Lipstick Lounge

So my neighbors, who DH and I are reasonably friendly with had a new baby about 6-7 weeks ago.  I understand they are trying to adjust to being new parents and didn't have a ton of experience with children before they had theirs...but when do you have to pick back up your regular responsibilities?

They have not done a single thing in their yard since the baby was born.  Normally, this wouldn't be too big of a deal but it's fall and there are leaves *everywhere*.  Their yard is covered in them.  AND since it's getting windy they are blowing all over the street AND our yard!  Our trees dropped the last of their leaves two weeks ago and yet we've still filled up our yard debris/trash containers with tons of leaves every week because their leaves are blowing on our side.

It's not like they can miss it, he parks in the driveway and has to drive through a big pile of them.

DH won't let me say anything because we need to be 'sensitive to their situation' but I feel like it's been long enough.  Both street drains are getting full from their leaves (we just cleaned them out- again!).  The whole rest of the street has people who are taking care of their houses.  I'm not asking them to be out there every day, or even every week necessarily (although I do think an hour or so once a week shouldn't be too much to ask) but it's been WEEKS and they have done nothing.

So...am I a horrible nasty person or are they being totally inconsiderate?  I just don't think you can expect the rest of the world to stop just because you had a baby.  She had a normal delivery with no complications and while you're adjusting to parenthood you still need to keep up with everything else- or at least make an attempt too!

WWYD?

Melissa

Well i guess it depends on your neighborhood but if neighbors asked me to clean up my yard i would be a bit ticked off. I would see it as though its my property and we can do what we please. This is even without having just had a child. If i had a baby 6 weeks ago, i would really think it was rude.

IDK, interested in seeing the responses though since we seem to have such different opinions =)

If it's bothering you that much, I think the neighborly thing to do would be to offer to rake their yard for them. As a 'Congrats on Having a Baby!" gift, and a way of getting rid of a problem that's bothering you. If they don't take you up on the offer, then at least it'll be a little reminder to them that it still has to be done.

New parents are extremely busy - trying to adjust to the baby's schedule, and their own work schedules.. it's incredibly difficult for first time parents without a lot of experience. There might have been other issues that came up as well that no one's aware of.

Offer to take care of their leaves - it's a nice thing to do!

Drawing on Dandelions

6-7 weeks is not that long at all in terms of bringing home a new baby.

Every baby is different, and many of them have a very hard time getting on a sleep schedule. It could take months. I know that when i have a couple of bad nights (not getting a lot of sleep, and with babies sometimes you don't get any) with Declan (and he's not even a baby) i don't feel like doing a darn thing INSIDE my house. It is exhausting having a new born.

And i agree with the pp.. maybe they don't realise the problem the leaves are causing so if it is causing a problem with your lives, i would offer to rake them up for them.

I probably wouldn't give two ****'s about leaves if i just had a baby 6 weeks ago, especially if i was having a difficult time, if that happens to be their case.