Osborn Fiber Studio

To every parent who I’ve ever judged: I’m sorry. I had no right.

To every parent who I’ve resented or thought was selfish for making me work around your schedule: I’m sorry. I had no idea what it was like to lose 95% of your adaptability.

To every tiger-parent who I’ve thought should chill the heck out: I’m sorry. I had no idea how much ferocity it takes to do what’s best for your child.

To every parent who I thought was a little weirdly possessive or overbearing: I’m sorry. After what you’ve been through, you have every right (though it might still be a little unhealthy).

To every parent who I thought was imbalanced because I thought you were a little too obsessed with their child: I’m sorry. I had no idea how much of your life such a tiny person could suck up.

To every parent who I felt superior to because they had no life after they had children: I’m sorry. I had no idea how hard it would be to find time to even brush my teeth.

So the past couple of weeks have been a spectacular series of craps hitting fans. Weight gain issues, hip dysplasia, staph infection scare, yeast infections (yes plural), and an entirely too-delayed diagnosis of tongue tie. To make a long story short, precious Naomi has to wear a brace all the time for at least the next six weeks to make sure her hip sockets grow correctly, and then she’ll be fine (untreated, this can turn into limp and require surgery). This morning we got her tongue tie cut, and she already seems to be nursing a little better. The whole weight gain issue might have been a false alarm, and the yeast infections too, but in the end I needed the test of character that the past two weeks have been in order to be present to and fight for my daughter. And I’m grateful for how many gaps were filled in our knowledge about breastfeeding and infant care.

Yesterday we didn’t have much to do except the endless, excruciating work of argumentative tongue tied nursing, so to cheer ourselves up we decided to finally do a one-month photo shoot. I’d tried to do one before, but I was doubly sick, had slept three hours in two days, and didn’t have any help, so it mostly went like this:

So I wanted to try again, even though technically we were at 5 weeks and 3 days. Close enough. Mom was there to help, sharing all my proclivities, and she took most of the pictures. We were having a fussy period when I dressed her up, but I set her down, and she had a look of complete calm peace… so we said let’s do it now!  We grabbed all the props and ran up to the sunny guest room and had the most successful five-minute photo shoot I’ve ever witnessed. So here you go!

I made the hammer pants, of course (note to self: google infant hammer pants); the headband is from an old school friend who has started an Etsy business called Libby’s Fabulous Flower Clips. They are fabulous and adorable and you should go there and buy some things and send them to me.

Jared’s “love blanket” has gotten a lot of use warming my shoulders in bed with a baby.

Here is a weird thing that happened: I put the heartwarmer on Naomi and she screamed. I took it off and she stopped. We got it on her for a few seconds without buttoning it for this photo op, but she doesn’t seem to like it. I’m going to try again during a calmer time, because it conveniently covers her harness straps. And what kind of weird person likes wool and can’t stand cashmere? weird…

With her monkey from great-great-aunt Betty.