Serious question: I try not to apply makeup in public (OK I reapply lipstick in my car) but will usually give a little touch up in my seat. I’m talking lipstick/chapstick and just a quick glance to make sure my mascara’s not creeping. Is that gross? It seems lamer to climb over people in order to use the restroom...

My husband and I were on an early morning flight from California to Seattle on a weekday; it seemed to be mostly business travelers and everyone was super chill and being very quiet and respectful, like there was this tacit agreement among 100+ strangers that we were all going to get settled and take a nice little…

It’s required.

No judgement on my part on spacing of kids/number of kids, but according to this couple it fully was a “we want a baby now that our snotty tween boys pretend they don’t know us in public” thing. And definitely not an oops because they had to do IVF (lesbian couple) so there were chances to back out.

RIGHT?! And I love babies, but I find I really enjoy older kids because they interact and have personalities and can wipe their own butts. But that’s just me.

Also, my uncle’s ex-wife did the same thing: when her first two got older and less “cuddly” she asked him to have his vasectomy reversed (OMG) and they had another kid...who is also now growing up and doesn’t want to snuggle her 24/7. I just think it’s a weird fucking reason to have a child: they are babies for a…

Same here. I mean...that snuggly baby WILL grow up, too. And they ended up with TWO more. Yeesh. Our friend concurred it was a helluva midlife crisis they had...

You don’t understand. It’s different with her. She really GETS him. He loves her and is able - and ready - to be a different dad to their kid. Really!

I thought adoption was heavily “promoted” for lack of a better word in church-y communities? A lot of CPCs help place babies with families, I thought?

If you mean every month if your period is late I might give you a pass on this suggestion, but if you mean every week, that’s literally pissing money away. For instance, having my period is a pretty good indicator that I’m not pregnant. And most tests will show a negative until you miss your period by at least a day…

It’s frightening, really.

A family friend was telling us about his sister and her partner who decided at age 40 )with two tween boys) that they missed having a baby around, so they decided to have another one. Only this time it was twins. I had a little too much wine and blurted out, “Jesus, just get a minivan and a kennel license at this…

That makes a lot of sense and, to me, was not conveyed in your original comment. I’m also 38 and live in a hideously expensive area and see the same thing. Sorry for jumping to conclusions and I appreciate you clarifying the original post.

Seriously. That’s so messed up. The entire time we were trying - in vain - to have a baby I was intentionally vague about our plans because it’s no one’s fucking business and I didn’t need pity from the Mommy Martyr Mafia. So of course those people labeled us as a shallow childless couple and we took the lectures on…

Nice support for other people’s life and circumstances.

Before my parents split my dad was in a life-altering accident that pulled him from the work force indefinitely as he recovered and went through rehab. My mom had always worked (ironically, THAT, not my dad’s injury, was a huge part of their split because my dad suddenly went from hippie to Ward Cleaver once I was…

I was going to comment this exact same thing but deleted it! Not from personal experience, mind you, but from what I’ve read here at this very site: so many people saying “Nope, didn’t want to be home after 12 weeks.” So this insistence that everyone wants to be home for a year is false and it’s hard for me to take…

Why wouldn’t you want that? What do you have against blessings?

YEP. Tracy Moore 2.0?

THANK YOU.