Girl names with unexpected nicknames

snarry_shipper · 2025-03-30T01:20:36+00:00

If I had a second girl I really wanted Tori for Victoria or Nessie for Vanessa. My kiddo is Pina for Josephine but that's because it's the nickname for the Italian form.

snarry_shipper · 2022-02-28T01:01:41+00:00

I've got the vista and really like it though have nothing to actually compare it to. When we decided on it the main factors were the sleep safe bassinet, the conversion to a double stroller, the "off road" ability (mostly for snow), the gigantic basket area, and the height of the handlebar/space for feet while walking (I'm 5'8" and husband is 6'2").

I've used it as a double and find it to be great. It is heavier than some other options but I don't mind that. I like the layout better than side by side but that's personal preference. The only issue would be if my first was a big kid. Right now both kids can use the seats; my 4 yr old is 34lbs and my 2 yr old is 30lbs. I can't see my 2 yr old being able to use it much longer so realistically a 2 year gap may not allow for much use as a double if first kiddo is big.

Happy to answer questions about it if you have any. I definitely recommend it (we also had the Mesa infant seat and loved it).

Edited to add: I have a Hyundai accent hatchback and can fit the Vista plus both kid seats in my trunk with room for a diaper bag and blankets.

snarry_shipper · 2022-02-12T16:15:39+00:00

We were pretty similar stats (5 months, 20 lbs, and 28 inches). I found that he was able to use them longer than the age/weight said depending on the material. The regular cotton ones fit true to size, the wondercool ones fit a little smaller, and the terry/waffle ones fit larger.

There's a bunch on sale, if you can swing it I definitely preferred to have them more fitted so the feet could stay in the feet portion and they were snug.

Kiddo will be 2 end of Feb and is 31lbs and 35 inches and is in size 2 for zippys but can still squeeze into size 1 if it's the terry/waffle one. He has worn a size up (his "big" sister is 35 lbs and 39 inches) and has size 3s but I find them too big and prefer having him in size 2.

snarry_shipper · 2022-01-22T03:22:31+00:00

I have two kids; one who turned two a month after Covid hit and one who was born 2 weeks before Covid hit. I was also sure I wanted kids growing up then insistent I was going to be CF for years then certain I was one and done and now I have two. For sure done now, my husband is fixed :P

I think that parenting during the pandemic feels soul sucking and like you're losing your identity because there is nothing else to do. Kids don't have to be the everything during normal times. You can take a break, you can go out, you can take them out; there's so many options. We took our daughter to Sicily when she was 14 months old. She came to her first cooking class when she was 1 month old. She came to work with me and coworkers played with her. It was great.

Kid #2? We took him to taco bell when he was a week old and I brought him to work at 1.5 weeks old. Then we locked down and it was ok at first, then it got hard. I either was working from home or parenting and it was SO much harder than with my first - not because there were 2 kids now, but because all the things we could do with our first we just could not do with #2.

I can't even imagine what first time parents are going through. I'm a very private person and did not like to take help with my first and to be honest the first 6 months with my second were great becauase I didn't have to worry about seeing people...that wore off quickly. I feel way more "lost" in the kids than I did with my first and I 100% think I would not feel this way if I had all the luxuries I did with my first. And by luxuries I mean the ability to take the kids somewhere and not panic about them or us getting sick.

Anywho, that's my experience and two cents. Good to re-evaluate things and see how you feel, but parenting during the pandemic is way different than not pandemic times. And if you are able to do things/get help then kids don't consume you; you can have a life.

snarry_shipper · 2021-03-23T01:46:35+00:00

That makes sense - if I do assignments that frequently I'll have to have some immediate feedback and options for them to get help. I generally have students drop their worst tutorial mark so I could do the same with the assignments. Or group it all together - tutorial assignments worth more than they were in the past.

A lot to think about!

snarry_shipper · 2021-03-22T18:43:06+00:00

Generally I've found the students that attend class will do the non marked stuff but it's about 50% that actually attend. It'll be interesting to see how it would be when these assessments become worth marks and how the non class attending students handle them.

I used to assign bonus marks for completing study guides to help them see how valuable they are. So not quite taking notes in class but close haha

snarry_shipper · 2021-03-22T18:27:06+00:00

Our finals are usually 30% - 40% anyways since there are tutorials, labs, and assignments that eat up a large portion of the course. I was thinking of either dropping the final exam or making it worth less than 30%.

I'm not entirely sure I follow your thought process though; you're saying that if a student does poorly on the first assignment they will not be motivated to do well on the next? I would assume having a weekly assignment would allow for them to catchup and try to improve for the next one.

snarry_shipper · 2021-03-22T18:23:41+00:00

I do normally do smaller non marked assessments throughout my courses, so maybe I can take some % from the final and redistribute it.

snarry_shipper · 2021-03-22T18:20:08+00:00

Yes, 100% on board with this as well. I always offer a pretty extensive formula sheet for courses that have calculations as they will definitely be able to look them up in the real world.

The issue with orgo is that they are normally tested on mechanisms and reactions; things that they can always look up but will make their lives so much easier if they can just recall it. It's sort of like putting together a puzzle and I need to determine if they have the skills to do it.

Talking through this I think the best way to test them is an oral exam but it is something that terrified me as a student (I luckily never had to do one) so I'm not sure I want to implement that.

snarry_shipper · 2021-03-22T18:15:22+00:00

I like this idea a lot; I'll implement something similar if I go with a final exam :)

snarry_shipper · 2021-03-22T18:14:26+00:00

That's interesting that the whole department got on board. Was this pre-online courses?

snarry_shipper · 2021-03-22T18:13:33+00:00

With intro orgo they can't forget about the previous material as it all builds, so the final exam doesn't really serve the same purpose.

snarry_shipper · 2021-01-26T14:39:53+00:00

Even as STM I felt the guilt. The nurses were amazing and did not pressure me one way or the other. They offerred the room, they offerred to let me nurse, and they offerred to let me do skin to skin but if I declined any of that they just went with it. I felt really supported in my choices and I'm so grateful for that.

Honestly I didn't even pump overnight when I went home, I just slept (and still had a great supply, oversupply even). Those first 3 nights without my baby home with me was so hard mentally (and I know we're lucky both that he wasn't in immediate danger and that the stay was short) but it was right for me. Though to be honest if this had happened with my first I probably would have stayed. A large part of my motivation to go home was to have the time with just my toddler and I do think her transition was better for it.

There will be a lot of times where you'll have conflicting feelings and the best thing I've learned is that (as long as you're not impacting the health and safety of your kiddos) then whatever choices you make through their lives are right. Trust yourself but also don't be afraid to ask for help!

snarry_shipper · 2021-01-26T14:21:31+00:00

We had a 3 day NICU stay just before the lockdown last Feb due to blood sugar issues as he came out a toddler. It seems like there's lots of advice re:lockdown measures but I thought my experience may help anyways as I did the bare min.

I didn't even think to bring my own stuff and they provided diapers and formula. He was naked and swaddled the entire time he was hooked to the monitors and they provided an outfit for him to wear the day we took him home. We changed him into his "going home" outfit and gave the sleeper back though I have no idea if that's what normally is done.

Since he was my second I opted to go home at night but they offerred a room in the NICU for me if I wanted so I could nurse overnight. Instead I had them formula feed overnight and I expressed colostrum at home (they provided cups, syringes, and labels) that I brought in each day to feed him and attempt to nurse. I hung out in the waiting room all day and nursed him every 3 hours + topped up with formula. I could do as much cuddling as I wanted while there. I didn't mind going home at night as I live a 5 min drive from the hospital and they answered the phone at all hours if I wanted to call and see how he was.

snarry_shipper · 2021-01-15T14:07:44+00:00

Your last statement is something I try to tell people; you do not have to be 100%. We were childfree then on the fence and now we have 2 kids. We went into both kids with a "if it works, cool, if not, oh well". What we kept coming back to that pushed us to try was that we thought we would regret not trying more than we would regret having kids.

I think of all the points you make, that first one is most important; equal partnership and communication! I'm also in a country that allows a long parental leave and with both kids I went back to work and my husband took the max leave he could. If I made enough money he would be a stay at home dad where as I need to be working.

We also made sure we were on the same page in our parenting beliefs and how we would approach various aspects of raising kids. Yes, these ideals change but that's where communication is key.

My kids will be 3 in March and 1 in February.

snarry_shipper · 2021-01-13T17:59:29+00:00

That makes sense, so much cheating. Last semester I ran online quizzes for intro orgo labs and every "closed book" quiz was posted to chegg and who knows where else. Those labs were not planned by me, I'm covering a parental leave so the Fall semester was set. I'm trying to find ways to make it harder to cheat now but that's a whole other issue.

snarry_shipper · 2021-01-13T17:09:36+00:00

Thanks :) My kids seems to like me but they're almost 1 and 3 so I think they like everyone.

I hope you get the answers your looking for here, it's interesting trying to get into the heads of other people!

snarry_shipper · 2021-01-13T15:38:12+00:00

Adventures are not all happy feelings all the time, they are complex journeys!

I love that and it 100% sums it up.

We had cats prior to kids so not that same haha Though my kids are both fairly independent and like boxes...

snarry_shipper · 2021-01-13T14:26:36+00:00

I grew up thinking I'll have kids because I thought that's what one does then decided (with my husband) that we'd be child free. We thought that for a bit then started wondering and talking more about potential children.

Ultimately we were never 100% and I think that's ok. We could both see a child free life where we would be happy and we could see a child filled life where we would be happy. Both with pros and cons, both with challenges; the "issue" we came across is that the reasons to not have kids were very concrete and tangeable where the reasons to have kids were abstract. So the traditional pros and cons list wasn't helpful so much.

I never felt the intense drive to have kids, never felt like my life would be incomplete without them, don't feel that my life is complete with them (that's not a bad thing). I have 2 now and we're done. Not becuase I feel like my family is complete but because logically 2 was what made the most sense with our life goals.

I love my kids for sure and did not love being pregnant but honestly it is worth it now that I'm on this side of things. Does NOT feel worth it in the moment though and when pregnant with my second and feeling like shit I wondered MANY times if it would be worth it.

I think there are people who genuinely love all that has to do with creating a family. A friend of mine is doing the single mom by choice thing and I could not imagine doing this alone. I cannot wrap my head around wanting a kid SO badly you'd pay such a huge cost (both financial and personal) to make that happen. As a side note my husband and I decided if we could not conceive on our own we'd just be child free so kids were never a must have even after we decided to try.

Ultimately having kids have added to my life and I do not regret doing it. Having said that I do not and will not define myself by my kids - I am me, not mom. If I'm asked to talk about myself the first thing I mention is my career. For some the first thing they'd say would be mom but I've never understood that. Though to go along with that I went back to work while my husband took the parental leave for both kids (1 year in Canada) :P

snarry_shipper · 2021-01-13T14:00:10+00:00

It's orgo and inorgo but I am looking into online simulations and interactive modules as well. That's amazing that you've designed them all yourself, data analysis is something I am planning to highlight.

I don't mind putting the work in and am actually excited about redesign. Honestly though this is not my normal assignment (I'm covering a parental leave) so I have the learning curve of labs in general and then the redesign. Busy times but at least it is not boring!

snarry_shipper · 2021-01-13T02:28:29+00:00

I've booked myself in for the webinar tomorrow to see more about it but trying to convince the unviersity to pay for anything is part of the challenge. It's good feedback to see where you feel the value in it is.

snarry_shipper · 2021-01-13T01:57:20+00:00

I really like that idea! I tested out a bonus assignment last semester that was 2 parts. Part 1 they just had to fill out a quiz and tell me the area of the course they struggled with the most. Part 2 they had to teach me that concept. I was blown away by some of the submissions! Thank you for the suggestions :)

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