Never mind trying to explain how I have the capacity to post anything during the first week of my daughter's life. Here are a few things that are working and some things I wish we'd done differently in advance of bringing the kid home.
What's working:
bassinet on wheels. Our stroller (a Bugaboo, more on that later; it was while assembling the dad-friendly Bugaboo that I had the epiphany to start a dad-friendly weblog.) has a bassinet mode, which we use all the time for the kid. It's been extremely handy to roll the kid and/or her bed around the house. It makes going about other tasks--and letting a partner sleep in peace for that hour or two--much easier.
mobile changing table-as-bathing-table. Rolling the changing table into the bathroom to wash the kid down is easier and more comfortable than setting up some whole bathing station near the sink.
nail file. It's too nervewracking to take clippers--even baby ones--to those little fingers. Use the tiny emery board instead.
get out. Even if it's just for a few minutes a day, get the little family out of the house. Fresh air, other people, ambient street noise, it's all good.
rocking chair. Such a cliche, we were skeptical at such an old-fashioned technology, but it really works, both to feed and to calm the kid down. And we got a beautiful Eames RAR rocking chair, which is a nice, comfortable piece of modern design. Win win.
Meanwhile, I wish I'd:
gotten more nightlights. I had to go out and get some, to nightlight up every possible destination in the house.
refreshed my knowledge of song lyrics from South Park: The Movie. I find myself called upon to sing on a moment's notice, and for my own sanity, I'd like to have more than "eentsy weentsy spider" and "hush little baby, don't you cry/ Daddy's gonna buy you a ____" in my head.
gotten some other lullaby music. Although we streamed SomaFM's DroneZone, which is moderately effective.
