A couple of co-workers and I posing for a staged photo
that was used at last year’s leadership conference
(Faces obscured to protect the innocent)

Five months have gone by since I’ve set foot in my office, but work has never been far from my mind.  A week before my due date in September 2008, I created a comprehensive SOP for my job, cleared out my desk, and bid co-workers a fond farewell.  “I’m off to have a baby and I’ll be back in six months,” I said, knowing that it was a very real possibility that I might not be back.

For the past five months while I’ve been on materntiy leave, I have been weighing all of my options, considering the consequences, and charting the pros and cons of leaving my job to become a full-time mom.  Of course, in this down economy, it makes the decision that much harder.

But really, no one resigns from a full-time job at the post office — especially one that’s in the administrative realm. Are you nuts?  Yes, I am.

Today, I went to talk to my boss, who was very understanding of my situation.  I introduced Baby Champuru to him and my co-workers and dropped off two Sunnyside pies as a small token of my gratitude for our time together.  The finality of turning in my ID badge, credit card, and parking pass was somewhat surreal.  As of tomorrow, when I call the 800-number to process my resignation, I will be officially unemployed.

I’m so grateful for the years that I’ve worked at the post office, 8 years as a contractor and 2-1/2 years as a postal employee, working alongside the most kind and generous people, who showed me the meaning of the “postal ohana.” Some of my best friends were made during my time at the postal service and I hope to keep in touch with them for a lifetime.

I’m leaving behind a steady, decent-paying job, great co-workers, and the comfort of a disposable income.  But, I’m gaining the chance to give my child my undivided attention, to be there for her as she hits every milestone in her early development and to help her along every step of the way.

But honestly, when I look at that face, I realize it wasn’t such a tough decision after all.

There’s nothing more adorable than a pair of cute little baby feet

Baby Champuru developed a strange cough yesterday.  A shallow, hacking cough that sounds like she’s choking on something.  Since it persisted to today, I called the doctor first thing in the morning to make an appointment and brought her in for a check-up.

The doctor listened to her chest and back, checked her ears and throat and found nothing seriously wrong and said that it’s possible that she’s coming down with a cold.  He suspects that the cough is attributed to post-nasal drip irritating her throat. His advice: if she develops a fever, administer baby Tylenol and bring her to the doctor.  Also, bring her in if symptoms worsen or interfere with her eating or sleeping.

I talked to him about the rice cereal dilemma and baby’s tongue-thrust reflex.  He advised me not to delay the rice cereal, but to continue trying to feed it to her.  Don’t force her to eat it (oops!), but continue trying as this is just “practice” to get her accustomed to eating solid foods with new textures.  He also said that the iron in the rice cereal is important for her diet.  So, this afternoon, I mixed a batch of rice cereal — but instead of using tablespoons, I used teaspoons: 1 tsp rice cereal to 6 tsp of formula.  This time, she took to it much better than last week.  What a difference a week makes!  She actually seemed to like it this time and started grabbing the spoon and guiding it to her mouth.  She didn’t finish the entire batch, but got a lot farther than before and it was less traumatic — and a lot less messy.  Perhaps I’ll do a video of tomorrow’s feeding.

Baby Champuru wore her frou frou pink princess outfit to her cousin’s birthday party today.  She’s never looked so cute.  Obviously, Baba (my mother) noticed.

The following conversation ensued between my mom and I:
Baba: “Oh, Krislyn — how cute!  You look like a girl!”
Me: “Um, mom, she is a girl.”
Baba: “But she doesn’t have much hair, so she looks like a boy.”
Me, speaking for Baby Champuru:  “Baba, just because I’m bolohead doesn’t mean I’m a boy.”
It reminds me of a comment made by a parishioner at our church recently. Peering into the stroller, he looked at Baby Champuru who happened to be clad in pink and was wearing a frown.  Obviously, the pink onesie escaped him and he said, “hey, why so somber, little brother?” Perhaps because everyone thinks she’s a boy.

Thank you, Chris and Matilda, for making my baby look like a girl!

Baby is about four months old now and the pediatrician recommended starting her on rice cereal. Yesterday was her first taste of solids, although the proportions that the doctor suggested is so watery that it can hardly be called “solid.” Six tablespoons of formula to one tablespoon of rice cereal makes for a very loose mixture. The doctor instructed us to feed her the rice cereal for breakfast and dinner.

As you can see from the video, initially baby didn’t really seem to know what to make of the new feeding method. There were some tears shed, (thankfully, not mine) and finally, she began to take to it after some coaxing and using daddy as a highchair.

The past few days leading up to her first encounter with rice cereal, she had been waking up every 2-3 hours during the night for feeding. This is highly unusual, as she has been a very good sleeper since about two months old, sleeping 8-10 hours a night. We haven’t seen the 2-3 hour schedule since she was a newborn. We figured that this is due to her 4-month growth spurt and wondered if the rice cereal would help her sleep through the night — and it seemed to do the trick. She managed to sleep 9 hours again. We’ll see if this trend continues.

We continued the rice cereal today, mid-morning and late afternoon. This time, instead of using the formula, we used some breast milk that I manged to express this morning since baby slept in. She seemed to like this better than the formula.

Baby still seems to have the tongue-thrust reflex, which makes me wonder if she’s truly ready for solids. I’ve been reading up on the topic and will discuss this with Hubby. I’m leaning toward delaying the solid food a little longer.