Alyssa & John 9: It’s All About Dressing Up and Looking Perfect on Instagram

[AussieKrissy]

Alyssa is telling a story about going to the store alone. (Lovely for every mum with kids, I agree). She tells a story about a man asking her if she had just been at the gym next door because she looks like she just worked out. She misses his point (I totally think he was hitting on her). She goes on to say she doesn’t know if he was trying to make conversation (ahhh yes to hit on you) and that she explains that, that is the point to wear active wear but not work out.  It was an odd story for her to document…. Or maybe not it could be her trying to be funny and relevant. 
 

[CanadianMamam]

I actually think that story might be th most I've ever liked Alyssa. I also think she knew he was hitting on her and she was complaining about it in the way godly women are allowed to (which means never acknowledging that other men find you attractive) but I did appreciate her snark about the work out clothes. 

[Audrey2]

I don't know anything about Instagram but please tell me she's using lots of filters. She looks like a very scary plastic pod person in that picture.

[JillyO]

On 7/2/2021 at 5:30 PM, freethemall said:

Alyssa loves the snack muffin trays, as do I. I am going to post hers compared to one of mine and Alyssa if you read here, might I offer some suggestions?

- ditch the white bread, replace with either a healthier bread or I'll use crackers (sometimes 2-3 types for variety, or even peanut butter crackers) or rice cakes, I've also done little grilled cheese bites. But also just white bread in general.

- it may look like we also have chips and cheetos on ours, those are actually veggie chips and chickpea puffs. There are so many healthier easy snacks than cheetos.

- slice up the damn grapes, your littlest ones could choke!

- good job on the strawberries! See, I can say something nice too.

- other ideas: nuts, veggies, popcorn, yogurt, pumpkin seeds, lots of other stuff. Muffin tin snack trays are great!

Those grapes really are a huge choking  hazard and need to be quartered, but just a PSA that nuts and popcorn are also choking hazards for kids under 4. 
 

@Audrey2 (sorry, can’t figure out how to quote multiple things from my phone): yes, “Home ❤️ by pilotmadeleine” is the name of the filter Alyssa is using. I agree that it makes her look really sickly. 

[AussieKrissy]

On 7/4/2021 at 11:05 AM, CanadianMamam said:

I actually think that story might be th most I've ever liked Alyssa. I also think she knew he was hitting on her and she was complaining about it in the way godly women are allowed to (which means never acknowledging that other men find you attractive) but I did appreciate her snark about the work out clothes. 

lol I actually  didn't listen to it with sound just skimmed the captions so I didnt get a sense of her reaction, I like your thoughts. I suppose, her snark about the work out clothes is very meme like (i have seen heaps of memes stating about the workout clothe no work out) perhaps that is why I didn't give her credit for the snark because I didn't think it was her original idea. 

[browngrl]

My take on the anecdote about the man asking Alyssa if she worked out:

1.  she knew he was hitting on her

2.  she posted the story to let everyone else know that she is back to (or better than) her pre pregnancy body and the story was to emphasize how attractive she is - it sounds like a humble brag to me 

My take on the food trays for the children: That's a lot of junk food for every day. I sometimes make a tray like that for my husband and I when we are watching a movie or a sporting event. It is meant as a treat as it is full of heavily salted or sugary or fatty foods. I will however often make something inspired by the German Abedbrot* ie a light meal with breads, cheeses, meats  and various pickled things and cut up raw vegetables (type of vegetables varies depending on what is on sale/in season). I'm not sure if my version is anything like the German version or if it differs from a cheese board but it is a nice meal anyway. 

* NB I hope I am using this German word correctly - I learned about it on reddit so you know the information might be a bit sketchy

Edited July 6, 2021 by browngrl
added a sentence

[Mar]

35 minutes ago, browngrl said:

 My take on the food trays for the children: That's a lot of junk food for every day. I sometimes make a tray like that for my husband and I when we are watching a movie or a sporting event. It is meant as a treat as it is full of heavily salted or sugary or fatty foods. I will however often make something inspired by the German Abedbrot* ie a light meal with breads, cheeses, meats  and various pickled things and cut up raw vegetables (type of vegetables varies depending on what is on sale/in season). I'm not sure if my version is anything like the German version or if it differs from a cheese board but it is a nice meal anyway. 

* NB I hope I am using this German word correctly - I learned about it on reddit so you know the information might be a bit sketchy

There’s just an n missing. It’s Abendbrot, which literally translates to evening bread. It does sound pretty German the way you’re doing it ?

[JermajestyDuggar]

I have an irrational fear of grape choking. My kids are 6 and 8 and I still cut them sometimes ?

[candygirl200413]

1 hour ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I have an irrational fear of grape choking. My kids are 6 and 8 and I still cut them sometimes ?

You're not alone!! my mom definitely did this till we were like 6 lol she's just like "I trust you just not with grapes?! ?". My sister had a kid this past year and I was eating grapes while he was in my lap and he wanted to have one obviously and I spent so much time removing the skin and ripping it apart so he'd have no problems!

[AussieKrissy]

I am a terrible Mum, I never cut up grapes, I am lucky the only thing I had to be careful with was sausage skin, that seemed to get stuck in her throat a couple of times. My daughter was so not prone to choking that one time, I found a whole unchewed and undigested blueberry in her nappy, she was and still is addicted to them. At the time punnets were like 6 dollars, it crossed my mind what a waste this perfect little blueberry was and that it could be washed and regiven to her lol (I did not), but it did cross my mind. 

My nephew who is 6 months younger than my daughter needed everything cut up, His words are not as clear as my daughter's and I often wonder if his jaw and mouth muscles may need some work... (mindless occasional analyse). I just concluded that some kids are more prone than others and though I didn't work on the side of caution (most probably ignorance on my part). Now In future I most probably would cut up grapes and do a big talk with a child about eating them slowly and not running around with them in their mouth ad to chew properly etc....

[Expectopatronus]

I take risks too, often without knowing better. I cut an orange into slices and then cut each slice into segments. I thought I was being safe but was informed that this was actually a chocking hazard. I also let my kid munch on snow peas, I had no idea this was unsafe. I think we have probably all taken some risks. 

[Melissa1977]

5 hours ago, Expectopatronus said:

I take risks too, often without knowing better. I cut an orange into slices and then cut each slice into segments. I thought I was being safe but was informed that this was actually a chocking hazard. I also let my kid munch on snow peas, I had no idea this was unsafe. I think we have probably all taken some risks. 

Is it dangerous? OMG I've feed my kids orange segments many times. I had no idea!

[SassyPants]

Most people ride in a moving vehicle with their kids. That is probably the biggest risk taken.

I always scratch my head at parents who are so focused on car seat safety, yet put their kids on the school bus out of personal convenience- Um, what-

[CanadianMamam]

2 hours ago, SassyPants said:

Most people ride in a moving vehicle with their kids. That is probably the biggest risk taken.

I always scratch my head at parents who are so focused on car seat safety, yet put their kids on the school bus out of personal convenience- Um, what-

My kids are in car seats in our car but take a school bus (because we have no other option) but to me there is a huge difference between the two.

My kids are on a school bus for 10 minutes each way on country roads with limited traffic. When we are in the car, we are often traveling at much higher speeds on the busiest highway in the world, travelling alongside massive transport trucks. 

[FiveAcres]

Since there has been a certain amount of discussion of pool safety and the efficacy of swimming lessons for youngsters in this thread, I am dropping this link about the effectiveness of infant swimming lessons here. 

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/summer-is-here-and-infant-swimming-programs-are-still-unproven/

The link is from the blog Science Based Medicine. I was appalled to learn that the US has eleven drowning deaths a day and twice as many non-fatal drownings. Some of the non-fatal drownings result in no long term damage, but many others lead to life-long injury. 

Quote

In the interim, people have continued to drown at terrifying rates. In the United States, there are 11 fatal drownings every day and twice as many nonfatal drownings, meaning that thousands of people die or suffer long-term disability every year. When it comes to kids, drowning kills more toddlers (1-4 years) than anything except for birth defects and is the third most common cause at 9% of unintentional deaths in children aged 5 to 19 years behind car accidents (60%) and drug poisoning (13%). Drowning is just as big of a problem worldwide. And though there have been no improvements in these statistics, particularly when compared to the 1980s, these have stalled in recent years.

 

[OHFL2009]

7 minutes ago, FiveAcres said:

Since there has been a certain amount of discussion of pool safety and the efficacy of swimming lessons for youngsters in this thread, I am dropping this link about the effectiveness of infant swimming lessons here. 

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/summer-is-here-and-infant-swimming-programs-are-still-unproven/

The link is from the blog Science Based Medicine. I was appalled to learn that the US has eleven drowning deaths a day and twice as many non-fatal drownings. Some of the non-fatal drownings result in no long term damage, but many others lead to life-long injury. 

 

There is a family a few hours from my hometown that some girls I went to high school with know, who had their 2 or 3 year old twins fall in a friend's pool several months ago. The little girl is apparently fine, but the little boy has severe brain damage. The mom has been posting to Facebook about all the treatments they are trying to help the little boy and it's heartbreaking. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

I’m extremely privileged when it comes to my children and safety. I stay at home and my husband works from home. I live 2 blocks from their school. Most people walk to their school. We can walk to so many restaurants, shops, etc. We don’t have to even get in a car a lot of the time. Which equals way less chance of them being in an accident. We can afford new car seats (we know they weren’t in a crash) that are comfortable for our children and we can afford a car that has a very high safety rating in crashes. I remember my privilege and that’s why I don’t shame others for their safety choices. Most parents in general are doing their best with the resources and choices they are given. 
 

Confession: I’m often doing things I deem safer to ease my own personal anxiety. And I understand that’s quite self centered if me. So there’s nothing amazing about my 8 year old still using a high back booster or my cutting up grapes. I’m doing it to ease my anxiety and yes, it probably keeps my kids safer. But I am sure there are plenty of things I do that others think are not safe. 

Edited July 9, 2021 by JermajestyDuggar

[llucie]

Alyssa posted a new video. She says she had to cancel her trip to see her granparents for 4 of july because some kids in the family were sick recently and she was scared to expose Maci. There was a lot of people at the grandparents farm and i saw no mask so hopefully they are at least vaccinated...

[JermajestyDuggar]

12 minutes ago, llucie said:

Alyssa posted a new video. She says she had to cancel her trip to see her granparents for 4 of july because some kids in the family were sick recently and she was scared to expose Maci. There was a lot of people at the grandparents farm and i saw no mask so hopefully they are at least vaccinated...

At least someone seems to take into account that last summer and fall covid ran through the Bates family and it affected many of them negatively. 

[freethemall]

On 7/2/2021 at 10:18 PM, nelliebelle1197 said:

This is actually embarrassing.

DID YOU HAVE THE BABY?

Hah I love you FJers for caring. Today is my first day back checking the forum!

Yes, I was induced and had the baby last Saturday, July 3rd (41 weeks). It was a slow/gentle induction until all of a sudden my water popped and I went from 0 to 100 in less than 2 hours, less than 5 minutes of pushing. By the time I begged for an epidural they were like "uh we can see his head!". Quite a break from pushing my first 8 hrs over the course of a day. Probably more detail than you wanted but oh well. We've been home healthy and safe since Tuesday. 

[Melissa1977]

54 minutes ago, freethemall said:

We've been home healthy and safe since Tuesday. 

Congratulations!!! Time to rest and enjoy your baby. I hope both you are doing fine!

[JermajestyDuggar]

Alyssa said they had a date night and the restaurant workers told them that John looks like a Ken Doll. I have to say I s disagree. If there is someone on FJ that looks like a Ken doll, it would be Micah Plath. He looks just like a Ken Doll to me. 

[Melissa1977]

19 hours ago, llucie said:

Alyssa posted a new video. She says she had to cancel her trip to see her granparents for 4 of july because some kids in the family were sick recently and she was scared to expose Maci.

Wow! Good for Alyssa. I'm a bit surprised she decided that, but I'm relieved!

[nelliebelle1197]

1 hour ago, freethemall said:

Hah I love you FJers for caring. Today is my first day back checking the forum!

Yes, I was induced and had the baby last Saturday, July 3rd (41 weeks). It was a slow/gentle induction until all of a sudden my water popped and I went from 0 to 100 in less than 2 hours, less than 5 minutes of pushing. By the time I begged for an epidural they were like "uh we can see his head!". Quite a break from pushing my first 8 hrs over the course of a day. Probably more detail than you wanted but oh well. We've been home healthy and safe since Tuesday. 

Yeah! And that is my brother-cousin’s birthday (our moms are twins so it is all weird)! How big was he? How does sibling feel? How do YOU feel?

[llucie]

3 hours ago, Melissa1977 said:

Wow! Good for Alyssa. I'm a bit surprised she decided that, but I'm relieved!

Judging by Carlin vlog on the 4th of july celebrations it seems that it was Erin, Whitney, Tori and Josie and their families who where missing. Carlin did mention it, she said all the couples with kids couldnt make it because all the kids got sick and passed the sickness between them. It didnt affect Layla because they were not together the past 2 weeks.