Revelations from 13 days of being a parent

• Being a parent is the best thing in the world. This one is hard to explain, but so true. Try it and you'll like it, but it is hard to imagine being a single parent or not having help because it is a lot of work.
• The baby industry is out of control. I am convinced we just have way more stuff than we need. Not complaining, because it is all nice and useful, but having a baby seems to have gone the way of consumerism like most other things. I think this helps to explain why buying people gifts always feels so hard. It is because everyone already had everything these days. Same goes for having a baby. We seem to have everything all of a sudden so the challenge is figuring our when and how to use it. One of the best examples of excess is the baby wipe warmer we have. It seems to warm the wipe a bit but really, when we change her she is generally not too happy anyway, so what is the point?
• Appointments with the pediatrician take a long time! We were in a grove of 20-30 minute appointments with Staci's Dr. during the pregnancy. We now seem to be in the 1-2 hour range plus travel time, which with Mia is much greater. The picture you see with this post is our first appointment with the pediatrician after leaving the hospital, which was also the first time we took Mia out of the condo.
• Everyone wants to help and most have opinions. We were really prepared from all of the classes, reading, etc and at times it all feels like a bit much but the help is great. It is odd to think that we still have really yet to experience what it is like to take care of Mia on our own, but soon enough...As much as being a new parent is a challenge, we were definitely ready for it and take a lot of confidence from our preparation.
• Baby books are fun. We've had a lot of fun putting together a baby scrap book for Mia that I am 100% convinced she will love having when she gets older. I highly recommend doing this to any other expecting parents.
• Technology enables sharing of the new baby experience in a wonderful way. We've been sharing pics through picasa, posting through our blog, emailing, and skyping video calls with friends a family that make it feel like Mia is known to so many so quickly. Not that long ago none of this was possible. Pretty cool stuff.