Pregnet rider?

[redkow97]

On 9/15/2016 at 9:12 AM, bowdog said:

Congrats bud! I am now a parent myself...Had a little boy 2 weeks ish ago, born on September 2nd.

right back at ya.  Ours was born  8/31.  I was urging my wife to hold off for midnight so her birthday could be 9/1.  Better race number than 831

 

[redkow97]

44 minutes ago, flashesbuck said:

Things are going well still!!! We have officially announced it to everyone now. As for my wife riding. She has been so sick with morning sickness she couldn't get on a bike if she wanted to. She also swelled up very quickly and does not fit into her gear (right now). 

How do you new father figures make time to go for rides with out young kids around? We each have our own bikes and im trying to think of crafty ways so that i can get my wife away from the new baby for a bike ride every once in awhile.  

I don't.

I'm gone 11 hrs/day for work and see the kids for 2-3 hours between the time I get home and the time they go to sleep.  That's not counting the newborn who really only sleeps when we're driving, or during the middle of the day.

Your first kid is a life-changer, but you'll get the hang of it.  A second is harder...  I look at the newborn and think "she's so easy.  Her sister is the one making things impossible right now.  If we JUST had the baby, this would be a cakewalk." 

With that in mind, I do my best to get our 2 yr old out of the house when I get home.  The wife may not be able to nap, but she will get the dishes done and a load of laundry in, and then get 20 minutes to sit down at least...  Weekends are pretty similar right now.  I wake up at 7:30 with our toddler and we eat breakfast together while wife and newborn 'sleep in.'  Wife feeds newborn and brings her down to me.  I watch both kids while wife eats, and maybe showers.  Toddler has swim lessons at 10:00.  I stay home with newborn and wife goes to swim lessons, then takes toddler to brunch/lunch if she puts her head under water without freaking out.

We're all together for lunch.  Wife may take newborn on an errand, or go out with her mom or sister.  Otherwise I take toddler on a bike ride, or we go to teh park, or we play in the yard so wife gets a break from her.  Spending 8+ hours a day with a 2-yr-old is no picnic, so I try to give her some semblance of a weekend.

I was still riding (racing) 1-2 Saturdays a month before we had the second baby.  Now I have to take the toddler (and a babysitter) to the track with me.  Luckily my sister lives near the track, and values time with her niece. 

I'm dramatizing things a bit, but parenting leaves very little time for yourself, or time to spend with your wife/girlfriend.  It's a lot of helping each other survive and giving each other breaks so neither of you lose your shit.  We're lucky enough to have grandparents and aunts in town who will take our kids so we can go out.

[Scruit]

We had my son in daycare from 3mo old onwards.   I always wound up with daycare duty, either to and/or from.  It was a rare day that I didn't have to take him to/from daycare.  That meant no commuting on the bike - which was my main reason for riding.

When he went to school he rode the bus in the mornings - but he had to stay late in the latchkey program until I could get him from work.  I would bike commute then swap the bike for my car when I got home, then drove to pick him up from school (just a couple miles from the house)

Summers saw him in summer camp for 9 weeks - no riding there either.

 

Until he got old enough to ride regularly, about 8years old.  Then I could ride again.

 

 

[redkow97]

I'm counting down the days until I can trust my oldest to supervise herself while I'm on the track...  God willing, she'll be riding her own bike by then, but i WILL NOT turn into "pit-bitch dad" who plays mechanic and support staff all day, but doesn't get any laps in himself.  I'll cut it back to 1 race class, but I'm lapping my kid during practice until she can keep up.  For her sake, I hope she's quicker than her old man.

[flashesbuck]

Oh my, what did I sign up for? 

I'm ready for this, and ready for the life change. But it sounds like alot. I'm currently an MSF  couch and teach about 10-12 classes a year for motorcycle Ohio.

I was really hoping to go to my first teach day next year. Ugh. 

[Disclaimer]

 

[PhilD'oh!]

27 minutes ago, Disclaimer said:

 

Oh my God, that's funny!  

 

Sad and exasperating too.  

[Mary#17]

On 10/31/2016 at 0:21 PM, flashesbuck said:

Things are going well still!!! We have officially announced it to everyone now. As for my wife riding. She has been so sick with morning sickness she couldn't get on a bike if she wanted to. She also swelled up very quickly and does not fit into her gear (right now). 

How do you new father figures make time to go for rides with out young kids around? We each have our own bikes and im trying to think of crafty ways so that i can get my wife away from the new baby for a bike ride every once in awhile.  

Find babysitters you trust. Thankfully my mom has been around for us and we've trained some local babysitters along the way. While they are infants, getting out is really a challenge. Especially if your wife is nursing. I won't go into the details but doing normal stuff is a challenge while nursing let alone riding. Once they are a little older, it's easier to get away. Once they are sleeping well and not getting up during the night, it gets even better.  My husband and I do overnight trips and pack on the miles instead of the more frequent Saturday and Sunday rides we used to do. In the season, we typically do one overnight trip a month and one 3 day trip (2 nights) a season.  Our overnighters are usually down to Athens/Hocking area and we stay in Marietta. We usually do around 250 miles each day. We consider them our date nights where we find a nice hotel and nice dinner. Then get back up and ride again the next day and then head home.  Now that both kids are older (6 and 9), we have several babysitters who will watch them while we do 5 or 6 hour rides to Coschocton. Having said that, we still don't get out as often we'd like.  We try to balance home time, kid time and motorcycle time and it's always hard and usually you feel guilty at some point to one or all of the above.  

[redkow97]

A friend of mine recently launched this company: https://www.mykomae.com/

It's a time-sharing app for child care.  The website will explain it better than I can...  It's not stupid.

And like I mentioned in my long post, it's not quite as 'bleak' as I made it sound.  Wife and I went to the Cavs game last night and stayed out in hopes of celebrating a world series win. That didn't really go as planned, but we had my parents watching the kids, and free reign to "stay out as late as you want, if the Indians win."

the negative reality of that though is that I left for work at 7:00 yesterday morning and didn't get home until 11:30.  My oldest never laid eyes on me yesterday.  I checked on her and kissed her goodnight when I got home, but she didn't wake up.  As far as she's concerned, I have been gone since bed time on Monday, and I won't be home before 6:00 on Wednesday.  I would be shocked if her 2.6 yr old brain comprehends that, but it bothers me.  Our newborn was wide awake when we got home, so I held her for a minute.  8-week appointment yesterday.  She got shots.  was NOT super happy with the soreness, so she was up more than usual over night.