We've had a busy month and the past few days have been a bit challenging with stubborn child not wanting to drink, friend in a coma, and us attending a marriage retreat...
Next month, I go back to school. Wow! I am both stoked and scared to go back to school. I would love to once again interact with grown-ups. But I am a little apprehensive about (1) my academic muscles being atrophied, (2) Camille not drinking while I'm away, and (3) missing the little girl. :(
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| Camille & Auntie GT (my sister) |
Well, this little girl continues to grow developmentally...although not so much in terms of weight:
- Started making the waving/grasping hand motion for "hi" and "bye"...although I'm not sure if she's doing them on purpose.
- Pincer grip! It's here in full force! She loves playing with her food.
- She likes to drum on things and bang toys together. She's starting to nod and shake to music!
- Loves playing peek-a-boo. I think she gets object permanence, though, because she will go look for things that are hidden underneath the covers or inside my palm.
Playing peek-a-boo with Kaia - Can sit up on her own
- Can crawl
- Can pull herself up to a standing position. This also means that she will take forever to go to sleep because she's just up...exploring her new skills!
- Very, very talkative at home and in the backseat of the car. Once she's in public, how much she babbles depends on how comfortable she feels in that environment. Her babbling has gotten more "sophisticated." She says "BaBa" ("Daddy" in Cantonese) a lot; although we're not sure she knows what she means. She just started saying "Mumma"...and this melts my heart.
The specs
As of May 17, 2011:
- Weight: 14 lb 7.5 oz (off the bottom of the chart!)
- Height: 27.75 in (50-75%ile)
- Head circumference: 16.5 in (5%ile)
- Teeth: 2 at the bottom, 4 at the top
April 23 - An unexpected drive through some of Washington's most beautiful sites! First time visiting Skykomish, Leavenworth, Cle Elum, and Roslyn...first time for all of us.
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| Our family outside of the Roslyn Cafe (from the show "Northern Exposure"!) |
April 26 - Camille sits up on her own.
April 27 - For the first time ever: No poop!
April 28 - Camille bit me during nursing (intentionally!) and got herself in trouble. I disciplined her for the very first time by putting her in time out...in her crib. She started crying immediately because she knew she was in trouble! I left her her there for 2-3 minutes. After that, she never bit me again!
May 2 - It's hard to say when Camille started crawling because she's been scooting for a while now. But this was approximately when she started making all the crawling motions and propelled herself forward...toward electrical wires.
May 5 - Cinco de Mayo! Midwives Day! Children's Day! I took Camille to Children's for an appointment in the OT/PT department to get help with her drinking. I also found out that day that Camille learned how to pull herself up to a standing position while she was in her crib. How did I find out? Via the baby monitor. She stood up, reached out of the crib for the camera, took the camera into the crib and started chewing on it. *sigh* This girl...
May 7 - Camille's first Shrimp Feast!
May 8 - My first official Mother's Day (I'd already had 2 Mother's Days being with child)! We also dedicated Camille at church.
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| We may look like we're posing, but we are just really that perfect looking |
May 12 - International Nurse's Day! In honor of this day (joke), I started cutting down the number of times I nurse Camille. Instead of nursing Camille four times a day (waking up, after first nap, after second nap, and before bed), I started cutting out the middle two sessions. I was simply too frustrated with the fact that she was not making any progress in drinking and just wanted her to get desperate enough to try and drink. Read more about this here.
Favorite part...
Hearing Camille babble/sing in the back seat. Such a sweet sound. She's so talkative! In the middle of the night one night, she woke up, sat up in bed, babbled a few things for about 5 seconds, and then laid down and fell back asleep. I love this girl a lot!
Least favorite...
The sound of a snotty nose. Camille still not taking milk out of the bottle/cup (and barely any other liquid).
Shout outs
...This is a belated shout out. I can't believe I missed it! Shout outs to Kristie for getting Camille her Fisher Price booster chair! We use it everyday and it is so useful!
...to Mina for babysitting so I could go to my eye appointment. Camille napped extra long that day and was very happy to see that Auntie Mina was still there when she woke up. Thank you, Mina!!
...to Gayle Bonato for the thorough assessment of Camille's feeding problems and for offering great advice!
...to Lindsey for watching Camille while we spent much needed time away at the marriage retreat!
Discoveries & reflections
..."Have I brushed my teeth today? I coulda sworn I have. I distinctly remember applying toothpaste on the toothbrush. I was standing right here...no wait, was that yesterday? *use tongue to check for dental cleanliness* Hmm... What have I eaten today?" I have this thought going through my head nearly everyday.
...It doesn't matter if you have reached your pre-pregnancy weight or weigh even less. If you routinely unbutton your jeans around the house, you have not lost all that baby weight!
...I have learned that I am self conscious about my postpartum pooch. Just a little, usually. Sometimes a lot.
...I think I would enjoy breastfeeding a lot more if I don't have the stress of transitioning her to a bottle/cup.
...No matter how freaking fantastic Daddy is, Mommy is the bottom line. (But Camille's Daddy is pretty freaking fantastic!!) Daddy can afford to reach a certain threshold and say, "I can't do this anymore." Mommy never has the luxury to do so. If all the Mommies of the world can bank on an equitable division of labor, say that they have reached their limit and then pass on the baton, I think that would be a pretty scary picture. (Happy Mother's Day, Momkind!)
...When people say, "Wow, she feels so light!" I hear, "So...how come you're not feeding her?" When people say, "It's okay that she's skinny. As long as she's healthy, right? She doesn't even look that skinny to me, she looks just right." I hear, "So...how come you're not feeding her?" I know that's not what people mean. But...such is the plight of a mother whose child is a bean pole.
...The more I feed Camille, the more she poops. Some days, the volume of output seemingly exceeds the volume of input. Seriously! It seems like the act of feeding her is equivalent to earning and income. And her pooping is equivalent to income tax. The less effort I put into feeding her, the less poop comes out. On days when she's been a good eater, she poops a lot! Sometimes, I just say, "Why bother?!" If I just don't feed her at all, can I just go on some form of...public assistance?
...I am finding that sometimes my attempts to be honest and transparent just sound like whining. I post on Facebook all the time about my struggles with motherhood. Recently, I've been wondering if it sounds like I'm just whining a lot. Really, though, I just want to put it out there so no one would be under the illusion that this motherhood thing is all pink roses and maple bars (that's a saying, isn't it?).
...I have learned that I have no idea how to even start baby-proofing this place :-/
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| I like her a lot |
1 comment:
yay Camille! sounds like you're hitting your 9 month milestones like a champ :D
that's so sweet that she can say mama! Lauren's decided to drop "da-da" for the first time... on MOTHER's day. argh.
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