I have told myself practically every other day since Camden was born that I need to write a blog post. Every week, I have made a promise to myself to do so, and every week, I have failed. Obviously, it isn't because I don't want to write about her, or share my experiences as a first time mom, but in my precious few moments of alone time, I either sleep or {yes, I admit it} scour the Internet for ideas for her: Christmas presents, questions that I have about parenting, and yes, ideas for her 1st birthday party that I have been planning since I was 7 months pregnant with her.
Such is the life of a first time mom.
And then I came across an article today that reminded me of something. Despite filling my iPhone to beyond capacity with pictures of her and even my 365 Days of Camden series on both Facebook and Instagram (#365daysofcamden), I have been doing her a bit of disservice because I haven't actually been writing about the little stories everyday, the little nuances and quirks about her that we've discovered, and the funny little anecdotes that shaped our days in the past 14 weeks of her life. I realized, too, that I found it hard to post more because unlike the writing during my baby belly picture project or the daily requirement of my #365DaysOfCamden picture project, regular posts here and there don't require the same commitment or accountability. People knew that every Monday during my pregnancy, I had a post. People know that everyday, there is a new photo on Instagram and Facebook. I have to hold myself responsible, if not for myself, for Cam.
Hence the birth of my new monthly series {yet to be named}. I want to document Cam's growth and progress and her personality development and what better way than the blog?
Being that I am already three months behind, here are some highlights from the past 3 months:
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MONTH 1 RECAP
Welcome Cam! We got home 2 days after she was born. She spent her second day at home celebrating Daddy's birthday.
We also spent a lot of time watching the Olympics and having visitors. We were able to take her out for some visits to Mommy's old office and to see family friends.
At 10 days old, she had her first photo shoot. She had her newborn photos taken by Mommy's friend, Stephanie of Stephanie Nelson Photography.
Camden was able to go on her first long{er} drive, up to Lancaster to see Daddy's side of the family.
Cam also started to smile on request. Mommy started a routine of talking to her every morning and it never failed to make her smile.
Before we knew it, her first month was done!
We started to hit a little bit of colic at 6 weeks. It really only lasted about a week, and in retrospect, it wasn't that bad; however, in the midst of it, I was a delirious and exhausted mamma. I lost sleep trying to figure out how to make our child happy again and there were many times I cried right along with her because I felt bad for her. Still, being the ever pragmatic people J and I are, we fought colic head on. Although I was breastfeeding, we bought several different kinds of formula in one day, all of which were the ones that targeted fussiness, gas, and colic, on top of making sure they were the gentle or soy formulas. We didn't stick with it. Actually, we never even began. We stuck with breastfeeding, and instead, I went on a no dairy diet. I wanted to make sure that she didn't have a lactose intolerance. No dairy didn't make a difference {thank goodness}. We tried long drives, gripe water {greatest stuff EV.ER.}, Hyland's colic tabs, chamomile tea, gas drops, swaddling, long walks in the Baby Bjorn, rocking, shushing, white noise {we downloaded a running water noise that worked like magic}, showers, a warm compress on her belly, and pretty much any and all home remedies that were recommended to us. Sure enough, within about a week or so, we drove the colic out {knock on wood. She's only almost 4 months old now. Not out of the woods yet}.
At 7 weeks, Cam was baptized. It was very important to both J and me that she get baptized right away. Being Filipino, it was a tradition to not even allow the baby to leave the house before she is baptized. Of course, I broke that rule several times, but pre-baptism, we were definitely much more limited in our outings with her.
Cam was baptized at the Mission Basilica in San Juan Capistrano, the same church where J and I got married.
It was also during her second month that she went to her first baby shower {my friend Erin's baby shower for Max}, met Olympic gold medalist {and if you ask my brother, his future wife} Kyla Ross, battled with constipation for the first time, had her first immunization shots {she cried, I cried . . . it was very sad}, and had her first long road trip to Las Vegas!
When Cam was 10 weeks old, we started her on swimming lessons. This little girl is quite a mermaid. She LOVES the water and did so well!
She also had her first visits to the Pumpkin Patch. We took her for her first visit on a Wednesday late afternoon. This has been a warm October so we wanted to wait until the cooler part of the afternoon to take her. The poor child melted down so badly. I think she didn't quite understand the puffy costume and why she was being laid down in a pile of big, hard, orange pumpkins.
Needless to say, we quickly changed her out of her costume and took advantage of the precious few tearless moments to take our family picture.
A few days later, we bravely visited the pumpkin patch again, this time with our dear friends. This visit turned out to be more successful {and I think we were more prepared}. We worked quickly, taking pictures of her while she was calm, and immediately after, we changed her into regular clothes -- and avoided a huge meltdown! Hooray for us!
I'll take indignant over crying any day!
It was also during her second month that she had her first laugh. It wasn't long, but we definitely worked our way up to it and boy, was it the sweetest sound! This month, she has also really worked at holding her head up more and swatting at toys. She has taken a special attachment to her Sophie la Giraffe. We never leave home without Sophie anymore!
We are now caught up! The next post will be on her 4 month birthday!
