Adventures in Babyland

During the past week, I suddenly became confident taking Carter out into the world. After Monday's Mommy & Me movie and Tuesday's New Mother Support Group at the Pump Station, I felt brave enough to be quite adventurous on Wednesday - Carter and I went to Starbucks in the morning and Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and the library in the afternoon, and then took a long walk around the neighborhood. He slept until the very end of our excursion, when we were pulling up to the apartment, just in time to breastfeed. Perfection.

After all that excitement we had a very mellow Thursday, venturing out only to walk down the street for a morning coffee and then again for an afternoon Pinkberry. That evening his Babushka and auntie came over to have dinner and celebrate his one-month birthday. How has it been a month already?

Yesterday he had his doctor's appointment, and we learned that he is now 8 pounds, 9 ounces, meaning that he'd gained 26 ounces in 16 days. The general rule of thumb is that babies should gain an ounce a day, which means that he is almost gaining at twice that rate. What a huge relief - I'd been concerned that my issues with breastfeeding had affected my milk supply, and that perhaps he wasn't getting enough to eat. Strike that!

We emerged from the pediatrician's office feeling celebratory, and decided to go to lunch, followed by a trip to Nordstrom Rack and then the drugstore. There were public diaper changes, breastfeeding - the whole bit. Somehow everything that I'd been intimidated to do is now completely manageable. The evening culminated with a trip to the Alcove in Los Feliz for dinner. We went there almost every week during our first year of marriage just to get a piece of our wedding cake, so all the baristas there know us and we knew they'd be eager to see the baby. Sure enough, there was excitement all around as they admired Carter, and we got a free piece of cake. My sister-in-law lives up the street and came down to have a glass of wine with us, but the evening was cut short when Carter awoke hungry and cranky. Add to this the fact that my boobs were so incredibly engorged with milk that they were painful to the touch and we raced quickly home. Must...feed...baby!

This morning we went to the Farmer's Market at the Grove for crepes, and then to Baby Gap. With the culmination of this horribly dull post, I must add that from now on I will no longer feel it necessary to list every single outing with the baby. I just thought I would share these because it was a big week - I am now able to get out into public with my baby boy instead of sequestering myself in the apartment.

Oh, the places we'll go!