Please go play it and experience the epicness! :D
I keep trying to upload an image but I think lemmy.world is having a bit of a brain fart atm.
I’ll try linking it instead 😂
American McGee’s Alice and the much later sequel which is my favourite game of all time - Alice: Madness Returns.
The aesthetic, the puzzles, the sound design, the voice acting, the political statements underlying the narrative, Alice’s outfits, the collectibles hidden in obscure places, the different art styles for each world level. I just love it! I mean sure, the combat mechanics are not as complex as some games but they fit nicely into Alice in Wonderland lore and if you up the difficulty settings it can be more challenging.
I’m also really enjoying Inscryption at the moment. A puzzle/card game interweaved with an escape the room horror story.
I can’t argue with that 😂
That’s part of the reason I started this community, not just for mothers but to help educate everyone and talk about it frankly. :)
Every week my same food shop is going up and up. All while companies gloat about record profits. Surely the average citizen has got to crack at some point soon and revolt.
Eat the rich!
Thanks for your comment. Excellent point about weekends as indeed, there isn’t a day off.
It’s often more than 8 in the early stages, it’s 8-12 feeds a day. For my son he was a slow eater (or perhaps I’m a slow producer, or both!), needing 45+ min feeds 9-11 times a day. Going down the middle at 10 feeds a day and conservatively saying all feeds were 45 mins, that was a 52.5 hour “work week” for me in the first 4 months. Realistically, it was probably closer to 60. (This doesn’t factor in cluster feeding, see my other comment in the thread for more info on this).
Thankfully, they start getting more efficient and drinking quicker as they grow, and ofc once they start solid food they have other sources of nutrition. So that would indeed bring the average down to around a 38 hour working week over 2 years with one child.
I suffered with this too (my son just turned 2 and didn’t start mostly sleeping through the night until a couple of months ago) and sometimes it can creep back when my little one has a bout of sickness or teething and I know he’s going to be fussy in the night.
First of all, the other advice in this thread to ask for help from a doctor is absolutely valid, however there are things you can do yourself at home too and I personally found I felt completely different once I got some actual sleep!! Sleep deprivation is awful on your mind, body and soul, and it spirals and becomes a vicious cycle.
What really helps me is listening to guided meditations once I get into bed. Having an external voice to focus on instead of my internal voice worrying away is a game changer. An added bonus if you leave the playlist auto playing as you drift off, is that they’re so positive and motivating as they seep into your subconscious that I was waking up the next day full of renewed spirit. :)
This is the deep sleep one I start with and then I queue more from the same series:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/77AGce8ysjMZD0UYc0RD6B?si=WdOwdq74Qp2IFIlrA9hx0A
Secondly, even though it was the last thing I wanted to do when I was so knackered, I committed myself to exercising more. I started going for longer walks during the day and doing a short 10-20 min workout before going to bed (growwithjo on YouTube is fantastic for finding a workout for whatever time you have that night). After a while I upped the time or difficulty of the workouts. Getting into bed physically tired enough to need sleep would win more and more against my overactive brain.
I believe our babies pick up on our anxiety too. I was getting anxious which was making my son more unsettled which then in turn was making me worse, repeat ad nauseum. Getting just a few hours extra sleep over a couple of days made such a positive impact on my mental fortitude that it had an impact on my son too, and he started to sleep better and settle quicker. I noticed a positive cycle instead where a little bit of improvement snowballed into better nights for us both.
Another factor for me was realising that my son is neurodivergent and has extra support needs. This can often include difficulties with sleeping and self settling. Approaching night times with that in mind and trying specific advice for settling autistic infants helped a ton. Not sure if that is applicable for your situation but thought it was worth mentioning.
Take a deep breath. I know it seems endless and overwhelming right now, but this is not going to carry on forever. I promise. I was in your shoes a couple of months ago and now I feel more like my old self again. You’ve got this! If you ever need to talk or vent to someone who went through the same, please do message me.
Sooooo dark. Especially the reveal for the final boss. Agh, gonna have to do a replay now 😂