Playing it By Ear: Hello July.

Happy 4th of July Weekend! Unfortunately Leila's bedtime will get in the way of watching her first fireworks display, but nonetheless we will be celebrating Leila's first Independence Day this weekend! We are planning another trip out to our favorite bed and breakfast in Naperville, for some fun in the sun, grilling, and time with family.

Before I get to our past week of festivities, I'll start with another installment of "This Time Last Year..."

Well, this time last year we were getting our pictures taken in the park. We spent our July 4th Weekend taking one of the five baby preparation classes we signed up for at Northwestern. Now that I think about it, I'm actually wondering if anything we learned in those classes has helped us! I guess even if they didn't help in reality, they still made us feel like we were somehow better prepared at the time. It's amusing to think about those two clueless nuts in that picture and how truly naive we were just one month before becoming parents! A year into motherhood and I know that it is definitely a learn-as-you-go type of job and not much advice or studying of baby books is going to put you ahead.

So, onto our week:

On Tuesday, Leila and I spent a late morning at the park and I packed a little picnic lunch for us. It was all fun and games until about 5 minutes into our picnic, when Leila started crying hysterically, like she was in pain. I had no idea what was going on, tried to calm her down, but nothing seemed to help. Here is a perfect example of something that was not covered in the baby prep class! Long story short, I think she was having a horrible stomach ache, the picnic was quickly packed away, and I ended up carrying her nearly 2 miles home while pushing her stroller. Carrying her all that way in one arm, while really not that huge of a feat, made me realize the lengths you will go to when it comes to your baby's happiness. If I had been carrying anything else, I swear my arm would have given out...but it was like I found some kind of super-strength that allowed me to keep on going until we got home. I am continually surprised at the ways in which motherhood changes me in small and big ways.

Hanging at the park before lunch