Ten Things I Think I Think About Parenting - The Third Month

Hello Friends and Family,

I’m back for the third month with some hot takes on parenting. As a reminder, each month for the first year of Mills’ life I am going to put some initial thoughts down about parenting in real time.

I might be completely wrong about some or all of these, but here’s where I am today after three months.

Ten Things I Think I Think about Parenting after Three Months

1. Someone should invent a bassinet style carseat. We stopped every two hours on our recent road trip to Colorado because the guidelines say that babies under 6 months should not be in a seated position longer than that. It would have been so nice to cruise for 3-4 hours at a clip.

2. Our therapist was right: Mills joined a family already in progress. Long before there was Mills, there was the two of us. We were our own little family. (And of course our dogs!) Having Mills didn't “start a family”, he joined our family.

3. I was not prepared for being sad about Mills going up a size in diapers. Our little boy is growing up! That little twinge of sadness made me extremely glad that I have been delighting in every stage of his little life so far.

4. The hardest thing about parenting is doing what is best for your family, even when others openly question your decisions or tell you that you are doing something wrong. I hope I was never that friend, family member, or co-worker to any of you…I would be mortified.

5. I like rhythms, I don’t like schedules. Schedules make me feel claustrophobic. Having to do something at a certain time with no variation makes my skin crawl. Rhythms, however, are great. There is a big difference to me between “Mills has to eat at 6, 9, 12, 3, 6, and 9” and “Mills has to eat 6 times a day, generally every 3 hours or so.”

6. There is a very low bar culturally for dads in the US. So many people commented to me, about me, feeding Mills at the weekly food truck even in City Park in Fort Collins. It was like they saw a unicorn as I was happily sitting on the curb smiling and talking to Mills while he drank his milk.

7. New parents should take all the advice they are offered, but don’t feel obligated to use any of it. I was told I would get lots of unsolicited advice and that it would drive me crazy. I have found the opposite to be true. I am so thankful that so many people want the best for Mills that they are willing to offer advice. It only drives people crazy if they feel like they have to agree with all of the advice.
   
   So, if you have seen us ignore your advice it doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate it!

8. Watching someone experience everything for the first time is awe inspiring. It’s like I’m rediscovering parts of the world again myself. I imagine this will happen over and over again as he develops and begins to discover things over and over again.

9. Formula Pricing makes no sense. I compared the per ounce cost of our formula in its various forms: Ready to Feed large carafe, Ready to Feed small container pack, and powder. The small container pack is $.07/oz cheaper than the large carafe, even though it has more packaging.
   
   And incredibly the powder can be more expensive than BOTH of the ready to feed varieties depending on the size can at the store.

10. Buy 8 oz bottles from the start and just fill them with less milk/formula. We were dumb enough to buy 2oz bottles, then 4oz bottles, and realized we should have just bought the big bottles at the beginning. That’s around $100 we wasted on bottles.
    
    Nipples are much cheaper and you’ll have to buy those anyway as your baby grows.

This last month with Mills has been magical. He’s smiling at us when we look at him or talk to him, he is giggling and babbling all day long when he’s awake, and he’s slowly but surely learning that he’s never going to get Willow to quit licking his legs and feet after mom puts lotion on them after a bath.

Next week we will continue with Part 2 of our Colorado trip. What a special time for our crew to figure out how to life on the road together! We have LOTS more trips to come this fall including a Bluegrass Festival in Raleigh, NC, another trip to Asheville, NC, a trip to Jackson, TN to spend Thanksgiving with B-Daddy and Queen (My parents), and yet ANOTHER trip to Asheville in December.

Oh…and a very special surprise trip that you’ll have to wait to find out about. It’s going to be a VERY busy 3 months for us! Thanks for following along!

Until our next adventure,

Austin, Courtney, Mills and Willow

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