What's the point in having children?

[CladInShadows]

HoloDust said:

CladInShadows said:

Oh man, you're describing my life right now.  I'm 2 months into a boy/girl twin situation.  First time parents.  We named them William and Olivia.  The smile thing, though.  Mine smiled right from the get go, but this is almost always because they have gas, or are passing gas.  You've perfectly described night time feedings.  Baby cries, we wake up, and then we change their diapers and then feed and burp them.  And then comes the complicated dance of trying to get them to sleep and to stay asleep. It's easily the most difficult part of this for me. My wife has caved a couple times and has had one of them sleep in her arms for a while.  This is not a habit we want to continue though.  But I'll be damned if it doesn't work every single time.

And ditto on the video game thing.  I haven't got that part figured out, to be honest. My reading and video game time have taken a serious hit just because I never go more than 3 hours without having to interact or care for at least one of them.

If you don't mind suggestion from someone who's been through that all (though it's been quite a while), see if you can take shifts - if your wife is breastfeeding, use bottle with her milk on your shifts, warm it up and then wake the baby for feeding...don't wait for them to wake up - once you get them accustomed to regular cycles (IIRC it was 3 hours) you all sleep much better. But that's just my experience, mileage can vary.

Oh, and never sleep with small babies beside you...chances of unintentionally suffocating them is real and seriouis risk.

Yeah, we're constantly trying out new methods. And shifts is one method we have in the tool box.  So far, we haven't done much of it though. And the big test comes in the new year when the wife is all alone with me at work.  I had a bunch of vacation I was able to use, and we've had people helping out, or my wife has stayed at her parents while I was working, so I haven't actually had to deal with both night time feedings and having to go to work.  That all changes starting January 3. 

My wife doesn't produce milk, so it's been formula from day 1.  Therefore, I've generally been the one to go get the bottles ready and warmed, while she has been the one to change them before sleeping.

My wife doesn't actually sleep with him in her arms.  She just lays there with him and he calms right down.  Once he's been there for a while, she attempts to make the transition from arms to crib. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.