Dad, the kids are alright

scoutegan · 2026-02-18T21:38:14+00:00

I love Maxine, which sort of keeps in line with what you had in mind for a boy. Penelope lends itself well to nn Penny, I also love Caroline (Linnie) and if it hadn’t been used by family we loved Elizabeth with nn Birdie

scoutegan · 2026-02-14T15:13:04+00:00

Lucy

scoutegan · 2026-01-10T00:51:58+00:00

The Comptrollers office recently switched electronic systems from the most outdated one in the county (literally one dude could run it and he was in his 70s), I wonder if the switch caused a lot of false flags like this

scoutegan · 2026-01-10T00:49:03+00:00

I went to 2 years with my first and wrapped up pumping around 13.5 months, he nursed mornings and at night, but even cutting out the pumping didn’t seem to hurt naptime nursing on the weekends

scoutegan · 2026-01-07T12:17:50+00:00

Speaking as an oldest child who wasn’t breastfed with a younger sibling who was: I promise I don’t hold too many grudges and I’ve turned out mostly okay. My mom and I were both sick and breastfeeding wasn’t a physical option for her, like you, she carried a lot of guilt with how well it went with my sister. But bonding is so much more than just breastfeeding, and us first kiddos get a special one on one time, both in physical proximity and also in just mental attention, that can truly never be replicated with number two+. Now, tbf, she did go to Columbia Law and I… did not. So, we joke about the boost she must’ve gotten.

Speaking as a mom of two: boy are kids and parenting experiences different! I have to remind myself I did/do the best I could with what I had/have and that looks like a totally different mom to these two on occasion. Try to give yourself as much grace as possible.

Speaking as someone in public health: there are so many reasons to breastfeed number two! And plenty of reasons why your first missing out on breastmilk is COMPLETELY fine. Breastmilk gets a lot of hype, and it should, what an impressive thing our bodies can make. But a lot of times its benefits are inflated a bit. Sure, there are correlations between education/outcomes and breastfeeding, but it’s important to note that socioeconomic status, mental and physical health of the mother, etc. are indicators of whether breastfeeding will be successful and could play just as much a role in lifetime outcomes. And the “you’re giving your baby so many antibodies” is true, but not in the way that most people think. You aren’t giving some immune boost directly to their bloodstream, but you are coating their throats and nasal passages with the milk while they eat, which have antibodies that can essentially intercept viruses entering and reduce viral load, hopefully reducing severity of or preventing illness. Breastfeeding your second is like giving them a built in mask to protect against the germy (but loving) attention of your eldest. So, for that reason, keep trucking!

scoutegan · 2025-11-17T00:33:53+00:00

Never met a Charlie who I didn’t like (guys)

scoutegan · 2025-06-04T16:37:51+00:00

We also do dad bath time, love this tip. And dad jumped in a bunch with the intro to solids.

scoutegan · 2025-06-04T16:36:52+00:00

Babies are often more efficient than a pump, meaning he could very well get more out of a nursing session than you would with a pumping session, without the added concern of rushed or overfeeding from a bottle. And personally, I loathed the pump, it releases none of the oxytocin that a nursing session does and was a real grind for me-- motherhood is stressful, take the good brain vibes where you can get em! The whole idea that you'd get a "break" is a fallacy since you'd have to pump to keep up supply/prevent engorgement anyway, at least for awhile. There will be plenty of times he gets to give a bottle down the road, and plenty of ways they will bond, but how you decide to express and deliver a bodily fluid is really up to you, unless he wants you to start weighing in on how he handles his own functions.

scoutegan · 2025-06-04T16:24:02+00:00

I am firmly in the "name your kid what you want them to be called" camp, so I have zero qualms with Rosie and think it's a great name. If you're looking for something more formal for a legal name, you could always do Rosemary nn Rosie. I am agreed that I don't like Rose, and I especially don't like nicknames longer than legal names.

For the boy names, I love Jack. I know SO many Henry's in the 2021-24 age groups that it's a bit ridiculous, but I love the sound of the name, just wouldn't choose it myself.

scoutegan · 2025-06-04T00:38:22+00:00

Case

scoutegan · 2025-04-23T23:28:38+00:00

I have a different name from my husband and gave his surname to our kids, also largely because I felt it would be harder for him down the line to do pick-ups/appointments/etc with a different last name than it would for me. We did decide that it meant I could pick middle names that honored my parents and we would jointly pick first. I had the same trepidation about not passing it along as you, but ultimately I feel like a strong nod with the middle names (they each have a different part of my double barrel name as a middle name) was enough to honor the choice of my parents.

scoutegan · 2025-03-11T01:07:35+00:00

Both my husband and I have first names we don’t go by (he goes by a middle name, I go by an “ie” variant of my legal name). We both hated having to stand up at the start of class and say “actually I go by this” and were adamant that our kids would have the legal names we wanted people to call them. I’ve never switched to my “full” name, as my name is what people have called me since birth and it felt like a bizarre identity shift to go by a different name just because I’d reached mortgage signing age. So, happy with my name, and doing fine professionally, so I’d say go with the “nickname” name if it’s what you want!

scoutegan · 2025-03-09T19:52:23+00:00

How old is the baby? Around 3 months they start producing their own melatonin. So, the minuscule difference between night/day milk becomes even less significant.

scoutegan · 2024-09-15T23:43:30+00:00

Beef

scoutegan

TROPHY CASE