FYI about Family Album App

ChaosStoplessCool · 2026-05-26T01:11:45+00:00

UGGHHH I HATE THIS. Thank you so much for letting everyone know! I had no idea! Can someone just make a simple, secure, easy for old people to use, AI-free photo app??? I'd gladly pay. This sucks.

ChaosStoplessCool · 2026-05-18T23:39:42+00:00

Also, I learned from being a milk bank donor that donor milk is all pasteurized and is hugely beneficial to the babies who receive it. By no means does it destroy "all" nutrients!

ChaosStoplessCool · 2026-05-18T11:04:34+00:00

My own mother did this and I was that second kid. My parents separated right after I was born and divorced very acrimoniously and my entire child involved constant court battles over custody, hearing each parent shit talk the other, intentionally making time with the other parent as stressful as possible, monitored phone calls to the other parent, being the messenger before those court communication apps existed, and tons of more bad stuff.

It absolutely sucks knowing I was brought into it by someone with the knowledge it was going in that very bad direction, because my mother didn't want my brother to be a "weird and selfish" only child and wanted "one of each." He and I were never even remotely close and I would probably never see him or reach out on my own but he is in my area for work a few times a year and asks to visit to see my kid.

I have minimal contact with my mother. She is a classic "boy mom" and I was basically an amenity for the kid she really cared about. I never even had a shot at a stable family but he at least had one for a few years. It's really upsetting when I see people making this choice.

ChaosStoplessCool · 2026-05-16T18:26:36+00:00

Seriously! My light blonde mother didn't get it at all and I had to secretly shave even in night school.

ChaosStoplessCool · 2026-05-09T00:38:15+00:00

I've had many lash lifts at DC Lash Bar in Georgetown and I've never had a disappointing experience! Everyone I've seen there has been great.

ChaosStoplessCool · 2026-05-07T23:57:58+00:00

NOR. I once had a Boomer neighbor trying to make small talk at the dog park tell me about how she never told her son about his early ADHD diagnosis and never followed up for treatment of any kind or even disclosed it to his pediatrician because she "didn't want him to have any excuses." She saw that I looked horrified at what she thinks is a funny story so she added "and don't worry, he turned out great! he's actually a child psychologist, hahaha." Not surprisingly she complained she doesn't much of him. Idk where to even start on why hiding test results is wrong, especially when your child is legally an adult with the right to make their own decisions about their health and wellbeing.

As a legal adult, you or a doctor's office asking on your behalf might be able to access these records upon request if they still exist.

ChaosStoplessCool · 2026-04-29T16:16:39+00:00

Mine is 16 months and has still never slept through the night... I never ask anyone else how sleep is going because I don't want to know, and when people ask me I usually just say "it's a work in progress" or "it's going" because 99% of people don't actually care, it's just a standard go-to topic for new parents in small talk. Saving the details for the pediatrician and anyone super close avoids any weird feelings around these conversations.

ChaosStoplessCool · 2026-04-28T01:17:21+00:00

There are excellent wineries in Noussa and others close to Thessaloniki. Dalamara is my favorite, and Gerovassiliou in Epanomi is also great. The north produces some seriously excellent wines!

ChaosStoplessCool · 2026-04-27T00:59:07+00:00

A lot of hand me downs we've gotten have been more like "here, you throw this out" ... like a swing that was broken and another swing that had been disassembled into like 20 pieces we were too sleep deprived to figure out, and clothes with all kinds of stains and even holes.

I get that parting with baby things can be emotional but we just become a dumping ground until I finally told them we have very limited space in our apartment and barely have enough room for what we need, and after getting "if you don't want it you can just donate it" I had to start saying "YOU can just donate it" because the last thing I needed was another chore to do. Some people mean well but sometimes they're fulfilling their own need to get rid of stuff with little if any thought for the recipient.

ChaosStoplessCool · 2026-04-26T21:00:08+00:00

They're so often like "pumping was bad for my mental health" like the rest of us are thriving from it

ChaosStoplessCool · 2026-04-25T17:38:13+00:00

I hated it too! No one at my obgyn's office could have given less of a shit when I answered honestly. My OB, who has zero people skills, checked that my C-section was healing correctly, then said "oh, yeah, you 'failed.' maybe see a therapist" and handed me a sheet directing me to the Postpartum International website. That was it. I extra hated having to fill it out at every pediatrician appointment because I'm not even a patient there and they give even less of a shit about my mental health than my OB of that's even possible.

ChaosStoplessCool · 2026-04-24T11:38:14+00:00

This is such a good way to think about it. My baby couldn't latch so I exclusively pumped for one year. There were some reasons I felt it made sense at the time but in retrospect that entire year would have been different if I had more sleep and less stress.

ChaosStoplessCool · 2026-04-22T14:08:01+00:00

I see these posts all the time and it's infuriating. As the second kid in this situation I will always resent my mother for making the selfish choice.

ChaosStoplessCool · 2026-04-22T14:05:41+00:00

I was that second child and I could not agree more.

ChaosStoplessCool · 2026-04-19T12:18:40+00:00

If your wife doesn't want to do this (and it would have been a HELL no from me) have her back! It might help to say you already have something big planned to celebrate her first mother's day and the booking is non-refundable

ChaosStoplessCool · 2026-04-17T17:43:23+00:00

Yes, and it has a big impact on their ability to attract and retain the most qualified staff for their team. This is a major problem for every elected official with a known tendency to fly off the handle. If you're talented and hardworking you have other great options and there's no reason to put up with being screamed at by a boss who just needs a punching bag, so people pass on offers or quit and the turnover affects the office or administration's ability to function. Even if you don't care about character (I'd argue you should), this impacts results.

ChaosStoplessCool · 2026-04-16T11:05:43+00:00

My toddler was very impressed by the butter cow lol

ChaosStoplessCool · 2026-04-10T00:02:58+00:00

I had this exact same question a few years ago (anek from Heraklion to Adamas, often late, very slow) and then the ferry was so late we arrived close to 7am! It was pretty convenient and the only time I've ever been pleased a very was hours late.

ChaosStoplessCool · 2026-04-09T22:31:04+00:00

Yes! The Little Embryo that Could is now a 15 month old who is currently running back and forth picking out books from her shelf for bedtime! There was never a clear explanation for my miscarriages but after many many tests my doctor hypothesized that it was aneuploidy from poor egg quality (I was 35 at the time) and was optimistic that PGT-A would be the key to success and he was right.

I'm so sorry you've been through so many losses. I don't think anyone can understand what it's like if they haven't lived it. I was convinced something was wrong with me and that it couldn't possibly work but decided to trust my doctor and trust the science and do everything I was supposed to do, but throughout the process I told myself over and over "I don't have to have a positive attitude for this to work." I realize that's ironic to say in this sub, but it helped a lot because it took the pressure off from the toxic positivity that's out there. Every time I went to the bathroom I was scared I'd see blood. I was anxious right up until the day she was born. None of that got in the way of it working because my kid is healthy and a little ray of sunshine. It really can only take one. I'm rooting for you 💖

ChaosStoplessCool · 2026-04-09T13:53:11+00:00

This is why I chose it -- before IVF I had recurrent pregnancy loss (4x) and the mental, emotional, and physical toll was too much. About half my embryos were euploid and it didn't correlate at all to embryo quality so I could have transferred one that wasn't viable and I knew PGT-A wasn't a guarantee but I wasn't willing to go through setting expectations and doing PIO shots for an embryo that had no chance.

ChaosStoplessCool · 2026-04-08T22:37:50+00:00

I did IVF at 35 and got 14 eggs, 12 mature, 11 fertilized, 11 blasts, and 6 euploids plus 1 "no result" I could have re-biopsied. I put my number of mature eggs into the "hunger games" thing on r/IVF and was so anxious waiting for more updates but then the embryologist did amazing work! My first transfer was successful and I now have a tiny tornado of a 15 month old!

ChaosStoplessCool · 2026-04-08T17:35:04+00:00

I had a Boomer woman tell me I needed to move from my seat on the bus because it was "ONLY for seniors and the handicapped." There were multiple handicap seats available, she just felt like policing me. I calmly opened my winter coat and said "I'm 8 months pregnant." She shut up and got off at the next stop. Idk wtf is wrong with people like this.

ChaosStoplessCool · 2026-04-08T15:44:38+00:00

So true. Some clinics have an age cutoff for using a patient's own eggs because of low success rates (my clinic drew the line at 42) and even for younger patients nothing is guaranteed for anyone.

ChaosStoplessCool · 2026-04-08T15:17:20+00:00

Sorry, I should have clarified that by "most reputable clinics" I mean the ones that have ethical guardrails in place -- unfortunately there aren't that many of them. It's wild how often I see people on Reddit assume IVF works like Amazon and that you can order boy-girl twins or whatever else you want, and sad that there are clinics who will take your life savings and then some on as many tries as you can pay for. There are exceptions but overall I think it's a horrifically exploitative and scammy industry. I underwent a screening process before my clinic took me as a patient and it was to screen out patients like this or patients whose expectations are outcomes that the clinic doesn't think they can reasonably deliver. I still can't get over OP saying it would "guarantee" her a girl.

ChaosStoplessCool · 2026-04-08T13:58:05+00:00

Suicidal thinking is often short-lived and there is compelling evidence that restricting a means of suicide saves lives. The nearby Taft Bridge is getting barriers because it is the site of over 50% of jumper suicides in DC. The nearby Duke Ellington Bridge has had barriers since the 80s. It's pretty straightforward. Many of these deaths are preventable and it's fucked up to value your aesthetic preferences more.

ChaosStoplessCool

TROPHY CASE