For the love of god don't do dance (maybe ballet is okay) but none of that hip hop shit unless you want to be ripped off.

Where are you located? After being frustrated with booking with community centres I just booked with a swim club which has private, semi private, and classes of 4 for 1 hr durations which is waaaay better than those crappy 30 min sessions with 6 kids at the community centre.

I haven't priced it out to how much more it is over a CC but the pure fact that it's a smaller class for double the time is a win already. It was also super easy to book, for reference I tried booking for swimming lessons starting during Spring break last month on the day bookings started in Vancouver, had everything in my wish list, the time came I was on it within a second like every other parent out there and not only did I not get any of the classes I was like 25th on the wait list for everything. At exactly the same time called the the other place and there were still lots of openings for Spring break classes. The one I really wanted was gone however so I ended up booking for Summer.

Which swim club did you book with, and where are their lessons held? The westcoastss.ca one also doesn't work for me since I'm in CoV, but I'm willing to travel to Burnaby and maybe Richmond too...

Son of a bitch, another fender bender with the other party being at fault, and having to replace my car seats again through ICBC.

Lost track on how many seats I've replaced over a 5 year period :fulloffuck:

Richmond, a block away from Riverside if you used to be a raver lol. If not it's by Ikea.

https://marinaswimschool.com/

I'm in Vancouver around Victoria and Marine. If there's one around Ikea that's workable for me, and possibly closer than most community centers except for Killarney.

Practically neighbors I'm up the hill. Killarney is our go to for obvious reasons but the trek to Marina is reasonable especially since the lessons are 1hr. If it were 30 mins I'd probably have to think about it lol

I've heard Marina is ok. My kids classmate had lessons there. I've currently got our kids at pedalheads in Richmond, theyr at the tennis academy behind the ironwood Keg.
I'm near 54th and Elliot, so it's not too bad of a highway drive.

How do you like Pedalheads? I'm looking at the swim classes at Ironwood, bit out of the way for me but my brother was happy with their bike classes and they seem like they have times that could work for us.

1 hour classes. Small student limit of 4 kids, so they get ample water time and instructor attention. No complaints about the instructors for me. Instructors will talk with you after each session if theres things the kid needs to work on. Or if you step up and ask, they're happy to let you know about progress.
We saw a definite difference in how the kids swimming skills.developed going from private and CC lessons. Nothing
Against CC lessons, but the 30.mins wasn't enough instruction time.

Bunch of us in roughly the same area. Traum is in the area too I think.

We are looking into pedalheads and marina now. I'll gladly pay the premium for longer classes and actually getting a spot..

There's also Aquaventures Swim Centre ? A Vancouver Swimsation Since 1984! located at Fraser and 39th but depending on age etc good luck getting in I gave up and moved on.

For anybody whose kid attended Aquaventures previously, please PM me, I have some questions. Thanks!

LOL I'm not a parent but *I* attended Aquaventures in the early 90s and can confirm - still can swim. Hope that helps.

If anyone is still looking, CTire has the Shark IQ XL on sale this week.
https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/s...-0438286p.html

Our little guy (our first) was born 3 weeks ago and next week I'm returning to work f/t leaving my wife on her own. We don't have an office space at home so I'll be commuting. What advice do you guys have for this transition? Tell me everything lol.

Be home as much as possible, do everything in your power to not piss your wife off, and apologize for things you didn't even do lol

That said, if you think it'll go over well, ask that you try and get a certain # of hours of sleep, the worst thing to do is not be able to balance and fuck up at home and fuck up at work.

Get a family member to help around the house if that's an option at all.

But also, congratulations!!! 3 weeks goes by in an absolute blur and you're probably getting into a bit of a rhythm, it gets hard from here haha. It's a magical time, but it is hard.

Congratulations. Cut social media, u might aswell just leave ur phone in a different room so ur not distracted. I did all the household chores and clean up and that kinda stuff but in the end i think its more in ur wifes best interest if u help her with the baby and relieve her of those duties. Ur wife seriously needs time to unwind, shower, eat.

Do. All. The. Cooking. Keep that fridge fucking full of pre cooked ready to heat up for mommy food.

I signed up my son for pedalheads at 4 months and it was the best decision ever. He's now 10 months and super comfortable in the water. He knows how to spit back out water, go under water (without crying) and float on his back/front easily The classes are small which is great (5 kids max..but I've never had a full class) and it's not as chaotic as the public pools. And by chaotic, I mean the amount of people there which can be a bit overwhelming in both the classes (about 10 kids) and the rest of the general public.

This "term" he's signed up for both pedal heads (West Van) and public swim (Delbrook). Cost wise, public swim is obviously much more affordable at $100 for 13 classes vs pedalheads at just under $200 for 7 classes. The things they teach is essentially the same, and honestly at this age there's not much to "learn" persay but moreso to get them feeling comfortable around water.

Not sure what I'll sign up for next term, but probably PH again as their age gap is shorter than the public. PH is from 4months up to 12 months, and public is from 6 months to 18 months. And the fact that it's a smaller class is kinda nice although the facilities in public swim (at least at Delbrook Rec) is much nicer. We will sign him up for music class this summer though since there are some outdoor ones here in North Van, and then as he gets older some snow/winter sports since we are right by Grouse. Feels like a waste to grow up in this area and not enjoy the slopes


As for Eff-1, I'd say all the pro tips from other users are awesome ideas, but as a mom myself the verbal support was equally as important as the physical. My husband was essentially back to work within a week and although physically tough, the mental game was equally tough. Hearing 'you're doing great, you're so strong etc' made my mind strong and truth be told, it actually pushed me to grab life by the balls and figure shit out on my own earlier than if my husband didn't go back to work right away.

But bringing home delicious food I couldn't eat while I was pregnant was always a good gift HAHA.

Welcome back Miss Crayon!

Congrats on the new family member! At 3 weeks, you've already past the absolutely worst part of having a new born, and believe it or not, you will be gradually getting more sleep again LOL~

As others have said -- do whatever it takes to not piss Mommy off. Make her life as easy as possible because she is already under an amount of stress that we can't possible imagine.

Pre-cooked meals, take outs, (cooked) food from family and friends were a god send for us until we got our bearings together. I would also recommend ignoring the urge to do a lot of house chores unless they are absolutely necessary. It's fine to have a messy house, unwashed dishes, or even dirty clothes in the hamper.

The most interesting part I remember is the constantly evolving changes. As soon as you think you've figured out a pattern or behaviour of his, he changes it up again because he is constantly growing at a really rapid pace during that age.

Have fun and enjoy this time, even though it is hard. Take lots of pictures because you are not going to remember much of this blur LOL~

And back them up, in 2 places with 2 different kinds of media (ie dump them on your computer & have a good cloud backup like Sync). The number of people who lose years worth of photos because they only had 1 copy on their phone or whatever and then lost it is way too high.

Oh right -- I think it has been mentioned in the thread before, but it is totally worth mentioning it again. If you are feeding / supplementing the baby with formula, the ready-to-drink stuff is a god-send for newborns.

Lag time between the hunger crying to getting fed went from minutes to under 30 seconds. That stuff is totally, TOTALLY worth its premium over baby formula powder.

Congrats! Lots of great tips already which I won't repeat and a couple I don't think I saw yet:

- Be on the lookout for post partum depression for both yourself and your wife. It's much more prevalent in women but it also happens for men. You're both already off kilter with the new baby and it can be very easy to write-off unusual behaviour to "we're just tired" or "we're still recovering" when it is something more serious that should be addressed sooner than later. Help is absolutely available.
- While mom has the WAY harder job here this doesn't mean that you shouldn't provide yourself some self care. Don't be shy to get help so that you get a break from time to time - it's one thing to be responsible and support your wife more than yourself but it's another to burn yourself out while holding in your own anxieties or stress just because mom has it harder than you.

If you work in a place with a lot of other parents they will all understand what you are going through - don't be shy to share. If you don't then the reality is that your co-workers will not understand how hard it is - I can say it's a lot easier working at a place now where there are many parents who can empathize with you. At a minimum I hope you have a manager who you can be transparent with - tell them when you're not at your best.