My wife, my infant son, and I were all in the car with my parents a few weeks back, as we made our way home from Midway Airport sometime after 1 a.m. The mood was a little dour after a three-and-a-half hour weather-related diversion to Milwaukee more than doubled the length of our travel day.

Nobody really wanted to speak on that car ride, because nobody really had any nice things to say. At the time, my son Jamie was 10 weeks old. As we made our way out of the airport and toward the Interstate, Jamie let out the biggest giggle, cutting the quiet tension. After that we all had to laugh.

If he could stay loose in a diaper full of his own excrement, while he’s passing all his previous thresholds for hungry and tired, why couldn’t we just loosen up for the rest of the car ride?

Tomorrow he already turns three months old. Those were some of the quickest three months I’ve seen. I’m so new to this parent thing, it’s not even funny. When the nurse handed me that little infant, I held him so awkwardly in my arms, careful not to somehow break him. Babies are a little more durable than I initially thought, and my comfort threshold is slowly but surely on the rise.

I’m nowhere near an expert at this, but here are a few things I’ve already learned from (or about) my son:

• Stop taking things so seriously. You have to be able to laugh at the situation once in awhile, even when you don’t want to.
• Take a deep breath and just enjoy things. It’s amazing how perceptive babies are. If they sense you’re anxious or just in a bad mood, they’ll keep crying, and your ears just weren’t built to handle that.
• Nothing cures a bad day like a baby smile. They’re so full of passion and so genuine. If that full smile doesn’t melt your heart, you might not be human.
• There’s a reason God made babies so darned cute. They cry and poop A LOT. Years of listening to rock music at full volume couldn’t prepare me for the shrill wail of a baby’s cry. They don’t just tell you when they’re hungry. They tell every neighbor on your street in hopes that someone, anyone (especially mom) will come to their aid. Also, nothing says love like getting farted on, pooped on, peed on and spit up on (sometimes all nearly at the same time).
• Whatever you do, don’t stand still. Jamie loves motion. This can come in a stroller, the car seat, or even a plane ride (he was remarkably good in an airplane). There’s a lesson in here somewhere about not being too complacent with things.
• Sometimes life’s just not about you. It’s good to have another focus.

I’m sure this is a rather incomplete list that I could keep going back and adding to. I had my preconceived notions of what this might be like, and they’ve been surpassed in every way. I’m enjoying every day and can’t wait to see what the future brings.