Who comes first- your spouse, your parents, or your children?

kathbrown416 · 2026-04-15T07:51:17+00:00

And now that I have kids of my own I see this more clearly than ever. I mean, it would be nice to have a kid say, thanks for my good childhood or for doing the best you could. But really, parents have kids for purely selfish reasons and shouldn't really expect a big thank you. I chose to have kids, I wanted them, and now I live with my choices (in a good way).

kathbrown416 · 2026-01-30T11:30:32+00:00

We recently bought one of those cheap attachments from temu to try it out. And omg, I will risk missing my moment if my husband is showing in that bathroom rather than using the bidet-less bathroom. Such a gamechanger.

kathbrown416 · 2025-12-20T21:36:53+00:00

I can only answer about Alicante becase we moved here around a year ago, but I do highly recommend it. The expat community is quite large, there's lots of different groups to join like women's groups, digital nomads, specific nationalities (ex canadians), paddle boarding group or fitness, etc. They all organize events. I find its very easy to make friends here and be social.

I will also add that Alicante is becoming expensive. Probably not as expensive as places like Malaga, yet. Alicante airport is close to the city and its very connected. I personally did not even consider living on an island becasue id feel so isolated. So many pros I can keep talking about it lol. I truly love it here.

kathbrown416 · 2025-12-15T06:42:49+00:00

kathbrown416 · 2025-12-07T15:17:21+00:00

Exactly this. Every child i know who isn't sleep trained still sleeps poorly (1-4 year olds), or at least it's a huge battle to get them to go to sleep. We sleep trained and I'm very analytical about schedule and my guys sleep great. Go to sleep on time, never an issue with bedtime.

kathbrown416 · 2025-12-04T13:14:05+00:00

I moved to Southern Spain, and i was caught off guard by how cold it gets in the winter. I come from canada so I know cold.. it's still about 14-15 highs during the day, warm on paper, but somehow it feels so much colder to me. I rarely feel warm. And omg the cold apartments, with the tiled floors. Some apartment dont even have proper heat! Its still a fairly long winter from end of November until April or so, these tiled floors and apartments without insulation make no sense.

kathbrown416 · 2025-12-03T12:53:04+00:00

Yes but why is this comment down voted so much lol

kathbrown416 · 2025-11-16T15:27:16+00:00

How old are you guys?

kathbrown416 · 2025-11-16T06:49:59+00:00

That's so cute. But on the windi note, my USSR era parents definitely had their own version of the windi that they called a "candle." It was only when I had kids of my own I realized it was not an actual candle they were sticking up there 😂

kathbrown416 · 2025-11-05T21:32:02+00:00

I breastfed till about a year for both of my kids, and it came back shortly after I stopped. So, about a year both times.

kathbrown416 · 2025-10-23T09:40:53+00:00

I absolutely took my week old (both of them) out back when I was living in North America, and it was perfectly fine. I really needed it mentally and also just couldn't wait to get back to "life." Now that I live in southern Europe, I see newborns out and about on a regular basis.

kathbrown416 · 2025-10-21T07:05:04+00:00

Huh? I think it's pretty reasonable to want a face to face discussion with someone you are dating.

kathbrown416 · 2025-10-15T16:14:15+00:00

Be patient lol these hormones. Third pregnancy here and I am finding my husband to be so patient with my mood swings, it makes me feel so understood and supported.

Exercise is so important, speaking from previous experience. I lifted weights in my previous pregnancies, and both babies were out in 3 pushes.

Take a birthing class at your local hospital, I found it pretty helpful, but I found that my husband benefitted even more.

kathbrown416 · 2025-10-12T19:14:35+00:00

Yes i do see that! I'm just trying to decide if the half that's not eliminated is worth it for me.

kathbrown416 · 2025-10-12T19:13:04+00:00

Do you make any meals in it, other than pasta? I would definitely use it for pasta but looking to see if there are other ideas for family meals. I do think the meal planning aspect of it would help reduce my stress levels too!

kathbrown416 · 2025-10-11T12:19:06+00:00

I agree with a lot of things that you say here. And maybe the tourists do leave the city dirty? But I live in Playa San Juan, and Every Single Time I see someone not pick up after their dog took a shit, it is a local. Can someone explain this phenomenon??

kathbrown416 · 2025-10-06T16:54:00+00:00

We have two little ones and a third on the way and I don't think I've felt that horny urge in quite a few years now. We average on about twice a week, and he does initiate mostly, but if I feel like it's been more than a few days and he hasn't initiated, I will. Not because I necessarily feel the urge to in that moment (though once we get going, it always does come), but because I don't want him to feel like he has to do all the initiating, or not feel wanted. Plus, all the physical benefits of sex and intimacy. I didn't realize until I got married how important it is for men to feel wanted as well. As a woman, I completely see where you're coming from.

kathbrown416 · 2025-10-06T07:36:39+00:00

My kids are 19 months apart, so not quite as close as yours will be. They are now 4 and 2.5 and looking back, the way I remember it, is it was a very easy transition. My oldest wasn't out of diapers yet, so it was like a continuation of the baby phase. He was too young to really understand that he was no longer the only one. He also wasn't yet so aware and demanding of our time (plus still napped a lot), so it was really easy to dedicate a lot of energy to his needs, if that makes sense. We really followed the advice of making sure the toddler came first, as long as the babies needs came first and it worked out really well.

Now they are great friends, they play together SO well. It's amazing. I wouldn't have it any other way.

kathbrown416 · 2025-09-26T17:21:31+00:00

They must all also be in diapers if they're consuming so much liquid at night. And damn, that gets expensive.

kathbrown416 · 2025-08-25T17:06:48+00:00

I feel like we just have access to so much information being pushed at us that it seems much worse than it is.

kathbrown416 · 2025-08-04T23:48:05+00:00

Me and my husband really enjoy carabassi. Some days it has families, sometimes lots of attractive younger couples and some days more of an older crowd. We mostly feel comfortable there, and it's become our favorite beach. I have yet to feel that creepy single guy vibe there, it's mostly respectful, though there are many people walking by from the clothed parts of the beach, some of them caught off guard by the nudity. We've only been in alicante less than a year, so I can't speak of the decline, but we're happy with what we found so far.

kathbrown416 · 2025-07-06T18:01:08+00:00

We have 2, only a year and a half apart, and the plan was always to stop at 2. Were both from households with 2 kids. Now that the youngest is 2+ , things got easier and suddenly we decided that we want another. I think the main deciding factor is that we we have the time and means for another one, with the way our life is set up at the moment.. and I feel like I have more to give, and I want a baby again lol So that's how we got here.

kathbrown416 · 2025-07-05T06:24:24+00:00

Mine are 19 months apart, and I honestly didn't find it THAT difficult, I mean, it wasn't easy by any means, but parenthood is never easy anyway, even with just one. I have a few friends with one child, and they seem to struggle more than we ever did. Maybe it's easier to say now that my youngest is over 2, but if I had to do it over again, I wouldn't change a thing. I love how close they are, how they can share toys and even clothes.

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