The One Where I Restrained Myself
Posted By jayna on July 30, 2009
MJ had her 2/3 month well baby visit* yesterday morning.
We went to the beach the day before that.
And I stuffed her chubby rolls into a baby bikini and propped her out on a beach towel for a couple of hours for some sun. She was just too pale.
Put down the phone. No need for CPS just yet. I obviously am not that dumb and did everything I knew of short of building a hut on the beach for shade and protection for the kid. However, she burned. We learned a few things. We learned that our beach umbrella obviously is too thin. We learned that the 5 minutes spent walking between the car and the umbrella are too much, even with a floppy hat. We learned that wind can burn, and so can the reflection from the sand. We learned that that bright red hair brought the fairest of the fair when it comes to her skin.
You would never believe that we lived in Georgia and went to the beach every weekend in the past, now would you?
I spent the night feeling like the worst mother in the world, seeing the red sprout across her cheeks and up her arms. And then we got to get up in the morning and take her in to the doctor’s. That was just awesome. My favorite part was right after we got lectured on how fair skinned red heads are. She picked MJ up and looked right at her and said “Mommy just needs to do a better job protecting you, now doesn’t she.”
Shit. Mommy did a wonderful job of not snatching the baby and bitch slapping the doctor upside the head.
I went with a nod and smile approach for the rest of the visit. That seemed like the safest route. I felt there would be nothing but trouble once I opened my mouth about the other porcelain skinned offspring we have and the vats of sunblock we go through.
The irony though? Doctor lady was fair skinned, with reddish hair and freckles. And? She had a wicked sunburn.
*MJ is still following after her sister and tipping the scales. Above the 97th percentile for both height and weight. No wonder we’ve been packing away all the 3-6 month stuff already.
Melrose got a burn when we went camping over the 4th. We both felt like terrible parents, but then soon realized that shit happens. My dad made me feel better when he told me his mother used to lather baby oil on him as sun protection (as directed by the doctor). You should, from this point forward, consider putting MJ in a UVA/UVB protected bubble, place her in the basement and only let her out once or twice in January…but only when it is cloudy. That would be much better then her accidentally getting a sunburn.
You have now officially had your first lesson with red heads and sun…I say that from experience since I'm a red head. We are notoriously known for our fair skin :)
Bless your heart….when Allie got a sun burn the first time I almost cried I felt so bad. I have to say I'm proud of you though with the doctor because I would not have been able to keep my mouth shut! Bravo :)
Ugh. The timing could not have been any worse.