Advice for soon-to-be parents

Today I went to a baby shower. The soon-to-be mom is 34 weeks pregnant and one of the activities of the shower was to write some advice for new parents. I have only been a parent for 8 weeks and 1 day but I feel full of wisdom about the topic. I have learned so so much in a very short time and yet, I still have so so much to learn.. I think this is one of the great aspects of parenting -- it is always challenging. You meet one challenge, have a moment to feel good or bad or guilty or whatever about it, then that challenge is over and a new one presents itself.

My advice was to always remember that whatever you experience as a parent is temporary (of course, this is true of everything in life) and it truly does get easier with each week that passes. After some thought I don't think the easier part is true. It doesn't get easier but you have more confidence and that makes it seem easier.

I was also thinking about things that surprised me about labor. There is no point to telling any pregnant person this because every labor is different. My labor will prepare no one for theirs ( also part of my new wisdom). I was surprised by how calm I was.. I never felt any fear .. I never yelled or panicked. I was surprised by how difficult it was to push but then I by how strong I was. I was also surprised that I felt no joy after the process was over and that for two weeks I felt like I had been in a car accident ( the physical cause was likely from tensing every muscle in my body for the 2.5 hours of pushing and the emotional cause .. well I still have no idea why I felt like I had PTSD). Labor is just the first challenge .. I can think about it all I want but it's over and now I am on to new challenges.

Jack is a little more alert every day. His 'colic' or whatever you want to call crying for many hours in the evening seems to be less frequent. He is so darn cute -- he inspires us to make up lots of silly songs and exagerrated facial expressions to get him to smile. He also cried with real tears for the first time today which made me cry. All I want to do is make him happy.