HOORAY! D

Congrats!!!!1 Awww a little baby!!! Hehehe soo cute!!

CitizenBuck's words of advice to new parents (a top ten list)...

10. Don't pay attention to the advice other parents have to offer. Advice is just another parent's way of bragging. But they actually have forgetten most "new parent" details due to a lack of sleep and they tend to replace memories in their favor. Your baby will teach you everything you need to know about being a parent. Other parent will just teach you confusing things to say to new parents.

9. Your babysitter is your lifeline to the outside world. Make her feel loved and she will give your child special treatment. Think of her as the ones in the Freshman dorm that have a car on campus.

8. Wear a sling. Lugging car seats around isn't worth it... there is a bizarre law of physics that makes infants in a car seat much heavier than elephants.

7. Mexican restaurants are the most child friendly establishments in the world.

6. When changing a boy's diaper, get in & get out as fast as you can. They can hit a moving target before their eyes have developed enough to see what they're aiming at.

5. Sleep whenever your child sleeps.

4. The friend that gave you a blockbuster video card as a new baby gift is the wisest friend you've got.

3. Anytime your kid cries, it means you've failed as a parent.

2. Make sure your son never goes a day without a dog in the house. Give your child a new book every year for their birthday. Give your child a new DVD every year for their birthday (I suggest this one to start with).

1. Pay attention when your child wakes up in the middle of the night. The whole world is asleep. Everything's quiet. It's just you and the baby. It's a stolen moment... It's the best part about being a parent.

That's it. That's all I've got.

Huge Congratulations.

Oh yeah, and I was kidding about number 3, by the way.

I'm only a teenager but one of the things I think that my parents did right with me is spend a lot of time with your kids outside so that they don't grow up like vampires and just sit inside all day. A child who loves the outdoors will be a well developed child... mostly.

Congratualations!
As far as advice, all I've got is this: Make sure to be involved in your kid's lives. My family spent a lot of time together; we still do. We do things together as a family all the time, and I think that is really important. When my older brother and I still lived at home we had a family movie night on Sundays. :wink: That was always fun, and we took turns picking to avoid fights.
Also, try to read to your kids a lot.

Good luck! You'll do fine. 8)

Also, eat dinner at the family table. It's amazing how much effect that short time has on family togetherness. That KFC family dinner thing doesn't count either. If there is anything that I thank my parents for, it's the home cooked meals I get nearly every night.

Congratulations! Get ready for a fun ride. I've noticed that every time our baby hits a new milestone, I'm happy and sad at the same time. Happy that she's learning, and growing, but sad that she's not going to be my little baby forever.

I liked buck's list. I can use some of that advice. #9 is going to be tattooed somewhere on my body so that I never forget it. I do have to disagree with #3 though, at least in the newborn/infant stage (and that's all I can comment on because it's all I know so far). When they're that young, crying is one of the only ways they can tell you what they need. At least my kid didn't come out saying, "hey dad, I'm kinda hungry." That's just my 2 cents though.

For my advise:

-I like all of Citizen's advise.
-Always be there in the morning when they wake up and always be there the moment they get back from school, and be there for them in thein between time while they are away from you.
-Encourage the fantasy world, there's nothing quite like an active imaginative mind.
- If you can, and when of age, Take them to Disneyland every summer for like a week. (So ya don't have to run around everywhere)
Aaaannnd....
-Always support your kid, and tell them how prou you are of them... all th time.

LOL! Congratz Red & Hubby! And Cap, thanks for yet another Regan reference. I love my CD. Maybe I can catch his show some day soon.

Back on-topic:

:D Congratz John & Tina! :D

hmm, is it Tina or Tim....

:P

mortoca wrote:

...buck's list. ... I do have to disagree with #3 though...

Again, and I can not stress this enough... I was 100% absolutely and completely joking about number 3. It wasn't necessarily a funny joke... but it was a joke.

I was with my son at the park one day a long time ago and he got a little cut. He started crying and I couldn't comfort him. I started to panic and to leave and then this random mom came over and said that to me. "Everytime your kid cries it means you're a bad parent" and then she started laughing. I've thought about that everytime I've been on a plane next to a crying baby and the overly apologetic parents... or at dinner with someone that's tried to hush a crying baby rather than just let the kid cry and get it off their chests... or the time my son cried when he realized what "dinosaurs are extinct" means.

That joke's my mantre about crying.

I don't know though... see advice number 10.

My advice is Don't take your kid to the theater until he's old enough to speak english :)

fluent english! the ability to answer "what does a doggy say?" doesn't count.

also, It's a proven fact that bringing your kids to movies before they can walk gives them brain damage and giant warts on their eyelids. :) something to think about.

Crap! I'm an idiot! Sorry buck...I totally missed the last line of your post.

Oh yeah, I cracked up at the "dinosaurs are extinct" anecdote. I'm going to go back to lurking now. I stick my foot in my mouth a lot less when I do that.

Don't lurk.

That 3rd rule was confusing (sorta intentionally set up that way too). Sorry.

I got to agree with Cap on the movie thing. Maybe not the warts on the eyelids but if kids are introduced to modern pleasures to soon you kid may end up overweight and unsociable, in the worst case scenario. I'm glad that my parents introduced me to video games and cable after I got a taste of life outside my basement.

Oh yeah, by the way...

Tina, don't listen to Buck. You haven't failed as a parent because the baby cries.

:P

Don't yell Buck, I'm just kidding!

:wink:

I do sounds rather snippy on this thread, don't I? Sorry. I love you all.

citizenbuck wrote:

I do sounds rather snippy on this thread, don't I? Sorry. I love you all.

No, you don't. The list was great. And most of us knew you were joking when you said it. Clarifying the first time was enough, but some people glossed over that apparently. Reading isN'T fundamental sometimes. :wink:

...especially when "it's I before E, except after C, or when it says 'A' as in neighbor and weigh, and on weekends and holidays and all throughout May, and you'll always be wrong, no matter what you say!" --B. Regan (my comedic hero)

We love you too, Buck!

I knew you were joking,.... I laughed when ya said it. Hehehehe...

Don't fret. Heehehee

Like I said Buck, I'm very sorry I missed the last line of your list. I promise, it was me not you. Even without reading the last line, I still thought the list was great stuff. My wife recently had a baby and became a mom for the first time, so I was just being overly sensitive on Tina's behalf, knowing how easy it was for my wife and I to feel like bad parents at first simply because we didn't have much of a clue of what we were doing. If I had not been so hasty, I would've read the line and said to myself, "Oh, he was joking. That's funny."

But alas, I didn't. Again, don't think you sound snippy. I just skimmed.

I wanted to clarify because apparently I've offended Catharctic in some way by my first post in this thread. Sorry again Buck.

mortoca wrote:

I wanted to clarify because apparently I've offended Catharctic in some way by my first post in this thread. Sorry again Buck.

Not offended at all Morti! 8) I'm the more sarcastic one of the bunch...In pretty much any bunch...If we were all bananas, I'd be the one that ripens the fastest. I don't know if that makes sense to anybody. I think I just said I smell, hmm....

Anyway, I was just jabbing you guys a lil bit for missing his line. Hope I didn't come off being too...ripe? Ugh, now I don't even understand what I'm saying.

Back on point, Congratz Tim!

I LOVE HISHE!

I LOVE LAMP!

Hello everyone! I'm at least halfway back (I've started checking emails and forum posts, so that's something) :D

I am so overwhelmed at all the nice advice and well wishes. You guys are awesome! Its been pretty amazing and wonderful...and exhausting. I'm slowly starting to feel like myself again and baby Jack is beautiful. Thanks to everyone for the advice...we definitely believe in family meals and fostering creativity and reading. SimpleCap was naturally the wise friend that gave us tons of dvds (including Ep. IV)! :)
Speaking of Cap, I think he's probably referencing the little boy that was at the sneak preview for TMNT next to us. He was probably barely 3 (if that) and really cute until the lights went down and he starting asking his mom questions every five seconds in a high pitched voice. Cap and I go to a LOT of movies and we always seem to have the fantastic fortune of sitting next to the chatter box. Sadly its usually not someone with the excuse of being a toddler.

Buck, I loved the top ten and I will definitely think of number 1 tonight at around midnight, 3am, and 6am. :shock: John is returning to work, so tonight will be my first night to go it alone (so I might go underground again for awhile from exhaustion). I'm so glad I read your post today. Also, John about fell out of his chair laughing at your "extinct dinosaurs" comment. :lol:

Mortoca, thanks for being sensitive for new moms (and I bet your baby girl is so much bigger than the last time I saw her)! I've had a few desperate moments were I couldn't figure out why he was so upset...and we're guessing now that excessive fussiness is related to me eating mexican food. How sad. :cry:

Anyway, I love you guys! :D

Rule #11: have jack spend a week every summer with gil and let him teach Jack all he knows in the art of blowing stuff up, sitting by the pool, fishing, annoying your roomates, and wooing the ladies. Those are very important parts of every young man's life.

I agree but not with the blowing the stuff up... there are enought pyrotechs in the world. Baby Jack dosen't need to be apart of that.

Woo-ing, swiming, fishing, and annoying is very important though.

well...I will consider Gil. Will the blowing stuff up be scientifically educational?? :D

would i have it any other way? It will all be scientifically educational, plus I'll run him through some pistol pete maravich drills and make him a basketball wizard.

No fair...I've been trying to get you to show me how to blow stuff up for years now!

well, i carry a special bond with jack in that i carried him in my womb for 5 months, so i must teach him certain things.

NO! You carried JILL. I'm convinced I carried Jack the whole time.

Man...do people ever think we are weird now. We should really explain...

gilinator5000 wrote:

well, i carry a special bond with jack in that i carried him in my womb for 5 months

*nelson laugh* hAh HAAh! you have a womb :)

Ummm...if Gil won't explain, then I will. You see when I first got pregnant I thought I was a LOT bigger than I was supposed to be so I thought for sure I was having twins (they run in my family). Gil took this opportunity to tell me that I was having one evil twin out to destroy the world and one good twin that would save it. Yes, we're nerds. Anyway, we named them Jack and Jill. When I found out I wasn't having twins, Gil said that was because he was carrying one of them for me because my body couldn't handle it.

It was kind of an on-going joke. Thus far I have seen no super powers from Jack, either good or evil.
I'm a little embarrassed at our dorkiness now. :oops: