Normality Returning

We're starting to see elements of our old life return. Cassie is cleared to leave the house, so Carrie takes her to Starbucks every morning, and has taken her around town to Babies R Us, Costco, Target, the grocery store, etc. Carrie is also cleared as healthy and recovered, so she's been able to go to the gym and workout for the first time in two months. We've started accepting external social engagements again, meetings friends out at bars and restaurants, and even bringing Cassie to a friend's house for dinner (though, that was less than successful). So all in all, turns out life doesn't completely end with a baby. ;)

The Theory of Scheduling

Anybody who's had a baby knows that there are a million and 1 opinions about how to raise a child, and everybody is eager to convince you that their method is the right way. Every book has fundamental conflicts with every other book, so it's impossible to take everybody's opinion to heart. Carrie read dozens of books getting ready for Cassie's arrival, and the one that made the most sense to us was Gina Ford's very influential (and equally controversial) Contented Little Baby Book. The essence of the book is to put babies on a strict schedule to help them establish a routine and healthy sleep schedule. We're in week 7, and Cassie's daily schedule looks like this:

• Wake up at 7:00am
• Major 5oz feedings at 7:00am, 10:45am, 2:30pm, 6:15pm, and 10:30pm
• Minor 2-3oz snacks as needed at 5:00pm and between 3:30-4:30am
• Scheduled naps at 9:00am-9:45am (in stroller), 12:00pm-2:30pm (swaddled in crib), and 4:15pm-5:00pm (swaddled in crib)
• Bath time at 5:45pm every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday
  
• Bed time at 7:00pm

At her last doctor's visit, she weighed 11 pounds, 6 ounces. The typical guidance is that babies should get 2-3oz of milk a day per pound of body weight, so we have 31oz of daily feedings scheduled for her. At 7 weeks, Gina Ford's regimen enforces no more than 4 hours of nap time during the day to encourage good sound sleep at night from 7:00pm to 7:00am with only minimal interruptions for feedings.

Overly strict and regimented? Many people think so. But by the fourth week, Cassie had fully embraced the schedule to the extent that when we deviated by 30 minutes one day, she freaked out and was upset all day. We like knowing that we can have regular meal times for ourselves each day. It's nice to know that Cassie is at her happiest in the morning (when we scheduled the photo shoot) and that she's in bed by 7:00pm every night (when we tell friends it's too late to visit her). Knowing when the baby is going to be eating, sleeping and times she's likely to be fussy (just before a feeding), makes it infinitely easier to schedule doctor appointments, figure out when to go to the store or the gym, and when to have visitors.

We're not willing to swear by the book yet, Cassie could just be a coincidentally good baby. But we've enjoyed the structure and guidance it's helped us establish.

OMG, We're On Our Own!!!

Week 5 is finished, John's mom left this morning, and we are officially on our own with no training wheels. Aaahh!! To our dear friends and family, be on notice that we took careful notes these past few weeks and will be calling you in the near future to start redeeming those offers for babysitting and free dinners...lolz. This was a big week for us. Cassie celebrated her one-month birthday, a significant milestone in the Chinese culture. It also means that we're no longer house-bound, and have the doctors' permission to take Cassie out and about in public. Carrie's been taking her on 2-3 mile strolls each day. Additionally, Cassie got to visit the Campbell Farmer's Market as well as downtown Los Gatos. Being able to take her out definitely opens up our options immensely, which has been nice. She's been getting more and more alert the past couple of weeks, but that's really only translated into more time with her being awake and screaming. We were rewarded this week with her first real smiles though, which as you can see from the picture, are ridiculously cute. Starved for more pictures?

• Week 5 pictures including some from the past month shot by John's mom
• Week 2 pictures that were posted a while ago but weren't linked until recently
  

How to Entertain a Newborn

It's a rare moment when Cassie, Carrie and John all get a moment to rest their eyes. Certainly a moment worth capturing.

As Cassie spends more time awake each day, we find ourselves at a loss for how to entertain a newborn. The books tell us at this age she can differentiate black and white, and should be able to recognize faces within about 20 inches or so. But other than that, we're not really quite sure what she's interested in. When she's not asleep and not eating, her attention span is only about 5 minutes before she gets bored and starts crying. From family suggestion, we picked up the crib-mounted Symphony in Motion toy which she seems to be amused by. But, not having a crib yet, makes using it kind of tricky. Any suggestions are welcome! :)

We have a new photo album up with pictures of her third and fourth week. Enjoy them over at Picasa.

End of Week 3

"Pondering."

We have reached the end of our third week as parents. Carrie's mom left a week ago, we survived a week on our own, and John's mom arrived yesterday for the two week Grandma second shift. Cassie is noticeably more alert now, and is awake 7-8 hours a day. It seems like her vision is starting to come in, as she spends a lot of time looking around...this picture is typical of her during the day. She continues to be a pooping machine, pooping about 10-15% of her body weight each day. If she were a 150 lb adult woman, that would be like 20 pounds of poop a day. Gas pains will occasionally wake her up from a nap, but that's pretty much it. She slept soundly through the traditional July 4th fireworks extravangaza in the Campbell area.