Is a trundle an option? I don't know if any leave adequate room for bedding. I think they may be used for sleepovers more often.

I like zoobie's ideas, especially adding fruit. Someone might find the other food a bit too heavy or whatever. I guess if you have a membership to a warehouse store you could easily get large bags of salad mix, but I don't know how complicated it would be if you are adding a bunch of toppings and dressings to choose from. I might find another drink to keep in the house in case I have a group of people expecting something other than water and liquor to drink before 5:30. It could be something easy, a bottle of soda or store made lemonade or something? Are you going to bring some of the bottled water to the pool side? That might be nice.

They might have table arrangements (five to a table, or whatever) and no way to add extra chairs or plates of food so it might be tough to sort out. When I got married I didn't mean any slight when I didn't invite someone we know. I just hadn't seen her in years and she was closer to my sister than me. My sister asked me close to the wedding if she could come. I was irritated at the last min. addition and said yes. Then they didn't come. So don't stress out the bride over it all if your son doesn't even care or can't come. I would probably not ask her directly anyhow because they didn't ask about his plate. We are actually closer to the person now so it's water under the bridge but at the time I found it so irritating.

encouraging to me would be asking. Sounds like they are just blurting this stuff out. You could cut them off and say, "I don't need all the details" if you feel like they are oversharing or something. If Mom isn't going to spread the information it seems a little more harmless. If she said Friend A said, "xyz" I might remain neutral and say, "and how did that make you feel?" to see how your dd is reacting to gossip. I might be more interested in how my child is reacting to this than what's up with Friend A.

You let them know which is good. I'm sure they understand. Is your dh annoyed that he has to go alone or that it will take up so much of his day? lol

I see where you edited your post to say it's a long Catholic wedding. I had a Catholic wedding. One couple attended the wedding but left before the reception. I was disappointed, but didn't ask questions. I think since you don't know them well and have such demanding hours plus children it would be understandable to not come, but I would have your dh let his friend know in advance so you don't have that awkward, "where's your wife?" comment the day of the wedding.

I went to a baby shower recently and the guest of honor asked where my kids were. Umm the invitation didn't specify and honestly, my daughter would have tried to open all the gifts LOL. On the other hand, I invited ds' friend to a birthday party and didn't specify siblings were welcome but I didn't care if siblings came. One family asked and I told them yes. Another family didn't ask and brought their other child and said hope you don't mind (I told him it was fine). I guess it's hard to know how to word invitations!

I would do all or nothing. Showing up for the reception but not the wedding would hurt my feelings as the bride (if I noticed). Sorry.

I would not ask her directly, but I might find out through the grapevine if there's a way to do that. Like, if there are other cousins and I found out their kids were not invited I would think that none of the children are.

Children's Place has some items 80% off. I got the kids some clothes. Spent approx $11 and got 5 pieces of clothing (shirts, shorts, skirt). Didn't see any big sales on demin, though. Careful when you access the site. Sometimes I get the https link and sometimes I don't. I start over if I don't get the secure link.

My post office and police station are side by side. Last time I went to the PO with the kids I instructed ds to lock the doors and just open it for me when I returned. I just really didn't want to take the toddler inside for a 2 minute errand. Similar to MamaStephanina I could see through windows to the car. If it's not complicated then I just send ds in for me. The feature on my keychain that lets me leave the a/c on is not working right now so I left the keys in the car :o

I think moving your body very slowly as you lift, bend and set down your legs engages muscles and helps you work on balance. So if you felt like you weren't engaging any muscles, maybe set your legs down slower? I don't know, but my dad does the exercises every morning and used to take a class. The most interesting part of the class (I tagged along once) was knocking out a flame on a candle from a distance with chi. I think the instructor could do it from a great distance IIRC.

Yes, the people on the TV set were thinking ahead :laugh: But I get what you're saying.

You might want a NoseFrida. I don't know how well they work as by the time I got ours dd kind of fought me. She started sniffling last night and I thought about trying it in her sleep lol.

I had to do a lot of looking but I did find a couple tops at Stein Mart around Easter. Maybe a store like that? Sometimes I have luck at Cato.

I knew someone was watching me. ;)

To each their own. I couldn't tell you if/what dd favored at 3 months old. She didn't sleep with stuffed toys and often woke up wanting to be near us (sleeping beside our bed) so ended up in our bed. It's not as if she was lying in bed bored to tears. I couldn't get her to lie in bed til she was already falling asleep. I'm a light sleeper so her little sounds woke me up. Lots of people move and don't use nurseries for long-term. Lots of people don't have nurseries at all. Dd has never slept in "her" room which is shared with her big brother. She still sleeps in our room. I actually still worry about suffocation with blankets sometimes even if someone is "big enough to crawl over and grab" an item. /shrug.

I try to have stamps, envelopes, address labels and an assortment of stationery on hand. Also cardstock if I want to make my own personalized card. My nearest post office has the worst hours (not open on weekends, closed for lunch, no stamp machine). I am excited about my new planners that I found out about on this board. The small monthly one can fit in my purse so I don't have to add another note to my smart phone. I always forget to look at those. Also my memo pad with pen that I bought because of the Hive. At any given time, I usually have one pair of dd's shoes in the car. Sometimes it's easier to just pick up the barefoot kid and put her in the car and deal with the shoes later. Right now sandals are in car so no need for socks. Sometimes, if I'm really proactive, I will go to coupons dot com and search by product name (ie. Pampers) and print coupons for exactly what I need before I go to the store. I'll do this with digital coupons for places like Dollar General and Family Dollar as well. For the longest time I didn't know you could search by brand name so I'd get frustrated scrolling through categories. Maybe everyone knew this but me :lol:

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.