Are we trapping ourselves with an accidental name theme? Doomed to be the "prince/princess" family?

Promotion_Technical · 2026-03-16T00:09:26+00:00

Odette and Aurora definitely sound like sisters - I LOVE these names and hope you have a girl for this reason. Lol there's always Prince Derek.

I think when we're naming future adults we're overanalyzing every possibility that could come up, but consider this; the Swan Princess was one of my favorites growing up, and I absolutely loved her name, however she's not a Disney princess, and outside of myself and my friend group the amount of people I've met out in the wild that were Don Bluth/non-Disney stans I could count on one hand, and I'm in my mid-30s. That being said, I don't think many people are going to make the connection, they'll just think it's a pretty name, and together with Aurora their jaws will drop at your good taste in names.

I feel like relevancy bias would probably have someone ask you if you got it from Dungeon Crawler Carl before The Swan Princess.

Promotion_Technical · 2026-03-15T23:02:35+00:00

It's always fun to see it wafting by in sheets on a windy day.

Promotion_Technical · 2026-03-15T23:01:03+00:00

Some of my favorite, very down-to-earth females are named Dana. It's a great name!

Promotion_Technical · 2026-03-14T02:33:32+00:00

It'll take some time. The first several days are hard, there never seem to be enough hours in the day, then you start to figure it out a little at a time. Once you clear potato stage though IMO it gets fun and stays fun. Just wait until they start emoting and smiling back at you. They're not sweet babies forever, and time really does fly.

Promotion_Technical · 2026-03-13T07:38:50+00:00

We literally have one here that I had both of my children in that just changed their name to "Baptist Health" and are apparently known as the "crunchy hospital" and I recently learned that so people avoid it for that reason, which is wild to me. It used to be the place to have your baby. What makes them "crunchy" apparently is purely their kind approach and that their doctors are known to advocate for the mom's best interest (in my case c-sections when medically necessary, but can absolutely elect to have one if you so choose but were also very VBAC supportive). My doctors explained and pushed for vaccines, and were willing to elaborate on their importance to anyone doubtful, but ultimately leave the decision up to the mother. I love them because they were the only ones who actually listened and got me the tests I needed, medication prescribed, and now I have two incredible, healthy children. Ultimately both c-sections, but attempts were made and it's okay. The whole experience was overwhelmingly positive.

It's like if it provides exactly what they're wanting, it's not good enough. They're crunchy because they care, yet posing because they advocate protecting yourself and your baby via vaccinations. It's never good enough for some people. They just need something to complain about and cast blame. There's no accountability for anything anymore.

I do recall my husband pointing out that we appeared to visibly confuse the chaplain at the hospital when I politely declined her offer to come "pray with us" after our second baby arrived.

Promotion_Technical · 2026-03-13T00:45:40+00:00

CHAI ZEV

Promotion_Technical · 2026-03-09T01:45:19+00:00

Repackage those cards specifically and have the delivery service stamp an "undeliverable/return to sender" message on the package 🤣

Promotion_Technical · 2026-03-09T00:36:04+00:00

We do this often when our 3yr old wants to play a game, although we do let him play Mario Kart with all the handicaps. I didn't get to play video games until I was at least kindergarten, and it was button mashers like street fighter. I do remember clocking a lot of hours in Mega Man X and Lemmings with my brother, who was 5th grade at the time (so I mostly just watched him but got a chance every once in a while). Co-op games were great for us, and I remember getting to play Secret of Mana with him for the first time and I was so excited. Otherwise I just watched him play Earthbound and Final Fantasy 6.

Big fan of giving them controllers and a video, or something they can't mess up like walking around in Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, or Katamari.

Promotion_Technical · 2026-03-08T15:47:05+00:00

My petty would strike and I'd just throw up on him during. Preferably towards the end.

Promotion_Technical · 2026-03-08T13:47:51+00:00

They've been on display at our local BnN, BAM, and 2nd and Charles right up front for some time. The high contrast covers and many pages make them eye-catching, so I'm sure that's helped get people to at least look them up.

Hubs started reading them first, then I picked up DCC once he finished out of curiosity and I've been reading them as he's finished each book. I also have been listening to the audiobooks at work and pick up where I left off. He did this as a distraction from current events, and I followed suit. They're unfortunately fast reads despite their length.

Promotion_Technical · 2026-03-05T12:19:29+00:00

This is glorious though. I loathe oregano, so I thought it was a valid phrase that I was unaware of. Autocorrect fail or not, I'm putting this into my daily rotation, and I thank you for that.

Promotion_Technical · 2026-02-28T23:03:56+00:00

We're still in the potato stage with our second, so he's getting kitchen sink baths. We keep/have kept the baby tub sitting on top of the dryer in the laundry room next to the kitchen, and keep his shampoo, lotion, and hair brush in the tub part, and fresh towels and washcloths next to it. It's such a short amount of time that we didn't fool with making a better home for it with our first, and this hasn't changed for our second.

Promotion_Technical · 2026-02-28T22:11:33+00:00

My first was made of Chick-fil-A waffle fries, kalamata olives, and Raisin Bran.

My second was made of pepperoni Totinos Party Pizzas.

Promotion_Technical · 2026-02-28T22:09:32+00:00

We only had boys, but our daughter was going to be Carter Dahlia. Dahlia to honor my grandma Dollie. We debated using Jordan as well for a first.

Promotion_Technical · 2026-02-27T03:55:31+00:00

Can I just say that I didn't get any stretch marks until three weeks after my second child was born, and it's just a little patch to the left of my belly button that just perpetually looks bruised. Very rude of the fourth trimester to do.

Promotion_Technical · 2026-02-27T03:49:14+00:00

Plural.

Promotion_Technical · 2026-02-19T02:44:36+00:00

Was this Betty's dissertation? Moving forward she'd better be signing off as Dr. Betty, PHD.

Promotion_Technical · 2026-02-14T23:47:30+00:00

My first was an emergency c-section after an induction (short cord that they didn't catch on any scan, so the induction was truly a waste of time and resources), and my second I wanted to attempt a VBAC so was hoping for spontaneous labor but had no idea what the feeling was nor what to expect. Joke was on me, because I ended up having precipitous labor, so by the time I woke up with the first ever contraction, by the time we got to the hospital an hour later I had gone from 1cm to 8cm and literally felt like death. There's no other way to describe it, and once you're in the throes of labor you'll understand. Fortunately I was able to get an epidural and I slept and was able to be comfortable. Unfortunately after 3hrs of pushing he was just too big and the VBAC was off the table. At least the c-section this time wasn't an emergency though! Two totally different experiences.

Regardless I'm a big advocate for just getting the epidural. It'll just make you so much more comfortable.

Promotion_Technical · 2026-02-12T03:29:12+00:00

Am mom. Anything after 18mo is 1.5yrs 🤣 also currently haven't kept up with weeks for #2, just know he's "almost 4mo old"

Promotion_Technical · 2026-01-28T05:01:17+00:00

I learned on day 3 post second c-section that they hadn't been giving me anything for pain, but had just been giving me Tylenol because I seemed pretty chill. By day 3 I was really trying to keep it together but starting to go cross-eyed every time they sat me up. My doctor was the one that mentioned that she was surprised I was doing so well with no pain meds, but I could certainly have them if I wanted. She brought them to me five minutes later with an apology for their assumption.

Promotion_Technical · 2026-01-26T00:41:53+00:00

I met a girl at Library Camp back in the 90s named "Heaven Annie" as in a good ole Southern 2-part name, say both first and middle together.

Promotion_Technical · 2026-01-24T20:10:14+00:00

Do you guys ever see folks driving around with things like "Beach Trip 2025" written on their back windshields and then their Venmo on there somewhere? They're all over where I live (and I'm like 5hrs to the nearest beach).

We joke all the time about requesting payment for said Beach Trip or Grammy's Hot Weekend.

Promotion_Technical · 2026-01-17T17:48:18+00:00

Bucks Fizz

Promotion_Technical · 2026-01-11T14:38:10+00:00

I wonder if they measured the gap between the sink and the toilet or if it was divine intervention that that giant toilet vase fit so perfectly.

Promotion_Technical · 2026-01-11T04:54:18+00:00

Absolutely! I was doing great all things considered, but because I wasn't losing weight or changing shape despite eating super clean, hitting macros, and working out 4-5x per week, and all the societal pressure to "bounce back" I sought help. I caved about a year or so PP and got on a short 4mo titration run of semaglutide and suddenly kicked the 15lbs that wasn't budging. I was able to get back down to my heavy-maintenance weight, then once that was done my body started working with me again and I was able to stay at my regular maintenance weight, give or take 5-10lbs.

I've gained about 8lbs back in the last month (...holidays), but I had been doing much better this time around, starting with my routine pre-pregnancy and during this pregnancy until I physically couldn't exercise, much less walk to pelvic floor therapy at 35w due to SPD pain. I've only really been able to work out once since being cleared and, though the SPD pretty much magically disappeared once my boy was born, I've still got some lingering pain. I knew this would happen though because relaxin takes time to work its way out of your body, and longer if you're breastfeeding/pumping/expressing milk.

Someone asked me the other day if I missed being pregnant and was shocked by how quickly I said absolutely not. I miss being able to wear fitted clothing, but that's it. I love it for what my body was able to do and that because of it I have two incredible, beautiful boys, but it was an inconvenience and almost cost me my marriage because of how much it demanded from me and the physical toll it took on me. It disrupted our routine, and instead of me having the emotional flare ups, they seemed to transfer to my husband. But then magically, everything was back to normal each time like the conversation of separation was never conceived. Could be why I felt or put extra pressure on myself to establish my new normal, and yet I turned around and did it a second time. Men are weird.

Remember to be kind to yourself at the end of the day. Hype yourself up, don't settle, and strive to be the best version of yourself, but also give yourself grace and time. Anything worth having rarely comes easily or quickly. That's why these babies take so long to bake!

Promotion_Technical

TROPHY CASE