A new GRMer arrives February 2018.
Nearest direct family lives 6 hours away (LA) from our spot in AZ, future grandparents/great grandparents/auntuncles/cousins are all 2000 miles away in PA/FL.
It should be interesting doing it on our own. Will probably try our best to get momma back to work within 90 days, and hopefully we'll be able to find a suitable caregiver.
Sleeping in and enjoying silence until then.
Your life will soon be turned on its head and you'll be unable to imagine what life was like without the source of your simultaneous happiest emotions ever and most exhausted and worn out feelings. Congratulations!
I was chasing my oldest (2.5 yrs old) around the yard yesterday and when I "got her" she gave me a huge hug and squealed in my ear. You can not imagine what that's like until it happens to you..
From here: http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/happiness-spigot
Congratulations! Best of luck to you folks. Even when I hated having kids, I wouldn't have traded it for not having them.
Congratulations!
Congratulations and just wait till the fun begins.
Congratulations. How soon till you teach him/her to weld?
Congrats!
Good going, kids are fun. You never really raise them alone even if family is a long way away. Friends and caregivers lend a hand, parents give advice from afar. You'll find your groove, everyone does. Put in the effort for the next 18 years, every day, and things will work out.
Very cool!! Congrats!
Well done, will said off spring come home in a Dacia Sandero?
Don't get too excited about the concept of a "due date." Our first was three weeks late, whereas our second was a month early. There were good reasons for both those events, but the point is that Junior's schedule ain't necessarily anybody else's schedule, and he or she is Small And In Charge. Pro tip: be flexible. You're going to have to learn flexibility pretty soon anyway, so you might as well start in utero.
Oh, and, um, congratulations! You're going to be amazed.
Haha I'm about as flexible as they come. The kid is putting a schedule on me, not the other way around.
Fun notes: My wife is lacto ovo pescatarian. Made the morning sickness pretty rough, but that's mostly cleared up. Her sinuses are a wreck. She can sleep 10 hours a night, easy. She has no weird cravings, and has gained little weight since getting pregnant. She can't wait to be done with it all, and is not enjoying it one bit.
I'm excited to have a little me (or little her) running around, but kinda freaked out with all the things you cant change during pregnancy. Our genetics on both sides of the family are pretty awesome, with virtually nobody on either side for multiple generations having any complications, but you still worry. I guess I'll have to get used to that...worrying.
Congrats. You'll do great man.
Get ready for the endless diarrhea of the mouth that comes with telling everyone you guys are expecting. I think Mazaduece or Tuna once said that everyone gives advice and something like "a meth head that hasn't seen his kids in 30 years will try to give you parenting advice -don't listen to them."
My advice is to do what works for you and your SO. That's the best advice anyone ever gave me about parenting.
In reply to pheller :
Man, the worrying. I was not a worrier and still tend not to be. But that first drive with tiny little Naomi in the car was the most nerve wracking time behind the wheel I have ever experienced. I'm glad that got better but yeah. Worries you never had before and they're just getting started for either of us!!
Congratulations! 
congrats
dculberson said:In reply to pheller :
Man, the worrying. I was not a worrier and still tend not to be. But that first drive with tiny little Naomi in the car was the most nerve wracking time behind the wheel I have ever experienced. I'm glad that got better but yeah. Worries you never had before and they're just getting started for either of us!!
Just to put this in perspective: I have driven a Chevy Astro van with 275k miles on it down the tail of the dragon. I have driven a 1958 Wartburg that had a Subaru engine stuffed in the back on a race track, in wheel to wheel racing. I have driven all sorts of crazy cars in situations both stupid and sane and nothing compares in the least to that sedate drive home on the freeway with that tiny human in the back. I was a wreck, giving everyone going 2mph over the speed limit the stink eye.
You'll do it too, I promise! ;-)
Congrats! It's a crazy ride and you will find your way. I remember when my son was about a month old. It was 1 in the morning, my son was awake and crying. We try a bottle and he keeps pushing it out of his mouth, he continues to fuss. So my wife and I figure it's gas, we give him gas relief drops, we rub his tummy and try every other trick I can sleepily google. After 45 minutes with no relief in sight we said "berk it, let's try a bottle". 15 minutes later he was fast asleep, he was just hungry. Also be prepared that anytime you leave the house it's going to take 15 minutes longer than it should, thank God my wife is super organized with the kiddo.
I'm 13 months into my first, boy. Our family is 4 hours away. Here's my first 12 months
-9 Months -- Beer, Beaters and Booty every night. Life = good.
-6 Months -- Felt guilty about beer. Booty...don't even think about it. Working on my beaters kept me sain.
-3 Months -- Booty was back!
0 Month -- Paxton was born. I realized my wife is stronger than me. She delivered with no meds and never cried. Paxton squeaked a bit and went to sleep. I cryed for an hour.
1 Month -- Watched wife transform into Mom. Paxton slept great. I did house chores and couldn't hold Paxton enough. We told people we had a "good" baby.
2 Months -- Dear god what have we done. Sleep? nope... Schedule? Ha! Paxton was listed as "failing to thrive" due to not gaining weight. I had internal thoughts of my old life and my old wife.
3 Months -- We got this. Paxton had double tongue tie (Make your nurse check for this before leaving hospital after delivery). Quick freaky operation with a laser and tongue tie was fixed. ...don't watch if you have to go through that. Paxton was finally putting on weight. We finally got more then 2 hours of sleep in one stretch. I started thinking about funding college bills....and booty. What was booty like?
4 - 6 Months -- Sleep! Sweet sweet glorious sleep. Decision was made for wife to take full year off. This stresses a new dad out more than new dad will admit. Paxton recognized who we were...awesome. Lots of peek a boo. Lots of weird noises I never thought I'd make. I stopped caring or feeling embarrassed about how I acted in public when in front of my kid.
7 - 10 Months -- Sleep pattern really started to stabilize for everyone in the house. Life became a lot more normal. I no longer had anxiety about taking a trip. I started to feel like I was missing out on things because of work and how quickly he was learning things. That feeling sucks. ...a lot. I built baby gates and learned that I really had no idea how much stuff I had 12 inches from the floor.
11-12 Months -- My favorite part of his 1st year. Paxton is up to 6 words and 2 commands. Loves for me to chaise him around the house. Goes bananas when I get home from work and calls me dadadadada. Words cannot describe that feeling. He took his first steps a few days ago...fell and got fat lip...crawled to me instead of mom for snuggle time. Rubbed it in wife's face. ...don't do that.
13 Months -- Booty is back!
Two recommendations:
Willis said:
- Take care of your wife first, and your baby second. This will make sense around month 3 or 4.
So I'm not a parent, but due to my our current place in life and my wife's profession, I actually do know something about this.
This is the best advice there is. The mother needs the attention. All the attention is going to go to the baby. That is all well and good, but the baby only needs mom. Mom needs a lot more. If people come over, give them chores to do--"hey, go fold Moms laundry, clean the kitchen, here is a grocery list and a $100 bill. Thanks guys, big help Mom really appreciates it". Don't forget, the baby hasn't done much in all of this. Mom has done everything, and has gone through one of the most emotionally taxing experiences there is. Talk to her. Make sure she is ok. Make sure that she knows you're there, and make sure that she knows to tell you if you're not enough and she needs more emotional support (because you won't realize it).
Raising kids without family nearby is a real challenge, financially and otherwise. Get a community to help. We have my parents, which is super awesome, but we also have friends with kids of a similar age. We have agreed that play dates DO NOT include parents. Drop your kid off, and do what you want for a few hours. Sleep, shop, cut the grass, whatever. In two weeks, we switch houses and you watch our kid for a while.
You'll need to log in to post.
