Whoo hoo!! Someone else to play with! Welcome aboard!! I don't need to tell you we're a bit warped...but.....if you're married....and have kids...you'll already understand that part! :rofl::dummy:

Ditto - welcome to the party!! :bye: :nut:

Hello, Pat. An Irish name, perhaps? My grannie was Mildred Amanda O'Neal, nee McCulley. Then I went and married a German dude... yet I still appreciate St. Pat's day.

Nice to have you join us! Do share your stories with us. And that is one lovely Yachtmaster. Full size or mid-size?

Truer words were never spoken, Nance!

Y'know, you've been awfully quiet lately!

I know it, Carolina. Totally got out of the mood to post! I've still been here reading, though. I promise to do better.

No worries! :cheers:

And a brother named Mike (Michael)... Part Irish, part English (IIRC). No green beer for me today though. A little wine w/dinner, maybe a beer every now and again is about it for me.

Gosh-n-be-goren, Happy St. Patty's all...

Lisa's on the word wagon. :rofl::rofl::rofl::dummy:

Thanks. The boys are asleep, hence I log on.

I have the ladies' YM model. I think I got the avatar photo from the Rolex website, but my watch is the same color scheme (SS/platinum). It was a pre-kid indulgence for my 10th wedding anniversary (we waited a while to start our family).

By the way, I sent the "Before I was a Mom" poem that was on this board out to my mom, mother in law, and to some friends, and they all loved it. Being a mom changed me from a totally stoic person into someone who gets misty eyed even at Johnson & Johnson baby wash commercials.

As long as people are discussing sicknesses (some serious, some fortunately not so serious) I was wondering if people noticed that the flu shots in general do work, either for kids or for themselves. Our shots seem to be working, thus far, but it's also been an unusually dry and warm winter, which means that we are spending more time outside. When it's pouring rain we'll usually head to an indoor mall or somewhere else where there are a lot of other people, too.

We waited a long while before having kids, too - 14 years. We weren't sure we even wanted to have any, and now we have three!

You're right about how having kids changes your outlook so much - I cannot bear to read or hear anything about bad things happening to kids. I just can't handle it.

I read on the Medscape website that the flu vaccine protects against half of the flu strains out there. I guess that's better than nothing, but I was surprised it wasn't more.

I can really relate to that. The worst is school concerts. Man....as soon as those little ones start singing, out come the tears. I'm pathetic.

Mind you....I cry when I hear a large crowd of people singing the national anthem too. :rofl::dummy:

I was always really stiff and uncomfortable around kids and I guess I still am with other peoples kids but from day-one my son and I have been very close. As an infant I took him with me on errands to home depot etc. rather than leave him home and always walks with him in his little wagon and even now we play catch and shoot baskets in the street in front of my house almost nightly. We talk about his school day and I give him (bad) advice that he's smart enough not to use. We wrestle on the rug and he calls me "old-i-locks" and I threaten to get his hair cut. He's 11 - it's all about the long hair.
I love being a dad.

You know what it's all about, Bill. :thumbsup:

Wonderful, isn't it, Bill! One of my sons has a warped sense of humour. He's a phenomenal parent, but I have to roll my eyes when I hear him say things like this to his 2-1/2 year old daughter......"Honey....tell daddy what sound beer makes when you open it!"....and she proudly goes..."Pssssst!!!!!"

:dummy::dummy::rofl:

Where the hell have you girls been? Trying to catch up on the posts and I will be my usual PITA in a little bit. Hope all of you gals and guys are doing WELL.

That must've been a heckuva fishing trip! We've missed you, too.

Awww, you Canadians and your beer. Quality family time :thumbsup: :chuckle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HGPh8Hjyg8

:cheers:

OMG Bill! That video was hilarious! :rofl::rofl::lol::lol::cheers:

That was funny, Bill!

Good morning, ya'll. My two big girls spent the night at their grandparents' house and it's just me and baby Violet. I have quickly found out that the less I have to do, the more quickly I become a complete slacker. What a treat!

Bubba, what does "PITA" mean?

"Pain In The Ar$e."

Now that that's out of the way, I've got a question.

My son called us a few days ago and asked if Arleen and I would like to babysit our granddaughter (3 months old). The way he put it originally, it sounded like he wanted us to take her overnight on either a Friday or Saturday night. They live in New York and we're in DC so that means driving up to New York and springing for 2 nights in a hotel (or we were thinking one night in a hotel and a second night in their place while they went away).

Turns out that they want to go out to dinner on Saturday night with friends and they only wanted us to babysit for about 4 hours. So we're talking about a $900 - 1,000 babysitting job (where we pay).

Also, we have symphony tickets on Saturday night (which we can change) and a couple things on Sunday.

The options, as we see it are:

1. Go and take the job.

2. Give them the money to hire a babysitter.

3. Tell them to switch with us one night - they spend the night in our hotel room and we stay in their apartment with the baby for the night.

Oh, and the other factor is: his in-laws live on Long Island and would jump at the chance to babysit for a few hours.


So the question is: What would you do?

Uhh....I think this might have been directed to Lisa and I hope you don't mind if I jump in here, but being as I'm a grandmother who babysits for my own sons, I thought I'd share what *I* would do......

Tell them you're sorry but you've already made plans that you're really looking forward to. Stick with that. Let them find a sitter and pay for the sitter themselves. If they want to go out badly enough, they'll work it out. :thumbsup:

It wasn't directed at Lisa, Nancy. I just happened to get lazy and combine two thoughts in one post. It really was meant for all the grandparents (actually even parents, from the other perspective) in the crowd. So your input is more than welcome.

And thanks for the suggestion. What about this. Suppose we do as you suggest. Do you think they will not ask us again to babysit? That, of course, is Arleen's concern.

(over) Protective Dad here...
 

IMO 3 months is too young to take overnight. I'm sure some parents would like the break but that will come in time.
If they absolutely must get away and go out with friends while their baby is so young then the 4 hour visit in their own home would be best. I would keep my symphony tickets and make arrangements for another weekend when you're not already busy.
There is absolutely NO danger of not being asked to babysit again. IMO if they are interested in going out already then they will call you again.

Okay, I'll jump in. I had a big ol' message written out and then decided not to post it. I thought I was sounding self-righteous or something.... but after reading what Bill and Nancy say I don't think I'm too out of line here....

I wouldn't leave my 3 month old with anyone - when my husband and I were new parents we quickly realized it wasn't worth it to go anywhere. When I had my first baby we tried leaving Phoebe with my in-laws, with the naive assumption we could go out every now and then and I could keep working part time. I hadn't figured out how strongly attached to mom babies are, especially breastfed babies. Whenever we'd get home, we'd hear about how she had cried non-stop, refusing to drink from a bottle. It broke my heart, and I soon found that trying to go out was no fun at all.

It was all part of the new-parent adjustment, I guess. Realizing that your focus changes. Let the self-sacrificing begin!:chuckle:

Now, from a more objective viewpoint, I agree with Nancy that you're being asked to go quite a bit out of your way to babysit this little one. Maybe it's true new parents need time to be together and re-connect, but they might want to consider doing so in a way that doesn't inconvenience you guys so much. I'd take the baby with me if I was the mom.

Ed, I agree with Nancy, and then gently suggest/ask if maybe your daughter-in-law's folks might be able to step-up. Then offer some other weekend in the near future where you will care for the baby at their apartment or at your house while they go away for the weekend together, or if they're in DC, go out for the evening and spend the night at your house. Although when our son was 3 mos-old, we would have never been able to pull ourselves away for a weekend.

I've had to decline babysitting from time to time because of other commitments and I just say..."I'm so sorry......but I certainly will look forward to doing it another time!" There's never been a problem. My kids know we have a life too!

I agree wholeheartedly with that as well, Bill. I would never have taken my grandchild overnight at that age. Even now, although the kids have never asked me to keep them overnight, I'd still be a bit nervous and they are 2-1/2 and almost 4 years old. It's not the same when you're a grandparent. You love the kids to death...but the bottom line is...they are not YOUR kids and the sense of responsibility is like nothing I ever imagined before the grandkids came along. It's very much like babysitting a neighbour or friend's kids....you worry all the time that something is going to happen no matter how carefully you're watching them!