u/tandoyarr

My daughter is turning 3 this week and my husband and I have been trying to have a second child for 15 months now. I always wanted a relatively small age gap because I was never a fan of the baby stage. I wanted to rip it off like a bandaid. I always knew I wanted two kids, and I KNOW I don’t want three, so I just wanted them both out and to be done. Pregnancy and early motherhood were so, so hard on me physically and mentally. I’m a SAHM and my daughter is sweet as can be, but also very needy, sensitive, and clingy. Even now that she’s almost 3, I’m lucky if I get 15 minutes of independent play out of her. But I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. She’s in school part time and since she turned about 2.5 I’m finally enjoying this season of my life after struggling for so long.

For those reasons, I’m not super disappointed that TTC has taken us this long, but I am a little upset at the prospect of a bigger age gap than I’d expected. I also really want my body to be mine again. I’m 35, I want a whole new wardrobe, I want to look into restarting my career again, and I want to start a GLP-1 to lose the baby weight that I just cannot get off. I know I make it sound like maybe I should just be one and done, but the prospect of that is soul crushing to me. I desperately want/wanted two children. But I’ve also had two miscarriages already this year and the reality is setting in that this process could take another year or more.

Sorry I know this is a bit rambling, but I’m just trying to decide if I should try as hard as I can to get pregnant ASAP (which is what I’ve been trying to do) maybe at the expense of my self image and bodily autonomy, or if I should push my timeline out and let myself be more ME before trying again, maybe with IVF.

Hi all, I’m a fan of Martin Johnson Heade’s works, especially his Florida landscapes. My mom bought me a print of “The Great Florida Marsh” (which I’d been eyeing for my bedroom) and it was the WORST quality. Literally a JPEG blown up to 40x20. I felt awful for her, but she’s working on a refund. Now I’m trying to find a reputable source for a “real” print or even a reproduction. Any advice? I usually buy artwork second hand and don’t typically buy from specific artists. Thank you!

My amazing, beautiful, sensitive daughter is a little over 2.5. We probably wouldn’t be attempting potty training for her yet if she didn’t need to be potty trained by August for her 3 year old program at school, but here we are.

We started casually sitting on the potty before bath time a couple months ago. She enjoyed it, we would read a potty book together, and just make it a positive experience. One night as she was sitting, she said “oh no!” and stood up from the potty. She peed a bit on the floor and started crying. I reassured her that it was okay to have accidents while we’re learning something new, she was doing great, etc. She frantically screamed for a diaper. She then proceeded to scream during her baths and diaper changes for two weeks, yelling “No pee pee! No pee pee!”

After some time passed, we finally got back to baseline. The other night, she started pooping while sitting on the toilet. She got upset, but didn’t cry. We told her she was listening to her body like Daniel Tiger (our potty training GOAT lol) and distracted her while she dropped a single turd in the potty. She refused to be wiped standing up, so I wiped her on the changing table. He showed her the poop and talked about how proud we were, and she smiled. Then during bath time, she pointed to the potty and said “Take it away! I don’t like it!” and since then will only sit on the potty with a diaper on.

We are about to run out of normal diapers and I’ve decided to switch to pull ups fully. My daughter wears pull ups when we’re out, but when I mentioned wearing them all the time, she got upset.

I’m worried about trying the Oh Crap method because I’m concerned she will shut down and have a hard time with accidents, but I know accidents are an inevitable part of potty training. She’s very sensitive and already has issues with constipation, so I’m terrified of her developing issues with withholding. Any advice from parents with similar temperament kids would be super appreciated. 🙏