Oppodads?

"BaconSandwich is tasty." (baconsandwich)
09/12/2014 at 20:35 • Filed to: Oppodads

I'm curious - any other soon-to-be or already dads here on Opposite Lock?

My wife is due in December. Ultrasound folks said there was a 90% chance it was a girl. We both know two people who just recently were told they were having one gender but had the opposite, so we aren't yet going 100% full pink.

DISCUSSION (56)

XJDano > BaconSandwich is tasty.
09/12/2014 at 20:41

hot dog or hamburger?

Plum crazy is gender neutral.

claramag, Mustaco Master > BaconSandwich is tasty.
09/12/2014 at 20:43

not yet. Someday.

(seriously tho I'm 22 I should not be having futuredaughter visiting my dreams this young. Thank the gods I got the parts that don't come with an expiration date)

OPPOsaurus WRX > BaconSandwich is tasty.
09/12/2014 at 20:51

Kinja'd!!!

My monsters. They were 2 in july.

f86sabre > BaconSandwich is tasty.
09/12/2014 at 20:52

Congrats to you and your wife!

We have a 7 year old son and 4 year old daughter. It is a ton of fun. It doesn't totally mess up your life and you can still do adult stuff. Also, kids dig cool cars. We've only owned my 2003 Evo, my wife's 2005 Cooper S, and our beater pickup, aince the kids have been around and we get by just fine.

Advise I give everyone I come in contact with, even if they don't ask, get your wife involved in a moms support group as soon as you can after the baby arrives. Saved my wife a huge amount of anxiety, she built a friends network that survives to this day and it gives them an excuse to get out of the house with the little one. All good things. Most hospitals offer them for new moms.

Bad Idea Hat > BaconSandwich is tasty.
09/12/2014 at 20:52

Two girls, one almost 3 and the other almost 3 months.

My oldest is awesome, despite the terrible 2's/3's. She's a perfect mix between girly girl and tomboy. Plays with her toy cars in her Frozen dress. Kids are a blank slate, and that's the best thing.

Bad Idea Hat > f86sabre
09/12/2014 at 21:01

I should talk to my wife about a support group. My wife does awesome with the girls, but it's definitely not something that would hurt.

Alfalfa > BaconSandwich is tasty.
09/12/2014 at 21:05

Oppo dad here! A false girl prediction is much more common than false boy prediction. You're probably wise to hold off. My wife and I have a 1 year old son.

deekster_caddy > BaconSandwich is tasty.
09/12/2014 at 21:05

Father of two here, 5 and 9yo. Carseat in a 2-door was not fun, but not that bad either. Both kids love cars though, at least are aware of how special ours are...

f86sabre > Bad Idea Hat
09/12/2014 at 21:07

never too late. If you have kids already it may not be as beneficial, but still... My wife is part of this and likes it

http://www.momsclub.org/links.html

PatBateman > BaconSandwich is tasty.
09/12/2014 at 21:15

I am the proud father of three daughters, ages 2, 7, and 9.

I say this with the utmost respect, kindness, and understanding: if it's a girl, you're screwed. Daughters have their fathers wrapped around their little finger upon birth. Start saving for princess parties, college, weddings, and shotguns. Mostly shotguns.

ttyymmnn > BaconSandwich is tasty.
09/12/2014 at 21:19

Three boys, 12, 8 and 8. We never found out the gender of our kids, not even the twins. But we knew we were having boys. We could tell. We had scheduled C-sections with all of them, so not knowing kind of helped the suspense. I'm surprised they aren't sure. When we were having out ultrasounds, they knew not to tell us, but I asked how they knew at such an early time. One of the nurses said, "Well, it looks like either a turtle or a taco."

Congratulations! It's a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. I'm not sure if it ever gets easier, it just gets different. Best wishes to you both.

petebmwm > BaconSandwich is tasty.
09/12/2014 at 21:24

I have a 4 year old girl and she's the best, wants to help in the garage, wants me to fix the engine so she can drive the m3....if this is your first child, it'll be weird at first because for the first time in your life you'll truly love something more than yourself. nothing will be about you ever again, and you'll be ok with it. it's a good feeling.

Tom McParland > BaconSandwich is tasty.
09/12/2014 at 21:27

Hey congrats! Fellow Oppo dad here...check the #dadlopnik tag for Oppo and feel free to continue the fun!

HammerheadFistpunch > BaconSandwich is tasty.
09/12/2014 at 21:30

two princesses at my house. loves of my life. congrats

HammerheadFistpunch > Tom McParland
09/12/2014 at 21:31

there's Dadlopnik? why didn't anyone tell me!?

Tom McParland > HammerheadFistpunch
09/12/2014 at 21:33

i think I may have been the only one using that tag Lol

BJ > BaconSandwich is tasty.
09/12/2014 at 21:45

3-time Oppodad. Monster #3 was born today, just 5.5 hours ago!

BJ > PatBateman
09/12/2014 at 21:46

You forgot to mention shotgun weddings.

Tom McParland > BJ
09/12/2014 at 21:48

wow congrats!

BJ > ttyymmnn
09/12/2014 at 21:52

Well, it looks like either a turtle or a taco.

LOL - was your ultrasound tech an 11 year old boy? Ha ha ha!

Our daughter was a surprise, but the two boys we knew the gender beforehand. The first we saw just an "arrow" on the screen, no mistaking what it could be. The second there was a textbook perfect penis & scrotum shot.

With a girl, esp before 20 weeks, it's tricky because you might not have seen was there, or there might not be anything there, or sometimes the baby just doesn't cooperate.

WhaleTailWant > BJ
09/12/2014 at 21:55

congrats!

Jimmy Tango > BJ
09/12/2014 at 21:58

congrats!!

Nibby > BaconSandwich is tasty.
09/12/2014 at 22:00

I'm yo daddy.

Jimmy Tango > BaconSandwich is tasty.
09/12/2014 at 22:01

I joined the club this January. Congrats to you and if it's a girl you will be as happy as I am now if not more. Only advice: make sure your car doesn't have cold start issue comes winter. My wife still murmur about that and I was banned from scoring another 5yr+ used car.

TheDutchTexan > BaconSandwich is tasty.
09/12/2014 at 22:05

Oh yeah. I got a 3 year old daughter and a 1 year old son. It's pretty awesome, you'll love it. Just ignore the crying, stinky diapers, sleepless nights. and the inability to follow your instructions once your girl / boy leveled up.

My daughter loves my mustang though. I can't wait for her to be tall enough for just a booster, then she'll be riding in it all the time!

The Compromiser > BaconSandwich is tasty.
09/12/2014 at 22:08

Thrice over. No hope, no sleep, no money, no thing better.

mcseanerson > BJ
09/12/2014 at 22:15

Congrats!!

mcseanerson > petebmwm
09/12/2014 at 22:22

This statement I agree with so much. When me and my wife moved in everyone said things will change and they didn't. When we got married everyone said things will change and they didn't. They said after we were no longer newlyweds things would change and they didn't (been living together for over ten years now.) Then we had kids and everything changed. It is nuts how much kids change your life, but it's a good nuts. I never cared about crash test ratings or got nervous about the idea of riding a motorcycle.

Now I talk about getting a motorcycle an my wife asks if I like hugging the kids. Then she asks how I'll like hugging them with no arms. My wife is a morbid one.

PatBateman > BJ
09/12/2014 at 22:24

I mentioned shotguns. I mentioned weddings. Hopefully the shotguns prevent shotgun weddings.

mcseanerson > deekster_caddy
09/12/2014 at 22:24

Rearfacing is the worst! Once they get into booster seats it's like cake though.

mcseanerson > BaconSandwich is tasty.
09/12/2014 at 22:30

Dad twice over. 4 year old boy in Pre-k(thank goodness he has more energy and orneriness than I'd think a human was capable of if I hadn't been the exact same growing up.) and soon to be 3 year old girl. They both want to be racecar drivers when they're older but I think they're just trying to score brownie points with the old man. Kids are the best thing that will ever happen to you in life. They make you a better person and it gives you a chance to bring more good people into the world.

Congratulations and look forward to sleep when you can get it!

shop-teacher > BJ
09/12/2014 at 22:43

Congrats!

shop-teacher > BaconSandwich is tasty.
09/12/2014 at 22:53

My daughter will be 2 in December. It really knocks you on your ass, in the best way possible. I absolutely love being a dad.

BTW, no need to go full pink with a girl. Mine wears plenty of pink, but tonight she's sleeping in race car pj's.

shop-teacher > mcseanerson
09/12/2014 at 22:55

My wife is the one who wants a motorcycle, so I have to be the morbid one.

mcseanerson > shop-teacher
09/12/2014 at 23:02

Yeah my wife's spin on it wouldn't scare me as much if my dad hadn't been in a bad car accident when he was younger and spent a year in the hospital. He rode nothing but bikes from highschool till I was born but got in a car accident when him and his friend were drunk while driving (he was the passenger.) While he was in the hospital for a year they kept him in the same room as all the recovering amputees fresh out of surgery. He said it's a lot different looking right after surgery and he said he asked them all what happened and he said over half of them were on motorcycles. He's never ridden one since.

shop-teacher > mcseanerson
09/12/2014 at 23:08

I've had a few friends get really badly hurt riding bikes. They're guys who've been riding all their life, weren't drunk, or doing anything stupid, just got in wrecks. One of them is still recovering, been out of work since May, and is still messed up.

deekster_caddy > mcseanerson
09/12/2014 at 23:14

My oldest doesn't need a booster at all in my car anymore (still back seat though). Youngest in booster with back for a bit longer. So easy now... The youngest can buckle her own seatbelts now, hooray!

deekster_caddy > mcseanerson
09/12/2014 at 23:17

that's how I feel after driving a tow truck weekends for a few years. Scraping up a few nasty wrecks at 2am with lots of blood is one of the things that really slowed down my driving a bit. Before that I was a full time maniac behind the wheel!

mcseanerson > shop-teacher
09/12/2014 at 23:17

Yeah, I still think about it but if I do get into motorcycles I think it will be on a track with other motorcycles only. There is a kart track nearby with a 100cc racing series that could satisfy my need to lean.

mcseanerson > deekster_caddy
09/12/2014 at 23:19

Yeah my 4 year old opens and closes the door and buckles himself in. It is so much easier to make a two door work when they get to that age. My 3 year old is still in the car seat but we're hoping to transition to a booster soon. If I ever delete the passenger air bag in my Miata I'll start taking the older one for rides.

mcseanerson > deekster_caddy
09/12/2014 at 23:24

Yeah that and some close calls with aggressive driving on the road. My Mazda 3 got a little loose over some rough pavement and put me offroad heading to some utility poles. Just a couple feet to the right and I probably wouldn't be here writing this. It was that moment I knew I needed to cut out the BS on the backroads and get serious about doing an autocross or some track time or something safer.

I'm not saying you can't drive aggressive on a back road but try to be safe and keep it under 7/10. I think I was doing 8/10 that day and the car just got away from me.

Turk > BaconSandwich is tasty.
09/13/2014 at 10:26

Oppodad of a 1.5yr old girl. She recognizes my straight-pipe GTO by sound when I get home from work (daa-daa!! daa-daa!!). Pretty awesome.

Pyrochazm > BaconSandwich is tasty.
09/13/2014 at 12:47

I have a 2 year old girl and a 10 day old boy.

My daughter is already a gearhead- she "helps" me work on cars, she already wants to drive, and she had a case of joy explosion when we went to the museum of flight last week.

Also a little aside- we didn't find out the gender until our kids were born. We pretty much did it for the troll factor.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > deekster_caddy
09/13/2014 at 12:47

On that note, any particular recommendations for car seats? Apparently MacLaren makes one, but it doesn't get great reviews. They are INSANE about car seat safety up here in Canada - so much so that they now stamp car seats with expiry dates because the regulations change so often.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > BJ
09/13/2014 at 12:47

That's awesome!

BaconSandwich is tasty. > f86sabre
09/13/2014 at 12:49

Someone else just recently gave us that same advice - to get into some group with children the same age. It's got to be incredibly psychologically taxing being a mom. You essentially give up your own identity for 18+ years.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > BJ
09/13/2014 at 12:51

Yeah, our baby was being pretty squirmy during the ultrasound. I'm sure the ultrasound techs have it down for the most part, but sometimes there are still surprises.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > PatBateman
09/13/2014 at 12:53

It's funny you mentioned shotguns. When I first met my now-wife, I was concerned about meeting her father. I pictured him at home, polishing the stock on a shotgun while sitting in a room full of mounted animal heads. It ended up being nothing like that - he's a pretty cool guy. For our wedding, he called around to all the rental places in town to see if anyone would rent a Corvette, and had they had one, he would have rented it for me.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Tom McParland
09/13/2014 at 12:54

Well, then, I'll have to remember that as well!

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Jimmy Tango
09/13/2014 at 12:56

Hmm, good call. I should probably replace my battery before this winter. The Civic has been a bit stubborn in winter. On the other hand, my wife's Cavalier has been doing just fine.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > XJDano
09/13/2014 at 12:58

Plum crazy, you say?

Kinja'd!!!

PatBateman > BaconSandwich is tasty.
09/13/2014 at 13:10

My HS senior year, I go to pick up my girlfriend for a movie date. Nothing special. My girlfriend answers the door, tells me that her father would like to speak to me in the study. I walk in, and her dad has every shotgun he owns (most of which were inherited) laying out on the table while he meticulously oils and cleans them. I sit in front of an uncocked double barrel 12 gauge.

Kinja'd!!!

He begins grilling me about what we were actually doing on the date, where we were going, when we would get there/movie ended/be back. I gave him straight answers (the movie starts at 7:45, will end at approximately 9:40, with driving time we'll be back no later than 10:15) then immediately picked up the double barrel.

"This is a very nice shotgun, Mr. Jones. Do you ever shoot it?"

"Uh... Well... Not much anymore."

"That's unfortunate. My dad takes me skeet shooting about once per month *with one hand and in a fluid snap, I close the chamber* and I get a good amount of practice. I'm actually a pretty good shot. Bring this gun out sometime and I can help you relearn how to shoot it properly."

"Uh... Yeah. That would be great."

"Fantastic. Have a great evening, Mr. Jones. We'll see you later tonight."

I then reopen the chamber with one finger without looking, place the gun back on the table, and we leave on our date.

MORAL OF THE STORY: If you're going to try to intimidate a boy who's dating your daughter with some shotguns, make sure that the boy isn't better with guns than you are.

True story.

f86sabre > BaconSandwich is tasty.
09/13/2014 at 13:21

these groups help with that. You aren't talking baby talk 24-7. You have adults to interact with. I can't recommend it enough.

Turk > petebmwm
09/13/2014 at 14:11

My kid's too small for garage yet, but learned how to use screwdrivers and allen wrenches at 10 mos while helping me build Ikea furniture. So much fun. Enjoyed her first couple spectating visits to the racetrack too, though as some of the posts below remind all of us, fatherhood does change one's risk tolerance quite a bit...

deekster_caddy > BaconSandwich is tasty.
09/13/2014 at 16:54

Whatever fits best in your backseat. They are all good enough.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > BaconSandwich is tasty.
09/15/2014 at 15:27

Yessir! I have 1 car and dog obsessed son. He's a little over a year and a half.

Enjoying car cruise with mom:

Kinja'd!!!

And in his new pickup truck:

Kinja'd!!!