Baby Essentials...

Happy Easter everyone! This year we were in town, and spent the holiday weekend by ourselves. We had a nice Easter Sunday, but I have to say this year the big event of the weekend was our first class to prepare for the arrival of our little bambino!  My doctor recommended a class called "baby essentials" more so than the traditional labor and delivery course. So we signed up and went on Saturday.

The class was kind of a survival course for the first three months, or what the video described as "the fourth trimester".  There were dolls and the instructor had us diaper, bathe, burp, dress, and hold our babies under her instruction. While I learned some good tips, I think Don and the other dads in our class were the ones who really got put through the ringer.  The class started with the instructor showing the dad's quickly how to pick up a baby.  She told them to start by picking up their baby and to hold it as if they were going to sit down and watch three innings of the Braves with the baby - in other words, get comfortable.  They did, and of course it was quite amusing. All around the room the guys had their babies cradled stiffly in their arms, with their backs straight and shoulders rigid.

Our teacher surveyed the room and then began class, telling the guys they'd be holding the babies for the first 30 to 40 minutes before they'd pass them on to the ladies.  Very quickly, the guys started fidgeting, Don included.  I leaned over and told him "I would just sit it up in my lap".  Once Don and one other dad shifted to this position, the rest of the dads quickly followed.  It was cute, and that's sort of how the whole class went. At first she would watch us try to mimic her (diapering, or swaddling) and we'd get a little nervous. But by the end of the class everyone, especially the dads, were much more comfortable holding their babies.  It was just like that high school project where you take care of that egg or something to learn how to parent.

We laughed because when it was over, we just left the "baby" on the desk for the afternoon class and hopped in our car to go out for lunch... Oh these days are getting short! Pretty soon we'll be building the whole day around naps and feedings.  It won't be long!