u/jeansthatactuallyfit

Hi I just randomly joined this group today.

I was in foster care at age 7 then went back home then went back in permanently at 14, along with my younger sister. She was 6 years younger than me, and she passed when she was 18.

I just want to vent about something particularly strange. I met my husband when I was 22, and that was when I cut ties with the foster care agency, they supported me passed age 19 with "independent living" which covered some living expenses to help with rent. When I met my now husband I didn't need the support anymore, I had a job and a license and was attending university and my husband began covering all my life expenses. I was sponsored for attending university as well, funded through my band. I'm first nations in Canada. So I was doing fairly well.

My husbands mom and dad had foster children when my husband was growing up. Presumably for financial reasons. Their foster children were first nations, and my now mother in law loves to recount over and over again the stories of their lives, the abuse they suffered, and how *Awesome* they were as foster parents.

They were in a lot of respects good responsible foster parents and gave their foster daughters love and attention, but the inner foster child in me still aches and feels a certain part of the injustice of it all in the larger picture.

In the larger picture the foster care system is a continuation of the residential school systems, taking indigenous kids away from their families, language and culture. And puts them through this ringer that many don't survive, including my sister.

I just wanted to vent a bit because I feel like my mother in law fetishizes me as an indigenous woman and views my family negatively even though I have been through a lot and my family isn't perfect it isn't because of their personal faults but it's because of the systemic racism and oppression that my family has faced and continues to face and I feel like that part doesn't get talked about or get attention.

Rant over for now.

Tansi!

I’m a Cree living on the west coast with roots in Winnipeg and northern Manitoba. While I love west coast art I think it would be lovely to display Cree style art in my home to remind me of where I’m from.

I don’t know what the styles are called or anything really about Cree art or artists.

Can Indian country help me out with some inspiration or where to look?

I’m thinking elements of birch bark, anything natural or incorporates sweet grass and some of the common animals found back home east/ in the prairies.

Hi all!

I’m meeting a doula for the first time as a first time mom and I was wondering if anyone had suggestions on what good questions for them would be?

National Day for Truth & Reconciliation is coming up in just a few weeks. Anyone have suggestions for local (Winnipeg brick & mortar or local shipping) places to buy orange "Every Child Matters" shirts - preferably Indigenous-designed/produced or with proceeds going to benefit Indigenous organizations? Thanks in advance!

Hello!

I’m just wondering if anyone can recommend some herbal teas that are safe for a pregnant woman.

Thank you

Hi guys

I recently bought unscented laundry soap and it works fine it cleans my clothes good but I kinda feel like without a scent it’s almost like there’s still a lingering vaguely stinky smell that I don’t like.

Is there anything natural I can add to the soap or to the wash load to help? What would you do?

I’m pregnant with a super sensitive nose and the lack of a scent is giving me the ick but I don’t know what to do

Any ideas?

Hi all,

My husband and I are expecting our first little bundle of joy:) Our baby is due in March 2027. We bought a condo a year and a half ago and it's somewhat of a modest size, at 900 square feet. It's only a 1 bedroom + a den, and the den currently is being used as an extra room with a bookshelf and desk.

We want to renovate it to add a door to make the room feel a bit more like it's own space since right now it's just an opening in the wall. The room will not have a window.

My question for you all is if we really need a nursery? I want to get a bedside bassinet for babies first few months one with wheels so I can bring it over to the other side of our bedroom during the day, and we could always simply put a changing pad ontop of our dresser for a changing station, and then I can bring a moses basket or baby bjorn bouncer around the house with me, or put the baby down on the floor in our living room nook for playtime, and baby wear. And if it works out when they transition to a crib we could also potentially fit a crib in our bedroom. Essentially, I dont think the baby will need their own separate room? If I want to take the baby out of the bedroom to nurse during the night couldn't I also do that in our living room?

The thing is once we add a door onto the den, we could also make it into a guest room for either of our parents or other family members to have a place to sleep if they want to visit us and I'm wondering if it'd make more sense to prioritize that over setting up a nursery just to take an instagram pic. Our parents and family live in another province from us so us having space for them to stay would encourage them to visit more.

I'd love to hear from others what works for them in a living situation that has limited space.

Thanks so much!

I listened to the most recent birth hour podcast episode and the woman giving her birth stories mentioned getting secondary infertility after her second child and after a year of trying a friend shared an article about using a diva cup after sex to help and it worked their first try. And for their fourth baby they used it and it worked on the first try then too. I wanted to share that in this group right away for whoever it might help.

Hi everyone! My husband and I got married last year end of June and we agreed to wait a year before trying. We are 32f and 36m.

I was super optimistic that we would get pregnant easily, but my husband not so much and because he had some anxiety he wanted to begin trying a bit sooner so we started trying in May. Well, I had started taking detailed notes in my phone about my cycle and tracking to get a better sense of my fertility since last year and I've had a lot of data to help me.

I found through my tracking that at times my ovulation will be delayed if I have a big trip coming up/ stressful travel plans, if I calorie restrict, or in past times due to financial stress of buying our first home. I'm not as worried about affording our mortgage anymore so thats less of a concern now but it affected my cycle before.

It's pretty annoying not knowing if the next cycle will follow a regular schedule or not since it can lengthen a fertile window and having so much sex takes a lot of effort.

We made some adjustments like using fertility friendly lubricant (this most recent cycle) and we also got insemination supplies to support us if we don't feel like doing the actual act. We also are reducing plastic in our day to day life. Interestingly, using insemination required my husband to ejaculate into a jar and we measured how much sperm he produced and it was within normal range which is good, but we think we might get his sperm tested.

Right around now I am expecting either a positive pregnancy test or another period. My average cycle length is 31 days. This is day 32. I tested just this past Saturday and it was negative (it was maybe too soon if this is a longer cycle) and I want to wait another couple of days before testing again.

Just wanted to share my story as someone that joined awhile ago.

Wish us luck!

Hi all,

My husband and I bought our place a year and a half ago and it has mostly all the original materials from when it was built in the mid 90s. I’ve been listening to some podcasts about lighting in homes and I’m a complete newbie to it.

Does anyone know what kind of light bulbs are best for health in the home? I want to replace all our light fixtures and have lighting that doesn’t disrupt our circadian rhythm. Does this community have any recommendations for websites or blogs that cover this topic or even any links to any lightbulbs or fixtures they recommend?

Kind of a longshot but figured I’d ask!

Thanks so much

Hello!

My husband and I are 31f and 36m, we have 150k of equity in our home (worth 500k) and we have 65k invested in etfs and dividend king stocks. I'm thinking our Coast fire number is 250k, and I'm hoping to hit that by the time I'm 35 and hubby is 39. We'd need to contribute around 3800 a month or so to our investments to hit that over the next 4 years.

My husband works construction and brings in 90k-120k a year (yes it varies depending on how busy he gets)
And I work in a community social work role bringing in 40k a year part time.

My husbands job is tough physically and at times mentally, my job is tough emotionally but it is a pretty sweet gig.

We like our work and lifestyle currently, we travel and live below our means.

We plan to have kids in the very near future, and my income might change (will go down) and our yearly expenses might change (will go up). Our monthly expenses currently are about 5500 including what we pay in taxes. So this leaves extra every month for saving/investing and we should be able to comfortably contribute 3800 a month. Might it become difficult when kids come into the picture I don't know.

We both might get cash injections hopefully from our grandparents, I might get a lump sum of money from a settlement, and we'd hit our coast fire number a lot quicker. For the far future I have a pension plan from my work, and in our 60s we could both get CPP and OAS. Our condo would be paid off and have an increased value.

Just looking for a sanity check from the community if this checks out as a solid plan.

If we were to hit our Coast number my husband might career switch to sell cars, and I'm not sure yet what I would do. I might be a stay at home mom or go back to university.