Before Lucy came I was never that comfortable around little babies. I mean my friends had babies and I would hold them and they would cry and I would instantly hand them back to their parents to deal with. I never did any babysitting and I’m an only child so my experience with kids was near zero.
Yesterday Lucy was sick. I mean they can’t tell you they are sick, and maybe she was just hungry or tired or both, but her cries were cries of pain and not just, “Hey..HEY I’M HUNGRY OVER HERE.” Finally in the afternoon she had a giant crap. And I mean epic. So epic in fact that I couldn’t deal with the smell let alone the cleaning up of the epic poop. Jason took care of it while I was dry heaving in the bathroom. I’m sure that some mothers love all things about their kids and that none of the poops bother them…but I’m sorry, it’s fucking gross. Now, if Jason hadn’t been here obviously I would have dealt with it.
Anyways…where is this post going. Oh right. I’m the Mom and I’ve been very surprised (as I think a lot of my family is as well) at how calm I have been with this baby given a) my previous lack of experience and b )my usual panicIliketocontroleverything attitude. If she cries I try and soothe her, if she’s hungry I feed her. I’m not on the phone with the pediatrician telling them that my child has the plague every other day. Ok. That one time yes, but we were only two weeks in and she did sound horrible. I guess the first 4 weeks were a little worrisome because I was worried she wasn’t getting enough food since she’s a really fast nurser. But then we had her 1 month appointment and she didn’t fail in the weight department so it’s all good there.
This being the Mom business is a lot easier and more fun that I thought it was going to be. Even on days like yesterday where if she was awake she was screaming and in obvious pain, I didn’t freak out. She didn’t have a temperature, she was eating so there was nothing to do but do the best we could to calm her down. And this morning she’s back to her smiley self
I’m not just sitting in the apartment staring at her wondering what to do now. We travel through the city a lot and she’s an expert at el riding and has even enjoyed soaking in the Modern Wing at the Art Institute:
So I guess you could say I like being able to be the Mom. Maybe now that I’m more comfortable with babies if your baby is crying and I’m holding it I won’t throw it back at you like it’s burning my hands 
With that I’m off. Lucy is down for her morning nap, and I have to exit my pajamas and clean up in here after our snow day yesterday turned us into lazy pj people. Oh yeah. And we aren’t going to Florida.
I helped raise my youngest sister and had plenty of just-me-and-a-baby experience because my mom worked nights (I was 12 taking care of a newborn and an 8-year-old–wtf?!), but to this day I am weird about holding other people’s kids. It used to be because when the kid would start crying I would feel like I did something wrong or he/she didn’t like me, but now it’s more because any time I pick up a baby I immediately have to field questions asking when I’m going to have one of my own.
p.s. I laughed out loud reading about Lucy’s epic poo.
that’s crazy that you were taking care of those two kids when you were only 12. yeah I wonder if I’ll still be weird about holding other people’s kids. I bet I’ll still be like…”um, your baby is crying”
yeah the epic poo was spectacular. And it was followed by another one a few hours later. jason also took care of that one. he wins parent of the month
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I am glad that Lucy’s feeling better.