“ There’ s a head sticking out of my best friend . . . This isn’ t a miracle, it’ s assault. I’ d call 911 but we’ re already in a hospital.” So begins the birth of Elisha Cooper’ s daughter, and so begins this touching and hilarious chronicle of his year as a first-time father.

Cooper gives voice to the life-changing joy, anxiety, exhaustion, and pride of new parents everywhere. At first he struggles with the “ pink plastic tsunami” of baby gifts, before eventually coming to see the value of the flashy electric baby swing he nicknames “ Las Vegas.” He wishes he could go for a walk with his wife, alone. He worries about protecting his child, even as he comes to the growing realization that he cannot. And throughout, he discovers new ways in which his life has changed. What’ s changed? Everything.

Parents of all stripes will immediately recognize themselves here, from the bewildering numbness of sleep deprivation to the overpowering wonder felt when looking into the eyes of one’ s child. Figuring it out– getting it right or getting it wrong– is all part of being a new father. Elisha Cooper has recorded every single moment of it in this charming, laugh-out-loud funny, and deeply loving book.

From the Hardcover edition.

“Hilarious and beautiful. . . . A new father finally understands what it's all about.”

Chicago Tribune

“Funny. . . . Cooper grows as fast emotionally as his daughter does physically.”

Los Angeles Times

“Priceless. . . . Compelling and endearing. . . . A coming-of-age story that’s both hilarious and tender. . . . Knocks fatherhood off its pedestal while conveying the wonder of bringing another being into the world.”

Time Out Chicago

From an award-winning illustrator and children’s book author comes a touching, honest, and laugh-out-loud funny memoir about parenting, love, and the wonder of new life.

"I would have sooner been handed a bomb than a baby,” admits Elisha Cooper, early in his charming chronicle of his first year as a father. But that, like everything else, is about to change. Luckily, Cooper recorded it all: from playing Outkast’s “So Fresh, So Clean” as he changes his daughter's diaper, to having a romantic dinner at Chez Panisse with his wife–and baby. Cooper’s disarmingly beautiful essays about the perils and pleasures of parenthood will appeal to any reader, and especially all parents, no matter how old their children. He has done what every new parent is too busy, or too tired, to do—captured with grace the joys, fears, and stumbles of learning to raise a child for the first time.

Elisha Cooper is the author of the acclaimed children's book Dance! (one of the New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of the Year), Ice Cream, and Magic Thinks Big. He lives in Chicago with his wife and two daughters.