I appreciate the sentiment (it hasn’t gotten better per se yet, but we’ve gotten more used to the… nature of the screams) and also I wanted to apologise for being rather combative in explaining the context— which, yeah, was definitely missing in the original post. Gonna edit that now to make this post less rant, more informative.
Yep this. I’ve been given the advice to step away from my baby when she’s crying if I’m overwhelmed and she’s in a safe place. That’s advice from basically every medical professional I’ve encountered during pregnancy and post partum. Because it is so, so important to not let your nerves get fried in an attempt to be a perfect parent, because letting your nerves get fried will lead to shit you’ll regret down the line. Be that shouting or checking out mentally or way worse stuff.
Ear plugs =/= can’t hear. Loops specifically are designed to allow you to hear but not have hearing damage.
My baby is colicky AF and will scream while we’re in the process of making her a bottle. Or while we’re burping her. Or when we have to pull the bottle away to wipe spit up. Or while we’re in the process of soothing her but not soothed yet.
I’m pretty patient (with children, not judgy parents though) but I’m not perfect. I can parent better and be more present while not massively overwhelmed by a noise designed by evolution to be horrible and intolerable.
I’m so sorry. I almost wanted to downvote this because I want to downvote the circumstance.
But heeeeeey that would sort childcare… woohoo…
The swaddle. My child has learned being awake is fun. Including at night. By the power invested in me by this swaddle blanket, she will learn the beauty of SLEEP.
I grew up such a people pleaser that this would have worked SO well on me. Stop leads to “why?” But my parent being upset, or god forbid dosappointed… those are some words of great power.
I swear my nearly 3 week old is starting to turn her head towards me, and occasionally even try to focus her eyes on me, when I speak to her up close.
She wasn’t even meant to be born for another 12 days! At least going by due dates. But honestly as much as I’ve researched adjusted age for preterm babies, I’m becoming convinced I can ignore all that. I can see her speeding towards the 2 month milestones (the first checkpoint, essentially). She’s not hit them yet, that would be crazy, but I’m seeing early signs like the above.
Also she read Watership Down.
Okay it was an abridged version for kids and I did the reading. But she liked the pictures.
Okay not strictly words, like at all, but the other day I had my baby in my lap and she randomly arched backwards, pursed her lips in an O, and after a dramatic pause let out a long “oooooooooooh”
I knew then I was sleep deprived because I lost my shit laughing.
Tl:dr; “ooooooooh”
If your freshly born newborn doesn’t poop because she’s constipated, well they work surprisingly like toothpaste tubes if you hold their knees to their chest.
I’m sorry for the image. I’ve earned my “grit your teeth and do what you gotta” merit badge at just a week and a half postpartum, so I’m… happy?
I would love a general/weekly discussion post! Currently 8 months pregnant with my first, so I’ll take any chance to connect with other parents once she is here.
Content of my letter, identifiers redacted:
Objections to the Secondary Let licencing of [Next door property] To whom it may concern at [my] Council, My name is [Okasen], and I am writing to object to [Next door property] being permitted to operate as a Secondary/Short Term Let. As the owner and resident of [my property], I have great concerns about allowing this home to be used as a business, instead of as a home for a long-term resident.
Some of my discomfort stems from personal concerns; My partner and I are expecting our first child, and are worried about her growing up in immediate proximity to a revolving door of different residents (for reasons listed below). Community is important for raising children, and community safety moreso. I feel it is reasonable to want neighbours I can get to know over time. Quite frankly, if I had known that the home attached to my own [home] was going to become a neighbourhood-eroding business, I would not have purchased [home]!
Beyond personal concerns: The housing markets in the UK, particularly in tourist hotspots like [my city], are already struggling to keep up with the demand for homes for long-term residents who desire to live and work within [my city]. I strongly feel that we should not be pushing long-term residents out of the city in favour of private businesses.
My specific concerns and reasonings are as follows:
Anti-social behaviour and noise disturbances associated with Short Term Lets [Next door property] has been running as a Short Term Let for some time now, with visitors frequently coming and going. While some of these visitors are well-mannered, others tend towards more anti-social and noisy behaviours such as: Leaving dogs inside the property alone for hours at a time, which cause noise disturbances with non-stop barking and crying. Loud behaviour and activities, sometimes late into the night– understandable as many of these visitors are on holiday, but becomes a nuisance in a semi-detached home.
Degradation of Neighbourhood Spirit and Community
The pedestrian subway entrance to [my] Street is decorated with a photo collage celebrating the community that inhabits the street. A community is made and maintained by long-term inhabitants. When more and more homes are repurposed as short-term lets, we hinder the ability of long-term residents to move in and maintain the community spirit. A street like [my] Street, which proudly celebrates its community history, needs to have that community-based history and future protected.
In the time where this property has operated as a Short Term Let prior to being licenced, it has been incredibly difficult to communicate with the owner of the property about issues related to the building. As [next door property] is attached to [my property], it is imperative that we can communicate about problems relating to the shared building. Unfortunately, with a revolving door of residents coming and going, even notes left through the post box go unnoticed or are not responded to.
Oversaturation of short term lets operating on [my] Street: On just Booking.com, it is possible to see 7 properties up for short term letting, along with another 2 currently visible on airbnb. A street cannot dedicate 9 homes to short term lets if it wishes to remain a community. I feel these concerns that I have laid out clearly show how a short term let is not an appropriate use of [next door property]. My name and address can be found below for this objection:
[No they can’t, not anymore lol]
I also want to make it clear that I don't mind the current owner making the next door property a long term let. I rented for a long time and am only not-renting now due to resounding luck in career aptitude. And realistically, if the owner was to sell the property, it's most likely gonna be another landlord buying it because gestures at societal failures.
50
Behold, my gardening project. Currently very overgrown, but soon to be a permaculture oasis!
(slrpnk.net)
(See also: My awesome gardening coveralls, which I made myself to be as Loud as possible. Also, one of my dogs)
I've recently bought a house and there's a LOT of work to be done in the back garden to get things ready for my purposes. Little by little I'm clearing away dead stuff and overgrown bushes... and oh god so much of it has thorns. but I'll persevere.
(But if anyone has a brand or type of garden glove they like for dealing with thorny plants, I'm all ears.)
I'm also curious what you all would do with all of the garden waste this generates? I have a bin I can put garden waste in, but before I start binning the clippings and such, I want to be sure they can't be used. I have started a compost pile that desperately needs more browns, but with regards to the greens it's getting quite full!
1
Learn to break down whole chickens and build your respect for the whole animal while improving your meal planning!
(slrpnk.net)
so this is the other end of animal husbandry, but I feel it's important to know how to deal with an animal on the cutting board with skill and respect before you ever dispatch one. I'll try not to make this too long and rambly, but here's my thoughts on why you should try to learn how to properly break down whole birds.
First, respect. I find that seeing an animal in a form that still looks vaguely like an animal helps build that connection in your mind that yes, this was a living creature once. And I think that's important when we're still buying chickens from the grocery store-- obviously if you're raising your own chickens already, you're more intimately aware of that. I have a lot of issues with the meat industry, and one of those is how sanitised and detached the meat buying process is. It's a lot easier to ignore that the food you're buying was once alive when it's a plastic package of seven breasts from 3 and a half different animals.
Second, frugality. I'm not saying it's strictly cheaper to buy chickens as whole birds vs. a pack of breasts or thighs, maybe like for like but I find when I buy a whole bird I'm more likely to purchase one that was as high-welfare as possible. But once I have that bird, I'm more likely to use the whole thing in a frugal mindset. I'm not going to toss the drumsticks if I don't like dark meat, or discard the skin. I worked hard to make that one bird into what can be around 10 meals (for a single person), and I'm going to appreciate each bit, up until all that's left is bones and I'm making stock.
Third, meal diversity. I know a lot of people just eat the breasts, but continuing from the second point, when you've broken down the entire bird you're kind of boxed in to making a meal with the drumsticks, with the thighs, with the wings. Maybe this is only a benefit to some people, but I feel like when I have ingredients I Must use I have an easier time deciding what I will make. And I'm pushed out of my comfort zone of diced chicken breast into remembering that there are recipes I love for thighs, and that I can make my own hot wings.
Anyways, now that I've hopefully convinced you that you should have this butchering skill whether or not you intend to raise meat chickens, here's a video I used to learn how to do it myself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTNEjPOixKY
Also please enjoy the photo of my recent chicken butchery... nobody make fun of me for having the shittiest plastic cutting board and knife, I just moved house and all of my nice stuff is still back in my old place and I needed Something on a tight budget so I could still cook. (But in general, if you're looking for a cutting board, get one made of wood. The heavier the better. These shitty plastic cutting boards are like chicken turntables I swear to god)
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Oh geez this. My parents never let me try out new things if they would be messy or might fail. I wanted a veggie garden, nope. Baking, too messy. Tons of craft things were vetoed for a very long time too. Thankfully as an adult I’ve rekindled these desires, and i have a garden I cultivate and a sourdough starter going (as examples). But I do mourn the learning I could have done as a kid.
I’m determined to let my kid do messy things. Right now the messiest thing she can do is spit up, but when she’s older she can have so much play doh and dirt time and baking time.
(Play doh only if she’s not eating it)