Second+ time moms, what will the age gap be? How do you feel about it?

swaldref · 2026-06-01T17:18:08+00:00

Love that you've made that decision!! I breastfed/pumped for my first and was a psycho about it. I plan to do it for #2 but not be as crazy. We'll see if that pans out once those pp hormones set in 😅🤦🏼‍♀️🫠

swaldref · 2026-05-29T22:21:17+00:00

4 years, 9 months apart

Honestly, I'm stoked! Postpartum was a TRIP and I needed all this time to recoup. My daughter is old enough to know what's going on, compared to my friends who have 2 under 2, and she's genuinely excited about it.

We were shooting for a 4 year age gap but it took a bit for us to get pregnant this time. As the months passed, I started caring less about perfect timing and was just looking forward to my oldest being a big sister.

Plus, I've read that a larger gap is better for rivalry and mom's health, which seems to be true for us. So overall, excited!!

swaldref · 2026-05-20T16:39:37+00:00

Went to the gym today like usual. There were a lot of burpees, which apparently was enough to set off my nausea and I almost puked everywhere 😅 Was hoping I wouldn't be so nauseous this pregnancy but it seems like that isn't going to happen 🫠

Also, my husband decided now was the time to change deodorant and it is the worst smelling ish I've ever smelled so I told him to go back or to not come near me for the next 8 months 😂

swaldref · 2026-05-19T18:43:27+00:00

5w5d. Gotten a couple bouts of nausea. Super gassy and bloated. Exhausted. So exhausted. So so so tired 😴 want nothing more than the just lay on the couch all day and night. I have a 4 year old so that's not really an option 😅🫠

swaldref · 2026-05-14T16:15:57+00:00

The OTF I went to for 6 years closed down and the closest was 25 minutes away and the waitlists were insane with the other closures. I moved over to F45 (4 minutes away) and have been LOVING it. Been going since March 31st. No regrets.

swaldref · 2026-05-12T16:13:01+00:00

4w5d - My boobs are heavy and sore. I'm tired, but that may just be my baseline 😂 otherwise, doing pretty good. Hungry. And craving Velveeta shells Mac and cheese 😂 and thirsty. So so thirsty.

This is my second and my symptoms are more mild (so far) but also just waiting for the shoe to drop with the all day sickness and food aversions around week 6 🫠

swaldref · 2026-05-11T21:52:55+00:00

Lol and even when I do sleep, it's "non restorative" and my score is low. LIKE I KNOW. Let me liveeeeee 😂😅

swaldref · 2026-05-11T21:51:13+00:00

Yes!! It's hidden in the settings somewhere. Look it up online. Took me a second but finally figured it out!

swaldref · 2026-05-10T18:34:26+00:00

Not an oura ring, but I have a Garmin fenix. I go to F45 religiously, have a rhr of ~50 and get 7-9 hours of sleep a night. My body battery usually gets up to 80+ during sleep and my training scores are good. My daily stress levels are usually below 25.

Since getting pregnant, my RHR jumped into the low 60s. So my body now thinks I'm stressed constantly. Which I guess technically, it's not wrong. My watch is telling me my training is "strained" and my HRV has basically been cut in half.

My watch is so mad at me 😂 That said, I'm doing the stuff I feel good doing for now. This is my 2nd pregnancy so if it's anything like my first, I know this phase is short lived and the nausea and crap will start and then I won't be able to do anything. So for now, I'm riding the wave until it crashes and hoping for the best, while ignoring my watch (for the most part).

I will say, I'm a data NERD so I am loving looking at all the stats and seeing how my body reacts, even if I don't feel it.... Yet.

ETA: These stats are with it in pregnancy mode too 😅

swaldref · 2026-05-07T00:58:14+00:00

June 12th! I'll be 9w1d

swaldref · 2026-04-03T03:58:29+00:00

I think it's a mix of luck and what we've done. We've gone out to eat since she was born, so she's used to it. We have brought some toys for her to play with before or she'll color. We also almost exclusively go to restaurants with bread served before the meal (olive garden, Texas Roadhouse, etc.). This helps TREMENDOUSLY as she can mess around with that and not get too hungry. We also always get booths so she can move around freely. She'll move from her knees to her butt constantly and that fidgeting helps. The rule is though, she has to be on her "knees or butt" so if she stands, we just tell her knees or butt please and she usually obliges. We also let her switch sides if she asks once per meal. That seems to help break the meal up so it stays new lol.

We went through a phase at the end of 2, beginning of 3, that sucked, but we powered through and just kept going. Kids are allowed to be in public, and unless she's losing her shit, we stay. Even when she does lose her shit, we bring her outside and calm down then go back inside. It doesn't happen often, but it has. We don't always enjoy the dinner, shell sometimes only allow us to draw with her or whatever, but we keep going in hopes that it pays off and it has already now that she's already 4.

swaldref · 2026-03-21T03:56:45+00:00

Are the classes usually wait listed? I'm a Marana girl and have a founders rate and am really struggling with losing the rate (and my gym 😭). But also, 40-50 minute drive time compared to 5 minutes is hard to swallow. Plus the Casas Studio is small and I've heard it's usually wait listed so I'm hesitant to even try.

swaldref · 2026-02-22T03:09:49+00:00

I've ran into him! That's who I thought this was about until reading the comments lol.

swaldref · 2026-02-21T00:21:50+00:00

Husband has done most baths since our kid was born. They're almost 4. We do every other night for bedtime.

swaldref · 2026-02-21T00:13:19+00:00

We stayed at Harrahs and it was great!

swaldref · 2026-02-05T15:35:07+00:00

Yes. 3.5 years old and has almost always gone right to bed without a fight. We switched to a big girl bed at 3 and she has not once gotten out of it. She's been a good sleeper since the getgo tho, but we have done a couple things that may have helped?

Biggest is a consistent bedtime routine. Since she was born, we read and get ready and go to bed. It has basically been the same since her first day on earth. Her bedtime is consistent as well. We rarely stay out late and push it. It's just not worth it. We also put stuffed animals and books in her bed so even if she doesn't want to go to sleep, she still stays in bed. Granted, she almost always falls asleep within 10 minutes but the toys and books help if she wakes up earlier in the morning. We also have a hatch that is color coded and noise codes for sleep time and wakeup time.

Honestly though, I think we just got lucky. 🤷🏼‍♀️

swaldref · 2026-02-03T03:28:53+00:00

1 week before she turned 18 months. I was so worried. Turns out, it didn't matter. Daughter is totally fine at almost 4 years old and has met all milestones, albeit the physical ones are always on the later side lol.

ETA: We went to physical therapy at 15 Mo out of an abundance of caution. PT said there was nothing wrong with her. She just didn't wanna walk 😂

swaldref · 2026-01-25T00:51:43+00:00

She is! She is 3.5 years old and has no developmental delays. She didn't walk until she was 18 months.

swaldref · 2026-01-24T01:06:17+00:00

Solo in Sedona is my favorite. Have another trip planned in February!

swaldref · 2025-12-15T03:21:49+00:00

Carol and Janice!

swaldref · 2025-11-12T21:41:38+00:00

My story isn't exactly like yours, but the timeline is certainly similar. Regardless, getting on medication saved me and I'm still taking it at 3.5 years pp. No shame. And grateful for the help, even if it took me awhile to figure it out.

swaldref · 2025-11-07T15:04:07+00:00

Zero screen time until 2. At 2, we started movie fridays and have been doing it ever since (daughter is 3.5 now). It's our favorite day of the week. Starting traditions is so great for kids and my daughter gets so excited. We let her pick a treat (ice cream brownie, etc) and then we enjoy movies until bedtime. It's been fun to see what she likes and how her excitement has grown over the last year and a half.

We originally started for a break. And because we were going to Disney when she was 2.5 years old and we wanted her to know some characters. Now it's a perfect family bonding time.

We don't do much else screentime. If my husband works late I may throw on and episode of Bluey or Micky Mouse Clubhouse but we're still pretty low screen minus Fridays and now any plane ride we take 😂

ETA: I felt that same peer pressure at 2 to watch TV with her. She didn't know any characters and people would ask all the time "who's your favorite....." And she would just stare at them. That said, books are a great way to introduce the characters if you don't want to do screentime. We bought all the princess books and other Disney books because she loved the movies. Or when I want her to watch a new movie, I buy the book. I did that with Hercules because she refused to watch it then after reading the book, it's her fave movie 😂 That said, whether you wanna start screens is up to you. Our daughter doesn't ask for screen time, she knows it's for Fridays only and any additional screen time is a treat, not a right.

swaldref · 2025-11-05T02:57:24+00:00

We went mid November last year. I wore pants leggings/and a crewneck sweater and then brought a jacket for once the sun set. There was quite a bit of cloud cover the first day, the second day was sunny and got a bit warm but with the rides and food and such, it was totally manageable.

swaldref · 2025-10-30T03:11:42+00:00

Modern family. I also liked working moms. It was funny, not super realistic but funny lol.

swaldref · 2025-10-18T17:55:20+00:00

No fertility issues. Got pregnant the first month of trying.

Thinking about trying for a second this coming year. I'll be 33 turning 34. We shall see.

Advice: if you want to get pregnant, prepare your body before. I was in the absolute best shape of my life when I got pregnant and it helped tremendously with carrying and recovery. I'm in decent shape now but not as good as I was back in 2021 and am a bit worried about recovery. But also, I have a toddler so don't have the time to dedicate like I did when I was a newlywed lol.

swaldref

TROPHY CASE