This is a guest post by Arthur Osborne, a Project Engineer here at Summer Infant.

I have a 6 month old son named Dax, my first child, and in this short time I have come to appreciate the efforts of Sir Ernest Shackleton and Sir Edmund Hillary. Their courage gives me inspiration to endure my own ‘adventure’.

Preparation and Planning – I would imagine that preparing a trip across the Antarctic takes years of preparation, training, planning, studying and a commitment to experience a life-changing event. Having a baby is almost exactly the same, except instead of years you have about 9 months to assimilate all the knowledge in the world on the subject. Oh, and while there are probably only few people that can speak expertly about Antarctic expeditions, apparently everyone that has ever come in contact with a baby is an expert and will feel comfortable giving you, often contradictory, advice.

Hardship – To survive on these expeditions one had to deal with extreme physical hardships. After a few months of having a baby I sometimes wax nostalgic about these hardships and how nice it would be to have something strictly physical to overcome. Instead, between sleep deprivation and general concern that you might do something to irrevocably damage your baby, I am left feeling drained beyond any level I thought I could endure.

Equipment – over Memorial Day weekend we took our first family trip - 3 and a half days, 3 hours away from home…I still don’t know how we managed to pack and carry all that gear without a Sherpa of our own. Diapers, wipes, diaper bag, toys, bouncer, humidifier, sound machine, playard, carriers, stroller, etc. – there was barely any room in the car for ancillary items, like our clothes (or maybe a book in case Dax deigned to let us read).

Despite how the above sounds I am blessed to have a wonderful, healthy and downright funny child and I wouldn’t change any of it but…Now, I know this won’t go on forever, but seriously – when does it get better? When does getting from point A to point B become less of an event? And will I ever catch up on all that sleep?