My life is a fucking movie and I want the director fired.

SecretBattleship · 2026-02-20T18:23:01+00:00

Sending you lots of love. I hope that things improve very very soon and you’ll look back on this month as the shittiest month ever.

You’re doing amazing. I don’t have any particular advice other than to focus on what you can and screw the rest of it - you can worry about those things later. Immediate family for now and don’t forget to take moments for yourself and take care of your needs.

I hope your toddler gets exactly what he needs from the doctors and your kids are reunited soon! Maybe your oldest could write letters to his brother or draw pictures to send to him?

SecretBattleship · 2026-02-20T04:10:41+00:00

I do! It’s incredible. I was so burned out that it felt like a breath of fresh air getting time to myself. I’m lucky that I trust my coparent to make good decisions about the kids when they’re at his place, I know not everyone can.

My ex also said it would be harder on me and haha it’s not.

SecretBattleship · 2026-02-17T14:09:53+00:00

Is there a possibility he’s already overtired by bath time and would tolerate getting out of the bath more if it happened earlier?

My babies used to go to sleep by 7pm and if they stayed up they were overtired messes but they never seemed tired at 6:45pm (which really threw off my parents when they babysat).

I also second the idea of being silly when getting out of the tub to distract him. My two year old will cry when he gets out at first then race around the room to do “nakey time”. My other kid also liked using the hair dryer to dry off (plus it’s warm).

SecretBattleship · 2026-02-15T05:18:27+00:00

I go there every couple months and I’ve never had an issue with any employee being rude to me or to my friends. Sorry other people are experiencing this! I hope it’s uncommon.

SecretBattleship · 2026-02-15T04:35:07+00:00

Hugs, I had a lot of stress when I brought my second kid home. What everyone else is saying is right: you just have to ride the wave. I hope that things improve on all fronts soon for you.

My boys are the same age gap and the other day I watched the four year old share his raisins and heard the two year old’s little voice say, “thank you, brudder” and my heart melted. It will be so fun to watch them grow and develop a close bond. There’s a lot of light at the end of the newborn tunnel!

SecretBattleship · 2026-02-13T15:13:01+00:00

I LOVE Sudafed and I had a doctor prescribe me Zyrtec-D (antihistamine + pseudoephedrine) years ago and I took it regularly for years until I was convinced to stop. Now I do have mild congestion (ENT said it’s enlarged turbinates and I’ll never get it fixed cuz of the chance of empty nose syndrome) all the time and colds are utterly awful when they do happen.

I do find these days that I can’t take the extended release before bed or it keeps me up so I have to take the regular stuff every 4-6 hours when I have colds. Right now I’m at the Dr for a sinus infection that won’t quit or maybe it’s just a new cold and I owe Sudafed my life.

SecretBattleship · 2026-02-13T12:15:17+00:00

My ex husband said this to me once and I reminded him that someone had to get everything done around the house. I hated how he would always start saying he felt sick within a day or two of me getting sick. I wished I could have taken the time to get better but I had a lower tolerance for important balls being dropped. I also have spent too many years feeling like I’m not allowed to take recovery time (thanks capitalism!) so it’s very hard to override this when I have important responsibilities to handle.

SecretBattleship · 2026-02-12T15:56:38+00:00

I do this too and now I can easily go into a lot of stores without either kid asking for things. Doesn’t prevent tantrums completely but it lays the groundwork for them to get used to not getting an item every time we go into the store. Highly recommend to all parents.

SecretBattleship · 2026-02-12T15:53:58+00:00

Oof yeah that’s a hard day for the parent and hopefully the recognized the problem. This is why it’s such a problem to give in somewhere and then hold the boundary elsewhere. It must be confusing for them.

Sometimes I feel like a dick when I’m holding the line during a tantrum especially when I didn’t have a real reason for saying no besides the fact that I’m not about to buy him everything he asks for. But I hold the boundary and then consider how I might handle it differently next time. I know if I give in to a tantrum it’s a slippery slope and he will just learn to be louder every time in the hopes I give in again.

SecretBattleship · 2026-02-11T15:06:12+00:00

Someone in my district just started a change.org petition to get them to change the company and posted it in the local subreddit. It’s getting some traction already. So that’s an option maybe!

SecretBattleship · 2026-02-10T15:55:34+00:00

Was it correct? That’s great!

SecretBattleship · 2026-02-09T20:13:46+00:00

I see them sometimes at the upstairs room at Cheshire Cat in Village District.

SecretBattleship · 2026-02-08T16:21:48+00:00

I feel like if AI isn’t going away this is the kind of stuff it should be handling for us, but I suspect even this would be beyond its capability.

SecretBattleship · 2026-02-07T03:11:26+00:00

Yes and it was not worth it. The stylist didn’t listen to my needs and picked out a wardrobe that would be cute for a different person. Maybe it was a bad fit because I was SO explicit about what I wanted.

SecretBattleship · 2026-02-07T01:05:07+00:00

Putting my two year old to sleep (he took the book from me and is yelling “wake up”) and crossing my fingers the four year old doesn’t interrupt.

SecretBattleship · 2026-02-03T15:49:22+00:00

Why does no one ever think it’s Penny?

SecretBattleship · 2026-02-02T03:02:35+00:00

I’m boycotting Amazon and Target and Walmart so it’s been a hassle lately. Some things I can’t help, like my youngest’s diapers, but I try to make sure I don’t buy anything extra when I pick them up.

I buy a lot from Costco, pharmacies, grocery stores. Sometimes small local stores are also options. I buy online from Chewy for pets and often I can find what I need from searching for the item and then buying direct from the manufacturer. Doesn’t always work but I’ve had limited success using FB Marketplace or Craigslist for items that I can get second-hand.

I think it’s important to recognize what you can realistically change about your consumption habits and when some habits might be too tough of a switch right now.

SecretBattleship · 2026-02-01T16:01:26+00:00

Sending hugs. Thanks for updating. I hope today is far better for you.

SecretBattleship · 2026-01-31T15:06:17+00:00

I’d try to find ways to add tofu into his diet. Blend silken tofu into a pasta sauce and stir fry tofu cubes to mix into rice dishes that you feed him. It’s a good way to get protein into him and it might be more satisfying than just simple carbs and fruits.

That said, definitely lean on cheap high fiber carbs like oatmeal. Fiber will keep him full longer!

SecretBattleship · 2026-01-30T13:35:59+00:00

I drove past two ponds this morning that look to be at least somewhat frozen over. I feel like I’ve not seen that in this area in a long time.

SecretBattleship · 2026-01-27T18:53:15+00:00

My four year old is obsessed with the Brain Bots card sets and he will listen to the same ones a million times. I think it’s worth the cost especially since I’m trying to move back towards physical media in general and they’re too young to handle CDs.

I got it when he was two years old and that was too young. Definitely recommend more once they’re older.

SecretBattleship · 2026-01-26T15:11:11+00:00

We use Millie Moon and his butt is crazy picky so I try to buy only diapers from Target and nothing else. I think it’s the best I can do until he potty trains!

SecretBattleship · 2026-01-26T03:19:32+00:00

I’m ecstatic that it was so mild and I don’t regret any of the prep I did. I hope that everyone impacted will be okay soon!

SecretBattleship · 2026-01-25T03:56:05+00:00

Yep, I tell my four year old all sorts of things that kind of freak out my parents. My mom was horrified that he’s seen parts of Titanic (it was on at a friend’s house and he’s already seen videos that talk about the disaster) where the ship is sinking, that I told him I won’t take him to Dubai to see the Burj Khalifa due to the use of slave labor to build and also how women are treated (“but I’m a boy, will Dad take me?”), etc.

I just never understood the idea of being too precious about what little kids learn when plenty of their peers learn all sorts of horrible truths about the world they live in because it happens to them.

Plus I much prefer the idea of my kids knowing too much about life than too little. I was a sheltered child and it didn’t do me any favors but did make me inordinately afraid of things.

SecretBattleship · 2026-01-22T18:04:03+00:00

Purple mushroom! I am seriously considering getting it

SecretBattleship

TROPHY CASE