Are you waiting for life to get back to normal? Stop right there. This is the new normal: Take nothing for granted, be ready to change plans at a moment's notice, and learn to multitask. In other words, if you're a creature of habit and routine, you need to adjust your way of looking at the world.

The Night Shift

If you work a regular day job and then come home to play with and care for baby, it's easy to start burning the candle at both ends. You stay up later and later after baby's bedtime to get things done or to just unwind and end up only getting a few hours of sleep on the clock before your child is up for another feeding. This is bad for your health and your sanity. Split the night shift with your partner so you're at least getting all your sleep half the time.

Making Adjustments

Life as a father is full of compromise. The library you and your wife started is now a playroom, and the motorcycle you've been lusting after has been shelved (even with a sidecar, it just wouldn't be the same). You planned on spending your weekend watching the NFL draft, but reality strikes and you end up doing laps around the house with a sick and fussy baby instead. Yet instead of envying your childless friends who are at home awaiting the next pick, you look at your child and wish you could take the hurt away and be sick for her instead. Congratulations — you are a father.