Today, I spent a long time holding Chris’s cousin’s newborn son, who is just five weeks old. He spends the majority of his time sleeping, a good chunk of time feeding from his mother’s breast, and a small amount of time crying and pooping. What a life. I kept inhaling him and that incredibly fresh, powdery baby smell. Now, if only parenting could be that simple – just inhaling and enjoying the moment.

As I held this little baby in my lap, Chris’s mother remarked to Chris’s dad that it looks like I’d quickly adapt to being a mum, and I already looked like I was such a natural. Chris’s dad later pulled me aside to let me know. “As you can tell, Mum is trying to send a message,” he said with a little chuckle.

It’s easy to look like a natural when all you are doing is holding a baby when he is soundly sleeping. It’s all the crying and the poop and the sicknesses and the fussiness that terrify me right now.