50 Ways to Know You're Adjusted to Life with Baby

see larger photo

Smiles, giggles, and coos. All signs Baby is happy. Sometimes, however, the most accurate barometer of your baby's state is (drum roll, please): YOU! Your own behavior can tip you off as to whether your baby is in a good place (aka happy), though chances are you're probably too sleepy to notice them.

Just in case you can find a few minutes to read this, here are 50 signs your baby is content. Actually, if you do have time to read this, that's number 1.

2. You finished a meal. Sure, it consisted of a turkey wrap and diet soda, but you still finished it.

3. The telephone rings and you don't answer it—not because you can't, just because you don't want to.

4. When you do answer the phone, you're able to have a conversation of one solid minute with the person on the other end.

5. You not only feel the desire to brush your teeth, you actually have the time to do it.

6. When you look at your house, you find yourself believing, somewhere deep down, that it could, one day, with the right amount of effort and a big enough team, be clean again.

7. You find yourself bragging to others that you're often getting up to four hours' sleep at a time.

8. You and your partner are able to communicate with each other at fewer than 100 decibels.

9. When doing your bills, you actually check to see if the total is accurate before paying it.

10. In the shower, you not only remember to shampoo, but also to rinse.

11. You're able to complete an entire visit to the bathroom without feeling on edge the entire time.

12. In a spare moment, you find yourself thinking about considering whether to maybe ponder the possibility of perhaps resuming your exercise regimen.

13. You take a bath.

14. You glance in the mirror to find your eyes are more than one-eighth open.

15. You find yourself able to perform simple arithmetic and operate small appliances without having to concentrate intensely.

16. You and your partner are able to get through the movie you rented from the video store in only four installments over two evenings. You can even remember what it was about, mostly.

17. When someone asks you the baby's name, you get it right on the first try.

18. You're able to enjoy your bowl of cereal properly, taking a full 30 seconds to down it.

19. The emails you send are down to, on average, only a handful of spelling errors, and some of them are even semi-coherent.

20. The alleged out-of-the-house sightings of you over the past few weeks are actually legitimate.

21. When you start humming "Piano Man" to yourself, you get all the way to the second verse before slipping into "The Itsy Bitsy Spider."

22. You can walk 10 feet without accidentally kicking a pacifier, stepping on a rattle, or knocking over a stack of diapers.

23. You and your partner have dinner plans—at a restaurant. True, they're for six months in the future, but they're still plans.

24. You feel curious flutterings that may just be the suggestion of returning libido. (Check out these 20 foods to boost your libido.)

25. Some of your clothes stay stain-free for nearly a week.

26. You hear about major events within several days of their actually occurring.

27. You're able to stop and chat with your partner several times per day, sometimes for 30 seconds or more.

28. You're able to drive to the supermarket and back without once dozing off.