Rebellious Child

Years from now, when Camille is a bratty teenager, her mother and I will probably give her lectures about not staying up too late and sleeping in all day.  "Well, if you didn't stay up all night, you'd be awake enough to for Church on Sunday" we'd tell her.  She'd probably roll away from us  in her bed and continue to sleep until we threaten to take away her 8.5G Iphone 17.

Rewind 16 or so years and we have Camille of today.  The bratty newborn who refuses to sleep, holds Mommy and Daddy's rest at ransom with her demands to be held and fed...  ALL NIGHT LONG.

Being the clever parents that we are, Bao and I have focused our efforts to keep Camille awake during the day with hopes that she will sleep better at night.  We'd bathe her.  We'd put her in a bouncy chair.  We'd try to keep her still in her bed (which she usually hates at night).  No good.  She's dead to the world.  We can pinch her cheeks, wave her arms, even lift her up by her armpits.  The girl just does not wake up during the day.  I suppose we could threaten to take away something from her; but when her only desires in life are to drink milk, get changed, sleep, and be held, we realize that we couldn't bring ourselves to take away a basic human right.  We're not North Koreans.

What we're going through is the hard lesson that there's no negotiating with a baby.  We are her slaves.  Her servant leaders.  We choose to sacrifice ourselves for her benefit, and still delight in all the nothing we get back from her.  I guess we have her teenage years to look forward to.  When we finally have some bargaining power.

Six weeks!

Yes!  Camille is six weeks old today.  I can hardly believe how much our lives have changed in these past six weeks.  I am so thankful for this wonderful gift.  Sleep deprivation and all :)

Camille on her birth day

Camille's first month: A review

I've been jotting down these thoughts since the first week.  Now, here they are.

The specs
As of August 14 (birthday!)

• Weight: 6 lb 12 oz
• Height: 18.75 in

Milestones & important events
August 14 - Camille is born!

August 15 - I turned 30.  Camille comes home from the hospital.  We all go out to Maggiano's for dinner - Camille's first outing!

I am 30

August 16 - The Ballews visited!  Leaving Camille at home with Grandma Ng for the first time when we went out to dinner.

August 17 - I realized I am 30.  I also realized that Camille is here to stay.  As in, she's just going to keep growing and we have to raise her.  It was a big day of realizations.  A little scary.

August 19 - Being concerned that Camille might be borderline jaundiced, the clinic sent over a home health nurse with a bilirubin light bed.

Our little glow worm

August 20 - Late that night, I had a sudden fever of 103 and went to the ER where they discovered that I had a UTI and a kidney infection.  Aaaaawesome...

August 21 - Chin turned 32 (at the ER, in fact). We celebrated at Old Country Buffet.

August 24 - Camille's first time at Paseo's...and a lovely picnic at Greenlake with us & GT.

August 29 - Camille's first time at Gordito's, home of the giant baby-sized burrito.  We got a burrito for free when we agreed to let them take a picture of Camille next to it. :)

Camille + Gordito's burrito grande

September 3 - Camille's first visit to the Microsoft Company Store!

September 5 - First road trip: to see grandparents in Longview & Portland!

September 9 - Celebrating Camille's one month/滿月/đầy tháng with a small party in Portland.

Favorite part...
Camille.  I like her.

Least favorite... 
I hate leaking milk.  I hate it with a passion!

Shout outs
...Chin is the most wonderful baby daddy I could have ever picked!  Score!

...I am so grateful for Chin's mom, Margaret, and my sister GT.  They are two sort of unlikely people to take care of me in my postpartum period, but they turned out to be the best gifts!

...I was able to shower everyday this month.  I'm very grateful to the people mentioned above for making this possible.

...Milk donors.  You know who you are.  The first few days of Camille's life, my milk supply was very low and Camille was not getting enough.  I was told I had to supplement to prevent her from getting more jaundiced.  Instead of supplementing with formula, I decided to ask friends and family members who had babies recently to donate their breast milk.  This may sound weird or gross to you all.  But, how well do you know that cow that provided the milk you drink?  Eh?  Eh?

...The sunshade for the car seat is pretty freakin' amazing.  I won it through a giveaway (of course) and it is sold at this Etsy shop: Shades4Babes. 

...The My Brestfriend nursing pillow.  It's niiice.  I used it all the time in the first 2-3 weeks.

Discoveries & reflections
...When Camille was first born, I knew I loved her right away.  But she was wrinkly and looked a little weird.  I don't think I really started bonding with her until maybe the third week.  I mean truly bonded with her.

...We gave Camille the nickname "Worm."  This is because she canNOT stop squirming!  This explains why there were days that she would move for 6 hours straight in-utero!

...It pays to trust myself, my baby, and God.

...Sometimes, she's just not done pooping.

...Breastfeeding...well, let's just say I'm a fan, but not an air conditioner.

...I had about 12 pairs of nursing pads and I thought, "Hey, that's a lot."  I've since realized that, you know what, I can't have too many.

...I am very protective of my expressed (pumped) milk.  Chin accidentally threw out a bag of milk once and I almost lost it.

...A smile is a smile.  Even if it's an unintentional, gassy smile.  It still melts the heart just the same.

...Since Camille hasn't learned how to smile socially yet, it always seems that she doesn't like me.  I keep telling Chin this theory and he says I'm crazy.  I am not crazy.  I don't think she likes me.

...When I burp Camille, it is more often that I will burp.

...I love having Chin at home (he's taking 4 weeks of paternity leave off + 1 week of vacation)!

...Whenever we go out, I've been sitting in the backseat with Camille most of the time.  And, I gotta admit, I miss sitting next to Chin.

...It's so true what they say about sleep deprivation.  It .... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ...

...I love my mom more than ever before.

Camille is one month old