First Bath

Tonight was baby's first bath! He was getting pretty stinky, even despite my occasional sponge baths. This afternoon while his Aunt Emily was changing him, he treated her with an extra spectacular fountain of pee that managed to soak him, the general surroundings, his clothes, and, um, a bit of poor Auntie.
As you can imagine, this only improved the general sticky feel of the kid's little bod. That was the final straw--tonight is bath night!

Since his bellybutton is pretty close to being healed, we thought we'd give it a try tonight. We warmed up the bathroom with a space heater and got the little baby bathtub filled up with warm water. Michael stripped him down and gently laid his little squirmy body down into the warm water. He quieted down and looked up at us thoughtfully. We put a washcloth over his tummy to keep him warm when he started to shiver a bit. Didn't get a whole heck of a lot of enthusiasm from the kiddo, but he didn't seem particularly upset about it.

Michael washed him up. After a few minutes we pulled him out before he got chilly. We put him on a cozy towel in front of the space heater and dried him off. Michael put some goop on his diaper rash and got the diaper ready. Baby was so quiet and happy! Just as Michael reached down to pull up the sides and fasten little cozy kid all together... Pssssssssssssssssssss! Pee fountain! Whee! It went everywhere, all the way up to his chin, in the belly button, all over the towel, the diaper, the clean onesie....

Giggling, we put him back in the bath. (Well, ok, I was giggling. Michael was annoyed.) The water was a tad chilly by now, though, and poor little darling started to squall. Fast forward this time: quick bath, back onto a new towel, new diaper goop, new diaper, new onesie, and he was shivering cold. His little lips and nose turn purple when he's chilly. We wrapped him up in a sleep snack and hat and then in a blankie and snuggled him until he was warm and quiet.

So the bath turned out a tad more traumatic than we'd hoped. Apparently new mom and dad haven't mastered the "relaxing bedtime bath" that my mother has told me about. But the good news is that baby's hair is soooo soft and clean and blonde curly when it's freshly washed and dried. I've been burying my nose in all its deliciousness for the last hour. Ah, life is good! How we love our baby Jed!

-Vanessa