There's an old saying - "When the student is ready the teacher will appear." Well, it turns out I am the student and my daughter is the teacher. Today, she taught me to be prepared, never assume she will be predictable and not to be over confident. These lessons were the result of some rookie mistakes!
Our plan for today was to get some coffee beans from our favourite cafe, sit and have a coffee, go to the baby shop to get a carrier then head into the city to pick up my wedding ring that my husband had secretly organised for an eternity ring to be added to it. It all seemed quite simple and after last week's successful shopping outing, I thought would all go smoothly.
I fed Sticky before we went so she would be full for our adventure. I figured that would buy us about 3 hours before she would need a feed. I figured we'd be home by then but I packed some formula just in case. Just as planned, she fell asleep in the car so big win!
We parked the car and my husband pulled out the feed bag. I told him not to worry about it as she wouldn't need it - epic mistake! We went and had our coffee and she slept through all the banging and clanging of the cafe, screaming babies and trucks rolling past - another big win! Just as we got up to go to the baby shop, she woke up. No biggy I thought, she'll still be full so will just sit there happily and it was good timing because I needed to put her in the carrier to know if my back could cope with it so I thought it was all fine.
We got to the baby shop and I found the carrier I wanted to try. She started grizzling which quickly led to squealing. I thought she just had a dirty nappy so I took her into the parents room to change her nappy thinking that would stop the squealing. It did for about a minute. She had woken up starving.
She was screaming so loudly I started to become very overwhelmed and started berating myself for not bringing the bag. It was clear we couldn't keep trying on the carrier so my husband had to go back to the car to get the bag. I was left standing there holding a screaming baby. At least we were in a baby shop so it wasn't too bad she was screaming the place down, but I felt very self conscious and stupid for failing to realise that she might wake up and be hungry.
I had to remind myself not to care what other people thought of me. I calmly told myself this is going to happen so many times when she throws a tantrum at the shops, starts screaming in a restaurant or throws herself on the ground. I need to be ok with managing her behaviour and not letting other people's reactions influence me.
After what seemed like forever, my husband returned and we shoved the bottle in her mouth - instant silence. I looked down at her and said "Good job bubba and well done on teaching Mummy such a valuable lesson. Mummy will never get out of the car without your feed bag ever again." She looked up at me just happy to be getting her fill. I looked at her trying not to feel bad that I had unnecessarily put her through pain just because I didn't want the hassle of carrying another bag.
She scoffed down the bottle and we were able to put her in the carrier to know which one would be suitable for me. Mission accomplished with 1 minute to spare on the parking meter! As we got in the car, my husband asked where to and I asked him if he still wanted to go into the city. He decided he was done. I was dumbfounded that all of that had taken us 2 hours. I have no idea how long I thought it would take but it certainly wasn't 2 hours. I realised things will take longer to achieve with a little person in tow and I can only do 1 or 2 things at a time rather than trying to fit too much into an outing.
As we drove home, I looked at Sticky curled up in her seat. She was awake, peacefully sitting there sucking on her seatbelt, watching the world go by, with her finger curled around mine. I sent a silent prayer of thanks to the baby gods for sending me such a laid back baby. She really is so placid and only cries if she needs her nappy changed, has a sore tummy or is hungry. Otherwise she's happy to just sit and chill.
While the day hadn't gone quite to plan, I realised we had got through it unscathed. I was able to survive the screaming and not run out of the shop like I felt like doing. We had achieved 2 of the things we had set out to do so 2 out of 3 ain't bad. And, while I made some basic mistakes, they had taught me enormous lessons. So, I figured the day was quite successful overall. I know I need some more hardening up and no doubt I will have more days like this. But, I figure each one I can overcome is a good thing and will help to making me a better Mum. I must remember that like Sticky, I am taking baby steps, so as she gets bigger and stronger, so will I!
Our plan for today was to get some coffee beans from our favourite cafe, sit and have a coffee, go to the baby shop to get a carrier then head into the city to pick up my wedding ring that my husband had secretly organised for an eternity ring to be added to it. It all seemed quite simple and after last week's successful shopping outing, I thought would all go smoothly.
I fed Sticky before we went so she would be full for our adventure. I figured that would buy us about 3 hours before she would need a feed. I figured we'd be home by then but I packed some formula just in case. Just as planned, she fell asleep in the car so big win!
We parked the car and my husband pulled out the feed bag. I told him not to worry about it as she wouldn't need it - epic mistake! We went and had our coffee and she slept through all the banging and clanging of the cafe, screaming babies and trucks rolling past - another big win! Just as we got up to go to the baby shop, she woke up. No biggy I thought, she'll still be full so will just sit there happily and it was good timing because I needed to put her in the carrier to know if my back could cope with it so I thought it was all fine.
We got to the baby shop and I found the carrier I wanted to try. She started grizzling which quickly led to squealing. I thought she just had a dirty nappy so I took her into the parents room to change her nappy thinking that would stop the squealing. It did for about a minute. She had woken up starving.
She was screaming so loudly I started to become very overwhelmed and started berating myself for not bringing the bag. It was clear we couldn't keep trying on the carrier so my husband had to go back to the car to get the bag. I was left standing there holding a screaming baby. At least we were in a baby shop so it wasn't too bad she was screaming the place down, but I felt very self conscious and stupid for failing to realise that she might wake up and be hungry.
I had to remind myself not to care what other people thought of me. I calmly told myself this is going to happen so many times when she throws a tantrum at the shops, starts screaming in a restaurant or throws herself on the ground. I need to be ok with managing her behaviour and not letting other people's reactions influence me.
After what seemed like forever, my husband returned and we shoved the bottle in her mouth - instant silence. I looked down at her and said "Good job bubba and well done on teaching Mummy such a valuable lesson. Mummy will never get out of the car without your feed bag ever again." She looked up at me just happy to be getting her fill. I looked at her trying not to feel bad that I had unnecessarily put her through pain just because I didn't want the hassle of carrying another bag.
She scoffed down the bottle and we were able to put her in the carrier to know which one would be suitable for me. Mission accomplished with 1 minute to spare on the parking meter! As we got in the car, my husband asked where to and I asked him if he still wanted to go into the city. He decided he was done. I was dumbfounded that all of that had taken us 2 hours. I have no idea how long I thought it would take but it certainly wasn't 2 hours. I realised things will take longer to achieve with a little person in tow and I can only do 1 or 2 things at a time rather than trying to fit too much into an outing.
As we drove home, I looked at Sticky curled up in her seat. She was awake, peacefully sitting there sucking on her seatbelt, watching the world go by, with her finger curled around mine. I sent a silent prayer of thanks to the baby gods for sending me such a laid back baby. She really is so placid and only cries if she needs her nappy changed, has a sore tummy or is hungry. Otherwise she's happy to just sit and chill.
While the day hadn't gone quite to plan, I realised we had got through it unscathed. I was able to survive the screaming and not run out of the shop like I felt like doing. We had achieved 2 of the things we had set out to do so 2 out of 3 ain't bad. And, while I made some basic mistakes, they had taught me enormous lessons. So, I figured the day was quite successful overall. I know I need some more hardening up and no doubt I will have more days like this. But, I figure each one I can overcome is a good thing and will help to making me a better Mum. I must remember that like Sticky, I am taking baby steps, so as she gets bigger and stronger, so will I!
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