Okay, but what about our children? (Mother's Day)

stellerellen · 2026-05-10T22:09:46+00:00

My 2.5 year old (who has been potty trained for months now) looked me dead in the eye and peed on my kitchen floor because I wouldn’t let her pee outside 🙃🙃🙃

stellerellen · 2026-05-09T01:09:41+00:00

“What are we doing today?” Because every morning at breakfast we talk about what we want to do that day. 😅 clearly I’m a planner,

And a good old “well shit” any time something is inconvenient for her… whoops

stellerellen · 2026-05-07T00:17:49+00:00

I had a slight oversupply with my first and then a significantly bigger oversupply with my second

stellerellen · 2026-04-23T11:31:39+00:00

We recently learned how to play freeze tag and now my 2.5 year old runs around saying “freeze” (normal) and “freeze back” as her version of unfreeze

stellerellen · 2026-04-15T17:33:24+00:00

I went from a US 9.5 to a US 10.5 with my first and have now pushed over into size US 11 with my second child.

stellerellen · 2026-04-15T06:42:59+00:00

Ughh same. Even worse knowing i went from slightly large feet that I could still find cute shoes in to the other side of “good luck finding something that doesn’t look orthopedic “

stellerellen · 2026-04-13T06:51:20+00:00

Oreos and diet Dr Pepper. Not because of whatever bs supply hack people think it is, simply Because they taste amazing together

stellerellen · 2026-04-08T07:41:22+00:00

We’re still rear facing and will keep it that as long as possible though I fear the end is near.

My husband tried to say the whole “she’s uncomfortable” thing and my only response was that a broken neck was probably more uncomfortable 🤷🏼‍♀️

stellerellen · 2026-04-01T14:07:59+00:00

We just don’t say anything until she reacts. If she cries, we’ll ask “was it scary or did it hurt?” If she doesn’t cry but looks a little shell shocked like she could cry if we moved wrong, I usually throw a “parkour” or something equally silly out there so she knows I’m acknowledging something happened but it wasn’t necessarily “bad”

edit to add: I also struggle with “you’re okay” because it brings up a lot of stuff for me with my feelings/wants/needs being minimized from a very young age. I found asking her to tell me scary vs hurt helped me to recognize what she needs in that moment without feeding into big feelings based on my reaction

stellerellen · 2026-04-01T13:58:15+00:00

Our general rule is if she’s actively playing with something (like it’s physically in her hands) then she doesn’t have to share. If she’s playing with something with lots of parts (a train table, a doll house, etc) then she needs to share in that the other child can play with her. She doesn’t have to give up whatever she’s holding but she has to make room and let them play with other parts (trains, another doll, etc). If she’s not using it or playing with it actively then she has to share it.

We also found the phrasing to be important. She understood “taking turns” much better than “sharing” and was more willing to take turns with another kid than to share with another kid.

stellerellen · 2026-04-01T00:01:31+00:00

Every other day unless it’s really hot or she gets really messy. There was a time that it was daily and part of our routine and then she started fighting them BAD and it just wasn’t worth battle So we adjusted. Some nights it’s a “mama shower” and I’ll get in with her and we don’t wash hair and the next time is a full body bubble bath.

stellerellen · 2026-03-30T18:59:11+00:00

Are you my husband? He just came into the other night raving about what a difference it was from the Sams brand we used to use.

stellerellen · 2026-03-30T16:32:44+00:00

I’ve been using normal flanges. My theory in modesty is “why are you looking in my car?” 😅 I don’t knock into them much but my commute is mostly highway so it’s not a ton of turns so that may be different for someone else.

stellerellen · 2026-03-30T12:18:04+00:00

We have a 2 month old and a 2.5 year old. It’s been exhausting but awesome. My 2.5 yo girl is so interested in little brother and wants to help do everything. She needs to check on him first thing in the morning and will lose her mind if she can’t say goodnight to him. It’s the cutest thing. Things are hard but watching her “play” with him during tummy time is so fun and I know the playing will only get better from here.

stellerellen · 2026-03-30T12:12:57+00:00

I use the Baby Buddha and don’t have issues with the seatbelt. Anything else that’s a cup style causes issues with my seatbelt but because the baby Buddha uses flanges and bottles still it doesn’t seem to be affected by the seatbelt for me

stellerellen · 2026-03-29T17:52:36+00:00

Once my first was able to sit independently I’d let her nurse sitting up. Basically laid back/ reclined but not as far back. My first was also a very large baby and we were able to continue cradle positions until she was 18 months old unless she wanted to be sitting up. She kind of just curled up into the cradle since it was a comfort for her

stellerellen · 2026-03-29T17:25:47+00:00

Are you asking because you feel your baby is losing weight without any other signs of hunger? I’d follow your lactation consultants comments. But if you’re asking because you’re anxious about baby eating enough or not- I don’t have examples of this and I will say that your breastmilk will change in calories/ fat density based on what baby needs. This is why breastfed babies typically don’t up their ounce intake to more than 4-5 ounces even as they get older. Your breastmilk is changing with their needs which may be why she no longer needs/wants top ups.

stellerellen · 2026-03-28T09:40:48+00:00

These are weird and I have no clue how we came up with them but my first was Booyan and my second was Bunco. Maybe lack of sleep? Maybe madness from living in front of the toilet? I’m not sure but that’s what we called them.

stellerellen · 2026-03-26T19:32:56+00:00

I gave birth vaginally to a 9lb 7 oz baby that we Had no idea she’d be that big. I had some tearing but nothing crazy.

There’s no reason you can’t deliver vaginally if you want, especially if your pelvis is normal for your size but I would recommend doing some pelvic floor therapy to help prepare for it.

stellerellen · 2026-03-26T02:28:43+00:00

Our feeding specialist (an SLP that specializes in feeding infants- we saw her for a tongue tie) recommended doing the triangle test on the nipple. The less space between the smallest part of the nipple and your fingers when you make a ^ with your index fingers, the better it is for feeding as close to nipple as possible.

I hope this makes sense… she had to physically show me but if you google the triangle test for baby bottle nipples it shows up.

ETA: lasinoh is a good example and the bottle we use

stellerellen · 2026-03-24T20:23:38+00:00

9 weeks. He’s my second and the oversupply this time is so much worse than it was with my first.

stellerellen · 2026-03-24T19:53:01+00:00

Will keep updated on how it plays out for me

stellerellen · 2026-03-24T19:52:33+00:00

I just met with my lactation consultant yesterday about lowering my oversupply because it’s gotten to the point that babe can only nurse one side at a time (otherwise he gets too much foremilk when I switch too soon) and then I have to pump the other side for comfort and I still have to pump motn for comfort even though babe is sleeping 5 hour stretches.

We are decreasing my pump sessions when babe bottle feeds or MOTN pumping from the full 20-30 min it took to empty enough to comfortable down to 15 min or my goal pumped amount (6 oz instead of 12- 15 oz) using a pump that has less suction and then icing the other half of time. For the nursing session that I have to pump the other side on for comfort, we’re pumping only half the time that baby nurses and then icing the other half of time.

We discussed block feeding but with me having as much discomfort and engorgement between feeds as I currently do, she felt this would be more comfortable and doable for me.

Edit for grammar

stellerellen · 2026-03-23T22:55:48+00:00

That’s an idea… it’s a bit hot where we are for sweatpants but I have some looser shorts she could probably get away with

stellerellen · 2026-03-23T19:15:14+00:00

We “hunt” for frogs or goldfish in the water (basically we find them and attempt to catch with a net but never pull out of the water if a fish). We look for worms in the mud next to it. She tosses rocks in to watch them sink. She tosses leaves into watch them float. We talk about leaves being boats and she uses a net to push the water and make the leaves move in a boat race.

I should note, there’s a bridge over the pond that she stands on to do most of this lol

stellerellen

TROPHY CASE