sorry :( Such a hit and miss thing with some clearance :/

I actually think bare cribs can look empty and cold, but I was just doing what I was told. I figure a very young baby is not playing with stuffed animals (I think SKL talked about beloved toys but I don't think that's relevant with the very young babies). I'm very into the concept of decluttering. Busy rooms are too stimulating to me personally. My house is way too cluttered and I have a long way to go. I'm attaching a photo of ds' crib from years ago. I probably moved the quilt when he was born. This was taken before he came home. We used to play music and light toys for him sometimes. He later had an aquarium toy attached to the side of the crib that showed slow movement and played music. He could hit the button and turn it on when he got a bit older. We'd hear him turn it on the middle of the night sometimes. I would like to think his space wasn't too cold/empty! :)

My cat and toddler don't get along very well. I think it's the age. Toddlers are unpredictable as mentioned above. Dd will get too close or make a sudden noise, etc. The cat sometimes will nip or scratch or just retreat. I prefer dd to not approach the cat. The cat can be rude sometimes and sit in the pathway making dd nervous to walk past. The cat won't get out of our way sometimes but I'm less nervous about walking by her. My cat gets jealous of the toddler and vice versa Lol. Maybe that is also an element in your home. My cat never used to hiss at me but she does more lately. I think she's super defensive and the slightest thing will set her off, like I moved my arm she was lying on and she got mad at me. I guess she thought I was going to hurt her? I don't find it hard to believe a cat would hiss at a toddler.

I didn't know newborns needed tons of stimulation. A baby mobile, a pattern on the sheets and maybe a sound machine is just not enough... when they are supposed to be sleeping? Who needs a bunch of stimulation when they are sleeping? Whatever, this thread has gotten way out of control and my post has been taken way out of context. If parents are making their best judgements, then keep on doing what you're doing. My complaint was about the way that cribs and carseats are portrayed on TV where it contrasts what parents are told in hospitals or doctor offices (keep them rear facing. Don't put extra items in the crib). And again I never brought up my concern as a SIDs thing. I just said I don't like seeing things on TV like the above. I also don't like seeing kids without helmets on bikes, but I don't think it means they have bad parents. That's a call each family needs to make (and in some states the laws are more lax than others). Care to elaborate on the class thing?

You're right. Lots of things are not necessary, but I fail to see the need for a baby that just came home from the hospital to need a stuffed animal. This is how I see cribs dressed up in empty nurseries on tv and such. That is the type of thing I mean. If they are told to sleep flat then what's the use of the pillow? Again, doesn't make sense to me. I only hear about babies being advised to sleep raised if there's a reflux issue.

Merry Christmas lol (trees on sale) http://hip2save.com/2017/06/20/home-depot-75-off-artificial-christmas-trees-6-5-tree-w-led-lights-only-25-shipped/

Yeah, no need to order food. Last time we went (which was a bit over 2 years ago??) they were using tokens at our nearest location. I took ds to a birthday party. They ordered the pizza and the moms had a little bit. I don't remember it being terrible, but I'm sure it wasn't the best, either lol. I've had worse (Pete's Party Castle). I was also pregnant at the time so I'm sure I was too hungry to care. Some of the equipment gets gross and at least one time we thought several machines were broken. I couldn't enjoy myself at all the one time when it was overcrowded and people weren't keeping their kids close by. I tried to play skee-ball but some kid was in the way and/or climbed on the actual machines where you toss the ball. So annoying. But if you go when it's not overrun, it's not so bad. Bit overstimulating but I was able to manage. One time we just bought a couple cups of coins and invited a few other kids for ds' birthday and ate with them somewhere else.

I thought I once learned that a child lifting their head up early could be a sign of something not right, but now my brain is all foggy. One or both of my kids did it and I thought I remembered hearing something about a possible explanation down the line (probably not applicable to ALL babies that do it, but it made me wonder about mine). She had torticollis and we had to think back to try to figure out if she was born with it or not. Don't remember if that was what struck up the raising head thing or not, though. Anyway, if you cosleep then the pillows/blankets are probably in the bed for the sake of the adults in the bed more so than the child. In a case where the baby uses a crib or bassinet I still believe that blankets, pillows, and toys aren't necessary. What newborn needs a toy in bed? What newborn needs a pillow? Blanket maybe, but like I said there are alternatives like swaddles. I owned a couple with velcro. Best.thing.ever. I was not very good at swaddling receiving blankets and my kids liked their arms free so I'd just velcro under their arm pits. Never mentioned SIDs in any of my thoughts. Was not my point. Just my two cents.

I am trying to think if I've seen a business suit with capri length pants. Usually when I think or see "capri" I think of a pair of shorter slacks, that could either be a demin or a linen or cotton I guess. But not necessarily the material used to make a suit. I'm sure nicer ones are out there, but I doubt they would want to get into all that. My associations with capris include them paired with sandals. This might be too casual for what they have in mind. Don't really know if they went as far as to say "closed toe shoes only" so that may or may not make a difference.

I did have an older grown man tell me my son was handsome or something along those lines before. I think he said it more than once so it was a little odd but I hoped he was just a friendly guy, not a perv. (was at some church function but I didn't know him). One time dd ran into the sink counter at the grocery store in the bathroom with me and the employee near the sink thought it was okay to try to comfort her and pick her up. It was incredibly awkward. I truly believe the woman had no ill intentions. I removed my child and said that she didn't like strangers picking her up. I told a manager about the situation and asked if he could talk to the employee, basically about keeping boundaries. I told the manager I was not mad but that I didn't want the associate to think it was okay to do things like that. I had a feeling the woman either wasn't all there mentally or was just incredibly socially unaware.

I was not linking blankets to SIDs. I was saying it doesn't seem like a good idea to use a blanket or stuffed animal. I mean, you can just use footed pajamas or a swaddle or something. And they aren't playing with a stuffed animal at 3 weeks old or whatever. I think it's a pointless hazard.

I've been to WM a few times in the past few weeks. I only recall seeing that sign once. It might only be at certain entrances or certain WMs. Like, it was on the Market side of the store but maybe it wasn't on the Pharmacy side (or whatever dept. is on the left at any given WM).

I just assume that people who do this are out of their routine. Maybe not normally in charge of transporting the child. So it's a good reminder.

Well considering how often I see people advertising baby furniture with CRAP positioned where the baby should go... I guess anything is possible. Every.single.time I'm like do people not know you shouldn't shove blankets and stuffed animals in the crib?! I mean, I might give people a pass on outdated bumpers figuring they don't know about the mesh kind or dangers, but even those kinda rub me the wrong way. Dh's boss gave me a quilt as a baby gift. I said thank you and she talked about how I could put it in the crib. I didn't want to get into a whole thing with her so I just said it would be a great quilt for tummy time. Then she reminded me or for the crib. :001_huh: More like for the toddler bed. I see it on TV a lot. I see babies forward facing in TV shows. I want to have a talk with the director or producer or someone everyone I see this. The tv sho Grandfathered? They had the child forward facing in a car with the top down. Maybe to emphasis that the guy was clueless with kids... but... eh.

Lol I would be nervous it would bounce and hit someone's car or something. Right now we have a trash back in the car. Dd ate a banana in the car today and I threw the peel in the trash bag. It would not occur to me to toss the banana peel out the window though I don't see how it would harm anything. Just probably wouldn't do that. And depending on where it is, it can make the roads look pretty trashy (pun intended). Dh and a group just did a clean up on the sides of the roads (rural roads that are mostly trees) right before the tornado came through. He was quite saddened to see all the new debris.

I told a family member about it and they already had one lol. I don't know if it's been helpful for them or not. But given the situation/person, I think it'd be okay. If it's bought offline I'd save the gift receipt and include it.

Good question. I never asked if ours was limited to Catholics. I do know that around here the kids are not all from the same parish since not all the parishes have their own VBS. Ds and I go there quite often but are registered at a different parish which does not have anything besides Bible study and potlucks.

Just this weekend a man at church was talking to me about this event where it rained horribly. He said he ended up escorting another parishioner to her car in the rain (she may have had an umbrella but he was worried about her because she was wearing heels and is an older woman). So he was describing the scene and talking about how flooded the area was and how they were having to step in a number of inches of water I guess. He said he didn't really understand why she wore heels to begin with. I don't know if I laughed but I wanted to. I assumed she didn't have any other shoes to match her outfit (don't know if that was the case but just a theory). I have a pair of dressy boots so I would have worn those, but not everyone does. One of my dressy boots has a heel and I will sink in soft ground immediately, but my other pair is almost completely flat. All this to say I guess sometimes people will make kind of strange choices despite weather. Men's clothing is more practical to begin with so I see this happening more to females.

I'm Catholic and the VBS did not have Mass included in the schedule when I volunteered last summer. I mean, the kids are literally running around outside and playing water games... not exactly prepared to walk into the church for Mass. And the ages of the kids would be a mix of those who had received First Communion and those that had not. Lots of confusion. It would not have occurred to me that some VBS have communion. I can see both points of view on this topic.

I thought this was sarcasm til I read your follow up

I asked dh if he would accept the offer. He said sure. I asked if that would be awkward because he's so tall. He didn't seem to think it would matter. Maybe in his head he figures he'd hold the umbrella as the taller person? I don't know. I don't like sharing an umbrella with anyone - someone is getting wet or you're walking at a snail pace Lol.

Ah. Well in case anyone was wondering, the pulling up one is where dd and I are both standing and she tries to pull her body up to mine (as opposed to doing a push up which my earlier description probably sounded like. Not sure if push ups accomplish the same thing). She just wanted to make sure dd was using both sides of the body equally. And she is not a fan of patching, says we'll probably put something similar to a piece of tape in the corner of the glasses lens. She wants both eyes working together but keeping the eye from going all the way in the corner.

Learning about VT so take my words with a grain of salt. I was under the impression that VT was something that potentially was worked on long-term. I started watching the TedTalk by Susan Barry. I don't know if any of that applies (issues with depth perception). Does he favor one side of the body over the other? Our COVD doc just saw my kids and had them do bear crawls and crab crawls around her office to observe them. She said dd favored one side and that if we strengthened her side it would help with her eye and she gave me some things to do with her. One of which is make snow angels and another is have her life up her upper body and make eye contact with me in the process. Sorry if none of that is relevant to your situation. I just thought it was neat she was trying to address the whole body. Don't know if all COVD drs do that.

While that can be true, I don't think it is necessarily. It's not that young people can't accomplish things, it's just that sometimes it takes you aback. Like someone that can retire at age 25. I was a little taken aback when I found one of ds' doctors just because she's pretty much the only one in our state that does what she does and she's quite young. Her profile says she was recognized one year on some Top 40 under 40 list. If that makes me sound like I'm questioning her qualifications, I'm not.

It can be hard. We live in the Bible belt and it's difficult here lol. I like the church ds went to for First Communion classes, but it's so far away we might just stick to the closer church that has no children and return to doing Sunday school at home to save on gas.