Posts by Grace Anderson3

This one’s for Napu—her little yellow guy looks alright, she just really needs to quit those cigarettes.😎

I ended up crashing for a couple of hours this evening. Dreamed some total nonsense, but somehow Hans and my mother-in-law managed to hold things down perfectly while I was out 🥳 since my mom actually speaks more German than Hans does American... The Baby also decided to throw up during that window, but those two handled it like pros 🙂

A pretty realistic pick for Wikipedia to help them smash those posting records. 😁

Here’s Joe out hunting for clones:

🤣 🤣 Am I being abducted by aliens, or am I the one doing the abducting? 🍿

One for Hopkinsville, just so she has a hat to protect her head when she heads down to California.

I’d suggest this one for our resident owl Sheldon Cooper, pictured here sipping some chocolate while he plans (and by "plans," I mean daydreaming about) heading to bed. 😁

If my bar was just pretending to be closed...

Yeah... we messed up, even when the baby wasn't sleeping 🎉 🎉

Sveki went on and on about her life story, acting like she had an endless supply of things to say. She ended up having Hans when she was just a kid, so his grandmother basically stepped in to handle most of the parenting duties.

stormygardener93 said:Grace Anderson3, did your mom show up yet?

Yeah!! 😍

Grace Sanders24 said:Mom!😍

Walter Baker2 said:My youngest son's first word was "daddy"—I actually have a recording of it.

That's actually pretty sweet.. 🙂

We’re going to record his very first word. 😉

Do you guys remember what your first words were? Apparently, mine was "watch out." 🤔

Nicole Myers said:Same here,
but only after the baby is recorded and we actually get to hear it. 😬

I have no clue how I'd pull that off, 🍿 but since newborns make totally different sounds than adults—like rapid breathing, whimpering, groaning, whatever—it's a different ballgame. 😁

Unbelievable... Just managed to crash for 4 hours in the garage. 😲

Anthony Nguyen81 said:...
Both of my older ones are super protective over the baby.
Everyone’s just jealous that I don't carry them enough.
The oldest is 6 years old and weighs 25 lbs, and I’m wasting my breath trying to explain that it's someone else's turn now—sometimes I have to let her take charge too. 🤣
Meanwhile, the little ones are practically fighting over who gets more space on my head. 🤣

Maybe find a group activity so you can actually give everyone some attention at once. And watch your head.. 😁

Look, honestly, it's probably for the best that we live in different cities. It’s actually a good thing the kid gets to spend time with a family member who clearly gets this excited about them.

Anthony Nguyen81 said:Yeah, over the last seven years, she's either been pregnant or someone's nursing 😁
The gap is about two years, though it feels bigger for the older one (over two years, plus nine months), whereas for the younger one it's closer to a year and a half, so they sometimes look like twins, but 😬...
If they go for a fourth, the gap will widen since the little one is already two 😁
If not, I bet there's going to be a massive party once she can finally have a drink after a long, long time 🤣

It's funny how 😁

You guys are truly fascinated by this. 😁 Did any of the older kids get jealous when a new baby was coming? A friend of mine has two sons with a two-year age gap, and the older one was incredibly jealous for a while, constantly making scenes for his mom. But after six months, he turned into the little guy's protector.👍

Just make sure his wife doesn't dive straight into the bourbon after all those years of sobriety. 🤔

Walter Baker2 said:How exactly do you think Hans can rely on his family?

Anthony Nguyen81 said:She probably just meant having some help from the grandparents every now and then.
That’s a massive help, really, but let's be real—it's not like seniors can always pull that kind of setup together on their own.

My mom—or more accurately, my Baby—was the oldest one in her group during those first three years, and she stayed that way throughout preschool too.
The first two years of my son's life, before everything went sideways with the pandemic.
Everything changed once COVID hit. It's a whole different ballgame now. 👎
Jean's people really couldn't have done that much to help.
You need a diplomat for some of this stuff. It’s always such a touchy subject. 🙂

We knew from the jump that we wouldn't be getting much out of the grandparent service, unless my folks actually come visit us here in the States. But honestly, there’s a silver lining—it means way less outside interference.
When I talked about Hans's family, I was mostly referring to his mother. Jean would love to come visit us, but she’s had to cancel twice already—likely because of the constant friction with Hans's father. Honestly, that man can be pretty condescending and struggles with drinking. He just had a birthday, and he was really banking on Hans showing up for him.😕 It’s a ninety-minute drive to get there, and we had just been discharged from the hospital. I was still recovering, and the little one had only just finished therapy. It honestly feels ridiculous if Hans's mother starts skipping visits to see us just because of him. It hurts seeing Hans look so disappointed, but honestly, it didn't surprise me. At least, it didn't surprise me.

Nicole Myers said:Grace Anderson3, I can see you've got everything under control—observing, planning, executing.
🙂

I really need to get my act together and give Hans some encouragement, especially now that he's realized his family isn't going to step up the way he hoped they would.

Anthony Nguyen81 said:The oldest one nursed until she was two (we actually had another kid on the way right around the time she stopped 😁).
The little guy nursed until about a year old (my wife was already pregnant then, so we had to cut it short a bit).
And the youngest turned two and is still nursing.
To them, nursing is just like having a favorite toy or a pacifier 🙂
Generally speaking, they don't gain weight from it, especially if they're constantly running around 😁

You guys have really managed to keep all the kids on the same page. 😁
I honestly admire your wife for sticking through all those years.

Walter Baker2 said:Yeah, once the Baby starts walking, they'll drop the nursing habit , but even Grace Anderson3 dropped hers while she was busy chasing him around

I'll istesati my progress 🙂 at least...

Jesus... I don't know how she survived two whole years.🙏 It used to kill me, and my kid is still tiny—I can't even imagine the nightmare when the teeth start coming in..

And the moms dealing with twins? Absolute legends.

I try to stay ahead of things by nursing whenever I feel a clog coming on, provided there’s still enough milk in the tank.
I once knew this woman whose Baby would grab at her shirt the second they got thirsty. It made for some pretty awkward moments in public. The kid was just over a year old at the time.

Grace Sanders24 said:I wish people would watch what the Baby eats. We don't want him getting too chubby. Maybe try to get things under control? ...

Sometimes we misread the situation. We think the little guy is crying because he's hungry, but it's actually just gas or pressure in his tummy—or he just wants attention. Babies are like tiny lions; they'll take whatever milk is offered, even when they aren't actually hungry. I still have to explain this to Hans. It doesn't help if you force him to nurse again after an hour of feeding if he hasn't even burped properly yet.

Once those first teeth start coming in, he might lose interest in eating for a bit. That's why it's actually good that he has some extra reserves right now.

Walter Baker2 said:I'm starting to worry about Grace Anderson3 if the Baby is such a glutton, she's going to run out of milk!

We'll start managing his portions as he grows. We're in America, after all; we don't need him turning into a sumo wrestler. But honestly, it's way too early to make any real predictions.

Look at him, acting like I have nothing better to do 🙂

I’m basically eating one-handed at this point. Things aren't just going to tidy themselves up, you know? The house isn't going to clean itself while I'm busy... Hans and I split the load, but when he's asleep, the Baby and everything else is all on me. And honestly, do you have any idea how hard it is to satisfy someone with an Obelix-apetit 🤷