Baby's swing and our first lunch out

The fact that the weekend is just around the corner and last weekend's story hasn't been blogged about yet has driven me to sit and get done with it. That, and the fact that Peanut is fast asleep in her swing. Yes! That's the first of the bullet points bursting through the seams of my thinking hat. One of our friends offered a Fisher Price Ocean Wonders swing that's like new. Now, Peanut is a very light sleeper. I plan to do a separate post on her fussiness to sleep and how she wakes up every few hours, puts on her cranky pants and refuses to go back to sleep. As a result, her parents are sleep deprived, tired and snappy. The curious cat in me wanted to know if this was normal behavior for a six week old and so I logged into Baby Center's birth club where parents of other six week olds talked about how much their babies love the swing and sleep for hours in it. So when Christina asked us to be there at 10 am, which is an insanely early hour in this household given the nightly wakings, feedings and swaddling Peanut to sleep, we dropped all plans of sleeping in on a Saturday morning. We set of, the three of us (God, even a few days back we were still the two of us) sans grandparents, all the way to Burien to pick up the said swing. It was the first time we were out on our own, without any help in tow.
On the way we wanted to pick up a wine bottle for her, so Peanut and I stayed in the car while A scurried into Fred Meyer and came out a with an expensive wine and an an even expensive tote. Peanut slept like a sleeping beauty all through the drive. It was when we parked outside her house that she woke up and decided to bawl loudly, demanding to be fed right then. I then did the inevitable - I plonked myself on the couch, lifted my t-shirt and began feeding Peanut while C's dog Buddy stared at me all the while with his tongue hanging out. The things babies make us do! After a few minutes she was content. Much cooing and gurgling pursued. And then the wide, silly toothless grin. That alone makes me want to have another one.

The next inevitable thing I did was to feed her in the same style again in the waiting room of the auto detail workshop while we waited for our car to be vacuumed and washed. And even changed her diaper right there as there was no changing table in the loo. I never thought I would be comfortable BFing in public. But hey, that's what happens when you have babies. You will become one of those mothers you once dreaded.

And then we had our first lunch out with Peanut. In fact first lunch out (other than the picnics) since she was born. I was a little skeptical about how it would go. Long, elaborate weekend lunches are thing of past. We can only afford to eat at places where the service is quick and it is okay to have a wailing infant with you. You know, she is very loud and clear when she wants something. Like if she wants to get out of the carseat, she will proceed to scream at the top of her lungs until one gets her out. And then the only thing that will console her is to snuggle into Mama and suckle. At that point we would have to abandon the lunch  and scamper to the car and fall at her feet to keep her quiet. Thankfully nothing of that sort happened. Peanut continued napping in her carseat and we had an unhurried lunch of Falafel gyros and mint tea at Mr.Gyro. In the evening we took her to Houghton Beach Park for a mini picnic. It was a weekend of many firsts.

The Intense 2011 Concierto

A was at the Indian stores one day when he saw posters for the Intense 2011 Atif Aslam concert. He was all fired up when he shared the news with me.

A: "Let's do it. We should go."
Me: "But what about Peanut? I can't leave her and go so far for so long...."
A: "Mom & Dad will take care of her. Once they leave we won't be able to do such things."
Me: "What if she cries for me? She always wants to feed to fall asleep."
A: "They will manage....don't worry too much."
Me: "She'll know when am not around....."
A: "Don't be silly....she won't know anything. Let's go and have fun."

So, the $35 pp tickets (read non-refundable) were purchased a week before and we were living in hope that Peanut would be a darling and not trouble her grandparents too much. On Friday the 29th of July, the day of the concert, I gave Peanut a bath, dressed her up in her sleeper, expressed BM,  and put her to sleep. I then slathered moisturiser on self, slapped on some lipstick, rooted my closet for an outfit that would fit the new sized me and slipped out of the house with A. We were on a date! Yet, all I could talk about was Peanut. We reached the arena a good thirty minutes early. We are not related to Late Lateef, see. But Atif is. The doors were yet to open and gathered there were young, slim, cool looking dudes and dudettes from all over India. That would have been us six years before, I mumbled. No, we look much better, retorted A, who is still the same size or even a couple of inches leaner than he used to be. To kill time, we tried to guess which part of India each bunch was from. The flashy clothed, jazzy jewelery laden men were from the north! Delhi/UP, to be precise. The turbaned ones from Punjab and so on. Finally, at 8:30 pm the doors opened. We had good seats. The arena was more empty than full. The concert itself was mediocre. I had great expectations. The audio was so muffled that I could hardly hear any of the jokes the compere was trying to crack, if you could call them that. Bhumika absconded and we were forced to watch an Indian Idol perform. Then came Anushka Manchanda. She has a good voice but could hardly sing to tune. Finally,  Atif. Much roaring and applause ensued. It was very disappointing to hear him experiment with his original scores. They sounded horrible. I missed carrying my ear buds. The $70 could have very well been spent on a wine tasting tour. Except that I can't drink wine. Or any alcoholic beverage for that matter.

We got back home at half past midnight and  Peanut had just then woken up for a feed. I was glad to be back. I enjoyed the company; the concert, not so much. I then resolved not to leave Peanut and go to a concert again that is hardly rocking. I would rather rock her to sleep.

Tummy trouble

It started when Peanut was exactly a month old. The incessant screaming and crying, as if she were possessed by a demon, at sharp 10:30, night after night, as though she were hooked to some celestial clock. It would go on for an hour, until she pooed. No amount of walking, rocking or massaging would console her. A and I were horrified. Constipation was our first guess. A quick, frantic flip through the Bible What to Expect that First Year saw A was driving to Fred Meyer to get a bottle of prune juice. Apparently a teaspoon of Prune juice in an ounce of EBM will do the deed. In the meantime, the Grandparents suggested home remedies. First, Castor oil was massaged around her belly button. This will do it, they said. Next, the bitter, slightly pungent Gutti was shoveled down her gullet amidst ear splitting protests from her (and me, at the torture my baby was subjected to) and after an hour's struggle and a few stinking digestive exclamations later she had her bowel movement. What a relief! Crap covered Peanut was given a bath and put to sleep, while A thanked the Almighty and proceeded to celebrate with a Mack n Jack.

We were boggled when the screaming and crying started precisely at 10:30 the next night. It was starting to become a nightly thing, when I decided to call her Pediatrician. When I blurted out the entire story to the blockheaded nurse, half expecting her to panic, she shrugged it of, saying  "Yeah, it happens...it's normal...their digestive system is developing... it will go away". I wanted to sit on her, except that we were on the phone. When I pestered for some medication, she suggested an ounce of Peppermint or Chamomile tea twice a day. What about gas drops, I queried. "Hmmm...you can try them. They won't help, it's just waste of money", was her nonchalant reply. I thought it was highly uncanny to give a one month old infant, tea. Peppermint or Chamomile at that. Especially when the same will cause projectile vomiting by her mother. Yet, driven by desperation, I promptly called A and asked him to get some Peppermint tea bags on his way back from work. We continued giving tea twice a day as suggested by the nurse. To make it better for my baby I added some honey to it. Thankfully, Peanut gulped down the tea without fussing, making A walk away with the she-takes-after-me look. Mylicon drops was given to her after every feeding. We also gave Gripe water. After a week of greenish black poo, things started looking up. Back to mustard yellow poop thrice a day. No crying or screaming. Just an occasional yelp when trying to push the gas out. The nurse was right after all. It did go away. But boy, whatta week it was.