Joni: the first month

Life with Joni June has been nothing short of transformative, chaotic, and beautiful. Our first month as new parents has been a whirlwind of sleepless nights, endless diapers, and moments of awe as we contend with our little bundle of joy.   

Emily and I entered parenthood with a grand plan: nighttime shifts to maximize sleep. In theory, it sounded perfect. One of us would handle Joni’s cries while the other caught some much-needed rest. In practice, though, “shifts” became a challenging concept. We did manage to each get a minimum of 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night but the sacrifice was not sleeping in the same room.  We did miss each other and despite our relative restfulness, we were missing that strange comfort in stumbling through it together.

Emily’s parents stayed with us for the first 30 days, and I don’t think we could have survived without them.  They took over the household responsibilities, cooked incredible meals, and gave us the space to focus solely on Joni.  Every dish they made felt like a hug, a small luxury when everything else felt so overwhelming. My parents arrived the week after Emily’s left, bringing the same love and support, along with stories of how they handled their early days as parents.   We even celebrated Joni’s first Christmas, hanukah, and New Years together! 

Of course, life had its curveballs. First, our TV broke, a small inconvenience but frustrating when all we wanted was background noise for those long nights. Then, our dryer decided to quit. As new parents drowning in laundry, this felt catastrophic. The cherry on top was discovering our water line needed repair, only to find the shutoff valve paved over.  If parenting has taught us anything so far, it’s the art of adapting.

Despite the challenges, we’ve had our share of hilarious moments. One of our first poopy diaper changes is a memory I’ll treasure forever, though Emily might not feel the same! As I leaned in to clean Joni, she suddenly squirted poop like a tiny squirt gun.

I dodged sideways, avoiding the mess, only to put Emily directly in the line of fire. Poop sprayed Emily, getting on her clothes and in her hair.  The look on her face had me howling with laughter, an emotion so rare those first few days that we couldn’t stop laughing for minutes. Emily announced, with poop laced hair, “I guess I’m officially a mom now.”

Parenting is not without its tougher moments. Joni struggles with constipation, which has been hard on all of us. Her tiny grimaces and cries tug at our hearts, and we’ve already become semi-experts in baby massages and leg bicycling techniques. Watching her finally relax brings relief and a strange sense of triumph. 

As I write this, it is 5am and I’m feeding Joni in our dark living room. Emily is catching a rare moment of sleep, and outside, the aurora borealis paints the sky with its vibrant colors. We are both illuminated by the flickering greens.  It’s a fitting reminder of how small we are and how vast and wondrous the world can be. This first month has tested us, exhausted us, and yet I remain excited for all there is to come.