Yep. In his defense, part of it is that he has ADD so he occasionally fixates on something minor and kind of forgets the world around him (example: Yesterday he spent an hour untangling the hose, which needed to be done EVENTUALLY but not right then, while I cooked dinner and fed the toddler). Again, if he had spent…

The village doesn't get the blame for being a crap parent either— that falls on Mom. If you see a kid freaking out at the mall or in public, the blame falls on Mom a lot of time.

That was exactly how I felt after my son was born - "My life is over." Fortunately, after that first year, I got much of it back. Once he started sleeping, it was like a whole new life.

My feeling exactly. The first, say, two-thirds was great but then it all went to shit.

All of this is never more true than in the first year. Babies don't really give much back - they just demand, demand, demand, and it's a huge shock going from a relatively unencumbered lifestyle to having huge new limits imposed financially, logistically, and emotionally.

Ugh - my husband, God bless him, has a tendency to focus on projects that aren't and shouldn't be priority, while leaving the basics undone. For instance: He had a day off last week and I asked him to do the laundry and clean the carpets. I came home and he had re-painted the coffee table. I mean, yes, granted, the…

This ad is unfair to both moms and those who support them. It belittles the village that goes along with raising a kid—be it dad, grandmom, best friend, aunt, uncle but also sets unfair standards for the mom.

I don't know if it was her, but I did fly with a very funny Southwest flight attendant a couple years ago. Maybe Southwest just gives their flight attendants some leeway to improvise?

It's also hard sometimes to gauge which friends would be OK with having the kids around and which wouldn't. Maybe it's because I spend too much time here and in other spaces where people are very vocal with how much they dislike kids, but I'm hesitant to bring my toddler around people who don't have kids of their own.…

Wow. You're an asshole.

Count me in that group (I have a toddler and two dogs). I didn't get the dogs as a trial run or anything like that - one came with the husband, and the second because we wanted a second dog - but trying to keep from losing your patience/temper with a dog who has chewed something up (because she didn't know any better)…

Word to this. Fresh pineapple is THE BEST.

Man, when I was a kid I was a FANTASTIC whistler. Now I can't whistle at all and I have no idea what changed.

Carolyn Hax is my goddess.

UGH, My toddler has outgrown his 18-24 month clothes and I need to get him some 2T stuff... But all I can find is shorts and T-shirts. He needs jeans right now!

RVA REPRESENT!

That's what I was going to say! There's an outlet mall, FFS - and Busch Gardens! And Water Country USA! And the beach is only an hour away! /Richmonder

I use these:

http://www.ulta.com/ulta/browse/pr…

Yeah, sorry about that! Should have read further down before linking. I'm not surprised it got so much traction, it was an absolutely gut-wrenching story.

I should have read down to this comment - I just posted about that same story. God, that story haunted me. Still does, actually.