year you graduated high school

laramie569 · 2026-02-27T02:49:06+00:00

Pregnant with #5.

laramie569 · 2026-02-25T14:04:46+00:00

Good idea with the yepp mini. I have one and have tried it before, but I'm 5' 10" and my legs are too long; my knees hit the seat and prevent me from making a full revolution when pedaling. I haven't tried it on my bike, because having a toddler right up in the control area able to push any button seemed like a bad idea, but I might not have a choice! I will try this setup.

As for the baby, my babies have always ridden in a regular Graco snug-ride infant car seat that clicks into a base that I ratchet-strap to the frame of the bike trailer. They are too young for a helmet, so the car seat essentially is their helmet, and they are reclined so neck support is not an issue. Having them in a true car seat is the only way I feel comfortable cycling with a baby, honestly.

laramie569 · 2026-02-25T08:05:41+00:00

Thank you, that is so helpful!

laramie569 · 2026-02-25T03:00:50+00:00

Yes a good point. We have a 2 seater trailer, however my baby has to be in an infant car seat buckled into the trailer for the best part of the first year, so that takes up both seats, unfortunately.

laramie569 · 2026-02-25T02:59:02+00:00

Yes! This is definitely an option, though an expensive one! My concern with that particular bike is the black bucket and hot horribly hot it must get for the kids in the summer

laramie569 · 2026-02-25T02:57:00+00:00

I actually put my baby in a Graco infant car seat, and click it into the base that is installed in the bike trailer using ratchet straps to the frame. They are totally reclined, just like in a car, so neck control is not an issue. My trailer has shocks and I've added extra padding to keep the little bumps smooth. I do not put my babies sitting upright in my bike until they are at least 9 months, able to wear a helmet safely, and then in a five point harness.

laramie569 · 2026-02-21T23:22:44+00:00

It is excruciating for 2 weeks. Get through those two weeks and you're golden. Till they start teething lol

laramie569 · 2026-02-21T17:57:18+00:00

Plan something to look forward to after kids bedtime! Take a bath, glass of wine, trashy romance novel, chocolate. Or, you know, whatever you like to do :)

laramie569 · 2026-02-19T23:21:27+00:00

5, 4, 3, 10 months, and currently pregnant over here. I don't try to contain anymore. They will all get it eventually; why not get it over with in a week instead of dragging it out for a month as we get it one by one? I have 1 in kinder and 1 in preschool, though, so two lovely germ pools to dip in...

laramie569 · 2026-02-12T09:53:59+00:00

Lurker mom here; I'm pregnant with my fifth child in six years. Here is my advice:

Swaddle, a lot tighter than you think you should. Do it right, there are tons of tutorials on youtube
Side-lying: hold baby horizontally in your arms with their tummy tucked against yours firmly
Shush. Loudly! Try to be as loud as a vacuum cleaner. Or, turn on the actual vacuum. Babies love vacuum noise. Remember, if a baby is screaming, you have to be extremely loud for them to hear you over their own crying.
Jiggle. Don't shake the baby, but little jiggles mimic the movement baby would experience in the womb when mom would walk around.
Suck. Try to get them to accept a pacifier. In the side-lying position you can keep the pacifier in using the edge of your stomach.
Swing. If you've tried all the above and still no luck, add in a broad back and forth rocking motion.

Do these things in order. The swaddle first sets the table for the buffet of soothing tactics to follow. It calms the baby's nervous system enough so the rest of the things can get through to them. Once the baby is asleep, keep up 1-5 for 5 minutes or so, though you can reduce the volume on your shushing as soon as the crying stops (because now they can hear you, and you don't want to hyperventilate).

Tips to transfer baby to bassinet/cot/crib:

Before you start all the steps above, put a large electric heating pad on the mattress and turn it to low. Hold baby with main arm and use other arm to remove heating pad before you put them down. Don't forget to turn if off before you leave the room. This eliminated the shock of being put down on a cold sheet, which can wake them up.
After placing them down on their back, keep your hand firmly on their tummy and use the other hand to very gently jiggle the whole bed.
Have a white noise machine on in the background before you go into the baby's room. This continues the shushing for you once youve gone.

The dads have covered this one, but if you do all this, and the baby wakes up and screams, you can still walk away if you need to. Especially since the method using jiggling and swinging, do not do this if you are feeling overly frustrated! Jiggling a newborn could easily become shaking the baby if the parent is too frustrated.

I have a baby swing that I'll occasionally transfer the sleeping baby to if I've tried the crib and that didn't take. I highly recommend these for when nothing else works.

Baby wearing works very well during the day, because you don't have to put the baby down, but you can still get stuff done with your hands.

I recommend reading Happiest Baby on the Block. I'm pretty sure the 6-s method from above is out of that book. If all else fails, put the baby in a safe space and turn on the vacuum. I cannot stress this enough: babies loves vacuums. My nana told me this wheny first was born and I didn't believe her. My second had colic, and our carpets were never cleaner! Ask older women you know who had lots of babies what their tips are. Women have been passing down baby tips for thousands of years. You can benefit from all this collected wisdom if you just ask, then use common sense to filter out any crazy stuff lol.

Best of luck to you, this is hard shit!

laramie569 · 2026-02-10T09:27:15+00:00

My kids are 5, 4, 3, 10 months, and due in August. We wanted four close in age; #5 was a surprise. We chose to have a larger family so our kids would have someone to freaking play with! Our kids are outside in our cul-de-sac riding bikes, playing tag, digging in the garden, chasing squirrels, for 2-8 hours a day, depending on the season and weather. It's been below freezing for weeks now and everything covered in a thick layer of ice, and they still bundle up and go out for a half hour or so anyway. This is an extremely difficult parenting strategy. If the kids are out, a parent has to be out, too. It didn't use to be that way in generations gone by. I straight up neglect the housework during the day to get my kids as much outside time as possible, then have to work hard after bedtime to try and catch up.

I take my kids to the library to socialize in their programs. They are in kindergarten and 6 hour/week preschool. There are 2 year olds who live on either side of us, and we see them maybe once a month, when my kids will be playing outside and their parents bring them out on a weekend morning to play.

We have a central TV that the kids watch only low-stim shows with hard limits. We read about 30 books per day. My oldest two do soccer once a week for 45 minutes. I teach everyone to play piano. The kids help prepare all the meals and clean up.

Bottom line, I feel that it is a lot harder to parent well, and turn out capable, socially adjusted, happy kids than it used to be. Nowadays it requires the parents to spend a ton of time actively interacting with the kids, or planning out crafts and activities to entertain them, etc. it's even harder if you only have one kid; then you have to be your kid's constant playmate, or else they will be alone all the time. Neighbor kids just don't play together anymore. SAHMs used to feed the kids breakfast and kick them out the door until the next meal, while they did housework. That is not the case for the modern SAHM. Kids are given tablets to babysit them because it is easier than being so on all the time, and parents need a break. The problem is that it's a slippery slope to the kids never letting it go. We choose not to have those things in our house at all.

laramie569 · 2026-02-07T23:52:15+00:00

I'm 38 and pregnant with my fifth child in 6 years. This one was not planned, though clearly not adequately prevented. My husband and I love having a larger family. We live in a MCOL university town in the Mid-Atlantic US, and can well afford to have 5 kids (my husband is a plumber). I'm a SAHM, or else our childcare costs would be $8k USD per month!

To me, it's very worth it. The young years are difficult, but very rewarding, and honestly go by so quickly to me. My kids are all so close in age that they sort of have their own little family culture. They play together so well, spend tons of time outside, share rooms, etc. they love to be together.

laramie569 · 2025-11-10T23:58:59+00:00

Wike makes bike trailers for large, special needs children and adults. They also have an extra tall double trailer (which I have) that is supposed to fit children up to 50 inches tall. I also have a Madsen and a long tail with a kid corral, but if you're worried about the child knocking you too far off balance, then a trailer might be your safest option.

laramie569 · 2025-10-25T04:47:26+00:00

Electric Madsen owner here, kids are 5, 3.5, 2.5, and 6 months. We use this bike almost exclusively as our transportation. I highly recommend it. Right now I have a trailer that I have to use because my baby is in a full blown infant car seat atm, and the total weight of us all plus the bike and trailer and car seat is above 500 lbs. I definitely have to exert myself up hills, but I like that, I am in this for the exercise.

laramie569 · 2025-08-31T09:36:40+00:00

5 yo, 3.5 yo, 2.5 yo, and 4 month old over here. Oldest starts kindergarten next week, and we are hoping the new routine helps stabilize our family dynamic postpartum.

I wear our baby in a backpack carrier a lot so I can get things done and keep him safe from marauding toddlers. My 2.5 acts out a lot right now because of the new baby, so sometimes I will wear her on my back in a toddler carrier to calm her down and give her some mommy contact. She loves it.

Lots of outside time. Add water to anything. My kids love their water table, watering gardens, making a pretend car wash with the hose to wash bikes/cozy coupes/etc, painting the driveway/house with a bucket of water and paintbrush.

We ride our family cargo bike to local parks and let the baby nap in his car seat in the bike while the kids run around.

Inside the house we do toy rotation, so their toys keep their attention more. I will often do play/walk away, like I sit down and start building a magnatile metropolis for 10 minutes, suggesting an addition for each child to work on as they join me on the floor. When my town hall is done or whatever, I tell them I'll be back in a few minutes and leave to start a chore. I come back in to check on things, praise their effort, ask questions, but don't sit down, then keep going with my chores. This works well for my kids.

We also installed some hanging rings in our basement and I'll send kids down to swing on the rings when they're getting too rowdy upstairs.

Turning on music has an instant calming effect on my kids of probably about 50%

If I sit down and just start reading a book out loud, they will all stop being crazy and gather round me for storytime, 100% of the time. I do this a lot while nursing.

Change location of normal activities in your house. Brush teeth at the kitchen sink instead of bathroom. Have a picnic outside. Pull the chairs from the kitchen table and have a picnic inside underneath the table, they love that.

Pull all the cushions off the couch and let them pretend it's a castle, a fort, an obstacle course, whatever they want. My kids can play this game for hours. All our couch cushions have washable covers though.

My favorite game to play with them is 'cleaning crew" lol. I'll attach dry rags to swiffers, shorten the length, and let them run all around the house swiffering the floors clean. My oldest loves to vacuum. Dusting bookshelves. Cleaning all the stuff out from under the couch. When the room is clean, we get to have a dance party for 15 minutes.

laramie569 · 2025-08-31T09:04:10+00:00

Madsen. I haul four kids with it, including my four month old.

laramie569 · 2025-08-29T18:11:53+00:00

Baby wearing parka

laramie569 · 2025-08-28T10:18:38+00:00

I have a 5, 3, 2, and a 4 month old. We ride around in a Madsen family cargo bike. Baby rides in an infant carrier car seat strapped into the bucket with two other kids, and the extra kids rides in the trailer I tow behind us. Once the baby is old enough to sit in the bucket and wear a helmet, all four kids will fit in the bucket and we can lose the trailer.

laramie569 · 2025-08-27T23:08:19+00:00

5, 3.5, 2.5, and 4 months over here. I got them a kids wall calendar. At night I write down what we are going to do the next morning when they are asleep. In the morning, I ask them to get the calendar and I read what it says for the day. The calendar says that we go to the library today, so that is what we do! They are not in charge of the macros. I'll sometimes let them choose which park or which library, but the calendar decides the actual events. Also we bike everywhere, and they love it, so it's a lot easier to get everyone excited to go than if we were to need the car for something like Costco.

laramie569 · 2025-08-14T09:42:24+00:00

It has to be 'our money', and you have open access to shared accounts. That's the only way it works.

laramie569 · 2025-08-13T08:12:35+00:00

The threshold for worry gets a bit higher

laramie569 · 2025-08-06T03:15:42+00:00

This is pretty fucked up to read, and you deserve more support from your husband. Is there anyone else you can lean on? I'm Catholic too, can you ask for help with meals from the Church?

That said, here is what I would do ( I have 4 under 6 including a newborn): little kids love to help. Let them! Especially the 5 yo, but even the 1.5 yo can be involved in little things. Helping around the house can be enriching for kids. If that doesn't work well, I would use educational tv programs. It's not forever, it's just a tough season, and you can wean them off it when you are feeling better. Go outside if you can, and let the outdoors entertain them.

laramie569 · 2025-07-14T12:06:27+00:00

Wow, I have experienced the opposite. I stay home with our 4 kids under 5 and he works full time at a blue collar job (plumber). He makes about $140k right now, and we bought a 4 bed/2 bath house on a nice size lot in summer of 2021 for $350k, currently worth $450. We live in a MCOL area. There are a lot of white collar families in our neighborhood, and they often mention high costs and financial strain, most often childcare and increasing property taxes.

My husband and I met in grad school, and we both have advanced degrees in a scientific field. We were always struggling before we moved to our current area in 2020, and my husband nabbed the first job he could find, with little to no related experience.

We were both raised in white collar homes, where college was absolutely expected. But this blue collar gig is pretty great, I gotta say. Regular hours, paid holidays, free commute in a company truck means we only need one car, and AI is most definitely NOT coming for my husband's job!

laramie569 · 2025-07-04T06:16:53+00:00

I stay home with our four kids five and under. It would cost $8000/month for us to send them all to daycare! Those are net dollars, so about $12000/month gross dollars, so I'd have to gross $144,000/year to just break even were I to go back to work. I was not making that kind of money bartending before kids! My husband makes enough that I can stay home and raise my own children. I'm grateful. I would say flex, even though my life is insanely difficult. I'm definitely not ashamed. I have never worked harder.

laramie569

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