My family has always been into having family BBQs. We get together almost every Sunday during the spring and summer, grill out, drink a few beers, and play with my nieces (3 yrs & 18 mos). This morning, I was thinking about how big of a drag this summer is going to be as far as family get togethers go. Let's face it... It's hard to enjoy yourself when you have a high maintenence three month old on your hands. Don't get me wrong, I love every second with her, but she just doesn't do well outside of our home. Usually, we end up leaving in a hurry, because she won't quit screaming. It's impossible to sit down and eat dinner without someone else having to hold her while she cries. I thought having a baby right before it got nice outside would be great, but I find myself thinking about how much easier it would be if the seasons were switched, so we could have an excuse to stay in. Everyone asks, "why does she cry all the time?" Well, I'm not sure. She's great at home.. Cries maybe twenty minutes at most each day. I figured Memorial day would be no different.
Today, we had two events to attend: a rather large BBQ at the in-law's house and a small family get together at my brother's home. Honestly, this was terrifying to me. She was going to be out of the house from 1-7 pm, with the exception of a quick stop at home.
We arrived at Danny's mom's house at around 1, and the crying started almost immediately. After about twenty minutes, I decided to take Maddie into the basement, because it was much cooler. She stopped crying. She was smiling and cooing most of the time. Our only mishap was when I held another baby, just a month older than Maddie. I could see it in her eyes, she was jealous. She whined the entire time, and my guess is that she was trying to say something along the lines of, "BACK THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY BOOB! THAT'S MINE. MY BOOB!" So, I fed her for the first time over there. It went well, and she was all smiles after that.
At around 3:15, we left and headed home for what we hoped would be a short, hour long nap. I wasn't holding my breath, because she hasn't been too fond of naps lately, so this usually results in an extremely cranky baby by bedtime. We deal. Just as I suspected, she did not want to nap. She had a quick boob sesh, and we headed off to my brother's house. She started out fairly calm. After being outside for about fifteen minutes, she was feeling quite warm and began to fuss a bit, but no major meltdowns. I noticed she was getting tired, so we set her down in her carseat while we ate, and she slept for about a half hour. She woke up hungry, so we took that as our cue to leave, as we only live five minutes away, and it was getting close to bath time. When we got home, she ate, had her bath, and nursed to sleep.
It was blissful.
The one day I was dreading most ended up being the easiest day out we've had so far! From now on, every time we have to go somewhere, I'm going to set myself up for a difficult time in hopes that somehow, I'm secretly using reverse psychology on her so she'll be good.
Yup.
And at the very least, I won't be upset when she does freak out, because I'll be expecting it! ;)
But for today (and every day, but especially today) I have the best baby anyone could ever ask for.
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