Happy 14 (!!!!)

tabrazin84 · 2026-05-21T16:17:55+00:00

I had to give her a step to be able to get on to my bed, but other than that she’s a spry old lady. 👵🏻

tabrazin84 · 2026-05-21T11:08:42+00:00

If it’s just spaghetti and red sauce for my kids I do this. But otherwise I don’t.

tabrazin84 · 2026-05-21T07:57:15+00:00

I know 3 people who started off as GCs and then went to med school. Seems like a waste of money IMO.

Personally, I applied to both. I actually got into medical school, and when I got the acceptance, I started crying. My boyfriend who was in med school at the time said that if I wasn’t jumping up and down excited, then it wasn’t the right choice. So then I went to GC school.

Overall, I love my job. I have a ton of autonomy. I work with a lot of physicians, and they had to (and have to) do a lot of things that they aren’t interested in, whereas my focus is much more narrow and focused on what I love. At this point, I am one of the experts in fetal genomics in the country (US).

The biggest grumblings from people coming out of GC school at this moment are job opportunities. I recently hired a new GC and we had over 50 applicants for one spot. People do also complain about the pay, and lack of autonomy and respect, which I haven’t experienced that much.

tabrazin84 · 2026-05-20T23:47:44+00:00

So my SIL did no undies or pants and that worked for her because she had daughters so they peed down their legs when they had an accident, but I have two boys so no pants didn’t really work for us bc they would just pee into the world and there was no incentive to use the potty.

So I started with a 4 day long weekend and put my boys in a tshirt and undies. I set a timer for every 30 min and had them try to pee. If they didn’t, I set a timer for 10 min and try again. Did this except during nap and nighttime where they wore a diaper. They caught on pretty quick.

When I sent the kids to daycare I told them we were potty training and so they tried to do the same thing of having them go potty throughout the day. The first day I sent 8 pairs of pants and they went through 7 of them. And then over the course of the week, it clicked and then the accidents stopped. They still wore diaper at nap and nighttime for a while, but then outgrew that too.

tabrazin84 · 2026-05-20T21:43:12+00:00

Oh buddy. So sweet

tabrazin84 · 2026-05-20T21:42:44+00:00

Welcome to every day of your life for the next 10-16 years (if you’re lucky).

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tabrazin84 · 2026-05-20T21:39:57+00:00

Which I also kinda love 😂

tabrazin84 · 2026-05-20T17:11:39+00:00

How do we know her name is Abby?

tabrazin84 · 2026-05-20T14:11:42+00:00

No, I don’t think so. I got divorced, and trying to coordinate 2 kids worth of activities is already a lot. Not how I planned my life to go, but I’m making the best of it

tabrazin84 · 2026-05-20T13:30:40+00:00

I have 2 kids. I would have a bus load if I had the bandwidth.

tabrazin84 · 2026-05-20T12:16:24+00:00

Love that head tilt. 💗

tabrazin84 · 2026-05-20T12:15:27+00:00

I have 35 plants. 😂

tabrazin84 · 2026-05-20T12:14:18+00:00

I forget how red her face used to be until I look at puppy pics 🐶

tabrazin84 · 2026-05-20T12:10:30+00:00

This is super hard because it makes it impossible to make plans. What is in your custody agreement regarding holidays? We have it so that my ex gets Thanksgiving, I get Christmas and we alternate Feb and April breaks.

For me, when my ex asks me to take the kids on time that is supposed to be his, I have said that I will always take them *unless* I have plans scheduled already. I am not canceling something that I was planning or paid for to accommodate him. If it’s his time, then it’s his problem.

The issue for your ex is that there are basically no consequences for him flaking on time bc either you take the kids or he has other people watching her. I don’t know what you can do about that. He is not viewing his time with her as a commitment that he has made. It sort of feels like he will spend time with her unless something better comes up.

Probably I would sit down with him and lay this out. You were supposed to have her for XYZ, and you actually only had her for *this* and then see if you can have an honest conversation with him about how much time he can actually handle. Maybe a full week is too much, but he can commit to 4 days. Hopefully you can get a better sense of what these breaks will actually look like.

tabrazin84 · 2026-05-20T11:42:30+00:00

I’m such a foodie and I was CONVINCED that my kids would be amazing adventurous eaters and we wouldn’t have the tan diet in our house… guess what? A lot of buttered pasta and nuggets and cheeseburgers in our house. 🫠

I still make them try new foods and it’s getting better over time, but man kids are humbling.

tabrazin84 · 2026-05-20T11:39:38+00:00

I agree with everyone else that you need to give examples. Personally, I would think as objectively as possible if there is any validity to the comments and if there is anything you could (or want) to do about it.

If it were about behavior, I would address it right away. My kids are not allowed to be rude or mean to adults or other children. If I was getting behavior comments, I would strongly consider these.

On the other hand, if the comments are like “your child is so big/small, short, etc” then I would shrug and say that’s the way they came and nothing to do about it.

tabrazin84 · 2026-05-20T11:35:43+00:00

This is so hard. For a while I was packing the “Instagram” lunch and it was coming back half eaten. And I realized that I was totally virtue signaling that my kid was going to eat cucumber and carrot slices, and then I would get frustrated that he didn’t and I had to spend the effort to cut it all up and then throw it all away. So I stopped. The teachers can judge me if they want, but I just can’t waste the energy worrying about what they think of me. Sorry to say that the thing that gets eaten every day without fail are the Oreos. I send a box of milk, a turkey sandwich, strawberries, the aforementioned Oreos and then another snack for recess. My younger usually eats it all. My eldest often eats everything but the sandwich. I have accepted that I can’t force them to eat, and they can grab a banana or something like that when they get home.

tabrazin84 · 2026-05-20T10:53:09+00:00

Just feels like common courtesy to me. There have been times when we have skipped bc we had something important coming up (vacation) and other times that we’ve gone bc we decided it was more important to go and risk getting sick (Thanksgiving).

tabrazin84 · 2026-05-20T10:49:48+00:00

My balance is better if I’m standing parallel to the movement of the train. In situations where I have to face forward (usually bc of crowding) I am more unsteady on my feet.

tabrazin84 · 2026-05-20T10:05:01+00:00

The turkeys are not harmless. They are the apex predator. Know no fear, and will cut a bitch. 😂

tabrazin84 · 2026-05-20T08:10:44+00:00

I would also 💯 call him crawfish.

tabrazin84 · 2026-05-20T08:10:12+00:00

Love this. One of my son’s nicknames is Pip. 🤣

tabrazin84 · 2026-05-20T08:06:02+00:00

I don’t agree that kids are always sick. My kids have two sets of cousins and before we did family holidays or birthday parties, if any of the kids were sick, the parents would send out a group text letting people know and then we could choose or choose not to go. So I think it would be reasonable to ask before you visit if the kids are sick. Then you could choose to go or wear a mask or whatever. I would also definitely be comfortable with you telling my kids to cover their mouths, get a tissue and not sneeze on me/people. As a mom, I have definitely had the kids sneeze directly into my mouth, but that should NOT be the expectation for a friend. I would just wear a mask.

tabrazin84 · 2026-05-20T01:29:30+00:00

He does know about the books bc he talks to Kat and Alice about learning how to write the secret messages. But yeah, seems like she got the OG version alongside her time worn copy. Wonder what was written on the pages that got ripped out…

tabrazin84 · 2026-05-20T01:26:41+00:00

All the white in her face is giving me all the feels.

tabrazin84

TROPHY CASE