I took the baby to the pediatrician yesterday. It was the first time doing it by myself -- E helped out with all the previous visits, except once, when my dad came instead.

I wasn't nervous though. For one thing, I was thrilled to get out of the house. The cold weather keeps us cooped up much of the time. Also, I'd been to the doctor enough that I felt comfortable I could handle it.

The baby was napping right before the appointment, and I forgot to wake him up in time to feed him before we left. So I nursed him real quick, then ran down to the car. Like most babies he likes riding in the car and will fall asleep if you keep moving long enough ... But not if he's hungry. By the time we got downtown he was crying to eat again.

I like our pediatrician but I don't like her location, on K Street downtown, where street parking spots longer than one hour are hard to find, and garages cost more than our copayment to the doctor. We found a secret spot on New Hampshire Avenue that's good for two hours, but it was taken, so I drove around the block a few times, baby screaming all the while, vainly searching for affordable parking. Finally I gave up and drove to a slightly less ridiculously expensive garage.

All the way up to the doctor's office I swung the car seat like a pendulum, trying to calm the baby. It's a good workout for my arms but it's hell on my back.

In the waiting room I nursed him for five more minutes, which calmed him until they called us in.

I stripped him down, diaper and all, for the weigh-in: 11 pounds! (His birthweight was 7 pounds.) He's still a long baby, at 23 1/2 inches. (At birth he was 21 inches.) After the doctor looked him over (and praised his head control!) the nurse came in for his vaccinations. He got five. The first was a dropper full of medicine in the mouth, no problem. The next four were shots, two in each thigh; the nurse did them super fast to get them over with.

I'd heard parents talk about how much it sucks to be with your child when he gets shots. They were right. It was horrible. I held his hands while he screamed. His neck stretched up and his face turned bright crimson: Mr. Tomato Head!

Luckily babies have pretty short memories, so a quick feeding and he'd gotten over the shock of it.

Unfortunately, though, the side effects of the vaccinations were a bit longer lasting. He was extra fussy all evening and had a slight fever last night and this morning.

On the bright side, all that extra fussiness made him extra sleepy today. He's been napping in his swing long enough to let me eat breakfast, shower and wash my hair, post this, and add some photos to Flickr: