Mason Shoma

With a little practice and a few tweaks to procedure, bath time has become slightly more bearable with less tears. There are even moments of calm pleasure. You know what? I think I can see myself enjoying bath time in the future.

When I sleep, I sleep quite well. Mommy and Daddy keep saying how I look like a little angel. I love those nice long deep sleeps that are just so peaceful. You can see it on my face.

And then there are those beautifully comfortable sleeps that bring me to dreamland. I am so content that I thoroughly enjoy those sleeps. You can see that on my face as well.

Us babies do not come with manuals. Sure, there are a lot of books, websites, and people who have a lot of advice on how to take care of babies, and a lot of it is very helpful. But not all of it is always true for every baby.

I heard that there are babies who like being swaddled or like having blankets covering them for feelings of security. I am not one of those babies. I don’t like being wrapped up in blankets or being swaddled. Even when it looks like I’m peacefully asleep I end up actively working my way to kicking off my covers. I don’t think I’m particularly hot, I just don’t like being covered up.

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So, that’s another full day done. As before, I was very busy all day. People think it’s easy to be a baby, but they are wrong. It is no cake walk. Our lives are full of tough life decisions that will alter the flow and outcome of the day. People really shouldn’t take for granted the difficult choices we babies have to make.

I spend the majority of my day asleep. People say that it is a baby’s job to sleep. I’ve been doing my job really well. Previously, my few waking hours were spent crying, eating, peeing or pooping. But recently I have been awake and alert a lot more and taking in the world around me. I just lie there, looking at whatever is in my sightline, usually Mommy and Daddy, and working out how to operate my body. I still flail my arms and legs around aimlessly, but I’m getting a slightly better understanding for them. Apparently they are not just for removing covers from me as I sleep or making cute poses.

Look at my little doggie! He is my first pet! Mommy made him for me when I was still in her tummy. I’m still a little too young to play with him, but I’m sure he’s going to be my bestest playmate!

Mommy and Daddy are making a prediction that the poor doggie’s fur will never look better once I start playing with him because they suspect that I’m going to end up chewing on his ears and stuff. I can’t say they are wrong to think so. We’ll see.

I like hanging out with Daddy. We just talk about stuff, stare at each other, and bring each other a lot of comfort. We don’t really have to do much to enjoy this time together.

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I like my home. Did you know it has a garden view?

It might not be much, but it’s quite nice for being in the middle of a large city of 1.5 million people. We have a bunch of herbs and are waiting for our tomato, potato, and lemon plants to produce. The lettuce and radish plants have already supplied Mommy and Daddy with several salads in the past. It will be a while until I can eat anything from the garden, but it is a nice peaceful place outside where we can get some fresh air without leaving our home.

Oh, do you know what today is? It is my half-sister Katie’s birthday! She is 15 years old today! I haven’t been able to meet her yet, but I really want to see her as soon as possible. I’m sure she has a lot of things to teach me. Like what the first 15 years of life are like.

This is what she looked like when she was 9-days old and this is me

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I asked Daddy about Katie and it seems like she was born at 3316 grams. I was 3926 grams. 3926 – 3316 = 610 grams. So that means that I was 1 pound and 5.5 ounces heavier than her at birth. Wow! It is almost as if I was born as a 1-month-old baby.

I’m following in my big sisters footsteps with this blog. She had her own blog too! You should check it out.

Daddy gave me a bath today. I think he did a pretty good job. There were slightly fewer tears. He had a good teacher (Mommy), he had a good subject (me), and he has bigger hands which makes the whole process a lot easier. He was also quite fast, so that meant the bath water was still warm by the time we finished and it gave me less time to fuss. Take a look at how fast he finished bathing me.

Okay, you may have figured out that I sped up the video. I just didn’t think you would want to sit through and watch a 7 minute video of me just taking a bath. That sounds pretty boring, doesn’t it? But I guess that there are a few of you who would not mind watching 7 minutes of me doing any menial task, (I’m looking at you, Grandma). So, for those of you who are interested, here is the full length version.

It is a very good morning. I had a good sleep, 4 and 5 hours between feeding, so I woke up in a pretty good mood. Even better, Mommy and Daddy woke up well rested. They both woke up to feed me. Daddy made my supplementary formula while Mommy breastfed me. I saw some good teamwork there. I did my part too and was very cooperative.

We had such a good start to our morning that I easily went down for my morning nap. I have a feeling that today is going to be another great day!

What a long day. It’s not easy being a baby. There is so much to do. No matter how tough it is, I am loving the fact that we are doing it as a family. It is so much nicer at home than at the hospital. Today was my first full day at home and it was great. It is a learning experience for all of us. I wonder what tomorrow has in store for us.

In general, I think I’m a very good boy. I’m not very fussy and I don’t really give Mommy and Daddy a hard time. In fact, I think I’m quite even tempered. But my moods can change in an instant. One moment I can be quiet and peaceful and then I’m crying in an instant. It’s not that I’m unhappy or anything, I just like to keep Mommy and Daddy on their toes.

I’m not a big fan of bath time yet. I like being clean, but do I have go through a bath to do it? I don’t know what it is, but it is not very fun for me. Maybe it is being naked or being dunked in water or just everything put together. It is also really cold right before the bath and right after.

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But at the end of it, I do feel better being clean. And boy do I smell nice! I definitely do not like baths, but I’m quite fond of the results.

I tried out my sling today. I’m not sure how I feel about it. It is a bit constricting, and you know how I feel about being constricted. I get to feel secure and be rocked, but I’m not sure whether I prefer that over just being in Mommy and Daddy’s arms. I know it gives them a bit of relief and makes it easier to bear my weight. We’ll keep trying it out and I’ll keep you updated.

I mentioned before how Mommy and Daddy are always staring at me, right? Well, I give as good as I get. I stare at them a lot, too. As interesting as I am to them, they are equally interesting to me. They love watching me make weird facial expressions, but they don’t realize the strange faces they make when watching me. I know I make weird noises, but they do, too!

That laughing noise they make is very strange to me. I haven’t figure out how to laugh yet and am not sure I want to. It looks like it takes over their entire bodies and it is almost as if they are convulsing sometimes. Poor Mommy. Her C-section incision hurts when she laughs too hard, which is a lot when I do funny things or Daddy makes her laugh with funny comments.

I think I will continue to observe them in their ways as I learn more about this outside world.

I have a very good appetite and can’t wait for feeding time. I am mainly breastfed, but have to supplement with formula. I usually suck that bottle dry in less than 30 seconds. Of course it isn’t a full bottle, just 20ml. But for me that 20ml has a big effect on when I get hungry again. Without it, I can barely hold off for 2 hours. The nice thing is that supplementing with formula, helps Daddy get in on the feeding time action.

Although, I misread his part in feeding time sometimes and when he carries me I suck on his arm trying to get some sustenance. It can’t be helped. When I’m hungry I expect anything that comes near my mouth to provide me with milk. Unfortunately, that is not the way the world works.

Another one of those videos where not much is going on. Apparently Mommy and Daddy took this video because of all the facial expressions I make when sleeping. I barely see any movement, but they insist that it is intriguing. You be the judge.