Unless you and your spouse have already decided that you are comfortable with having a child-free marriage, it’s going to come to a point when you decide you’re ready to add children to your life and home. Deciding to bring a child into the world is a major decision and also a life-changing one. You’re no longer just responsible for yourself. When you have a baby, you’re responsible for everything from changing diapers to making sure your little one can attend a good college when they’re old enough to fly out of the nest and to ordering meal kits and paying a delivery fee because you’re just too tired to cook.
If you feel that it’s time to bring a baby into your life, you and your partner need to do some serious soul-searching, and then sit down together and discuss how having a baby will change your lives and your relationship. From heading into town during your lunch hour for an ultrasound instead of meeting up with friends to staying home and having a meal kit filled with gluten-free, vegan, and paleo food from Blue Apron delivered in instead of going out to dinner because you can’t find a babysitter, there’s a lot to consider. Read on below for a few signs that you’re indeed ready to become a parent to help you make the best decision.
You’re both responsible and willing to make sacrifices.
As a couple, you’ve made sacrifices for each other, or you should have if you’re a solid couple, but you’re going to have to make even more sacrifices as a parent. Responsibility and the willingness to make sacrifices for your family are two key ingredients in determining if you’re ready to have a baby. You have to be willing to do what it takes, even if it means moving to D.C. and often ordering a meal kit from the menu at your grocery store and paying a delivery fee because the weather is frightful outside.
For example, if your spouse is offered a great job in D.C., and you find out the schools are amazing there, but your job is in Colorado, along with your friends and family, you have a decision to make. Do you refuse to move, upsetting your spouse and denying your child the chance to go to amazing schools and grow up in an amazing neighborhood, or do you sacrifice and work on relocating to Washington DC instead? Washington, D.C. is an area with a job market that is constantly thriving, and there are educational opportunities galore for you and your child. The choice is, of course, yours, but parenthood is about sacrifice and ensuring your child has only the best opportunities.
Neither of you minds being a homebody.
You do get to leave the house when you have a baby; it just becomes a lot less frequent, even when you’re living in D.C. If you’re already at the point in your marriage where having fun on Saturday night is ordering in and curling up on the couch to watch Netflix, then you’re a step ahead of the game. If you already have the best food delivery service in the United States bookmarked on your computer and phone, then you’re a homebody and should have no problem with staying home with your baby or ordering a meal kit with seafood and all the works.
If you’re not quite to the food delivery service stage yet, then you have a bit to learn. With the outbreak of Covid-19, many people have gotten used to ordering grocery meal kits from Doordash, Blue Apron, Grubhub, or Home Chef, Hellofresh, and even their own local grocery store. If you’ve never had a meal delivery service deliver your meals before, make sure that the site you use has a well-thought-out menu, meal kits that include gluten-free and vegan options, and that there are some in the D.C. area since you may be moving there soon.
Blue Apron has some of the best meal kits around so that you can have groceries delivered and not have to go out with the baby or risk coming home with Covid-19. Remember, you will have a delivery fee from Doordash or Grubhub, and even the local grocery, and you’ll have to serve the meal yourself. Still, it’s certainly worth it, especially if you’re living in the D.C. area, the weather is horrible outside, and you’re worried about the Covid-19 virus as well.
Imagining yourself with a baby makes you both happy.
Whether you live in D.C. or New York, if you both have imagined what it would be like to hold your baby many times, then you might be ready to move to the D.C. area, order those meal kits from Blue Apron and settle into parenthood. If the idea of seeing your baby for the first time on a home ultrasound puts big smiles on both of your faces, you might be ready as well. These home ultrasounds are less expensive and a great alternative to traditional ultrasound machines.
In fact, you can call your local grocery in D.C. to order a fine meal and prepare it, or you can contact a meal delivery service, such as Doordash, and order a meal kit to serve up to your spouse, and make a night of it, with the ultrasound and a paleo meal kit full of everything from seafood to gluten-free items—the choice is yours. If you or your spouse have dietary restrictions, you let the grocery or meal delivery service know ahead of time, so your meal kit can be adjusted accordingly.
These are just a few of the top signs that you’re ready to have a baby. The choice is yours, so make the right one for you and your significant other.