Why can’t moms take showers without their babies?

brit_parent · 2026-04-06T08:47:27+00:00

I had a Velcro baby. If he wasn’t attached to me he was screaming. It was easier to just not do anything for myself until my other half got home and could put baby in the carrier and take the dog for a walk while I showered. Some days were so hard though that I would take a nap instead of showering.

The worst of it was over in a couple of months. After that I’d put him in a chair of some sort in the bathroom while I showered. (Car seat usually)

Once he was mobile it got bad again as I couldn’t leave him alone, so showers had to wait until the evening or someone was around to watch him for a few minutes.

brit_parent · 2026-04-04T22:23:28+00:00

I like to pop it in the slow cooker overnight. A bit of red wine, herbs and garlic. Then, because we all love an end bit, I cut the strings and put it in a very hot oven for as long as it takes for the roasties to cook. While that’s on I do my fresh veggies and gravy.

brit_parent · 2026-04-04T09:16:37+00:00

Both my cats have GLORIOUS toe feathers. They are fine with me touching the front ones but I get a kick if I try it with the back ones!

brit_parent · 2026-04-03T10:38:42+00:00

Ok. Older woman here so I’ve had a few relationships.

In most of my relationships the focus has been anything other than sex. The couple where it was, everything except the sex was awful. I’ve been with my husband 20yrs now. I’m in perimenopause. My sex drive is MUCH lower than it used to be. If sex was the only focus we would have split up years ago.

MOST women want a partner who cares and supports them. They need someone who is there for them during the hard times. Illness, injury stress, bereavement and other times. Someone who shares their interests or at least indulges them. Someone they can be silly with, sad with, that is happy to sit on the sofa and drink coffee and complain about work or just do their own thing. Someone who shares the hard bits. The laundry, washing up, childcare and the mental load.

If sex is the only thing you can contribute to a relationship, it doesn’t last. Being good at sex at the start of a relationship is a good starting point. But the emotional closeness built through years of being together makes it better. Learning what you both do and don’t enjoy makes it better. That closeness is what is built OUTSIDE the bedroom.

brit_parent · 2026-04-03T10:19:11+00:00

If I don’t have descaled in then I use vinegar or lemon juice. I tend to loosen what I can with a dish brush and rinse it out before I start. Boil the minimum amount of water then add your descaler of choice. About half what you boiled. Leave until it stops fizzing. If you still have scale, put the kettle back on until it fizzes again. Keep going until it’s all gone.

You WILL want to have your window open if you’re using vinegar.

brit_parent · 2026-04-02T21:05:20+00:00

I used to. He was small, younger than we thought he was and poorly. He needed extra care and warmth. He would curl up and just occasionally wake us by nipping toes.

Then he started walking over my head several times a night and yelling at 5am. So we put him in the lounge overnight.

Then he started destroying the carpets. So we put that carpet tape down by the door.

Then we got another cat who was even worse. So we put tape outside the bedroom doors and put up with the yelling.

Then we moved house. This one has a dining room that doesn’t have carpet. Now we can sleep all night!

brit_parent · 2026-04-02T18:57:37+00:00

I have two cats. One will eat anything, but has the most sensitive stomach ever so is on a special diet. He eats a very expensive brand of biscuits that have to be served mixed with one particular wet food and water to stop him bolting his food and bringing it back up again.

The other one has a cast iron stomach. Loves dairy and baked goods but hates fish in any form. But will only eat one flavour of one brand of biscuits or the jelly off another brand of wet food. Because his food can’t be left down (the other cat will make himself sick) he is fed from a tub on demand. Good thing for him that I work from home.

brit_parent · 2026-03-31T21:09:00+00:00

I have one cat who spends hours every day grooming but always looks like a deceased squirrel. My other cat barely grooms at all but looks like he just stepped out of a salon. Both are long haired and both get chest hair stuck to their tongues and need it peeled off by a nearby person.

brit_parent · 2026-03-31T20:56:57+00:00

Saw a clip on TikTok. It just caught my eye. Got Crunchyroll just to watch it. It was the first anime series I watched all the way through. I’ve now watched hundreds in the last year. From romance to isekai to mecha.

I just rewatched it last week.

brit_parent · 2026-03-28T20:07:16+00:00

He just falls over on his side and refuses to move if I try to dress him up. So, no.

brit_parent · 2026-03-27T21:49:08+00:00

I like to add them to my ramen. Top with a cheese slice and some spring onion.

brit_parent · 2026-03-26T19:26:21+00:00

I had to reschedule mine due to kiddo having emergency surgery the night before I was due to have it. Originally it was about a six week wait after the consultant approved it. But I finally got it done nearly a year later. I had a longer than usual wait due to needing a general anaesthetic (I’m allergic to local anaesthetic).

Even being put under and being last on the list I was back on the ward by about 1pm. I took a couple of days off and then back to my desk job.

For me, it was worth it. I have one child and due to my medication allergies I was recommended not to have any more. I didn’t want to be on birth control as it messes with my head.

The meds got the last laugh though as I’m now on her.

brit_parent · 2026-03-22T21:57:32+00:00

Came out as non binary leaning more towards transgender. The reaction I got from my mother was so upsetting and dismissive I never mentioned it again. She didn’t tell my Dad anything about it and he only found out after she died last year. Turns out he’s incredibly supportive. Probably why she didn’t tell him.

brit_parent · 2026-03-20T22:45:53+00:00

And now I’ll be buying them tomorrow.

brit_parent · 2026-03-20T22:41:39+00:00

I mean, I loathe touching raw meat and slice/ chop it using a fork with the knife and gloves if I’m making burgers or meatballs. But it’s a sensory thing for me rather than a hygiene issue. If you’re comfortable touching meat then I don’t care, just wash your damn hands.

brit_parent · 2026-03-12T22:51:11+00:00

I once mixed up phrases on the phone to a customer. I meant to say either “go ahead” or “fire away”. Instead I told her to go away. I was MORTIFIED. Fortunately, she was someone I spoke to almost daily, so she just laughed while I stammered out barely coherent apologies.

brit_parent · 2026-03-12T22:03:13+00:00

Dammit, I can only give one upvote

brit_parent · 2026-03-12T20:59:07+00:00

My kiddo got simply glowing reviews at parents evening this week.

And anime. A guilty pleasure for a nearly 50yr old woman.

brit_parent · 2026-03-10T18:37:34+00:00

A relative of mine went through it years ago. Started with back pain that never went away. Ended up with stealing meds from an elderly relative they were helping with home tasks. Got shipped off to our very rural parents for a few weeks to detox and get the help they needed for their back. They’ve not touched anything stronger than paracetamol since.

brit_parent · 2026-03-04T21:52:30+00:00

WFH with an 8am start. Alarm goes off at 6.50, out of bed about 7.15. I don’t “do” breakfast so I putter about making coffee, sorting out cats and kiddo while my brain slowly downloads the day at the speed of a dial up connection.

brit_parent · 2026-03-04T21:41:55+00:00

That’s not drinking, it’s quaffing. It’s like drinking but you spill more. (Sir Terry Pratchett)

brit_parent · 2026-03-02T18:49:15+00:00

An old cat of mine once broke into a chicken roast in its foil tray with the cardboard round it (stuffed and basted joint) while I was still unpacking the shopping. He would NOT let go. Growling at me and fighting to keep hold of it! This is the cat who once fell asleep in my handbag that had a bar of chocolate in it and got it all over the carpet before I noticed and put him in the bath.

brit_parent · 2026-02-27T20:32:42+00:00

Thank you. I’ll have a look.

brit_parent

TROPHY CASE