Story's First Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is literally a family rock-block for us. We start off with Tim's family coming in a day or two before, and thus begins all day visits with his large family and our Thanksgiving day fun with mine. Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday to spend with our families, as it's almost like an festival concert or something. And it's gluttony-tastic, with Thanksgiving day, Chinese food night, Seafood day and then leftover time.

I was a bit worried about Story and how she'd handle this kind of intense, people-ladened time. She's spent most of her existence in our tiny home, hanging out with Tim and I, kind of secluded from other humans. It's not that we're trying to coddle her, but it's freakin' cold out (and holiday shopping season, which means it's hell to get around and go to malls where we could do some indoor walking...) I was worried that she'd get really overstimulated and be a crying mess the whole time.

Wednesday was the first day I went over to Tim's parent's house, which just happened to coincide with his first day back at work. I went over early because I was nervous about my first day handling Story all by myself, so I felt like it would be great to hang out around family. And it was! Tim's family are totally cool about me breastfeeding, so I had lots of company while S ate up a storm. And everyone was so wonderful about wanting to hold her and help me get some downtime.

It was similarly laid-back at my sister's house, though they weren't as cool with breastfeeding (well, my sister was... but mom told me to be more modest, which kind of ticked me off. oh well, we all have our different comfort zones.) It was so cute to see my niece caring for S and feeding her, too. It was just awesome to have so much love and help from family. It's not that I expected less, but it was still so wonderful.

However, S did get REALLY overstimulated. I found that at about 3pm each day she would get really fussy and angry at all the stimulation. Tim's mom had a great solution for this, which was to throw a blanket over her to shield out the light and some noise. I called this the "parrot effect" and it worked pretty well. However, Tim found the surefire solution, which was to put her in our Premaxx Sling Carrier and close the drawstrings all the way, which shut out the light and noise as well as gave her a nice rocking motion when Tim walked her around. This put her out lickety split! I just love how parenting makes us discover all of these amazing toys and contraptions!

Today is Family Home Thanksgiving with Amy, La, Josh and possibly Katie/Dingo. Even though the last few days were fun, I'm so glad to have one to ourselves at home and then a relaxing dinner with a few friends. I think S needs a day to wind down.