As I held my daughter for the first time, I looked down at her and thought several things at once, which I later jotted down in a journal. A few of these are relevant to personal finance - some are not - but overall I thought they painted a great picture of why it’s worthwhile to get your financial house in order.

She looks like her mother. Already, even with all of the wrinkles and stretching that come naturally to an infant’s head. She is her mother repeated, with maybe just a faint hint of my mother in the cheekbones.

She smells like baby. I remember for the first few months when my son smelled this way. It’s a unique smell that’s almost impossible to describe to others. I just call it “new baby smell.”

I am incredibly glad I got my financial life in order. When I held my son in my arms, there was a sense of “Oh my God, what am I going to do now?” Not with her - everything felt just right. Getting your financial house in order makes it possible for so much of life to go so much easier.

She’s smaller than I expected. I knew how small an infant was from my son, but I guess in some ways I had almost forgotten how small newborns actually are. She’s just this little, tiny, defenseless person.

She has so many things going for her. She’s healthy, she has two parents that already adore her, an older brother to show her the way, a beautiful house to live in, four incredible doting grandparents, and a huge army of aunts and uncles and cousins who will love her and take care of her. She’s an incredibly lucky little girl.

My wife is an incredibly brave and powerful woman. If you ever doubt this about a woman, watch a woman during the act of childbirth. It’s amazing in every way. I truly respect the effort, pain, and work that a woman goes through to give birth.

Everything is changing - again. We’re going to go home and suddenly there will be two children in diapers, one of which will not be on any sort of regular sleeping schedule. I am very thankful that my wife is able to take a couple of months off of work to take care of the new baby.