In the black is white world we live in, I guess the She-nis was just a matter of time.

As a result, I only demand that we get couches in all of *our* bathrooms.

Hope she remembers to life the seat.

You don't come off as a particularly crazy, first-time parent (all of them are at least a *little* crazy, IMHO). You come off as someone that listens to their pediatrician. Which you should. And ignore me.

Because our preemie experience was different.

Ours was also a "big" preemie, born at 31 weeks and about 4.5 lbs. He was about that size when we brought him home from the NICU three weeks later. Our doc prescribed synagis to prevent RSV, but did not suggest that we needed to curtail visitation. I have clear memories of putting his tiny self in a sling and taking him to a faculty party within days of bringing him home.

Now it sounds like we should have neither brought him out *or* used a sling. Things evolve, I guess.

It's actually much, much, much easier to go out and do things with an infant than it will be later on. Take advantage of it and treat yourself to a little fun. Eating out is still relatively easy, which will not be true again for a really, really long time.

I agree with Ben that you want to do something to mitigate the sound at the movie.

Have fun!

Ben- You must have a battery of freezers in the basement. Right next to the brewing equipment and keggerator. Dude. What the hell else you got down there? A particle accelerator? You're like the Phineas and Ferb of fatherhood.

A half a pig?!

Dick Chop is an Austin legend. The name has got to rank up there with the pediatric office that I went to as a child (Dr. Hurt and Dr. Payne), and my teen years dermatologist (Dr. Cheek).

I wouldn't dismiss the iPod yet. The multi-purpose nature of the device makes it really appealing for what you are going to use it for. I just haven't used mine for video yet, mostly because I use my iPhone. I'll give it a try and let you know how it goes.

Noe it looks like the Consumer Product Safety Commission is going to issue a warning about baby slings. Sound like there have been some suffocations. We used one of these when we brought home Bubba because he was only 4 pounds and not big enough for any other kind of carrier, but I had that concern then -- he could almost disappear down in that thing.

So I guess they are going to print warning labels?

I guess i should disclose that BabyBjorn is a sponsor of this site, so I am obviously biased.

I have a Graco Nautilus in my car currently. As a matter of fact, I even went so far as to BUY A BIGGER CAR in order to accommodate the Nautilus. It was too big for my pre-schooler to sit comfortably in the back seat of a Mazda 3. So I upgraded to a 6 (in my defense, I had other safety concerns as well).

UPPAbaby are definitely cool, and one of our favorites at the most recent ABC kids show was this from TFK.

Wow. Our decoration is a tale of birth order. Sort of. We didn't paint or decorate with our first because he came so early (31 weeks). We did at least some redecorating for our daughter. Then when our third -- a boy -- came along, we didn't even bother taking all the girly stuff down. Good thing because three years later the nursery became our daughter's room.

@teacherdad No need to be an expert. Just share your experiences. No hurry, or pressure though. Just curious.

@teacherdad RAV4 w/ 4WD? Toyota is trying to move cars, might be a deal there.

I like Mazda, so CX-7 would be on my list (less competent off road -- only avail w/ AWD -- but more fun on the road). And I'd take a hard look at the Chevy Equinox for good bang for your buck.

Mazda endorsement notwithstanding, I'm still having check engine light problems on my 03 MPV. Got another O2 sensor fault code, bought the part and tried to fix it myself. Fail. Gave it to the mechanics next door. They told me I had the wrong part and then stripped the threads on the manifold getting it out. Got a new one in (somehow), but the light is still on. *sigh* I really hate these kinds of problems.

I've decided to defer doing any more work on this until closer to inspection sticker due date despite the fact that it drives me nuts daily and is bad for the earth.

@teacherdad

Necessity is the father of invention, and fathers have lots of necessities. There are also "co-sleeper" bassinet products on the market. If you have any safety concerns (some people are really finicky about baby sleeping mattresses, etc.) then you might want to look into one of these.

Hey, James! Welcome. Dad you know DadLabs was started by three teachers? Troy, Brad and I were all working at a private boarding school in Austin, Texas (a pretty far cry from the Navajo reservation). I still live on the campus (my wife is an administrator), and Troy's wife works there as well.

I know how busy two-teacher families are, but we would love to hear more about raising kids on the Navajo reservation. If you would ever be interested in writing a guest blog, please let us know.

Hope you find lots of useful stuff here.

Cheers!

It's been a pretty polarizing piece, although Rikki Lake has never been afraid of that. My wife and I have been believers in hospital births since the birth of our first, a preemie, but found our ideal combo with our middle (a midwife delivery in a hospital). By the time our youngest was born, the hospital had prohibited midwife deliveries.

That was really frustrating to me.

The birth of our third was more expensive (because of a last-minute, unsuccessful attempt at a spinal) and less satisfying experience.

I am not a believer in home births, but a firm believer in midwives and doulas. Pushing them to the periphery, or out of hospitals altogether, causes parents to take unnecessary risks.

I also think that market forces drive this trend, and that, in a microcosm, it represents what is wrong with our health care system. Not to get too political, but I think this is why we need some kind of health care reform.

There. I said it.