Liz

My sister in law is a very ungrateful person, demanding rude, very rarely says thank you - in fact, her own mother has to prompt her to say thank you! This person is 20, but has been raised very poorly in my opinion. So I'm struggling with the idea of, should I keep gifting to my niece? My niece is 1, and I have loved getting her gifts, but what I don't love is never being told thank you, or even getting a picture or Facebook message with my niece playing with or wearing her gifts. Then my sister in law will get demanding, and usually ask when I can send more items, etc. I'm honestly burned out, my SIL has been this way since I've known her. So should I stop giving gifts, or just do less personal thing like a card with a few dollars for my niece for her birthday and holidays? I hate to feel like I'm punishing the kids, but I have a feeling they will follow in the footsteps of their mother and be very ungrateful and constantly demading things. Help!

There are so many details in this situation, to many to list, so here is the gist of things: my husband and I had out first child not to long ago, and my husbands mother just won't stop meddling! I feel like everyday I get a call from my MIL, inquiring how things are - which is fine- but when I mention anything like "baby is a little cranky today" I get the 10th degree about how I am doing things wrong, I shouldn't do this or that. The last straw was when I mentioned I was celebrating Christmas with my parents, and my MIL went on a rage about how Christmas is a pagan holiday, I'm going to corrupt my child, yadda yadda yadda. (We do not share the same view on religion - she is a different religion than I am). My husband and I have already agreed on how we are raising our child, spiritually, discipline wise, and etc. but the MIL keeps coming between my husband and I and making him doubt our decision. My mom is not like this, what the heck should I do??

I keep having a recurring nightmare where my husband gets violent with me, and one of his friends throws my child out the window. Ultimately in the dream I end up leaving him, and become homeless. My husband and I very rarely fight, and our relationship is stable. It's such a disturbing dream, what could it mean?

I feel like I am always cleaning and wiping out my infants ears, at least 4-5 times a day. Whenever she wakes up from her nap, the outer rim of her ears are always crusty and have buildup. My child is 4 months old. Any advice on how to prevent or care for this?