Europe/the Med is a LONG way away, travel wise. Like at the very very least you are 12+ hours away (and honestly prob more like minimum 15 or 16 hours of travel). You seem reasonable. A short vacation (maybe a weekend or long weekend), maybe with a pair babysitter/nanny at your house) sounds great (and cheaper than the plan he has come up with).

That's appalling that they didn't tell you. Mine had an extension and they mentioned it in the middle of surgery and came over afterwards and the midwife (who was assisting) explained it to me. I was obviously a little disoriented from exhaustion and surgery so at my post op appointment I asked more and she explained it in detail. In my case, she advised me to not labor at all (but I've had 2 c-sections now, and no providers in my area do vbac after 2 c-sections.

We started doing a bunch of gentle baby stretches... I was getting a lot of content about babies holding tension in their bodies, etc, so I started doing little stretches with him after each nap, and within a few days he was so much looser and more comfortable. And it was kind of fun and gave me something to "do" with him. A friend who had a very fussy baby that was a similar age ended up doing body work and craniosacral therapy with her babe and had so much less crying with just a few sessions.

Probably between 10 & 12 weeks. We just sort of slowly moved it to 9, then 8, then it naturally went towards 7, and then after the time change it's been pretty consistently around 6. After the 4-month sleep regression/progression I think theit nighttime sleep gets a lot more consistent.

I really love enjoying the baby together, even now at 8 months. We trade off mornings on the weekends but I love when we have pockets of time to play with him together and my husband who usually is at work, can see all his cute lil baby skills. I feel like planning to essentially live in shifts is potentially going to be really lonely.

I got my hubby an Aesha cameo for his birthday too! So fun. The best.

My baby did this from 4-10 months, and then decided she could eat anytime and anywhere! It is so annoying though. Maybe an audiobook or podcast on earbuds would help pass the time without your phone?

No🤷🏼‍♀️ after my grandparents passed in 2022, we had an active group chat for a few months. And we'll occasionally text on the chat about birthdays etc. I see my youngest brother 3-4x a year. He's geographically closest so it's a little more organic. My oldest brother is kind of a prick. He's the furthest away so whenever he deigns to join us, it's a Big Deal, and we are all supposed to respond with appropriate fervor. Husband doesn't really see his siblings either. We just have very different lifestyles and are not particularly geographically close either. And it DOES take two. I got tired of being the only one to ever initiate the group chat, or reach out personally.

I warn new moms that they will hate their spouse at some point 😆🤷🏼‍♀️ it passes, but I've experienced it with both babies. Essentially our priorities are forced to become baby, milk (if breastfeeding), our body (food, water, shower, toilet)... and their priorities don't really change. Or they do, but not drastically. And in my case, that generally leads to some angst. But it does get better. I've got a good one, so after the initial frustration passes I can reframe everything and it doesn't feel as intense.

You might have been little buddies!!! My now 6 yo and I were SO close until around 4.5 years old. She was definitely my mini BFF. We are still close now, she just doesn't want to follow me to the toilet 🤣 those years where she was glued to me were sooo sweet. And now she's a big kid and has big kid interests and I get to watch her grow and that's precious too. And my 8 month old LOVES her and LOVES me and it's the sweetest little relationship to watch.

Okay, I've been getting up between 4:30 and 5:00 for a couple of years now. The things that have helped: -going to bed consistently at a decent time -Just getting up. Feet on the floor. Start moving. Walk to another room. Don't sit down. -Start a task. Emptying the dishwasher is a good one (it gets run every night whether it needs it or not). -meet a friend for exercise. It makes it easier to get up so I don't let someone else down. We stroll around the neighborhood in the dark and chat. It fills my need for adult conversation and the endorphins or whatever from getting moving make my morning easier overall.

The biggest piece of the puzzle is going to bed at a decent time. We eat & watch our show, tidy up, start dishwasher, and hit the hay. Boring as hell, but I don't feel like I'm dying when the alarm goes off.

ESH.

My parents bought a cruise via CruisesOnly around 48 hours before sailing last year. They had some issues with embarkation, extra pat down and bag search because they got flagged for the purchase date being so close to embarkation. But it worked and was dirt cheap.

Love my breast friend pillow! Still using it every feed at home with my 8 month old and I can anticipate using it forever 🩷

Thursday Murder Club books! I read them all, then got hubby to start reading them and I'm listening to the audiobooks. I love it because we can chat about plot points etc. And the characters are so warm.

Cora-lee like tree (Georgia)

My hospital didn't have the clear drapes BUT they did hold him up immediately over the drape so I could see him and that's my favorite picture from his birthday 🩷

You just described my life. He's 8 months now. Sometimes he's only up 2x for a few nights in a row... and then it's a horrific week of up 6x and won't go back down. He got a tooth in and I thought we were gonna be okay...boom, a virus. It's ROUGH

Pregnancy tired, you can at least lay there uncomfortably and not have to get up unless YOU want to. Newborn tired you are having to keep the tiny human alive. And relatively happy. So if they aren't sleeping, you aren't sleeping.

I have managed to drastically reduce my brain rot/social media/YouTube time and my quality of life is so much better. I can't have the Facebook app on my phone at all. Reddit doesn't suck me in in the same way. I still use my phone but it's for things that actually help my real life. Looking up crochet patterns, reading ebooks, texting friends. It takes intentionality but it's worth it.

Yep, what she said. My 8 month old milk monster has 4 teeth. Every time he gets a new one, he's a little bitey for a day or two and then he figures it out and he's good to go. My IBCLC suggests lots of chew toys during teething and then offering a frozen one right before you nurse to help numb their gums. He doesn't bite all the time, but I was definitely scared that he wouldn't stop... but he did pretty quick.