I’ve been a Dad for 43 days now. Some observations and thoughts:

– First, my wife is amazing. I already knew that, I was the one who dubbed her The Amazing Katie after all, but she’s gone above and beyond. She’s handled pretty much all of the middle of the night Logan stuff, with me being relegated to getting bottles ready, making sure pillows are near, etc… and then I went back to bed. A few weeks back my neck decided to be a ho for over a week, resulting in some long-term headaches that really made me not like having a screaming newborn in my face. Katie took it all in stride and didn’t get as much of a break those evenings when I got home from work. She’s been a trooper. Now that she is back to work we’re still working out our routine. So far it seems that I get up and get him fed while she gets ready for work. It’s still evolving.

– I figured I’d suck at getting a struggling newborn into his clothes, but man, I am truly awful. We were both having issues managing it half-asleep in the middle of the night so we broke down and got a few of the footie pajamas that have the snaps/zippers replaced by magnets. Way overpriced and worth every single penny.

– Baby formula is essentially powdered gold.

– Infant Gas Relief Drops are a miracle drug. We got some from the baby shower. They were strawberry-flavored. He seemed to like that quite a bit which makes me think he may, in fact, like Pink Starbursts when he gets older. This does not upset me. I would not wish my exceptionally picky taste buds on anyone.

– I am a man who doesn’t really care for the feeling of slimy things on my hands. Hand lotion, pudding, pulling hair out of the drain, that shit is gross. But when Logan deposits some kind of bodily fluid on my hands, I just take it in stride. Sometimes I laugh. What else are you gonna do?

– Speaking of bodily fluids, when Logan decides to start peeing in the middle of a diaper change, he can cover everything in a 3 square mile radius.

– We’re getting random Logan smiles now and they are awesome. Sometimes he sticks his tongue out which delights me to no end.

– I’ve worked hard to make sure Sidney doesn’t feel left out and I think it has gone well. This has been made easier by the fact that she is so old now that she sleeps most of the time. If she comes over for attention and my arms are occupied with Logan, I’ll make sure she sees me wave at her and then I’ll find her as soon as I am able and give her scratches. Sid has continued to not give a shit about Logan. Being deaf she can’t hear him at all. When she does take an interest, it’s the same as always, she gets close, sniffs him, and then walks off wagging her tail.

– It took me a while, but I finally know the difference between “baby is grunting because he’s a baby” and “baby is grunting because he’s farting and/or filling his diaper.” Those grunts are remarkably similar.

– The sheer amount of stuff we got from friends and family from the baby shower has been invaluable. People have helped us with babysitting as well, also invaluable.

– As small as Logan is, he’s already outgrowing some clothes, which is both sad and mind-blowing.

– Logan can pass out and stay asleep with all sorts of explosions and noises coming from the TV, but one sneeze from Dad and he’s awake.

– It turns out I can sleep while listening to lullabys all night long. Also with a light cube projecting colored light onto the ceiling. That one took a few days to get used to as I prefer to sleep in total darkness.

– Logan likes Blue October more than myself or his mother. So far he’s OK with Metallica as well.

– It’s hard to run from the cops in GTA V while holding a baby.

That’s it for now. More to come…