Colton is 2 months old today. Treasuring every cuddly moment with him – time is slipping away! Few things beat a teeny tiny precious human sleeping on you. It’s the best and I would do it all the time if it wasn’t for a) the fear of spoiling him and b) having a million things that I can only get done while he’s asleep. Oh the dilemma!

He is now weighing in at 12 lbs. 2 oz, still holding steady in the 50th percentile. He got his first set of vaccine shots today and it most definitely hurt my heart more than it hurt his little thighs. Oh hello, mommy life. :P

Some progress and developmental observations I want to capture:

1. He is now napping in his crib for over an hour at a time! The longest nap was close to 2 hours so far. We’ve caved into a little bit of co-sleeping the past few weeks so I’m super happy that he is very comfortable in his own crib despite having the option of sleeping beside mommy and daddy.

2. He started coo-ing at around 6.5-7 weeks and just loves to talk to anyone and everyone, just like a little social butterfly. And while talking, he is always smiling, which leads to point #3.

3. He is smiling literally all. the. time. It is so easy for anyone to make him smile, making him one pleasant little boy. :)

4. He loves his crib mobile and is very entertained by it, which is awesome for winning back some time to myself as he gawks away at the thing, albeit for 20 minutes only. (20 minutes is the luxury of an hour these days!)

5. We are still going to bed at around 11pm and waking up at 10-11am. A bit of a messed up routine but hoping to correct that soon :P. You might be thinking, ‘what the heck, they sleep for 12 hrs?’ No, no. It’s really broken sleep – we are up every 1.5-2 hours to feed!

6. He is so strong. He can hold his head up fully during tummy time for 3+ minutes all on his own and smiles through it. It used to stress him out and now it’s fun.

7. Diaper changes is like play time for him. He loves them and smiles and talks through them, so I try to extend diaper changes as long as possible!

Hawaii flights have been booked. I am both so excited and nervous at the same time. Not sure what travelling with the little babe is going to be like. It’s also a long flight so I’m crossing my fingers that it isn’t a total disaster (lol). I’m going to expect / prepare for the absolute worst :P. It’s also going to be the first trip I take where I will be 100% on resort-arrest and will just be doing the whole lay-on-the-beach thing. This type of vacation would normally make me cringe but I’m completely down this time because it’s ultimately breastfeeding by a gorgeous beach or breastfeeding at home with Netflix and I choose the former.

I’ll close this post with this hilariously cute photo of him. He just melts my heart all the darn time. Back again soon, xoxo.

Day 17, almost 3 weeks postpartum and more in love every day with our little guy. There are so many tiny precious and fleeting moments, I wish I could capture them all but it’s pretty much impossible unless I had my DSLR on me 24/7. And while it’s nice to use our phone cameras for convenience, it kills me a little every time we mindlessly capture truly great moments with these devices. It’s just not the same! But better captured somewhere than not at all. And better to have lived that moment than not at all. :)

Here’s one from several days ago at 10 days old, laying in his pretty changing basket. Look at those sweet cheeks!

And here’s another one, also from several days ago, where we caught his little sweet smile while sleeping. My heart is melting all the time. It has never been a favourite pastime of mine to watch someone sleep until this guy came along.

And here’s another one with baby Colton sleeping on dad. He loves sleeping on dad because a) dad offers a much larger surface area and b) dad’s a furnace and nothing beats the warmth.

This post would not be complete without a quick recollection of our passport photo experience. We went and got Colton’s passport photo taken a few days ago so we can get his passport going in time for Hawaii. Little did I know it would be such a stressful event for the babe. It took an hour to get a single photo taken and the poor guy was not impressed. The requirements for an infant passport photo is just off the charts and whoever wrote them must have never been around babies and certainly got a little carried away in the boardroom. I’m so glad that’s done :P.

Overall, the boy is sleeping very well, generally 3-4 hour stretches depending on the time of day. Counting our blessings yet again. He still has those witching hours, back to the 5pm-2am window, but I’m getting used to it and always finding new ways to soothe so all is dandy. Chris will be slowly easing back to work next week and then all hands back on deck the following week. The next challenge for me is going to be caring for our boy solo during the day and the late nights so that Chris gets his sleep and feels good for work the next day. We are considering a night nurse but the plan is to test out my capacity first before doing so. At most, we’ll bring in a night nurse twice a week so I can catch up on snooze time. :) Either way, we will figure it all out. Embracing every stage of this magical journey.

8 days postpartum with my little peaches and cream! My body is bouncing back and I’m starting to feel really good again!

I’ve been treated like royalty by my family since giving birth. In Chinese culture, there’s something called the postnatal confinement, which is a custom practised to help mothers recover from birth, typically for about 30-45 days. The confinement (or mine anyway – they’re all a little bit different) consists mostly of a very special diet that is intended to restore strength to the body. There are a few other (questionable) components like refraining from going outside, washing your hair – things that are harder for me to buy into and are pretty much impossible to explain without sounding crazy.

I have no idea if any of it works but all the women on my side of the family swear by this ancient tradition. I figured it wouldn’t hurt, so I complied. But let me tell you, I do feel strong and energized. Sooner than I expected. In fact, I expected to be a total disaster for a few weeks and it has been a pleasant surprise to feel quite the opposite. Recovery was toughest for the first 4 days with days 2-4 being the worst. My body literally felt broken – everything ached like hell. But by day 8, I was feeling a solid 8/10. Delicious and nutritious breakfasts, lunches and dinners are made for me every single day, which takes a massive load off while tending to a newborn. Why wouldn’t I do this? :)

In terms of the little guy, he is wonderful and such a treat for most of the day and then he has his witching hours like most newborns sometime between 5pm and 2am, where he would cry and be fussy for 2-4 hours at a time. But I know this phase will come and go with the blink of an eye so I am embracing all of it completely. He is just so cute and little and helpless, it’s so hard to get frustrated even if you’re exhausted and just want to catch some shuteye. What’s great is that after he gets over the witching hours, he does sleep for a long stretch because he tires himself out :P. So that ends up being a reward for us.

It has also been so nice to have Chris at home with me. It has been a game changer to share all the responsibilities and to strengthen our partnership in this new chapter. It has also allowed us to have time to ourselves. It’s going to be another adjustment when he goes back to work :( and I will certainly miss him at home!!

Breastfeeding has taken off without a hitch. I was expecting it to be hard and painful and frustrating, much like what I’ve read all over the internet when I was gearing up for postpartum. Turns out I got lucky and it was relatively effortless for me to get into it. I am so, so, so grateful. I’ve also opted to pump so that hubby can not only help with feeding but bond with the little guy.

Here’s hubs and his baby boy. Looks more like his child than mine (lol). Truly peaches and cream, these two. Love you both to pieces.