becca

I work part time in the evenings after my husband gets home from work, so he is left taking care of our 4 children. We have a 4 month old breastfed baby that he particularly struggles with. I always leave bottles, and while he prefers the breast he will (eventually) take the bottle. But I keep getting phone calls and texts about how the baby is screaming and my husband can t figure out what to do. The hardest part for him is to get baby down to bed for the night. He says that he just won t go to sleep. But when I get home I feed him, put him in bed and he goes right to sleep. I told him that all his freak outs don t help the baby and that he can sense the feelings of others. What advice can I give my husband to help him take care of the baby?

I just had my 4th baby 6 days ago and breastfeeding is ok considering his age but I don t think he is latching deep enough. He doesn t open his mouth very wide, or if he does, by the time I bring him to my nipple he has closed it too much again - like he s making an O with his mouth. He also sometimes tucks his chin in to his chest when I m trying to latch him which makes it very difficult to get a proper latch. He will often stick out his tongue or lick at my nipple, almost like he isn t interested, except I know that he is and after a minute or so he will finally latch. When he is getting near the end of a feeding or falling asleep he will slide even more towards the end of my nipple, at which point I have to break the latch because it hurts. I m not sure if this is because my supply is still establishing or because of his latch but after he eats my breast still feels like it has milk deep inside it, like I m not fully emptied.

It is just a completely different experience with him than with my other 3 so I feel like I should be an expert by now but I never had an issue getting my others to latch deeply. Please help! :)

I m 33 weeks with my 4th and I haven t had my rhogam shot yet. I went a few weeks ago to get it but they couldn t do it right when I was there and I couldn t come back later that day. The hospital is not really close to my house and I never drive out there so it s kind of inconvenient to go back.

After I have my baby I am having a procedure similar to getting tubes tied (it s called Essure and is permanent birth control) so I wonder if I even need the rhogam.

As far as I ve studied, rhogam only protects future pregnancies and would not do anything for my current one. So, do I really need it?

I'm trying to prepare myself for next years tax season regarding my new business, and I read about quarterly estimated taxes. As a sole proprietor, how do I file these? Since most of my income will come during the summer I would prefer to send the payments each quarter they are earned instead of 4 equal payments. Also I'm confused if this is taxes from my business income (with or without expenses deducted) or from my personal income earned through the business. Or are they considered the same thing?

To be honest all of this is getting a little overwhelming, so any help is greatly appreciated. And just making sure, this is separate from my quarterly sales tax payments, right?

I'm filling out the paperwork for the BPP tax and I have come across a few questions. This is my first year filing so I'm feeling a little lost.

What does it mean when it says "secured party" or "unsecured party"? I have to determine which one I am, but I don't understand what they mean.

Also, for the inventory, do I claim the amount of inventory that I have on hand right now? Or do I claim the amount of inventory that I expect to use for the whole year? I am just a small business so I only keep a small amount of inventory on hand at a time and order more when needed.

Any help understanding this is greatly appreciated!

I babysit a little girl who just turned 8 months and she is very different from my 3 girls that I worry a little if she's falling behind or within the normal range for things.

If I put her on her tummy she doesn't really push up on her hands and won't lift her tummy off the floor at all. I've tried putting her in the "hands and knees" position but she fights it with stiff legs and floppy arms. She can roll from tummy to back, but I've never seen her roll back to tummy. And it seems almost accidental when she does roll.

She can sit on her own but never uses her hands for any kind of support - her arms are usually in the air beside her. My daughters all used their arms for support in early sitting and would continue to use them if they wanted to reach a far away toy or were feeling wobbly. This baby will fall flat on her face if she reaches too far instead of using an arm for support.

She can scoot a little when on her tummy, like the way a clock hand goes around, but that's it.

Like I said, I'm not sure if this is all well within the normal range or if there is something we should try to help her along.

I babysit a 7 month old and she's always been a "stiff" baby. It is hard to get her in a sitting position because she won't loosen her joints easily, I guess. Or whenever I pick her up from any position - sitting, laying flat or in car seat - she holds that position in the air until I manually adjust her.

Today I've been trying to get her up on hands and knees to start that crawling position, and I noticed I physically can not bend her legs in that position as if her body won't allow it. Is this a bad thing? Does she just need more time?

I notified my landlord over 2 weeks ago of a water leak. She sent a plumber who could not find the leak, which meant it was under the foundation slab. She had a different guy come do a leak detection and found where the leak was. Then she had some guys come dig a hole so a plumber could get to the leak. Then it filled with water and they had to drain the hole. Then they had to dig it bigger because it did not meet safety requirements. Then it willed with water more. Then they put a pump in to keep it somewhat drained until they could fix it. Then today they were supposed to fix it but it rained.

I feel like this should have been fixed the day they dug the hole, if not the day after. They are taking way too long to make the repair and landlord told me the leak is worse than it was at first. So I know our water bill is going to be high.

Is 2+ weeks too long for this sort of thing to be fixed? Can I make the landlord pay the portion of the water bill that is in excess of what we normally use?

I live in Texas.

I'm trying to gather information needed to dispute an inaccurate account on my husband's credit report.

The original account was for an electric company in Nevada and was opened in 2014. We don't even live in Nevada and haven't for the last 7 years.

I really don't know what kind of evidence is needed to dispute this except our word that we didn't do it. Is there something else I should send?

I recently saw on my husband's credit report that he has an account in collections from a company in Las Vegas. He grew up in Vegas but we have lived in Texas for the last 7 years. He never opened this account, and since it has only now come to collections I assume it must have originally been opened after we were already living in Texas. Is there a way that I can prove we were living in Texas and didn't open the account so that we can get it removed from his credit?

I have a 6 year old in kindergarten, a 5 year old, a 14 month old and I'm 29 weeks pregnant. I also babysit a 7 month old for 9 hours a day 4-5 days a week. I also work 4-5 nights a week as a delivery driver.

With all that said, I admit that I can be lazy at times. I'm laying here typing this even though I need to put away the laundry I just folded. My husband and I keep arguing about how I'm not taking care of all my responsibilities. I know that im not constantly up all day working around the house, but should I be? His point is that he works 3 part time jobs so I should keep up with laundry, dishes, cleaning, cooking, and all that. The ONLY household responsibilities he has are taking out the trash and mowing the lawn. I really don't ask much from him because he does work hard, but sometimes I feel like his expectations for me are too high.

I'm just wondering if I'm missing something here - SHOULD I be constantly working all hours of the day so that all chores are complete? My husband seems to think so. He says that I can relax and watch tv / play video games / call friends after my work has been complete. But as a mom, is my work ever really complete?

I kinda just needed to vent, but if anyone wants to answer my question or give advice please do, it's getting very frustrating and I don't like fighting with my husband but I also can't see myself doing things the way he expects.

They hang out around the front door and in the garage so either way they fly in when we open a door. We don t have any standing water anywhere in our yard and no bushes either.

I d like to use some sort of repellant around the doors just to keep them from coming in, but everything I m finding online is meant for use on people and just for the day.

Is there some sort of long term solution that can keep them away? Even if it s something I have to do once every week or two (spray with something, etc.) then I d be happy.

I heard lavender oil could keep them away, should I just rub some on the door frames? Would that last very long?

I have 3 daughters of my own, and I babysit a 3 1/2 month old for a friend. The baby is so different from any of my 3 kids and sometimes I wonder if she is behind developmentally, or if everything is within normal range. I don't want to worry her mom unnecessarily so I don't want to suggest that she talks to her doc unless I have good reason.

First of all, she has a huge head. And it's kinda squared around her forehead and has uneven areas all around. I think that because her head is so big, she still can barely hold it on her own. I read that at this age she should be able to be lying on her back, and I could gently pull her arms to lift her to a 45 degree angle and she should be able to keep her head in line with her body. She doesn't, her head just falls back. Also when I hold her in my lap in a sitting position her head is wobbly and if it starts tilting to one side she can't pull it back up from there. When doing tummy time she doesn't lift her head at all, at least not for me I don't know about at home. And most of the time her hear is turned to the right, like she doesn't like looking left or something.

Another thing that I find kinda weird, she doesn't put weight on her legs. All of my babies would stand very strong if I put their feet on my lap or the table, but she just goes all noodle leg.

So, are these normal for babies this age or could something be wrong?

My daughter just turned 7 months old and I've been exclusively breastfeeding up to this point. I've introduced a few solids like applesauce, avocado, banana, oatmeal and sweet potato - but she doesn't eat food every day and when she does it's only about a tablespoon or two at a time. She is interested in food and chews great but will just not eat as much as other babies I know that are her age.

Anyways, she has 5 teeth and sometimes bites and that along with a lot of other reasons that I've carefully considered, I'm wanting to start thinking about exclusively pumping until she turns one year old. I know that pumps are not as good as the baby as getting milk out, so I'm hoping to get some tips that will help me make the transition easy. I know a good, high quality double electric pump is the way to go, so I'm really looking for more specific info.

Has anyone ever breastfed for several months before deciding to EP? How did it go, and what advice can you offer? How often should I pump?

Thanks in advance!

I am breastfeeding my 6 month old and received my first period since giving birth on July 26. I expected a 28 day cycle and assumed my period would be due this month on August 23. On Tuesday, August 19, I started spotting and assumed my period was coming early. It was a light pink color and I wore the same panty liner all day and it barely had anything on it. Since then there has been no bleeding. I never had implantation bleeding with any of my 3 pregnancies so I'm not sure what to expect but I'm a little worried because I was not planning to have another baby. If I don't get my period on Saturday I'll take a test but I'm just looking for some advice until then. Thanks.

I got an email from a credit monitoring website telling me there was a new account on my husband's report. I went to check it out and it's from an electricity company in Nevada. My husband grew up in Nevada but never had his own electricity account since he was still living at home. We have been married for 6 years and have lived in Texas the whole time. Since my husband is from Nevada we really think it must have been his mom because, unfortunately, it seems like something she would do.

This amount that's in collections is only $104 so it's not crazy but the problem - besides the fact that we didn't do it - is that now we are afraid she has used his name and information for other things that haven't shown yet. We rarely talk to her, and she usually only calls to ask for money. I'm not even sure if we have her current phone number and we have no idea where she even lives.

What can we do?

I got the DBA in my name but my husband is the one doing the work. Does this matter at all? Is there a way to transfer it to his name (is that even necessary)? There are no other employees. He does window tint.

We live in Texas - how do we go about paying for state and federal taxes? Do we pay quarterly or yearly? Where can I find information about this? I've searched all over the internet but I can't find much help for someone like me who has no knowledge of what is needed. Any help is greatly appreciated.

I'm 39 weeks with my third. My doctor is going to induce me next week if I don't go into labor before then. I'd like to avoid pitocin if possible, so I'd really like to try and get things going before then. Currently I'm at 2cm.

I know having sex helps, and we've been doing that. I've also been bouncing on an exercise ball a little.

What about nipple stimulation? How would I do it, manually or with a pump, and for how long?

I've heard of other things like raspberry leaf tea and evening primrose oil but from what I've read they won't actually start labor. And I don't want to do castor oil.

Any other suggestions that aren't complete anecdotal old wives tales?

I've started baking all my bread at home - no more store bought bread for me. That means a lot more work though, so I'm wanting to get a good stand mixer for the dough. My favorite recipe is a no-knead artisan bread, so I really want to just be able to mix my ingredients. However, if I do make a recipe that calls for kneading I'd like a mixer that can hold up.

Since I've never used a stand mixer before, I don't really know if they are good at combining ingredients and kneading dough. Would I be able to just dump everything in and turn it on, or will it require me to use a spoon or spatula to mix ingredients from the sides and bottom of the bowl? If I'm going to have to do some work, I might as well mix it by hand, you know?

I'm trying to keep this as low cost as possible, with $150 being my maximum - are there any good mixers for that price? I've look at a few Hamilton Beach models and they have mostly good reviews, but I just don't know what to expect with a stand mixer.

Thanks.

I bought a waffle iron and a stand mixer from Walmart a couple weeks ago. I still have the receipt. I used them both (once) and I'm very unsatisfied with their performance. I want to return them but I don't know if I should pack everything up in the box like it came. I'm just afraid that if I pack it like it came they will put it back on the shelf and sell a used item. I cleaned them, but the waffle iron still has some batter on it because the batter measuring scoop that came with it resulted in way too much batter and it spilled everywhere and took 30 minutes just to get it as clean as I did.

So, should I return it with ALL the packing material, or can I just put it in the box?