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VorpalBunny posted:My dad died when I was in college, my mom is just a terrible mother, and I was an only child, so my side of the family is very thinly represented in our life. It's basically my mom and that's it. Our extended family are either estranged or uninterested in maintaining family relationships. This is the one thing that bums me out. Having no family support or friends to be supportive (we have friends, but none have kids and they kind of drifted away from us after having our child) is not only incredibly hard, but you feel so underwater the whole time that, even a year in, it's hard to feel like we're starting something. It feels very much survival mode right now. No real fun traditions or family moments yet. And I know that will go away...just kind of a dark place to be sometimes!
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Aug 19, 2015 16:53
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BonoMan posted:This is the one thing that bums me out. Having no family support or friends to be supportive (we have friends, but none have kids and they kind of drifted away from us after having our child) is not only incredibly hard, but you feel so underwater the whole time that, even a year in, it's hard to feel like we're starting something. It feels very much survival mode right now. No real fun traditions or family moments yet. And I know that will go away...just kind of a dark place to be sometimes! I actually did a quick survey with an unmarried (but living together) couple with no kids. My friend recently celebrated his 40th, and they rented a big house with all their friends their same age. None of them are married, none have kids (but some treat their pets like kids) and he struggled to name people he knows who are married with kids. My husband and I did a survey of our other friends, and we realized maybe a half-dozen couples are married with kids. The rest (dozens of people) are unmarried but living together with cats, or are still living the single life in their 40s. One of our George Clooney-type friends got married earlier this year, and we all treated it like the apocalypse was coming! Maybe it's where we live (Southern California), maybe it's this generation, maybe it's the circles I used to hang out with, but the fact that I am married with kids living in the suburbs is pretty wacky to most of my friends.
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Aug 19, 2015 17:30
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I was actually feeling the opposite - all our friends were sort of drifting away as they had kids. The ratio of kids/adults when people came over was going up, and people were leaving earlier and earlier. It got to the point where everyone would be gone by 8PM. We were one of the last of my circle to have kids, and while we don't get together as much, but at least we're on the same schedules, and there's a bit more to talk about, since we can compare notes on the kiddos.
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Aug 20, 2015 01:45
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VorpalBunny posted:Maybe it's where we live (Southern California), maybe it's this generation, maybe it's the circles I used to hang out with, but the fact that I am married with kids living in the suburbs is pretty wacky to most of my friends. I've got two very distinct circles of Friends. One is secular, and the other is Christian. The majority of the Christian couples I know, got married mid twenties, now nearing thirty are onto their second child. The secular group of friends, are mostly married, some are in long term relationships - but are only now starting to have kids. But some of them are entering their thirties, and are still partying hard, and by the time they come to start having kids we'll have finished, and be onto a different stage in life. I guess it's just different strokes for different folks.
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Aug 20, 2015 12:48
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Today we were at a rather posh garden party, and that one stark naked kid on the trampoline turned out to be my two year old, who had stripped off her clothes and her diaper, and was gleefully bouncing around, singing "NAKED BABY, NAKED BABY!" I've feel like I've earned another official Parent Merit Badge, along with such favourites as "getting no more than two hours of sleep in one go for a week straight" and "getting shat on and puked on at the same time".
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Aug 22, 2015 19:22
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Apparently David who is a fussy eater compared to his brother, loves broccoli. Got some broccoli with melted butter on it today and he would have almost nothing else, he ate almost an entire head of broccoli and went "mmmmm" every time.
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Aug 22, 2015 20:33
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Sockmuppet posted:"getting shat on and puked on at the same time". I always found it quite interesting (albeit understandable) how I did not mind if I got some of our son's bodily fluids on me; but could not stand another baby's spit-up and even the sight of another baby's soiled diaper made me cringe. His Divine Shadow posted:Apparently David who is a fussy eater compared to his brother, loves broccoli. Got some broccoli with melted butter on it today and he would have almost nothing else, he ate almost an entire head of broccoli and went "mmmmm" every time. Well, of course =)
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Aug 22, 2015 20:35
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Sockmuppet posted:Today we were at a rather posh garden party, and that one stark naked kid on the trampoline turned out to be my two year old, who had stripped off her clothes and her diaper, and was gleefully bouncing around, singing "NAKED BABY, NAKED BABY!" I've feel like I've earned another official Parent Merit Badge, along with such favourites as "getting no more than two hours of sleep in one go for a week straight" and "getting shat on and puked on at the same time". Next level: waking up to find your 7-year-old and your almost-4-year-old have got up first and they are both bouncing around naked on the trampoline and singing/screaming. And they brought an iPad out there and are using the drat thing to make video clips of themselves .
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Aug 22, 2015 22:41
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This morning, around 7 our 10 month old was making the usual morning getting annoyed noises. We went to get her from her room, and found that she'd got out of her cot (on the highest setting) and was on the floor playing with her toys.We didn't hear a thump or massive amounts of crying. So tonight's job is to lower the cot.
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Aug 23, 2015 10:41
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Anyone got any recommendations/stay-away-stories for child safety gates? The kid's about to get mobile and I feel a lot like I'm fumbling around in the dark when trying to choose gates.
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Aug 23, 2015 12:42
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potatocubed posted:Anyone got any recommendations/stay-away-stories for child safety gates? The kid's about to get mobile and I feel a lot like I'm fumbling around in the dark when trying to choose gates. If the gate is going somewhere with high traffic get a walkthrough.
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Aug 23, 2015 13:36
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We have this one at the top of our stairs and I like it http://www.mommylivingthelifeofrile...ter-kit-arv-80/
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Aug 23, 2015 14:15
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potatocubed posted:Anyone got any recommendations/stay-away-stories for child safety gates? The kid's about to get mobile and I feel a lot like I'm fumbling around in the dark when trying to choose gates. We have this gate. It works pretty well. I don't even need the walk through because I'm tall enough to just take a biiiig step over it. The only complaint I have with it is that as he's gotten into toddler-dom his knees are at the perfect size where they can get stuck in between the bars and I have had to pull them apart and pull him out of it a couple times.
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Aug 25, 2015 04:39
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rgocs posted:Well, of course =) Well then, I have SOLVED THE PROBLEM OF BROCCOLI! Just use butter! Will I be rembered as a hero or villain?
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Aug 25, 2015 07:55
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His Divine Shadow posted:Well then, I have SOLVED THE PROBLEM OF BROCCOLI! Just use butter! Will I be rembered as a hero or villain? I don't know if it's better or worse than melted butter but cheese sauce (cheese with a roux) also works really well for us. Brussels sprouts too.
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Aug 25, 2015 14:33
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Reason posted:We have this gate. It works pretty well. I don't even need the walk through because I'm tall enough to just take a biiiig step over it. The only complaint I have with it is that as he's gotten into toddler-dom his knees are at the perfect size where they can get stuck in between the bars and I have had to pull them apart and pull him out of it a couple times. The thing I never liked about these particular gates (I had some that I used as pet gates) is if you have a big rear end or you are pregnant, its very hard to fit through them.
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Aug 25, 2015 16:30
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potatocubed posted:Anyone got any recommendations/stay-away-stories for child safety gates? The kid's about to get mobile and I feel a lot like I'm fumbling around in the dark when trying to choose gates. Get very tall ones now. Preferably without cross bars to make climbing them easier. Pay attention to whether you have baseboards/where your studs are in the wall/etc. when choosing a gate. You want something permanently mounted to use at the top of the stairs but for most other places pressure mount is fine as long as you've got a place that is suitable. Get a walkthrough option for anywhere with even relatively low levels of foot traffic. And if you need to block off a fireplace or similar spot I cannot recommend this one enough: http://www.amazon.com/KidCo-G3100-AutoClose-HearthGate-Black/dp/B00DQCESRU It's expensive compared to other options but the quality is light years better than the other similar products we looked at or tried. For something as high risk as a fireplace it's worth the money.
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Aug 25, 2015 17:40
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potatocubed posted:Anyone got any recommendations/stay-away-stories for child safety gates? The kid's about to get mobile and I feel a lot like I'm fumbling around in the dark when trying to choose gates. http://www.target.com/p/evenflo-top-of-stair-extra-tall-wood-gate/-/A-13979814#prodSlot=medium_1_1&term=extra+tall+wood+gate Best gate hands down! Although the price has gone up to $39.99, it is still a bargain compared to other wooden swinging gates. It's super sturdy, tall enough for even my 95 percentile kid, easy for adults to open but hard for kids, swings in two directions (can be set to only swing in one), and once the hardware is in place you can remove it or put it back in seconds. Stay away from pressure gates. They tend to do damage to drywall even if on a stud and they are a pain to open so you just end up going over them which isn't safe or good for you.
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Aug 26, 2015 01:26
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His Divine Shadow posted:Well then, I have SOLVED THE PROBLEM OF BROCCOLI! Just use butter! Will I be rembered as a hero or villain? Yeah, butter, melted cheese, cream, we've found work well. And salt, not in excess, but sometimes it's needed. My wife was confused as to why our son would only eat mashed potatoes when I made them, told her she was taking the low-salt-for-your-kid diet a bit too far. Oh, and Parmesan cheese, many food items become acceptable to him when you sprinkle some on top.
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Aug 26, 2015 04:51
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Does anyone have any good resources for weaning? My 15 month old shows absolutely zero interest in stopping and I'd be okay to go for a while longer, but she's becoming obnoxious about it (must be able to see both breasts, lots of painful poking and prodding, etc.). She eats solids for breakfast and lunch at daycare, but nurses in the evening, night and mornings. I keep trying to redirect her to normal food when she tries nursing but it's not really working out...
amethystbliss fucked around with this message at 02:14 on Aug 27, 2015 |
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Aug 26, 2015 07:36
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What kinds of things should I be considering when looking for a baby monitor? I know there are video kinds and the old-style audio-only, but besides video or not, what other options and whatnot should I look at when deciding which monitor will be right for us?
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Aug 26, 2015 14:53
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hooah posted:What kinds of things should I be considering when looking for a baby monitor? I know there are video kinds and the old-style audio-only, but besides video or not, what other options and whatnot should I look at when deciding which monitor will be right for us? Good night vision. And, um, that's probably it for me. All of the extra features they all tout (two way communication, lullabies, night lights) we never, ever used. Not once. So basically we got a cheap video monitor (and I'm the techy guy that usually needs top'o'the'line) ... some Levana thing from Woot. Works fine.
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Aug 26, 2015 15:59
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BonoMan posted:Good night vision. And, um, that's probably it for me. All of the extra features they all tout (two way communication, lullabies, night lights) we never, ever used. Not once. So basically we got a cheap video monitor (and I'm the techy guy that usually needs top'o'the'line) ... some Levana thing from Woot. Works fine. We ended up getting a Motorola Blink as a gift. It works ok, but the app and website is a buggy piece of poo poo. If I could do it again I'd just get a Nest drop cam. And we could use it as a security camera once we don't need it as a baby camera any more.
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Aug 26, 2015 16:49
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hooah posted:What kinds of things should I be considering when looking for a baby monitor? I know there are video kinds and the old-style audio-only, but besides video or not, what other options and whatnot should I look at when deciding which monitor will be right for us? Get one with a good range, it's nice to be able to go outside if you've got a garden or a porch or something. Other than that, we just bought the cheapest one we could find without any added bells and whistles. We used audio only until she started standing up in bed, then the camera was nice to see if she was complaining because she couldn't figure out how to lay back down, or if she was just complaining herself to sleep while laying down.
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Aug 26, 2015 19:36
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hooah posted:What kinds of things should I be considering when looking for a baby monitor? I know there are video kinds and the old-style audio-only, but besides video or not, what other options and whatnot should I look at when deciding which monitor will be right for us? I'm gonna reiterate that while we got a video monitor with nightvision, we never used the two way function for anything other than a random message every 6 months. However, a co-worker (also a recently new parent) does use the two way function to either put a song/lullaby on or just sings to her baby which puts him right back to sleep. Just get one close to the baby's due date. That way it's still within the return window once the baby comes and you find out it was too much monitor/has some technical issue (my brother went through a couple that interfered with his home wifi).
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Aug 26, 2015 19:56
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My now 2 year old is loving TERRIFIED of the intercom feature on our Levana monitor. It's one of the audio/video, lullaby, nightlight ones. I tried the intercom function with me in the room with him once and he lost his poo poo, totally, to the point that he'd scream when he saw the monitor. He got over that but about 2 months ago, I accidentally pressed the intercom button while I was in the basement and he was in his room playing... let's just say 2 months later, he still, at least once a day, will say out of the blue, "Mama talk on monitor" like it's the worst thing that's ever happened to him. Every night he'll say "Turn the monitor off!" and I pretend to--I had to put layers of tape over the light that indicates it's on to fool him. So, maybe don't get one with an intercom.
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Aug 26, 2015 20:16
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We just got a wireless webcam off woot when they had a deal and it works fine. I think the ones made specifically for baby monitors purposefully jack up the price. If you have a netbook or smartphone you can use that to monitor it. The fun thing was I could even log in at work and see what is going on! We no longer use it for its function. Its now what we use to keep an eye on our cats when we go on vacation.
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Aug 26, 2015 20:33
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Yeah, if my Nexus 4 I replaced could charge reliably, I would have kept it and used that (mounting it ...somehow). Thanks for the advice.
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Aug 26, 2015 22:08
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We had a video monitor with a 2-way radio thing. We never talked through it; at most we used it a couple of times to shush him back to sleep. The thing would mess up our home wifi too, which sucked. Regarding the video, I'm not sure how others here used it. I know people who would see their kid waking up in the video and just walk in to pick him up. That never felt right for us and we always waited for our son to actually call out for us. Sometimes we would see him sitting up in his bed for 15 minutes before he called; other times he would lie back down and we'd all get another hour or two of sleep!
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Aug 27, 2015 07:48
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We went the opposite way, we liked the element of surprise so we never had a monitor of any kind. I liked opening the door to whatever crazy thing was happening on the other side. Would they be wearing their diaper still? Are all the books tossed off the bookcase and onto the floor? Are they actually sleeping? Who knows?! It's like a mystery box every single morning and nap.
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Aug 27, 2015 08:05
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We had an audio one with our fist kid, and it was always switched on the loudest setting so my wife could hear her breathing. I'm a light sleeper so I would wake constantly with her shuffling. I would switch it to the mode where it beeped if she cried, but otherwise it was mute. With our second we got a video one, and for the start it was pretty cool. But now she's 10 months it doesn't get switched on at all. We can hear through the walls of she cries. Maybe that's because it's our second kid and were more blasé about it. It's also fun hearing crying in the night and trying to triangulate which room it's coming from, as our bedroom is between both girls bedrooms.
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Aug 27, 2015 09:31
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We use a video one. I don't think we even need it anymore, I always hear her through the wall. But my wife is paranoid so she wants to use it. She insists on keeping it full volume too, so we constantly hear a "SHHHHHH" from the fan in her room. Uhg. I usually sneakily turn it down a bit while she isn't looking.
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Aug 27, 2015 14:34
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hooah posted:Yeah, if my Nexus 4 I replaced could charge reliably, I would have kept it and used that (mounting it ...somehow). Thanks for the advice. I tried this with an old android phone and it did not work at all. I just bought a cheap audio only monitor and used that.
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Aug 27, 2015 14:41
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I bought one that only transmits when the db level us louder than some set value. Just audio, not video. The continual transmission ones where I could hear every turn and rustle woke me up constantly.
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Aug 27, 2015 14:42
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I like the video one because it lets me see in the dark. It's also nice to see when he's moving around so we can get the bottle ready before he needs it. Don't usually use the sound, sometimes we'll turn on the music though.
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Aug 27, 2015 15:41
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GlyphGryph posted:I like the video one because it lets me see in the dark. It's also nice to see when he's moving around so we can get the bottle ready before he needs it. The video with IR camera was good for some Mission Impossible tasks. For a while our son was a very light sleeper, in more than one occasion I had to sneak into his room at night to get something and would bring the monitor for "night vision" to see if he moved while I was in his room and would have to freeze and wait until he fell back asleep. If he noticed me in the room, I was in for an hour or so of putting him back to bed.
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Aug 27, 2015 16:24
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I also have legit night vision binoculars for when I absolutely need to go unnoticed which I used until we got the monitor but the monitor screen is a lot more convenient.
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Aug 27, 2015 19:08
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One feature my monitor has that I love and only found out about 2 years into this is you can set it so it only comes on (audio and video) when it senses sound. That would've probably been useful. It's a Levana Jena I think, early model. I still use a monitor because I'm 2 floors below my son's room and he's now in a bed rather than a crib so I need to keep tabs still.
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Aug 27, 2015 20:33
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I have a tiny apartment and can hear everything but I love the video monitor. Maybe this makes me sound nuts, but I liked being able to reassure myself that she is still breathing.
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Aug 27, 2015 21:01
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Eris posted:I have a tiny apartment and can hear everything but I love the video monitor. Maybe this makes me sound nuts, but I liked being able to reassure myself that she is still breathing. As long a you don't go over the top. My cousin bought a sensor that measured her baby's movement and if it didn't detect movement in a certain amount of time it would sound an alarm. Supposed to help avoids SIDS, but she said that between false alarms (sensor messing up) and worrying wether it was working or not, it made her way more stressed than she would've other wise been. As far as I know she didn't use it for her second child. Fake edit: "As long a you don't go over the top." Not saying do not use the sensors, to each their own, just don't go overly nuts with them.
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Aug 27, 2015 21:29
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