Camden Comes Alive
Saturday, May 7, 2005 at 10:11AM 1 Comment 
Apologies for the radio silence of late, but I have been quite busy. Jen and I welcomed our daughter Camden into the world on April 29, and we haven't had time to breathe since.
It's only been a week, but I've learned a lot. First and foremost, they are incredibly cute, but very needy - it's pretty much "me, me, me" all the time.
You have to rethink how you spend your time, and teamwork plays a big part in that. You may find a two-hour window of opportunity, and if you do, you have to sieze it. Maybe you can run to the store while she grabs 45 minutes of sleep. It took me three hours to watch "24" the other night, and yesterday I was eating breakfast at 1 PM and lunch at 5. It's like being jet lagged.
Without going into our own decision on the matter, I've also learned that people have reactionary mentalities about breastfeeding. Some people will pass judgement on your parenting skills based on whether you breastfeed. I always assumed - if I thought about it at all - that babies were born instinctively knowing how to breastfeed in a beautiful "Wild Kingdom" sort of way. But they have to be taught, and some of them never get the hang of doing it right.
I'm lucky enough to be taking two weeks off of work, and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it with her that I can, but I can't believe it's half over. Whenever we talk to other people who have kids, it's like they take perverse pleasure in hearing about our sleeplessness. I can already see why people say that parenting is tough work but worth it, but right now, I'm wondering how we're going to get through the nights after I start back to work.
Reader Comments (1)
Hey Charlie!
Congratulations on your new baby girl!
Shane