baby prep!

[SimonC]

good evening all, I am on a rare beer-y evening in colchester (you are all welcome to visit any time of course).
as I collect my thoughts about my imminent offspring (due any time from March 1st!) I'm trying to prepare as much as possible. my house is in order, prepped for newborns, and mild disaster, mentally I'm getting there, but I'm just wondering if any if you have some last minute advice. we have such a range of fascinating people here I thought I may be able to pick your brains. not technically magic I know (but creation of life is up there in the wonder stakes) but I thought it would be a good talking point for our lovely community. in case you hadn't noticed, I'm a bit pissed. (but I'm sure not as much as rob )

[Elliot W.]

Sorry, It's been a while since I had my second kid and I don't remember too much.
I seem to remember it was much easier than than my first kid in part because we actually had some practice and somewhat of an idea of what we were doing.
Also once he got a little bigger it was great for my first kid since he always had someone to play with.

[David DeTenyo]

Well, my wife and I are waiting the result of some blood tests (my wife is 37 and I'm 39 and it will be our first and probably last child) and weren't planning to tell anyone yet apart from close family of course, but hey, if all goes well I'll probably be a daddy too in august We weren't actually 'trying' anymore and kind of imagined a life without a child, so it was a BIG surprise when the pregnancy test showed a positive result last december
My biggest fear (apart from the child being healthy of course!!!) was actually that it could have been twins, there are some in our family ... , imagine that, not really expecting to have a child and than there are two , but it seems it will be only one . No idea of the gender yet.
Anyway, sorry to hijack this thread a bit, but I know most of you guys have children, so as Simon said/asked, any advice is welcome
Roberto, I believe you were also a bit 'older 'than most parents with the birth of your son? Any other 'older' daddy's here? It's just at my school people of my age have already children that go to middle and high school, and I'll be chainging dipers in a few months

[SimonC]

WAHEY!!! That's fantastic news David, I hope all goes well, I'm sure it will. My best advice is to chill, baby's are tiny at first. apart from your sleep patterns being out of whack they don't do much at first
You will get a truck load of advice from all angles, just filter out the things you like the sound of and ignore anything you don't.
And I have one VERY important piece of advice for Mrs DeTenyo...
STAY AWAY FROM THE INTERNET!!! There are a lot of very insecure mums online who can leave you feeling paranoid about the smallest things. it's better just to talk to friends you trust.

That's amazing news though mate, congratulations!!!

[Elliot W.]

That Great! Congrats!

One thing I would say is get a pediatrician you are comfortable with. When I had my first kid the pediatrician we first went to would tell my wife a whole bunch of things she needed to do and a bunch of things she was doing wrong. Whenever we went there we ended leaving more stressed and nervous than before. We ended up trying a different doctor who would basically say everything fine - don't worry and give a couple of small tips. Well left feeling much calmer and things were much easier after that. I know other people who have had the same experience.

The other thing I would say is enjoy them while they are young. These things turn into teenagers real fast!!

[David DeTenyo]

Great advice guys, thanks! And indeed Simon, the first couple of weeks we often made the very bad move of asking good old 'Doctor Goodle', which was a REALLY bad idea
And yes Elliot, we're lucky that we have a very 'cool' pediatrician who is very relaxed, very important indeed

[Brett H]

Congrats David! Man, this has turned into the newborn Tenyo-ire thread. Great stuff!

I'm one of the 'younger' dads here, had the kids when I was--geez...25. And I had twins. The missus and I were so delirious from the sleep deprivation for two weeks. The 2nd week, I would woke up a couple times and not know how I got in the kitchen or living room. Kind of like Fight Club, 'if you wake up at a different time, in a different place, could you wake up as a different person?'

We also have A LOT of food allergies in the house. My son and I have a sensitivity to a protein in dairy called Casein. It acts on the opiate receptors in the brain. There's several articles about dairy 'acting as heroin' online. For my son, we discovered this shortly after he was born; he would space out and stare at the fan for a LONG time. A gave it a try, we noted the differences in behavior and I haven't touched any dairy in the last 7 years (even though the effects last for less than a day. I don't want to be scared, depressed, and paranoid for one day...but I will say that I am much much angrier that more and more treats come in 'cookies and creme' flavor.) It's all almond milk for us.

We also have a streak of the autism spectrum in our house too. So we abstain from gluten, dairy, and dyes (namely the red dyes). It's all natural and organic stuff in the Hurley house.

In short, just keep a good eye out for any odd reactions with food. Some effects last longer than others (gluten takes 6 months to completely get out of ones system).

I'll try and think of more things.

[Rob Rand]

David already mailed me about this great news but I had to promise to keep my mouth shut...which I did of course And now the rest of you know
Again David,congrats to your wife and you for this wonderful news!

I can't however give you any advice, my own experience is that I have been a baby myself, but I can't tell if my parents raised me well They probably did I'm sure!
But having no kids myself, I leave advice to others
Maybe my only advice is, relax and enjoy your coming fathership (is that good English??).

[BluBob]

]BIG[ Congratulations to BOTH of you! (probably should be the four of you)

Advice, and constructive criticism is sometimes hard to take, especially when it comes from a friend, neighbor, lover, wife, husband, relative, clergyman, stranger, and most any/all other people.

Having said this, here are a few important tips from ~BluBob~

The very first thing you must do it have an up-close, and personal chin-wag with the delivering stork!

It is vitally important to make sure that the stork has precise directions to your house, as the new baby can develop an innate fear of falling from flying around too long. Also, make sure that the stork does not leave the baby on your doorstep, as abandonment issues are possible at this early age.

Since storks deliver babies from some far away, mystical land, try to develop a general-direction map and make sure that there are plenty of fast food marshes on the storks route. Otherwise the stork could become weak and develop brain-fog which could delay the arrival time.

FYI ... In Western culture, pictures of a stork carrying a baby in a sling dangling from its bill have become commonplace. This is proof that this is how babies are delivered. Furthermore Vlasic Pickles, who would never lie about anything, but who wish to capitalize on this situation, immortalized an image of a stork carrying a baby in the 1960s when it chose a stork as its company mascot.

A very important fact is that Walt Disney’s Dumbo was also delivered by a stork in the animated film by the same name. This also proves beyond a shadow of doubt that no baby is too heavy, or is too much of a burden for the awesome, and amazing stork.

Now that I have given my most important "baby" tips, allow me to offer my deepest, and most heartfelt best wishes, and congratulations!

[attachment=0]STORK Deliver Baby.jpg[/attachment

[VictorS]

What a great day! Glad to hear that the time will come Simon...I wish you and Mrs. Craze all the best until the delivery time. Checklist of TO-DO task would help to ensure that everything has been prepared. I`m sure the second one will be easier than the first one. What both of you need is the extra energy to take care the baby and also Mystic Ruby. Take a good quality rest and sleep if you can because sometimes we will go through the sleepless night. Wish both of you all the best !!

Another congratulations for David and Mrs. It`s amazing to here the great news David. I`m happy with both of you. It`s really a greatest gift and grace to become a father and mother at your ages. I wish both of you a great pleasure during the pregnancy period and ensure that both of you stay healthy and most important happy. Avoid any stress and spend a great moment together until the baby is delivered. Maybe another honeymoon Oh yes...if you hear classical music, share it through the ear phone and put it on mommy`s tummy. It`s great for the brain development. That`s what the doctors said.

[SimonC]

as vic says David, music is a good thing. I bought a Bluetooth speaker and loaded a bunch of relaxing music onto my iPod. there are some good hypnobirthing apps too

[David DeTenyo]

Great advice and very kind words guys, thanks again. By the way, just got the result of some bloodtests and it's going to be a ... boy

[SimonC]

WAHEY!!

[Brett H]

Congrats on the baby being a boy, David!

[PeterW]

I searched the Internet and found this baby advice, hope it's helpful?

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[PeterW]

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[PeterW]

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[SimonC]

I agree with 80% of those

[Rob Rand]

This is really hilarious PeterW!

[BluBob]

Ah Ha, the garden hose technique for growth.
(Er, hey, well it seems to work for plants, and trees)

[David DeTenyo]

Peter thanks for sharing

[BluBob]

Peter,

Too funny,

I sorta expected to see parents doing a Tenyo trick for the Baby.

[Rob Rand]

Here's the parent's dream:

FB_IMG_1431458751556.jpg

[SimonC]

ahh that reminds me of this one from the Mystic Ruby's first birthday...

[BluBob]

Too cute, & Cool!

Tenyo Diminishing Cards, and Tenyo Cups And Balls.