Dude, co-parenting is hard!!

Back in the days when I was single, I used to dream about the time when I'd marry my Prince Charming and we'd have some angels to raise.  They would always be such good angels and my Prince and I would agree on everything to do with parenting.  Now that I've found my Prince Charming, and we're raising our little angels, I can see how a little unrealistic that dream was.  I have since put it in the "fantasy" category, since that's where it fits best.  Don't get me wrong, Grant and I parent quite the same on a lot of stuff.  When we were talking about marriage and kids, we talked about our parenting styles to make sure that they weren't vastly different; and they weren't.  We were together on most, if not all, the big stuff. 

Now that Isabelle is 4, I've noticed that we differ on a lot of the small stuff that you really wouldn't think about; having a routine versus not having one, what the punishment is for throwing tantrums at suppertime and refusing to eat, how far we should take manners...ect.  It's not like we're fighting over any of it, it's just that it's been a little more of a compromise than I thought it would be.  But with everything in a relationship, the small things (I think) make up the foundation of your relationship.  Fight enough about the smaller things, and it'll start to chip away and make your whole life come crashing down.  I'm really happy that we've been able to find common ground and compromise when we need to.  It's hard for both of us to bend and concede, but we also know that if we want to make sure we stay together and keep that strong bond that we have, we have be able to.  I cant speak for him, but I know I've had to learn how to take a step back and let him do things his own way.  With bedtime, as long as he gets the basics, then how he gets them to sleep is up to him.  I have to really watch and make sure I don't jump in.  I've had to give myself a reality check a few times and just have a pep talk that he is a capable guy, and their father, and he knows what he's doing.  Hell, if he doesn't by now, he's a little screwed :)  Hopefully with Baby Boy on the way, we can continue to parent together and as well as we have been.  Our girls are such great girls, and we get compliments about them all the time.  Makes us grin because we can see our hard work at this parenting thing is working, and working well.