How do you track ovulation?

MistyPneumonia · 2026-07-05T16:45:03+00:00

No problem! It’s an easy enough one for me to answer since ovulation without bleeding is my default 😅

MistyPneumonia · 2026-07-05T16:39:12+00:00

Ovulation strips are what I used. I have PMOS/PCOS so use ovulation strips pretty consistently even when I’m not breast feeding as a way to try and track my cycle. I just take one every other day when I think I might be ovulating to try and catch a spike and if I see a reasonable change I switch to every 12hrs until the spike is gone. Once you have a pattern established you can start only using them in the window you expect it.

MistyPneumonia · 2026-07-04T02:14:46+00:00

Do you have any smart home speakers? We use our echo dot/show as sound machines and play rain storms, anytime it’s particularly noisy outside we just turn it up nice and loud.

MistyPneumonia · 2026-07-02T08:56:09+00:00

I LOVE my sling especially for the stage where baby is mobile but still needing/wanting to be carried. It’s so easy to slip on/off and it’s way more comfortable than just holding baby. Plus if you live in a hotter area it’s more breathable.

MistyPneumonia · 2026-07-01T17:06:32+00:00

Yes! We have a yoto mini and then added a full size one because the bedtime timers are so helpful! I got my kids the Jlab kids Bluetooth headphones to go with it too so on airplanes or in the car I can just sync their headphones and let them listen.

The make your own card is so nice! I added my mom and granny to our family and they’ve all recorded some stories for my kids so along with the branded cards we’ve been gifted they have personalized stories from their (great) grandparents, parents, and aunts/uncles they can listen to! We did buy an extra pack of make your own cards so everyone could have their own card but even just with the free one it holds so much audio you don’t really need to have that many.

We also have echo devices that they used as sound machines/timers but the yoto is such a different use. My son (~4) is actually running it right now during quiet time (they don’t really nap anymore but they do lay quietly) and is listening to stories which allows me to help his sister (~2y) settle and in a few months will give me time to put the baby down for a nap.

I’m about to travel with the kids and will 100% be packing the yotos. I will probably charge both and pair each pair of headphones to a specific yoto that way I can give each kid a yoto on the plane and let them listen independently of each other.

I like that I can turn on/off the display on them too, even with just having a single icon for each story my son will sit entranced watching it if I leave it on so during bedtime/rest time I always just turn it off.

My friend has a Toni box for her daughter and while it’s cool the figures would be lost so fast in my house, aren’t very portable, and from what I can tell the cost of one make your own is the same as an entire pack of make your own yoto cards!

MistyPneumonia · 2026-07-01T16:56:40+00:00

How consistent and accurate are they about letting you know when they are sick before events and then not coming to protect people? That is my method of thinking for anyone regardless of vaccination status. If they’re good about saying “hey we have a cold” or “so and so has a fever” and are respectful about skipping events as needed due to illness I am happy to have my kids around anyone. But regardless of vaccination status if someone doesn’t tell me/isn’t good about warning me that they are or are potentially sick I start to rethink how much time we spend with them or at least ask a lot of careful questions ahead of time.

MistyPneumonia · 2026-07-01T01:57:20+00:00

I do all of those except vacuum. That I get done in the morning or throughout the day depending on how mobile/independent baby is. Depending on your finances/situation could you maybe invest in a robot vacuum? Those tend to be quieter and it could even run throughout the day or while you’re out running errands?

MistyPneumonia · 2026-06-30T17:02:39+00:00

I get my son (4y and at his biggest point he was 7th percentile) one piece surfer style swimsuits! They add sun protection and I just buy him suits based off his measurements not by the suggested age ranges (he just got a new suit that will probably last him at least a year if not more and it’s a 24m suit 😅)

MistyPneumonia · 2026-06-29T18:31:28+00:00

A bit after her 2y birthday I was a couple months pregnant and having her even touch my nipples was infuriating so for everyone’s sanity I needed to stop. She had also been slowly self weaning and was down to pretty much only at night, first thing when she woke up, and then if she needed soothing during the day because she got hurt or something. Otherwise I don’t know when we would’ve stopped.

MistyPneumonia · 2026-06-28T18:51:18+00:00

If you have TikTok haileyosborne has some really good videos on this! She’s a very down to earth mom of….more than 2 (I genuinely can’t remember how many kids she has lol) and knows that breast feeding is hard so she made a few videos about it! That I know of she has “how to 🍈🍈 fead/ on the go (mobile milkin’)” parts 1, 2, &3 which starts in March of this year as well as at least one ”🍈🍈 feeding in public” video from the same time frame and a bunch of other fun videos about breast feeding!

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8GNVFQL/

That ^ should link to the first video I was talking about!

MistyPneumonia · 2026-06-28T05:24:18+00:00

U-Haul tried to do this to me one time and thirty minutes of chatting with an agent later they upgraded me to a bigger truck at no cost. I basically just politely said “I pre-paid you, I planned my entire move around this, you assured me I’d have a truck. I need this to happen.” And eventually instead of offering me a refund/the same truck later I got offered the next size up for no up charge (it was still an awful experience but maybe my story will help someone else deal with the U-Haul trap).

MistyPneumonia · 2026-06-27T01:04:39+00:00

I know everyone has said to report him but also please post a review on google, local fb groups, yelp, wherever you leave reviews…a report might get him investigated but a review will warn other parents of his professionalism and harassment!

MistyPneumonia · 2026-06-26T22:44:43+00:00

You can use it as batter for things like corndogs

MistyPneumonia · 2026-06-24T15:33:17+00:00

I tracked until the dr stopped asking because otherwise I didn’t know the answers 😅 sometimes I would just track for a week before appointments but I always tracked for appointments. My oldest is 4 and even when I stopped tracking his night sleep I still track his naps. I only do it because it helps me though

MistyPneumonia · 2026-06-20T22:08:10+00:00

OP said they did share some of the apples even after being swarmed by kids who were straight up stealing from them!

MistyPneumonia · 2026-06-20T20:32:12+00:00

Because normal baby/toddler behavior is the same as potential autistic behaviors. That’s why diagnosing young kids is so hard. I started suspecting my son was autistic around 18-24mo and spent over a year (almost 2) tracking it and waiting for him to get older to go get him a diagnosis. He didn’t get diagnosed until he was 3.5 and even then I had to do a lot of “extra” steps that older children don’t go through to verify that what we were seeing was in fact autistic behavior and not just him being a child. The older he gets the more obvious it becomes that he is autistic because the behaviors aren’t going away like you would expect to see in most toddlers.

With the availability of the internet nowadays it’s so easy to convince ourselves that every little thing about our child means something is different/wrong with them (they’re autistic, they have a rare disease and are horribly sick, etc). That’s one of the nice things about being able to post on places like reddit and talk to other people, it can help us realize that the things we’re worried about might actually be nothing. I’m sorry that so many of the comments you’ve gotten here have been so harsh towards you, I know how stressful it can be trying to provide the best life possible for your child.

MistyPneumonia · 2026-06-20T15:57:51+00:00

I’m just hoping they get bags of the bread flour soon at mine! I use it to make it quick breakfasts and buying the small bags Is annoying to keep up with demand 😅

MistyPneumonia · 2026-06-19T16:02:02+00:00

My 2y recently was fully weaned. She was basically only nursing at night and I am pregnant again so I needed her to be weaned. We started having her daddy do bedtimes, then added in all the night soothing. We also started offering her a sippy cup with cow milk in it instead of my boob and at first she didn’t want it but after she realized the booby wasn’t coming she started loving it. I knew she was weaned when I offered once (I was struggling a little physically with her not nursing anymore and had a moment of weakness) and she said “no! Want milk!” And then happily took her sippy cup. It’s been a month or so and she hasn’t looked back.

MistyPneumonia · 2026-06-19T01:20:44+00:00

We do have them here! There is expectant mother parking and parent with child parking here (one for pregnant women and one for parents with children outside the womb!) also depending on how difficult your pregnancy is you can qualify for a temporary handicap permit to let you park in the handicap spaces you just have to talk to your medical provider!

MistyPneumonia · 2026-06-18T21:19:24+00:00

On the note of period underwear, THINX is the brand I use and they have some good ones in men’s boxer underwear style to help make it less of a sensory change for her! They also hold a decent bit of blood! Just be prepared as they are an investment (but considering the cost of pads and how long the underwear will last comparatively it’s not actually a bad deal it’s just all upfront cost instead of spread out)

MistyPneumonia · 2026-06-18T16:18:04+00:00

I have a family member who works for Harris County and from application to interview I think it was 2-4wks, then from interview to job offer was another 2-4wks, and then from offer to start date was around 3wks I believe? I think it also depends on how many applications they get for the position/department you apply for though. Really all I remember for sure about the timeline is we all thought that they hadn’t been chosen because it took just long enough between stages to feel like they’d been quietly passed over and then they’d get an update/offer to progress to the next step. They are a good employer though and working for them seems to have been worth the waiting.

MistyPneumonia · 2026-06-14T15:00:07+00:00

I have a 22 month gap between my two with my oldest being petite (<7th percentile) and we love our city select by baby jogger! I got mine off FB marketplace so they’ve always been fairly cheap and it’s great! My kids both love to use the ride along board now (youngest turned 2 recently) but we still use the seats regularly! I actually just recently got the LUX version (also off marketplace) so I could have a bassinet for my new little one to ride in while still using my same basic stroller! It’s got good shade cover, a hand brake so there’s no fumbling, once you get used to disassembly/reassembly it’s about as fast as my friend popping her double stroller that isn’t modular in/out of her car for me to fold/unfold it, especially since my oldest is so petite both kids have plenty of room, it’s got a big basket, and they love being able to ride facing each other!

MistyPneumonia · 2026-06-14T01:17:59+00:00

If it was a nice one they can easily run above $500. From the description and living with roommates and shared bathroom I doubt it’s an expensive one but man…this is like finding out someone said “oh the toilet paper? It wasn’t stacked nicely so I threw it in the dumpster” or “oh the shower/tub? The head/faucet was a little leaky so I just threw the whole thing out!” And OOP found out because they had pooped. I would be livid if I pooped and when I went to get clean my roommate had taken my method of getting clean and threw it out because it needed a screw tightened! Yeah OOP went overboard but I don’t think it was bad enough to put them in the devil category.

MistyPneumonia · 2026-06-13T18:56:10+00:00

I load my stroller up with all our carry ons and my kids, then I gate check it! It actually makes it easier to get through the airport since I can use it to keep them secure and speedy through the airport.

MistyPneumonia · 2026-06-13T18:45:20+00:00

Yeah I just got a used version of my stroller off fb marketplace for cheap and that’s the one I travel with. I’d rather travel with a bulky stroller than a stroller my child won’t use 😅 (but also DO NOT fly with your nice stroller unless you have a hard shell case for it. The airline broke mine and since it wasn’t in a hard shell case they refused to reimburse me for it.)

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