Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 92136 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92136 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Gathering my courage, I pushed myself off the counter and stood up straight. “I’ll go get her. I’m sure you have things to do today.” Feeling proud of myself, I left the kitchen and went upstairs.
“Good morning,” I said to the angry baby in the car seat next to my bed. Not that I blamed her. Who’d want to sleep like that? I picked it up by the handle and went back downstairs. “Don’t worry Paisley, I’m going to get you something better to sleep in today.” Except I had no idea where they even sold baby shit. Maybe Emme would know.
She was still in the kitchen when I got down there. “Want some help?” she asked as I set the car seat on the island and began washing my hands.
“Nope. I’ve got this.” I dried my hands on a towel and picked up one of the plastic bottles Emme had washed last night and left on a paper towel to dry. “You should feel very special, Paisley. Not only am I giving up my Saturday morning workout for you, but I am making your breakfast before I even make coffee.” I hoped I sounded relaxed and confident, which was the complete opposite of how I felt. “Okay now, what was it again? Two level scoops of this stinky powder?” I took the cap off the can of formula.
“Well, seems like you’re doing okay,” Emme said hesitantly. “I’ll go get dressed.”
“Okay,” I said breezily. She left the kitchen and I exhaled, my chest collapsing. Pretending to know what I was doing was tiring. I measured two level scoops of formula and dumped it into the bottle. “Next I add four ounces of water.”
But when I went to the sink, I realized that I probably should have added the water first since the formula took up some space in the bottle. In the interest of doing things exactly right, I dumped the powder back in the can and started over. “I made a mistake, Paisley. Sorry to say, it’s going to happen a lot.” I glanced at her, and it was kind of amusing how interested her expression was. She wasn’t even fussing while I spoke to her. “Don’t tell anyone.”
I got it right the second time, and I even used warm water, which seemed smart to me because it allowed me to skip a step (heating up the bottle). Congratulating myself on a job well done, I brought the bottle and the car seat into the living room, set them both on the coffee table, and unbuckled the car seat straps. As soon as I lifted her out, I could tell that she needed to be changed.
“You stink,” I told her. “Maybe not as bad as last night, but that is not a pleasant odor about you. I thought babies were supposed to smell good.” I was more confident in my bottle-making skills than my diaper-changing skills, but I figured I’d give it a shot. Keeping Paisley in place against my chest with one arm, I laid the blanket on the couch with the other. Before I set her down I grabbed a clean diaper from the bag. There were only two left, which meant shopping was first up on the agenda today. As I changed her, I started making a list of things I would need. Since she seemed to like my voice, I talked it out.
“We’ll need diapers for sure, and more formula, and probably a few more bottles. We’ll need a stroller and something for you to sleep in,” I said, swapping the old diaper for the new one, “and maybe some kind of lounge chair for you to sit in instead of that car seat. Speaking of which, I’m going to have to figure out how to buckle you into my car. Okay, let’s see how I did.”
I finished zipping up her sleeper and picked her up, holding her out in front of me and turning her this way and that. “Well, you’re still in one piece and still breathing, so that’s a good sign.” I placed her in the crook of my arm, grabbed the bottle from the coffee table, and fed her a couple ounces. She probably would have eaten more, but I remembered that Emme said it was good to burp her about halfway through. Setting the bottle aside, I sat her on my knee and propped her up over one hand like Emme had shown me last night. With the other hand I rubbed her back, and I only had to wait about thirty seconds for her to give me a decent-sized belch.
“Look at you.” Emme’s voice came from the direction of the stairs. I turned around and saw her coming down, dressed again in her jeans and sweater.
I settled Paisley into my arms once more and began feeding her the rest of the bottle, crossing my legs so one ankle rested on one knee. I was determined to look like I could handle this. “Not bad, right?”