Dude's Guide for New Dads

A co-worker Joe announced he and his wife were having a baby. He keeps coming over and asking me questions. I would buy him a book, but there are not that many books for New Dads. Plus I'm cheap. So I decided to write this post. A Dude's Guide to Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me Before My Baby Was Born.

Things to Buy (or to put on Shower Registry)

1. Carseat. To get baby from hospital to home. Graco is good.
   
2. Diapers. Assuming you go the disposable route, Costco can't be beat. They have Huggies and their own Kirkland brands.
3. Basket/Sleeper.
4. Onesies.
   
5. Bottles and liners.
6. Bibs and blurp cloths
7. Baby bath tub.
8. Diaper Genie vs. Diaper Champ: I tried both. I prefer the Diaper Champ. It does slightly better hiding odors and it uses ordinary trash can liners, which saves money.
   
9. Stroller. Preferably a Graco or other system, where you can plop the carseat right into the stroller is convenient.
   
10. Digital Camera.
    

That's it. Everthing else is extra: stuff like Baby Monitor, stuffed animals, etc.


Things to Know/To Do

1. Childcare. Get on a least three
waiting lists for childcare. Doesn't matter if the Due Date is six months away. Do it! We were on four, and each one of them told us we had a least a two-year wait. We got into all of them.

2. Make a Will/update your Will.
   
3. Back to Sleep. Child sleeps on his/her back.
   
4. Learn how to change a diaper. It's easy, until they get older and start squirming around.
   
5. Know this: there will be NO SEX for awhile. Probably until your child goes off to college.
   
6. Sleep. (See Item #4 about Sex.)
7. Three scariest words you will ever encounter. SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED.
You've been warned.

8. Heart. It expands to accommodate a host of new emotions for your child and wife. Dude, I can't begin to describe it, but you'll know it when it happens again. And again.
9. Heart, part 2. It will suffer. Thousands of tiny breaks and tears...when you accidently hurt your child, when you can only watch them in pain...
10. There is nothing like it.

Now go have some sex, or sleep or go on a vacation. While you can.