[Chooriwrocafn]

I'm sure there are probably a lot of "it depends" type of answers, ...

One of the biggest "it depends" is whether you have family or friends around to help. We didn't, and had two very colicky kids that took over a year each before we ever got a straight 4-hour block of sleep.

When I returned to work, I was working about 70 hours a week and my wife didn't have any help during the day. The late afternoon and evenings were/are usually the hardest time with the kids, so evening kendo practice definitely got put on the back-burner then. (Wish we had asa-geiko.)

You guys that went back after 2 weeks make me feel a little p%$$y-whipped...but honestly, I hardly spend as much time with my kids as I'd like to, and that first year, they change so much so quickly. As ghostdancer already said, kendo will still be there when you return, your kids won't be young for very long.

Need to hang out with them while I can before they become snotty, too-cool-for-dad teenagers.

-Michael