u/Embarrassed-Till2106

Does anyone have an issue with their external hard drive constantly getting disconnected from their Mac? I’m fairly certain it’s not my hard drive, as I’ve been through multiple sets of them and it’s done it for every one (same brand though). I use the Sandisk portable drives. It seems like it always works for the first couple of months, then will come disconnected like every other time I use it and it’s a whole process to get it to connect again. It’s slowing down my workflow so much!!
Would this be a Mac issue? Maybe there’s an issue with my usb port? Or am I just getting bad luck with my drives? I’m not a tech savvy person at all so idk where to even begin.

Alright I need some advice on a MIL situation.

My MIL is known to be one who oversteps. She also will have no problem letting you know you're doing something wrong or a way it can be done better.

I had my first baby 4 months ago. Since my husband went back to work in February, we've had a system where she comes every Tuesday afternoons for 4 hours, and my parents come Thursday afternoons for 4 hours so that I can get work done (I do a lot of work from home/business owner). The first couple of weeks, it was a breath of fresh air having another set of hands and someone to hold her while I got work or house work done. Then I feel like she slowly started overstepping. When she was about a month old, she came over and said, 'I figured we'd go to the mall today and get out of the house!' ...Except, I wanted nothing more than to just BE. ALONE. After all, this was the whole point of why she was coming on Tuesdays - So I can get out of the house alone and get work done. Something I can't do with a baby. But I figured since it was just one time, I'd go to the mall. The second we got there, she immediately took the stroller and took over. Pushing the stroller, telling me the stores we had to go in, and when I suggested I should feed her soon, she told me 'Na, do it a little later.'

I'll admit, I can be a bit of a push over and I have a hard time sticking up for myself and finding my voice, so like an idiot, I just went along with it. As a brand new mom, I was still finding my confidence.

She told me after, 'we should do this EVERY Tuesday - we'll either go to the park or the mall and get out!'. After complaining to my husband, he nipped it in the bud for me and told her that Tuesdays were my chance to get work done and I couldn't go out with her every Tuesday. She hasn't asked since.

Also, we have a bigger high energy dog. She is not a dog person. The first couple of times I left the house she called me 5 minutes later and told me my dog was barking and she was worried he was being protective of the baby. Aka, she was scared. He is a very friendly dog - just loud. When I got home, she told me that in the future, I either have to stay home or bring my dog with me when I leave the house again because 'she is not dealing with that again'. Again, my husband had a conversation with her and said if she isn't comfortable with my dog, we would have to find other arrangements on Tuesdays in order for me to get work done. She now puts on deli gloves and begrudgingly throws him the ball a couple times so that he settles down after. That fire has now been somewhat put out.

When she came over yesterday, she asked me if my husband told me about the car seat she was getting. Confused, I told her no, I knew nothing about it. She said she found a great car seat half price on facebook that someone was selling with the tags still on, and she's going to go buy it. My husband thought it was a gift for us, until she said, 'oh no! That's for me, so I can take her places!'. I immediately felt uncomfortable. Taking her where?? Why do you need to take her anywhere? She's 4 months old, the only people who take her anywhere is my husband and I. She told me, 'its just incase of an emergency'. It's interesting.. it seems as though she runs everything past my husband (who is very carefree and comfortable with anything she says) instead of asking me.

After my husband came home that night, he told me that he's going to do some yard work Saturday while I'm at work and his dad offered to help him. So he asked his mom if he could watch her for a bit at the house. She said, 'Sure, I'll come over and drop dad off (lives 30 min away) and I'll take the baby back to our house for the afternoon! I'll bring her back later.' Um.. what? Why? Does that not seem weird? Why can't you stay at our house?? She has never gone anywhere with anyone but us. I feel like now that she has this carseat, she thinks she has the freedom to take our baby anywhere. I told my husband that I'm really not comfortable with her driving her back to her house, and he said he will just drop the baby off at their house then and come back for her later. But I'm now worried that she will take her places at her house now that she has the carseat.

She even mentioned to me yesterday that since 'her other daughter doesn't trust her to do anything with her kids, she's so glad that we trust her with our baby'. Husband kind of tried to make me feel bad stating, 'my moms just excited that she now has a grandchild that shes trusted with.' But in my opinion, she's overstepping.

Husband and I have been butting his heads lately because I'm 'complaining too much about his mom', but he is not the one that sees her as often as I do and deals with all this.

Can anyone see my point here? Would this make anyone else uncomfortable? I feel like now that she has this car seat, she wants to take her all over and I am NOT comfortable with that! Husband trusts her 100% and feels comfortable letting her go anywhere and do anything. It's his mom, I can see how he'd feel that way. But I do not.

HELP?