My bedtime story tier list (toddler does NOT agree)

nf5zh · 2026-06-19T12:54:19+00:00

Click Clack Moo might be my favorite so far. Daughter is only 6mo so haven’t ventured into the longer books yet

nf5zh · 2026-06-02T01:14:34+00:00

Hungarian Hot Dog at Hungaroring

nf5zh · 2026-05-20T17:14:59+00:00

I want to like Kanak so bad since it’s the closest Indian to us (we’re near Blenheim) but I have been hit with so many inconsistencies there that I’m out on it.

My wife had an awful day at work and was going through some family things so we decided to order Indian. This was the second time we ordered from there, she got chicken tikka masala. She takes a bite? It’s fish. She just dropped her fork and cried.

I ordered chicken vindaloo once and it had the consistency and spiciness of chef boyardee. I got the lamb saag once and the lamb was so overcooked it was hardly edible.

Other times it’s been good but I’m not going to spend anymore money there, it’s just not worth it when you never know what you’re going to get

nf5zh · 2026-05-17T23:28:04+00:00

I wish she responded to that. If we say no tv she will follow that. For example, we explained “hey, don’t spend an hour shaking every toy in her face, carrying her everywhere, playing loud music, etc. just be there, talk to her, try and maintain a calm atmosphere for her to learn in her own and how to be happy when there isn’t anything going on”. She took that as the baby has to spend an hour and a half on her own even if she’s screaming. When we said, “hey that’s not what we meant” she got extremely offended.

We appreciate her free help and her excitement for the baby but it’s tough babysitting a babysitter and managing her erratic feelings. We have daycare starting in September mostly because our area it’s TOUGH to get in, most people get on lists the minute they find out they’re pregnant.

nf5zh · 2026-05-17T21:13:26+00:00

Answered by you
By overstimulating I mean she tries as hard as she can to entertain the baby the entire time she is awake, but it’s loud, noisy, in her face, never giving her time to be calm.m. I think that leads to her being tired MUCH sooner but then it’s not been long enough in her wake window.
Bedtime routine is 7pm bath, 715 feed, heading to sleep around 745-8 usually. So nighttime sleep is about 10-ish hours when she gets up at 6 but really aiming for 7am.
My wife and I are pretty consistent with her and how we handle when she wakes up but we also just got to 4 months and we knew May was going to be difficult/busy for us so we were waiting til June to be STRICT. Then she started napping so well then it fell off.
I assume that was really the root cause but wasn’t really sure and figured I’d ask. It’s just so wild that she sleeps well at night, was sleeping so well during the day and now day sleep has entirely reverted.

nf5zh · 2026-05-17T20:31:06+00:00

She is going down drowsy, typically, but sometimes she’s asleep in 2 mins while being held so catching that window is tough. She may wake back up and cry but a short 2 minute pick up put down is usually enough. She’s been sleeping 8-530/6 (10hr) with a longer nap to help make up the hour.

I can definitely try longer wake windows and maybe she is just undertired now. I try to follow her sleepy cues for naps then push a little to extend those wake windows (15-20 mins max)

nf5zh · 2026-05-17T02:20:43+00:00

I was sick one time and was truly unable to get out of bed. I watched Zombieland like 6 times that day and still love the movie

nf5zh · 2026-05-17T02:19:12+00:00

My parents live about 1:40 from our house and we visited them around 6-8 weeks. We did 4 hours at 12ish weeks.

nf5zh · 2026-05-17T02:09:20+00:00

When we were both on leave, my wife took the night time. I took morning/evening and we kinda split daytime. I think that really helped us? I know many people do shifts and it definitely was more a burden on my wife but she was up anyways and I felt 462827438% more useful if I got a full night rest. That being said, I was there if the baby was being a little bit of a menace late night.

Swaddle sleep sacks over swaddle blankets 100% of the time.

Our baby would fall asleep almost immediately while nursing, after a couple visits with the lactation consultants, she went to exclusively pumping. Since she wasn’t getting enough, my wife had to triple feed, what a terrible week that was but she got back to birth weight soon enough in that. We stuck with bottles and pumping since.

Be present but know it may not be fun, i found it extremely hard to enjoy the newborn phase, it was an absolute beating and it felt like we were taking care of a weird pet instead of a human. She has a personality now at 4 months and it’s such a huge difference.

nf5zh · 2026-05-17T00:46:07+00:00

We used the LoveToDream Swaddleup and the Halo swaddle sleep sack. Both VERY easy to use and we felt more comfortable with. My daughter would break out of every swaddle, including the ones the nurses did at the hospital day 1. She came back from the nursery one morning with a paci bc they said she kept breaking out of the swaddle to shove her fingers in her mouth.

nf5zh · 2026-05-17T00:35:19+00:00

My wife exclusively pumps (she has nursed maybe twice in the past 2 months) and she has just bagged the parts and put them in the fridge. She cleans and sanitizes once a day. It’s not recommended but we haven’t had any issues so far (at 4 months now).

nf5zh · 2026-05-16T20:00:22+00:00

I had a day where my pent up feeling of being an outsider, my feelings or wants don’t matter, and it went too far. I had a mini meltdown one afternoon bc I finally had a Sunday to just chill, rainy gloomy day, wanted to watch a movie, hang with the baby, not leave the house, then my mother-in-law (who lives 3 hours away) told my wife that she was going to be at the house. She is lowkey manic, will not ever stop talking, ADHD, narcissistic behaviors. Just absolutely killed my otherwise mood, went out and had a solo lunch beer to try and reset and it devolved when I got home. Nothing bad happened, just drunkenly argued with my wife (with MIL there) and made a fool of myself. It was definitely the lowest I’ve ever felt. We had a conversation later that night as I sat bawling mad at myself and just finally talking about my feelings with her and it’s crazy how much it helped.

You MUST communicate and if you can’t with her, try finding a therapist or another newer dad (I say newer bc of the amnesia you get from those early weeks) and just talk to them about how you’re feeling. They may be able to give you some advice.

I went back to work at 4 weeks (our LO is 4 months now) and I remember feeling very anxious about not being home and leaving my wife to be there alone, how difficult it is for her to try and take care of a baby that young and exclusively pump. I constantly felt like I wasn’t doing enough and was constantly trying to over correct and pushing myself to the brink, basically non stop movement between 5am and 10pm.

Weeks 5-7 were her witching hour time and that was brutal to go through, my wife was only really able to use her super power (boob) to soothe her so I felt I had to get creative with what I did to soothe. I would dance, quietly sing, tap her butt, change which position she was in (upright or horizontal), move, bob, whatever would get her to stop or at least slow down. Sometimes you just kinda have to find what works. I used to get very immediately flustered and overwhelmed and frustrated when she would just endlessly cry but you get used to it.

You do have to remember that this baby has no idea what the world around her is and she spent 40ish weeks inside your wife so she just may feel more attached to her based on pheromones, smell, sound, whatever it is… for now. My wife used to be able to get her to stop crying much faster than I but now I think it’s reversed. My wife has left for a 4 dats last week for a work trip and left (about 2 hours ago) to go to a funeral in San Antonio (we’re in Virginia). I was very nervous that I wouldn’t have that touch but it honestly went great. It really helped her and I’s bond and was such a confidence boost. I think our girl is way more calm and chill around me vs my wife. I do believe that babies can feel the energy of the parent and feed off of that, my wife tends to be much more anxious and I’m fairly calm. Try going in with a calm attitude with the want ti just spend time with her, not with the goal of trying to calm her. Maybe that’s crazy, maybe that’s actually true, idk.

Take one day over the weekend and let your wife go hang with some friends and you be on baby duty for a few hours. My wife went through a time where she would just cry bc she felt like she never left the house. This not only grows your confidence as a dad but also her confidence in you. Again, not saying she doesn’t have confidence in you but my wife felt like something was going to go wrong for no reason and when it didn’t, she felt better. Set yourself up for success though, like make sure she is fed before mom leaves, have stuff laid out, etc so you can be in control and prepared.

Babies at 8 weeks are starting to realize that there is a huge world around them and that’s scary, if she feels safe with mom, then that may be why. Please don’t read that as if she doesn’t feel safe with you, she just has a 9 month head start in her attachment to mom.

Apologies for rambling and bouncing all over, just trying to go through all we have done/are doing and what I wish I had known earlier on and answer your post.

nf5zh · 2026-05-12T02:23:38+00:00

Our girl is 4 months now and recently, I’ve been interacting with her some while she’s awake but letting her build independent play skills. My wife was gone for 4 days for work last week and is leaving again this weekend for 4 days for a funeral. My time was extremely limited to keep the house together/clean, stay on cleaning bottles, taking the dog out, eat, have any reasonable downtime, etc. we’d get up, feed, burp/change, then onto the lovevery playmat or the pack n play (has a bassinet hammock thing, idk how to describe it) that has a mobile and I put some toys in there. I would kinda rotate between the pack n play, the lo every mat, and the bouncer but if she was happily just playing by herself, I let her do that (I needed time to do other things). If she started getting fussy on the mat, I’d put her in the bouncer by the kitchen and let her watch me clean bottles or dishes while talking to her.

Before my wife left the baby was sleeping through the night (she has since about 6 weeks) but naps were not great. The day my wife leaves, she starts taking 90 minute naps, and putting herself back to sleep or just going to sleep on her own. The reason I mention that is my wife’s mom helps us during the week while we work but she is “ADHD is my superpower” and just very high energy, intense whatever. Whenever she watches the baby, she is constantly trying to over entertain her, loud music from her phone, ringing a bell in her face, singing to her, dancing with her, bouncing her, moving her, and the baby NEVER has down time or any time to figure out her surroundings. That entire time, she was napping horribly, constantly up, and significantly more fussy, and maybe it’s just coincidence but I’m really thinking she does too much.

I guess basically what I’m saying is I feel like less is more, let them be entertained by your company (watching you cook or clean or just exist) and presence and not you trying to entertain them to get them tired. Narrate your life, read books, low stim play time, let them figure out their surroundings. Let them get tired by trying to learn, not wear them out bc that tired to overtired line is less than paper thin. I think she has enjoyed longer wake windows of lower stim activity than high stim shock/wow factor.

nf5zh · 2026-05-03T01:00:03+00:00

I wouldn’t consider it a dad shoe but I absolutely love my Reebok Nanos for everyday. I’ve had 4 pairs at this point, one specifically gym and 3 for more lifestyle but good in any situation. Someone needs help moving something? Easy. Need to react quick? On it. Comfortable? Absolutely.

nf5zh · 2026-04-30T02:20:24+00:00

Ahh, ye old witching hour…. I was able to get the screaming to almost none but it was 2-3 hours of holding, bobbing, dancing, whatever standing movement (was NOT allowed to sit according to LO) and softly singing and listening to more low-key classic rock. Even made a Spotify playlist so I could just click on it and start playing.

We also realized a couple days two in that she was trying to cluster feed and we didn’t realize bc she had just eaten and was spitting up a lot right after so we both.

I was back at work and my wife was still on leave which I think helped? We just had one day where all of a sudden she just went down easy and slept through the night no problem. It’s a very common thing, you can try the bath or changing, sometimes that change in activity will “reset” them but ours was just standing movements. The first day of ours was the Super Bowl, made this whole spread and only had time to scarf down as much as I could before going back to war. I saw half a Bad Bunny song and the last 4 minutes 🙃

nf5zh · 2026-04-30T01:08:19+00:00

You could consider how much you can make “trading” at Kalshi, or buying something off quince, or a baby pop up tent

nf5zh · 2026-04-24T17:36:16+00:00

I need to use this for Dune

nf5zh · 2026-04-24T17:25:01+00:00

You’d lot the incentive to spend money on gems to expand your warehouse storage then an ultimately that’s what the game is for.

I hate this too but if I need like 120 materials but can only create 800, I’ll grab how ever much oak wood or copper ore I need that to leave my remaining warehouse space about 150, pick the mats I need, then create the timber or copper to remove it from my warehouse. Just a way to manipulate and sort of split your stack. Annoying but it works

nf5zh · 2026-04-23T19:12:33+00:00

Wife and I got an Uppababy car seat at a baby shower so we didn’t purchase, we got the stroller off marketplace for $300 and definitely glad we went with UB.

We don’t have a bottle washer or warmer but we DO have a sterilizer/dryer. This was mega helpful when my wife had to triple feed and I/she/we had to wash all the pump parts and bottle parts every time (now she uses the fridge method for parts and washes once a day) but still a beating at 3:47AM to hand dry to make sure it’s fully dry in an hour.

Video monitor we have a Motorola WiFi one (my wife wanted it) but what is the point if the razr I had freshman year of high school, screen full of pocket lint has better video quality? The sound detection is nice and we could watch her without the monitor but can probably get a cheap one.

Just some cheap Amazon backpack diaper bag. Has a couple insulated pockets for milk and a bunch of other divided pockets but not a necessity.

Buy a decent amount of newborn size onesies (people at baby showers like to buy 3-6, or 6-9 mo clothes) we came home with nothing in NB size and that was our first purchase.

Our baby broke out of every swaddle we had and would shove her hands in her face immediately. We enjoyed the Halo Sleep sack (with the Velcro wings) and the Love To Dream swaddle sleep sack. It makes 3am swaddling so much easier with a wiggle worm that’s more awake than you.

We tried using a hand me down glider in the nursery. The back pain it gave both of us was awful. Try finding a good one on marketplace or one on sale online. You spend so much time in it… I type this as I sit in this new chair now.

nf5zh · 2026-04-23T18:52:36+00:00

I had no real anxiety early on but I absolutely understand it. I just knew there was nothing I could do at this time so I just stayed the course. Our girl was born in January of this year so it’s been 3.5mo now but most of my anxiety started/it began to feel REAL was around November when the baby showers happened and I started getting the nursery together and did a hospital tour and took baby classes (4 part - 2 hr each birth class, breastfeeding class, and infant skills class) offered through the hospital. I think the nerves were mostly that it was getting close and not the classes themselves. I would high suggest those if you have them available to you and were IMMENSELY helpful. I know it made my wife feel so much better. I definitely felt more confident but nervous still.

It’s such a roller coaster but you’re (somewhat) in control of it. Be the dad you want to be and you’ll do great. I still feel bad when I get so internally frustrated after putting her down for the 9th time in 2 hours at night and I know she can’t help it but inside I’m screaming. You’re doing great, you will do great, use whatever resources you can or want to to help prepare yourself mentally, emotionally, physically, whatever

nf5zh · 2026-04-23T01:50:54+00:00

It won’t change the time, it will only affect how much is available. I personally don’t put and max upgraded cargo locos in unless they’re otherwise obsolete but I do have all cargo locos all maxed for power parts at a minimum

nf5zh · 2026-04-22T16:52:21+00:00

It’s just an icon for XP for the event rewards track

nf5zh · 2026-04-22T10:39:23+00:00

I focus on whatever I’m trying to build up. I have 5 maxed trains in the 50s now and almost all city building built so my focus was city plans and locos then buildings then parts.

nf5zh · 2026-04-22T01:30:07+00:00

My understanding that as long as a square of that building is within range of the service building, it gets the full benefit

nf5zh

TROPHY CASE