u/allyroo

Been lobstering in Islamorada for over twenty five years and this year all of our usual spots had lots of lobster— but they were almost all short. Just wondering if others had similar experiences so far.

My son is 2.5 and our daughter is 8 weeks old. We are 90% sure we are done having kids. I would've liked to have three but that would stretch our budget as well as our attention and we're in our late 30s so age is definitely a consideration. Immediately after my daughter was born I had a burst of "this can't be my last time experiencing this, I must have another baby", but that has subsided and I feel pretty content with the thought of our family being complete. But...

I am a very sentimental person and tend to hold onto everything both from a nostalgic perspective and "just in case". Yes, I will keep and cherish some of their best clothes and their favorite stuffies, but I obviously can't keep everything. I'm glad I kept everything the first time around because I have hardly needed to buy anything for our daughter. But now that she's outgrowing newborn clothes, I'm faced with the decision of storing vs. donating things. I know there will be some degree of grief that comes with getting rid of things because it makes the closing of this chapter feel more real. I'm wondering if it will make me less sad to rip the band aid off and do it now little by little or to hold onto it all a little longer - "just in case" - before doing a huge purge.

All thoughts welcome!

With my first baby, our breastfeeding journey got off to a rocky start so I became obsessed with making it successful once we finally got the hang of it. I’d eat excess calories, chug oat milk, and pump religiously - even in the middle of the night long after my baby started sleeping through. It worked out because I accumulated a stash that was sufficient to get us to the year mark when he (thankfully) weaned himself from the boob at 10 months old.

I recently had my second baby and have done a pretty good job of going with the flow this time. She’s almost 8 weeks old and is starting to occasionally sleep long stretches (10:30-4:30 last night). I was planning on just following her lead and not pumping unnecessarily this time around so I get as much sleep as possible. Buuut I woke up at 3 last night and couldn’t fall back asleep because I was debating whether or not to pump. I ultimately did and she woke up not much later so I just gave her the bottle of pumped milk. I’d really rather not fall back into the pattern of waking to pump but I’m worried about tanking my supply…

Has anyone else found themselves faced with this? Did skipping the MOTN pump mess you up? Or were you able to sustain by keeping in sync with your baby and just feeding them when they’re hungry?

My son is nearly 2.5 and I fear he’s done with napping. He’s always been pretty low sleep needs during the day and a relatively good night sleeper. He stopped napping at preschool a couple months ago but would still lie quietly without disrupting the other kids for 1.5-2 hours which seems insane to me. He was still napping at home until the last week or so. Now he is NUTS in there. Throwing everything out of his crib, singing at the top of his lungs, flipping the light switch on an off, crying a little bit off and on, chanting our names, trying to do hand stands… I get that I can’t force him to sleep but people keep suggesting “quiet time” in lieu of the nap as a way to still give me a bit of a break and get some things done.

Going in and telling/asking him to be quiet and rest his body does nothing. Is there anything that might convince him to lie down and at least rest? Or do I just let him continue the shenanigans during this time and move bedtime a bit earlier to combat the mood swings and meltdowns that often come with no nap?

My son is nearly 2.5 and I fear he’s done with napping. He’s always been pretty low sleep needs during the day and a relatively good night sleeper. He stopped napping at preschool a couple months ago but would still lie quietly without disrupting the other kids for 1.5-2 hours which seems insane to me. He was still napping at home until the last week or so. Now he is NUTS in there. Throwing everything out of his crib, singing at the top of his lungs, flipping the light switch on an off, crying a little bit off and on, chanting our names, trying to do hand stands… I get that I can’t force him to sleep but people keep suggesting “quiet time” in lieu of the nap as a way to still give me a bit of a break and get some things done.

Going in and telling/asking him to be quiet and rest his body does nothing. Is there anything that might convince him to lie down and at least rest? Or do I just let him continue the shenanigans during this time and move bedtime a bit earlier to combat the mood swings and meltdowns that often come with no nap?

At my son’s preschool they have two options for the afternoon: either the kids nap from 1:30 - 4 or they go play outside during this time. Typically only kids 3 and older are allowed in the play outside group (although some kids in this age group still opt to nap) and the 2 year olds all nap.

My son is 2 and, for whatever reason, has decided he won’t nap at school. He lies on his mat and rests so he isn’t disruptive to the other kids, but he never sleeps. On the weekends at home he still naps, and usually takes a pretty decent one.

His school has offered to make an exception and allow him to join the play outside group because he’s potty trained. Part of me thinks it’d be good to let him get some extra energy out, but I also worry it could be rushing him to kick the nap completely when I don’t think he’s really ready for that. He comes home pretty cranky in the afternoons and, if we could figure out a way to get him napping, I think it would really help his mood in the evenings. But I don’t really foresee anything changing that would magically make him start sleeping at school…

What would you do?