We have made it! My husband and I have survived our first 6 weeks as parents.  What an adventure we have begun.

No one can really prepare you for what it means to have an infant and to be a parent.  Sure, the pictures on Facebook of your friend’s kids are adorable. The clothes are super cute and the occasional smile from a baby at the table next to you is always sweet.  But let’s be real….being a parent is a full time job that is action packed with tears (yours and the baby’s!), dirty diapers, sleepless nights and a love you could never imagine you could feel or could ever come close to describing.

My father joked with me towards the end of my pregnancy to read the instruction book they would give me in the hospital so I would know how to take care of a baby.  The obvious joke was that there is no manual, no set of rules that apply.  Every baby is different.  In the first few weeks of parenthood, Marc and I quickly learned a lot.  Babies may be tiny but they are just like regular people.  They get gas, have stomach issues, get “hangry”, you name it.

I am a super picky eater so it should come as no surprise to me that it took several different tries to find a formula that my daughter would like and not upset her stomach.  Just as we thought we had found the formula goldmine, after ordering a case on Amazon, she would have a new fussy belly issue and it was back to the drawing board.

6 weeks in, we have gone through several hundred diapers, too many to count.  Washed more bottles than we can remember and have slept a fraction of the amount of both of these numbers.  But we would not change it for the world.  Our daughter just has to look at us with her big beautiful eyes and we are putty in the palm of her hands.  We live for her.  Our daily activities and conversation revolve around her.  Is she happy? Is she sleeping? Did she cry? Did she make a doody? You name it.  We ask each other.

What a tremendous difference 6 weeks can make and we wouldn’t want it any other way.