Ah, the first two months—the longest and shortest time in our baby's young life. Those initial weeks flew by in a blur, and the lack of sleep hit us hard. My wife and I quickly settled into a shift system: she would take care of the baby during the day while I caught up on sleep, and I would take the night shift. During this time, the baby’s activities were pretty much limited to eating, crying, or wanting to be held (or clutching his beloved Spider-Man security blanket). Let me tell you, when someone says “sleeping like a baby” as a good thing, they have clearly never had a baby.
Staying up all night to ensure the baby’s safety was tough, and I had to find ways to entertain myself during those long hours. I eventually got into a rhythm and started replaying some of my favorite games like the Final Fantasy series, Stardew Valley, Rogue Genesia, and Vampire Survivors. Since we live in a small house, I had to choose games that wouldn't make too much noise. Additionally, I loaded up my tablet and caught up on TV shows and movies that my wife wasn't interested in, and I found myself diving down YouTube rabbit holes, mainly exploring cooking channels and mystery tech/box openings.
A little while in, I decided I needed to make a little extra cash and started doing Data Annotation to help train AI. The pay wasn’t great, but it helped cure some boredom and gave me a little extra spending money.
During these first two months, there was a lot of worrying. Baby acne, red spots, and cradle cap had us consulting Google more times than I care to admit. Let me tell you, Google is not your friend when it comes to baby ailments—it'll give you ten different ways that the same thing could supposedly cause your baby to grow elephant ears. My advice: find a good pediatrician and rely on their guidance. Ours has a 24-hour answering service, which has been a lifesaver.
Thankfully, those tough times are behind us now. We've moved past the constant snacking and are no longer in pure survival mode. As a piece of advice for those thinking about gifts for new parents: snacks, quick meals, and food delivery gift cards are amazing. In our personal experience, we didn't want to cook much, and these thoughtful gifts made a world of difference.
