We’re 10 days into our new lives as parents, and it’s time to document what we’ve loved about these early days with our newborn daughter. I think we’ve been pretty lucky so far. She has her fussy moments, but she’s pretty easy to soothe and rarely cries for more than 10 minutes before we figure out what she wants. We’re definitely sleep deprived and beholden to her whims, but we’ve learnt to nap when she naps. At night she’s been sleeping well between feedings with a two or three long stretches (2-4 hours) most nights. By most accounts, we’re doing ok.

Favourite Moments

• First night at home when I took Astrid from an exasperated and exhausted mother and soothed her to sleep while mommy slept. I’ve never felt so accomplished.
• When Astrid starts to doze off, she makes a lot of faces – frowns, smiles, furrowed brows, yawns, and zombie eyes.
  
• Our first social outing. We got her all dressed up to take her to meet the neighbours. We were just about to leave the house when she made a big poop. So we undressed her, cleaned her up, changed her diaper, and then redressed her. Then when we were 2 feet out the door she pooped again, so we had to repeat the process. We’re starting to understand why parents are always late.
• Showing her off to the neighbours.
  
• Emily really enjoys having Astrid fall asleep on her chest after feeding. It’s their special bonding time.
  
• Bath time in the kitchen. She hated the first bath she had in the tub, but was pretty calm for the sponge bath we gave her next to the sink.
• Seeing how much joy the grandparents get from holding her. Before Astrid was born, I naively thought it would be best to have a few days alone with her before the grandparents visited. A chance to try and learn her needs on our own. But I was wrong. It’s been a huge help to have them visit and impart their parenting advice.
  
• 4 am Daddy Dance Parties. When she doesn’t fall asleep after a night-time feeding, I take her to another room for dancing, bouncing, and exercise time. It helps her fall asleep and sometimes we both pass out on the couch together instead of moving back to the bedroom.
  
• How well behaved the cat has been. I don’t think Boo likes the baby but he is content to just ignore her. He hasn’t lashed out or seemed stressed at all. I’m not sure we could deal with a misbehaving or anxious cat.
  
• Watching her sleep with her thinker pose.