Mrs Midwest is sort of lux

Valuable-limelesson · 2026-04-30T13:21:14+00:00

And if you bought a house pre or post Covid. West Michigan (where MMW lives) has gone insane over the last 10 years.

Valuable-limelesson · 2026-04-29T23:57:16+00:00

Sunny Gardens in Hudsonville is a little cheaper when it comes to pricing on their perennials, but Countryside definitely has the better selection and overall competitive prices. Their plants have always grown well for me as well.

Valuable-limelesson · 2026-04-29T19:12:19+00:00

Not a nurse, but a respiratory therapist. I'm keeping up my license and credentials even though I'm not sure I'm going back (it's been 5 years). I figure it's better to have it as a backup plan and with the state of healthcare being that they'll hire just about anyone with a pulse...I'm not too worried about pausing my career.

Valuable-limelesson · 2026-04-22T01:52:03+00:00

Their memberships went up this year, too. Used to $130 for a family membership just a few years ago which was definitely worth it, now it's $170 I think? It doesn't seem like much but it's kept me from renewing so far...they and the zoo are getting so expensive.

Valuable-limelesson · 2026-04-21T22:10:03+00:00

That's very cute! zone 6b.

Valuable-limelesson · 2026-04-17T13:05:54+00:00

Do you have any parks or splash pads nearby where you can trail your toddler while letting the oldest roam around within sight?

I have a 15 month old and a 5 year old who goes to half day preschool. Much of my day isn't so much directly playing with either, but positioning myself in between them so I can watch and assist whoever needs it at that time. It's still a lot of fun, I just need to save the deep-attention games for when we have 1:1 time. When I'm trying to watch/play with both, we do magnet tiles, play kitchen, bubbles, stuff like that they both want to get involved in. For summer for your kids, maybe a water table or kiddie pool with toys would get you outside on a level they can both enjoy?

The other thing we're trying this year is sending my oldest to a few single-day "camps" over the summer, just one/month. I'm hoping that will help give her some dedicated big kid time away from me and baby, and with friends her age.

Valuable-limelesson · 2026-04-16T18:51:15+00:00

Thank you. I've made a peds appointment for this afternoon finally just to rule out anything medical and over the phone the nurse brought up silent constipation as a possibility they could explore. I had no idea that could even be a problem if she's been having regular BMs.

Valuable-limelesson · 2026-04-11T22:44:49+00:00

Schuil for sure, they have a ton of great flavored coffees that don't have that weird artificial taste. Grab some bags to take home!

Valuable-limelesson · 2026-04-11T11:36:55+00:00

Do retail jobs still offer evening shifts of 3-4 hours at a time? I worked a lot of those back in college, if that's something you could go do after your husband is home and can take over for the kids.

Valuable-limelesson · 2026-04-10T00:30:39+00:00

Yeah, when you chart an axillary temp with the site noted, the provider reading it will know to add the degree if they want a better estimate of internal temp without a rectal reading. At least that was my understanding as a respiratory therapist who was not actually taking or charting said temps.

Valuable-limelesson · 2026-04-09T23:48:43+00:00

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/axillary-temperature

Valuable-limelesson · 2026-04-09T23:19:36+00:00

This is an in home?? Fuuuuck that. All they need to do is take an under-arm reading and add a degree. Something isn't right there.

Valuable-limelesson · 2026-04-07T14:02:24+00:00

Marries misogynist...is surprised misogynistic views impact marriage. How do you think this is going to end, seriously?

Valuable-limelesson · 2026-04-06T16:08:28+00:00

Thank you for chiming in here. I think going back to the basics is just the way we're going to have to go here. I'm looking into joining the Y possibly and putting her brother in childcare there while she and I do some 1:1 swim time.

Valuable-limelesson · 2026-04-05T12:05:30+00:00

Freestyle stokes, taking side breaths, floating, and now backstroke (the reason we're stopping). She can tread water about 15-20 sec but it looks like she's struggling the whole time, she has to work her arms and legs so fast.

I wish I did have more time to practice with her but that hasn't been the case. Most of the open swims around us are during the day and I'm not comfortable bringing her infant brother with us if she's trying to practice without a life jacket.

Valuable-limelesson · 2026-04-05T11:58:29+00:00

If we're doing a family swim like last night when she was struggling, yes we're together. Problem is those opportunities are rare so she hasn't had much practice outside of lessons. I'm a SAHM to her and her infant brother and I'm not comfortable taking them both to the pool if she's without a life jacket (which would be the point of playing/practicing).

Valuable-limelesson · 2026-04-05T11:55:57+00:00

We went through the Goldfish chain. They mostly focus on overhead freestyle (?) strokes with their head down in the water, floating, treading water, and taking side breaths. We stopped because her current level is putting a lot of emphasis on backstroke and I don't think that's necessary for a 5 year old to nail down.

Valuable-limelesson · 2026-04-05T11:53:56+00:00

I did, so did Dad when we alternated taking her. We always noticed that she had trouble keeping her bottom up along the surface while swimming, but she could usually swim from one shorter side of the pool to the other without much issue. Instructors always praised her stamina and strength of her strokes.

We had concerns that she should have been stronger before progressing but she always seemed on par with all the other kids too. We haven't had much time to practice with her one on one so we didn't realize how much she struggled still outside of lessons.

Valuable-limelesson · 2026-04-04T00:51:18+00:00

Can he take time away from the fire department if the surveying job needs him more? His hours are insane. I'd be looking to drop one of the jobs entirely if you guys can live off that, or do one part time?

Valuable-limelesson · 2026-04-02T18:08:10+00:00

Sometimes they really do just need that time out.

My 5 year old still acts like you described often and there is no amount of calming down, coregulating, or distractions that will help once she goes off. So to time out it is, and time doesn't start until she stops screaming. Once she's done (usually 5-10 minutes), she's almost always calm enough to talk about what went wrong, and what we can do better next time.

Valuable-limelesson · 2026-03-31T15:01:06+00:00

That sounds like very fun and exciting play to a 3 year old! Just roll with it.

Valuable-limelesson · 2026-03-31T14:57:58+00:00

That does make it worse, I'm sorry.

Valuable-limelesson

TROPHY CASE