u/OWPowlcat56

My friend's sister, we'll call her Molly, invited my husband and I to her wedding. We all grew up together and used to hang out. My friend, Sam, has a small child like almost 1? She's still nursing.

Molly sends out invites, the wedding is on a Tuesday afternoon at a local park, cool. Sam and I plan to drive together with our spouses and the baby (so more of us can party hard on a Tuesday). A month before the wedding, Molly and her fiancé send everyone invited to the wedding a note saying they updated details on the wedding website and to check it out. I didn't immediately go read the website. But Sam tells me she thinks they added a paragraph about no kids under 8 being allowed at the wedding. I tell Sam not to worry about it because the baby is their neice and she's still nursing.

Sure enough two days later Molly texts Sam and asks if they saw that kids aren't allowed at the wedding and that they hope Sam and spouse will understand and leave the baby at home. At this point I go read the wedding website and see that yep it does say to please not bring kids under 8 and says something like "we don't want any screaming kids to interrupt the ceremony." Sam sends me the messages and says she doesn't know Molly's fiance's family very well, but is pretty sure her baby would be the only child under 8 who could possibly attend.

The day of the wedding Sam gets a babysitter and we all drive together as planned. Sam had gotten a text the day before asking if she and her husband could arrive at 2 p.m. for family pictures. So we all arrive early and start greeting Molly and Sam's family and the fiance's family. There are two kids there we don't know from the fiance's side of the family. One a young teenager and the other a younger kid. I glance at kid and glance at Sam who raises her eyebrows. I go over and tell him I like his bow tie and eventually ask how old he his. He says he is 8. We find out from chatting with family there are not other children in either family under the age of 8.

The bride and groom do not show up until 4 p.m. Sam has to pump in the car in the parking lot. But here's the kicker. When they do arrive, they walk us (and all of the guests who have arrived for the wedding) over to where the ceremony will be. The chairs and beautifully flowered wedding arch are set up directly in front of a public playground. At 4 p.m. On a Tuesday. Full of random people's screaming children.

I like names where you can't quite tell what era they're born in. Names that are familar, but not too common. I have a David and an Elliot, what names would you consider for #3?

So far I like:

Julia

Lucy

Mara

Nora

Seth

Neil

Duncan

Joel

When you arrive to the airport for your flight, why do you not go to arrivals? And when you're leaving the airport, why are you not going to departures? Is it because the the person picking you up is arriving?

You ask your partner to watch the kids while you take a shower. You have not communicated how long you'll be gone. How long is a reasonable shower?

Under 10 minutes

10–20 minutes

20–30 minutes

30–45 minutes

45–60 minutes

An hour+

My 20-month-old (referred to as Baby) walked into the kitchen and said to my husband "DADA, Mama want pizza! Mama want pizza. Yeah. Dada make it."

I could hear him. I knew I hadn't asked for pizza. But I wanted to see how it would play out.

Dada and Baby made pizza. And we all really enjoyed it.

Everyone should have a pizza advocate. 🍕

My 20-month-old (I'll refer to as baby) asked my husband for a purple popsicle today.

Baby, happy eating his popsicle, says "Baby like purple popsicle. Mama like blue?"

I said, "yeah I like blue."

Baby said, "DADA, Mama like blue one! Dada, GET IT!"

How are we dealing with mean girls as adults? At work, in play groups, church, social settings, there always seem to be people who are negative.

People who gossip about you. People who seem to dislike you because you aren't cool enough, aren't dressed the way they expect, don't converse as smoothly as they do, don't parent they way they do, etc.

I can't seem to convince myself that I don't care what they think. I want them to like me and feel like their dislike of me makes it difficult to accomplish things at work. I worry that their gossip impacts what others think of me.

What do you tell yourself? What do you say to them? How do you deal with the gossip?