Even before I was pregnant, my husband and I knew we wanted to give our baby a name that wasn’t super common and didn’t have any personal connotations for us. I went to an all-girls school, so I’ve heard just about every normal girls’ name; I wanted something different for our daughter.

That being said, we wanted a “real” baby name, not something we’d made up or a word that’s not really used as a name. I really liked to the idea of picking a girl name that’s common in other countries, and “Paloma” certainly fit the bill. It’s very popular in most Spanish-speaking countries and in Hungary, too -- there’s even a popular Spanish folk song called “La Paloma.”

Besides being unique and beautiful, I liked the baby name meaning of Paloma. The name means “dove,” a well-recognized symbol of peace. This meaning would give my daughter a “spirit animal” of sorts, even though it turns out she’s very strong and feisty --not very dove-like at all!

It also wasn’t something I had to go searching through baby name books for: As an art history student, I knew that Picasso’s daughter was named Paloma. Although I didn’t want to pay homage to Picasso per se, I was aware of the name and threw it out there when my husband and I were discussing potential baby names. He really loved it -- not only was it unique, but it sounded really nice with our last name.

At first, I was a little concerned that giving our daughter a Spanish name might seem odd, because we are not of Hispanic heritage. My husband and I both look very Irish. Even so, I liked the idea of giving our baby a name that connected her to other cultures -- and it has: She was playing with a Spanish-speaking little boy while we were waiting to board a plane, and his entire family got so excited when they heard our red-headed toddler was named Paloma. 

As much as we loved our baby name, I don’t think our families were crazy about it at first. My husband’s family is a little more traditional, so I wanted to give them time to get used to a more unique girl name. When we told them we’d decided on Paloma, they were definitely taken aback. However, within weeks, everyone was totally on board, even referring to my baby bump as “Paloma.” Now, I don’t think anyone could imagine our daughter with any name but Paloma!

Photo by Zach Lucero on Unsplash

When my daughter, Morgan, turned 7 days old, I noticed that we’ve reached a big baby development milestone-- her umbilical cord stump fell off. Until then, we gave her washcloth baths to avoid getting that area wet.

Under the instruction of her doctor, we knew once her cord fell off that it was safe to give her a tub bath, so I started preparing my baby bath time toolkit. It included:

• Towel with hoodie to keep her cozy and cute from head to toe
   
• Gentle baby shampoo and wash for that irresistible clean baby smell
   
• Washcloth to get inside her fingers, behind the ears, under the neck and in her many folds
   
• Diaper for immediate coverage, as “accidents” were a regular occurrence

When the time finally arrived, we took off her diaper and laid her in her baby bath seat, where she could be comfortable and supported. Although we knew she was ready for this baby development milestone, there was still a lot to do to keep her safe. To prevent her from becoming cold, we placed a warm washcloth on her belly. I quickly -- but gently -- washed her head to toe while my husband documented the experience. It was certainly a sprint, as I was terrified of her uncontrollable bowels.

Of course we made sure there was still enough time for belly kisses and bath time tunes.

For a baby who was solely capable of lying like a blob all day, I was surprised at the level of grime she had accumulated. This came at the perfect time, since our little one was in desperate need of a bath!

Surprisingly, Morgan loved the water from the minute we put her on her baby bath seat. She seemed to enjoy the gentle massage of the washcloth, and I enjoyed staring in awe at this perfect little person we had welcomed into our lives a week ago.

Once the cleaning mission was accomplished, my husband held his arms with the towel while I lifted Morgan out of the tub. Little did I realize how slippery a wet and wiggly newborn is. Her body felt as though she was given a butter bath, but all 7 pounds of her couldn’t escape my loving hold.

As we wrapped her up and dried her off, I knew we had rocked this baby development milestone, and that our bath time future would involve playful giggles, water kicks, and rubber toys. But for now, belly kisses would do just fine.

Photo by Henley Design Studio on Unsplash

As a new mom, I’d love nothing more than to keep a camera on my baby at all times so as to never miss anything new that he does -- ever.

Of course, that’s not reasonable. But I do want to make sure I snap as many of those adorable moments as I can. Now that my husband and I are a couple months into this parenting thing, I think I can safely say we’ve determined which newborn photos we just can't do without.

Once you've got the photos or digital snapshots, you can use them to create books of memories. The is a great way to document the first year of your baby’s life and a nice treat for friends and family, too.

Here are a few of my favorite, not-to-be-missed newborn photo opportunities:

The "Firsts" Shots: Of course you can’t always predict when a "first" will happen. But some important firsts are under your control -- such as the first tub bath, or the first time your baby tries a new food -- and for those, you can arrange to have a digital camera or phone on hand to document the baby milestone moment. The first smile is another great milestone to capture, if you can. On our first road trip to see family that lives far away, we were sure to snap a newborn photo of our son, all bundled up and snug in his car seat. That’s definitely a memory we wouldn’t want to forget.

The Personality Shots: The more your baby grows, the more he'll begin to reveal his personality. Anything your child does that you feel is just so fundamentally him -- that’s probably something you’d like to get a shot of. For example, my husband was a serious baby, and there are many photos of him with this great look of concentration on his face. Now my son makes the same faces! Whenever he does, I try to snap him in action so we’ll always have that memory.

The Sleep Shots: You can’t go wrong with shots of your sleepy baby snoozing next to Mom or Dad. Whenever my husband and our son fall asleep in the chair together, I never pass up an opportunity to snap that adorable newborn photo!

The "Is That Me?" Shot: As any new parent will attest, one of the cutest newborn photos is probably one of your baby checking himself out in a mirror. Babies are fascinated with faces, including their own, and mirrors make great toys for them. We were lucky to be able to snap a photo of our son’s car seat mirror while he was busy staring at himself. If that’s not fancy camerawork, I don’t know what is!

Photo by Ciprian Sam on Unsplash

The birth of my daughter was one of the happiest days of my life . . . which meant that going back to work was extremely hard for me, as it is for many new dads. The office can take up a lot of the day (and night!), and it’s easy to feel down when you’re not able to hang out with your new baby. But a hardworking dad can definitely still enjoy fatherhood, especially if he plans his time well. Here is some advice I followed that could work for you too.

Hit the floor. No matter how old your child is, getting down to her level is an excellent way to play. Crawling on the floor with her when she's a baby, rolling around when she hits the toddler stage, and pig-piling with bigger kids is always a hit.

Sign up. Try Daddy-and-me swim lessons or channel your inner musician and find a baby music group. By taking a class, not only will you be teaching your child a skill or sport, but you’ll be spending a special time together each week.

Play chef. Every dad has a specialty up his sleeve, whether it’s flipping burgers, concocting a yummy pasta dish, or simply opening a can of soup -- with crackers. What you make doesn’t have to be fancy, but it does have to be your own. Host dinner once a week, serving your particular meal, even if your new baby is still on purées. She’ll enjoy watching you move around the kitchen and before you know it will be able to join in on the family meal fun.

Don’t sweat it. Tied up with a big presentation or stuck on a business trip? Either way, don’t stress if you’re away from your little one for longer than usual. In place of one-on-one play, consider reading a story to your child or singing a bedtime song over a webcam. She’ll love hearing your voice and seeing your face, even if you aren’t right next to her.

Remember, it’s the love and attention you give to your child -- not the number of hours you rack up together -- that counts on the scale of fatherhood. Whether you're cooking or cuddling, swimming or crawling on the floor, you're building a bond and being a great father.

Photo by Arty on Unsplash

Isabel, my firstborn, arrived fat and healthy at 8 pounds and 9 ounces, sporting a full head of dark brown hair. Like any new mom, I suspected that my days of uninterrupted slumber and sleeping in were in the past.

And I was correct: Isabel’s sleeping habits were erratic at first, causing my husband and I to be up at all hours of the night. I eagerly anticipated the day when I’d get my baby sleeping through the night. Of course, that baby milestone takes a bit of time to happen, but it eventually does.

Here’s my baby’s sleeping story:

Slow but Sure
By the 3-month mark, Isabel and I had set the bedtime routine: bath, nursing, story, and crib. This regular schedule helped her calm down at the end of the day and signaled that it was time to get some rest. I sent my new baby off to sleep each evening until 2:00 a.m. when she howled for the next feeding.

Almost There
Gradually, Isabel started to wake up a little later, a baby development milestone that gave me some much needed extra rest, too. My goal was to get her to sleep from bedtime all the way until 5:00 a.m. Would she make it?

She Did It!
When Isabel finally slept seven hours straight, I was a bit surprised. I knew eventually I’d get my baby sleeping through the night, but unfortunately, my body was ready for her to wake up sooner. Breasts need to be emptied of milk on a regular schedule, so while she was snoozing away, I was awake anyway, and with rather sore, full breasts!

A Quick Feed
As soon as Isabel was awake, I breastfed my new baby, so I could get some relief. She took a big drink from both sides, and then promptly fell back to sleep. After another week, my breasts had adjusted, and Isabel thankfully kept up her new pattern of sleeping a full night.

Now that Isabel is a few years older, she’s developed to the point where she’s a great sleeper. While I sometimes miss the days when she was an infant, I certainly don’t miss the days when my baby’s sleeping schedule meant I was up throughout the night. Now we are all snoozing more soundly!

Photo by Kevin Keith on Unsplash