Cameron's first few weeks: The good, the bad, and the smelly

Cameron is a few days shy of her 1 month birthday, and boy has it been a whirlwind. They say that babies change your life, and boy do they ever.

This month one of the biggest change has been my sleep patterns. Anyone that knows me, knows that a) I love to sleep, and b) I hate mornings (at least the first 30 min. out of the bed). Sleeping is a pass time for me. I find a great deal of pleasure in looking at the clock, slapping that snooze button, and dozing like a lion in the sun. Get up? HA! To hell with make up and fancy hair. It is possible to brush your teeth and put your pants on at the same time, and I have it down to a fine art. Seeping 10 or 12 hours at the time on a lazy Saturday mornings is for me like Belgian chocolate to others - relaxing, delicious, and an indulgent guilty pleasure. Unlike chocolate, a good lazy morning won't go straight to my hips!

Not surprisingly for a woman that made her entrance on New Year's Eve, Cameron "love(s) the nightlife, (shes) got to boogie on the disco 'round, oh yea." This she does on 2 to 3 hour intervals both day and night. As previously mentioned, I am breastfeeding which you have to do every 2 hours or so, and unlike her mother, after a big meal she doesn't want to nap. Oh no, shes got to boogie! During the day this is no problem, but waking every 3 hours at night, feeding her, and then rocking/singing/reading/walking the halls with her can be exhausting. This is not a complaint, it is just a fact. As soon as I get good and asleep, the "dance party/buffet" starts over again.

This has done two things. 1) Appreciate lazy moments, not matter how short and 2) Made me a much more efficient sleeper. I only thought I could fall asleep fast before, now I can sit down for a mere moment ... ZZZZZZzzzz... OH, sorry about that! See what I mean. This goes for Patrick to as demonstrated below.

Bringing Cameron home from the hospital was the beginning of a complete unknown. Thank goodness my mom stayed with us for 2 weeks. She was the most amazing support. Unlike the nightmares I have heard from some of my friends who have had kids, my mom didn't take over and bark directions. She helped me do things that I would have never been able to do. She helped with the laundry, cooked, and gave me loving instructions on baby 101. Without her I think I would have been totally lost. There was nothing more wonderful than having 3 generations of Poston women in the same house. Patrick agreed. Three cheers for Grandma!!!

Another aspect of baby care that is an inevatible are the numerous diaper changes. I will NEVER give another cute little outfit at a baby shower, I will give the biggest pack of diapers I can find in newborn size. Cameron goes through diapers like a fat kid through a cake. Breast fed babies go through more diapers than bottle fed babies. The advantage of that is that they don't stink nearly as badly. So our little stinker is less stinker than her peers. This is one of the only times I am excited that she is less "productive" than her classmates.

Stinkers must get un-stinky, which is a great segway to Cameron's baths. You can't give a baby a real bath until her belly button stump falls off. Until then you are limited to sponge baths. Babies get cold so easily you have to keep them super warm during baths. In a tub bath you can do this with the water and washcloths, but sponge baths must be done in a super warm room. Cameron being the size that she is, fit very comfortably on the top of my laundry basket. For her first "bath" we put a space heater in my bathroom, and got it nice and warm. I was sweating like a pig, but she was nice and cozy. The Cook family was visiting at the time, so their little girl Kimmy (who has declared herself Cameron's big sister) was my wing girl. This bath was not super difficult. She didn't like it at all, but she didn't completely freak out. Once we got her all cleaned up, she stopped crying and seemed to enjoy being clean and warm. I on the other hand was covered in sweat and in desperate need of a shower myself.



A tub bath on the other hand was a different story. Cameron HATED it!!! She was a slippery screaming ball of angry. One of my coworkers, Angie, gave us a baby tub, and it was great. It had a little hammock in it for infants. Aunt Leigh Ann, Patrick, and I worked on getting together all the supplies: baby wash, little wash cloths, clean outfit, diaper, hooded towel, etc. We put the tub over the sink in the kitchen, and filled it with nice warm water. We stripped Cameron down, and she frumped up her little face. She hit the water, and she started SCREAMING at the top of her lungs.

Trying to wash the back of a little wiggler while making sure to keep her up out of the water and the soap out of her eyes. She started to get a little chilled so I covered her with little wash cloths and seemed to calm down a little.


When I took her out of the tub, I wrapped her up in a towel, and held her over the tub to wash her hair.


Then we dried her off. More hating (but that may stem from the duck outfit):

Cameron is still a tiny little thing, but she has lots of sass! She is trying to hold her head up, and is stretching and strengthing her arms, legs and lungs. She is staying awake longer and longer periods of times. She is so alert and she LOVES to have her head rubbed. She smiles and smiles when Daddy rocks her and gives her a good head rub. According to Patrick, she giggled a little!

Much like her mommy, Cameron loves music. So far her favorite is Motown. When she gets super fussy, I can sing a little Aretha Franklin, and she will stop crying and look around. I keep singing, and she will drift off to sleep. She is my child for sure. She loves the Queen of Soul.

Patrick and I are looking forward to the months to come.