u/ReuvenScylla

I currently have a Samsung S22, which I bought 3 years ago. Before that, I had a Samsung S8 that lasted me 5 years and I was very happy with it, which is why I stuck with Samsung.

However, I haven’t been satisfied with the S22 (Exynos version). The battery life is poor, it lags, gets hot, and I’ve had various performance issues.

I’m looking to upgrade my smartphone, but from what I’ve been reading, Samsung phones still seem to have relatively poor battery life compared to the competition. On top of that, in my country they still come with Exynos processors.

I’m looking for a relatively compact phone (around 6.2–6.5"), with good battery life and, above all, great performance. I want apps to feel smooth, be able to keep several apps open at the same time, etc. The camera isn’t a critical factor for me. I expect a decent camera, but it doesn’t need to be amazing since my use is mostly everyday stuff.

What would you recommend?

I’ve been looking into the Oppo Find X9, and it seems like a lot of people consider it a great phone. However, I’m a bit concerned about it using a MediaTek processor rather than Snapdragon, as Snapdragon seems to offer the best performance.

My baby just turned 9 months old and still can't sit up on her own. At today's pediatrician visit, the doctor said it was something she wasn't entirely happy about. However, when she sat her down with a toy in front of her, she was able to stay seated for a few seconds.

We've been referred to a specialist just to be safe, although the pediatrician thinks it's probably more related to a lack of practice and stimulation than an actual physical issue.

We've never really done specific exercises to teach our baby particular milestones. The only exception was around 3–4 months, when we encouraged her to roll over. Other than that, we've mostly let her explore on her own by spending time on the floor and figuring things out at her own pace.

Right now she army crawls most of the time, although she occasionally takes a few crawling steps on her knees. She's also starting to pull herself up and has managed to get onto her knees with her back straight while holding onto furniture.

Has anyone else had a 9-month-old who wasn't sitting independently yet? Did they catch up on their own, or did you do any exercises or activities that helped?

We can't do this much longer. Both my partner and I are completely exhausted after 9 months of dealing with our baby.

Right from the start, she's been a difficult baby. In the beginning, she struggled with gas and reflux, which meant a lot of crying and fussiness. As she's grown, we've moved into the teething stage. She already has her two bottom teeth and three on top. I'm hoping the fourth one breaks through the gum soon.

She fusses constantly, and I don't think it can all be blamed on teething. It's like she gets bored incredibly easily, even though she has plenty of toys, activities, and we spend a lot of time playing and interacting with her. She's extremely active and never stops moving, especially her legs. She rarely just sits calmly and observes something for a while.

The hardest part is that she seems unhappy no matter what we're doing. We feed her, she fusses. We change her diaper, she fusses. We pick her up, she fusses. We put her down on the floor, she fusses.

We get almost no break during the day. Sometimes I feel jealous when I see babies who can sit in a playpen or play independently for even 30 minutes while their parents eat a meal or get something done around the house.

The only breaks we get are when she sleeps, but even that isn't great. Lately she's been taking two naps a day, usually only 35–45 minutes each. Very occasionally she'll manage a nap of 1 to 1.5 hours.

At night she sleeps around 9–10 hours total, but with multiple wake-ups. She'll usually give us one stretch of 3–4 hours (that we use half of it to eat dinner and disconnect a little bit with a tv show), then she's up every hour or hour and a half after that. Recently she's also been waking up fully around 3 am and taking an hour or more to fall back asleep.

So there's no real rest during the day, and not much at night either.

What worries us most is the constant fussing. Our pediatrician says everything looks fine and that some babies are naturally calmer while others are more active. I feel like our daughter is just incredibly sensitive to everything around her.

Anyway, I mostly wanted to vent. Every day feels exactly the same. I don't even think, "Tomorrow is another day" anymore. I wake up already feeling discouraged because I know what's waiting for me. I just hope that one day something clicks and she becomes a little calmer so we can finally catch our breath.

My wife, daughter, and I currently live in an apartment that we bought more than five years ago. During that time, we've had several noise-related issues (neighbors, renovations, etc.). The building is quite old, and sound insulation is practically nonexistent.

We're now looking to move. Ideally, we'd like a detached house, but the ones we can afford are usually far from cities and services. We'd end up spending a lot of time driving to work, running errands, or doing everyday tasks. We're also thinking about our daughter. Living farther away would mean fewer options when it comes to schools, healthcare, and other services she may need as she grows up.

It's also worth mentioning that in my country, living in a detached house isn't very common. Usually, only wealthier people can afford one close to a city, while retirees often choose them because they can spend more time at home. Most people live in apartments.

Because of that, we're torn between moving to a better apartment in a newer, higher-quality building, or buying a townhouse.

An apartment would keep us closer to the city center and all the services we need. On the other hand, a townhouse would give us more space and, in most cases, a small yard or outdoor area to enjoy.

We've never lived in a townhouse before. I assume noise can still be an issue since you share walls with neighbors, although I imagine that could potentially be improved with soundproofing.

I'd love to hear from people who currently live in a townhouse or have lived in one before. Are you happy with your decision? Do you regret it? How does it compare to apartment living?

Hola a todos.

Os pongo un poco en contexto.

En 2020 compré mi primer piso, donde actualmente vivo con mi mujer y nuestra hija, que nació hace poco. Lo compré por 198.000 € con una hipoteca fija en las siguientes condiciones:

• Capital financiado: 156.000 € (80%)
• Plazo: 30 años
• Interés: 2,4% de base, aunque por tener la nómina domiciliada, seguro de vida y gastar al menos 1.200 € al año con la tarjeta, se me queda en un 1,7%.

Actualmente me quedan por pagar unos 129.000 € y todavía tengo 24 años de hipoteca por delante.

El caso es que mi mujer y yo estamos pensando en mudarnos a una casa que sería nuestra vivienda habitual y dejar el piso en alquiler.

Ahora mismo pago unos 550 € al mes de hipoteca y unos 100 € de otros gastos (seguro hogar, comunidad, ibi, etc.). Mirando el mercado de alquiler en mi zona, creo que podría alquilarlo por alrededor de 1.000 € mensuales. Además, está muy cerca de una universidad, por lo que siempre suele haber demanda por parte de estudiantes.

Por eso me parece una opción interesante como inversión, en teoría el piso se pagaría prácticamente "solo" y, a largo plazo, seguiría siendo un patrimonio para la familia. Incluso podría servirle a mi hija cuando llegue la etapa universitaria.

Todavía tengo pendiente empezar a hablar con bancos, pero me surgen algunas dudas que quizá alguien que haya pasado por una situación similar pueda aclararme.

Si compro una casa para convertirla en mi vivienda habitual, ¿el banco la consideraría vivienda habitual y podría financiar hasta el 80% del valor? ¿O al tener ya otra vivienda en propiedad la trataría como segunda residencia y limitaría la financiación a alrededor del 70%?

Las casas que estoy mirando rondan los 350.000 €, y nuestra situación económica es la siguiente:

• Ingresos netos conjuntos: 5.500 € al mes
• Ambos con contrato indefinido
• Ahorros: 120.000 €
• Deudas: únicamente la hipoteca actual
• Edad: 38 años

Además, tenemos dos plazas de parking en propiedad valoradas entre ambas en unos 25.000 €.

Con estos números, ¿a qué condiciones hipotecarias creéis que podríamos aspirar actualmente? ¿Veis viable mantener el piso alquilado y comprar la casa sin venderlo?

Cualquier experiencia o consejo será bienvenido.

I'm at a bit of a crossroads and I'd love to hear from people who have been in a similar situation.

I own an apartment that I bought about 6 years ago. My wife, my baby daughter and I live there now.

The main problem is that the building is old and the sound insulation is terrible. We hear the neighbors all the time, even when they're just living their lives normally. When someone has people over, plays loud music, argues, or starts a renovation project, it becomes really noticeable.

What bothers me most isn't even the noise itself. It's the feeling that at any moment someone can start a months-long renovation or a new neighbor can move in and completely change how peaceful the place feels. I find myself thinking about it more than I'd like.

For a while now I've been been thinking about moving to a house. Since having my daughter, I keep imagining her playing in a garden instead of growing up in a relatively small apartment.

The trade-off is obvious. Right now I live close to work, close to family, close to pretty much everything. If we move to a house, we'd most likely end up in a quieter area where we'd need the car for almost everything and I'd spend more time commuting.

The complicating factor is that I got a really good mortgage before COVID. If I kept the apartment and rented it out, the rent would be roughly double my mortgage payment, so it would basically pay for itself and still generate some income.

So now I'm torn.

Do I keep the apartment as a rental and buy a more modest house that probably needs some work?

Or do I sell the apartment and use the extra money to buy a much nicer house with fewer compromises?

Financially, keeping the apartment seems like the smarter move. It would also give me a safety net if I ever decide house living isn't for me, and maybe one day it could even help my daughter when she's older.

At the same time, the houses I can afford without selling the apartment aren't nearly as appealing. Sometimes I worry I'll end up with both an apartment I don't really want to live in and a house that isn't quite what I was hoping for.

Has anyone here made a similar decision? Any regrets either way?

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a new smartphone. I currently have a Samsung S22, which I've been using for about 3 years. Before that, I had a Samsung S8 for almost 5 years. I was really happy with the S8, but the S22 has been a disappointment in terms of both performance and battery life.

Sometimes the connectivity is unreliable, which affects some apps, I've experienced graphical glitches, occasional screen freezes, and the battery only lasts around 3–4 hours of screen-on time. It's worth mentioning that in my country Samsung phones come with the Exynos chipset instead of Snapdragon.

The problem is that I really like relatively compact phones, and nowadays there aren't many options. The few that do exist often seem to sacrifice battery life.

What would you recommend if my main priorities are performance and battery life? I don't have a fixed budget, but I'd rather not spend more than €700–800.

Thanks!

Our baby has us completely exhausted. She's 8 months old and she's an absolute whirlwind. A tiny tornado. She literally doesn't stay still for a second. We don't get a break during the day, and we don't get a break at night either. It's honestly amazing how much energy such a tiny human can have.

The other day she spent an hour in a baby jacuzzi doing exercises, even against the resistance from the bubbles. You'd think she'd be completely worn out afterwards... but nope. She still had enough energy for another couple of hours of playing at home, and then she slept terribly that night.

She's never been a good sleeper. Since she was born, we've probably had only 4 or 5 nights with just one wake-up. Most nights it's 3–4 wake-ups, and for the last few days it's been 6–7. Who knows... maybe teething, maybe a regression. With babies it always feels like there's something.

The exhaustion isn't just because we haven't had a decent night's sleep in months. During the day she needs constant attention. If you leave her sight for even a few seconds, she cries like the world's ending. You can't even go to the bathroom without triggering a full-blown meltdown.

She spends a lot of time on the floor so she can move around and develop her motor skills, since she's already army crawling everywhere. We give her toys (she has plenty), but she'll play with one for a minute, then start complaining. We hand her another one... same thing. Before long the floor is covered in toys, and nothing seems to make her happy. We honestly don't know what she wants. She seems to need constant stimulation and doesn't really know how to entertain herself or just sit quietly looking at an object, her hands, or anything else for a while.

Thankfully, we get to enjoy her amazing 30–40 minute naps... which is just enough time to eat something, shower, and get ready for the next round.

She honestly seems like a very demanding baby. And we don't really have anyone who can help, even though my parents would love to. She cries inconsolably if she's left alone with them.

It's really frustrating and incredibly exhausting.

That said, we absolutely adore her. She's the cutest little thing, and when she smiles our hearts melt. I just hope she'll grow into a slightly calmer, easier-going personality... although so far there aren't many signs of that.

Any other parents here with babies like this? How did you survive?

Hi everyone,

I have a 7.5-month-old baby girl who is very active. She's constantly moving her arms and legs and seems to have endless energy. However, she isn't crawling yet and doesn't even seem to be trying to get up on her knees.

She's also extremely high-needs when it comes to attention. If I'm not interacting with her—even if I just step into the kitchen for a few seconds to do something—she'll usually start crying. She gets bored of her toys very quickly, and she's also quite whiny/fussy throughout the day if you are not trying to entertain her every single minute.

I'm starting to wonder if this is just a normal temperament or if she's unusually hyperactive. My parents and my in-laws keep telling us that neither my partner nor I were like this as babies, and they often say that a baby like her would "wear anyone out." Hearing that so often has made me question whether this is normal.

I'd really love to hear from other parents who have or had babies with a similar personality. Were they constantly on the move, easily bored, and very demanding of attention? How did you cope with it? Did things get easier as they got older?

Our baby is 7.5 months old, and lately getting her to sleep has become incredibly difficult.

She always falls asleep in our arms. It's very rare that she falls asleep on her own in the crib. Even when we manage it, it's usually after rocking her for an hour and then carefully transferring her when she's almost asleep. Most of the time she wakes up immediately and cries hysterically, although every now and then we get lucky and she actually stays asleep.

The biggest issue is that we have to hold and rock her for so long every single night. We're completely exhausted, both physically and mentally. While we're holding her, she's constantly moving around: scratching our elbows with one hand, our fingers with the other, rubbing her feet together, and fussing the from time to time when it seems that she will finally close her eyes.

I don't know if she's overtired, undertired, overstimulated, or something else. We've tried putting her down 2.5 hours after her last nap, 4 hours after her last nap... nothing seems to make a consistent difference.

During the day she usually takes three 45 minute naps, spaced about 2–3 hours apart.

We've also tried letting her cry to see if she'd eventually fall asleep on her own, but it doesn't work. She can cry at the top of her lungs for over an hour without ever settling.

For context, she's been sleeping in her own room for the past two months.

I'd really love to hear from other parents who have dealt with babies that are very attached to being held and are especially restless and difficult to get to sleep. Did anything help, or was it just a phase?

My baby is 7.5 months old and, until recently, has generally been a poor sleeper, waking up every 2–3 hours during the night. Things have definitely improved over the last month since starting solids, and for the past couple of weeks she's been sleeping much better.

She usually falls asleep between 7 and 8 PM and then wakes up around 2–3 AM. At that point she nurses a little and needs help getting back to sleep (which takes 30–40 minutes most of the time). Then she'll sleep for another 3 hours or so before waking up for the day.

Naps have been short 99% of the time since the 4-month sleep regression, usually around 40–50 minutes. She takes 3 naps a day. The first two are after wake windows of about 2–2.5 hours, and the third after about 3 hours. Her final wake window before bedtime is usually 3–3.5 hours.

For context, she's been sleeping in her own room (next to ours) for about 2 months now.

I'm actually not complaining about her sleep anymore, especially compared to the first 6 months, when getting more than 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep felt like a miracle.

What I would really like, though, is for her to be able to fall asleep in her crib on her own. Right now she always needs to be rocked to sleep in our arms, and now that she's heavier—and sometimes it takes nearly an hour to get her to sleep—it's becoming exhausting. I can't imagine still having to rock her to sleep months from now.

There have been a few times when she's technically fallen asleep by herself. For example, after being rocked and becoming very drowsy in our arms, we've put her in the crib, she woke up briefly, and then finished falling asleep on her own. But that feels a bit like cheating since she was already almost asleep.

What I'd like is to be able to put her in the crib awake and have her fall asleep independently while I sing to her, talk to her, read a story, etc. The problem is that when I put her in the crib at bedtime after getting her ready for bed, she cries intensely and inconsolably until I pick her up.

I'm looking for advice on where to start, as well as hearing from other parents who have been in a similar situation.

Thanks for reading!

This week I’m starting my paternity leave after my wife’s maternity leave ends and she goes back to work.

We were both off together for our baby's first 3 months. After that, I went back to work while my wife stayed home with our daughter. Now that her leave has ended, I’m taking the rest of my paternity leave, which will be about 4.5 months.

Even while I was working, I tried to help as much as possible. When I got home, I would take over childcare duties (feeding her, playing with her, putting her to sleep, etc.), and especially on weekends so my wife could rest and recharge for the week ahead.

Our daughter is currently 7 months old and she’s very active and curious. One thing I’m worried about is how to keep her entertained all day, since I’m not used to being her sole caregiver for such long periods.

I’d love to take her out for walks and activities, but it’s currently very hot and sunny where we live, so spending long periods outdoors isn’t always practical. I’m also a little concerned about finding some time for myself. She usually takes three naps a day, but they’re only around 40 minutes each, and longer naps are pretty rare.

That said, I’m really excited about spending this time with her, watching her grow, seeing her crawl for the first time, and maybe even witnessing her first steps during my leave.

For the dads who have spent a lot of time alone with their babies (especially after 6 months old), what did your typical day look like? What did you do to keep them entertained and make the days enjoyable? And how did you manage to find some time for yourselves?

My baby is almost 7 months old. She's always been a poor sleeper in general, especially since the 4-month sleep regression. She usually wakes up every 2 hours or so.

About 10 days ago, things started to improve. For 3–4 days she slept in 4-hour stretches, only waking a couple of times between 7 PM and 6 AM. Then it got even better: for 3 consecutive nights she slept 7–7.5 hours straight and only woke up once during the night.

My wife and I thought, "Finally, things are changing!" We assumed she was starting to sleep better because she's doing really well with solids, which might be helping her stay full longer, improve her iron stores, etc.

But after those 3 wonderful nights, everything went back to normal. She's now waking up every 2 hours (or even less) again, around 5–6 times per night. This has been going on for the last 3 nights. It feels like we got excited too soon. :'(

The only thing we did differently during those 3 good nights was give her some paracetamol before bed because she seemed uncomfortable from her upper teeth getting ready to come in. Now she doesn't appear to be in pain, so we stopped giving it to her.

We’ve only ever had one cat in our lives. He was an Exotic Shorthair — incredibly beautiful, gentle, and sweet. He loved being around the family and was always close to us.

Sadly, we lost him due to a genetic heart disease, which seems to be a common issue in the breed, and he left a huge emptiness behind.

I still don’t know what we’ll do next, or whether we’ll have another cat at all, because losing him was incredibly hard, and sooner or later we’d have to go through the same pain again with a new companion.

That said, we’re definitely not experts when it comes to cat breeds. Ending up with an Exotic Shorthair was mostly by chance. So I’d love to ask people with more experience than us: which breeds would you say fit most of these traits?

• friendly
• affectionate
• sweet/gentle
• enjoys company and spending time with their humans
• likes following you around the house
• good with babies/small children
• enjoys being petted and held
• somewhat talkative, but not excessively
• adapts well to apartment living

Honestly, I’d love to have my Exotic Shorthair back, and I’ve even thought about getting another one of the same breed. But now that I’m more aware of the health issues they tend to have, the idea of constantly worrying that something could happen at any moment makes me hesitate.

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Two days ago, I lost my little boy, a beautiful orange and white Exotic Shorthair. He was only 2 years old.

I took him to the vet for a routine check-up. Apparently everything seemed fine, but he became extremely stressed and suffered a heart attack right there, in front of me and the veterinarian. There was nothing anyone could do.

The next day, the vet explained that he had died from a genetic heart condition. If it hadn’t happened there, it would likely have happened days later anyway. My poor cat never showed any signs of having heart problems, which is why nothing related to that had ever been thoroughly checked.

I feel an enormous amount of sadness. He was my first cat, and I truly don’t think there could be a sweeter or more beautiful one. He never scratched anyone — he always used the soft pads of his paws to touch you or grab things. Never his claws. Well… except for carpets and curtains.

He loved being around the people in the house and rarely stayed alone in another room. He was always with us in the living room while we watched TV — sometimes it even looked like he was watching too. If we went to the bedroom, he would appear seconds later. Same thing if we went to the kitchen. Even though he spent most of his time sleeping or lying down, his presence was huge. That’s why his absence feels so overwhelming now. The house feels different.

We also have a 6-month-old baby girl who always smiled whenever he saw the cat, and we often imagined them playing together in the future. But that won’t happen now.

As I said, he was my only cat. I would like to know if his personality and behavior were uniquely his, or if they are common traits in this breed. Are Exotic Shorthairs generally gentle, calm, affectionate, slightly talkative, playful, funny, and very people-oriented like he was?

For now, we are not thinking about getting another cat. Everything is still too recent, and we don’t want to go through this again anytime soon. But I know that if we ever have another cat in the future, I would love for it to be an Exotic Shorthair.

Yesterday my cat passed away, and today we buried him. He was only 2 years old. I still can’t believe it.

He was an exotic shorthair, white and orange, absolutely beautiful and incredibly gentle. He never scratched anyone, always wanted to be close to people, loved sitting with me and my wife at night while we watched TV, spending time on the balcony in the sun watching birds fly by...

At this exact time yesterday, he seemed perfectly fine. And now he’s gone.

Yesterday afternoon I took him to the vet for a routine check-up. We were talking about how much fur he had been shedding and the vet was going to prescribe omega-3 supplements. Then suddenly my cat became nervous and stressed, and he ended up having a heart attack. There was nothing anyone could do. He died right in front of me, in an instant, in a way I could never have imagined.

It was a complete shock. It still feels unreal that he’s no longer here with us.

According to the vet, he had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, but unfortunately he never showed any signs, so no specific tests had ever been done.

Now he’s gone forever, and the house feels completely different. My wife and I had our first daughter 6 months ago. She would smile whenever she saw him, and we always imagined how they would play together once she got a little older.

Now everything feels like: “he would be lying here right now” “he would come running now” “I should go clean his litter box”...

But he’s not here anymore. And he never will be again.

How do you get through something like this? This is so hard. It feels like a nightmare. I wish someone would wake me up. I wish I could pet him one more time.

My baby is 6 months old and I’ve noticed that sometimes the joints in her knees or ankles make a small clicking/popping sound, almost like something isn’t fitting perfectly.

I’ll definitely bring it up with our pediatrician, but I wanted to know if this has happened to anyone else or if it’s considered normal during development?

My baby seems totally fine otherwise, happy, smiling, laughing… and when the sound happens, she doesn’t seem to be in pain or bothered at all.

I’m the father of a beautiful 6-month-old baby girl. These past months have been really hard at times for both me and especially my wife: exhaustion, difficult days, barely sleeping… the usual new parent chaos, I guess.

But honestly, I feel like being a dad becomes more beautiful every single day. Our baby interacts more now, smiles more, stays calmer during the day, and that lets us go out for walks with her in a much more relaxed way. The love you can feel for your daughter is honestly impossible to describe.

During the first months, I used to get frustrated and desperate when she woke up the second I put her in the crib after spending ages trying to get her to sleep. Now? Sometimes it still happens, but she looks at me and gives me this huge smile from ear to ear, and I can’t help but laugh, pick her up, kiss her, and try again while just staring at her in my arms, asleep, innocent, and feeling this overwhelming need to protect her from everything bad in the world.

I’m incredibly happy to be a father. I never imagined I would feel this way. In fact, I never really liked kids before (I didn’t hate them, they just felt exhausting to me). But now I honestly can’t wait to watch my daughter grow up and do things together: go on adventures, watch movies together, walk through nature, play together, visit amusement parks and zoos, teach her about life, have amazing conversations…

Damn, guys… I’m happy to be a dad.

My baby is almost 6 months old and since birth she has never really slept through the night, although there were periods (around 2 months old) when she could sleep stretches of 4–5 hours.

Around 3.5 months she went through the sleep regression and everything became much harder.

In the last few weeks, the same pattern happens almost every night: we put her to bed around 7–7:30 pm, and after 30–40 minutes she wakes up. We help her fall back asleep, then she wakes again about 2 hours later. My wife breastfeeds her and she falls asleep again, but then wakes up again around 2 hours later. From the moment she goes to sleep at 7:30 pm until she wakes up for the day around 6:30 am, she usually wakes every 1–2 hours, which makes it really difficult for us to rest at night.

Some things to consider:

• She is breastfed
• She sleeps in a bedside crib in our room
• Her first tooth has just come in

We’ve tried putting her to bed earlier (around 6:30 pm), increasing naps, reducing naps… but the same pattern keeps happening every night.

We’ve recently started trying to teach her to fall asleep independently, but so far the wake-ups are still the same.

How can we help her stop waking so often during the night? What worked for you?