This past Independence holiday weekend was intense for all of us. It started on Saturday morning with a BBQ and Pool party, then family in-town on Sunday through Monday, and to finish it off another BBQ and Pool party Monday afternoon.
Our baby girl had her first pool experience on Saturday. This included changing into a swimsuit, applying sunscreen, dipping with daddy, floating with mommy, and experiencing the sun and humidity. It was a pretty big ordeal. I already knew it was going to throw off her schedule, as events usually do. I opted for a tank top with a sparkly heart and a baby swimmer bottom. Little did I know the sparkles would get everywhere–all over my chest and on our little one’s entire head. It was a pullover. Duh right? I didn’t think about it.
Having sparkles get all over me isn’t great because I’m nursing and carrying her most of the time. We won’t be wearing that piece anymore. Plus, it’ll most likely only fit her for another week or so and I don’t foresee us going into any body of water between now and then. For the next two days I was finding the little buggers in her hair and on her face. They’re mostly gone now Thank God!
I went shopping for a safe baby sunscreen the night before. And did some research on the brands. Target only had Aveeno Baby, California Baby (teeny tiny roll on stick), and Neutrogena Baby. Neutrogena had a lot of active ingredients whose names you can’t pronounce fast unless you’re a pharmacist or doctor. Aveeno is acceptable if you don’t want to dish out lots of moolah. California Baby is top notch but they only had the stick. I would’ve paid for the lotion if they had it. I went home empty-handed and decided to order online. We ended up using a friend’s kids sunscreen.
The heat and sun were scariest. I was concerned about the amount of sun she was getting and being around the grill and not being able to escape the wet warm blanket that surrounds us all during the summer months. My husband gets easily distracted if there’s a lot going on and there was. We were hosting and also trying to juggle the little one.
She was exhausted and crying during her bath after being poolside. I decided to wash her before feeding her. She was covered in sweat, chlorine, sunblock, and other people’s sweat.
Needless to say we decided she isn’t going swimming at our friend’s party yesterday. She was outside for a while but there was much more shade. I dipped her feet in the water for a bit.
By the end of the weekend she was super beat. It took her one hour to stop fussing, crying, and to finally fall asleep last night. Part of me doesn’t want to put her (and us) through that much again, but part of me thinks it’s also good for her to experience what life is really like. It’s not always on the same schedule day in day out.
sweetlykate 