Just a thought...2

So, I finally took my little lady to her first music class. I thought it would be a perfect way to see other babies her age and hear some nursery songs. (She sure won't hear them from me). Like most days, everything interferes with precious nap time, so I had to wake her for class. (Perhaps a sign of the future). I placed a new black & white dress on her, brushed a few strands of hair, placed the ballet slipper socks on her feet and off we went. I thought the class started at 12:15 but we arrived fashionably late at 12:20. However, when we walked in I realized the class started at 12. I felt horrible about being late, I'm a terrible mother, it was her first class EVER. I'm late for pretty much everything in my life and if I arrive 5 mins after I often consider that early.

Of course she has no idea where we are or what we're going to do. But as I looked around at our peers I noticed my baby is the oldest one of the group. (And the cutest, babies really leave the house in their sleep-n-plays)? I thought this class would have more 6 month olds, most kids were under 4 months. The biggest event was trying to get the babies to follow a paper towel roll with their eyes. "Umm hello, that is so 3 months ago". I knew my lady was bored when she found shoving her fist in her mouth more exciting. Oh well I tried. Before we walked out the door I asked the leader if we should be in an older class but she said, "well she's not sitting straight up on her own yet, so you should stay her". Is my baby already being held back before kindergarten? Why are more 6 month olds not in this class? We have a medical excuse you know. As a new mom you can't help but compare baby developments, it's our jo. In fact the only question I ever ask is, "how old is he/she"? I could care less what the child's name is, Jack, Emily, Sarah with an H, whatever..I just need age.

Happy to report my little one loved the big puppet Gymbo and that made the class worth it. We will return in cute outfits and hopefully with babies our own age.

Flight time

When your in-laws live in another state, you can bet traveling is only a matter of time. Well, our time arrived. We had to fly to the East coast, this means 5 hours up in the air with a 6 month old. Like everything else related to babies, I know nothing. However, I've heard you should give your baby Benadryl to knock them out. It's like the secret drug the doctors don't want to advertise for flying. Your child will either fall asleep, or stay wide awake.

We decided to test out this special medication the day before our flight. So glad we did. We gave our daughter half the dose recommended by the pediatrician, and that was enough. Our poor little lady was on Crack. (Not that we know anything about Crack). She could not fall asleep all day. Every time we tried for a nap, she was up within a few minutes. When bedtime finally arrived, we figured she must be exhausted, no luck. She laid in her crib staring at the walls with a frightened look across her face. When we tried to approach her, she let out a tiny cry as if we were just big scary faces coming for her. Poor little lady.

We now know Crack and Benadryl are not for her. (Good to know). Like most things in mommy world, I build things up in my mind to be worse than they turn out to be. This is my way of preparing for the worse, and begin praying for the best. She was GREAT, praise God. Our sweet little girl did not fuss at all. She took her bottle during take off, and landing, just like we rehearsed on the way to the airport. She slept in her car seat almost the entire flight without any assistance. Love her.

My favorite part was the woman in the row ahead of us, on our flight home. The second she saw my husband place the baby into the seat, she let out a huge sigh of disappointment. I then overheard her tell another woman, "wouldn't you know it, we're surrounded by kids". The sad truth is, I'm guilty of saying those words in my BB life. However, the AB woman I am today wanted to stick my tongue out and say "oh well". But I didn't have to say anything our little angel showed her.

Making it through another baby first is a great feeling. Every time we make it through a new experience, our confidence grows a teeny tiny bit. (Let's not become too confident, baby steps).

Our time in the air was really good we can only hope for more of the same on future flights. I also hope not to have another bratty 3 year old sitting behind us. (I did stick my tongue out at her, sorry).

Six months and counting

Happy to say we made it to 6 months. Most of our hair is still on our heads, but there's definitely a little grey now coming through. I had no expectations for this half year marker. For us 3 months was suppose to be the magic number, that got moved to 4 months, now 6. Once the colic and constant crying went away, I was content with whatever. A wonderful blessing is the fact that her ulceration on the lip has healed and she now has full range of her arms. Her chubby chipmunk steroid cheeks have reduced and she is holding her own at a sweet 16 pounds. My bicep curls are usually done with only 15 pound weights, guess I need to start pushing myself for more. I read somewhere that every household should have a 6 month old because it's such a fun time. "Really"?

Now, I'm not complaining but if you think about it trying to entertain a baby is sort of like talking to yourself and thinking your funny. I'm glad my baby pretends to pay attention and when she laughs, I like to think it's with me, and not at me. I can't sing to save my life, or anyone else's. I finally found a website with words to nursery rhymes but can't figure out what the tunes are. The only song I can confidently hum is the Jeopardy theme song. However, I can make up some pretty crazy lyrics for all activities, "the best time is bath time", "it's changing diaper time", "feed me please", and a crowd favorite "I'm cute so I toot". My days are REAL busy doing what, I have no idea? I just hope each wake time is enjoyable, goes by fast, then its nap time again and I can gear up for my next performance. The days of waking up slowly and hitting the snooze button five times are long gone. The boss lady, in the lavender room, tells us when its time to get out of bed, but she needs me to take her out of the crib..so take that little lady.

Trying to keep a 6 month old entertained takes up alot of time. I wonder how long till she becomes bored of staring at the ceiling fans. That is always a good time filler. Times are changing, there is no longer time for reading all my wonderful fiction books I'm too busy living in the non fiction.