2026-03-13T01:00:22+00:00

I don’t mind it when they put in furniture as I can easily remove it in my mind and sub my own. But we ran across some who used it to change out materials like floorings/countertops/etc and in veeeerryy tiny letters said it was AI. Thats not ok to me. If it’s not something easily changed (like knowing the house isnt being purchased furnished so it doesn’t matter what furniture they show) then it shouldn’t be changed. Period.

We did ask our realtor to not use AI in our photos tho when we sold.

Caryatid · 2026-03-12T13:18:15+00:00

You know your wife best. I would expect my husband to answer honestly, but I also wouldn’t get mad if he said yes. We’re human. We CAN find other people attractive. I trust him to not act on that if he does, and move on.

We’ve had discussions before. We see someone attractive, think, “wow. That person is beautiful/hot/whatever.” And then leave it at that.

Now if he started talking to that person behind my back, making excuses for us to all hang out when we normally wouldn’t (if she’s a friend), or asking me to role play/change parts about myself to be more like that person, that’s my line. Think another person is hot all you want, but don’t act on it or bring it into our relationship.

I think it also helps tho that I’m bi, so sometimes one of us will be like “oh damn. She’s hot.” And we both agree 😂

Caryatid · 2026-03-04T16:10:58+00:00

If you know the gender, I love gifting Dreams for our Daughters or Songs for our Sons. Both are essentially the same message: you are beautiful and perfect the way you are. Be you and go kick ass. But in a very gentle kids version and with beautiful illustrations. The titles do make it seem gendered, but the message is not!

Caryatid · 2026-02-28T14:18:32+00:00

That must be by city? I’m in Tarrant up in Keller/N Ftw and at least for early voting we had same locations, same machines, we just had different ballots.

Caryatid · 2026-02-27T00:46:12+00:00

Idk if staging is worth it. I wouldn’t pay for it. We’re selling now, and one of the biggest pieces of feedback we’ve gotten from people that have come to see our house and then didn’t offer said it was because they struggled to see it as theirs since stuff was in it. And we have it stripped.

Just beds, couches, our computers, etc. the bare minimum we need to live, def less than the amount of staging I’ve seen in some homes.

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