Trial and Error and Error and Error

Piper Blue - 6 weeks old

When I think back over the last 10 months, I find it amazing how many of my ideas have changed and how many have remained the same. Parenting is all a big experiment to me; one that I cannot end, now that it has begun. I did lots of research on how to raise a baby and I had lots of preformed opinions already. Just looking back at my blog post from January 19th when I went to register at Babies 'r' Us with Griffin and my in-laws, I have to chuckle. It seems like so long ago. So what has changed and what have I stuck to my guns on? What has worked and what hasn't? Here's a small bit . . .

Two car seats - check! Plus one for our 'manny' Jan, my father-in-law's car. I just don't feel comfortable having my precious package riding in a used car seat. What I didn't know about car seats is that infants don't fit snugly in the one-size-fits-all type. I didn't want to get an infant car seat because I didn't want to carry my baby around in a bucket and I didn't want to have to buy another car seat when she got a little bigger.

Griffin installed the car seat when I was in the hospital, so I never got to inspect it or see how it worked. When I was discharged, I just got in the car and Griffin buckled her in. Piper was three days old. The car seat was sitting up at a 90 degree angle and her head flopped around like a sock puppet. I held her forehead up the entire 45 minute ride home. Griffin has since made several changes to the seat and the angle is now about 45 degrees and she can fall asleep in it very easily. In fact, when Piper won't sleep, usually at some ungodly time at night, we have resorted to driving her around until she falls asleep.

Bottles and Nipples - check! I did get a set of glass bottles and silicone nipples and have been using them to let others feed Piper. I was informed by a lactation consultant that I should be pumping milk and having someone give her a bottle once a day so she gets used to it while she is small. The consultant said there was a chance that if we waited until September to do this she may reject the bottle all together. What would we do if she wouldn't take the bottle? I couldn't go back to work, I guess. That was not part of the plan.

So, I purchased the breast pump that my research told me was the best one, an Ameda, and I used it pretty successfully the first time. The pump dumps the milk into a plastic bottle, BPA-free, and in turn I poured the milk into our fancy glass bottles. Griffin had washed all the parts for the bottles and put them into a bag. I looked at the nipples and other bits and could get the bottle together, but I didn't use a few pieces. Oh, well. I brought Piper's very first bottle to Griffin and he fed her. She sucked the milk down like a whino with a bottle of Thunderbird. In 30 seconds it was all gone, almost 3 ounces! Griffin later informed me that those other bits to the bottle were to help slow the flow of milk so she couldn't gulp it down. Whoops.

Still skipping the infant bathtub? - check! Piper has had a total of four baths in six weeks - once in the tub with me and then all the rest in our kitchen sink. The first two baths we didn't even use soap of any kind and still she smells, well, like nothing. Not like soap or powder or perfumes from disposable diapers. I love it. For some reason, I cannot stop sniffing her. When she snuggles up and lays on my chest with hr head under my chin, I will kiss the top of her head and have a sniff every few minutes. What am I sniffing if she doesn't smell like anything? Pheromones would be my guess. I am compulsive about it.

Nail clipper - check! Used it once when she was about a week old. Griffin and I tried to cut her teeny-tiny nails together. I held her, he clipped. At one point he thought he cut the tip of her finger off. He jumped, I jumped, Piper slept. I don't know how he had the nerve to keep cutting, but he did. Since then we haven't used it again. Her nails seem to peel off when they get a little long and until then, I simply endure her scratching my breast like a wild cat. She doesn't seem to scratch her face too often, just mine.

Thermometer - check! We have used it several times now. When Piper goes into a crying fit she sweats profusely, it feels like she has a fever. The thermometer reassures us that she is not sick and just heating herself up and not crying because she is already hot. Of course, why she was screaming was a mystery, but we could resolve it with a trip in the car. See above.

Brush - X. Still have not used that brush. Piper's hair is getting longer and longer. It is getting thicker too, but just not enough to warrant using a brush on her tender little head. Maybe in a few months. Maybe just for kicks.

No stroller - check! I didn't want to use a stroller and 'push my baby away from me' and I still don't. We have taken her out to her grandparents' house, food shopping, the doctors' (hers and mine) and even to Sears. No stroller, in fact, so far no carrier of any kind except my arms. She is still small and fairly light and easy to carry. I will start using our Ergo Baby Carrier soon since Piper is now a chunky 11 pounds and packing on the chub all the time. I love just taking her out of the car seat and carrying her off to whatever we are doing. She loves to be held, really loves it. I almost think that it would be sheer torture for her to be in a stroller and so far away from our loving arms.

No baby vibrating bouncy seats - check! These wouldn't work for little Miss Clingy anyhow. Oftentimes she won't even tolerate lying on a pillow right next to us. She wants to be on one of us. I can't imagine her being happy in a vibrating baby seat on the floor. Can all that vibration be good for a baby anyhow? It would be like sitting on a jackhammer all day, sounds like fun, right?

Boon Flair highchair - check! It looks awesome! The hydraulic lift is very cool and it wheels around like a sleeping robot. It is the perfect highchair . . . to pile a whole bunch of baby junk on. I guess I wasn't thinking when I ordered it; we won't be using this until Piper is four or five months old. And she won't even be eating anything then, it just will take that long until she can fit into it. Until then, I will pile and unpile various baby items and other crap on it. I hope I can still find it when she is ready to use it.

Crib and Cradle - X. So far, the only thing Piper's beautiful crib has been good for is as a holding cage while I wash my hands after changing her diaper. It is very effective for that purpose, but not for much else. Since she doesn't like to be put down on a soft pillow, she really doesn't like to be in a fancy wooden cage either, but eventually, she will, right?

I ended up nixing the cradle for a moses basket. It was a good decision, I think. I love the reed basket and Piper will sleep in it pretty well during the night. I also liked it because it a 'safe' place to stow her when I need to put her down and do something. Although, I have to admit, I am at the point where I just lay her on the floor wherever I am to do whatever I need to do with two hands. Running to get the basket was a short lived plan. Good thing I am flexible and not too concerned about letting the dog press her wet nose on my child's delicate forehead while I butter a bagel for myself.

Swaddling outfits and baby clothes - check! and X. The swaddling outfits are great for Piper if you take off the wings that do the swaddling. She prefers to be hugged rather than wrapped like a psycho in a straitjacket. I don't blame her. And since it is the middle of summer, wearing anything other than a diaper seems a bit ridiculous. Her cloth diapers are like little shorts, so she looks sort of dressed. Of course, not wanting to look like a 'bad mother' I do put a little outfit on her when we go somewhere. It's not like I am putting cover-up on bruises, but I do feel like I am hiding our 'neglect of using clothing'. I guess I don't want strangers to think we let our wee one run around, okay, flop around at home half naked. But I'll admit it - she is just a diaper away from being a nudist all day.

One final note - cloth diapers, a big CHECK! there. We love them. We have now found the brand that works best for us, Fuzzi Bunz, and will be using them until she is potty trained. Griffin washes them every other day. It's just one load of laundry, we do her blankets and the flat diapers that I use during feeding in that load as well. It feels so good not to be throwing bags full of plastic diapers into the trash. I also love the fact that Piper doesn't 'crinkle' when I hold her and she doesn't smell like a cheap air freshener. I have a feeling that Piper will be out of diapers a lot sooner than babies that wear the disposable kind anyhow. She lets us know when she is wet right away; she doesn't like sitting around in her own excrement, so I think, given the opportunity, she will gladly pee and poop somewhere else rather than in her own pants, but wouldn't we all?