It gets better (or worse, depending on who you ask).

The weather has been so lovely here lately. By the calendar it will be officially spring in nine days, but usually it still feels like winter well into late March and even early April. Temperatures have made it feel more like mid-April this last week and we’ve been doing our best to get out for some walks in the neighbourhood, Nate in the stroller.

The fresh air and sunshine has done wonders for all of us. If we time it just right, Nate has an afternoon snooze while we walk. While he sleeps, we just keep right on walking.

As we headed out yesterday afternoon, we spotted one of our neighbours across the street. Since Graham and I have been hibernating new parents since Nate was born, Terry hadn’t met him yet. I was glad to see she was outside in her yard when we left the house and we strolled over to say hello.

We chatted a bit about Nate’s birth and about what it has been like for us to be new parents. We told her what’s been up with us lately…that we’ve figured a few things out with respect to Nate’s eating and sleeping and that it’s been a real learning curve, but that things are getting better.

“Everyone tells us it gets better,” I said to her.

“It doesn’t,” she argued. “It just gets worse!”

I laughed. I found her honesty refreshing. So many people have used the opposite line on us, saying, “It gets better,” or “It’ll get easier.”

Not our neighbours. Instead we hear, “Wait until they tell you they hate you!” or “It gets harder as they get older. You worry about them going to high school and getting into drugs and alcohol and getting beat up or hurt. It’s so hard.”

Apparently it’s really the teen years we have to fear!

Tags: neighbours, parenthood