I think you're about as well prepared as any parent could be, and probably better than most. You're seriously thinking about it, and taking advance steps such as the swimming lessons.

I think you and Sharon will do just fine.

Oh and re this bit:

Can't be prepared for any of the twists and surprises (Lex, why did you set fire to Parliament?), or the nasty shocks (You want to be a chartered accountant?) but I'm looking forward to the adventure.

The former might be a problem but can't really see the latter happening. :)

Kids can rebel in funny ways.

I think you guys will be fine though. You're wise enough to have prepared what you can, and to know that there's some stuff you won't have forseen.

I like Hi Five, but how much of their music can I listen to on endless repeat? How many Doctor Who soundtracks can Lex listen to before he starts screaming?

You like Hi Five? I don't think we can be friends anymore ;-)
No, what I wanted to point out was that kids love the familiar, and love repetition. So Dr Who soundtracks should be fine!
I watched so much M*A*S*H and BtVS while I was pregnant that for a short while after she was born Abbey would pay close attention when either of those themes were played.

I do like Hi Five, and not just because all the female members fancy me. I like that they wear bright clothes, have coloured hair. I like the teaching with songs aspect, etc. Though I admit i haven't seen it in years. I also don't mind the Wiggles. Strangely, they all fancy me, too.

MASH/BtVS story is great :)

Welcome to the journey. Every day is different.

(Somebody started crawling this week. They are also only waking for one feed a night now.)

First time he (or she) brings a person of the opposite sex home who you disapprove of and have to threaten with a large shotgun.

First time He (or she) brings a person of the opposite sex home for purly platonic fun and you hand them a box of condoms and embarrass them both.

Yay! The stay-at-home dad thing is way too rare.

A friend was the primary caregiver for his twin girls - if you would like to read his LJ, which often deals with the babies, he's hzatz.

I'm sure you and Sharon will be great parents... and also that you're right about not getting any sleep for a while :->

You'll be amazed what is instinctual about being a parent for the first time. I was. It's your baby and you just know.

A small word of advice... Nursing is hard work, whether it comes naturally and easy or not. Being the sole person who can give nourishment to a tiny baby every two hours is very demanding... I found that Dad's role in getting up and doing the nappy changes and all the during the night to be indespensible.

Oh and you'll get used to having the babe sleeping in the same room as you, it becomes a sort of comfort listening to the sound of him breathing as you drift off to sleep.

Heh. You see this is one of the things I love about talking with other parents. You see, we choofed both our kids off to their own rooms quite early, and I think it was one of the best things we did.

For us, that is. I can't suggest other parents do this but for US, it worked.

One thing that was frustrating with the first child (But we got the hang of for the second child) is that there is SO much advice out there. SO much contradiction. It come about because EVERY child is different. What worked for Mum / Dad / Aunt Thelma / The strange smelling Cat Lady at the bus stop MAY NOT WORK FOR YOU!

So. Don't let anyone tell you you are doing it wrong. Cos someone will tell you (Very shortly) that you are doing it right.

(Heck between bub 1 and bub 2 we got told that we no longer had to sterilise everything! We still did for a short while, but as soon as bub 2 was putting things in their mouth there really didn't seem much point. "Oh here, take that dirty spoon you snatched off my desk out of your mouth and have this nice clean sterilised bottle")

I can not lie: the main reason I desire to have a child one day is to terrify their dates once they start being stupid enough to bring them home.

Let me guess: the second reason is the opportunity to use embarassing baby photos/stories at 18th and 21st birthday parties.

:)

Life is full of surprises. The more people you have close interaction with the more likely you are to have cool random stuff happen. Small people add more randomness. You'll both be fine.

And you can also take the story of my aunt who belived her second child would be a girl and then brought her son home to a room that was pink and frilly as to the accuracy of gender determination through ultrasound :P

As a baby, my daughter used to cry every time she heard the Buffy theme music. So i recorded 2 1/2 seasons and watched Sex and the City--still hanging out to see the movie! Right now Gen and her friend jess are making Honey joys in the kitchen; yummy.

I think you're right about wanting the primary caregiver for comfort.

As an infant/toddler my youngest child would go to Tusk before he came to me, and he would go to battblush before he came to me. Although I swear it is because I was so upset about being pregnant for almost the entire pregnancy that he picked up on those emotions. Munchkin is the the most affectionate kid now, but he didn't want to know me then.

Bilby is _very_ much her Dada's girl... unless she's hungry, she tends to go to livelurker for comfort (well, when he's home), even though I'm the one who's there most of the time:-)

Kids love what they hear music-wise:-) Puggle sings folksongs with me:-) His current favourite is the Skye Boat song... The days are _far_ too long in my opinion to spend the time listening to music that you don't really like:-) (I blogged in the last couple of days about children and music... there's a link to an interesting article on the topic... No link here though, so you'll actually need to go there to see it:-) )

Personally, I'm in the 'baby in the room' camp:-) I don't wake when it's time to feed after the first couple of months... unless there's more needed than just a feed... makes for _much_ less sleeplessness:-) (Or at least, that's the way it's worked with the first two... we'll see what happens with Cygnet:-) )