Dude I hear you, my wife handles a lot of the duties during the day as her job allows that and we work remotely but she has to catch up at nights when I can take over. I lasted barely a week before I couldn’t keep up and was ready to collapse. Quick question, are you making his baby food as well?
Yes I am. He gets about 1 new food introduced a week now. We started him at 4 months and were doing 2-3 new foods a week to get him transitioning as well as checking for allergies. We quickly had a huge excess of food frozen so now are mixing things together and trying less new ones. As far as my wife, we made the decision in the spring for her to not look for a job when she lost hers as she had pretty severe pre-eclampsia. So her job is now Levi and then we share responsibilities when I am not working.
We may need to start a baby food recipe thread. We did sweet potatoes and spinach for his first foods and he loves it now. It’s amazing how much he eats. Working on our next foods now.
Lol I did a month solo with a 7 month old and am going to be doing about six weeks solo over the next three months. Suck it up buttercups.
i did 2 months solo when my son was 6-7 months, that shit was much harder then work was.....but definitely elevated my confidence as a parent
We had my son as my wife was starting her career as an attorney. It was like being a solo parent up until about an hour before he would go to bed and then she’d come home, hang out for a bit with us while I made her dinner, and then she’d be back at work. I didn’t know any different and even though I was working full time I look back on it and would never change it, selfishly. Sure there were hard and frustrating times but the amazing moments we had that she missed are what my life reel will contain. people say it goes fast but I never believed them. In a blink of an eye he went from being in a carrier, to a stumbling toddler to 14 next week. if I can give one piece of advice to all you new parents, I know it’s tough and there are times that you want to smash your head through a wall but soak it up because one day your little son or daughter will be grown and while this is awesome and you have a real relationship with them. Where they actually talk to you and tell you about what’s going on in their life, somewhere deep down every once in a while you just want to go back to when they are eating boogers and you could lay on the floor just playing with toys with them. Take pictures and videos. As many as you can because it’s the only way you can get back to those times too.
Ts and Ps. I always say it wasn’t that bad, I think my mind has blacked out those days. My Mom who is phenomenal with kids said she thought we were exaggerating then said she’d never experienced anything like it. I do think we should have went to formula. My wife was dead set on breastfeeding and he threw up all. the. time. And not just little spit ups projectile vomits.
Idk, maybe it is the physical nature of the work I do where I am outside for 9-12 hours whether it is 30* or 100* or it could be as an introvert I really miss the 1 hour out of the day I used to have where I could sit and do absolutely nothing but collect my thoughts and shut off my brain. Is Levi the best thing that has ever happened to me? Absolutely. Do I need my wife off of the injured reserve so I can focus more on my job, as the only person pulling income for our household (self-employed so there is no sick time to pull)? Absolutely as well. Thanks brother, all is good I was just blowing off steam. Change of insurance absolutely screwed us. We were basically set for surgery and then new policy kicked in on Jan 1 and all of our doctors are “out of network” and we had to start the process all over again.
Honestly I just can't imagine being a stay at home parent. Like it would be infinitely more challenging than my job. I sit at a desk and respond to emails all day. It is an oasis compared to the chaos on the weekends. I know my wife feels the same way. we have some friends where the wife stays at home. My friend gives his wife soo much shit about being at home. How he is the one making the sacrifice so she can stay home, blah blah. It's a bunch of bullshit. Staying at home is great and I commend any mom or dad that can pull it off. And it's so much more challenging than any office job most of us have.
Couldn't agree more. I used to say pre-kid "hell yeah I'd be a stay at home dad" but now fuck that. I work 7-4 and even just going home for 30 minutes to decompress before I go pick him up is such a blessing. His class goes outside that time of day so if the weather is nice I will give it some more time cause I know he loves it. Also, being able to take a day off work and do absolutely nothing or do a day date with the wife is amazing. Our situation may differ from most who live near family and have help but we are on our own and I wouldn't have it any other way.
shit suuuuuuucks. she seemed to be settling into a nice routine- shit came out of no where. ~midnight to ~four is a goddamn nightmare every fucking night
Hell yes, wife’s surgery is scheduled for tomorrow morning. Another couple weeks and things will be back on track. Hopefully.
Wife apologized to me this weekend for being bitchy during pregnancy. Came as a shock. Of course I listened to this thread as y’all told me to keep being a good husband despite her mood. It’s amazing now the difference she is. Even gave it up to me Saturday. Amazing.
Been a single dad for 4 days while my wife drinks her way through Texas. I’m exhausted. I’m about to book an expensive fucking golf trip.
So we have been sleep training for about two weeks now and it’s been a night and day difference. He rarely cry’s when we put him down and pretty much for a week, if he starts crying in the night, I walk into his room; give him his pacifier and he rolls over and passes out. The biggest part has been taking over from my wife and letting her sleep. This way she doesn’t try and pick him up when he cries. It’s been pretty much a win win bc she is getting much better sleep and isn’t as irritable on some days, our little guy is doing a ton better at sleeping as well. We tried the Ferber method at first but I started to realize that the check ins weren’t helping bc it would just wind him up and he would lose his mind after we came in. Just going full on CIO was the best method for him after talking to our pediatrician.
Looks like I’m going to be a boy dad. Wife’s happy since she likes the boys outfits better. Can’t wait to change diapers and have to point that thing the other direction!
Our 8 week old has been sleeping from 8-5 pretty much every night for the past week and a half. Should make things easier with the wife going to work tomorrow. Our girl started day care this week and comes home exhausted and goes to sleep hard. It’s been nice.
I haven’t updated in a while. Our youngest son is doing really well in the month and a half since his lung surgery. He has moved up growth charts because he is finally able to feed and breath. We have in-home nurses 8 hours every day. Between that and keeping our 2-year old at home from daycare (no colds) he has stayed healthy and out of the hospital versus the 30 days in his first 5 months. They expect his lung will take 6 months to fully heal but he is already at greater capacity than he had pre-surgery. He is still on oxygen but will start weaning sometime toward spring. Knock on wood but huge progress with no steps backward. Our kindergartner goes back to school tomorrow. I feel like that is a big step toward returning to normal. I can’t wait until we are past cold/flu season and can send the toddler back to daycare. She is a handful.
You know what really grinds my gears? USB charging toys. Fuck them. Battery doesn’t last if it isn’t played with immediately out of the charger and I can’t just put more batteries in it for instant restart playing once it dies. Environment shmironvent bring back all the aaa and aa batteries
1/3 was one of six students who made her schools annual scholar list; 4.0 GPA and one of the top performers on the standardized tests
My 16 month old found baby shark on 1 hour 19 minute loop on YouTube over and over....that fucking song
These all make me laugh because in the last few years we’ve give through all of these stages. You can do lot worse than Blippi (like Caillou).
Weird side story, I have no clue how it happened but we realized that if I simply say “Paaaaw Patrol” my little guy lights up and starts laughing. My nephew loves those toys but my son has never seen one. So we are pretty sure we know what his favorite show will be. Well either that or listening to the Paul Finebaum show when callers call in.
Lately my son has been insisting on Axel. Just a kid and his dad playing with Tonka trucks in the garden. It seems weird but honestly I find it somewhat wholesome.
The absolute worst, my 2 yo girl is obsessed. Just not even trying to rhyme or actually fit words into the tune of the songs...infuriates me everytime haha Bluey is the best kids show going right now imo
Shameless plug incoming. Long story short, a company reached out to my wife on Instagram and Levi is now a social influencer. If you need baby clothes and other baby stuff, check out https://tiny-toddler.com/ . The below code can get you 15% off your purchase. We have bought 3 outfits from them and they are of really good quality. Use the discount code: LeviDean15 I know, what do I get out of this grift? Pretty simple. We get free outfits to model when new lines are released as well as 15-30% commissions from items purchased through his discount code. All commissions (if there are any) are going to go into Levi’s future/college fund. Why my wife chose this outfit, I never know. The other ones we ordered along with almost all other clothes on the site are better than this. Oh well, he saves it with his cuteness. Please send your wives the website link & discount code and I promise if you are ever in Dallas, I will make it up to you with beer, bbq, & awkward male sexual tension.
Bluey is the best. My 4 y/o doesn't accept bluey is a girl though. I've noticed an uptick in available toys though so it must be catching on more and more here.