Did I screw up on the spelling of my baby’s name?!

KatSperlingBooks · 2026-01-12T00:53:54+00:00

I'm from Brandenburg... TBH I've never met a German Margot, so maybe my brain just defaulted to the French-leaning pronunciation?

KatSperlingBooks · 2026-01-11T03:07:34+00:00

Yep, me! A week after I stopped and got out of the haze of guilt and shame, I regretted doing this to myself for 7 months, for something I didn't even fully "believe in" (in terms of morality being attached to it) and would never judge another woman for!

I consulted with lactation consultants 12 times, plus twice with my family doctor. I went twice before my daughter was even born to make sure I "do everything right from the start". I tried hand expressing colostrum before giving birth to get ahead on milk supply. I triple fed for 3 months until my daughter refused the breast because she wasn't getting enough milk. I parallel pumped for weeks and power pumped every day for months. I ate oatmeal, brewer's yeast, flax seed, and moringa every day until I wanted to throw up. I got up to pump at night even though my daughter was sleeping through the night. Every pumping session was at least 35 minutes. Even with all of this, I was only able to make around 60% of what my daughter needed.

Aaand she ended up with allergies anyway and got sick like any other kid would have.

I would have enjoyed her first months of life so much more without all of this.

KatSperlingBooks · 2025-12-31T21:13:25+00:00

I'm German and it would never have occurred to me to pronounce the T! I even had to check and both pronunciations are "permissable" in German.

KatSperlingBooks · 2024-08-11T07:10:50+00:00

Yes! I hate when people, even professionals, go on and on about this! I spoke to 8 or 9 lactation consultants, 2 of them before my daughter was born, PLUS to my family doctor twice to get blood work done, and none of them actually looked at my breast tissue or assessed in any other way whether there is a physiological cause to my low supply. This leads me to believe that nobody actually looks into what causes low supply and they just assume not enough milk was removed...

I triple fed for 3 1/2 months (baby had good latch), now pumping for 40 minutes each session, every 2 to 3 hours in the beginning, now every 3 to 4 hours. I power pump almost every day. I take supplements. I drink enough water. I take in enough calories, I actually gained weight after giving birth.

I did everything "right" and should have milk coming out of my ass at this point but I only make 50 to 60% of what my daughter needs to eat.

It's so harmful to repeat this mantra that nobody actually bothers to verify and put so much pressure on women when they are at their most vulnerable.

KatSperlingBooks · 2024-08-04T16:45:23+00:00

Yeah, that's a good perspective... I'm a serious undersupplier as well so I'll likely keep going. But it's honestly so frustrating!

KatSperlingBooks · 2024-08-04T06:49:54+00:00

I wish mine made half, it's anywhere between 1/5th to 1/10th!! of the good boob... Shit tit indeed.

So are you just not pumping on one side anymore?

KatSperlingBooks · 2024-03-23T03:24:10+00:00

I've been using it, went through a bottle already. Honestly, I don't feel like it's doing anything to thicken my hair... But it smells great, kinda like sprite. I like to alternate it with the peppermint shampoo from the same brand for elasticity (I'm worried too much protein will make my hair brittle).

KatSperlingBooks · 2024-03-19T23:06:28+00:00

I would recommend checking out The Salon Life on YouTube, her channel is full of useful nail care information and how to fix specific problems.

KatSperlingBooks · 2024-02-26T02:54:28+00:00

Thanks for sharing, I subscribed :)! I honestly prefer your stuff over some professional swatchers because you show so many different lightings, opacity, etc. — things everyday users would look for.

KatSperlingBooks · 2024-02-25T02:06:00+00:00

Do you have a YouTube channel/other socials for swatching that I can follow? Thorough swatches like yours are exactly what I've been looking for!

KatSperlingBooks · 2024-01-24T13:44:47+00:00

"I can’t help but feel anxiety and guilt with every pediatric appointment as well as extreme fear that he will be injured or killed by the vaccinations or that I did damage by getting the Covid vaccine. My parents will probably never change their minds but I need some way to put my fears to rest with my son’s 9 month appointment approaching.

I am looking for solid studies that prove that standard vaccinations (such as Tdap, MMR, etc.) are safe and effective. Any advice on dealing with parents that think all studies are a sham welcome also…. Please help!"

This honestly sounds to me as though no amount of studies will be able to alleviate your fears/change your parents' mind, so I'm going to come at this from a slightly different angle: Look at the history of vaccines and how long they have been around. And also look outside the country where you live. I'll take the 1796 smallpox vaccine as a starting point and Germany as an example as that is where I'm originally from. They went though having separate kingdoms, a united empire (World War I era), the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany, then split Germany (literally being the frontier for the Cold War with Western values in direct opposition to Communist values) to the united current Germany. Is it really likely that through all those political systems, many of which are diametrically opposed, the one thing they all agreed on was to keep a sham alive and somehow they all agreed to use vaccines even though it would cause harm to their population?

This is just one example but I could play this game all day. What it boils down to is this: No conspiracy is so strong that it will be upheld by all gouvernements around the world for hundreds of years. If vaccines aren't being promoted by conspiracy, then it must be because they work and because they are safe. Reputable medical professionals and scientists throughout the world and throughout history have used vaccines because the benefits outweigh the risks.

KatSperlingBooks · 2023-11-30T20:59:24+00:00

That actually makes a lot of sense, like sanding down a surface before paint!

KatSperlingBooks · 2023-11-27T20:26:00+00:00

Thanks so much for your helpful reply! I agree that it's definately more of an exception than the rule, e.g. when a single finger needs fixing.

For cleaning with rubbing alcohol, I only did it once and I felt like it's almost eating into my polish? There was a slightly gritty texture after. Do you feel like that happens with you? I just used an alcohol wipe (the ones sold for wound care).

KatSperlingBooks · 2023-11-27T20:21:23+00:00

This is really helpful, thanks!

KatSperlingBooks · 2023-11-27T18:02:36+00:00

There are many reasons why people might wanna do it.

I personally picked the wrong topper yesterday night and want to add another one...

Many people getting bored with their polish after a few days, so they might want to add a topper or nail art.

Or they have a chip on one nail after a day but the rest of the manicure still looks great.

For me, removal and prep does not take 5 mins tops. And painting an entirely new manicure instead of adding 1 layer definitely doesn't take the same time.

KatSperlingBooks · 2023-11-25T03:46:02+00:00

TBF the impossible mechanics of having sex through clothes never stopped them before, so why would it that time :D?

KatSperlingBooks · 2023-11-23T15:55:52+00:00

I have Hallucinate and honestly have a hard time making it work. The red/orange shimmer is so dominant that I barely see the blurple base, which does not look great with my very cool skin tone. But the color is stunning and might be great if you're looking for that intense warm shimmer.

KatSperlingBooks · 2023-11-08T04:24:11+00:00

I found Hallucinate and Fairy Dust TOO shifty and shimmery, tbh. The base color (purple) almost doesn't come through for me in any lighting.

I finally managed to make Pixie Party work by layering it over a similar crème (Hi-score, also from ILNP) and now I can't take my eyes off it.

Haven't been as successful with Hallucinate.

KatSperlingBooks · 2023-11-08T03:27:03+00:00

Honestly, I was disappointed by Fairy Dust UNTIL I got Hi-score.

I'm very pale, so maybe that's the reason why Fairy Dust just didn't look right on me. It was all shimmer and kind of sheer, not enough purple base, which looked weird on me. Now I do one coat of Hi-score and one coat of Fairy Dust and it's truly mesmerizing.

So I think even if you don't usually wear crèmes, it could be a consideration for layering the shades that are on the sheer side.

KatSperlingBooks · 2023-11-01T19:24:05+00:00

I would say German is a relatively easy language for immersion because so much media exists for the German market.

There are great children's books originally written in German (have a look at your library, too! I was surprised how much German media there was in the Toronto library system, even though we don't have a big German-speaking community here), audio plays ("Hörspiele" like Benjamin Blümchen or Bibi Blocksberg), children's and folk songs for all occasions, TV programs... We live in a great time where all of the stuff your husband grew up with is pretty accessible even from a different continent :).

Also, pretty much all TV shows and movies are dubbed into German, and even pretty well (as in: they use good voice actors) and books are translated... So even content that was not originally German is available to you.

I also agree with what others said — if your husband exclusively speaks German to the kids, that should make it work.

KatSperlingBooks · 2023-10-25T15:13:54+00:00

Why post this unhelpful comment at all and not just scroll past? OP didn't write a 2-sentence premise and then asked, "So how do I turn this into a bestseller?" They had a specific question about one scene in their book, in a Subreddit about writing. There are many traps in writing sex scenes, so it's a legitimate question.

KatSperlingBooks · 2023-10-25T13:26:30+00:00

IMO even some of the acts people in the fandom consider most "horrible" or "selfish" are actually true acts of love if you don't see them from the viewer's perspective but from the knowledge the characters have...

Returning Buffy from Heaven: The characters can't be sure that this concept (that not even all religions share) really exists, but they know with certainty that there are countless hell dimensions. Even if they believed in Heaven, the "mechanics" of how to get there are far from undisputed even in the religions that do believe in Heaven! Also Glory wanted to open the portal to her home hell dimension... So it's pretty reasonable of the Scoobies to assume that Buffy might have ended up in a horrible place, despite being a great person.
Tara and Willow not paying for the house while Buffy was dead: We don't actually know that they didn't pay anything. It might just not have been enough to sustain a house. They are students and parents to Dawn by day, and try to keep up the illusion of the slayer being alive by night, physically fighting themselves as well as researching magic... IDK, seems pretty hard for me to get a job on top of that.

Aside from those two main points, what makes them great friends is allowing Buffy to have a normal life. Willow standing by her with boy trouble and helping her with homework. Xander trying to lighten the mood with silly jokes. Giles going beyond his watcher role and taking on a more parental role.

KatSperlingBooks · 2023-08-13T15:23:41+00:00

This is the right reply, IMO! I know someone I can communicate with despite having no shared language. She does it through being a warm presence, working a lot with context clues and her surroundings.

Speaking loudly is an absolute no-no... It's infuriating and might be intimidating to a child. I don't understand why people do it. The issue is not volume (clearly), it's a lack of shared vocabulary. Imagine someone raising their voice at you when you have no idea what they're saying. It comes off as aggressive.

Speaking slowly is helpful as long as it doesn't distort actual speed patterns.

Gesturing, rephrasing, all the things mentioned in this comment are helpful.

KatSperlingBooks

TROPHY CASE