Month 1 in Review

Well, obviously I don't need to mention how busy we've been since we brought sweet Samantha home one month ago - this is my first blog post since just a few days after she came home. I read 7 or 8 parenting/birthing books, attended several classes, and talked to all of my mommy friends, but nothing prepared me for how much work a new baby is. And from what I can tell, Samantha is a fairly easy baby.

She picked up the whole breastfeeding thing before we even left the hospital and has since been eating well and very quickly (like in 5-10 minutes). However, her quick eating habits lead her to take in a bunch of air, which requires us to burp her for about 30 minutes or more after (and during) each feeding, so the total feeding time takes about as long as "normal". It took us a LONG time to figure out why Samantha was crying after eating (screaming really, she has great lungs!). Once we figured out it was gas we started burping her throughout the feeding which helps. She is taking a bottle already (for the past week and a half or so), so Lawrence gets a chance to feed her about once a day. She actually takes in a little less air when she eats from the bottle. We had to start early with the bottle training because I have to go to work 2 days next week - in Santa Clara! Lawrence's mom is coming to help take care of her while we're at work. One day I'll be gone from 8-5 and the next day, Lawrence, his mom and Samantha are driving down with me because I need to be there by 8am and there is a family event in the evening. It should be a good test run for when I have to really go back to work in a month.

Samantha is also a good sleeper. She sleeps through all kinds of noise, goes to sleep in her crib (since about a week and a half old), and sleeps in 3-6 hour stretches at night. (Most of the night stretches are 3 or 4 hours, but we've had a few longer ones.) She sleeps a lot (about 16 hours a day), which leaves me with time to do endless laundry :) I didn't believe all the hype about extra laundry with children - I mean her clothes are so small, how much laundry can she really accumulate? At least half a load a day...seriously.

Samantha and I are able to get out most days, either for a walk, errands, or Mommy and Me at Kaiser. Today was our first "run". We walked a little over a mile and then ran home, downhill, at a very slow pace. It was nice to run again after over nine months! It did hurt a bit, though...I'm still healing I guess. I met a few runners at Mommy and Me last week, one has a 5 week old and the other has a 2 month old. Hopefully I can get out with other mommies who run at my speed.

Samantha is so adorable, even with a case of baby acne. She's just starting to smile (even when she's not making a dirty diaper :), and she can track our faces and objects with her eyes. She has great neck control for her age - probably from all the back-arching she does when she has gas :( She has great hand strength, too. She grasps our fingers well and can hold onto toy rings briefly if we put her hand and fingers around it. I can't wait for the next stages of her development where she interacts with us even more.

Here are a few of our favorite pics from the first month:

Sleepy parents

Calvin snoodles with Samantha
This is why we've nicknamed her spider monkey.
Future boxing champ?
Calvin gives a kiss on the cheek
These are from today, the infamous spider monkey pose and a cute smile