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8 Pre-Baby Arguments My Partner & I Laugh At Now

by Emily Westbrooks

My partner and I often now laugh at our naive pre-baby selves. We had no idea how much our lives would change when we finally became parents after more than five years of trying to start our family. Still, so many things did change, and when we we look back at all of our ridiculous, unnecessary, and nothing short of comical pre-baby arguments, my partner and I can only laugh.

My husband and I have never argued very much, but over the course of several years as we started our family, we definitely made our way through a string of "fights" we shouldn't have wasted our breath on. Hindsight is, of course, always 20/20 though. In the moment those arguments, however unnecessary, certainly seemed necessary. We didn't realize we shouldn't have been arguing over who went to sleep first or who was going to take the trash out this time. Instead, we should have been sleeping more, having more long lunches without a toddler smearing banana all over our pant legs, and generally enjoying every second of peace before we became parents.

All easier said than done, though, right? So if we're going to look back on our pre-baby selves, we may as well get a giggle out of how naive and clueless we were about what our future lives would hold. So with that, here's some evidence of our cluelessness, as demonstrated by this silly list of things my husband and I used to argue over.

Who Was Going To Take The Trash Out

Honestly, there are so many more arguments to have about the division of labor now that we're parents. The trash thing? Yeah, that was basically the only one we ever argued about before we had kids. To be fair, it was typically the stinky compost we'd argue over taking out, but I'd take compost any day over taking out the diaper genie bag.

Where We'd Travel Next

Talk about first world, pre-baby problems. We'd spend so much time discussing and pondering where our next trip would be. Now we spend just as much time discussing who is going to get to sleep late, and on which day, this weekend.

Who Would Drive

We used to argue over who wouldn't have to do the driving if we were going a short distance around town or a long distance around the country. I used to hate to drive because I found our standard shift car tedious on Irish roads. Now, I'll give anything to be the driver. Why? Well, because that means I'm not the one who has to be in charge of placating the fussy toddler in the back seat or doling out snacks every 20 minutes.

Who Would Get Up To Let The Cat In

We legitimately used to make deals over who would get up in the middle of the night to let the cat in. I think this one was actually very good training for having a baby, if I'm being honest. Many a deal is made in the bed late at night over who is going to get up when the baby starts fussing.

Our Disposable Income

Because much of that is now taken up with diapers, formula and/or food, and daycare. Oh, to have that argument again! One day, maybe.

Who Would Do The Dishes

Not unlike driving, dishes used to be the thing we argued over not doing. Now we're more likely to argue over who gets to do the dishes while the other person gets to clean up whatever goo was smeared around the house over the course of the day by the tiny disaster-maker.

What We'd Watch On TV

Now the argument is nearly always avoided because we both know I'll fall asleep on the couch after five minutes of whatever we choose to watch on TV.

What My Partner Would Wear Out

My husband dresses well, but sometimes he likes to add just a little too much flair to his outfits. He also has a really hard time not wearing the same color in different shades, head to toe.

Now he avoids all of those arguments for one of two reasons: either I'm too focused on getting my daughter dressed to worry about him, or I'm too tired to explain that just because it's blue doesn't mean it's the same blue.