Somehow, Emryn is five weeks — almost six weeks! — old already.

It has singlehandedly been the most overwhelming five weeks of our lives. I spent the pregnancy researching the pregnancy — different signs, mom’s symptoms etc. — and never once bothered to read anything about after baby arrived.

As a result, I was ill-prepared for what was to come. I didn’t understand certain feeding queues, pooping patterns, and other infancy things so many other brand new parents know upon arrival.

This whole “Wonder Weeks” thing was completely brand new to me as of two days ago, and it’s yet another thing I wish I had read about before Emryn arrived. After a quick dissection of this article it became immediately clear to us that Ryn is going through a huge intellectual leap. Of course that’s going to cause some discomfort. Especially if she takes after her father during exam time.

This past week has been wild. Ryn is eating far more than ever before. Her body is growing, both length-wise and weight-wise. And she is awake for hours on end. Fathers have it easy in this regard. Mothers who have to spend endless hours of feeding and comforting with no end in sight in the wee hours of the morning have my complete sympathy.

This five-week time is a difficult one for nearly all babies and it was relieving knowing our parenting skills have nothing to do with Ryn’s increased fussiness, crankiness, and crying. (“Nothing to do with” might be strong words…)

There are a multitude of lessons to learn in the parenting world, but this one is pretty obvious: Google can be your greatest enemy and your greatest ally.