News from the Baby Front

Oh my. The sleep. I remember the sleep.

I've been grabbing an hour's sleep here and there, while the wifely friend takes her shifts. Mostly, I've been watching just remarkable amounts of television, with the kid on my lap or next to me in her bassinet, my mouth hanging open, my chin and neck region a scraggly mess. Surrounded by burp cloths, Boppys, onesies, and empty coffee mugs.

I've also spent a lot of time marching around the room rocking her in my arms, which I highly recommend, and singing whatever song I can think of. Winners so far are:

• Johnny Cash - Sunday Morning Coming Down
• Social Distortion - Ball and Chain
• Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side (edited for tender ears)
• Brazil
  

The sleep deprivation is worth it, of course, because it gives you complete justification for doing really amusing things to your newborn daughter. When the newborns are asleep, they are really asleep. You can play with their arms, Walk Like an Egyptian style. You can flap their lower lip so it makes a nice little pop noise. You can, of course, call her humiliating names like Poo Commando, El Dribblo, and more.

So far things are as tiring as I expected, very occasionally more stressful than I expected, and overall just awesome.

We are keeping her.