We had our first child last night

Congrats!

since we are all throwing up kid pics-figured I would post up my daughter Mariana's Halloween pics my wife had shot last month

Very cute!

What a doll

Supercute Mike.

Everyone always tells you how wonderful the experience is to have a baby, but they forget to tell you that you will be a walking zombie as well (along with some other things that they don't mention).

 

It is NOT easy by any means, and I will tell you right now it'll get worse before it gets better, but when it does get better your face is going to ache from a perma-grin.

 

 

 

I'm not sure if I was just lucky or just don't see things the same as others but I thought bringing up all 3 of my kids was easy. Sure, had to be up many times during the night, dealing with crying, diaper changes and on and on, but I didn't find that hard at all.

 

But it all seemed so natural, there was no learning curve. Before kids I had things to do and a routine which didn't involve all that stuff. After kids I had a new routine and things to do which included those things above, no biggie. And my middle kid was born very premature and was in the hospital for a while, so there was the daily trip back and forth with my young daughter to the hospital mixed in with work and a move to a new house, but it was just life, had to deal with it.

 

Now my kids are a pain in the ass but that's another story.

 

Congratulations to all the new dads here though, just enjoy it because you will miss those days eventually!

 

 

Thanks Bros. IMO Kisco was spot on when he said its not easy.

 

My wife has Monday-Friday baby duty (feeding/getting up if she happens to wake up in the middle of the night/bathing baby at night), and she has me doing Friday night-Sunday night. So after working 60-70 hour weeks at work, I then have to wake up at 5:30am or 6am on Saturday morning to feed the baby. Love her to death, but its NOT a good time that early in the morning for me.

 

Oh and now she is teething, and she will cry for 5 hours a day which is pretty awesome on the weekends.

 

I have some buddies with 1 year olds, and their kids are walking now, and are ALL OVER THE PLACE. You have to watch them non-stop

 

Such a weird feeling to love your child so much, and yet still want to put duct tape over their mouth when they cry nonstop. lol

 

We are 60/40 on having another one right now. lol

 

 

Haha. One of the good things about my horrendous hearing is that I was often given the babies when my sis and her boys were living all at the same place me because once I pop out the hearing aids they can cry and cry and it doesn't bother me at all. I think it is incredible the things people get used to as parents in terms of schedules and sleep and all that. Babysitting for a few hours wears me out, doing it full time....wow. And another little thing, I think women are freaks of nature when it comes to holding babies, even with those hips. I see women all the time that will hold a kid for a while whereas even with me working out, I feel like I'm switching arms every minute and then eventually have to out them down lol.

Haha. One of the good things about my horrendous hearing is that I was often given the babies when my sis and her boys were living all at the same place me because once I pop out the hearing aids they can cry and cry and it doesn't bother me at all. I think it is incredible the things people get used to as parents in terms of schedules and sleep and all that. Babysitting for a few hours wears me out, doing it full time....wow. And another little thing, I think women are freaks of nature when it comes to holding babies, even with those hips. I see women all the time that will hold a kid for a while whereas even with me working out, I feel like I'm switching arms every minute and then eventually have to out them down lol.

Yea, especially when they are constantly wiggling to get out of your arms. My lower back is constantly in pain after a full day out with our daughter. She is also 23 pounds already at almost 8 months, so she is the size of a 1 year old already. lol

She is adorable, Mike.

 

Kids are hard, and they are a life changer in almost every way. They test your patience and can bring out a side of you you never knew existed (good and bad).

 

One is hard, two is twice as hard unless you have the second one after the first one is grown up (3+ yrs old).

 

She is adorable, Mike.

 

Kids are hard, and they are a life changer in almost every way. They test your patience and can bring out a side of you you never knew existed (good and bad).

 

One is hard, two is twice as hard unless you have the second one after the first one is grown up (3+ yrs old).

 

If the next 8 months dont kill us , we are going to start working on the next one July or August of next year. Which would put our 1st child a little over 2 years old if pregnancy happens right away.

I have some buddies with 1 year olds, and their kids are walking now, and are ALL OVER THE PLACE. You have to watch them non-stop

 

Such a weird feeling to love your child so much, and yet still want to put duct tape over their mouth when they cry nonstop. lol

 

We are 60/40 on having another one right now. lol

 

 

Just have the 2nd one by the way. Much like the transition from 0 to 1 the transition from 1 to 2 is nothing you can plan for. But man is it awesome to see them play together. Our 2 boys were NOT planned and are 15 months apart. Wouldn't trade it for anything.

 

Oh if you think your 1 year old is a handful wait until your 3 year old can lock the bedroom door. Or points to the TV when it shows an AR-15 and goes "DADDY DADDY WE HAVE ONE JUST LIKE THAT!!!!" Can't wait to explain that one at preschool.

 

And another little thing, I think women are freaks of nature when it comes to holding babies, even with those hips. I see women all the time that will hold a kid for a while whereas even with me working out, I feel like I'm switching arms every minute and then eventually have to out them down lol.

 

Agreed 100%. My wife is 4'10 and and sub 90 poundss. I have NO CLUE how she can hold both of them at the same time let alone move around while doing it. Must be that mothering instinct.

I can't believe how many "cry babies" we have here, harden up boys

 

Waking up at 6 AM is what I do everyday, 6 to 7 hours sleep is more than enough for me, you waste almost half of your life sleeping, why would you want more of that ?

 

Kids use crying as a form of communication, they usually need something, as an adult you need to figure out what that something is without being frustrated, once you figure out what that is and you fix it they stop crying, don't spoil the kid, don't let them do whatever they want, set boundaries.I absolutely love my kids, I love them more than life itself but they know not to overstep their boundaries.

 

They never impacted our social life, I take them wherever I go because I trained them right, I talk to them like I would talk to an adult, I never baby them, kids are very smart and they catch on very quickly, they learn their boundaries very fast if you set them right, if you give them free rein you just screwed yourself, they will make you pull your hair out so it's up to you really.

 

Good luck to our relatively new fathers

6am...psssshhh I am up at 5 and at work for 630 most mornings.

 

Kids crying can get annoying but that's when you put the kid down and walk away for a few. I remember telling the wife "no baby ever died from crying." so put them down if you need a minute and feel free to let them cry it out when the time is right. We got pretty good at figuring out if it was a "something's wrong" cry vs. a "I just want to be held" cry.

 

We take them with us IF we want them along. There are plenty of times when we don't take them along or don't go because it will interfere with our enjoyment of an event. I still remember our oldest being 6 weeks old and we were out with friends for dinner and drinks until midnight. Zach was in his car seat passed out and we were having a good time. Young babies are sweet like that.

 

Now that they are older it's not as easy but you adapt. We took them to a late dinner (7pm) the other weekend but we chose a Hibachi place because we knew the entertainment of the chef doing is thing would keep them well behaved. They've been to plenty of Cars and Coffee events and I love when they come have lunch with us at work.

 

Now all bets are off when its "mom daddy time" and the 2 year old walks in unannounced because he woke up from his nap and you didn't hear him.

I can't believe how many "cry babies" we have here, harden up boys

 

 

Waking up at 6 AM is what I do everyday, 6 to 7 hours sleep is more than enough for me, you waste almost half of your life sleeping, why would you want more of that ?

 

I am reading a pretty good book right now called Eat. Move. Sleep., and the premise is that to be in top form performance wise we need 8 hours of deep sleep per night (not tossing/turning-etc). The move portion is exercise, and Eat is self explanatory.

 

That being said, i generally only get 5-6 hours, and work 60-70 hour weeks every week, so I am going to try the instructions in the book to see if it helps with my overall energy.

 

Kids use crying as a form of communication, they usually need something, as an adult you need to figure out what that something is without being frustrated, once you figure out what that is and you fix it they stop crying, don't spoil the kid, don't let them do whatever they want, set boundaries.I absolutely love my kids, I love them more than life itself but they know not to overstep their boundaries.

 

Agreed-my wife however is all about spoiling my daughter, so has been challenging

 

They never impacted our social life, I take them wherever I go because I trained them right, I talk to them like I would talk to an adult, I never baby them, kids are very smart and they catch on very quickly, they learn their boundaries very fast if you set them right, if you give them free rein you just screwed yourself, they will make you pull your hair out so it's up to you really.

 

Even when they were little? We have to be in our house feeding/bathing her by 7:30pm. If we arent, its a nightmare, and she gets up 2-3 times in the middle of the night. That being said, my daughter LOVES to be out and about, but social life in Miami STARTS at 11pm, so having a baby can be counterproductive to Social life here.

 

 

Adorable. I look forward to the day I have kids. The world definitly needs more people from the Lpower section of the gene pool

Even when they were little? We have to be in our house feeding/bathing her by 7:30pm. If we arent, its a nightmare, and she gets up 2-3 times in the middle of the night. That being said, my daughter LOVES to be out and about, but social life in Miami STARTS at 11pm, so having a baby can be counterproductive to Social life here.

 

We obviously didn't take them nightclubbing with us you have to adapt your social life, do dinners and if you want to stay out late get a sitter, no big deal.

Babies don't come with built in time clocks, she's not waking up 3 times a night because you weren't home by 7:30, it's your first baby by the time you get to 2nd or 3rd you'll grow out if it

 

You know how it goes, with the first baby the minute they get a big warm or sneeze you are breaking down the door at the emergency department when you get to the 3rd child and they call out " Dad I cut my finger!" your response will be " Please make sure you don't bleed on the carpet!"

 

 

 

 

We obviously didn't take them nightclubbing with us you have to adapt your social life, do dinners and if you want to stay out late get a sitter, no big deal.

Babies don't come with built in time clocks, she's not waking up 3 times a night because you weren't home by 7:30, it's your first baby by the time you get to 2nd or 3rd you'll grow out if it

 

You know how it goes, with the first baby the minute they get a big warm or sneeze you are breaking down the door at the emergency department when you get to the 3rd child and they call out " Dad I cut my finger!" your response will be " Please make sure you don't bleed on the carpet!"

 

 

 

Daughter has her first cold right now, and my wife is freaking out. haha

I hate it when I am right, ohh whom am I kidding

 

It's normal, I used to freak out like than with our first, less with the second, third even less, not because you don't care, simply because you have more experience and learned how to handle it.

Kids are not easy by any means but they are the best thing ever happened in our lives, I would do anything for them and no sacrifice is too big.