Trial and Error, and Error and Error

Needless to say, living waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over here in Spain, we don't have family around to guide us and give us pointers. With the 6 hour difference in time, sometimes even a phone call is out of the question. This was hard enough before August 4th, 2011. Now... add a newborn baby to that equation. :)

As you can imagine, Matt and I had to do some figuring out on our own. Thankfully, I did lots of reading while I was pregnant ('cause the good Lord knows that once the baby arrives there is no time for that) which helped a little with the zillions of questions one encounters as a new mom. Beyond that, we relied on the help of a few close friends, some really good educated guesses and ... gut instincts. :)

WHICH MEANS... we made some funny mistakes. Now, it's been six months, so there's been lots of fantastic mistakes that I can't recall. However, I'll try to give you a couple that I'm sure I'll never forget.

Goof numero uno: I discovered on about day 4 that Fin's neck was very dirty. I had been doing daily sponge baths, but I MUST have been missing his neck?
Tristin's thoughts: *Gasp* The visiting nurse is coming in an hour, I better get that neck clean so she doesn't think I'm a neglectful parent. Wow, this must be milk that has dribbled down his neck? Man, this stuff is sticky and not coming off well. *Scrub, Scrub* (Fastforward an hour.)
Nurse: ..."Also you may notice some skin peeling. Perfectly normal. Maybe on his neck and other areas... but... (taking a peek at the squeaky clean neck) he looks pretty good right now."
Tristin: "Yeah, yeah... ummm I'll keep an eye out for that." DOH! I was scrubbing not milk... but skin! Poor little nugget!

Goof numero dos: WOW. I had no idea what a long, painful recovery I'd have. A few days after Fin was born I headed to the pharmacy to get a new prescription. My name was called and I left Matt and Fin waiting while I eased my way up to the pick up window. I noticed a sign above the window. Well would you look at that, it says that if you're pregnant or breastfeeding you should notify the window attendant. I better say something. So I leaned forward and as discreetly as possible whispered to the young man. "I just wanted to let you know that I'm breastfeeding." Then I flashed him a smile. Not making much eye contact he went on to tell me about my medication and how it could/could not affect my milk. When he was finished I smiled again, grabbed my brown paper bag, turned, and headed back to Matt and Finlay. That's when Matt's eyes got really big. "BABE!," he whispered, and he was pointing at his chest. OH YEAH. Leakage. Big time, obvious, breastfeeding leakage. This was no "well, maybe she spilled something on her shirt..." *Sighhhhhhhhhh* That kid in the window had to have been like "Uhhhhh No sh*t, you're breastfeeding!"

And there were many more funny and even embarrassing times that I may have not have had if Matt and I weren't here in Spain, on our own, feeling our way around in the dark (or however that saying goes). We're still figuring things out and we learn something new every day. Trial and error. and error. and error. ;)
OH and one other thing: don't even bother with those silly handprint kits. "EASY" the box says. TWO EASY STEPS. The directions "suggest" waiting until the baby is asleep to push its little hand into the mold. Yeah, ours didn't turn out. But I think there was something missing from our kit: drugs. Because sleeping baby or not, you aren't getting a frameable handprint unless your child has been administered one of those dart things they use on monkeys. Let me tell you what is going to happen and just save you some money and clean up time. You're going to have plaster everywhere. The baby's going to wake up, grab a fistful of plaster, and next thing you know you've got the baby's head under the faucet, yelling to your husband "QUICK, QUICK! GET IT OFF HIS FACE BEFORE IT DRIES! FRIG THE STUPID MOLD! I DON'T CARE IF IT'S GETTING HARD!"

;)