project I have ever undertaken. He makes my master's degree programme look like a cake walk, a joke. Losing 20 pounds of puppy fat through consistent, boring gym training and boring sensible eating? Pah! Rehabilitating my knee following three operations, no problem. As a goal-oriented person who takes great pleasure in a job well-done it is a real challenge to wake up every morning and start afresh. There is no finish line for this one, no grades or centimetres lost by which to measure progress. Just me and the kid, hour after hour, day after day. And that's cool. Nothing that comes easy is ever really that satisfying, etcetera, etcetera. I just wish people would stop pretending that baby-wrangling in any way resembles a soft-focus ad for toilet paper. Babies are cuter than anything in the world. Actually, let me rephrase that: your own baby is cuter than anything in the world. But they are not magical -- the cuteness and cleverness and amazingness of your wee child is not enough to take away the fatigue, self-doubt, anxiety, and confusion of your day-to-day existence as a new parent. So let's be honest about it, and stop beating ourselves up for not absolutely loving it every moment of every day. Comments (3) Oh Eleanor, as I respond I can hear my husband putting our three children to bed.  They think I'm still out returning our rented video.  Yes, it is the last weekend of the school holidays and I am hiding