LGP Parenting Thread

[eddysnake]

Has been quite a week in the shad household. Not only is my soon to be 1 year old daughter suddenly walking EVERYWHERE (she was taking two, maybe three steps as of last week), but when I went out to get her out of my wife's car yesterday afternoon, she looked up, gave a big toothy grin, and said "Dada". Pretty sure my heart melted right there.

It's crazy how once she starts trying to do something she picks it up at an insane rate.

yeah well I got shot with a bow and arrow and the suction cup on the arrow stuck to my bald head, so I got that going for me.

[shmenguin]

Funny thing happens after you have your 2nd kid. You get terrified of getting pregnant again. I wasn't even this concerned while we were dating. I think a 3rd child would kill me.

[shafnutz05]

Funny thing happens after you have your 2nd kid. You get terrified of getting pregnant again. I wasn't even this concerned while we were dating. I think a 3rd child would kill me.

I'm getting snipped after kid 2, if and when it comes

[meow]

"I thought you got a vasectomy."
"It didn't take."

[shmenguin]

Funny thing happens after you have your 2nd kid. You get terrified of getting pregnant again. I wasn't even this concerned while we were dating. I think a 3rd child would kill me.

I'm getting snipped after kid 2, if and when it comes

I'm booking an appointment this week, I think.

[shafnutz05]

I'm booking an appointment this week, I think.

I mean, it certainly makes sense. Far, far less invasive than the alternative female surgery. And of course, can be undone if things (God forbid) ever change.

[Kraftster]

Funny thing happens after you have your 2nd kid. You get terrified of getting pregnant again. I wasn't even this concerned while we were dating. I think a 3rd child would kill me.

Lol. I was already thinking about this earlier in the week (kid no 2 will be here any day).

[shmenguin]

Funny thing happens after you have your 2nd kid. You get terrified of getting pregnant again. I wasn't even this concerned while we were dating. I think a 3rd child would kill me.

Lol. I was already thinking about this earlier in the week (kid no 2 will be here any day).

going from 1 to 2 is easier than 0 to 1. but good god, infants can be the worst.

[columbia]

I've seen a couple coworkers over the years, who discretely had a ziplock bag of ice on their lap, for the first few days after the surgery.

[Factorial]

Funny thing happens after you have your 2nd kid. You get terrified of getting pregnant again. I wasn't even this concerned while we were dating. I think a 3rd child would kill me.

Lol. I was already thinking about this earlier in the week (kid no 2 will be here any day).

going from 1 to 2 is easier than 0 to 1. but good god, infants can be the worst.

And 2 to 3 was much easier than 1 to 2. And yeah, infants can be the worst.

[shmenguin]

That is very surprising. I thought 2 to 3 was supposed to be a nightmare.

[eddysnake]

1 to 2 was the biggest change, after that you just yell everyones name at each different kid & you'll eventually get the right one. Having kids isn't real easy no matter how many, but don't let 3 fool you, it's fine. (building bunk beds is a different story though)

[PensFanInDC]

How I feel about my son right now:

[youtube][/youtube]

Come on little dude...just take the damn nap!

[shmenguin]

1 to 2 was the biggest change, after that you just yell everyones name at each different kid & you'll eventually get the right one. Having kids isn't real easy no matter how many, but don't let 3 fool you, it's fine. (building bunk beds is a different story though)

i guess whether it's 1 kid or 3, you're going to be spending the same amount of time and roughly the same amount of energy on them. but having a kid makes you push the pause button on life, to an extent. especially while they're infants. i want to be able to go on family vacations without lugging a baby around, or go have a date with the wife and leave my kids with a sitter (who you won't necessarily trust with an infant), or be finished with paying for childcare. having a 3rd would be a problem.

[meow]

Three scares me because you have to change up your defensive strategy from man-on-man to zone.

[newarenanow]

Going from 0 to 1 is hard in that you have a total life change. It is no longer "go do what you want". You have a little person that is totally dependent on you, you lose a ton of sleep, and you pretty much have to plan out in advance if you ever want alone time.

Going from 1 to 2 I think was a little tougher. They have now evened the playing field. No more double teaming. Even today, when one goes to grandma's for the day or stay over night, and we have the other, you realize how easy 1 was.

I don't have 3, so I can't speak personally, but my friends who have 3, they say it actually doesn't change too much. The oldest typically can now start helping a little or is less dependent, and the chaos is already there. And you just stop caring a little bit.

[eddysnake]

1 to 2 was the biggest change, after that you just yell everyones name at each different kid & you'll eventually get the right one. Having kids isn't real easy no matter how many, but don't let 3 fool you, it's fine. (building bunk beds is a different story though)

i guess whether it's 1 kid or 3, you're going to be spending the same amount of time and roughly the same amount of energy on them. but having a kid makes you push the pause button on life, to an extent. especially while they're infants. i want to be able to go on family vacations without lugging a baby around, or go have a date with the wife and leave my kids with a sitter (who you won't necessarily trust with an infant), or be finished with paying for childcare. having a 3rd would be a problem.

I don't like saying it as restarting your life, but after however time with your new one, you adjust and get used to this different life, it feels like you are moving forward. When another one comes along, you are basically going back to square one again. It definitely interrupts what feels like progress in a new lifestyle, kinda like groundhog day. 3 for me certainly weighed heaviest in what felt like getting back to normal, but I was also amazed how much easier it was lugging him around in a way I didn't with 2. He will be 3 this week and there have been those times where I felt like you described above, but it also changed me in a way 1 to 2 didn't.

[eddysnake]

I don't have 3, so I can't speak personally, but my friends who have 3, they say it actually doesn't change too much. The oldest typically can now start helping a little or is less dependent, and the chaos is already there. And you just stop caring a little bit.

this is pretty much it. I remember when #1 fell down the steps. I don't remember being that scared in a long time. #2 did the same thing and I was still scared, but knew what to look for to make sure it wasn't serious. #3 rode a little einsteins ride on toy down and I didn't even turn around on the couch.

[PensFanInDC]

With how easy birth to 2.5 years was with our boy I am terrified of having a second. I fear that he/she will be the exact opposite. Even so, we want a second child. Probably start trying mid 2015.

[newarenanow]

I don't have 3, so I can't speak personally, but my friends who have 3, they say it actually doesn't change too much. The oldest typically can now start helping a little or is less dependent, and the chaos is already there. And you just stop caring a little bit.

this is pretty much it. I remember when #1 fell down the steps. I don't remember being that scared in a long time. #2 did the same thing and I was still scared, but knew what to look for to make sure it wasn't serious. #3 rode a little einsteins ride on toy down and I didn't even turn around on the couch.

Yeah, and it's not so much "not caring" just that you have been there done that and you know when it is serious or not.

Like you said, with #1, I remember her falling out of our bed one time when we were folding laundry. I was worried and scared and felt horrible.

#2 fell out of the bed last year playing around with her sister and I just told her to get up.

[newarenanow]

With how easy birth to 2.5 years was with our boy I am terrified of having a second. I fear that he/she will be the exact opposite. Even so, we want a second child. Probably start trying mid 2015.

It is hard in a way because like eddy said, you feel like you start over when you are so used to just moving forward. It was hard going back to having to get up and feed the baby numerous times at night, changing diapers again, and all of the fun stuff with an infant. But honestly, you get used to it much quicker than when you have #1. And honestly, my kids are now 4 1/2 and 2, and they play a lot together. It definitely takes some of the pressure off because you don't have to be there entertaining them all the time. They ahve each other.

[shafnutz05]

having a kid makes you push the pause button on life, to an extent. especially while they're infants.

See, I know this is normally true, but we've been spared in a lot of ways in that regard. Our daughter turns 1 on Thursday...she has not woken up in the middle of the night needing anything in approximately eight months. There was one time where she had pre-pneumonia, woke up coughing, and I went into give her some water and medicine and went back to bed. She goes to sleep at 7, and will sleep until we wake her up (645) on weekdays, and she slept until frigging 830 AM this past Sunday. Have gone out to dinner several dozen times with her and haven't had one incident.

For me, I am savoring the infant life, because I know she will only get more active and stay up later/wake up earlier, etc. I'm certainly looking forward to it, but things are so easy now, comparatively.

[PensFanInDC]

I think shmenguin was talking more about other parts of your life. Going out whenever you want to, sleeping in until whenever you want to, anything spontaneous really.

Our son has slept through the night since 12/31/11 when he was about 6 weeks old. With the exception of a few illnesses the nighttime stuff was never an issue. The spontaneity is all but gone right now though.

[shafnutz05]

Ahh yes, completely agree then.

[PensFanInDC]

Living with my mother in law has spoiled us too. We wont have that for baby #2 (if that happens). We have had a date night about every 4 weeks since the boy was born. We understand how blessed we are by that. Granted, the first few were about 40 minutes long because the wife didn't want to be gone for very long