By Michael J. Russer for The Good Men Project.
I remember so clearly how wonderful things were with my wife and I for the first three years of our marriage. Though we were working ungodly hours every day building a successful business together, we loved every minute of it. And, we NEVER fought.
I also remember telling her, as we prepared to have children, we must always be aware that it is our special bond and relationship that is bringing them into the world. This beautiful, essential thing we have together must never become diminished in any way just because we are having kids.
So romantic, so idealistic, so… wrong.
Everything changes with kids.
Right. Well that pep talk went right out the window with a whack on the bottom of our beautiful firstborn daughter as she cried out in no uncertain terms that she had just arrived in our world. And things just went downhill from there.
Like most new parents, we had no idea on what to expect with this new bundle of joy (despite all the books we read). On top of all that refined cluelessness, our new daughter made things so much more interesting by being incessantly colicky.
She just would not stop crying unless one of us held and gently rocked her — like all the freak’n time. Just perfect for those come-hither glances I gave my wife when I was feeling frisky (which was all the time, too) only to have her return with the “You’ve GOT to be kidding me!” stare.
One that included the oh-so subtle but supremely effective subtext of “You selfish bastard — how can you possibly be thinking about sex when our daughter is in distress!”