It takes a village...

I've never been one for grandiose statements or philosophies, but to raise a child, they say "it takes a village". I can definitely say its a team effort - a rather large team if possible.

A few learnings as I reflect on my 2 months of parenthood:
- seek and accept as much help as available. At one point, we had four adults helping to watch Benjamin (my mom, husband, helper and me). As mom would say, "many hands make light work". Its not light, but certainly more manageable. Although I'm proud to say that I enjoy the alone days with Benny albeit very tiring by end of them

- do what you can to ensure your child is growing healthily. There's a lot of recent societal pressure towards breastfeeding (total opposite apparently in the 70's towards formula). I am "combination feeding" (breast milk + formula) and Benjamin is growing nicely. Maybe its because I am in my late 30's that I don't have enough milk?! Anyway, i'm still trying but don't like the turned up noses of some parents who think that formula is poison or something

- learn to power nap. Thankfully from my engineering days at McMaster, I have mastered the 20-30 min daytime nap. It does wonders. Sadly though, I can't power nap at night and have some bouts of insomnia

- exercise whenever you can. We try to squeeze in a 20 min swim or run whenever Benjamin naps

- going out is not so bad. Benjamin loves to go out and enjoys looking around and naps nicely when we shop or eat lunch. Fingers crossed this continues, and there is no bathroom episode (as HK its sometimes difficult to locate clean and available changing tables!)

- stay in touch with family by photos and social media. We are finally getting regular use out of our tripod and DSLR camera since the baby grows so fast. I realize my smart phone camera could be improved too (too slow). Also everybody has their own lives, so living abroad, we have to be the ones to make an effort to keep them posted on Benjamin's growth (or we'll feel lonely given not many visits)

- go easy on the birthday cakes. We don't like cakes that much but want to celebrate the key milestones like one month, two months, 100 days, and each of our own birthdays. But it takes us over a week to finish (or toss) each cake! Next month: Pie with 2 candles instead of cake.

All in all, parenthood is quite a trip.