Imagine a sleep deprived mother who has just managed to put an upset baby to sleep. A moment later, her husband comes home, bringing some rowdy friends. The careful soothing was for all-for-not, the baby is woken up.
I can’t say if I’ve done this before. But certainly every new parent, father or mother, has experienced the frustration of someone waking their baby too early. Sometimes you may accidentally wake the baby yourself. It is a guilty feeling, soon followed by regret and self-loathing.
A quick Google of “when to have a baby” will turn up tons of articles written for women, by women. From Women’s Day and Parent’s magazine, they offer plenty of recommendations and reassurances to those who have had kids earlier and later in life. So why is there none written for men? Because we don’t need it. Or do we?
My favorite age for babies is 3-9 months. They can’t yet walk, so they’ll really only get into trouble with things in an arm’s reach. They (hopefully) sleep through the night. They can hold their head up, so I feel more comfortable man-handling them during diaper changes and play time. 3 months has also been the magic marker when my wife goes back to work. So whether I want to or not, that baby is going to be in my hands quite a bit more now.
Many have asked me how I get work done at home with the baby at home with me. For my part, I only work part-time. It would be near impossible to work a 40 hour week with a baby at home and still maintain a relationship with my wife.
For the baby’s end of the bargain, the key is sleep.
When I started writing regularly, I thought much of my content would relate to what it’s like working at home, part time, with kids at home. My oldest has been in daycare for the last two years, so it’s been easy-street as far as working from home is concerned. This changed recently when my daughter was born, and more importantly, when my wife returned to work. So it’s time to revisit what it’s like having a newborn at home.
I’ve discussed sleep deprivation before in regards to the 24hr Website Challenge. Sleep is an important thing to me and I can’t stress this enough: nothing can prepare you for the sleep deprivation you’ll experience with a newborn baby.
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I had the opportunity to represent my city’s “Active Transportation” group in the 2013 Fridley 49er Days parade. We were parading under the auspices of getting around Fridley using non-motorized transportation.
I was disappointed in the turnout of or group. We had some great volunteers from the Fridley Senior Program walking with signs and banners. However my family and neighbors were the only representatives on bicycles. So if I didn’t show up (or recruit my neighbors), the parade unit would have been almost non-existent.
I was starting to get the feeling that here in Fridley, we’re all still stuck in our cars and could care less about weirdos that walk to the store or ride bikes to work.
