About OFM
OurFirstMarriage is a sarcastic name for a very serious blog and Podcast. Tanel and Tom Andry have the good fortune to be one of the few couples that seem to be truly happy. Are they blissful every day? No. Do they fight occasionally? Absolutely. Does life, kids, work, and stress interfere with their relationship? Sure. But so far, they’ve survived where most of their friends have failed. They’ve worked as hard on their relationship as they have on raising their kids right. They don’t think they have all the answers (far from it) but they do think that they are not the only ones that raise their children the way they do. Their motto – Listen to your child.
It isn’t that hard, really, just listen. Is your infant hungry? Feed him. Is she tired? Help her sleep. Does he want to be picked up? Pick him up for the love of God! They don’t believe in “crying it out” or that a 3 month old has the cognitive ability to try and “manipulate” their parents through crying and demanding attention. But day after day Tanel and Tom run into people at the market, at parties, and within their own families that seem to believe that children need to “learn” to be self sufficient at 6 months and that breastfeeding past a year is somehow damaging to the child. Well, they don’t agree and they refuse to believe that they are the only ones that feel that way. This blog and this Podcast will hopefully become a safe haven for all those that want to say, “Hey, I let my kids sleep with me, what of it?!” Welcome and well met!
Tanel Andry
Tanel is first a mom to two boys, Punkalicious (07/03) and Captain Evil (03/06), wife to Tom since 2001 (at the age of 29 even though she always swore she wouldn’t marry before the age of 30), and a part-time civil (geotechnical and environmental) engineer. Other than her family, her passion in life is to travel the world, which has been on hold since the kids were born… Read More
Tom Andry
Tom has a Masters in Psychology with a specialization in Organizational Development and Evaluation. Evaluation is essentially research so when Tom brings up statistics and data and stuff, he can’t help it. They made him think that way. Honesty (even the brutal kind) is important to him and he tries to be honest with himself and those around him. Sometimes, that gets him into trouble… Read More
Punkalicious
Punkalicious is the first-born son of Tanel & Tom. Born in July 2003 in Los Angeles during a heat wave, he quickly taught his parents the rules of taking care of a high-maintenance baby who needed to eat or be moving around (and be touching a warm body) 24-7. He spent a good portion of the first 9 months of his life in a Baby Bjorn (Tanel never got the hang of a sling)… Read More
Captain Evil
Captain Evil came into this world on St. Patrick’s Day 2006 and quickly taught his parents the joy of having a laid-back baby. His parents had the bright idea of keeping him home for the first part of his life by both working part-time (and pulling his older brother out of school to be able to afford it). Staying home didn’t seem to keep him from getting ear infections as he began with his first when he was 2 weeks old, had three more before he started school when he was 10 months old, and a total of ten by the time he had tube surgery in January 2008… Read More
OFM Contributers
Theresa
Theresa is a librarian, a wife, and a mother of two children, a large, crazy dog, and an old, ornery cat. Born and raised near the beach in Florida, Theresa obtained her B.A. in English literature from Florida State University (Go Noles!) and a M.L.S. (Master’s in Library Science) from University of Maryland at College Park. So guess what? She knows big words and uses them correctly, like denouement, which her husband thought was pronounced “de-now-ment.” She has worked in all kinds of libraries, including a children’s library. She currently works in a government library, but unfortunately does not know where Hoffa is buried. In her free time (LOL), she is an Adjunct Librarian for a college/public library… Read More
Photo of Tanel and Tom courtesy of Allison Goldsberry Photography.
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