What not to do...in 5 simple steps.

It's funny how many people want to give you advice before the baby is born, but then after the baby is born you're on your own. All those people that lined up to congratulate you disappear in those first few weeks to "let you get settled." That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. After 5 weeks, I've come to realize that we'll never truly be 'settled' again.

So, for all of those people still waiting to get settled here are 10 random things you should know in those first few weeks.

5. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Poop sprays. Everyone will have you worried about your little baby boy peeing all over the place, but don't underestimate the power of poo (boy or girl). Never, and I mean never remove a diaper without having a replacement within arms reach.

4. You do not need the following items immediately: Swings of any sort, umbrella strollers, high chairs, gates, a electrical socket protectors. Sure it may help to have these things done, but until your baby is holding his/her head up or crawling on their own none of these things matter. I've spent more time pulling out the socket protectors to plug things in than I spent putting them all over the house. Don't let anyone pressure you into rushing to get things done before the baby comes.

3. Cloth diapers are a good idea in theory, but if your little bundle is having issues or is (like ours) what you doctor calls a high maintenance baby or HMB, take each battle as it comes. Maybe down the line you can convert to cloth, but right from the start in the heat of battle it's not the way to go. We're ready to try ours whenever she's ready.

2. Playtime. In the early weeks, playtime is for the parents. We want our babies to be uber-special and ahead f every curve, but in the end they are just happy to be fed cleaned and well rested. Yeah, we lay them on their mats and take cute pictures (or if you are me hundreds of cute pictures), but just keep them comfortable. That's all they really need.

1. Sleep is more important for you in the first few weeks than it is the baby. Trust me, the baby will sleep, but it is hard for parents to just lay down whenever the baby is napping. When the baby sleeps you'll want to straighten up the house, cook a real meal, catch up on your favorite DVR'd television shows, but don't. Don't be a hero....SLEEP. Everyone in the house will be happier if you're well rested.

These are my latest tips on parenting...It may not be much, but these were hard lessons for us in the first 5 weeks.

Hush, Little Baby...

The funny thing about babies is that they have an amazing ability to sleep at the most inconvenient times. These inconvenient times include, but are not limited to the following:

1. When someone else is watching her.
Thanks to a thoughtful mother-in-law my wife and I were able to escape to the movies for my birthday. We were gone 3 hours and baby girl slept for 3 hours. When we returned from the movies to feed her, mother-in-law said "Hey, she's doing well why don't you go get a bite to eat?" So out to dinner we went. We were gone 2 hours and baby girl slept for 2 hours...

2. When there is absolutely no time for us to sleep.
When she is awake we have no time to do normal house duties. She occupies all of our attention. So when she sleeps there are times that we have to make sure the house isn't caving in, the bills are paid, and the grass is cut. We can only do this when she is sleeping and during the day, as cutting the grass at 2am is probably against some town ordinance.

3. When we have visitors.
People come over and we look run down and exhausted then they look at our beautiful baby girl and see a calm and content sleeping baby. They look back at us and wonder why we're so tired. It's funny, no one believes us when we say she's a handful because whenever we have people over she's out like a light.

Two milestones this week: Dad turned 30 and baby girl 1 month old.