WELL! It’s December 19, just in case you didn’t know! You know, just in case you were under the illusion – as I was- that it was still October and you still had two months to Christmas, and your daughter was just a teensy little 7 pound newborn instead of this suddenly huge almost-three-month-old who this weekend did something so horrible it made me cry.
Guys, Olive grew out of her baby diapers. All of a sudden, every diaper change was necessitating an outfit change as well because she would leak right through diaper, liner and her clothing. That’s a lot of laundry! So I started blaming the diapers (we’re using cloth gDiapers) and wondering if I needed to strip the inserts or something, and then Adam’s twin sister who was here visiting for a few days suggested that maybe she was too small for them.
I initially dismissed this thought (How could they be too small? How could SHE be too big? Impossible!). The next time I changed her however, I stood back and looked at her belly ballooning over the waistband of her diaper. I looked at the indents on her chubby thighs from the elastic leg bands. And then I shed a tear and hauled out the medium diapers (that I only have five of because hello! I was so not expecting this so soon!).
Her 0-3 month sleepers are starting to look verrry small, sliding off her shoulders in a sort of “come hither” fashion very inappropriate for an 11 week old.
Our sojourn to Vancouver Island was a roaring success. I was so proud of her and how well she traveled. It was just her, me and a diaper bag full of clothing, We had an amazing four days shopping, visiting Christmas tree displays, gingerbread houses and having lots of snuggles with Grandmummers and her crazy aunties.
It was also a perfect time for me to get out of town because I was going crazy from the rain and was seriously thisclose to strangling my husband or my dog or both. I am a huge fan of the occasional separate vacation, and this was just what this mama needed.
Some highlights:
Olive is a pretty fabulous traveler. Her vaccinations (done just a few hours before we walked on the ferry) did definitely make her sleepy as some of you suggested they would. For the rest of Wednesday and Thursday too she was a little more sleepy and snuggly than usual. On the way over I had my baby sister Mawney with me, on the way back though it was just me and O on foot with my big ole diaper bag. For 5 hours. On two buses and then a ferry and then another bus and then a car ride. Phew!
She held it together pretty well, only losing it a little bit on the final bus ride to meet Adam, but I was seated next to a sweet older woman who was in love with Olive, screams and all. She shared stories of when her son (now in his fifties) was a baby, how the only thing that would soothe him was taking him in a sled through the snow (they didn’t have a car or a stroller).
Her eyes got all misty as she spoke and it was the final step for me to ditch completely my fear of Olive screaming in public. The majority of people have, or have had, children of their own They know what it’s like to have a crying baby, and they’re not judging, or angry, or wishing I would just shut that kid up. In my experience, they are shooting me sympathetic “I’ve been there” smiles. Or wistful “I remember that” looks. Or even, “that will be me someday” vibes.
So scream on Olive-give ‘em hell. I can take it.
Having said that, her shots were the worst I’ve ever felt as a mother. She was all smiles in the waiting room, and Adam and I sat there with leaden hearts because we knew what was coming.
She got an oral vaccination, then two shots in one leg and one in the other. They had me breastfeed during the shots as it does a lot to calm the baby and offers pain relief. But as they did the first one she pulled off the breast, there was a split second of shocked silence and then WHAM, the most awful ear-splitting, pained cry. I think it’s the first time she’s feltrealpain, and it was horrible. They waited until she was calm, then did the second shot. Same thing. The last shot, as soon as they touched her leg she started crying.
I was crying too, my tears mingling with hers. I felt horrible and just wanted to grab her and run away, poor thing.
They weighed her too, and at 9.5 weeks she weighed 11lbs 8oz, perfectly average.
This is sort of a schmozzle of a post, I’m trying to recap that past week where I’ve been negligent about writing. On Saturday we head up to visit Adam’s family and give Olive her very first Christmas!
I’m also in the final stages of a pretty cool project that I can’t wait to share with you. I have to get all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed, but I think you’ll be as excited as I am.
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