Unseasoned veteran

[snmhanson]

I have been a SAHD for just over four years for my son Conner. Before that I worked at a CPA office consulting with small businesses (I still have a few clients that I help out but only a few hours a month). Everything was going great until out popped our new daughter Taylor. Not that things aren't still great but it's back to square one except I got an attention starved four-year old on my hands in addition to a two month old who absolutely refuses to close her eyes for more than five minutes at a time and spits up whenever a bottle gets within three feet of her lips. Plus my wife still expects laundry to be done, floors clean, dinner every night, dishes put away, toilets clean, etc... Oh well, small price to pay for the chance to spend so much time with my children. I would have no problem being the financial provider for the family but with my wife's earning capacity quite simply dwarfing mine it made sense for me to be the caregiver. Still, it does test my ego occasionally when I hear my friends talk about how well their job is going or about how great their latest promotion was and the only thing I can come back with is what I cooked for dinner last night. Usually though all it takes is going out and doing an oil change, driving a few nails, a couple of swings of the golf club and drinking a beer to bring my manhood back up to 100%. And then I look at the bond I have with my kids and realize that my work obsessed friends are the ones missing out. I can always go back to work but they will never again have the chance to spend time with their four-year old. Enough said...

Matt

[DarthDaddy]

Welll at first I was that way... I actually started watching the kids when our second was born and our son Connor was 4.... Once I got Connor involved with the whole baby thing he was a little less starved for attention. Now Connor is 5 and Liam is 1. Connor LOVES to sit and play with Liam and they have a good time. So that attention starved little boy of yours soon might be the one paying the most attention to the baby...

Darth-Daddy

[Ma(tt)Daddy]

I can always go back to work but they will never again have the chance to spend time with their four-year old. Enough said...

Matt

Alas, this is the key, isn't it??

WELCOME!!!

Matt

[jeffus]

Welcome! You pretty much just summed up my life too (except for the second kid).

Glad you joined us!

[Jackson's Dad]

Plus my wife still expects laundry to be done, floors clean, dinner every night, dishes put away, toilets clean, etc...

Since raising kids is a full-time job, I do hope she's helping with the chores.

[Bollux]

Someone should tell that to my girlfriend, apparently raising my son is not a full time job and I should be cooking, cleaning, laundry and whatever else. I am like, hello you work for 7 hours a day I work from the second I wake to the moment i go to bed, so we are talking 20 hours on a normal basis, plus now I am teaching infant classes as well. She just doesn't understand. Then she wonders why I get peeved when she leaves stuff laying about that potentially hazardous to his health at grasping level. I really think at times she is the typical man, absent minded and tunnel vision.

[snmhanson]

Yeah, she helps with the chores when she is home but still says they are my job. She just can't stand to not have the house super clean (and of course her standards are above mine) so what I don't get done she does on her days off but I sometimes get some serious attitude. On a brighter note we are looking at hiring a house cleaner to come in once a week or so and do the deep cleaning. Now we just need to get a cook, a gardner and a laundry service (and a nanny :wink: ).

Matt

[Anonymous]

Welcome. I think all parents should try the stay-at-home thing, even at least for a day. Then the working ones could see how hard it is to care for children and clean the house. Personally, after caring for the kid, I have about enough time to do a load of laundry and to take care of the dishes, not much else.

[young-blalock]

That was me. Just wanted to get credited with the post.