Q+A Part 1: The Basics

[koroman]

@bernard222

1. I'm 28 and my husband is 29
2. We've been together 4 ish years no, married for nearly 2.
3. I work as a contractor for the european space agency, mostly responsible for development and maintenance of an earth observation satellite data processor. Husband works in R&D for a weather forecasting company.
4. We both want to keep working, hopefully in good jobs related to our PhDs (like currently)
5. We live in a small city in south of the UK. Its not where either of us are from originally, but jobs in our field are hard to come by so we go where work is.
6. Husband is half Scottish and I'm half Welsh, so welshcakes and burns night maybe?
7. I'm a christian and my husband is agnostic, we've discussed raising our children going to church (partly for moral and social education, I don't attend a very conservative church), though letting them make their minds up at an appropriate age.
   

 

[greg1911]

@koroman I think you guys have the coolest jobs.

 

[koroman]

@greg1911 Thankyou, they are pretty cool, though wanting such niche jobs means we are very limited on places to live! My husband actually works from home for the company he worked for in our old city on the other side of the country!

 

[johnnyleon]

@koroman Your job sound really interesting. Feel free to ignore this nosy question, but do you think your job/ttc will be impacted by Brexit?

 

[koroman]

@johnnyleon Thankfully the european space agency is separate to the EU, (infact Canada is in ESA, and obviously not at all in the EU)
It may impact getting ESA projects which are also EU funded, but who knows!

 

[johnnyleon]

@koroman Ah, good to know

 

[trayalc]

@bernard222 1. How old are you and your SO? I'll be 27 and SO will be 31 this year (both of our birthdays are coming up)

2. How long have you and SO been together? What is your relationship status and do you plan to change your status before TTC? We've been together for 3 years - engaged earlier this year. Planning to elope at the SF city hall after I'm done paying off my student loans.

3. What do you and SO do for a living currently? I'm in mgmt for a software company and a part time college student and SO is an examiner.

4. What are your career plans before and after TTC? We'll probably stay in the same field. I might switch to part-time for baby's first year but not sure yet.

5. Where do you live and what are your living arrangements like? Do you plan on moving? We live in central Cali and live in a 2 bedroom apt.

6. What's your cultural backgrounds? Any cultural traditions you plan on passing down to your LO's? I'm Laotian and Thai and SO is Caucasian and Mexican. We're not super traditional but we cook traditional dishes and speak our native languages.

7. What's your religious backgrounds? Do you plan on raising your kids with the same views? I was raised Buddhist and SO was raised Christian but we're not devoted followers. I'm somewhat still spiritual but SO is pretty much agnostic. We're open to learning and discussing all religions but prefer to be freethinkers. I enjoy visiting different temples/churches and learning about religions.

 

[saravr]

@bernard222

How old are you and your SO?

He is 35 and I'm 31.

How long have you and SO been together? What is your relationship status and do you plan to change your status before TTC?

We've been together for 9 years. Happily unmarried, which the government calls Common Law partners. No, getting married is low priority.

What do you and SO do for a living currently?

I'm a translator and he is an electrician. I'm also going back to school part time doing a MA in translation studies.

What are your career plans before and after TTC?

Before: To develop my business. I've already changed recently for this field, partly for the advantages being self-employed from home would bring me as a future mother, so I'm not planning on changing.

After: Take a year long leave or shorter if my partner and I share then go back to the same, ideally part time, which would enable us to not use daycare or only part time.

Where do you live and what are your living arrangements like? Do you plan on moving?

Renting an apartment in a big Canadian city. Planning to move to a bigger apartment in the same city for a few years and eventually buying a house in a smaller more rural town before/when the kids start school.

What's your cultural backgrounds? Any cultural traditions you plan on passing down to your LO's?

I'm French, as in I moved here from France as an adult, with some Vietnamese and Algerian heritage which unfortunately wasn't transmitted. Boyfriend is Canadian from an Anglo province.

So it's going to be a mix of French, Anglo Canadian and French Canadian. From France, I'd like to pass on the importance of a meal shared/food culture, more chilled parenting (not the best word but that will do) and more expectations for kids to be part of society younger (like saying hi and bye etc). Kids will be bilingual.

What's your religious backgrounds? Do you plan on raising your kids with the same views

Both Atheists born and raised. His mom might be some kind of Christian but she's so discrete we don't know, my mom is Buddhist and technically she and I are Jewish but I don't identify as such.

Kids won't be baptized and we will not transmit any religious beliefs. If they choose to investigate one or several religion, we will let them. Otherwise, religion will be absent from their lives, except from a cultural standpoint.

 

[dburroughs123456789]

@bernard222 1) I'm 26. Husband is 27.

2) We've been together for just under 6 years. Married for just over 1. We are married and plan to continue to be married. Lol

3) I'm an EMT. He is finishing grad school for Financial Mathematics. I'm hoping to switch to a safer role once pregnant.

4) I will be taking a new EMT job when we move. He has a job offer working in risk management for a financial institution with some other possibilities still out there.

5) Both are originally from PA. We are currently living in an apartment in NC. We will be buying a house up north in a few months (NJ, PA, or MD).

6) We are both US born of German and Irish descent. Husband grew up in the country so would like to teach our kids shooting, hunting, fishing, and other outdoor activities. We're from an area with a decent amount of PA Dutch (aka Amish/Mennonite) so there are specific foods that we eat that I'd like to continue with.

7) We were both raised Christian, but are both atheist and do not plan on raising our kids with religion in our home. However we do want them to make their own choice and be well-informed so we plan on having our parents teach them religion since they are all practicing Christians. Really it's more for our parents to feel comfortable because we just don't really care one way or the other.

 

[rawnjaze]

@bernard222 1. How old are you and SO?

I am 26 and my husband is 24.

2. How long have you been together? What's your relationship status?

We have been together for about 3 years and got married 12 days ago!

3. What do you and your SO do for a living?

I work in Customer Experience and my husband is an auto mechanic.

4. What are your career plans for before and after TTC?

My job has amazing health insurance so definitely don't plan on any big changes before we TTC. I'd eventually like to explore what else is out there though.

5. Where do you live and what are your living arrangements like?

We live in rural Minnesota and own a 2 bedroom house.

6. What's your cultural background? Do you plan on passing any traditions down?

We are boring white people. The closest we have to culture is that my husband is Czech and there family likes to explore that every once in a while.

7. What's your religious background? Do you plan on passing any traditions down?

In a very millennial answer, we are both spiritual, but mostly believe that if there is a higher power he/she cares more about if we are good people and treat others with kindness and respect than if we were having sex before marriage. Plan on teaching any LO's about respect for all cultures and religions and letting them decide on their own what they believe.

 

[pazova]

@rawnjaze Congrats on getting married!! Also hello fellow Minnesotan (we live in St. Paul)!

 

[rawnjaze]

@pazova Thank you! Yay Minnesota!

 

[casej121]

@pazova There are dozens of us!! I'm one too! (And I second the wedding congratulations!)

 

[saravr]

@rawnjaze

got married 12 days ago!

Congrats!

 

[rawnjaze]

@saravr Thank you!

 

[le4069]

@bernard222

1. How old are you and your SO? Im 28, he is 29
2. How long have you and SO been together? What is your relationship status and do you plan to change your status before TTC? Currently together for 2.5 years, getting married (fingers crossed) April 2018
3. What do you and SO do for a living currently? He is a college student studying computer science and I am a Self check host at walmart
4. What are your career plans before and after TTC? Im just going to work at walmart until baby then be a SAHM. He would at least like to have a paid internship before we conceive. After TTC he would like to run his own business and I would be there as Secretary.
5. Where do you live and what are your living arrangements like? Do you plan on moving? (I have a post about this, but will keep it simple) currently we are in a 1BR apartment around fort hood texas but looking to move around may.
6. What's your religious backgrounds? Do you plan on raising your kids with the same views? We're both agnostic so we just hope our LO's treat everyone equally. Im more pagan so my LO's will be raised to treat all life with respect.

 

[kenzu]

@bernard222

1. How old are you and your SO? DH is 29 and I'm 28
2. How long have you and SO been together? What is your relationship status and do you plan to change your status before TTC? We've been together 14 years and will celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary on Halloween
3. What do you and SO do for a living currently? He works for a t.v. provider and I work with adults with developmental disabilities
4. What are your career plans before and after TTC? I would love to move into a more administrative job one day
5. Where do you live and what are your living arrangements like? Do you plan on moving? We currently live his sister and her family. Planning on getting a house in a near future
6. What's your cultural backgrounds? Any cultural traditions you plan on passing down to your LO's? No really traditions to pass down
7. What's your religious backgrounds? Do you plan on raising your kids with the same views? Plan on teaching our kids to have an open mind and research any all religions they may be interested in

 

[gregp0072]

@kenzu Just want to say that it's incredible how long you two have been together. Congrats!

 

[kenzu]

@gregp0072 Thank you

 

[dyork]

@bernard222

1. How old are you and your SO? We're both 25, I turn 26 next month
2. How long have you and SO been together? We've been together for 5 1/2 and married for 1.
3. What do you and SO do for a living currently? I'm the front end coordinator at an ENT office and my husband works at a leading grocery store in the US.
4. What are your career plans before and after TTC? I hope to get a raise soon haha. In my dream world I'd be a SAHM but DH would def have to get a promotion to team leader.
5. Where do you live and what are your living arrangements like? Do you plan on moving? We own a small home in Virginia!
6. What's your cultural backgrounds? Any cultural traditions you plan on passing down to your LO's? Nothing crazy, just a couple of white kids over here.
7. What's your religious backgrounds? Do you plan on raising your kids with the same views? DH was raised Catholic, my family is largely Christian but we are pretty non religious right now. I don't want to push anything on LO's!