Baby Feeding 101 – Lesson 1: Be Prepared for Anything

This afternoon, I was nursing Molly, resting my head on the back of the couch, holding her close.  The tv wasn’t on, I had gotten off the phone to have some quiet time with my baby, and we were content.  She has become increasingly more interested in what’s going around on her and will often stop eating in order to look around, giggle, pull my hair, or (if the tv is on) crane her neck to see what the breaking news is on HLN (or to check out Candice Olson’s newest renovation).  So when she paused momentarily mid-gulp today, I didn’t think anything about it.  Then I heard a wretched noise and felt something wet on my arm and down the front of me.  Molly grinned at me and continued feeding.

It was then that I realized my daughter had thrown-up on me.

Now, I don’t know about you, but if I puke while I’m eating, that’s usually a sign that I’m finished.

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Rise and shine

I’m pretty sure my favorite time of the day with Molly is right after she wakes up.  (It’s hard to identify an exact favorite time of the day, you see, since they’re all amazing.)  Whether she’s waking up from a full night’s slumber or a power nap, Peaches greets the world happy and content.  She babbles to herself in her crib, and I stop and listen to her sounds.  When we go in and peek over her crib, she is thrilled to see us and lets out a giggle.  And when we pick her up, she’s warm and cuddly and wraps her little baby arms around our shoulders.  Sigh. My heart swells with joy and pride and peace every time.

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Going to dinner with a six-month old

Or:  How to get everyone in the restaurant to stare at you.

Step One: Take a tired, hungry baby to a busy restaurant.

Step Two: Forget the pacifier.  And the baby’s cereal.

Step Three: Put her in a high chair, where she will slide down since she can’t quite sit up for 30 minutes at a time.

I know what you’re thinking:  I am a complete shoo-in for Mother of the Year.  (I know, that’s what I was thinking, too.)

Most Sundays, we enjoy  a family dinner at Hawthorne’s, our neighborhood pizza joint.  We’ve been doing this since before Molly was born, and now we just take her along.  But, we abandoned the infant carrier transitioned to the convertible car seat on Friday and now we must rely on high chairs in public places.  So begins the rest of our life.  No more letting the sweet baby sleep in her infant carrier while Mom and Dad eat their pizza and garlic knots.  To make matters worse, we were surrounded by children sitting happily in their high chairs.  Molly sat in the high chair long enough for Jim and me to get our beers.  By the time our wings came, she was screeching and bucking in the chair.  Have you ever tired to eat a chicken wing while holding a six month old baby?  It’s not easy.  I dropped a wing on the floor.  Then, Jim dropped a piece of pizza on the floor.  I would have taken pictures if I could have stopped laughing.  You would have thought that we were eating with a toddler if you could have seen the floor under our table.  At least we didn’t drop the baby on the floor.

It was the quickest dinner of our lives.

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