u/Routine-Art-7647

I am embarrassed to admit that when my in-laws come to visit, I am so preoccupied with food that it really is affecting me. I buy groceries before they get here and stress about how much money it costs to feed three extra people. I resent having to prepare meals for everyone and they don’t like to eat out. The large pan of oatmeal bake I make is gone in two days and then my MIL always makes sandwiches for their drive home and clears out our supplies there. I hid our lunch meat this time and feel shame about that now. I find myself wanting to eat in secret between meals so I don’t have to share. Anyone deal with similar feelings or overcome this?

Just wondering if it is reasonable to request that our daycare lady not take our baby on outings in the car? Baby is six months old and provider has one child of her own, also under one year old. It just seems like an unnecessary liability to me and our baby doesn’t like the car.

EDIT: she watches my baby in her home

My 6 month old has been sleeping in our bed, which is going great and I love it. During the day, I have been able to roll away after nursing her to sleep and she will sometimes sleep independently for over an hour.
I know that we need to make the transition to floor bed or crib soon as our bed is pretty high off the ground and she will be crawling soon. Any advice on this? I haven’t tried yet but I feel like transferring her to a crib after she falls asleep is going to mess everything up. But I also like the idea of her being safer in the crib vs free to roam on a floor bed.
I bought a Newton crib mattress but I’m thinking jf we go the floor bed route it will I be more comfortable for us both to have a larger mattress since I’ll be side lying with her and nursing to sleep. Has anyone tried a crib size mattress in this situation?

I currently stay home three days per week with my 6 month old daughter and work as a dental hygienist 2 days/week. I am considering staying at home full time and watching another infant at our house 4 days/ week. After paying for daycare while I’m at work, I think I would likely be making more money staying home full-time and watching this other baby. I wouldn’t have to pay for daycare for my baby and would get to spend more time with her. Part of me feels like I may miss the adult interaction I currently get at work but another part feels like making the switch would be amazing. Has anyone else left part time work to stay at home with their baby and watch another baby for some added income? I’d love to hear other people’s experiences or thoughts. Thank you!

After years of sitting in a google doc, I have finally completed my literary memoir manuscript. I am a 32 year old female and the memoir, which I think I may call Never Broken, covers topics such as eating disorders, infertility, miscarriage, psychedelics, therapy, and marriage. The thought of having friends or family read it terrifies me, but I am also hopeful that it can reach an audience that it may resonate with. At this point, I just want to know if it has any potential or if I should just chalk it up to a personal goal that I accomplished? Any advice on where to go next?

• Genre/s: memoir
• Goals/expectations/commitment: feedback
• Writing/experience level: amateur
• Meeting place: zoom
• (Writing groups only) Max size: 60k

Genre: Memoir Length: 23 chapters

What it's about:

This is a memoir about control — where it comes from, what it costs, and what it takes to finally put it down. It opens with a twelve-year-old being told by a doctor that her body is a problem, and follows her across roughly two decades: through an adolescent eating disorder and hospitalization, her parents' divorce, the long performance of "being fine," a move across the country, marriage, and then years of infertility and two pregnancy losses. Along the way she tries nearly everything to feel whole — restriction, achievement, reinvention, therapy, psychedelics — before arriving somewhere quieter than the fix she was chasing. It ends with the birth of her daughter and a hard-won realization about the difference between being fixed and being free.

It's a book about bodies, grief, marriage, and the stories we inherit about our own worth — and about what changes when you stop trying to earn your way to okay.

Content note: This memoir includes frank depictions of an eating disorder, pregnancy loss and miscarriage, infertility

What I'm looking for: Honest big-picture reactions, not line edits or proofreading. I want to know how it reads and where it works or doesn't — more on that in the questions I'll send once you've finished.