Mums and Dads

Having a first baby is a wonderful and immensely radical experience (And ours isn’t even here yet). There all the physical aspects for the mother to be, the all day sick feeling, the spewing and the headaches. That is matched with a fair bit of stress as to whether it is going to work out (particularly if as we have had a miscarriage before). Then comes the kicking and moving, it must be so weird and freaky for Richelle. For me it is wonderful to feel the life in there although so far I don’t really feel the bonding, I think Richelle is bonding quite a lot with the baby and I am a bit jealous that she gets to spend all day with it even though it isn’t here yet. I do get my fair share of feeling the kicks and turns so it is not so much that, as it is a feeling of being expendable I guess. I have done my flimsy little effort to trigger life and it will all happen despite of me from now on. Well not quite I guess, so I find a new purpose as the cook, shopper and general helper and house mate. Somehow that just seems a little bit inferior to the massive changes going on in mum to be.

Richelle has put me in charge of all baby shopping. She has been pulling a hard line of not being interested to set her foot in a baby store although I have noticed her softening up over the last week or so (I actually got her in to one this weekend). She even browses some of the baby magazines I have casually spread around the living room under the guise of being for my entertainment. As there is not so much else I can do I want to do really well on the baby shopping… As you all know I like a bargain, however I also want to get some really good stuff (still eclipsed in the utopia that our baby deserves the best on the market). Boy do they know how to milk that in the baby stores. I am starting to see why a baby is called a status midget in some circles. It is just crazy some of the prices they charge for everyday items.

There is a pretty good dad perspective on the whole stroller / pram issue here: Bugaboo vs. Micralite. So true too. That is where I am caught up at the moment. I know I can get a perfectly adequate thing for $150, but look at all this cool other stuff out there….. how can you possibly manage without it. A Pram is just one item though and as a search for baby shopping list will show you there is a billion things you suddenly need to surround yourself with. I am pretty keen to avoid too many teddie bear prints and keep it lean and clean, but I did find myself buying a set of towels with an silly embroidered giraffe in the corner last week.

It is an early dilemma because you need so many things that you have never paid any attention to before – other than thinking does it have to be so intrusive? Surely there must be a way to raise a baby without turning your home in to a Fisher Price junk yard of bold plastic in harsh colours? I am still hoping that will be possible, but everyday is looking like another chip in the armor. There is hope though DaddyTypes is a blog for new dads and there is a reasonable style criteria to getting anything posted there as far as I can figure out. I like it and go there occasionally for a bit of retail therapy inspiration/direction. Another dad blog I really like is Cynical Dad it is very funny. Let me know if you know of other good blogs for mums and dads. So far we have struggled to find any good mummy ones.