Find a way to spend quality time with your partner. Once the dust has settled try to book some time where it's just the two of you. Get a babysitter and go out together one night in the week.
Often you're so focused on the baby that years can go by until you realise you've ignored your relationship and then it can be very hard to fix or get back to some normal / happy state.
Same for your regular friendships. Maintain them. The other day someone asked me to name my 3 best friends and all I could come up with was people I knew years ago that I barely speak to anymore.
For me that was the main problem. The kids slept relatively well, ate ok, didn't get sick very often. But they still take up so much time that it's easy to forget about everything else.
As the proud parent of a three year old: don't feel guilty about holidays¹ for two if your kid has a safe and pleasant place to stay. Staying with their grandparents (a common choice) or other trusted guardian helps them experience a different household, and if you start doing this young it is never a big deal.
1: Preferably with lots of intimacy. A good part of our luggage for getaways is sex toys.
+1000
Came here just to say this. Aside from being a good parent, you have to focus on your partner and you (that is assuming you want to, if not the case then please disregard). Without that relationship being healthy, everything changes. It spiraled into divorce for me two years later. Doesn’t need to be much, but learn to even go on dates with the baby. You can, and it helps. Flying is also not that bad - if you can, buy a seat for the baby, and you can just bring them on in their car seat. It took me 3 kids before I finally figured it out :) Good luck and congrats!
This is one of those things that is always easy to tell others to do on the Internet for self benefit. Post one sentence and guilt trip others into behaving better while not having to change oneself at all. Bravo.
I always wonder if such people who write these comments would themselves commit to a verifiable improvement of their own behaviour in public according to to the norms of others.
I'd love to see it :)
Often you're so focused on the baby that years can go by until you realise you've ignored your relationship and then it can be very hard to fix or get back to some normal / happy state.
Same for your regular friendships. Maintain them. The other day someone asked me to name my 3 best friends and all I could come up with was people I knew years ago that I barely speak to anymore.
For me that was the main problem. The kids slept relatively well, ate ok, didn't get sick very often. But they still take up so much time that it's easy to forget about everything else.