Dad things

Time flies

They say time flies when you’re having fun, but a life-altering event will do it too, btw. It feels like only a week ago we were in the hospital, anxiously awaiting her arrival, and in the blink of an eye another day, another bathtime, goes by.

I expected exhaustion or boredom. I got neither. The first few weeks were surprisingly easy - diapers, naps, games, YouTube. Same life, just holding a baby. Praise God.

The biggest change has been timing. Everything takes longer. Any trip that involves the car now requires a whole production; baby bag, diapers, changing pad, wet naps. Do people know about this before having kids?? Or do we all just assume there will be minor landmines along the way? Getting ready at the same time is a pastime we’ll return to one day; for now, we get ready in sequence. And when one of us has the baby, the other becomes their hands and feet - grabbing the thing they can’t reach, finishing the task they had to abandon. We take care of each other by taking turns. Back to the basics, folks.

But the strangest change has been internal.

A firmware upgrade

It feels as if my actual nervous system has been rewired. Knee-jerk reactions don’t get free rein anymore. Now there’s a new warning system. When the dog is being annoying or loud and I want to yell, something new stops me: you’re holding the baby. She doesn’t know who you’re yelling at. When her cries get louder and longer, the instinct to be flustered gets overwritten by something else - an urgency to soothe and protect.

We’re all too aware that not everyone gets to go home with a perfect baby girl. So praise God we did. We love showing her off to anyone who will look. She’s as sweet as they come. She loves her car rides. And when she smiles, the whole room stops.