I think this really depends on your style. My job requires pretty formal business attire so for work things, I go with Talbots, Boden, and J. Crew. I tend to stick with For casual stuff, my go to’s are athleta and Everlane. I also buy a lot of my stuff secondhand—there’s a ton of well made things in thrift stores with tags still on.

Not unpopular at all. I have three kids just as annoying with my first for sure (and probably the younger two). It’s exciting. Let her live her life.

I’m 40 and I don’t spend time alone for a few weeks after I have a seizure. It’s scary for me and for my entire family.

And I totally get the loss of independence. It’s absolutely suffocating. I have been a super independent person my entire life and now I don’t drive or stay overnight alone.

I feel your frustration in your post. You need to talk with your parents and come to an agreement that balances your need for independence with their need to know you’re safe.

Okay wow that’s a lot of shade to Dollywood.

But, yeah, those are pretty terrible dresses.

I’ve been on lamotrigine since the beginning of January and honestly it has made a huge difference on my mood. Apparently some people just walk around without having intrusive thoughts all the time? Wild.

Anyway, I feel better from an anxiety and depression standpoint than I have in at least a decade.

I just switched fully to lamotrigine about a month ago and I really like it, but yeah my brain is working slower than when I’m unmedicated. I’m having some word recall and memory issues but it’s much better than when I was on a very large dose of keppra. Also, I feel like these are improving the longer I’m on it, so fingers crossed.

We rented a Snoo with my youngest kid and it was fantastic. He slept independently in it much earlier than my older kids did in their non-fancy bassinets.

However, I would not buy one simply because it’s a bassinet and babies tend to outgrow them at no later than 6 months old.

You can rent directly from the company and they have great customer service. I don’t remember the cost but I thought it was reasonable. If you buy secondhand it’s going to be cheaper, but if anything breaks the company probably won’t repair it. And, from what I’ve heard from others, they do break somewhat often.

New England. It’s toward the other end of the mountains but looks very similar.

I have left temporal lobe epilepsy and I have a sense of impending doom and lose the ability to talk about 30seconds before I lose consciousness.

I walk a lot (lots and lots of stroller walks) a day do 10 minute apple fitness workouts when I have time throughout the day. The 10 minute ones make it manageable to squeeze in.

Hugs your way too. I think this really shows how well written the book is, but I never want to finish it.

Entirely possible we’re distant cousins

I never ever ever thought I’d put my kids in private school. My entire family is in education in some way in the public school system and I fundamentally believe it provides much needed public good in more ways than education.

But we moved to a new state a couple of years ago and hadn’t bought a house until about 6 weeks before we physically moved. So we enrolled our kids into the private school operated as a laboratory school for the education students at the college I work. It is amazing and my kids are thriving. We’ll probably keep them in private school until they graduate.

That said, I think whether they thrive in either environment is dependent on the kid. My kids had been in virtual learning for two full years before we moved. Moving into a school with small classes has helped their transition. Other kids might not have the same experience. At some point, one or all of my kids might decide they’d rather be in a bigger school. It’s okay to be flexible.

I really like the Kerastase night serum for blonde hair (purple bottle). Works better for me than the 8h (orangey bottle) for me.

NTA for pretty much everything everyone else has said AND this is a weird stance to take. I don’t love baby showers and when I was pregnant I comprised with my family and just had a party with some snacks and hanging out with a lot of family saying congrats and being excited.

I love it, but their tatcha website usually has better deals than Sephora.

NTA. But your “friend” and his family are. I literally cannot imagine a guest showing up at my house during a dinner and not inviting them to join. I would be so embarrassed to not show that hospitality. If one of my family had invited someone to a different event after the dinner and then changed the arrival time 15 minutes before, I would be embarrassed and livid at my family member for being so rude.

This person is not your friend. Don’t be around them or their family anymore. Both are extraordinarily rude.

It’s honestly amazing! I wish we’d been able to do it with the first two.

I love my husband being a SAHD! It’s honestly been a game changer for us as parents of a toddler. The baby and toddler years were so much more difficult with our older too kids when we both worked. Other than the obvious, him being home with our youngest really helped me not experience the PPD/PPA I had with older two kids.

There’s been some stress, but overall it’s 10/10.

I’ve always asked before going with a note that I’ll pay for the sibling. In my case (and my parent circle’s case) that’s typically how we do it and the question is more of a question of whether the sibling can go to the party room for cake with the invitee. Usually not an issue because most people tend to get a sheet cake or more cupcakes than the invitees can actually eat. The couple of times it was an issue, I just told the sibling to keep playing and had snacks for them.

Having one kid is fine. Just ignore anyone who suggests it’s not. Your kid is also not even a year old. There’s literally no reason to even be thinking about having another kid right now.

That said, I had a really hard time after my first was born and felt exactly like you described. It takes, in my experience, about two years to fully get out of the postpartum period and start feeling like yourself again. I’m not saying that to say you should have more kids—if you don’t want to, don’t—I’m just letting you know that what you’re describing is fine and normal. I have three kids, but if I’d to make a permanent decision about whether to have more less than a year postpartum, I would only have one.

Find another dermatologist. Mine always does a full body scan and takes photos of areas they want to keep an eye on in the future.

I don’t take topamax currently and never have for epilepsy, but I did take it in my twenties for migraines (before epilepsy) and i absolutely hated it. i only took a only took of doses before i decided I'd rather have migraines. It made me feel off balance and i couldn't form coherent thoughts.

I'm currently am transitioning from keppra because I can't deal with the memory issues and aphasia.

ETA I saw in a comment that your doctor wants to transition you to keppra. A lot of people don’t like it, but I honestly haven’t had a ton of issues. I’m transitioning to a different med because I had to take a pretty large dose (2000 mg twice a day) and it caused brain fog, memory issues, and some aphasia. When I was at a lower dose I didn’t have those issues.

Friend, this guy sounds like he’s potentially abusive. “Blowing up” over this and saying it makes him fell like “notch on the bedpost” is a pretty big red flag. Obviously, we don’t know your entire relationship but think about how often something like this happens and consider if it’s worth staying (or safe to stay) in the relationship.

Thanks! I’m hopeful it will help. I’m sorry medication is not working out for you.