This week we hit the 5 week milestone!
Now a lot of things have changed in the last 5 weeks, actually let me rephrase that, EVERYTHING has changed in the last 5 weeks!
For starters, sleep. Sleep is the big one, it is incredible how little you can have in the first few weeks and still manage to operate, but not always at full capacity. There's been times where I put the kettle in the microwave, forgot to put the lid on the milk before shaking and a few other 'baby brain' related incidents. But now, we are looking at a good 3-5 hour snooze at night and a few cat naps during the day, now I could get used to that!
I think the main change that I've seen in the last 5 weeks, is our confidence as parents. Jodie and I have been fairly self critical the whole time, which is totally normal! When you have a screaming baby, it is easy to sort of think you're not doing something right, but Jodie is literally a champion baby whisperer, and has every right to be proud about it! As for me, I'm getting there! I still have this weird feeling that everyone is watching me when we go in public and feed her or walk around but hopefully that'll go soon too!
My confidence as a new father is coming along now. It's still very much a work in process, but I think I'm getting there! I just managed to change Willow without so much as a peep (both of us still half asleep) and feed her, right as she smacked her lips in pre-warning of hunger at 5am. I feel pretty good about that, now she's sleeping and I have some time free and haven't heard any form of fuss, I'm patting myself on the back for that one!
In general, being a confident parent comes from just figuring things out for yourself. When Jodie was still pregnant, we went to the parenting classes, read books, lived on Pinterest and used Google search and Youtube for everything else. Coming into the first few days of being real life parents, we tried to do everything by the book, the way you are 'supposed' to do. Nope, not happening! I mean, obviously there are rules and guidelines in place for safety and health reasons (no shortcuts in that department) but really, it was impossible to do everything the way you are told is the 'right' way. It took us a couple of weeks to figure that one out, now we are getting somewhere! As long as you have common sense, not a whole lot can got wrong.
I'm really starting to enjoy parenting now. It feels much more like parenting this week, the last few weeks seemed more like survival! But here we are, surviving and learning every day. Willow is developing so much quicker than I ever expected. Holding her head up since the very early days, growing very long (just like Daddy) smiling, chuckling and since last weekend, responding to us when we talk to her with little sighs, coos and cute noises. I honestly can't remember what life was like before becoming a Dad, because this feels so right and so exciting, I'll never need to look back. I've got two amazing girls here and this whole parenting thing is the greatest!
That's it for now, far too much to get done while we have a sleeping baby!
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