Today, Arlene turns one.

As any parent can attest, that first birthday comes with a tsunami of emotions.

Accomplishment: You made it a full year!
Bewilderment: Wait… how has it been a year?
Dread: Only 17 more of these and she’s out of the house?!
Panic: What if she fails to launch?

As I compare the photos of Arlene’s first day on earth to what she looks like today, I can’t believe just 365 days separate that skinny alien baby from my current chubby, funny munchkin. But honestly, some days I can’t tell who’s grown more– Arlene or me. With that said, here’s the biggest lessons I learned in my first year of parenthood.

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You know zero about being a parent until you are one.

Read all the books you like, listen to every podcast, have yourself a 3 Men and a Baby/3 Men and a Little … Read more

Overwhelmed with registering for your baby? Welcome to the club.

Before I had Arlene, I’d literally changed a diaper once. I knew nothing about babies, and all these gizmos and gadgets left my head spinning. Do I need the jogging stroller and an umbrella stroller and a snap-and-go and and and and…. waaaaaahhhhhh! What in the hell is all this stuff?

In my 10 months as a mom, I’ve learned that you just need a core set of items to start with. We live in a small-ish space and I don’t like heaps of crap, so I’ve tried to not overdo it on baby stuff.

Once your baby is here, you’ll be working with A LOT more information. That’s when you may realize that you actually DO need the $400 Mamaroo (and will be willing to pay for it if it’s the only thing that will keep your baby … Read more

My brother and I are both new parents. Recently, we had the following exchange:

Brother: How’s sleep going?
Me: Great, actually. She’s sleeping through the night mostly.
Brother: Jump off a bridge.

I didn’t take it personally. Nearly a year after the birth of their first baby, nights were still terrible. You know, the specific kind of hell that only a newborn baby can unleash. You’d be a raging, cranky shell of a human if you never slept more than four consecutive hours for a year.

I’M GRATEFUL THAT MY BABY IS A SLEEPER.

I’m reluctant to say this, but Arlene first slept through the night (aka six hours in a row) at five weeks old. I know. I KNOW! It wasn’t every night, and we’ve had a few sleep regressions. If I were him, I’d tell me to jump of a bridge, too.

But here’s the thing: Even though … Read more