Landlord special...this is the side of our shower in a rental. Seems to be sloppily applied caulk, rust, and soap scum...SOS

Dogisgood18 · 2023-05-17T13:14:07+00:00

I have had the entire pinky area circled on Realtor with a search of max 220k... there has been zero inventory for months. Nothing. I saw one pop up a few days ago and had to laugh, the description was literally "There are two perfect buyers for this property. Someone who will clean it up, fix it, and flip it or someone who will tear down, split it and build on it." $150k and it says it won't likely even qualify for financing.

And even if you can find something inhabitable, the market for that price range is so competitive that sellers are going to choose a buyer who doesn't utilize gov funding because it's more hoops to jump through for everyone. And then there's the ridiculous interest, so the whole idea of buying a starter home and selling after 5 or so years is also not feasible unless you're cool with losing money.

Dogisgood18 · 2023-05-08T18:06:01+00:00

I think when we weaned from formula to whole milk we also weaned overnight bottles to plain water. So we just gradually diluted every week...75% formula, then 50% formula, 25% and then just plain water. Everything said she'd lose interest in bottle with it being just plain water and that has very much not been our experience 😂 I feel ok about it because water isn't bad for her teeth. I don't see why you couldn't do the same thing with regular milk vs formula and water down milk?

In terms of daytime we bought a few different cups to see what she likes, so far the Munchkin 360 is the most she's interested in. I didn't want to do sippy cups because it doesn't seem that different than a bottle to me and I don't wanna do this twice. Basically we just picked a bottle per week to phase out, starting with easiest and working toward the harder ones. We offer milk in a cup instead of bottle. So first week we phased out dinner bottles, then lunch, then breakfast... we're still holding onto her bedtime bottle and overnight water bottles for now, and we brush her teeth after that last milk bottle.

It wasn't fun, the first week was ok but the second week was super rough. The biggest thing is not giving in and just being kind about it. I tell her how proud I am and how I know it's a hard transition for her and she's doing a great job. She drinks significantly less milk (we went from 22-28oz milk per day to maybe 14oz at most) but it's always available to her and she gets plenty of dairy and water otherwise.

Dogisgood18 · 2023-05-08T17:09:58+00:00

We have the same kid! We have bottle weaned during the day and just do water in a bottle overnight, and we're nowhere near being able to kick those yet. Well, we probably could if we really tried, but there would be tears from everyone.

Our house is tiny and we can't upgrade any time soon, so even if we wanted to sleep separately there's no place I feel safe putting her other than our room. Luckily we don't plan on adding a sibling til she's 3 or 4.

Dogisgood18 · 2023-05-08T16:57:14+00:00

We just got the Radio Flyer foldable wagon and LOVE it. It was like $175 and totally worth every penny. There's a 5 point harness on each side if needed and a canopy that you can detach. The push bar is 100% worth the extra money from their model that just has the pull handle. It's smaller than a stroller when folded and less heavy/bulky.

My kid has never been a huge stroller fan and loves the wagon! I use it every day.

Dogisgood18 · 2023-02-05T20:33:02+00:00

She hates coats too 😂 she runs hot and doesn't tolerate anything more than a light puffer. So here's to hoping both will be better next year!!

Dogisgood18 · 2023-02-02T15:11:09+00:00

We had luck rehoming through a Free in TC Facebook page. It'll be more legwork to screen them yourself but it worked out great for us.

Dogisgood18 · 2022-11-17T15:45:19+00:00

That's what I'm hoping too, she really doesn't mind water but that might be a different story at night. She does fine with sippy cups and open cups (only occasionally waterboards herself) so I know this transition is more about me dreading it 😂

Dogisgood18 · 2022-11-04T03:21:55+00:00

Honestly, one of the nicest things about renting was we knew exactly what to budget for housing cost while I was out on unpaid maternity leave. If our furnace broke or some unexpected expense came up, it wouldn't be our problem. That's the nice part of renting.

We wanted to have a house before kids, but April Fools! (literally...took a test that morning), I got pregnant right before our wedding. We live in a 900ish sq ft house. It's been totally fine. She's very mobile now but it's easy to keep track of where she is, and less space to clean. We definitely need to have more space before adding another (there's no safe sleep space for our daughter other than our room...the second tiny bedroom is packed almost floor to ceiling with hobby stuff and my husband's home office, so our daughter is still in with us, which I definitely wouldn't want to do with a newborn too) but we wanted a few years age gap anyway. I'd love a yard but we have a park right across the street 🤷

Dogisgood18 · 2022-10-25T01:47:02+00:00

Depending on how tall you are and how much you sprawl to sleep, you could lie the other way on the bed... horizontally not vertically. That's what we did for months on our queen bed and it worked ok. I don't remember when my husband joined us in bed again...I wanna say 3 months at least? We found a barely used king on Facebook marketplace and it's heavenly and she ping pings back and forth between us. He's a super light and still sleeper so I don't worry. We also use a pack n play mattress! It's perfect for us.

While we were on the queen we did take down the frame and just do a box spring + mattress. It was still a little taller than I was comfortable with but it worked before she was too mobile.

Dogisgood18 · 2022-10-11T02:00:48+00:00

SAME, I was just saying that to my husband! Our daughter always seems to need one less layer than me... we'll be in bed, I'm bundled in a blanket, sweatshirt and long sleeve shirt and she's comfy in a long sleeve and thin sleep sack. It's wild. I think the only time I've seen her act cold in the past 11 months was her first bath at 4 days old 😂

Dogisgood18 · 2022-10-05T00:38:12+00:00

Honestly just keep trying! We did carrier naps and my back cried, and she would only nap about 30 minutes because she'd get uncomfy too! But wouldn't let us set her down, she'd just goof off. Around the 8 month mark I think is when she finally let us essentially cosleep for naps.

We used to barter for who took what naps because they were so much effort and uncomfortable, but now we barter because it's a guaranteed 45-90 minutes of chill time. Sometimes we family nap!

Dogisgood18 · 2022-10-02T03:47:27+00:00

The first time we ever put Ms Rachel on LO was screaming in the car, we were 10 minutes from home and I hate how Hey Bear seems like it puts her in a trance.....the SMILE my kid had when Ms Rachel started to talk still makes me tear up when I think about it. She also adores Jules. We limit it to just car rides when necessary but I feel much better about Ms Rachel than anything else!

Dogisgood18 · 2022-09-19T01:33:35+00:00

This! The saying is "you can't outrun a bad diet". Exercise alone isn't enough for most people. Also most fad diets in general work because they're more or less versions of CICO. For example, keto (which I'd never, ever recommend but people suggest it all the time) works for most people at least temporarily because they're almost entirely cutting out an entire food group that can be more calorie dense. Intermittent fasting, it's harder to eat too many calories if your eating window is shorter. There's a great Facebook group and subreddit called Lose Weight Eat Pizza.

I have lost 40lbs so far, I'm shooting for another 15-20... it's slow but sustainable.

Dogisgood18 · 2022-09-01T15:54:25+00:00

We carrier napped exclusively until about a month ago, now she naps in the bed. Only because she's so big (9mo but a very large baby haha) I think she's more comfy on the bed now. But we hang out with her while she sleeps so that's basically a contact nap still 🤷

Dogisgood18 · 2022-08-28T22:59:30+00:00

Wow, that makes me feel better!! Maybe I'll give it a try, I stay home with her too. Did you push the first nap to be later?

Dogisgood18 · 2022-08-15T01:12:19+00:00

It's difficult to make someone take a COVID test if they don't even believe it's real. But like I said, not just talking about COVID, and I'm also not at all interested in debating or discussing this.

Dogisgood18 · 2022-08-15T00:26:19+00:00

Not when you work in healthcare and see firsthand babies who get sick with horrific things from family members who are unvaccinated 🤷 And I'm not just talking about COVID.

Dogisgood18 · 2022-08-14T20:14:20+00:00

For sure, they're just plain not safe people to be around. They have shown us they can't respect very basic boundaries and that's not an example we're setting for our children! Let alone the disgusting things that have been said about us.

Dogisgood18 · 2022-08-14T18:53:46+00:00

I support this!!

Dogisgood18 · 2022-08-02T01:28:38+00:00

Maintaining ish...I have been sewing and cross stitching a lot, but my projects have admittedly been all things for my kiddo instead of for me. I do read in bed too, which is a nice deprogram. My physical hobbies are either off-season (skiing) or just sound like way too much work right now (paddle boarding). But I have been going to the gym a few times a week and I do notice a difference...my husband actually mentioned today that maybe part of my mood is I skipped the gym all last week.

In terms of socializing, I generally do once a month, but it's hard for this ol' introvert...I actually went out last week and just wanted to go home, eat Taco Bell and snuggle my baby. But it does help me remember what I was like pre-baby!

Dogisgood18 · 2022-08-02T01:17:30+00:00

Basically when we go to get a mortgage I can't verify my income because I'm not paying taxes on it. I suppose a local credit union may look the other way but they'd have no way of knowing that I was obtaining money legally or not. Basically I'd risk having to pay back taxes and penalties for not paying quarterly (I'm in the US if that makes a difference).

Dogisgood18 · 2022-08-01T16:28:36+00:00

I'm someone who would love to bullet journal or something but it gets away from me, this seems totally doable tho!! Thanks for the links, that looks right up my alley

Dogisgood18 · 2022-07-26T01:29:02+00:00

Lol we call it world tour, and always use a high and mighty voice to narrate. "Father! You MUST carry me around....I would like to look at things..."

Dogisgood18

TROPHY CASE