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[Szechwan]

Yup our first. Nervous anticipation is the limbo I'm in.

This was mine first too. Quite a ride.

By the end of pregnancy I was so sick of seemingly every other parent offering nothing but "ohhhh get ready to never sleep again!!!" or "say goodbye to your life!!" as their supposed words of wisdom. Or other moms inundating my wife with their horrific birth stories then saying "oh but yours will be fine!"

None of that is helpful. Or funny. It was like we were being used as therapists sometimes, it's nuts.

My unsolicited advice, as it's quite fresh in my mind:

-Focus on taking care of your wife pre and postpartum. Give her endless attention, love, and support and you can really cut down the chances of postpartum depression. Be her butler for as long as possible. Cook, clean, do laundry, keep her water filled. It's a grind but she will never forget how you treated her post-baby for the rest of her life.

-Learn how to sooth your baby. It's way harder for Dads because we don't have the same bond with the baby yet, or boobs for that matter. It takes patience and practice to find what works, and many give up before learning and just hand them to mom. It makes a huge difference to mom being able to split that duty.

-You're going to be fine. It'll be hard, but you will figure it out. And honestly, your baby and your early parental experience is going to be different than everyone else's, so just go with the flow and accept it likely won't be as your expected.

My wife and I have a joke mantra when things are going sideways- "we are water, we flow *around* obstacles and continue downstream" said in a very obnoxious hippie voice. But it helps.

Edit:that went way longer than I thought. Mods feel free to dump this derail in the OT thread.

 

[Wisp]

Kids are honestly the best.

Remember that when you have had no sleep, dealing with literal shit and a cranky significant other.

kids put into perspective how petty your problems were before having kids.

what you thought mattered before doesn't matter at all.

 

[Canucker]

I like Schneider but I'm still wary about taking Zibanejad without retention.

Agreed...really have no interest in Zibanejad (happily, it doesn't sound like he has any interest in Vancouver either). Rangers are just bad partners, unless they want to trade Adam Fox, then I'm all ears. lol

 

[Diversification]

Yes but more than that. If Willander makes a quick and effective transition we have 3 yrs of a ELC that makes the search for a 2/3 unnecessary and eases the overspend on Zadorov.

If they think Willander will take a couple years to be effective then i can see more caution for that financial commitment and desire to hold their cards to get a better player than Zadorov

Essentailly we could have had a balanced effective defense with Hughes Hronek pushing teams back then Willander Zadorov Soucy Myers with what i believe an internal replacement for Soucy even in DPetey.

I ask because I wonder who the ideal partner would be for Willander when he first breaks in. On a bottom pairing, I thought that Forbort might work. Or possibly Brannstrom but I suspect that pair would be physically overmatched.

 

[Diversification]

Yup our first. Nervous anticipation is the limbo I'm in.

Enjoy! It doesn't feel like it at the time but you will look fondly on those early years. Parenthood changes people - how could it not? You'll find yourself capable of doing things that would have been unthinkable (or at least extremely disruptive) pre-parenthood and that growth mentality can really help you push through.

If there's one nugget I would pass on is that you and your partner are a team. Support each other, and take turns when you need a break without resentment.