Thursday, September 13, 2007

California..


This past weekend John and I paid a visit to my hometown of Huntington Beach, California. I grew up here. The first picture is of Main Street and the pier. The weather was gorgeous, the company was fantastic, and the food was good.

My mother and sister threw me a baby shower on Saturday. I had so much fun! Usually when I visit I have time to see a relative or two, and maybe spend some time with a friend, but with the baby shower I got to see everyone at once! My relatives, friends, and co-workers were all in one place at one time. I was sooo grateful to be able to have that time to at least say hi to the most important people in my life in person! And of course to let them see my big belly too. Below is my big belly on the pier and a lifeguard truck in the background. If you look closely, you can see the mountains in the distance just to the right of where the truck is, just above the palm trees. (Click on the picture.) That's one thing that's so great about Southern California.. you can surf in the morning and by lunch be in the mountains playing in the snow!




Here is a picture of John with his new hat. He wanted a baseball cap but he already has about 12,358 of those, so I convinced him to get a straw hat from Huntington Surf and Sport. It's a surf shop right on the corner of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway, where John likes to get his flip flop shoes every year. (They are pretty much the only place that makes the leather kind he likes, that actually fit his big stinky feet and also feel comfortable at the same time.) Anyway, there is a restaurant called Ruby's at the end of the pier that we had lunch at on our last day in California. It was delicious! Try their shakes and flavored soda's. And their burgers. And just about everything on the menu. Yum! (Just don't let your husband order the chili cheese fries. They have this horrible lingering effect that lasts for days if you know what I mean.)


Isn't he cute???

I want to share with everyone something that happened that made me realize just how unprepared for a baby I am. This happened at the baby shower. I sat at the table with my co-workers. A couple of them brought their adorable babies. Perhaps I would learn to be a mother by observing them for an hour before the baby gets here, right? Of course. When it came time for lunch I grabbed my plate of food and sat down. The 3 mommies at the table got up to get food for themselves and/or their little ones, leaving myself and another non-mother girl at the table with a baby. Let's call this non-mother Julie.

Julie was nice enough to watch the baby for his mommy, let's call her Courtney, while she got her food. Julie fed the cute baby some gold fish crackers. She was smart enough to break them in half (I wouldn't have known to do that). Baby was happily chowing away on his crackers when all of a sudden he started to cough. Panic came across Julie's face while she wiggled him a bit and told him to stop it. Here is how it went..

Julie: Here, have a fishie cracker.

Baby: Chomp chomp. Kick kick.

Julie: Here, have another fishie cracker.

Baby: Chomp chomp. Cough! Cough cough!

Julie: Oh no! Baby, stop coughing!

Baby: Cough cough!

Julie: He's choking! What do I do? What should I do, B? (That's me, B.)

(He wasn't really choking, this is just the inexperience rearing it's ugly head.)

Me: Uh.. I dunno. Squeeze him!

Julie: Squeeze.

Baby: Cough cough!

Julie: Can I give him water?

Me: I dunno. Do babies drink water?

Julie: COURTNEY! Can I give your baby water?

(Notice she was careful to not say WHY she wanted to give the baby water. Smart woman!)

Courtney: (From across the room) Ya, you can give him water.

Julie then grabs a bottle of water for the baby. Not a baby bottle of water, but one of those regular adult plastic bottles. The baby opens wide and wraps his entire mouth around the lip of the bottle, so Julie has to pour the water into his mouth. Apparently babies don't know how to take sips. Anyway, the point of my story is that at that moment, I all of a sudden realized that I have NO CLUE what to do with a baby once it arrives.

I have been reading and learning about everything that happens while I am pregnant, what is happening to the baby, how she is growing, what to expect during birth, etc. But I have NOT been reading about what to do with a baby once it is, oh, an hour old. For example.. I will likely nurse her when she is born, but when am I supposed to feed her again? And how the heck am I supposed to know if she is hungry? How does that pattern get established? I suppose sleeping is easier than that, if she's sleeping then she's probably tired. If her diaper is wet or stinky I should change it. So those things are obvious. Sleeping = tired, stinky = change diaper. But what if I starve her? What if she is crying and she's NOT hungry? Are there other things a baby needs besides sleep, clean diapers, and food? I know, love. She will need lots and lots of love.. there will be plenty of that going around! I guess I can figure out if she's hungry or not by sticking my boobie in her mouth. If she eats, score! If not, maybe she is in pain? Or sick? Oh dear.. so many worries to come in my future! My poor Mama, she has been worrying for 30 years already. My Omi for almost 60! Is that what life is all about? Worrying about your loved ones.. means love.

My eyes are filling with tears as I think about this wonderful amazing new life chapter I'm about to begin with my husband and our families. One filled with giggles, tears, worries, sillies, adventures, and most of all tons and tons of love. I can hardly wait to meet this little baby.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I will be expecting tons and tons of phone calls! Just not in the middle of the night please! :-) Love you lots!

Anonymous said...

Oh, that comment was from me, Mama. Forgot that part!

Jenn Ann said...

I'm not a mother, but I've spent a good amount of time with newborns/infants lately...they're pretty easy. The hard part seems to be when they are mobile and can't yet tell you what's wrong. THAT seems to be when you go crazy. And of course, that's what Omas are for!

Anonymous said...

hahaha B .. ur posts continue to make me laugh sooo hard. i cant wait to ask julie about trying to kill courts baby boy !!
you will be fine. trust me .. this will be the easy part! talk to me in a year :)
you will love it .. you will be a wonderful mommy and you will be amazed at how fast you know a hungry cry, a diaper cry and a sleepy cry .. its bizarre !!!

xoxoox Robin

karinski said...

you look pretty in the picture on the pier. =)

Anonymous said...

So I read your blog and it is too cute.
Here is my horror story....because I totally agree. You read all these things about the birth of your child but not much is writen about "after the baby". So my son is like 4/5 hrs old and I am still in shock that I pushed this little guy out of me and the nurse comes in and is like "I see he took to your breasts well" and I was like "oh, no, I haven't tried yet." And than she yells "WHAT, YOU HAVENT FED HIM YET?" Like I was supposed to know...lol. So than I am panicking like he is going to die right there, I m tearing my shirt off and just sticking his face in my boobs trying to force him....than the nurse just laughed at me. The whole thing was a little embarrassing...but don't forget to feed your kid. It was a military hospital and I dont think they are as friendly...when I had my daughter in a civilian hospital they walked me through everything, much nicer. I will have to send you a funny book about "after you have the child". What is your address?
Stay hopeful,
S.

Kim said...

omg, you kill me! We're reading this at work and as we all reach the "boobie" part, we each break out into hysterical laughter and tears! hahaha:) But.. I get u, totally! Somehow I think we'll figure it out :) Sorry I missed you when you were here.
btw, you seriously need to publish this. Heck, if Jenny McCarthy can do it, so can u! :)