How I Got my Newborn to Fall Asleep

Baby has been going through a growth spurt for the past couple days and has barely napped at all today. She was well fed, held a lot, had a bath (after a major diaper blowout) and still would not take a break. I rocked her for a while, then put her in her swaddle pod nice and cozy in her crib (arms slightly out) and turned the fan on in her room for some white noise. That lasted for about 5 minutes. decided to give her a pacifier and zipped her up the rest of the way. It worked! :) This is the longest she's slept in her crib!!!

Thanksgiving

iBaby Skype Stream

Our first born Madeline is only 28 days old, and today was Thanksgiving.  Naturally, we have a lot to be thankful for.  She is healthy and we'd like to keep her that way, at least for the first couple months while she's a little fragile.  Consequently I put an iPad in her travel system and we used Skype to bring her to the family gatherings.

Was a moderate success, glad we did it.  I'm still not sure what to report to family and friends about our new life.  Honestly, I think I'm still formulating opinions on the matter. It's our first baby, and like all first time parents we're doin the best we can.  It's such a mixture of joy, relief, thanks,  happiness, terror, confusion, and general locked-down-ness that it's hard to formulate it into cohesive sentences.  I usually reply with...  "It's more than I thought it would be."  And gosh, everybody who's a current parent tells me, "it only gets worse", followed by "but it's SOOO WORTH IT".  I'm sure in retrospect everything will make sense, and everyone will be right about everything they've said... but operating in this new environment on very little sleep makes me less than an amiable receptor of fellow parenting information.  

Don't even try to put the long sleeve on Dad.

That being said here's what I've learned this week.  1.) My baby is adorable and I love her.  2.) My baby pisses and shits a lot and the doctors say I should be very happy about this.  Her shit sounds funny.  Sometimes it sounds like a fancy coffee is being made, like a Frappacino.   3.) If your baby vomits it's worth raising an eyebrow, and checking her temp.  Not worth flipping out and Googling it like she's caught the plague   Turns out she just ate too much.  4.)  If I have enough milk, wipes, and diapers, I can handle the baby for a few hours.  I'm not nearly as good with her as my wife is, but I can hold her at bay for a while.  5.) I am completely hopeless at dressing her.  She just screams in terror as I attempt to gently force her little arms into the sleeve holes.  She is quite strong, and I eventually fail my Fort-Save (DnD term) and give up because my heart can't take any more howling.

Mommy can dress me.

Kelly and I have been able to find time to do some other fun things,  we even played video games and I went for a run.  The baby is now sleeping sounder than before which allows us maybe 3 or 4 hour chunks of sleep at night.

A guys guide to the great things about newborns

It has been 19 days since the birth of our daughter Madeline, and I'd like to mention some of the more wonderful things I find about the whole experience.

Madeline's dopey milk smile.

Her big expressions, the subtle reactions, her face in general is adorable. My wife said its probably some kind of defense mechanism that babies are so infectiously cute to their parents, since they also cause such turmoil.





The profound and amazing combination of two people into one brand new sentient being. We were two, now there are three of us. The randomness of various outcomes also astounds me. Two people can have six children and they will each be unique, but genetically connected.  The science of it wows me.

Kelly, Madeline, Dave.

I am glad to be able to provide for baby and wife. I accept my new duties as father with a sense of pride and honor that is gratifying. It's nice to be depended upon, even if its added pressure. With all the added work for my wife, it's nice to help her with cooking and dishes. In the delivery room there's not a lot for the guy to do so its nice to have some concrete tasks to perform.

Awww.  

About the baby smell. Yes it's pleasant. But, people talk about a baby's smell like its the holy grail of odors. Smells like a fresh bag of marshmallows to me. Maybe it's something that needs a few years to sink in. It's nice, but I'm not that into it.

The more time I spend, the more love I feel for this little girl. I contemplate her perspective, and anticipate her discoveries in worldly things that may fascinate her.

Incredibly grateful that she is healthy and that we can provide her with food shelter and all of the 500,000 diapers that she apparently needs.

More soon...