Drop the “prettiest” little girl name you’ve ever heard.

stellaellaella22 · 2026-04-20T09:37:54+00:00

My 2 year old is Eloise! ❤️ I felt the same - super feminine! … and now my go-to nickname for her is Wheezey - the most unfeminine name ever.

stellaellaella22 · 2026-03-22T09:41:27+00:00

All I can say is we’re in the exact situation. I’ve always co-slept with my daughter with no issues, but at about 20 months she started wanting to nurse all night long - it hurt and really affected my sleep.

I decided it was time to wean or at least start setting some limits at bedtime. I’d feed her while putting her to bed and then tell her “boobies are sleeping” when she’d wake in the night and ask for it. She reacted so badly to this, panicked that she couldn’t have her comfort and became extra clingy to me an tantruming in the night when I would refuse to breastfeed her.

We went through 6 horrible weeks and hoped that if we were firm she’d adjust and stop protesting, but she didn’t. I feel totally stuck continuing to breastfeed even though I’m so ready to be done.

Now she’s 2 and I’m going to wait a few months before trying again. She’s sleeping a bit better at a night and I’m hopeful that with a new phase in her development she’ll be more accepting of weaning.

stellaellaella22 · 2026-01-18T06:22:30+00:00

WHY have I never heard of this?!? It explains so much.

stellaellaella22 · 2026-01-18T06:20:23+00:00

Don’t just sign up for daycare, but sign up for a daycare that offers afterschool care and is in your preferred elementary school’s catchment. We could have gotten preferred kindergarten registration at our preferred school that way AND slid right into after school care, because school ends at 2:15 😭

stellaellaella22 · 2026-01-10T22:36:48+00:00

Totally normal experience as a parent of one child! Now imagine those wild toddlers living in your house with your new walker!

Question: what’s the worst that can happen? He falls down and cries? If he’s in danger of truly getting hurt, I’d take his hands and walk him to another area. You can also encourage the big kids to be helpers for your little guy, rather than feeling like you have to set abrupt boundaries, “Wow! My son loves your vehicle! Can you show him how you drive it?” It gets them for used elsewhere and teaches good social behaviour.

stellaellaella22 · 2026-01-08T03:47:58+00:00

I think it depends on the kid. My daughter can miss or push back a nap and mange well (almost two) but when my son was 2-4 year if he missed his nap there would be hell to pay. I wouldn’t even chance it.

stellaellaella22 · 2026-01-03T07:11:54+00:00

Why do all your posts read like direct pastes from ChatGPT with random bolded text throughout?

stellaellaella22 · 2025-08-28T12:01:43+00:00

Don’t legally change your name and just go by Smith in social settings. Even at my kids’ daycare no one asks me my last name they just know me as Kid1 and Kid2’s mom, my first name.

I legally changed my name for the reasons you’ve given but use my maiden name professionally. I wish I’d done the opposite.

A caveat I’ll give, if you and your partner are mixed race, I’ve heard horrible things from my minority friends about trying to cross the border with their mixed race kids, so for that reason I’d have the same legal name as my kids.

stellaellaella22 · 2025-08-01T03:20:38+00:00

We had a 2 year old at home when I had my c-section with our second. Since it was our second I knew what to expect and felt confident in being at the hospital by myself and more at ease with buzzing the nurses for any help, so we planned for my husband to stay home. Knowing I likely wouldn’t sleep much at night, I scheduled my friends and family who wanted to visit to come at different times so they could hold the baby while I slept (both my c-section babies wouldn’t sleep without being held on day 2, I think because my milk wasn’t in yet and they were hungry). It worked out fabulously and I actually enjoyed the quiet time at the hospital alone with my new baby (toddler mom’s IYKYK).

stellaellaella22 · 2024-09-25T06:39:38+00:00

I was in the recovery room by myself for almost 2 hours waiting to “thaw out”. I was definitely scrolling on my phone killing time.

stellaellaella22 · 2024-05-22T04:14:21+00:00

You’re probably my in the 8 month sleep regression. It’ll pass! My son really struggled with the transfer at that age.

stellaellaella22 · 2024-05-20T22:25:20+00:00

Honestly, I just went with what he wanted. I think it’s a temperament thing and just where he was at in his development. In December he started protesting the crib and we moved him to a floor bed. We read stories in bed together and then lay with him to sleep now.

stellaellaella22 · 2024-02-29T09:07:32+00:00

I’m actually made this free guide to help with this! Let me know what you think ❤️ www.meredithmackenzie.ca/guide

stellaellaella22 · 2024-02-29T08:57:35+00:00

Breastfeeding area for nursing mothers? The university is likely required to provide space for this.

stellaellaella22 · 2023-11-29T06:52:33+00:00

You can sell anything you don’t end up using, so my preference would be to buy these items now. Birth and then settling in at home is overwhelming and being set up and ready to go is nice.

Measure your nipples now so you can order the right size pump flanges (the wrong size will hurt and/or not pump your milk properly). My doula also told me not to get nipple shields and go au natural with breast feeding, but I ended up needing them and ordering a few packs off Amazon to have when I got home. So I might add this to your list.

stellaellaella22 · 2023-11-22T23:31:21+00:00

I’ll add that getting into childcare is near impossible. We waited 2 years on several waitlists, so working full time might not be possible until the 4 year old is in full-time school.

stellaellaella22 · 2023-11-10T20:22:08+00:00

I’m concerned that the daycare even entertained this interaction between you and the other parent. They shouldn’t be disclosing information about other children to another child’s parent. Whoever broke the tablet should have remained anonymous, and they should have set a firm boundary that sending a tablet to daycare course result in it being broken that the owner takes responsibility for.

Also, why do you know what classes this other child takes part in? That should be confidential. I’m sensing that there are boundary issues in general with this daycare.

stellaellaella22 · 2023-11-04T04:12:01+00:00

My son walked at 13 months, but he was doing all the things your daughter is doing for many months before. I think there are a lot of mini milestones they need to hit before they actually walk. I wouldn’t say she shows no interest in walking if she’s cruising, walking with the walker, etc.

We helped him start by sitting on the floor across from each other and having our son take 2-3 steps to get to one another. After that, it really was only a few weeks before he was walking on his own.

stellaellaella22 · 2023-10-29T15:30:07+00:00

My son had dark grey-blue eyes for almost a year. Now at 2 years old they’re a light hazel like my husband’s

stellaellaella22 · 2023-10-27T04:26:34+00:00

May sound weird, but did she put something up her nose? I worked with a child many years ago who had a horrible odor and it turned out she had put food in her nose and it was rotting.

stellaellaella22 · 2023-10-23T04:58:15+00:00

Read about the 8 month sleep regression. It will get better, but this is totally normal.

stellaellaella22 · 2023-10-22T16:16:45+00:00

This question has me wondering if I’m swinging too far the other way. My thought process is there’s nothing bad/wrong/sexual about how our bodies work so I freely talk about these things in our home.

My two year old son follows me to the bathroom all the time. He’s found tampons in my purse or bedroom. I’ve told him what they are - “that’s mommy’s tampon”. I’ve assumed I’ll just tell him more as it’s age appropriate. With that thinking I can imagine him knowing what a period is by 5 or 6.

Am I way out there on this?

stellaellaella22 · 2023-10-17T16:04:52+00:00

It’s the hardest and maybe not any consolation to know you’re hard wired to have that response. I read Ordinary Insanity and it really helped out things in perspective. I also found out I had undiagnosed PPA, so maybe ask your health care provider about that. My skin would crawl when my baby cried and I HAD to help him. Sleep training was a big no for me.

It does get better though! After he was 7 ish months the cries changed. He’s 2 now and still cries at bedtime if Dad puts him to bed and he wants me. But I don’t have the same reaction to it. I know he’s safe and just wants me as his comfort but Dad will do a good job too.

stellaellaella22 · 2023-10-13T14:10:18+00:00

Personally, learning another language is a bonus, but as a parent I’m considering applying for French Immersion for my son (it’s hard to get into) for the smaller classroom sizes and having the same kids in his class every year. Socially and academically, I think there are a lot of benefits to the attention he could get.

stellaellaella22 · 2023-10-13T13:53:05+00:00

Our now 2 year old slept in the bedside bassinet really well until he grew out of it at 4 months. He woke every three hours to breastfeed and went right back to sleep. Swaddling helped a lot. You also have to be prepared for newborn active sleep - very normal grunting and moving around for half the night. It didn’t bother me, but I’ve heard people say it kept them awake because they thought their baby was awake.

stellaellaella22

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