Picture This

Just a few pictures and a video today! A big transition is coming up with Eric going back to work on Monday. We've had the luxury (I know this is a luxury as many fathers do not get any paternity leave) of having Eric home for 6 weeks. It's been wonderful having him here to help with everything (short of pumping, I mean everything) -- what a wonderful husband! He even washed and waxed my car yesterday!




Watchful Mabel...


A little moment in our afternoon...I apologize for the somewhat annoying narration...I'll get better.

Camille is one month (and some change) old!

It's hard to believe Camille is already 1 month old! We are so lucky to have this sweet baby girl and just love seeing all her expressions. We're still waiting for that smile to be photographed! I'm probably more obsessed with getting a smile than Eric, which makes sense because I'm the one taking all the pictures! (a little obsessed with that too). She had her 1 month check-up yesterday and everything is going (and growing) well -- she's up to 8 pounds, 11 ounces and very proportional, according to her pediatrician. Amazingly, she has established a wonderful sleeping pattern of sleeping at least 5 hours a night and her longest stretch was 7 1/2! What a gal! I know this is very rare and realize it won't always be like this but we'll take it whenever we can.

This week brought us...

Going out...


Sleeping (or waking up)...


Stretching...


Looking...


and cuddling (starting to smile?)

Like Father, Like Daughter

When Camille was born, Eric noticed she did not have a uvula! Was this a weird occurrence or did she get the memo that her Dad had his removed so she wanted to be just like him? Unfortunately, upon further examination, we found out that in fact she has a bifid uvula and small cleft in her soft palate. This is hardly news a new parent (less than 24 hours old) wants to hear. But, one month later, I'm feeling quite grateful and feel this is a minor glitch in the whole scheme of things. Surgery in about a year will repair the cleft and she'll get that uvula she (and her parents) always wanted. Next scare...when she was 8 days old (after a trip to the ER -- how to stress out a sleep-deprived brand new mom and dad...yep, that'll do it!), she was diagnosed with laryngomalacia (enlarged arytinoids -- pieces of cartilage that rest on the vocal cords), which she'll grow out of probably by age 2 but for now she has to be on acid reflux medication. All this to say, when she eats she has a sweet little chirp towards the end of her meal. We've started calling it the slurp, chirp and burp session. Once we get coordinated enough, we'll provide a clip.

Here are a few pictures from Weeks 3 and 4 and then we'll be caught up!



This is on Easter at Duke Gardens -- look at that Dogwood! Thanks Grandad for the sweet hat!


Here we are with our friends Anne and Dave and their son, Soren Avery, who was born 36 hours before Camille. I don't think I realized I was making Camille's hat look like one of those from a flyaway nun!

Camille, showing off her bifid uvula but Mommy didn't quite capture it right.

Our little monkey!

What a way to wrap up the first 4 weeks -- a successful bath time!

Life with Sweet Camille

Ain't it grand! It's been abut 3 1/2 weeks with this wonderful, delightful, sweet, alert, etc. baby and I don't know if it feels longer or shorter. Between the feedings, diaper changes, gazes into her eyes, pumpings, cries that break your heart and charming hiccups, time just passes and we haven't really tried to figure out if it is going by slowly or fast. In a few months I'm sure it will be going way too fast. A summary of life so far...

(this was what I started to write on Sunday...)

It's been a wonderful and wonder filled 3 weeks so far! In a way it's hard to believe Camille is already 3 weeks old and some ways it seems like she has always been in our life. She has changed so much already! Camille (aka: Spud Monkey, Sweet Petunia, Sweet Pea, Baby Lady, Sugar Bear...) arrived at 1:56pm on Sunday, March 22nd -- her due date! Wouldn't you know the daughter of a mother who hates running late and a father who is exceedingly punctual would arrive when she was due!

The labor story: On Saturday, I had had a full week off work to get everything prepared and was feeling like I might have to return to work if the baby didn't come. So, Eric and I did a little research and found a variety of things that may bring on labor. #1: Walking -- we went to Lake Lynn (a local walking trail around a pretty lake that is about 2.5 miles around). Here we are pausing (there was a lot of pausing) on the walk.

#2: Eat pineapple (random!) -- off to the grocery for pineapple! We dined on that for dessert after #3: Eat spicy food -- we ate at Dos Taquitos, a wonderful local Mexican restaurant. At dinner, I casually asked Eric, "So, when do you think I will go into labor?" Eric replied, "I think you're going to go into labor tonight." (My husband sure can predict things...read on for an even greater prediction). So after spicy food, pineapple and a walk among other things, 11:00pm rolls around and I start feeling more consistent contraction feelings. Hmmm..."you might have been right, honey!' We go to bed and about every 3 hours I feel twinges of something happening. At 4:45am I wake Eric up as the contractions start feeling even more consistent and painful. Timing starts now. By 6:00, they were between 4 minutes and 3 1/2 minutes apart (the birthing coach said to call the hospital when they were 5 minutes apart...egads!). Off we go to Duke! I remember birds singing as we left, which was nice. Once in the triage unit, I was already 3 cm dilated. Progress! I was in this small room (triage) for about 3 hours waiting for a labor and delivery room. As I muched on a banana, drank OJ and used my meditation techniques for breathing, in rolls a screaming woman, clearly in labor, wailing like the best of them. Bless her heart. (Is that what I'm in for, I thought briefly!) -- she took my room. So we wait a little longer and by 11:30 I was in the room that would be "home" for a couple of days. Fortunately it had a jacuzzi tub, birthing ball and other helpful tools. The tub was awesome -- such relief! The ball was horrible. At this point, I was already 7 cm dilated! Even more progress! Fortunately I was managing the pain reasonably. Soon (sooner than anticipated), I was 9 cm and nearly ready to have a baby (still no pain meds). From 9-10, cries of "I think I might want the epidural now!" came but were not answered as I continued to progress so quickly. Soon it was time to start pushing and thank heavens that only lasted about 40 minutes. Then...sweet cries were heard and Eric said, "it's a girl!" Now, Eric always thought this baby was a girl and he was right! He also had predicted that our friends Anne and Dave would have a boy and sure enough...Soren Avery arrived 36 hours before Camille. Sweet Camille came out with her hand up by her head waving/giving a high 5/already playing "superwoman" which needless to say, caused some added pain for me. Alas...

Here we are at home! Many have asked how Mabel and Bowie have been with Camille and it has been quite an amazing thing to watch. Mabel, who had 2 litters before I adopted her, first sniffed me, then sniffed Camille and it was like she said in her mind, "you've brought my baby home!" Ever since the first day, she's been Mama Mabel and as protective and proud as any Mama would be. It's very sweet.

Week 1 brought grandparents! And our first visit to the pediatrician!

Week 2 brought more grandparents, and...bath time! Camille apparently does not realize yet that her father used to spend the majority of his time in the ocean...that is, with lots of water. Let's hope she changes her mind about the water.

Stay tuned for weeks 3 and 4! Then hopefully I'll get back on track. Thanks everyone for all your sweet emails and phone calls!