Do Not Feed the Animals

I need a sign for the stroller. A really big, really assertive, really official sign that hangs from the front of the stroller. Something like they have at the zoo on the cages/fences of the animals that will probably bite you if you stick your hand inside to pet or feed them.
I need a sign that says, "Do Not Touch the Baby," I need something that will get along the gist, I don't touch you, so please don't touch me. You know, like the "We don't swim in your toilet, so please don't pee in our pool" signs.
Usually, I carry Evie in the Babyhawk when I go into stores. I find it far more conducive to my shopping experience, as I can easily push a cart (we don’t have an infant carrier/car seat, so we have to hold her or put in something when we go places.) However, after the whole vomiting debacle the other day, I was relegated to pushing her around in the stroller while shopping. No problem for her, she enjoys her stroller. The only problem for me is, that when in her stroller, she becomes a big rolling target for people to glom on to her, get in her face, and smear their germy fingers all over her little person. This leads to my becoming rude and sometimes a little violent as I forcibly pull the stroller back from said attackers, while still feigning a smile through gritted teeth.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand her allure, she is quite beautiful and small, and so kissably soft, that it’s tough to resist a little squeeze. Brad Pitt shares many of the same qualities however, and I assure you that I would resist giving him a pinch. Why is it that people think that it’s okay to just come up and touch a baby? Without asking permission? I’m not trying to be completely overbearing here, but PLEASE DON’T TOUCH THE BABY…I DON’T KNOW WHERE YOUR HANDS HAVE BEEN!
Now it’s one thing if you are family or a close friend. I know you, and know that you don’t have scabies, or lice, and that you washed your hands after using the restroom…I hope.
But if you don’t know me, then you are a stranger. We all know that talking to stranger is a no-no. The same is true for touching. You may look, you may coo, you may smile and comment. But please, do not touch! The baby won’t bite, but I might. Thank you.

Thank Goodness I'm "Type A"

Today Evie and I left to meet my friend Melissa at TJ Max for a little mid-afternoon shopping extravaganza. I fed her prior to departure, and very diligently burped her in an attempt to ensure no catastrophes during our trip. We arrived in Tacoma unscathed, and met Melissa in the parking lot. I proceeded to put on my new Japanese style baby carrier, aka “babyhawk,” which requires the wrapping of long cloth straps around one's body and tying them off. I extracted Evie from her carseat, patted her on the back, slid her into the babyhawk, tied it all up nice and snug-like and turned to start walking. I did not make it a single step before she looked up to me, opened her mouth, and started puking. Well, projecting, rather. Curdled milk all over me and all over the baby carrier. So, I turned around, opened the car back up, took Evie out of the baby carrier and surveyed the damage. Only one sleeve of her t-shirt got hit; I wiped her down with a baby wipe and called it good.
While Melissa unloaded the stroller and grabbed Evie for me, I began to assess the damage on my own person. My entire shirt was covered, as well as the front of my pants. I did the best I could to clean up with some babywipes, but the shirt was a complete loss, at least for public interaction. It was then that I was thankful to be so anal and have an already packed emergency box in the trunk, complete with a clean t-shirt for me. All modesty previously lost, I just sat in the back of my Jeep and swapped shirts. I’m not sure if anyone saw, but if they did, I could really care less. It was Tacoma... so I almost fit right in. My windows are tinted in the back, anyway. People have often mocked me for my type-A, always be prepared attitude, but today it paid off.

Daddy's Hand

Check me out! I'm holding up my head and looking around!

Mommy's Favorite Outfit

A Real Smile...

5 Weeks Old

Feeling better...sort of

So the sickness seems to have passed. I'm still completely worn out, but I assume it has something more to do with the fact that 5 weeks ago I had a c-section, and have since been caring for and providing the sole nutrition for a very beautiful, small and yet very powerful tyrant we call our daughter.
Bryan is currently at the doctor, his back is hurting so much that he literally crawled to bed last night. I felt so very bad for him, but unable to offer any physical help. I was able to offer pain meds however, which he gladly took and then passed out for the duration of the evening, leaving me to be the sole night-time caregiver and diaper changer.
He's able to walk today, but still in a lot of pain. I offered to drive him to the doctor, but he wanted to go himself. I'm babysitting our neighbor girls today, and the thought of loading up the three kids and marching into the doctor's office was a bit much for him, so he chose to fly solo.
Evie is beautiful, even though her little face is now dotted with a constellation of baby zits. I so badly want to scratch off the little white heads, but know that will only end in tears, so I resist.
She has learned to hug now. When you hold her against your chest, she wraps her little arm around your shoulder and gingerly caresses you with her tiny little fingers. There is really nothing more adorable than watching Bryan hold her against his chest, and seeing her snuggle in under his chin, and wrapping her arms around him...well across him, rather.
Her neck strength has become frightening, as she can now do a full push-up off of you, lifting her head and scanning the perimeter. Next, she'll probably be climbing the cabinets and writing letters to her senator.

Finally, I have decided that I'm far too fragile currently to be in or around nature. (and if you don't like sad animal stories, do not read any further)
We had a tragedy last night here at the Scott house. Well, it felt like a tragedy...and I remain traumatized. We were enjoying a lovely spaghetti dinner on the deck with our neighbors, when Portia started acting very concerned, and started gently but purposefully nosing around the grass. I looked over to find her carrying what looked like a mouse from the scruff of it's neck. She layed it in the grass below me and started gently nosing and licking it, as if it were her puppy. It turns out, it was a baby bunny. Brand-new, abandoned, and injured. Portia was really concerned, and protective, but I couldn't determine if she was being motherly, or a carnivore. Bryan couldn't walk, so I had the gruesome task of doing something with the baby. It was too small to be saved, this I knew from my days on the farm. I couldn't bear to kill it (which in fact would have been more humane) so I gently moved it to the brush on the other side of our fence. I then went to the bathroom and silently sobbed for a solid 5 minutes, only to hear from the backyard, that Portia had just brought another one to the deck. Our neighbor Mick took over at this point and brought it to the same place I had layed the other.
I remained in the house, clutching my new baby, who had aroused in all the commotion. No new mother should be tasked with taking care of the cruel reality of nature...especially when it involves the abadonment of a newborn creature.
I know that in the broad spectrum of the world, this is really minor, and for a girl who was raised on a farm, one would think I'd be a little more resiliant. Holding my newborn daughter however, I found myself very upset. I find that with motherhood, I have become more sensitive to any stories that involve the death or injury to a child, human or not.

Our first immunity exercise

Sickness has hit the Scott house. First, Evie started getting sniffly and mom had to break out the bulb to suck out the goop. She hasn't had a fever, she's just kind of goopy and generally unahppy. Then, Mom started to feel crappy and has had a low-grade fever since last night. Tonight, Dad has a fever too, and has the muscle aches and pain that mom has enjoyed for the past couple days. We're hoping we all just have a cold or the flu and that it will pass soon. In the meantime, we'll continue to montior baby girl, go to bed early and suck down as much OJ and water that we can.