Urban Baby

--- If there's one thing my husband and I said when we were talking about getting pregnant, it was that no matter what, a baby was NEVER going to change our lifestyle. So... 8 months in, how are we doing so far? Well, I'll let you decide!---

(This post is inspired by a newspaper article that I was tagged in on Facebook where a woman wrote in to a columnist complaining that her friends with kids were no longer accessible and / or interested in making time for her anymore. Her letter was beyond selfish and ridiculous, but the response from the Columnist was also far from satisfactory to me... it was extremely specific to a certain 'type' of parent... the kind that actually DO change their lives 100% once they have kids. Well, sorry folks, but we are NOT those parents.)

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My husband Brad & I have always been downtown-living, patio-sitting, dog-loving, social people. And although the idea of having kids seemed like a good one in theory, (well-- maybe in a few years) we both felt too happy and selfish to give up everything that we had spent the past 7 years building together. We already had 2 dogs... wasn't our family big enough? We did the 'adopt an adult dog thing', and then we did the 'puppy thing' -- which is sort of the same as having a baby, right? Besides, once we had kids wouldn't we need a bigger place? One with a yard? Wouldn't we need more storage? And a mini-van? Maybe a nice big house with a 2-car garage so we both could have some freedom? Because I think that if you add up all of the above, we would have to move out of our beautiful 2+ bedroom Yuppy Yaletown condo into (gulp I can barely even stand to write it...) **SUBURBIA**?? (Ak. Spit. Shudder.)

But all that useless speculation became reality when I found out I was pregnant after a ridiculous summer of partying, drinking and hot tubbing. (Holy crap!) So that was that. GONE were the fun weekends away and the summers of sitting on patios... GONE were the nights of partying with friends... GONE were the days of spontaneity and independence and dinners out and nice clothes and flat ironed hair... RIGHT?? Because now there were more important things to do. There were diapers to pay for, and school to plan for, and college funds to save for... not to mention all the cooking, cleaning, laundry... and oh yeah. What about that second kid we talked about??

(Ha ha. ANYONE who knows me would think the above was pretty damn funny ;p Cook? Me? And aren't there people you can PAY to clean your condo for you?) ;p

So what happened? You guessed it. We didn't change a thing. Well... Almost. ;p

OK, so maybe now I go to bed a little earlier since I'm up at 3am & 5am & 7am tending to a fussy baby... and maybe my blow drier and flat iron only come out once/month... and maybe now our living room resembles a children's toy store... and maybe our spare bedroom is decorated in fairies and has a crib, baby clothes and hundreds of toys in it... and maybe I have had to join the infamous 'Mom & Baby Fitness groups' since I can't take a fussy baby to our condo gym... and maybe I have to be home twice/day for 'nap time'... and maybe we don't see as many movies anymore... and maybe now we have to sit on the "Family Friendly" side of our favorite bars & restaurants because Vancouver has stupid liquor laws... and maybe our 'date nights' cost twice as much because we need to hire a sitter... and maybe we DID have to upgrade our 2-door convertible to a 7-seat Crossover...

BUT OVERALL, we have stayed true to our original intentions, and have not let having a baby drastically change our Urban lifestyle! We still go out for our morning coffees and dog walks and eat out a few times a week and go shopping and drink copious amounts of wine on patios with friends... we just bring our baby with us! We still crash at friend's houses over the weekends and have actually traveled more this year than ever... Brad and I have both separately been to Las Vegas this year, and Veronica has come with us to Victoria, Nanaimo, Tofino, Bellingham, Toronto (twice!), Muskoka, London (Ontario), Cuba... and we are heading on a Caribbean Cruise at the end of January!

So what does all of this mean exactly? It means that you CAN be a happy, downtown Urban family. And I'm relieved to know that it IS possible to have a social life AND be a parent. And from what we've learned, all it takes is a laid back attitude and a really big diaper bag.

And what about that "Second Kid" you ask...? "What will you do then?" I have absolutely no idea. Everyone keeps saying "Well... you're not going to get to do THAT for much longer..." And yet funny enough? Somehow, we do! So I guess we'll just face those "future obstacles" as they begin to present themselves.... and in the meantime I'll keep an eye out for a 3+ bedroom condo in Yaletown... with a yard! ;p