Always Something New

A few posts ago I wrote the trite but true statement that babies change so fast. Then I wrote it with a sense of wonder. Now it is tinged with a bit of exasperation. This week I feel that Liana is one step ahead of me. As soon as I feel that I have a grasp on taking care of her and can relax a bit without worrying about coping, she changes. I used to know all of her cries and could easily tell that she was hungry and needed to nurse. Never used to think about getting her to sleep -- she slept when she felt like it.

Now we have to help her sleep. This also means that we have another level of meaning to her cries: Is she hungry, windy, feeling a bit lonely or sleepy? It's like the first week when I brought her home. She cries and I go through the checklist of checking her diaper, offering her milk, cuddling her or burping. I'm realizing that I was a bit cocky before.

A smile

Liana at 7 weeks old: Smiling!

Both Liana and I have reached a milestone. Liana has started smiling for us regularly. It is heartwarming to get one of her smiles every morning when I pick her up. We took her to the pediatrician for immunizations and learned that she is in the 97th percentile in size. That means that at 4.88kg (10.7 lbs) and 57.8 cm (22.8in) she is larger than 97% of the other babies her age. As you can see in the picture she is definitely much chubbier than she was before.

My milestone is that I bathed her all by myself. Before Leo and I bathed her together every night but now Leo is back to coaching at the tennis school. I have been able to bath her myself but so far I haven't been able to bath her, put her to bed and clean up the bathroom before Leo gets home.

Liana at 1 month

Liana has crossed a developmental milestone. She has different cries for her needs. For instance, she grizzles. I found this word in my baby week-by-week book from the library. It describes a cry that is not a full-fledged 'I want milk' or 'Change my diaper.' It is more of a cross between a cry, moan and whimper when she wants to cuddled. Here she is grizzling for my Dad.

Liana at three weeks

Here's our girl relaxing in her rocker before her evening walk. For the past week she has been a big feeding binge. She always seemed to be hungry. Today she's very mellow and sleeping a lot. Possible growth spurt might be on the way.

Pudding hiding out

Ever since we brought Liana home, Pudding has been spending a lot more time in the cubby hole of his cat tree. We think Liana intimidates him. He has never met anything noisier than him.

baby on the go

Here in Singapore woman practice confinement the first month their baby is born. During confinement, neither the mother nor the baby leaves the house unless there is a very good reason like seeing a pediatrician. Mothers also eat special food like herbal soup and dishes with lots of young ginger. Some mothers don't even shower during confinement. Instead they take sponge baths.

I've been taking Liana out every day. People always ask the typical baby questions -- boy or girl? how old? When I say that she's three weeks, people are suprised, especially the Chinese, that she is out of the house so young.

Liana goes with me shopping, to places of officialdom like the embassy and Immigration Authority and to the park. We go to the park everyday. I think that she's the better for it. She's often fussy in the late afternoon (but not colicky, thank goodness). But when I pop her into the baby bjorn and go out for a 30 minute walk, she settles down, relaxes and then goes to sleep. Our walks make the evening much calmer.

Getting stronger

People told me that newborns change quickly but I was not expecting so many changes with Liana within just a week. Already she has become much more adept at using her body. She is more able to get her mouth in the correct position for breast feeding and she can grip things much more tightly. She can also show her emotions more readily on her face and her eyes are focused most of the time (when they are open.) I know it has been said by probably every mother, but I have to put it in my blog. Sometimes the trite expressions sum things up the best. Babies are truly wondrous little beings.