One month gone

Well today officially marks the end of month 1 in the spica cast. I can't say it has gone quickly and I can't say it has gone slowly either. I can say that our whole schedule is dictated these days by Addison and her need to stay cool or have her diaper changed...being more than two feet away from her "changing station" if she has a messy diaper can lead to disaster! Poor thing! She has endured more poking and prodding and blowdrying (yes, I said it, blowdrying!) in the last month than any 4 and a half month old should have to! I, on the other hand, have been peed on more times than I can count as the diapering system is by no means leak proof! Thankfully, she is such a content and happy baby that she seems unaffected by it all and we are convinced that she thinks her cast is just another baby carrier type of thing. She is even able to move in it somewhat, she gets jiggling quite a bit when we have her laying on her back and has even figured out a way to move herself across any surface while on her back. Proof that where there is a will, there is always a way!

In anticipation of some hot summer weather, we ordered a cast cooler early into her cast-dom but have not really had to use it much yet, although August tends to be a particularly hot month so perhaps we will get some usage out of it yet! In just over two weeks Addie goes in for her cast change, and then there will be another 6 weeks of spica-dom. I have to admit I am getting eager to have her out of this cast already because there is so much we would like to do with her! Her dad and I were both bummed this past weekend when the temperatures soared and every other parent in the neighbourhood was down at the local swimming pool or spray park with their little ones and all we could do was spectate from the curb in our air conditioned vehicle! We keep saying...next summer will be different. She will be running around with the other kids and soaking up all the summer fun she can handle. Too bad I will be back at work then and won't be able to give her all my attention!

So far we have averted any major rashes and the cast, while not as pristine as it was when we left the hospital, is not too smelly as long as we wipe it down and keep it as dry as we can. We have found that petaling it with moleskin has helped tremendously but we did notice that the area around her legs is particularly tight and she does have a bit of a rash on her upper thigh that we can't do much about given we are not supposed to be putting any lotions or powders down the cast.

Her new baby bjorn carrier has been a life saver. We go for up to 4 or 5 walks a day in that ingenious invention. For any parent out there with a baby in a spica (or even without the spica) I highly reccommend the baby bjorn! It is single-handedly saving my poor back! I try to get her out early in the morning to avoid the worst of the summer heat for a walk around the neighbourhood, and then we head to one of the local malls later in the day once the temerature starts to climb. Early on she began developing heat rashes on the very top of her little head, but since changing things up to only have her outside in the mornings and keeping her in the basement or in air conditioned places the rest of the day, she seems to be quite comfortable.