Congratulations, CE!!! I thought you already had kids. What an exciting time! 🙂
Well, one thing I can say is that having kids will be the very worst business decision you could ever make…but they are so worth it! Because of this, you will not be able to go out as much, go on as many vacations (certainly not very expensive ones), no date nights unless you have a handy grandparent nearby (or if you’re comfortable with a sitter..and you might find that you’re not nearly as comfortable once you hold your sweet baby in your arms). No fancy cars; you might tell yourself that you will always have a “cool” car, but most of us just give in at some point and end up with a minivan or some other horribly uncool car.
Personally, I’ve given up almost all TV; no TV on at our house unless I’m folding laundry late at night or if I quickly check CNBC for a bit in the early morning or closing bell in the afternoon, or if Mr. CAR is watching sports, of course (can’t win ’em all). Though it’s a bit overboard, the car radio is tuned more to jazz and classical than rock when the kids are in the car.
As a former smoker (yeah, it sucks), I gave up smoking. Thought I would start back up after the first pregnancy, but just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t bear the thought of smelling like an ashtray when I was nursing my baby. Just a different lifestyle after you have kids, and this was a good thing.
Sex. Though it doesn’t fall into the category of things you’re giving up in order to be a good influence on the kids. Hate to tell you this, but you will be giving up a LOT of sex. 🙁 We all tell ourselves it won’t happen to us, but it just happens, whether we like it or not. Kids are the most effective anti-aphrodisiac in the universe, especially when they’re knocking on your bedroom door and crying because you’ve locked them out of your bedroom. Sorry to break this to you.
