Hey all.
I'm looking for spots in Chicago to take my nine month old son where he can safely crawl around and explore things. The confines of our condo are getting a bit boring for both of us. I live in Edgewater near Loyola but I'll travel wherever.
Can anybody help?

Thanks

Hey all!

Well, I checked out the Chicago area stay at home dads group about a year ago, but I thought that my son Logan might be a little young to really participate in anything. I think that board has merged with this one. Anyway, It's definitely going to be a long cold winter so I thought I would try to get involved around here, say hello to everybody (local and non local!).

Hello All,

I'm fairly new to the SAHD routine... I'm a middle school teacher by trade but have the priviledge to raise our daughter for at least the next year (evaluating whether I'll return to teaching).

I'm slightly intimidated by the the "mom's groups" and am hoping to locate a group somewhere in the Naperville/Aurora area.

Thank you for putting up this forum. I look forward reading about experiences of other SAHDs.

Take care,

Marc

Gents,

So, how did it go today? (for those of you with school age kids)

We began today at a new school for Amanda. I'm thoroughly not mentally ready for the new school year to begin. AAAHHH. Change of routines, schedules, routes to get to school, new layers of bureaucracy to navigate, new PTA committee members to brown nose with, etc. etc. You know the drill!

I have a seven-month-old boy and a dog and I live in the city (Chicago). As you can imagine I spend a decent amount of time collecting and disposing of poo. Most of the time it's not a big deal. It's really a matter of your frame of mind. I could dwell on times when my only scatological concerns were my own, or I put it behind me and move on with the realities and joys of parenthood. But every once in a while poo becomes crap and so does the day.

I apologize for intruding, but my husband Jim has been a SAHD since 2005 and he hasn't had a guys vacation in all that time. I have worked full time and until this past July, all our vacation days in the last 3 years were used for time in the hospital. Our oldest has a severe heart defect (HLHS) and has had four heart surgeries, multiple other surgeries, is fed overnight through a g-tube (to his stomach), and is physically weak and behind in development. My husband has taken care of him since his birth, staying at home faithfully. We also have a second son, who just turned 1.

Ok, I'll be up front about this - I need my prostate checked as I turned 40 this year. Not that it isn't embarrassing enough but now the question of whether I go for a female doctor versus male. What really bothers me is that I hear that certain reactions are likely, like getting a huge God-Almighty boner. Somehow I think I'd be more embarrassed of said boner in front of a woman than a man, which now seems weirder still. After all, I've never had a boner with a man and yet I'm freaked out about a woman sticking her finger up my butt.

Thoughts?

Doctor recommendations?

A few of us are going to the Cubs/Cardinals game at Wrigley this Sunday night, and I have one extra ticket ($46 face value) if anyone is interested. You can contact me at drainey@alum.dartmouth.org. Hope you can join us!

Doug

Hi Everyone,

My name is Dustin Kight. I work for Family Equality Council. We are a national organization working to ensure equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) families by community building, changing hearts and minds, and advancing social justice for all families.

We have two events coming up in Chicago at the LGBT Center on Halsted on July 20. I'm reaching out to local groups that might have members interested in attending our events.

Does anyone know of a good way to make a few bucks while being an At Home Dad?

I have the fortune of having a good sleeper and have a couple of hours per day that I'd like to use to make some money.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Hi Guys,

I’m new to this site, but I’ve really enjoyed reading over the discussions here. With this post, I may be going a bit off topic, but I hope this subject is interesting for at least some of you:

I have a 2 year old daughter and a newborn son. These are the only two grand kids on both my wife's side as well as mine. I have issues at times with her parents when it comes to my children. I feel as though they do not listen to us when we ask them not to do certain things. They will make comments at times that makes me think, "don't forget that we are the parents..." My wife and I are in a bit of a bind when we need someone to watch our kids overnight, because it usually has to be her parents.

I have been a SAHD for a little over 1.5 years. I have a 2 year old daughter and our son was born on 5-16-08. I love staying at home and will not go back to day time work until my kids are in school. I am hoping this site will provide some good discussions, blogs, networking, and venting opportunities.

Hello everyone!

I'm brand new to the forum, and am really interested in getting some advice from all of the SAHDs out there.

First, some background: my wife is a radiologist. Her salary potential absolutely dwarfs mine - she will be making $450-$500K a year once she starts her new job in July of this year. In contrast, I barely break $60K. My job is in downtown Chicago, and hers is going to be about two hours east of the city. We don't have any kids (but have a wonderful dog!) yet, but are trying, and we have talked about adopting if we can't get pregnant naturally.

My wife and I are awaiting our first born in the next couple of weeks (baby boy) and I will be a stay at home father. It's great to see there's an outlet for fathers to share experiences and share views. It was a total change for me to go to my local Target store during a weekday and see nothing but mothers with strollers and the elderly =) I can't wait to take the journey of fatherhood and am here to say hi to all of you that have already started that journey.

-Greg