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      November 27, 2018

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4 kids

I Can’t Be Bothered To Care About A Pacifier In My Toddler’s Mouth
School Age DaysToddlers

I Can’t Be Bothered To Care About A Pacifier In My Toddler’s Mouth

by Jill September 28, 2018
written by Jill

My 21 month old still mostly drinks from his favorite bottle, and I’m in no hurry to change that. Honestly, he’s the only baby to ever really use a bottle by choice. My first flat out, 100% refused. I made sure to fully wean the other two from their occasional bottle use by the age of 1, like a good mother.

I wish I could find a damn to give about my nearly 2, 4th baby still drinking his cow’s milk from a cheap stainless steel bottle we picked up at Walmart, but I just can’t. If a bottle of milk helps him sleep for 6 hours before waking and rolling over to me for an early, EARLY morning boob buffet snack, then I’m here for it.

He’s still sucking on that pacifier, too. We are trying to make it a “sleepy time” only thing, except when we’re in places where he’s sticking random disgusting crap in his mouth. A toddler sucking on a pacifier as we glide through Target seems better to me than a toddler picking up the flu from licking the cart handle, and then passing that on to the rest of us.

The fucks are non-existent when it comes to this issue. I overspent my fucks about pacifier use on my daughter, who was nearly inseparable from hers until she was 4.

We weaned her from it, FYI, by going on a cruise and “forgetting” them, except OF COURSE we actually brought them because we weren’t about to be in the middle of an ocean and realize that idea backfired. It didn’t, though, and she came home from the Caribbean without a MAM in her mouth.

Fast forward a few years, she talks all the time, and she inherited my gap-toothed smile, so braces are probably in our future anyway. All that stressing over the freaking pacifier was pointless. I’m just going to book a cruise again a couple years from now. I can not be bothered to care this time.

Maybe some of you are thinking, “Wow. That’s so sad that she’s, like, given up.” And yeah, there are probably some valid reasons why I should totally try to get my toddler to stop doing these things, or to go to bed earlier, or to sleep through the night, or think about potty training him.

(BTW, he’s going to have to come to me with a dissertation on why he’s ready for underwear before I put any effort into potty training this time.)

I know that I recently blogged about him not speaking as much as our others did at this age, so I want to clarify that he’s not walking around with a paci or bottle in his mouth ALL the time. We’ve worked to restrict these things because of his speech.

But also:
My 10 year old needs to really grasp what’s going on with his math lessons, and my 7 year old needs to get over her fear of imperfection and read aloud to me more, and my 5 year old needs many lessons about how he can get into serious danger if he wanders off and doesn’t tell us where he’s going.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Baby Rabies (@babyrabies) on Aug 5, 2018 at 6:53pm PDT

All of my kids need to learn about empathy, inclusivity, racism, sexism and history. They all need us to model healthy emotional coping skills, and they need to learn from us what porn is and why they actually can’t chat with people they don’t know online, even when they think they are “just kids” playing video games.

They need our help navigating friendships and hurt feelings. They need to know we will love them no matter who they love. They need to know why alcohol and drugs could hurt them or kill them, and they need to know that mental illness and suicide run in their family, and that they can always come to us with whatever struggles they have.

 

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A post shared by Jill Krause — RV Family Travel (@happy.loud.life) on Sep 14, 2018 at 8:46am PDT

I could look for fucks to give about the bottles, bedtimes, pacifiers, and other toddler challenges, but I’m too busy trying to deal with issues that make sleep training and weaning look as insignificant as teaching a puppy to balance a treat on their nose. Sure, if I had the time, that would be fun. Not much is going to come from worrying about it, though.

Bigger kids, bigger problems indeed.

September 28, 2018 15 comments
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Selective Memories- Can I Please Choose Them?
Stuff

Selective Memories- Can I Please Choose Them?

by Jill February 16, 2017
written by Jill

The following photo is not intended to make you feel inadequate about what you did or didn’t do for your family on Valentines Day:

Selective Memories- Can I Please Choose Them? | BabyRabies.com

I went a little nuts, but I’ll explain why in a bit.

Selective Memories- Can I Please Choose Them? | BabyRabies.com

Valentines Day dinner was made up of the foods the kids told me they “love”- mac & cheese for Leyna & Lowell, cranberry sauce for Kendall, bacon for, well, everyone.

I did try to sneak some heart shaped zucchini in there…

Selective Memories- Can I Please Choose Them? | BabyRabies.com

But they were much more interested in the heart-shaped bacon, and felt a little conned because nobody said they loved zucchini.

Selective Memories- Can I Please Choose Them? | BabyRabies.com

I apologize for the horrid attempts at food photography here. These pictures are looking straight out of a 70s cookbook with recipes for SPAM & lime JELLO casserole.

Selective Memories- Can I Please Choose Them? | BabyRabies.com

I surprised them with balloons, candy bouquets, and the cutest Valentine cards and buttons from this Instagram/Etsy shop I’m newly obsessed with- InkPug.  (We are SO that pug family now.)

Can we just have a moment for this card I got for Scott?

Selective Memories- Can I Please Choose Them? | BabyRabies.com

Maybe you’ve noticed I’m running really short on time for all the things right now? I mean, this blog is pretty neglected lately.

I don’t have time to keep up with laundry. I don’t have time to keep up with our messy house. I don’t have time to keep up with emails. I don’t have time to write.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! It’s like I forgot that newborns are SO SELFISH.

Selective Memories- Can I Please Choose Them? | BabyRabies.com

I was like, just sit here and hold his hand so I can step away for 2 minutes and he won’t feel like I’ve abandoned him, okay? 

But I did take the time to do something special for Valentines Day, yes, for my kids, but also for me. I’ve felt so overextended. Making time to tuck the 2 bigs in each night is a huge ask of myself lately, and it used to be something I never let myself skip.

Christmas felt like a disaster to me. I know the kids won’t remember most of it, and they weren’t seeing it through postpartum hormone glasses, but I will remember, and I did. I needed a fun family do-over. I needed a home-run holiday. I needed to hear my kids say, “This was the BEST EVER!”

So I had some fun with Valentines Day, and it was exactly what my soul needed. And as much as I hope the kids don’t remember last Christmas, I hope they do file away a sweet memory or three from that time mom made bacon hearts and mac & cheese in a heart cake pan, and even pulled together some cranberry sauce in February for the best Valentines Day ever.

Selective Memories- Can I Please Choose Them? | BabyRabies.com

February 16, 2017 0 comment
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Happy Not Memorial Day!
Parenthood

Happy Not Memorial Day!

by Jill May 23, 2016
written by Jill

I called Scott from the car this morning. I broke free from the house for just a bit, planned to get myself some lunch and run a few errands while he played video games with the kids.

“Hey! Are you sure Kendall didn’t have school today?”
“Well, why would he have school on Memorial Day? They’ve never had school on Memorial Day.”
“I don’t know. I just… there are a lot of kids playing outside at the school. Think it’s just the aftercare program? Man. That’s A LOT of kids.”
“I guess. Maybe? Weird.” 
“Ummm… and also I just saw a post office truck. Why would they be working on Memorial Day?”
“What? Seriously? That’s crazy.”
“Babe. Are you sure it’s Memorial Day?”
“YES. Jill, it’s Memorial Day.”
::silence::
“Ugh. Hold on. I’ll look it up and call you back.”
1 minute later, phone rings
“So yeah. Memorial Day is actually next week.”
“Wait. What? You’re serious. What?!”
“Yeah. I guess I had the wrong date.” 
“ARE YOU KIDDING ME? WHAT? So you basically just didn’t go to work today? We just didn’t send our kid to school? Are you serious?!”

Begin Happy Chewbacca laugh that didn’t stop for an hour.

via GIPHY

Yeah, so Happy Not Memorial Day! Hey, we already bought the brats to BBQ so we’re doing this thing. Twice.

IMG_9950

This is what happens to your brain on too many children.

 

May 23, 2016 3 comments
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