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Taking care of a newborn is a lot like debugging code. You try something new and wait to see if it makes things better. If not, try again. And just like with programming, there are only about 5 things to check, yet you spend hours before you figure out, "Oh! It's the same thing as before. Why didn't I think to check his diaper again?!"

The things to check:

1) Diaper? Check it, change it.
2) Hungry? Give him to Mommy.
3) Gassy? Burp him.
4) Uncomfortable? Switch position (try other shoulder maybe).
5) Tired? Walk around the apartment bouncing lightly and patting his back until it feels like your arm is going to fall off.

Somehow I always miss one of these. Or, it takes me an hour to cycle through them and by then it's another problem. Or it's the dreaded combo.

I really thought I'd be a seasoned veteran after Owen just 3 years ago, but I feel like I'm starting over from scratch. Not that I mind, because I enjoy the problem solving aspect. Plus, Marcus is really dang cute. And unlike code, he makes funny little noises, and smiles when he farts. I need an EMACS plug-in that squeaks, grunts and sighs randomly from time to time. Something like BabyWAVE. You'd forget to close your for-loop and it'd be all, "Sqeak! [belch] Ahhhh."

The other thing I need to do is take notes from Erin. Mommy is really good at this!
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Comments

Mike said…
Perhaps you need this....
August 16, 2008 at 3:30 AM
Anonymous said…
Love the post. It's so true!
August 16, 2008 at 3:01 PM
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