My sister-in-law has delivered a healthy baby girl! A new niece for us, and another mouth to feed for them.
Some people forget what it’s like having a newborn/infant in the house, but I don’t. I remember distinct developmental phases and milestones, complete with pros and cons. Mostly, it was solving one problem to the birth of two more (e.g., she can walk on her own, but now she can walk.)
The first month was the easiest because it was pure grind. The newborn slept, ate, needed a new diaper, and cooed on a roughly two-hour cycle. Wife was on maternity leave, and I was available to help out or take care of the other kids as needed. Sleeping sucked, but somehow it worked out.
Second and third months saw head/neck control and increasing wakefulness. Feeding was still a free-for-all, but longer sleeps were happening at night and daytime started to see dedicated nap times. Baby wanted more attention from parents, but since the wife was still on maternity leave, that was plentiful.
Months 4 to 6 saw a massive improvement in sleep. My firstborn was sleeping through the night at four months. My other borns resisted it as long as they could but mostly confined themselves to a single feeding wakeup. Wife went back to work, so nighttime became a juggle. Daytime began to revolve around the nap schedule when the baby wasn’t in daycare. But she was sitting up, rolling around, playing with toys. A personality started to form. This, for us, was also where we switched from exclusive breastfeeding to supplementing with formula. That’s a whole other discussion, but it worked for us. The boys especially needed the extra calories. Animals.
Months seven and onward have higher degrees of variability. Some kids are crawling, others sit up and feel like they’re good for the next 5 months. Solid food gets worked into the mix and mealtime becomes disgusting. Teething coats the house in a thin layer of drool and it becomes difficult to sort out the reasons for random bouts of fussiness. “Must be teething” becomes a mantra. Sometimes it's RSV and the family loses a week and a lot of hair (stress related, hair loss is not a symptom of RSV.)
Eventually, it becomes a race of childproofing the house against their increasing mobility. First-time parents always have the best and most elaborate setups. By the time we had our third, we weren’t even putting the caps back on the liquor anymore. (Okay, we were, but we gave up on trying to gate off every single room and whatnot).
Then one day they’re all grown up and you’re old. So old. You walk past a mirror and laugh at the geezer looking back at you who somehow got into your house. Then you realize … that’s no mirror. Your partner has started collecting hyperrealistic paintings of old people! What the hell?
Congrats to her and her family and best wishes for the days ahead.
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