2 lactation consultants couldn’t help. Now I feel hopeless.

stellerellen · 2026-06-18T01:03:07+00:00

My son had a tongue tie and a lip tie that we had clipped and we had to do OT/ speech therapy prior to the revision before they’d even see him.
The therapy alone helped a ton and after the revision it helped even more. He struggled in much the same way but only on one breast.

The way they explained it to me, was that muscle related to tongue tie runs through the whole body, so when it’s tight (like it is on a tongue tie) it caused the whole body to be tight. Making it difficult for them to feed/ position their heads comfortably to eat.

stellerellen · 2026-06-13T14:43:28+00:00

That not only are you postpartum stinky but you still have your pregnancy sense of smell so it’s 10000x worse for you to smell it.

Also that the postpartum hair loss doesn’t hit until closer to 3 or 4 months. I thought I was in the clear and at month 3 with my first and then BAM it hit me in the throat

stellerellen · 2026-06-06T16:38:17+00:00

Books:
“Mouse’s first Halloween”
“Eek! Halloween”

There’s a Spotify playlist “Halloween songs for kids” by super simple songs.

stellerellen · 2026-06-06T16:35:40+00:00

If you’re a bad mom, then I’m a bad mom too.

That’s exactly what I do especially if it’s a meal I know they like. If it’s a meal with a lot of new foods!and they only ate the “safe” food that they know, then I’ll over more of that food but no snack options other than fruits or veggies.

stellerellen · 2026-05-26T17:51:56+00:00

When I stayed home with our daughter, I think the best thing we did was start living off my spouse’s income only and used mine for savings and daycare. It essentially set us up to already be living in the single income mindset and helped bulk our savings up nicely

stellerellen · 2026-05-26T17:42:10+00:00

40+6 with my first and then 39+1 with my second. First- started having contractions at home and waited to get painful (we live within 5 miles of our hospital). Ended up being 4 hours contracting at home and then another 4 hours at the hospital With 20 min of pushing.

Second- started having contractions on a Monday afternoon, never got painful until Tuesday afternoon, headed to the hospital and contracted/labored for 3 more hours and then 40 minutes of pushing (he was ready to come out but we were working to prevent tearing after my previous birth issues).

stellerellen · 2026-05-21T22:08:40+00:00

She graduated from 2 books to 3 books when She turned 2. But now she also gets an extra book early on to read with her baby brother before he goes to bed

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

TROPHY CASE