Parenting

[Oaktavia]

@EdH that is awesome man! So your due date is at the end of November? I think I counted that correctly. Stoked for you and the misses!

[EdH]

Thanks all! It took over a year of trying this time (and, of course, happened naturally as soon as we dropped thousands of monies on a course of IVF) so we're pretty stoked.

@Oaktavia Yep, the very end of Nov or the beginning of Dec. Kinda cool that we'll be going through it at the same time, if you ask me. I've mostly forgotten what those early days and weeks are like, so it'll be good to have the refresher course of your experience to remind me!

[ARNC]

@EdH congratulations! I confess I did zoom in to see if there was a hint of a moustache on the scan

[Oaktavia]

@EdH said in Parenting:

@Oaktavia Yep, the very end of Nov or the beginning of Dec. Kinda cool that we'll be going through it at the same time, if you ask me. I've mostly forgotten what those early days and weeks are like, so it'll be good to have the refresher course of your experience to remind me!

Heck yeah dude I agree, it is cool that we'll be going through it at the same time. Amanda is starting to really feel kicks and headbutts on her belly as of late. I know nothing but early to mid days at this point. It has been really fun and quite the learning experience.

[EdH]

@Oaktavia said in Parenting:

I know nothing but early to mid days at this point. It has been really fun and quite the learning experience.

Pro-tip: go to parenting classes near you if you can. It's not for the information necessarily, which can all be found online. It's to get access to a ready-made, local network of other parents who will be going through the same first-baby thing at the same time as you. Mrs H said that the best thing about it was having a WhatsApp group set up afterwards where if she was up feeding the baby at 3am she knew there was a good chance that at least one of the other new mums would be in the same situation, and they could keep one another sane.

[Oaktavia]

@EdH Oh yes, our classes start next month at the Women's Clinic with a group of parents in our birthing group. We are going to miss the first one because Amanda will be in California but should be able to make the others.

[SKT]

@EdH congratulations to you and your wife. 2 is a whole new ballgame!

[Brian]

Congratulations @EdH

Although I would have thought the stop after 1 and just buy a bigger TV rule would have come into action

[endo]

@EdH congratulations! Parenthood only really begins with the second child.

[EdH]

Thanks @SKT @Brian and @endo. I understand that the effort levels required rise exponentially rather than proportionately.

@Brian Luckily, we got a bigger telly in the post-Xmas sales this year, so me and my PlayStation are all set on that front!

[goosehd]

@EdH Our first one was easy and I thought that parents were exaggerating about their experiences…our second one damn near broke us.

I love them both and things have gotten progressively easier…although the oldest is now a teen (whole new list of things) and the other one will be in a few years.

Not going to lie though, I love being a dad (most days).

[motojobobo]

Congratulations @EdH ! Look forward to your new-baby pics.

[Nocturama]

@EdH - congrats man!

Re your Pro Tip, mine and my wife’s social lives revolve almost exclusively around the people we met at the parenting/baby group, and our eldest is now 22yo!

However, be very careful if the partners meet up for coffee every week. All 6 of the ladies in our friendship group got pregnant with their second child within the same 12-month period!! Apparently they discuss things…‍️

[EdH]

@Nocturama said in Parenting:

got pregnant with their second child within the same 12-month period!!

Would've been the same in our case, but for the fact that we had some difficulties. Little Miss H is the eldest among our parenting group, but Baby H II is also going to be the youngest!

[GraemeE]

[Oaktavia]

@GraemeE I can't wait to do nice, flat nature walks like this

[GraemeE]

My wife took this one yesterday on our fathers day outing that pretty well captures the diverse vibes of our posse

[Matt]

The kids keep saying they’re raw dogging stuff. Like “there were no chairs so I had to raw dog it on the floor.” or “I don’t want to wear a sweater I’ll just raw dog it.” WTF.

[goosehd]

@Matt enjoy the innocence

[Danimal506]

@Matt You ever raw dog a plane ride? No books or iPads or anything. Just staring at the back of the seat in front of you.

I think that’s where the phrase was updated. I can’t wait until my son starts with these new fangled phrases (no thanks)