It’s pretty amazing how rarely proper positioning is followed in doctor’s offices. I have had severe preeclampsia with three of my pregnancies, requiring preterm delivery each time. Yet every time I go into the office, a nurse will ask me to hop up onto the table so my legs are dangling in the air while she takes my…

I’m curious as to why the dedicated grocery stores get a “worth it” for what amounts to $2 per delivery, when Walmart gets you the same thing for the same price except with access to free shipping on just about everything you can imagine (with prices competitive to Amazon’s.)

And here I thought the grocery carts were that size so I could carry a box of diapers plus my groceries. As it is, if it weren’t for grocery pickup, I’d have graduated to two carts for my family of seven by now (heaven help me if I have to get two boxes of diapers in store.)

I’m uber-curious as to what qualifies as “spiritual dancing at church”. Depending on the specific church (my familiarity is with churches in the Pentecostal/charismatic traditions), I’ve seen “spiritual dancing” that ranges from a slow paced folk dance to frenetic repetitive hopping with arms waving. 

To give an estimate of menstruation 30 days out, this device has to be using the low-tech (and decidedly unsafe for family planning) rhythm method (also known as the “calendar method.”) Since each woman’s second half of her cycle (post-ovulation) varies only by a day or two from cycle to cycle (and normal is something…

Even better if you can find yourself a local guru - find a native plant society or conservation-minded arboretum in your area and peruse their website, email someone, or visit their plant sales and pick a local enthusiast’s brain.

I dump paper shreds in the bottom of my bins after emptying - probably not quite as clean as a paper towel, but I have an abundance of shreds and an aversion to spending money on disposables like paper towels, so it works well for me. 

My pelvic floor/postpartum PT described the belly-button-to-back type of engagement as “pretend you’re trying to put on a too tight pair of jeans." It’s an easy way to make sure I’m engaging the transverse instead of just the recti abdomini.

I appreciate your note to be gentle with yourself. If there’s anything parenting has taught me, it’s that my own self-control and emotional regulation is not as great as I thought it was before I started parenting. My temptation when I lose control is to either a) give in to the out-of-control and go on rampage or b)…

Filing this away in my “foster co-parenting” toolkit. I don’t know who first introduced me to fostering as co-parenting - but it has helped me so much as I think through and work through my relationships with my foster children’s biological families. Keep the co-parenting tips coming!

We celebrate St Nicholas Day (December 6) as our nuclear family celebration (we’re almost always out of town with our extended families for Christmas itself) - and we talk about the historical/legendary Nicholas (intentionally) and the evolution of the Santa Claus myth (as it comes up in reading, music, etc). We do…

I do a mix of all the above. I tend to edit name-calling out (children need no help coming up with nasty things to call each other). We discuss race/sex issues when they arise, but I tend to read the text as written (unless it’s nasty names, in which case I’m going to skip it.) I skip most movies /shows for my little…

Agreed. I’m potty training numbers 3 & 4 (one bio, one foster) and all four have been different. My general advice for potty training is don’t commit (switch entirely to underpants) until you’re ready to commit (with all the consequent floor cleaning), remember that you’re an adult (opt out of power struggles and…

As a mother of five now(!), all 18-24 months apart (except for the foster-bio pair that are 6 months apart), I’d add how valuable the word “our” and “your” are. When talking to the soon-to-be-displaced baby (or the recently-displaced), talk about “our baby”, “your little sister”, etc. Toddlers are all about ownership…

I’m going to have to give this a try. I like to double my recipes and make an extra 9x13" pan of, say, enchiladas for the freezer. I line my metal pan with parchment, prepare my dish, and freeze it solid before lifting the food out of the pan and transferring it to a freezer bag for long term storage (which means I…

I have four kids in carseats, which makes the thought of going into a store just not worth it - and I've opted out of Amazon prime. The harder it is to buy something, the less I buy. :-) 

I imagine it goes without saying, but I’ve definitely learned to make the most of those mandatory one-on-one times. Diaper changes are opportunities for me to “check in” with the kids, make lots of eye contact, sing silly songs and blow kisses, etc. Likewise, I have to buckle each kid into their own car seat…

1. My kids are 4, 3, 21 months, and 15 months

I’ve been cutting my kids’ noodles with shears for a while now (although I stick the noodles in a bowl and snip-snip-snip at random before doling it all out to my four-and-under four.) I’ve never considered cutting the noodles while they're hanging from a fork. 

Also, if you happen to know a foster family, ask them how you can support them! We don’t live near our own families and find it hard to find people who can provide babysitting. A couple of different people have encouraged and helped us by going through background checks and caring for our kids while we get a date or…