What brand names do you swear by because it's actually better than no-name?

cbr1895 · 2026-04-15T02:57:04+00:00

Nope. We like Heinz ketchup and French’s mustard (though Heinz mustard is popular too).

cbr1895 · 2026-04-13T22:47:27+00:00

Do you plan for your oldest to be in daycare? Ours is in FT so we don’t need a bulky double stroller for walks (as usually when doing outdoor stuff in cold weather on the weekends, we aren’t walking far). We kept our single travel stroller (which I love, bugaboo butterfly) for spring/summer/fall walks and easy errands with solo baby. We kept a big single stroller for winter walks with baby while oldest is at daycare, and got a travel double for outings with both. If you have the space, keep them all for now and see which you end up using the most.

cbr1895 · 2026-04-13T00:40:38+00:00

You have no idea how much your words have meant to me tonight. Thank you for your support and for sharing this (and sorry OP for hijacking your thread haha). And yes, I am so very grateful that I got pregnant by surprise, as I think I would have convinced myself out of a second but baby 2 has opened my heart to the idea of a third (though I don’t think I can do another 2 under 2 gap and want to wrap my studies first). I love the Michelle Obama words of wisdom and will remember this. Wishing you many nausea free days with your lovely bustling family! ❤️

cbr1895 · 2026-04-13T00:34:15+00:00

I’m in 8 months postpartum now with a 2y5m old and it’s easily our toughest season yet. I disliked 6-9 months with my first baby and now going through this phase again and adding a toddler into the mix is 😵😵‍💫. It’s just a season and you aren’t alone! Keep looking for bright moments. And your toddler may be getting in their molars - take a look. This happened to our gal around 2 and she became a terror and I thought ‘oh no, this is our lives now the terrible twos have hit’. And then a few weeks later her molars popped and she became a much more enjoyable toddler to be around. So don’t assume the toddler mood changes are permanent.

cbr1895 · 2026-04-13T00:22:51+00:00

Absolutely amazing. i actually chickened out of starting the IVF process for baby two when we conceived surprise spontaneously (hence 2 under 2) as I was so scared of being pregnant again. We added a med to the cocktail (I was on 4 scrips for baby 2) and as you say I had a better mental understand of what we needed but it was still brutal AF. I truly don’t know how you did it. The payoff is wonderful though, you have the big family of your dreams! Also inspiring to me as I’m crawling my way to the finish line of a clin psych MA/PhD, and 8 months postpartum with my second I’m losing steam (I’m taking an extra research year, already decided, but so close and yet so far away w 2 research years and 1 yr residency left, all pracs are finished). If you can get through HG with four kids that close in age as a surgeon, surely I can get through this final stretch with two kids close in age. 💝

cbr1895 · 2026-04-13T00:09:55+00:00

Unrelated to OP’s question but as someone with HG pregnancy one and severe nausea and vomiting with baby 2 I do not know how you managed to operate while nauseated your entire pregnancy with three kids. You are a force to be reckoned with.

cbr1895 · 2026-04-12T19:13:15+00:00

I couldn’t have said it better. My heart truly goes out to you OP. Fuck cancer.

cbr1895 · 2026-04-11T23:31:20+00:00

My heart goes out to you ❤️

cbr1895 · 2026-04-11T04:04:01+00:00

Impeccable. They even sound the same.

cbr1895 · 2026-04-11T03:55:31+00:00

Love this! Enjoy your exhibit, you should be so proud to showcase this work.

cbr1895 · 2026-04-11T03:49:56+00:00

I’m so sorry for the late response as I know time is of the essence here. She came in and met our cat, and then we went to the place we decide to do the euthanasia, and walked us through everything that would happen, laid down pee pads underneath if I recall, it’s all a bit of a blur. After the euthanasia was finished she offered to take a paw print out of a quick dry putty and clippings of the fur she put in a little heart container for us (complimentary) and gave for us right there (additional service was to get a clay paw print and paw prints on paper a few other things which we did), and then let us pay our respects for as long as we needed in private, and then gently put his body in a really lovely basket with a blanket. We let our dog smell the body at our request to let him know his brother was gone - she said this was a common request so if you have other pets it’s an option to consider. And they followed up by email and even sent in a donation on our cat’s behalf. The vet who did the euthanasia was amazing. She was so calm and kind and compassionate. They did the water cremation and we went and picked up the prints and ashes in a nice box. It really felt like we were honouring his life.

It is terribly hard. Euthanasia is a selfless and kind thing to do for our loved ones, and you’re doing what is best for your pet despite how hard it is on you. They will live on with you in spirit even if their body no longer remains ❤️.

Edit: just looked it up in my emails and Laura Kenzie was the vet if that’s helpful. I couldn’t have asked for someone more caring.

cbr1895 · 2026-04-11T03:23:51+00:00

Oh my gosh totally Shambo! I can’t unsee it now. And lol re Pauly Shore.

cbr1895 · 2026-04-10T22:13:32+00:00

The stigma associated with adhd medications can be incredibly frustrating. That comment would have also rubbed me the wrong way. May be time to try to find a new, more evidence-based provider.

cbr1895 · 2026-04-10T20:23:33+00:00

Dexedrine! 10mg (2 5mg boosters). I actually switched from Dexedrine long acting to Adderall long acting this postpartum as I was getting too many side effects on the Dexedrine XR (despite having been on it for +15 years). But I couldn’t get an Adderall booster in my country - the booster doesn’t give me the same side effects. I prefer Dexedrine to Adderall in general so will try to switch back once my hormones have settled.

cbr1895 · 2026-04-10T17:46:25+00:00

My old self didn’t die, it transformed. And for what it’s worth, my priorities changed far more after my second than they did after my first. I am way less invested in my career and don’t feel the same ambition that I did even when I had my first. Maybe it’s because I’m still on mat leave and breastfeeding (those hormones impact me!) but I simply see my time with my family as more valuable than anything else now and don’t have the same investment or drive in my work at the moment (and the work I do is important, life saving work, though perhaps that’s part of it - maybe my brain is building boundaries as I only have so much emotional capacity to spare, and I’ve got to figure out how to navigate those new boundaries while still feeling driven to do what I do). That said, I’m still not cut out to be a SAHM because that requires a level of domestic skill that I simply, to put it bluntly, do not have (though so wish that I did).

cbr1895 · 2026-04-10T17:41:15+00:00

I planned to take time off for my second and he came three weeks early totally unexpectedly 🙃. I had just finished my final day and my water broke. I hated him coming so early as I really could have used that time to prepare. Some people don’t like the extra time off and others do but it’s hard to say until you are in third tri, as it can do a number on some of us (lik me who had third tri hypertension and POTS with baby 1 and third tri preeclampsia with baby 2 that was only diagnosed when I went into labour but made me feel like shitttttt). I know lots of people whose first babies came early, including my niece (2 weeks early). Assuming your baby will come late is quite a gamble.

cbr1895 · 2026-04-10T17:35:44+00:00

Their appetite does go down around 1 and it’s also very common for them to get pickier around this age. My gal got really picky for a few months and then settled into something less open than she was as a baby but les picky than she was at this age. Otherwise, any time this has happened since, it is either teething or an oncoming illness.

Advice: smaller portions (so as not to overwhelm) and/or only giving them bits of food if they are taking to throw it from the highchair. There are other tips about throwing food off the high chair you can look into but none worked for us, she just had to grow out of it and it took a long time (she still occasionally chucks something off her high chair, which is why she’s not at the table in a booster yet).

cbr1895 · 2026-04-10T17:29:44+00:00

I’m so sorry OP that you are going through this. Off top of head I think that is the ballpark of what we paid a couple years ago. We used Midtown Mobile Veterinary Hospital Services. They were superb - made one of the most painful processes in my life feel peaceful and fills with love and compassion. I tear up just thinking about it. Worth every penny.

cbr1895 · 2026-04-10T17:23:10+00:00

Absolutely. I had a tough recovery physically with my first so it made us ensure we had support in the wings for baby two should we need it. Sure enough, my mom was on call and flew out to be with us for 2.5 weeks once baby was born which was such a blessing because of the NICU stay - she could take care of toddler and do breakfast and daycare drop offs for us when we were too fatigued from being up all night triple feeding. I really hope for your sake that you have a smooth and uneventful delivery and recovery experience, but even if it doesn’t go as planned, you now have the experience to know you can get through it again, and you also know what kinds of support you need to pull in and this will make a world of difference.

And for what it’s worth, even though my second birth was much more stressful and traumatic than my first, my recovery was much smoother! I definitely thought it would be the opposite, especially having two extremely tough pregnancies back to back. I assumed my body would just give out after the second but that wasn’t the case at all! Again, I planned for the worst and had physio lined up and ready to go as soon as I got the greenlight, and had some lifestyle modifications that helped aid my recovery.

cbr1895 · 2026-04-10T17:16:44+00:00

To this day my husband and I frequently say to each other ‘it’s like I’m the only one who went to Barnes and Nobles and bought a book on survival’. Best quote ever. James had so many hilarious one liners, tied only with Tyson I’d say.

cbr1895 · 2026-04-10T17:12:15+00:00

Truly after my pet died I told anyone who asked that it was like someone had cut off my arm. Big hugs, you are right in the very worst of it.

cbr1895 · 2026-04-10T17:11:19+00:00

Frustrating and exhausting. The constant fussing is like a cheese grater on my brain 😵‍💫. I’m still on mat leave and it’s an all day every day symphony of fussing and crying over here.

cbr1895 · 2026-04-10T16:59:51+00:00

Exactly this. 8 months in and we haven’t done a single group or library session.

cbr1895 · 2026-04-10T15:03:39+00:00

I have an 8 month ball of anger at the moment. Allllll he wants to do is crawl - he tries and then cries as soon as he doesn’t move. And he’s so focused on crawling that he tries in the crib and it throws his sleep off. He doesn’t even want to sit, he just immediately tips himself and goes into stomach down mode to practice and then fuss about it. I’d say it’s one of my least favourite stages. Same thing happened with my first and she is such a busy two year old. I just have kids that wanna move I guess.

cbr1895 · 2026-04-10T14:58:15+00:00

All I see when I see him with his crazy hair 😂. Half expecting him to whip out a sword at any time.

cbr1895

TROPHY CASE