First REAL outing

Mom, we're bored.

Today I took all three (3!) of the babies out on my own.  Bode was in desperate need of a haircut.  I decided that it was "now or never" and made it my mission to get the haircut done today.  

I'm definitely out of practice on taking an infant/baby out.  I had a "diaper bag" (note: my personal feeling on "diaper bag" is ick and ugh and please, no) but I left it in the car.  So when Nico spit up on me (twice), I had nothing to wipe it up.  

We went to our usual "kids" hair cut place, which is about 20 minutes up the road from where we live. I was already nervous about leaving the house with three of them, but add in a 20 minute car ride and the stress level increased more.  

I fed Nico before we left. Right after I fed him, I yelled at Bode and Gianna to put on their shoes NOW, HURRY, WE HAVE TO LEAVE.  Nothing like a stressed out mother to get kids moving.  Ha.  They ran back to the playroom, found toys and enjoyed themselves while I shoved Nico into  his carseat.   I was hoping that Nico would fall asleep after the feeding.  But he just fussed and squawked.

Finally, I got Bode and Gianna to put on their shoes and get into the car.  I buckled them in and Nico's cries became more insistent.  So I pulled him out of the car seat and fed him again, in the car. The garage was freezing cold (temps in the 30s today) but I had the car shut up.  It was still chilly in the car while I fed him. How am I going to do this in the winter time?

After another feeding (Gianna and Bode sat there in their car seats patiently for awhile, and then, naturally, became antsy and "When are we going?" annoying), I put Nico back into his car seat.  "Okay!" I announced as I hopped down to go to the driver's side of the QEII.

We set off.  The drive went well because we were on the highway for 20 minutes.  Nico doesn't fuss when the car is moving. It is when the car is stopped that he starts grinching and screeching.  

We got to the hair salon.  Of course, there were 2 kids ahead of Bode and Gianna so we had to wait. Nico decided that he needed another feed (enough already!).  I am modest and prefer not to breastfeed in public. But after having Gianna, I realize that if I am to ever leave the house, need to make peace with breastfeeding in public.  I try to be very discreet.  I have a cover, but to me, that just screams, "LOOK AT ME! I'M BREASTFEEDING!"  so I usually just drape a swaddling blanket over my shoulder.  

This is what I did in the hair salon. I put the blanket over my shoulder and proceeded to just act natural.  This little boy was watching Nico the whole time.  When I started breastfeeding, he stood before me and just stared.  It wasn't that he was staring at me.  He was staring at the blanket. When I finally met his gaze, he looked at me plainly, as if to say, "I know that there's a baby under that blanket."  It was like I was trying to pull a "Now you see him, now you don't" on this little boy and he would not be fooled.  He looked over at his dad and said, "Baby." And his dad agreed, "Baby." Thankfully they were called up for a haircut.

So the most interesting thing (oh, wait, did you think that was it?) is that Bode absolutely freaked when it was time to get a hair cut. He has never done this before, even when he was little.  This time, he started acting weird. He wouldn't look at anybody.  He started doing these jerky movements with his arms and legs as he walked around.  He walked off.  When I called him back over and told him, "No, Bode, you're getting your hair cut now." he started crying. Full-on crocodile tears, red-faced, snot free-flowing from the nostrils and heaving breaths.  What the????  I was so confused (and honestly, irritated).   "No, I don't want to!" he cried over and over.  I had the lady cut Gianna's hair instead.  Then we tried again.  Again, tears and hysterics.  

Then I remembered his stitches.  The scissors must have reminded him of the e.r. and getting stitches. So I talked to him about it. I reminded him that it was a hair cut and nothing more.  He sat in the chair. But his body was tense and stiff.  His shoulders were up around  his ears.  He flinched every time the lady came near him with the scissors and would reach his hands out to stop her.  She stopped and said, "I can't do this if you're going to do that. I could hurt you." Not the best thing to say.  So I asked if I could hold his hands. Bode let me hold his hands and I tried talking him through it. I told him what she was cutting and how it was looking great. She didn't cut it the way she normally would.  She just cut what she could, because I asked her to make it as quick as possible. 

We got through it.  But it was not fun.  

Here are the results: 

Before

After

Her curls are going bye-bye

Before

After

I feel bad that I got so irritated with Bode's crying.  It's just that I get twitchy and nervous when he acts "weird."  I worry that there is a behavior issue. I am so glad that I remembered about the e.r. visit and the stitches. I hope that is "all" this was about and that Bode returns to his fun-loving, salon-going self next time.
At least I made it - my first trip outside with all three children.
High-fives all around!
xo