Fun Friday

Today began with Ben (and consequently mom) finally sleeping past 6:30am. Ah, a leisurely morning.

Ha ha ha ha. Leisurely.

We woke up at 6:50. After a pretty happy morning (in stark contrast to the whiny, clingy mornings we've had every other day this week), I decided to pay my good friend Tracy a visit. That's when Ben's bowels decided to empty. It wouldn't have been an issue if Ben hadn't recently developed an inordinate loathing of diaper changes. He screams, rolls over and over, tries to crawl off the table, throws all the diapers on the floor, empties the box of wipes...you get the picture. It's like trying to change a T-Rex's diaper. This particular change had the added bonus of three days worth of poop.

So ten minutes, one quick baby wipe bath for Ben, one hand and arm sink bath for mama, one wardrobe change for him, one shirt change for me, two changing pad covers, two diapers, and a half a box of wipes later, we were ready to go.

We had a nice hour with Tracy and came back for the little T-Rex's nap. While he slept for an hour, I cleaned up, made and packed lunch, and prepared for my first solo beach adventure with the boy. I was quite proud of my girl scout self and all my preparedness. Lunch bag, check; fully stocked diaper bag, check; purse with camera and video camera, check; bag with beach towels and toys, check; beach umbrella, check; Mexico blanket, check. Everything you need for a perfect day at the beach.

When the monkey woke up I fed and wrestled him until he was diapered and dressed changed him, loaded us into the car, and took off for Newport. Oh wait, I need quarters. So I go to the car wash where we normally get laundry quarters, but the change machine is out of order. That's okay...there's got to be a bank on the way to the beach. Maybe, but the freeway is backed up two miles before it ends onto Newport, so I need to take side streets. So I slowly make my way down Santa Ana and all its stop signs to 17th where my bank is. Quarters in hand, I return to the side streets until I get to Newport and 32nd street and begin the slow search for a parking spot. I found one on 13th. I live maybe four miles from the beach and it took 30 minutes. But that's okay, because I was all prepared and we left nice and early. So we still have plenty of time. So I load up the stroller with Ben, the blanket, the bag of towels and toys, the lunch bag, the diaper bag, my purse, and the umbrella and head to the sand.

Once there, I went to set everything down and realized that my skirt was tucked into my bathing suit. So I'd been walking down Newport Blvd. with my butt hanging out. So good. After freeing my skirt, I set Ben down in the sand to play (a decision he quickly asserted he would not have made had he been able to choose for himself) and went about setting up the umbrella. We bought it a couple of months ago and used it once. Apparently it has since broken, because the half of the pole you stick in the sand would no longer go into the half of the pole with the umbrella. So I stuck the umbrella half in the sand. There was, of course, no room to sit under it. At least for me. But Ben fit under it just fine. I gave him his toys, collapsed onto the blanket (but not under the midget umbrella, of course) and sighed.


After some play time, we had a picnic. Then we played again. I went to grab my camera to snap a few more shots of Ben, only to find that it had somehow been covered in sand. I'm guessing that's bad. So I spent the next 15 minutes turning it off and on (as it was telling me to) and praying that our super awesome beach day had not also turned into the day my camera broke. It did, eventually, come back to life (thank you, Lord!). We played some more then packed up our thousand pounds of crap and headed back to the car.


When we got home, I pulled Ben out of his carseat only to discover that it (and he) was SOAKED. Swimming diapers are super. So I got Ben and the thousand pounds of crap upstairs and into the apartment. I undressed Ben and myself and hopped in the shower. Now, when Ben was a newborn and had colic, a little mommy and Ben shower was quick to calm him. Apparently that's no longer the case. The T-Rex no longer likes showers. Well, it got the pee and sand off of us anyway.

Now he's sleeping soundly in a regular diaper and a fresh outfit.

All drama and quasi-nudity aside, it was actually a pretty fun little outing.