My toes hurt. Why? She's keeping me on them.

Living with an infant is a crash-course in flexibility. Just when you get used to a certain bedtime, they decide to stay up till midnight. Or when you start to inwardly gloat at how easygoing your baby is, they decide to spend then next week doing one of two things: crying or regurgitating curdled milk.

Or there are days like this when after a couple of difficult, cranky baby days, she decides to take a 4 hour nap (allowing her mother to express 2 batches of milk, make a vegetable soup from scratch, serve and eat the soup, read a chapter of her book while drinking a cup of tea, do the dishes, and take a walk to the grocery store) and then when I put her down for the night wide awake, assuming she'll take ages to get to sleep due to the 4 hour nap, she calmly sucks her hand for a bit and then nods off.

Expect the unexpected is the first lesson Eloise has taught me. Never be lulled into a false sense of security. Nor should you assume the worst is here to stay. Whether times are good or bad, this too shall pass.

My advice so far? Do not boast when times are good - they may be fleeting. And when times are bad make sure you trust your Second-in-command.