We are working with an agent but we’re driving the process. She sends us MLS listings and my husband and I pick the ones that look intersting. We go see any that both my husband and I both pick (a small number) and then will check out any near-by open houses.

Thank you for this!

We are house hunting and it is not as fun as HGTV makes it look. We’re shopping in a large city with high housing prices. Not San Francisco/New York high, but high. Our budget is an objectively large amount of money by any measure but a modest home budget for our area. It has been so hard to find something that will…

The bride’s seamstress clearly hated her based on how thar dress fits.

Hi puppy! He is a good boy with good eyebrows.

Congratulations! What I’m going to write next, I write as a mother who has said very similar things, and struggled and grieved over her old life per-child. Even though that child was wanted and planned as diligently as a Broadway show.

Call the nurse.

After many years, the spouse and I have finally saved enough for a down payment on a house. We’ve figured out how much we want and can afford to spend on a house. We’ve checked our credit reports and they look accurate. Now what?

My spouse and I went on a “Babymoon” (I know, I know, the name is awful.) We went to a nearby city for a long weekend, scored a cheap hotel, and indulged in the stuff we liked but that would be harder when the wee person arrived. For us, that meant: baseball game, brewery tour (even though I wasn’t drinking, being…

I have stuck to working out at lunch at my new job for 3 whole weeks now!

Since becoming a parent, it’s been really hard to balance all the competing interests and obligations and it’s usually my self-care that gets sacrificed when something’s gotta give. About 2 years ago, I took up running on my lunch to try and stay in shape and control stress. I don’t love running, but I worked up to be…

I mailed an old baby carrier that we no longer needed to someone in my Facebook parenting group who recently discovered they were going to have a *surprise* baby.

I know it’s a photo op and they probably have an army of nannies who watch those kids 24/7 but that crib is everything SIDS and suffocation hazard and it’s making me very anxious as a parent 

This was the most useful piece of knowledge I had when parenting a newborn: you know all those stories about people looking at their baby for the first time and feeling an overwhelming rush of complete and perfect love? Not everyone feels that way. And it’s totally normal. Especially if your pregnancy or labor are in…

I got a new job and my last day at my old one was Friday. I got everything wrapped up and documented and feel like I left with professionalism and integrity. And my colleagues were really kind and sort of blew me away with some little gifts and incredibly thoughtful words and gestures and I was able to say thank you…

tl;dr: I need some strategies for staying in shape when you’re short on time.

We signed up for an “adopt a family” facilitated by my little one’s day care. We were paired with 3 kids - 11 mo, 3, and 8. All they asked for was clothes.

I had to delete it from my phone because I couldn’t trust myself to stop playing. I never paid for a game but when I quit, I ws somewhere in the 1100s and perfect (3 stars) on every level up to, I believe, level 634.

That is a great idea! It would be a horror-show of a thread

Oh lord, that sounds so much worse than a little head-butt. At least my husband came through unscathed (this time, she sorta broke his leg just a tad at age 2).