I am loving this book!

I've been spending some quality time with my Kindle this week, reading "How to Have Your Second Child First." It's been somewhat of a trying week and I feel like this book has validated everything I'm experiencing and feeling lately but might not necessarily say out loud; it's encouraging. This is probably just in my head, but I get the feeling sometimes that after the first few months (dare I say weeks?) people expect things to smooth out and get easier (and they DO, in some ways) but I am still figuring all this out and it is still tough! I don't know why but I feel like I should say things are going well when asked "how's it going?" so others don't feel obligated to offer advice and I don't sound like a complainer. Anyway, I digress.

The book is made up not so much of chapters, but 100 different observations and reflections from 2nd (and 3rd and 4th) time parents who did things a little differently after their first child, although I'm guessing any parent who's made it through the first year would say many of the same things. Here are a few that are particularly relevant to me right now:

# 61 - "It's ok for you and baby to "do nothing" all day. You are no longer judged on how much you cross off the to-do list--you are accomplishing a major feat each day that you parent this new person. Hey, if you and your baby have been fed and are reasonably clean, you've done quite enough, thank you."
# 63 - "Parenthood can be extremely boring" (Gasp!) Sometimes it really does feel like Groundhogs day, when you're doing the same things over and over in 3 hour cycles and have little adult conversation. Some days are worse, some days are better.
# 65 - "You and your [husband] don't have to do everything the same way." Yeah, sometimes I just need to shut up and let Bill take the baby for a while. Nuf' said.
# 79 - "Don't Get Ahead of Yourself. It's easy to get wrapped up in what's lying ahead--and how that place might be better, easier or more interesting. That's normal. We all skip ahead in parenting books to learn what our baby will be doing next week, and we imagine how exciting that will be. With all that forward-thinking, it can be hard to remember to relish the moment you're in. Try. [Second-time] parents realize that even though there are times that seem painfully slow, the first year really does go quickly. And as soon as [he] stands up on his own, that new baby will disappear before your eyes." Okay, so I'm working on this one.

Yes I'm exhausted but just when I feel like I'm going to blow a fuse he does this: