The first 2 weeks...

Hannah is a little over a week old now, so I feel that I can now write to you all as an expert at parenting! So here is what being a new parent is like…

1. Minimal sleep. While it has become slightly better, we get sleep in chunks of 5 minutes to 3 hours at a time. The newest plan is to try an keep her awake in the afternoon, so she is ready to sleep around 8:30 or 9:00 every night. Sometimes this works and sometimes is doesn’t. It is getting better every day. You can’t let them sleep more than 3 hours though, because they need to be fed.
2. If you are the dad, you will now be a gopher. You will spend ½ of your time getting things for the baby or the mom. This is especially true if mom had a C-Section. This is what will wear you out the most.
3. Changing diapers. You will learn tricks over the first two weeks and at some point your hands will be completely covered with poop trying to figure out how to hold the baby without making it worse. I have learned that Hannah will either poop or pee, then just after you clean her with wipes, the real poop and pee comes. She will send a blast of poop 2 feet across the changing table covering your hand, the changing pad, the changing table, baskets, wipes, and anything else within range with Dijon-mustard-consistency poop. As you are standing there with her feet in one hand and your other hand covered in poop, you will look at the wipes, which are also covered in poop trying to figure out how to clean-up the poop, when the wipes are covered in poop. This is where a wife comes in handy.
4. You live for the 30 minutes. There are about 30 minutes spread-out through the day when they are not sleeping, pooping, peeing, feeding, or crying that Hannah is completely adorable. It’s not that she can’t be adorable during these other activities, but you pull out the camera during those other times. They get a bit of a smirk, or go a little cross-eyed, because the eye muscles are still forming.
5. Read or sing to your baby. We try and read at least one story every day to Hannah. We also sing. It wasn’t until we had Hannah that I realized I don’t remember the lyrics or words to any song completely. So you begin making-up words, or humming. Hannah doesn’t mind. She just likes hearing our voices. I will be brushing-up on my nursery rhymes.

I can’t imagine trying to do this as a single parent or with twins. It’s a lot of work, but it’s completely worth it. I’m going back to work on May 21^st. Vanessa’s mom is going to take that week off to help Vanessa with the baby that week. I feel bad for going back to work, but I will have been off for 3 weeks and I need to get back. I know Vanessa will do well. She has been the most amazing mom to Hannah and has been patient with my novice parenting skills.