I'm so glad to read all the positive comments about taking your LOs out to dinner, traveling, etc. while they are still young. DH and I decided early on that we want to integrate the baby into our life, not have our life revolve 100% around him. I know there will be a dramatic change in our lifestyle and there will be a lot of compromising, and maybe we are a little idealistic... But we want to give our child a lot of experiences and there's still a lot we want to do. We've had people scoff at us when we talk about traveling with him or taking him camping and whatnot, and it's annoying. It's really reassuring to hear all you STMs say it can be done - thank you!
This! A million times! Of course, we realize it is going to be harder. The first few times away from home with baby might not even be that enjoyable, but we will learn from it and adapt. Keeping them in the home because it's "easier" isn't doing anyone any favors.
I'm so glad to read all the positive comments about taking your LOs out to dinner, traveling, etc. while they are still young. DH and I decided early on that we want to integrate the baby into our life, not have our life revolve 100% around him. I know there will be a dramatic change in our lifestyle and there will be a lot of compromising, and maybe we are a little idealistic... But we want to give our child a lot of experiences and there's still a lot we want to do. We've had people scoff at us when we talk about traveling with him or taking him camping and whatnot, and it's annoying. It's really reassuring to hear all you STMs say it can be done - thank you!
This was us, 100%, with our first. We even waited a little while to have kids bc if this! We do take our son places that other people might find a little odd (a winery, a World Series baseball game, a last minute vacation) but we've also been able to have some great adventures as a family, and I wouldn't trade that for anything!
As for traveling, I first flew with my son when he was 9 weeks old to take him to visit family, and did that every few months for the first year, until we moved back to our hometown. We took him on a vacation to CA when he was 9 months (we live in Ohio, so this was a decent time change and a long flight). Since then he's been on 2 other week long vacations and he just turned 3. We've had no issues traveling with him and have only had to make minor adjustments to our trips to accommodate him.
We also have gone out to eat with him probably about once a week since he was a week old. He likes to do things and go new places. Sure there have been a few times when we've had to wrap up meals quickly, but he really does great. I especially notice this if we go out with friends who rarely take their kids out.
With living overseas I know we will be traveling with the baby quite often. We are hoping to go home for Christmas so that will be her first big trip at about 3 1/2 months. I'm pretty realistic and know that it might be a little difficult but we want our families to meet her for the first time. We often do short weekend trips and hope to keep that up as well. Only time will tell!
@texasmama2014 I let DS co-sleep and eventually he wanted to move to his own bed, but even that was hard for me. It was our cuddle time and I loved it.
SkiChic626 I guess I was lucky!! DD dealt with teething like a champ, never had an issue. She was also always a great sleeper and never dealt with sleep regression. Of course those first couple of months she was up multiple time in the night to eat (the first few weeks I had to wake her every 1.5hrs to feed her since her weight was low). Around 1 month old I could just wake when she did (usually every 2-3). I am hoping baby #2 won't be the complete opposite!!!
BFP: 12/3/15 EDD: 8/11/16 IT'S A BOY!!! MAXIMUS POWERS 8♥5♥16
Definitely agree with taking them out. Going out to dinner is a huge part of mine and DH's relationship, and we just took DS with us, basically since he was born. Now, he's amazing in restaurants (mostly ) and we have a routine down for those kind of situations.
In terms of sleeping... DS has been in his crib from really early on, but mostly because he slept best there. He never slept well in our bed, even when he was sick recently, I brought him in and after an hour he was asking to go back to his crib. I would do anything for sleep, so we just did what worked best for him. If he had slept well in our bed, we'd be co-sleeping.
Re: STMs: "I'm so glad I..."
Definitely This!
As for traveling, I first flew with my son when he was 9 weeks old to take him to visit family, and did that every few months for the first year, until we moved back to our hometown. We took him on a vacation to CA when he was 9 months (we live in Ohio, so this was a decent time change and a long flight). Since then he's been on 2 other week long vacations and he just turned 3. We've had no issues traveling with him and have only had to make minor adjustments to our trips to accommodate him.
We also have gone out to eat with him probably about once a week since he was a week old. He likes to do things and go new places. Sure there have been a few times when we've had to wrap up meals quickly, but he really does great. I especially notice this if we go out with friends who rarely take their kids out.
MAXIMUS POWERS 8♥5♥16
In terms of sleeping... DS has been in his crib from really early on, but mostly because he slept best there. He never slept well in our bed, even when he was sick recently, I brought him in and after an hour he was asking to go back to his crib. I would do anything for sleep, so we just did what worked best for him. If he had slept well in our bed, we'd be co-sleeping.