So Bella had her first baby swim class today. I had originally planned for C to take her since I had something else planned, but we could not find his swimsuit. :roll: So I went, but of course I got off to a late start, and then I had to go on the college campus which is very confusing and full of one-way roads. I drive around looking for the building and wind up having to go around a few times. Then I find the building, then I'm like where the holy fuck do I park? Running late, running late, Bella getting impatient.
Find the parking, which of course is 3/4 blocks away. So I have Bella and two big bags. Regular diaper bag, plus bathing suits and towels for us. Luckily I have an SSC in the car, so I put my coat on, go to put the SSC on and one of the buckles comes off! Yikes! I put the buckle back on, but it was not right, so I wound up holding it with my hand to make sure Bella didn't fall! Put Bella in the SSC (after of course, getting her coat and hat on since babies can't wear coats in the carseat, arggh), get the bags, and get going. Get there, and we have to go down a bunch of steps to the pool, only to get there, to find out the changing rooms are back up the steps and then some more steps.
Go up to the changing room (what genius put the mens changing room RIGHT NEXT to the pool door, and the womens changing room up two flights of stairs?), and find a maze of lockers and stalls to change. TINY stalls, barely room for one person much less a fluffy person with two big bags and a baby. I decide screw it, we will change in the aisle. Bella at this point is fussy fussy. She wants to walk around the maze in the changing room and I am like NOOOOO let's get dressed, you will have so much fun! Come on honey, we're going to go swimming! She is like AGGGHH! And she is doing this thing lately where she grunts, "UNNNNNHHHH!" She does it when she is pissed at you, and if you try to pick her up she does the crazy baby back arch, throwing herself backwards, trying to not be picked up and almost banging her head on the floor in the process. Yikes! Anyways, she is fussing and I think it's because the stuff on the floor is hurting her feet. You know it's those blue plastic curly looking mats to prevent slipping. So I put one of the towels down and let her stand on it, take her diaper off, and she promptly pees all over the towel; legs spread, staring, like WHOA, am I doing that? Now I have a pee-covered towel to deal with, and of course, that is one less towel to dry off with!
Finally I get her dressed and me dressed and realize I don't have any shoes that I can wear. I brought my trail shoes, which I wear pretty much everywhere, with JEANS. Bad enough to carry my fluffy ass in a bathing suit through a college hallway and parade in front of everyone, because I know they are already in the pool. I have to do it wearing trail shoes???? NO. So I go barefoot, down the stairs, past the door which is letting in 20 degree air. And, btw, since I have Bella and our towels, I had to leave stuff in the changing room and pray no one would steal it. I just could not carry everything!
By the time I got down the stairs, I was already exhausted, and we haven't even gotten in the water!
But, actually, the water was wonderful. They had tons of toys in the pool for the babies to play with, and these big floating rafts that were really sturdy and flat. I put Bella on one and pulled her around, like she was queen of the world! They had a little slide, and an underwater balance beam, and toys toys toys, and babies babies babies! Bella had A BLAST. She loves the water, and before long she was throwing herself off the platforms for me to catch her in my arms. Fearless!
But, the end must come eventually, right? The class is 45 minutes and I was about 15 minutes late, so we were in the pool for about 30 minutes. As we get out, I am wondering how on earth I am going to do this? Carry a soaking wet toddler up the stairs while *I* drip water everywhere, try to avoid slipping and falling down the stairs or having my soaking wet toddler catch pneumonia from the frigid breezes blowing in from outside. I was supposed to fill out a consent form, but when I tried, lil' stuff just went into manic panic, so I skipped it and headed out and up the stairs.
Back up the stairs, back into the crazy maze of changing rooms and lockers and doors to wherever. I found a section with hair dryers! Warm air blowers on the wall, but higher up for hair. So we went there to change because by now we were cold! I turned a few of the dryers on and Bella was not so crazy about that. But mostly she just wanted to go, go, go! I chased her around for a while before I finally put her on this narrow bench where she could not move, or fall. I stood right there, praying, while I quickly quickly got dressed as fast as possible, hair still soaking, cold, etc. I got her all dressed, got our stuff together, chased her around some more. By now I'm sweating, not freezing!
But I have to put my coat on; we're going outside, and it is about 18 degrees and breezy. I put my coat back on, SSC back on, Bella back on (with her coat and hat on), get all situated, and go. Back down the stairs, where one of the moms from class is cuddling her five month old, who must be snoozing under that blanket and hat. I just see his feet peeping out. She wants to chat, and all I want to do is get OUT of there. But I chat for a few minutes, then leave, and realize; the entire way back is ALL UPHILL. Plus lots of steps for good measure. And the bags I'm carrying are heavier now, with waterlogged towels and suits in them. Argh!
I finally get to the car. Apparently Bella was getting sleepy on my back, because she was not happy when I got her down. I got in the backseat with her and let her nurse, and she fell asleep. Like, immediately. She *never* does that anymore! It was so sweet and I just sat there enjoying it, but quickly came to the realization that the car was freezing, I had to move. And we were in a garage, so even assuming I could get the car started, I really did not want to sit there and have carbon monoxide seeping in. So I tried to put the sleeping angel into her car seat, and suddenly found myself battling a shrieking banshee. She freaked! I put her back, nursed more, she slept more. I put my coat over us both. Sat there cuddling her, but it was seriously getting colder and colder! I tried to switch her to the bottle, which worked, and then move both her and her bottle to the seat. Screaming banshee again. So I gave up and turned her dvd player on.
Which worked, no more screaming, except that she was then WIDE AWAKE. Damn!
(I am unashamed now about my car's dvd player. If it keeps my baby from screaming her darned head off while I drive, causing me to run into a tree, then it is fine with me. She loves Elmo.)
I got home and was so exhausted, I fell asleep while trying to get Bella to sleep. She did not go to sleep, but I did, and slept for three hours. After an hour C brought her in and she slept with me for two hours and another hour after! Honestly if it buys me three HOURS of nap, maybe the craziness is worth it? (But no, next time I'm taking Charlie! SHEEEEEEEESH!)
Sorry so long, but I had fun writing it.... :D