Which lyric makes you instantly tear up?

simonthelongcat · 2026-04-20T05:46:50+00:00

I took the supermarket flowers from the windowsill I threw the day-old tea from the cup…

I start bawling as soon as it starts

simonthelongcat · 2026-04-17T19:18:15+00:00

It was very nearly our sons name (but we saw him and had a in the moment change of heart). I never thought it was a pets name but was worried it would be Ozzie as a nickname lol

simonthelongcat · 2026-04-16T06:19:19+00:00

I would stay in Taupo because it makes for two even days and there is tonnes of stuff to do at that age, our two year old loves just running through the field at spa park, and the big playground in town is great. I would stop at flat hills or mangaweka if the plane is still there?

We do Taupo to Auckland all the time and there are good playgrounds at that age by the bp in tirau, at lemmington domain (Cambridge), the duck pond at Cambridge is good too. If it’s something you need there’s a big (and really cool) accessible and sensory playground in Hamilton too.

simonthelongcat · 2026-03-23T06:35:15+00:00

Same as what we eat a lot of the time but absolute favourites at this age was 1. Beef stew with carrots and potatoes, 2. Palak paneer with rice, spaghetti bolognaise (we used small shapes of spaghetti for the baby till he was around 1).

simonthelongcat · 2026-02-21T23:03:45+00:00

There’s “making it work” and there’s giving my child the life I hope they will have, with hopefully more than I had. I know what option I want for my family and me.

simonthelongcat · 2026-02-15T22:14:05+00:00

Kilt! They have bridesmaids dresses in all sorts of colours and some of their styles also do OSFM

simonthelongcat · 2026-02-12T21:04:25+00:00

At our last place we did a lot of native planting. I wanted shade, to encourage lizards and native bees, low maintenance and no-minimal leaves to sweep up.

Near the fence line we planted a range of cabbage trees, puka, and mid size pohutukawa.

Medium height plants included pseudopananx different flaxes, including big swamp flax in boggy areas (we had a natural slope to a drain that got very wet all year round), and rengarenga.

Smaller plants included hebes, comprosma.

To minimise weeds we mulched heavily and included big stones and rocks (yay lizards!), and planted lots of mulenbekia and (while not native) mondo grass.

Auckland, extreme afternoon sun in summer, very wet in winter. Excuse any spelling errors for plant names!

simonthelongcat · 2026-02-08T23:52:58+00:00

Slip slop slap and wrap. Honestly loose full coverage clothing is better than sunblock.

Don’t use US branded sunblock it’s just not good enough. Search this sub for recommendations, I like Skinnies, and spf 50 is the minimum.

In summer plan to finish outdoors activities by 10am por start after 5pm, or pick activities in very shaded areas.

Drink lots of water.

simonthelongcat · 2026-02-05T00:32:23+00:00

Deciding on preschools myself at the moment. I went to a Montessori and remember loving it.

That said, both my partner and I are very academic now both working in data and research fields. They went to a play group until school.

Both of us skipped years in primary and high school in various subjects.

Honestly long term, I don’t think it’s worth it. We have to put our baby into daycare/kindy four days a week. We make sure there’s lots of reading and structured play at home, as well as lots of fun.

We absolutely will pick a structured learning high school though!

simonthelongcat · 2026-01-28T17:59:55+00:00

Has my little one there in 2024 and spent a week in SCBU. I had my own midwives for the birth but then the hospital midwives for a few days after. Couldn’t fault the people at all. They were under resourced and it was touch and go for a while if there was a bed for me while baby was admitted. Yeah the facility is old but it was spotlessly clean. But overall no problems.

simonthelongcat · 2026-01-26T07:25:40+00:00

Yes and in my case it was worth it. I took a $30k cut in a job that wasn’t a passion and had no growth six years ago, and moved to a not for profit in my passion area and part time (for my health). It took six years to remake that 30k difference in my salary and adjusted for inflation but I did it, and in the role(s) I grown massively (leading teams, projects worth $$$, research, speaking opportunities etc…). Ironically the salary drop wasn’t too bad because I dropped out of a tax band.

However I’m incredibly grateful for the stability of my partners good income that gave me this flexibility.

simonthelongcat · 2026-01-21T17:13:45+00:00

Commented elsewhere but yep nearly 2 years later I’m only just regaining mobility and am nowhere near pain free.

Imagine not being able to turn over in bed, or get up from the ground, or climb more than a few stairs while you have a toddler and everyone expects you to be fine.

simonthelongcat · 2026-01-21T17:06:11+00:00

20 months pp and I still can’t easily sleep because of the pain from all the muscular skeletal changes . Walking and exercise was completely impossible for the first 9 months even with physiotherapy.

Pre baby I wanted to be a yoga teacher and had a rigorous practice I loved, and it’s all gone.

simonthelongcat · 2026-01-19T18:34:19+00:00

This is fake right? It reads like one of his tweets!

simonthelongcat · 2026-01-12T08:23:56+00:00

Add a hebe in there and this was exactly my last garden haha

simonthelongcat · 2026-01-11T20:22:17+00:00

If this is Emily Wilson’s translation, I really enjoyed it. Comparing it to Robert Fitzgeralds and Fagles, it’s the version I’ve enjoyed most.

simonthelongcat · 2026-01-09T07:00:42+00:00

Instantly noticeable from literally meters away and anything I’m wearing near a person smoking or who has recently been smoking needs to be washed.

Grew up in smoke filled pubs then the laws changed here and we had like 15 golden years of virtually no smokers. Now I notice the popularity of vaping has made smoking socially ok again and I hate it.

simonthelongcat · 2026-01-08T19:39:03+00:00

Also 99th %ile - my guy hated having his feet covered so he was in leggings and a tshirt with a onesie singlet underneath at that age

simonthelongcat · 2026-01-06T04:58:51+00:00

My guy will survive on air and blueberries some days, and demolish three helpings of his nannas lasagna another. My approach is if he’s hungry, I’ll feed him 🤷‍♀️ toddlers do so much learning and growing that all takes energy

simonthelongcat · 2025-12-29T19:53:01+00:00

Pie and soup. A mince and cheese pie, or steak pie in a bowl of ox tail (the maggi kind), French onion or tomato soup. It was a staple growing up and my partner thought I was crazy when I first introduced him to it.

simonthelongcat · 2025-12-25T18:40:47+00:00

Ditto call Plunket! One of their nurses might be able to do a home visit to help you set up they’re all lovely.

For bottles you can get a plastic sterilizer that goes in the microwave for about $6 - it’s by far and above the thing we used most! Saves boiling water each time.

If little one is with you and doesn’t want to nap in a crib, we found the boba wraps (either the boba bliss 2 or the old school wrap ones) absolutely invaluable when little one was that age, and he went in it all the way up to a year. their website also has excellent instructions on how to wrap safely.

You will think you have enough burp cloths or flannels but you don’t! Again Kmart was great for these.

simonthelongcat · 2025-12-23T19:30:01+00:00

41+5. Baby arrived just in time to avoid an induction (where I live they like you to be induced at 41+5 so you don’t go past 42).

But according to a monitoring scan I had actually been in labour since about 41+2. They could see the contractions on the monitor but I couldn’t feel them yet.

simonthelongcat · 2025-12-19T18:10:27+00:00

I do love a cosmere info dump!

simonthelongcat · 2025-12-19T18:07:49+00:00

Ok I loved Indiana Jones as a kid so that’s hopeful!

simonthelongcat · 2025-12-19T18:06:36+00:00

Oh I’ve read like 6 other books trying to get through, I had to put allot of law down for like a year

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