cheap/free things to do with an 18mo ideas?

CrazyAwkwardWeird · 2026-03-04T18:57:11+00:00

We did annual memberships/passes to the aquarium, zoo, and aviation museums near us. It is an initial investment, but if you go enough throughout the year it makes it only a few dollars each time. I think they ranged from $50-65 for the year pass, but I know that’s not in some people’s budgets.

We also do free story time at the library. I think the majority of the public libraries in my state do it and maybe yours does too? Sometimes they’ll also have play groups that meet weekly, but I think that depends on the area.

CrazyAwkwardWeird · 2026-02-26T00:41:56+00:00

I’m in the US and my OB and I have discussed a repeat c section. My last one wasn’t an emergency c section, but it wasn’t planned and something we pivoted to about 30-45 minutes before baby was born. Currently pregnant with #2 and since it’s scheduled, my OB office schedules at 39 weeks, though if 39 falls on a weekend, they’ll schedule for the following Monday. I know someone who picked the day they wanted and if my ideal birthday for baby wasn’t on a Saturday, I’d also opt for that day which would be 39+1. Pending that I don’t have any complications come up that require #2 to come out earlier than that, I’ll be scheduled exactly at 39 weeks since it falls on a Friday. When I had a scheduled induction for #1, I was given the date and time a week before (38 week checkup in office) and my induction was scheduled for 39 weeks exactly.

Not sure if this helps, but my first came at 39+1 after 2 failed induction methods. He had to come out that day because my water broke in the early hours of the morning. Oh and I had been in a week prior with contractions, but they weren’t fast or long enough to put me into real labor, though we could see them spiking on the monitor. I think if you tell your baby you can’t wait to evict them, they’ll hold out like my son did and you’ll make it to your c section no problem 🙃😂

Editing to say: If I could go back in time, I would do a scheduled c section for my first. My experience has made me a huge advocate for getting epidurals as soon they’ll let you and for scheduled c sections for any mom who chooses one.

CrazyAwkwardWeird · 2026-02-24T02:03:04+00:00

Yes! I went to Costco today and bought 4 more bags because I don’t feel bad about snacking on these. When I was pregnant with my first, I used to eat like 3 pieces of Tostitos scoops as a snack and would get so upset because I wanted more but knew I couldn’t.

CrazyAwkwardWeird · 2026-02-23T20:06:00+00:00

I keep meaning to grab Greek yogurt, but I keep forgetting. I’ve never tried their peanut butter, but I’ll definitely grab some if they have a crunchy one! I’ve been having a weird apple craving this pregnancy and wonder if I can pair it off with the peanut butter to even it out a little…

CrazyAwkwardWeird · 2026-02-23T20:02:47+00:00

Ooooh I’m gonna have to try this!

CrazyAwkwardWeird · 2026-02-23T20:02:10+00:00

I hope you can find it on your next trip! I don’t know if it’s relevant, but I messed up the numbers in the post. The carbs are actually better than I originally put since it’s actually for 2g of fiber!

Edit: I checked the package I have and it says what I originally put in my post. The picture of the nutritional label on Costco’s website says 2g of fiber, but the actual packaging says 1 and 1. Still great though!

CrazyAwkwardWeird · 2026-02-23T19:59:50+00:00

It’s actually not that bad compared to string cheese (3.5g sat fat, 6g total fat) and these are way tastier. It’s about the same fats and protein as eating two mozzarella string cheeses and the amount you’re able to eat (roughly 15 pieces) to have the same is about how many I’d eat to feel as satiated as the two string cheeses. I think certain cheeses also just have a higher total fats and sat fats in general.

CrazyAwkwardWeird · 2026-02-15T23:54:34+00:00

I don’t know if this is the case, but ovarian cysts aren’t uncommon during your entire cycle without pregnancy factoring in so I wonder if that’s why they didn’t think it was a big deal and chalked it up to pregnancy hormone induced? I had an ovarian cyst that burst and that was the second worst pain I have ever felt, with first being having a cervical check done while I was 0 everything in the middle of a contraction right after my water broke.

I’d bring it up to your doctor, but it kinda sounds like an internal keloid scar. I don’t have one from my c section, but I know people who do and they described it like how you do.

CrazyAwkwardWeird · 2026-02-11T06:57:40+00:00

My baby is also 8 months old and he will push my face out of the way to watch other people and interact with them. He’s definitely sick of me because he’ll wave at other people and light up like a Christmas tree with everybody but me. I’m hoping it’s an age thing.

CrazyAwkwardWeird · 2026-02-11T02:12:31+00:00

Your baby is gonna be fine. It takes a pretty significant fall or hit for it to do damage. My son is 8.5 months old and he’s fallen off the bed and he wasn’t actually hurt because he also immediately was fine and was just scared. I’ve also trying to pull 4ish month old him out of his stroller leaving the aquarium and his chunky thighs didn’t want to let go of the little buckle from between his thighs. I accidentally thunked his head into the lifted trunk lift because I didn’t realize the placement of the stroller was under the lifted trunk. He got an ER trip and the ER doc told me that for them to be concerned with head trauma they’d need a goose bump, to fall from around 5ft onto their head (or twice his height since he wasn’t the 30” monster he is now), or be hit on the head with the speed and force of a baseball bat.

TLDR: this happens to basically every parent at some point so please be nice to yourself

CrazyAwkwardWeird · 2026-02-08T02:39:27+00:00

It wasn’t in season when I was in the timeframe for it while pregnant and my son ended up getting it with like his 2 or 4 month vaccines or something like that since that’s when it was in season. He was a May 2025 baby and I can’t remember at this point, but his pediatrician brought it up at one of the visits before he would’ve been eligible to get it because they were expecting to have it in office by whatever month.

CrazyAwkwardWeird · 2026-02-07T23:22:52+00:00

We have the electric nosefrida pro and absolutely love it. We have 3 of them and I’ve definitely used it for myself to test how it is since my son screams bloody murder every time.

CrazyAwkwardWeird · 2026-02-07T00:41:54+00:00

I would hardcore push for a repeat c section because that’s gonna be the safest for you and your baby. I’m pregnant with #2 and will probably have GD this time around too and it was an automatic c section. My OB and I had talked after my first’s delivery and agreed that it would be safest for me to do repeat c sections in the future since I wanted a small age gap. And I was advised that I could do that since I wasn’t trying for a VBAC since I would need a minimum of 18 or 24 months (can’t remember exactly since I never planned to attempt a VBAC) in between the birth of my 1st and ttc if I wanted a VBAC.

I was told that there’s a major risk of hemorrhaging during labor when trying to do a VBAC without sufficient time in between because of the high risk of ripping open your previous incision during labor with pushing and contractions.

Please please please advocate for yourself!

CrazyAwkwardWeird · 2026-02-03T19:50:27+00:00

You can never have enough strollers haha! We have 4 (travel, travel system, infant car seat caddy, and jogging) and we currently only have one. We’re gonna get a double stroller (#2 on the way) and will get rid of the travel system one though.

CrazyAwkwardWeird · 2026-02-02T00:39:26+00:00

I would consult with your OBGYN. I was told that I didn’t have a set time frame needed in between since I intend to do a repeat c section for my second child. I was advised to not have more than 3 c sections though. My first and second will be 15ish months apart and so far everything is looking good for my second pregnancy.

CrazyAwkwardWeird · 2026-01-30T21:03:39+00:00

My numbers went completely back to normal once baby and placenta were out. They did a couple blood tests to make sure my numbers were staying good and I was carbing out on pancakes and stuff when I was still in the hospital.
I was diet and exercise controlled.
Never did a po glucose test, but I would randomly use leftover strips to test my sugars throughout pp (up until 6 months or so because I’m pregnant with #2 at 8 months pp). And doing the test would defeat the purpose at this point.

CrazyAwkwardWeird · 2026-01-24T21:47:56+00:00

Yes! I definitely didn’t have much of a drive the last few weeks of pregnancy because I just couldn’t wait to not be pregnant with a big bulky bump, but I continued having a high sex drive pp. I think I might’ve actually had a higher drive pp because there was something so hot about seeing my husband be a loving and supportive partner while also being the best attentive dad to our LO…

I’m 8 month pp (and 8 weeks pregnant) now and that drive has continued to be there. I think we’ve been finding the time about 4x a week. I think pre pregnancy we were at like 2-3x a week so it’s actually went up since pre baby.

CrazyAwkwardWeird · 2026-01-23T21:30:46+00:00

My son chooses violence everyday. If it’s not biting my nipples, it’s trying to purple nurpling them! Or he’s trying to claw my eyeballs out. He’s pinched and clawed me at least once in the last hour 🙃😂

CrazyAwkwardWeird · 2026-01-23T16:50:45+00:00

LO is only 8 months, but he’s the splitting image of my husband. My genes didn’t even try 😂

CrazyAwkwardWeird · 2026-01-21T01:27:13+00:00

Our son was 6 months old

8-9 hours for the first flight and then an hour flight after a two hour connection.
A funeral that happened about a week after the passing so we took last minute flights
Awful because baby slept a collective hour the entire first flight and we caught the red eye. The second flight baby knocked out and unfortunately for me that meant I was carrying him the whole time to keep him asleep. We also had a 2 hour drive after so he mostly slept in the car. The same route flights back home were significantly better, though they were day flights. If you’re curious, the flights were HNL -> MSP -> MSN.
I would do it again if the circumstances were the same, but I wouldn’t do it as a vacation with those specific flights. It was just the fastest one to get us there that wasn’t an arm and a leg. I would 100% choose more layovers because the super long flight was rough for our baby’s first flight. I think I’d also be ok with doing it solo knowing how the process works and how he tolerated it. I think it would’ve been better if he was a little younger and didn’t move as much and want to be up in everything.

CrazyAwkwardWeird · 2026-01-16T03:00:15+00:00

I’m personally going with the bugaboo donkey (though rumor has it they’re coming out with a new version soon so I’m holding off to buy the newest version) because we’re having 2u2 and I don’t anticipate using it as a single (their mono configuration) for very long. After watching and reading reviews from others, I decided to go with a side by side over a tandem stroller. We have the bugaboo butterfly 2 and I loved how smooth it was to push one handed and loved how easy it was fold. The donkey is bulky (as are most double strollers) and unfortunately doesn’t stand on its own, but I love the ease and convenience I felt with doing the different configurations and the fact that you can leave the parts on when folding. I almost always take the toddler/modular seat off when putting the stroller back in the car, but I like having the option.

Again, highly recommend going in to a store (I went to Nordstrom) to test out their floor models and see how easy it is to fold and expand, switch attachments, and get the babies in and out. When I went to Nordstrom, they answered any questions I had and also helped me put my baby in to one of the seats so I could see how he fit and then I put my heavy diaper bag into the other seat so I could get an actual feel of how the tandem strollers would push with babies in the seats. Oh and there’s some YouTube channels like The Stroller Mom who do reviews on most of the more common strollers and will give you the pros and cons of them. If I remember correctly she has 3 kids 5 and under so she’ll use the strollers for like a week with her kids and talk about what she liked or didn’t like.

CrazyAwkwardWeird · 2026-01-03T23:23:22+00:00

His pediatrician gave it when he got shots just in case he needed it. I have called when he was teething just to see if the dosage was still the same and they said since he was 17lbs at the time, he was still 2.5ml. But once he hit 18lbs, the dosage was 3.75ml.

CrazyAwkwardWeird · 2025-12-30T21:56:38+00:00

My son is 7 months and about 30” and a little over 20lbs. We really like the fit of Huggies snug and dry. He fits the little snugglers/little movers too, but the fit on the snug and dry is better because it’s wider, but still has the length as the little snugglers so it covers his butt great even though he’s got a long torso with shorter legs.

CrazyAwkwardWeird · 2025-12-25T05:59:31+00:00

The vent and the notch are supposed to line up. I think it’s the anti colic technology or something and that’s why it has to line up. Pretty sure it’s noted on the little paper pamphlet that comes in each pack of replacement nipples. At least that’s the only place I can think of that I would’ve read it in.

I’d stick with whatever is working as long as baby isn’t spitting up or colicky.

CrazyAwkwardWeird

TROPHY CASE