What we've been up to lately

Cameron is eight weeks old today, and it's my last week at home with him. Here are some updates: On eating...thank God for burp cloths!!! He's now switching to half formula/half breast milk (Farewell boobs!) and burping him can sometimes be mistaken for a mild case of bulimia. He almost sampled real food the other day. I was holding him in my lap while eating a baked potato. I missed my mouth only to realize the forkful of potatoes landed on Cameron's cheek. Oops! On sleeping...He's either a vampire or is afraid of the sun. Next week should be interesting.
If Cameron can't find his nuk, he goes for the wrist or fist. It doesn't matter if it belongs to you or to him, but he has chewed his arms raw.

He's getting longer by the day!

He's not sleeping here. This goes back to my theory on being a vampire or afraid of the sun. This is what he does when I try to take pictures with a flash. (Hmmm...starting to sound more like a gremlin.)

We went on a playdate last week with some of my friends from work who have kids around Cameron's age. We put the three of them on a blanket. Samuel was talking up a storm, Abrielle was rolling all around and Cameron decided to go to sleep.

My little love.

Winter Wonderland

Saddle Up

The boxer

Gone Fishing

This one is for Pops and Uncle Joe.

Walking the dog

Hung out to dry

It's Super Baby!

Good mornings

I would just like to apologize for the quality of this video. I guess not sleeping has affected my ability to look at a screen and focus an object. The screen is a 1.5 inch square and the object is my son's head. I have no idea why I couldn't seem to get him evenly on the screen. I swear I'm not drinking.

Cameron has been a little stinker lately. He's having a tough time sleeping at night, which means mommy is also having a tough time sleeping at night. I'm also trying to get in the routine of getting us both dressed in the morning and staying awake during the day (not as successful). Usually for our morning routine I plop him on my bed while I watch the news and feed him his morning bottle. I, of course, am a pleasure to be around in the morning after a total of four hours of sleep. I am starting to believe that my son thinks I look histerical in the morning because just about every morning he will just start smiling and "talking" to me as soon as I put him in my bed. Looking in the mirror, I could see the humor in my morning appearance. Usually I have a side pony tail, circles that look like a running back's eye black, and a t-shirt with two wet circles where my boobs have leaked part of my son's breakfast. Yeah, I guess laughter is better than a terrifying scream.

Boys will be boys

My son has a new sleeping pattern. He's decided the best way to fall asleep is to wedge his arm down my shirt. Granted, I'm not helping stop the situation with the deep v-neck shirts I've been wearing, but I've got to enjoy the cleavage while I've still got it.

Cameron's First Outings

We're starting to take Cameron out and expose him to the world. He's made trips to LaPlace and to Vacherie. Our latest outing was to church followed up by his first trip to WOW wings. I spent most of the mass praying his blowout diaper didn't occur during one of the quiet moments in mass. I spent the other part of mass trying to figure out how I could still take communion in my hands with Cameron in my arms. Well the Lord answered my prayers. Cameron waited until we got to the restaurant to have his blow out diaper, and I figured out that I couldn't hold him and still take communion with my hands. It was a very promising adventure, and I can't wait to take him somewhere else.

The Rodrigue Men

Lazy days of summer

Cameron already has a problem. He cannot get enough of watching TV. I know it's hard to tell in this picture, but he slid down on the boppy so he's resting on his elbows. It reminded me so much of Brian watching TV. He glanced at me long enough to snap the picture, but he was mad I was interrupting The Doctors on TV.
Here's what I don't understand. Babies are supposed to get supervised tummy time each day. Well what happens when this is what your child does during tummy time? Yes, I put him on his stomach and instead of fighting to hold up his head he just put his head down and fell asleep. I guess we're not making any progress here.

All Smiles

People have been kind in asking me how I'm doing. Usually I respond with the "I'm fine. Almost back to normal." Apparently though sleepiness has affected my sanity. I've already posted how I've been looking for Cameron in the sheets at night. That's still happening, but it's not happening every night anymore. Now I've decided to switch to something much crazier. Last night I made a deal with Brian that I would take the 9pm and 12pm feedings, if he would take the 3am feeding. I really just needed some sleep, and I was so happy when he agreed. So I climb back into bed at about 2am. At 4am Cameron starts crying for his feeding. Let me now take you through a series of events that I still can't comprehend. I lean over and say, "Brian, that's you." Brian gets up and starts walking toward the door. I then say, "Wait, you don't have to go very far. I have Cameron right here." Brian just looks at me puzzled. My arms are in the "crazy lady cradling an imaginary baby" position, and I am trying to pass this imaginary baby to my husband. I am not kidding you either. I, totally conscious, was trying to give Brian an invisible baby. Brian then walks to the other room where Cameron actually is to take care of the still screaming "real" baby. I remember putting my head back on the pillow and thinking, "Oh man, I can't believe I just did that."

If that's not bad enough, I went downstairs at 6:30am (that same morning) to pump breastmilk. For those of you unfamiliar with the pumping machine, it's pretty much two suction cups that take care of milking you like a cow. You also need to attach some type of container to the suction cups to catch the milk. I hope that makes sense. Well I gather the suction cups and turn on the machine. Next thing I know, my lap is soaked with Cameron's breakfast. I forgot to attach containers to catch the breastmilk!

Sure there may be tired days, but this smile makes it all worth it.

Muscle Man

1 month photos

Baby Cameron had a one month photo shoot yesterday. Basically, it was me snapping an obscene amount of photos and trying to pose him. It didn't work as well as anticipated.

Doctor visit

Time is flying by. Cameron went in for his 4 week check up, and he is growing rapidly. He's now 22 inches long (75th percentile) and he's weighing in at 9 lbs 11 oz (90th percentile). He had several blow out diapers once we got home so he may actually be down a couple of ounces. He had a clean bill of health, and he took his shot like a man. Well I should say...he took his shot like his mom. One little yelp, and he was done with being upset. The next visit is the big one for shots so I'll be bringing the box of tissues for me.

Cameron is now way more alert and he's spending more time awake during the day. Don't get too excited. This has no effect on his awake time at night. That Baby Wise book talks about
"awake time" after meals followed by "naptime." What happens when your baby would like some "awake time" at 3am? What chapter is that? That very last picture is exactly what he looks like after finishing a bottle at 3am. How do you put a kid down in his crib like that? His eyes are open!!! He would see me abandoning him!!!!

The real reason he's upset

I post lots of pictures of mild-mannered Cameron, but here he is having a rough day. Raising a kid is all about trouble-shooting. He doesn't talk yet so there's a checklist to go through on what's wrong with him. Let's assess this face and the situation. Clean diaper...check. Full belly...check. Dry outfit...check. (You would think a clean diaper implies that he is dry, but let me clarify. He has the ability to pee through his clothes and only manage to get a few drops of pee on his diaper. Gotta love little boys!) What to do? Here he is staring at me. I'm dangling a nuk in front of the camera. And here's the, "I just farted on my mom," face. Crisis averted.

Cameron's First Bath

Look closely at the first photo. Notice anything??? That is not a squirt toy by my son's private parts and no, that is not a stream of water. Within two minutes of putting Cameron in the tub and taking the lens cap off the camera, he decided to hose himself off. From the photos it looks like he slept through the whole thing, but he was actually wide awake and loving it. The robe is probably unneccessary, but it's just too cute for words.