It will really depend on your nurse who is going to be there for you most of the time. They are pushing breast is best policy and their lactation consultant sucks (2 I have encountered, they use a lot of shame and guilt trip). Like some baby will be born hungry and whatever you produce won't be enough and babies will cry, give me the formula! I will say, you have to advocate for yourself, if you don't ask for something, they won't bring it up.

Things that was annoying: lactation consultant said I won't have a success breastfeeding journey because I refuse to pump while giving baby formula which is true because I fed my first kid for 18 months), I asked for the lowest dosage of pain killer in the middle of the night(15 hours after c section because I am expect to get up, change diaper and feed baby without any help and the nurse was guilt tripping me about the medicine lowering.y supply) and also they don't have a "nursery" anymore, it is call a procedure room and they really guilt you for trying to get them to take the baby there and they bring it back after an hour. They are very cheap with their supplies. Their postpartum bathroom are like gas station quality. The delivery rooms are nice, got that Ikea vibe. But I mean is there even any other choices if you live in the suburbs of New Haven, if you can afford it, maybe hire a doula

I plan trips for Jan and Feb to a cheap warm place, best time to go Spain Italy or Portugal, not as many tourists and enjoyable weather. Now that I have kids, I take them for walks in the afternoon and the sun and movement has really helped. During my college years when I was working part time and didn't see the sun all day as I am in a windowless classroom and office, it was brutal.

Now I take 6000umg of vitamin d as well. I will probably do winter in Thailand or Malaysia during retirement

Facebook is best for local parenting resources

You need hear from parents who are currently in the system with kids in the special education program. Join the Facebook group by searching CT family special needs network and ask in the group. It will give you better results. Also be more specific with what type of accomodations your child will need

Here is the problem with the cellphone ban. Parents don't want to ban cellphones in school in case of emergencies like school shootings. Not providing a cellphone to your middle school kids or high school kids will hinder their social circle because a lot of socialization is happening online as well. But you know, that is where all the bullying is happening as well. I have seen some rich ass tech communities where all the parents promised not to buy their kids a cellphone until a certain age, so no one will feel left out.

The problem the teacher face is that they are essentially the bottom of the ladder. Kids not doing well, they get blame from parents and administration and politicians. No one will admit that kids failure in school started at home and it is a systematic change between poverty, parental education, culture and personal responsibility to raise kids. Another issue is that due to the popularity of website like niche and great schools with their rating system, administration doesn't want to suspend kids or punish kids or failed because it will make their rating go down. So you end up with kids who know there are no real consequences to their actions or kids who can't read in third grade. But it can also be that some kids needs one on one attention for these things and teachers can't provide that a classroom with more than 15 kids. I was at the playground yesterday and one kid was bullying another kid for over 5 minutes in front of his own mom and the mom didn't say shit, there are some shitty parents out there

When I go out to eat, I always tip 20%, but I rarely go out to eat anymore unless it is a social event. Can't afford it anymore.

Do we decrease tip from 20% to 15 or 10 if the minimum wage goes up

Frontline won't work and you need both medicine all year, we have winter ticks

Most of NYPD are trump supporters 😅

Got it in June, twice, we had issues from their cheap router but besides those times, it has been fine. We were paying 140/120$ before and now it is 40$ for 500mbs

The elementary school next to me is inside a college campus (trade school) and there is a sex offender working in the building. That is wild to me...

Edit: just check now, he is gone

Unpaid leave, food bank, call all your bill and ask for delay. Union might have something where coworker can trade in 2 days for teacher to take one day off. I would try to push hard for the school to "accommodate" teacher

Wallingford one has a Facebook, they post items on it so I guess that is a good place to keep an eye out for anything interesting

160$, family of four, stay home all day, oil heating, 170 gallons from September to Jan 21. 150$-180$ is about the average unless it is hot summer month or spring cleaning. We try not to use dryer and hang dry all the clothes. Electric cooking and everything else.

600 per month? I don't have any recommendations but data point for new Haven, 3 year old pre school class full time is 950. Someone collect the price for next door town and it was somewhere between 2200-1400 for under 2 per month which was last year and price has gone up by 150-200 per month since her data. Also, the wait-list for any centers are about 6 months to 1 year, so for any future parents reading this, start touring daycare as soon as you are pregnant.

There is a program that can cover part of daycare cost but there is a wait-list for that as well, you can call 211 for a list for home care in your town. Good luck

New Haven have public schools that has pre-3 program, I think you have to find before and after school care either through daycare or babysitter. Depending on your school and location, some of the after school progyram book up fast

I actually look them up and at 100k income, you pay 10k a year which is like 1k a month which is only 200$ more expensive than the church date care, so it doesn't seem that bad. Getting in seems hard.

Edit: family of four with 70k or less, school is free

What "smart" countries have school year long?

By the way, if you only measure Connecticut with other "smart" countries on the standardized test that everyone likes to pull out of their ass, Connecticut performs up to standard and is generally in the top 30 for all the categories. It is the rest of the country that is dragging us down. Also, if adults can get an 30 min lunch break, kids should have the same right, when you take away 20 min of recess, it means you only got 20 min for lunch and then you sit quietly for another 20 min. And I have seen some bad apples abusing the recess policy, of course kids are going to be loud at lunch, it is the only time they are really allow to freely socialize in the 7 hours in school, I bet you waste more time in the bathroom or making coffee or getting water during those 7 hours because our human brains are not meant to be working for 7 hours straight.

Also, due to capitalism and 2 working parents in order to live, parents won't be home until 5/6pm and it is already dark for half of the year by that time, how do kids get any outdoor time or exercise in? Free play is good for building social skills and gross motor skills.

It sounds like the best course is to get this bill restart or start running for your local school board position .

I support your position, I don't think kids should be punished for recess, we are already having an obesity problem

Efforts should go into universal healthcare. I am surprised the uft union isn't fighting hard since all the retirees have voting power in the union and they definitely outnumbered the current members. But I don't feel bad for the retirees, because the way they have been voting, throwing the new hires under the bus to save their own benefits and most teachers are Republicans anyway, so they get what they voted for.

Cse credit union has great rates on loans but their hours are short and few locations and don't really offer much in online banking. for basic saving interest rate, online account like ally or discover is better. For the best checking account feature, it is Charles Schwab checking account that you have to open with a brokerage account. Unlimited free checks, refunded on all ATM fee, great customer service center in Utah, and they will ship your debit card to anywhere in the world. For retirement, I like to use vanguard and pick a low fee index fund. For short term savings that you are planning to use in a year or two, check out ibonds on us Treasury website, currently 6%

Check out Facebook group special needs parents of Connecticut. Anything kids related, Facebook is better.

If you are paying cash using goodrx, grocery store is usually the cheapest but their hours are not as long as CVS. If you live by Costco, that is probably better. We use CVS because we have insurance and the price is the same for the basic stuff, so Im just in it for the drive thru and longer hours and closer to home.

Mulch it twice and it will all fly away.