Congratulations. This is wonderful news, although I have not yet become a mother and can only imagine what it is. Undoubtedly it will be difficult, but it's worth it. What is it to imagine how a baby will hold your hand with his little fingers and say "Daddy".

Sorry I haven't posted much in this thread since wee Hamish arrived on the scene. I really meant to, I've gained so much from reading it over the years. Turns out I've been so busy trying to be a dad I haven't had much time to think about it, much less write about it. I hope that will change!We've been weaning the boy, who is somehow six months old already. This week he's had carrots, apple, avocado, banana, sweet potato. Banana seems to be his favourite.He just woke up and puked all over Caroline, the floor and a suitcase we'd foolishly left lying on the floor in his bedroom.Milk with sweet potato chunks. The suitcase will never be the same again.

Yeah, one big thing I learned early on was that you definitely have to learn to either live with puke stains and/or random chunks of food gumming up things carelessly left within reach of a baby/toddler, or the fact that you need to spend the money to replace an otherwise perfectly functional and expensive item in your household every so often. My daughter (who, holy shit, is almost 18 months old and a perpetual motion machine running around our house now) also has a hair trigger gag reflex. She has been known to get super worked up about whatever (usually her way of saying NO I WILL NOT TAKE A NAP GODDAMMIT! or something along those lines) to the point of blowing chunks all over me when I'm trying to soothe her. One time it happened while waiting to board an airplane. Fun times!

Charles?Seriously though the person in charge is usually person with least regard for the consequence of their actions. 'Cause little people will fuck shit up and not care or understand the impact. The trick is to not let them know their true power, and also to hand over that power without struggle as often as is practical to help them feel like they have some control over their lives.

Big congrats to the new dads, and Luz, I'm really glad that Luna is doing okay now, that sounds bloody terrifying. Our son is about to start school in a week, I'm excited for him but a bit nervous. We live really far from the school at the moment, but we're moving in a few weeks and then we'll be nearby and also near the beach so hopefully it's gonna be a good autumn.

Ha, A to the Damn, I like it. Nice one bud, hope the move goes well. We're not getting quite that close, but still within a five minute drive so it's cool. We wanna go to Croatia on holiday next year maybe, I'ma hit you up if it actually ends up happening. I'm terrified enough about the idea of him going on a school trip, never mind walking to school. I have managed to force myself not to be an overprotective parent though, I know it's not good for him, much better that kids are independent.

Luzwei wrote:Yeah, because of Luna's condition we have managed to become that, overprotective. We know it's not good for her long term, but we can't help it. Fuck.If you decide, we're gonna feast it up!!!Totally understandable man, I'd be the same, well, worse probably. I'm bad enough and we've not even found any health issues yet, though we both worry he'll inherit my ankylosing spondylitis as he's like me in every way. Much love to you and the family. And yeah, definitely!

Hey A to the Damn!!!We're in the process of buying a place ourselves that would position us right across the school, like right across I can spit across the street to it. When I was in socialist Yugoslavia I used to walk to school and the strongest car was a Yugo. I don't know how I feel about kids going alone to school these days.

Yeah, because of Luna's condition we have managed to become that, overprotective. We know it's not good for her long term, but we can't help it. Fuck.If you decide, we're gonna feast it up!!!

Hi,I have a 10 year old is starting to play drums. He's pretty musical in a variety of ways, so I'm not worried about him sticking with it. I want to set up a craigslist drum set in the garage, but I don't want to alienate our nice neighbors. Are there DIY drum/garage quieting measures that people can recommend? thanks!