She POOPS! (twice!)

What. A. Day.

Today was one of those never-ending Sundays.  Kids were up too early, naps were non-existent, whining was plentiful.  Today was one of those days that probably would've slipped under the rug, except for the fact, that we have a big announcement! :)

...MAEVE pooped in the potty TWO times today.

This recent accomplishment, (the pooping in the potty) combined with her excellent pee pee-ing skills, has me believing that she is jussssst about potty trained.   YES! 

She has been wearing undies full time, (minus naps & bedtime) since Monday.  She's had maybe 3-4 accidents?  That's not bad, right? 

Anywho, we're thrilled for her-(for us, too).  Today is definitely a day to remember...

The day she decided to poop on the potty.

PS- want to know something crazy?  It has nothing to do with pooping on the potty.  I am watching "50 First Dates" on TBS right now, and I wasn't sure if I had ever revealed to you (my audience), that Henry is named after the character in the movie... Henry Roth.  Yeah, for real.  Don't judge me on that one ;) 

poop in the pants.

Sorry, no other way to say it. 

Well, there are a few others, but this is a family-friendly blog :)

Maeve, my sweets, woke up this morning, on a mission.  She wanted to wear her "Little Mermaid" panties.  I was thinking, "THANK YOU JESUS!  TODAY IS THE DAY!!  SHE'S SICK OF DIAPERS!"

For those of you not residing in antartica (aka Michigan), its freezing.  Like can't feel your toes, whipping winds, cold to your bones freezing.  The only good that could come of this weather, is being stuck in the house for a few days, thus creating a perfect enviornment for potty training.  Or so I thought?

Maeve does awesome with peeing.  She's a champ.  She has dribbles here and there, but for the most part, when she's wearing her undies, she makes it to the potty.   She was doing great all morning, running to and from the bathroom, so proud to show me her "pee pees."

It was after lunch, that I noticed she had been MIA for too long.  I went back in her bedroom and she was lying down on all her stuffed animals.  This is a FACT:  Whenever you walk into a room, and your child says "I not do anything,"  they did something.

I faintly smelled poop.  And saw that she was fully clothed.  No big deal.  This chick poops her pants all the time.  And then I peeled her pants off. 

She had taken OFF her panties, put ON leggings, and pooped.  Yes, she pooped directly INTO the pants.  

I tried to clean her up without gagging.  I failed.  She felt awful.  She actually said to me, "Mama you won't laugh, okay?" 

OMG. 

After cleaning her, the pants, the bath & shower, & the few unfortunate stuffed animals that got uhh... pooed on,  I put her down for a nap.

I then spent my entire 30 minutes (yeah that's all I got today) crying because my child could quite possibly be in depends at the age of 13.

In all reality (and I'm hoping depends at 13 is not my reality) WHAT DO I DO???  This kid WILL NOT poop on the toilet.  And 50% of the time she isn't even wanting to pee on the potty.  She is 3 years old, she's in size FIVE diapers, its time for this to be done!

Any....annnnnnnnnnny advice would be grand. 

We Had the Rumble... ;)

Parenting Maeve has seriously kind of hardened me to a lot of things. Which I have to say (and Ryan agrees with this too-) is a good thing. I don't jump at a little fever, nor do I panic when Maeve flies off the couch onto the floor. My motto now is "show me the blood then we'll talk" :) No, of course I am a very involved, concerned mom- the only thing that truly matters to me is the health and well being of my kids- that's it. Where I'm going with all of this, is that I truly was not going to take Henry into the doc for his constipation problem. If this would've been two years ago and Maeve? We would've been in the ER :) Like I said, I've become a lot calmer over the years. However, after spending the majority of last night UP with a fussy baby I figured it might not hurt to give the doc a call and at least ASK what I should do.

I called around 11 or so and asked to speak to a nurse- after telling the nurse what was going on she said he should probably be seen. :( I KNEW it was nothing serious- I really did- but I was becoming a bit desperate for Henry to stop being so uncomfortable and therefore, stop fussing. My mom took Maeve for me and I brought Henry into the doc. We ended up spending the good part of the afternoon (and Maeve's nap time) driving through the blizzard and stuck in the doc office with a bunch of sick kids. The icing on the cake though, was paying thirty bucks to be told to give Henry a glycerin suppository and some prune juice. UGHHHHHH! Off we went to good ol' Walmart to retrieve our pooping supplies.

I decided since I documented Maeve's every hiccup I should document this important day in Henry's life: His first suppository.

Here's the scary sucker- I was a tad intimidated by it- poor Henry had no clue what was about to happen...


The waiting was intense ;)



After about 5 minutes or so, we we're in business.


The damage (I think we went through 4-5 diapers???):


The dude needed a soak in the sink after all that hard work.


Henry relaxing- he deserves it, right? And yes,yes I realize his shirt is a midriff... he's a chunk- what can I say? :)



Not like any of you REALLY want to know this, but his poo wasn't liquidy like it normally is. It was more of the consistency of play-doh. It needed to come out and I'm glad it did. I'm hoping we can get back on track now- with sleep, feedings AND pooping.

We Need a Rumble in the Jungle!!!! (amongst other things)

We are going on day number 6 of no poop for Mr. Henry (yes- you read right- SIX days of no poop). The poor guy is miserable. He keeps turning red and making these horrible straining noises. I thought breastfed babies didn't get constipated??? Normally he's a champion pooper- pooping at every feeding. And then all of a sudden everything just STOPPED. We've tried lots of things: Mylicon (although those are more for gas- and yes, he is very, very gassy...) sugar water (1 oz. water-1 teas. sugar) sticking a thermometer in his rear and I even gave him a half an ounce of watered down apple juice. NOTHING is moving. I haven't called the doc all week because I've heard stories of friends' babies who have gone a week or so without pooping and then its like the great flood once they do finally go. My friend Jessy's son used to poop once a week- on Sunday's if I recall- is that right Jess? :) So I guess I was thinking that's what was going to happen. Apparently not, since tomorrow marks one week of no poo. I'll definitely be calling the doc in the morning. Boo to no poo.

AMONGST OTHER THINGS... today was my 6 week post partum check up- which means Henry is 6 weeks old. Again I ask, where has the time gone??? My mom came over at the crack of dawn to watch Maeve since she was still sleeping (what was I thinking scheduling my appt. for 8?) and I took Henry with me. Laura checked me out and before she even examined "down there" I begged her not to touch any stitch she sees. If you remember, I was unfortunate enough to have 3 of my stitches removed last time around and it was most definitely more painful than getting them put in. She reassured me she wouldn't pull them out as long as they weren't infected looking. PRAISE the LORD they had all dissolved and I was told "it looked really nice." Ummm.. thanks? :) Henry was fussing and being his usual gassy self, so Laura took him out while I got dressed and I could hear the whole office staff "oohing and ahhing" over him. While gathering up my things in the room I actually got teary eyed thinking about how much I was going to miss my weekly visits to the office. I love the nurse Clara, and of course my midwives... Dr. P of course, (even though he can be a jerk sometimes). And I can't say without certain that I will have another baby in Michigan. Therefore, this may have been my last experience with that office and that makes me incredibly sad. I am so comfortable with everyone in there- from the receptionists to the doc. Hmmm... bitter sweet I guess. Never in a million years did I think I'd miss peeing in a cup or stepping on the scale and reaching numbers that should belong to elephants.

That's all for now- if any of you have some great tips on how to loosen up some baby poo PLEEEEEEASE let me know!!!!

Funny of the Day!

Today has been tough. Maeve has been acting out & Henry has expressed his desire to be held ALL.THE.TIME. Nap time was a nightmare- Maeve was literally jumping up and down in her crib for a good hour before she tired herself out. And then as soon as Maeve fell asleep, Henry was up and ready to eat. So yeah, the timing was totally off. I also braved Meijers by myself with both the kids. It actually went really well- just tiring.

SO back to that "funny."

Ryan had a service call tonight at 6:30 (BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!) so he got home at 5:30 and was back out the door at 6:15. What to do for dinner? Fast food yet again. GROSS. The kids and I ran out to get something for dinner and were gone for seriously *maaayyybe* 15 minutes. When we came back in the house, it reaked. I figured Henry's and Maeve's diapers were backing up and I just hadn't noticed before because I had been in the house all day. I gave Maeve her dinner and settled into feed Henry. After about 15 minutes, Maeve was done- I got her down from her high chair and noticed that in the back hallway there was diarrhea everywhere. OMG. Those stupid dogs. Well actually, it was just one dog but still- sick. I am so over these animals. Of course Henry is screaming to be fed on the other side and I'm stuck deciding on what to do first- feed him or clean up the poop (which was going to probably take a good 20 minutes). I decided it would be the least stressful on all parties to feed Henry first. So I showed Maeve the poop and told her "GROSS- STAY AWAY." Her face was priceless- she looked absolutely horrified. And then all of a sudden she got this giant grin on her face and yelled "MICKEY MOUSE!" What???? Sure enough I took a closer look and there was a diarrhea pile in the perfect shape of a Mickey Mouse. Leave it to Maeve to pick out the beauty in such a disgusting thing. :)

Ryan is now home, the poop is cleaned up, Maeve & Henry are both fed- Maeve has been bathed and is in bed. Henry is about to get a bath & hopefully settle in for a few hours. I am DONE with today... and hoping to squeeze in a glass of wine in between feedings... my midwife has assured me over and over that one glass of wine with an hour in between isn't going to do a thing but still... feels weird. Not weird enough though to not indulge! :)

SHE POOPS!!! (SOLID)

Yea! Maeve's poo poos turned into SOLID poopies on Sunday afternoon! And so far today (she's had 2 poops) they've been solid. She also seems to be acting herself- THANK GOD! I did not want to go through having her blood drawn and other cultures taken. Since Ryan nor I got sick, I am really chalking up that horrible week of diarrhea to teething- its happened before, but its never lasted a week. I can't see in the back of her mouth, but I *think* her back molars are coming in. The doc said she could kind of see some red bumps back there...

Oh- and in the previous post ("thinking ahead") I mentioned something about Halloween but forgot to expand on it. Ever since we moved into our neighborhood, I LOVE Halloween- I love seeing all the kids in their costumes and we get the perfect number of trick-or-treaters... not so many where the doorbell is ringing off the wall, but enough to fill the evening. I am also a tad bit obsessed with dressing Maeve up- the first year, she was in a pumpkin sleeper thing (she was just too little for a costume- 2 weeks old!) last year, she was a poodle- and I thought it was the cutest thing I've ever seen. THIS year, I am debating between two costumes...theKITTY and the BUTTERFLY. Notice both are from "Old Navy." That's where we got her poodle costume last year and it was AWESOME- warm, high quality and adorable :) I think she would like to be a kitty just because she has an obsession with cats... but the butterfly is SO cute! Hmmm... decisions, decisions, decisions. :) What are your kids going to be for Halloween??? Share!

Oh and here's a flashback to Halloween '07 & Halloween '08... sigh... where does the time go?



Notice the hot pink toe-nails:)

A Quick Update.

So this is day 6 of diarrhea- tomorrow (Friday) will mark an entire 7 days of nothing but the runs for miss Maeve. Dr. Williams had said if it hadn't cleared up by tomorrow then we will have to do some cultures. The good news is she hasn't run a fever in over 24 hours- KNOCK ON WOOD! She is still cranky/whiny & lethargic- mainly after naptime- in the mornings she is actually acting pretty normal. Today was a great morning- she ate a big breakfast (followed by diarrhea) but that didn't slow her down at lunchtime! My mom, Maeve and I went to Daryls and she ate almost an entire quiche by herself :) its great to see her eating normally again- even if it is coming out in liquid later. UGH...

I am 27 weeks today- crazy, because I feel like I am 37 weeks. Every once in awhile, I have these really low moments where I start to think how far I have to go... thankfully I have Maeve to keep my mind off of it the majority of the time. I have noticed that in the past week or so especially, sleep has become SO uncomfortable. I wake up probably 20 times a night (NO exaggeration- maybe more) because lying on my sides is making my hips go numb. So I wake up from the tingling/numbness and have to flip over. I actually just woke up from a nap and my hips are still tingling and my groin feels like I've been riding a horse for 2 weeks straight. I definitely remember this with Maeve... but I am pretty sure it didn't start with her until I was into weeks 30 and beyond. Again, scary that I'm only 27 weeks and already so miserable. YIKES.

Another weird thing that is happening are sore ankles- I never got sore ankles with Maeve and I am attributing this to the simple fact that now that I have a very active 2 year old, I am on my feet a lot more.

This baby moves non-stop. Really- I am totally convinced there are 2 babies in there because the sheer amount of movement. I thought Maeve moved a lot, but no joke- I will do a "kick count" and count probably 20-30 movements within 10 minutes or so. Its nuts. But cool :) And Dr. P always says "an active baby is a healthy baby" so I suppose all is well.

Anyways, that's the basic update on life here. Hope you're having a good week :)

27 weeks... wish I could say "and going strong!" haha... just SO not up for another 3 months...

Maeve loves to feel the bumps & wiggles of her brother :)

drowning in diarrhea.

Well... its day 5 of diarrhea & it hasn't let up at all- I can't believe the poor bug has had it for this long. I had been putting off going to the doctor because I do NOT want to be that overbearing, "something is wrong with my kid" kind of mom. Remember- I had just taken her in a week or so ago for what I thought was an ear infection but turned out to be NIGHTMARES (talk about feeling like an idiot). But I'm sorry- 4 days of a fever (no matter how low grade it is) and 5 days of diarrhea warrants a trip to the doctors. Off we went this afternoon- but not before a slight crisis; Our appointment was at 4:15 and I was trying to let Maeve sleep as long as she possibly could so I timed it, to wake her up around 4, change her diaper, stick her in the car by 4:05, be at the doc. by 4:15. Unfortunately, changing her diaper wasn't a simple or quick thing by any means. I went in to get her at 4, and her room reeeeaaaaked- I knew she had pooped- but UGH this was bad. In record time, I stripped her down, stuck her under the running faucet in the bath (she was still half asleep) put a diaper on her, dressed her in a whole new outfit (since the previous one was covered in diarrhea) and had her in the car by 4:10-ish. We made it to our appointment just in time.

Unfortunately I have this terrible condition that you might have heard me talk about a time or two before, but yeah- my anxiety has been horrible lately- my mind has been creeping into these terrible thoughts of all these different things things that a fever and diarrhea could mean. I was totally prepared to hear she had the dang swine flu or something. Thankfully, her ears and throat all checked out fine- Dr. Williams also pressed on her belly- didn't faze Maeve... she also took a look at her diaper rash. The verdict? A stomach bug... OR teething. UGH I hate going to the doc and not getting a definite answer. Basically, our instructions are to treat the diaper rash with maalox & desitin, push the fluids like crazy & keep an eye on her fever- giving her the least amount of tylenol/motrin as possible. If her diarrhea hasn't cleared up by Friday, then we have to go back in for cultures- and THAT is what is scaring me to death.

At the moment, she is burning up- thankfully her temp is only 100.5. I've woken her up twice to try to get her to drink some gatorade... no success :( I'm about to put it in a syringe... and shoot it directly into her mouth- seriously if you guys saw the amount of diarrhea that is coming out of her you'd be desperate to get SOMETHING fluid-like in her. The saddest thing is that she is just SO not herself... she's sluggish, tired and whiny. All she wants to do is watch t.v- she actually says "T- VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV!" and then climbs into bed under the covers. I never knew how painful it is to watch your child be sick and uncomfortable. Again, I'm counting my blessings that Maeve *hopefully* just has some bug or is teething- and is not seriuosly ill. I can't imagine being the mom of a kid with cancer or some other horrific disease. Okay... that's enough of me getting emotional about Maeve's diarrhea... see what preggo hormones do?????

Wish Maeve luck that her diarrhea clears up though- we (I am pretty sure I can speak for her on this one) REALLY don't want to get any cultures done or end up in the hospital for dehydration... UGH.

Diarrhea Days... as told by Maeve.

Hi friends. I've had a belly ache for a few days now... and a hot head. It hasn't been very much fun. There are a few good things that get to happen though.

LIKE:
running around nakie. Momma doesn't make me wear diapers anymore! At least until my bummy clears up. It's great! Momma does shut the doors to the bedrooms though... so I'm confined to the living room & kitchen...apparently she doesn't want to scrub my poopies out of the carpet.

I also get to drink as much sprite as I want! COOOOOL! Momma never gives me pop! I love the way it fizzels out of the straw and into my mouth...


Ooooh! Momma also gives me about a zillion baths a day. I love the way the cool water feels on my hiney. I also like the white powdery stuff momma puts in. Not as cool as bubbles but I've taken a few licks of it (momma says "GROSS!!!!") and its sorta yummy.





And last but not least, momma cuddles with me all day long. I haven't even had to take naps in my crib! I get to sleep right with her in the BIG bed!


Even though its been great catching up on all my favorite shows with momma, taking cool cornstartch baths & running around naked, I am ready to feel better. Hopefully tomorrow the doctor can help me out!

ehhhhh.... what a weekend.

***I guess I should have a disclaimer for this post... its gross***

This entire weekend I've been up to my elbows in poopy diapers (and not good poop- wait is there "GOOD" poop?).
It all started Friday morning. I gave Maeve a bath, put a diaper on her and set her in the floor- as soon as her feet hit the floor she squatted, made one big push and SPLAT- her diaper was blown out just like that... poopies everywhere. SO back in the bath we went. The whole time she was in the bath she was having toots- and I could see some poopy flakes swimming around in the water which was really grossing me out. Out of the bath, into another diaper and not more than 5 minutes "SPLAT" goes another one. I was trying to think what the heck she ate that could be giving her an upset tummy... she was acting completely normal though- no fever, not lethargic at all... so I figured maybe it was too much milk at breakfast or something. No more diarrhea to speak of the rest of Friday night...

THEN came Saturday. I had actually forgotten all about the diarrhea explosions from the day before, and took Maeve out to a garage sale & to the mall to see the tigers for a bit. She was definitely acting a little funny- very, VERY clingy- more so than usual. But I still wasn't really thinking much of it. On the way home from the mall I smelled this horrific smell- okay- this is gross, but you know the how there is a difference between diarrhea smell and normal poopy smell? Well it was that awful, acidic diarrhea smell- ughhhhhhhhhhh. Yes, another giant explosion greeted me as we got home. I fed her lunch- a banana, some oatmeal and WATER- she threw it all on the floor. Hmmm... put her to bed around 1:00 PM- she woke up around 4 (3 HOUR NAP!?!?!) burning up with a fever. I knew instantly as soon as I picked her up she had a fever. Her cheeks were red, she was sweaty and yes, she had pooped out another diaper. Her temp yesterday hovered between 100-101, even with motrin & tylenol. I started pushing the fluids like mad yesterday afternoon- she's gone through a 2 liter of sprite in 2 days... yes, lots of sugar, but according to the doc. warm sprite is the best thing to settle a stomach (plus she thinks its a huge treat). She slept through the night- just woke up super early- around 6 or so- with another yucky diaper.
To sum up today, its gone a lot like this:
slather her behind with destin, put a diaper on, wait for the squat & splat, gently- GENTLY wipe her up, stick her in a bath (her poor little booty is SO SO SORE. It is beat red and she can't even walk with her legs together- how sad!) slather with destin, put a diaper on, wait for squat & splat, etc. etc. etc. She's had about 9 diarrhea diapers today (THANK GOD RYAN IS HOME TO HELP!!!) and about 20 baths to soak her bum. The fever is still around 100- it just won't go away! She is HOT- and I keep taking her temp. thinking its got to be higher than 100 but its not thank goodness... I guess she's just hot. Anyways it looks like we'll be visiting Dr. Williams in the morning if her temp stays around. Even if it is just a stomach bug, almost 3 days of a fever warrants a visit.
I know I've asked before and I have referenced back to some older posts- but any remedies for really bad diaper rash besides different types of pastes? Maeve about has a conniption when we try and touch her butt- she loves to soak in the tub- she sits on her knees so her booty doesn't touch the bath tub floor and will just sit like that... I was thinking if there is any kind of soak I could come up with for the bath that would ease the pain, she'd probably love that.

A Poopy Day.

And I mean a POOPY day with every pun intended :)

To update you all, I've had horrible digestive problems (I'll let you assume what I'm talking about because I really don't want to write the word out) and in the process to stop the problems, I've tried cutting everything out of my diet that could possibly be causing it. Well, last Friday morning low and behold, it turns out that ALL Nestle Tollhouse cookies have been recalled because of E.Coli. Nice. And I'm sure you can all guess what I'm about to say next- yes, I recently ate them and YES, I ate a few bites raw. So I called my OB. I tried to convince my poor midwife that I indeed had e.coli- she said I was more than welcome to get stool sample and see my general practitioner but the problem was that e.coli is found in everyone's digestive track- so it would be a really hard diagnosis. I weighed the benefits of having a stool sample and actually couldn't come up with one. :) So I waited until my scheduled OB appointment, which was for today, Wednesday, June 24th. My mom had an appointment with her cardiologist at Michigan Heart (which is right next to the hospital) so she volunteered to come down and watch Maeve during my appointment. I quickly took her up on that offer- since the last time I took Maeve to an appointment she had reeked complete havoc all over the room. The plan was for me to go to my appointment at 9:45, and then to take Maeve to that AWESOME park that is right by the hospital- perfect for a hot sunny day since the whole park is shaded with trees.
My appointment was pretty run of the mill- weight check- gained 4 lbs. (OMG), pee check (no protein), blood pressure (100/60), uterus measurement (17 cm) and of course the heartbeat check (150 bpm). Everything was fine, great, good to go :)
Off we went to the park- and if you recall, in a previous post about Maeve, if you even mention the word "park" you better be following up on it! So she was chanting "park" in the back seat and the world was good. Pulling up to the park I notice that the normally very crowded park is completely empty- ONE car in the parking lot. I thought that was strange- but also thought "HOORAY! We get the park to ourselves!" As soon as I got Maeve out she made a beeline for the entrance. That's when I ran into a mom and her 3 kids- I was holding on tight to Maeve's hand, as she was pulling hard to get into the park... This poor, POOR mother began to tell me to stay out of the park because someone had DEFECATED all over the freaking place and her son had just crawled through it. I looked at her son, and he didn't just have a smudge of poop on him- he was COVERED in it. The poor kid thought it was mud and didn't think twice about crawling through the poo filled tubes. AHHHHH!! I scooped Maeve up, thanked the lady, asked her if she needed any wipes and then strapped a screaming, kicking, very angry little Maemae into her carseat. How do you explain to a 20 month old that someone pooped all over the park??? My mind was racing and I was trying to figure out what I could do to make her happy- AHHH!! "The TOY HOUSE!" It's a few blocks away from the park, and one of Maeve's favorite things to do. As soon as she saw the red, blue and yellow building she started clapping and saying "YEAAAH!" I let her play in the play houses, with the trains and we bought a few water toys for my parents pool.
Anyways, Maeve is now happily eating her lunch, hopefully the traumatic park experience is behind her (I mean- that is kind of cruel to dangle this giant park in front of her and then yank her away from it...). I am appalled that someone has pooped in one of our favorite parks and I hope the city of Jackson cleans that crap up (haha there's a good pun) as fast as they can.

Sore Bum :(

Maeve is going to be 18 months on the 11th (OMG!) and in her 18 months of life, never- not once has she had bad diaper rash. Once in awhile her hiney gets a little red but destin always does the trick. Earlier this afternoon, before her nap, I noticed she was definitely cutting her bottom teeth (I had THOUGHT she was, but now you can see them poking through, so I definitely know she is). Normally when she is teething its HELL- she doesn't sleep, she runs a low fever, gets a runny nose, is super cranky, etc. etc. etc. BUT never a diaper rash- and almost every mom I've talked to has told me how bad their baby's diaper rash would get during teething. Now I know what they're talking about...

MaeMae woke up from her nap today feeling fine- she was wet so I changed her and noticed her bottom was a bit pink- but not too bad. I put a bit of destin on it and she seemed good to go. About a half hour later she had a poo poo, so I changed her again- it was diarrhea and her poor booty was beat red and BLEEDING! How the heck did that go from pinkish to bleeding in a half hour???? Of course as I was wiping her she was in complete misery- and she was squeezing her butt together so tight I couldn't even really get her clean. So I thought maybe a warm bath might feel good- WRONG- I am pretty sure I traumatized her. I stood her in the bath, she sat down and looked at me and let out one of those really long, silent screams that eventually turns into an ear shattering howl. It was horrible! So I picked her up sopping wet and we went back to the changing table... I eventually bent her knees up to her tummy so I could get the destin on. She seems to be doing better now- but you can clearly tell that she's just not feeling up to par. Poor doll :(

French Toast Fridays!

For the past few Fridays I've been making Maeve French Toast- not only is it a hit with Little Miss Magic, but it also takes care of left over purees :) Today she got carrot & beet french toast- and AGAIN ate just about every bite. This stuff is gold- I swear! So I think we're going to make it a tradition- "French Toast Fridays!" Of course the kid doesn't know if its a Friday or a Monday, but still, it will be a nice change from cereal! And I swear it takes about 2 seconds to make- I am not big on spending a lot of time in the kitchen early in the mornings- I will do the overnight bakes in the crockpot or stuff like that, but totally not into waking up early to make breakfast- heck I can barely manage to make dinner half the time. But this truly is easy and only "dirties" a few dishes... nice :) Again, I would totally post the recipe but those dang copyright infringements!

Today we have NOTHING on our plates- absolutely nothing! I don't have to work tonight :)YEA! I am hoping to talk Ryan into going to the mall and entertaining Maeve for a little bit while I raid Gymboree for the 2nd time this week :) We'll see...

Tomorrow I am supposed to judge in Adrian... I have this sinking feeling though its gonna be cancelled... jeez I could totally use that 160 bucks. Who knows though... the weatherman could be wrong.

On the Maeve front, we have a new skill- or "thing" I should say. She is bilingual :) haha...not really- she just has found a new phrase that she loves saying "De Nada." She has this toy that speaks in French, English and Spanish and I guess its been on the Spanish mode, because there's no denying it, she's been going around saying "DAAAAAAAY naaaaaaada" strange thing to say but cool. She also has been saying "OHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOO" very dramatically. Its funny- the other night on the way home from gymnastics she was in the back seat saying "oooooooooohhhhhhhh nooooooooo." No clue why or where she picked that up- I never say "OH no" usually I just say "NO!" :) But again, pretty neat she is becoming so verbal :) Also, every time the phone rings she puts her hand up to her ear and says "hello?" And when she's got the phone actually IN her hand, she says "Hello?" and then jibber jabbers to herself... funny kid.

It's hard for me to imagine her being a talking person, but it excites me to no end. I can't WAIT to hear what's on her little mind and telling her how to say something and what it means and actually knowing its sticking in there :) Right now there's a lot of "Maeve this is baby's nose, these are baby's eyes, but I think its going in one ear and out the other :) Apparently she's learning more from her toys than she is from me!

Oh how is everything going on the sick front? Ryan is as healthy as a horse (of course- he NEVER gets sick!!!) I think I've lost about 10 lbs. this week from loss of fluids out of both ends (nice image i know) and not eating... and Maeve is STILL having blow outs- her doc.said while she's breaking these teeth and fighting this virus its totally expected that she have diarrhea and to not be worried about it... BUT wow its getting sooooooo old changing her bedding, giving her yucky baths and cleaning poop stains out of clothes. (for those of you who haven't been keeping count this is our 8th day of it...)

Wellllll........... I hope everyone has a safe and realxing weekend. TGIF :)

Don't Put Your Feet On The Floor

From the movie, "Spanglish" there is a scene where Flor and Michael are on this couch and Michael is trying to convince Flor not to put her feet on the floor because when that happens, reality will come flooding back. BTW- Spanglish is one of the BEST movies I have ever seen- and thats not just because my man is in it :) It truly is inspirational and has an incredible message about family, kids and relationships... AWESOME movie.

Anyways, today is a day I should have kept my feet off the floor. After a normal night sleep, waking up and stepping on the ground I realized that your whole outlook on life and people can be flip flopped in a second. Not going to delve into details here, because honestly, its stupid and not important. But what an emotional morning here in the McKenney house! After spending the good part of the morning crying, I needed OUT of the house. Out we went :)
***This has nothing to do with Ryan and I!!!! Don't want you bloggers to think we're having problems! :) ****

OMGOOOOOOOOD LORD is it cold out there. Anyhow, Maeve fared well- she's like a little star or something- I bundle her all up, cover her with a blanket and run her in, sheilding and holding her with my one hand and pushing the stroller with the other, we really make an entrance! Once we were in the mall, I strapped Maeve into her stroller and off we went to Gymbo. I made out really well- got tons of winter clothes for next year plus one outfit for our little trip to Florida that is coming up at the end of Jan. Dealing with gymbucks can be a bit confusing- it normally requires calculators and numerous trips back to the racks to "get up" to the total you need to actually redeem your gymbucks. So its always a bit nightmarish waiting in line with Maeve while doing this- she is usually arching her back, screaming at me and making quite the scene as I am desperately trying to figure out the gymbuck stuff. TODAY however, must've been my lucky day because as I was talking with the cashier and she was adding up my stuff with the calculator, I noticed something- QUIET- I look down and MaeMae is SLEEPING! I don't think she's fallen asleep in her stroller since Disney World- strange... anyways, after having an extremely emotional morning, I was thankful for the sleeping baby... and she stayed that way all the way home and right into bed. I layed down with her and we literally took a 3 hour nap!!! It was great to say the least- most nights I DO lay with her in our bed for a couple of hours while Ryan does homework, but hardly ever do we nap together... I felt like we were two buddies :) After she woke up, it was the usual rush to work- totally forgot Maeve hadn't had lunch (since she fell asleep at gymbo at 11:30) so yessss- I got my kid McDonalds!!! YUCK! Okay, I am pretty lenient with what she eats, but iiiiicccck I hated giving her that junk this afternoon.... whats a busy workin' mom to do though? :) I did choose apple dippers and chicken McNuggets though... that's not THAT bad right?

Anyways, work was crappy... since it was a snowday for all the schools, attendance was super low at gymnastics. Then I got home to find that while I was on the phone today, Maeve had taken olive oil, a jar of peanuts and white wine vinegar and had tossed them all over the gate and down the basement stairs. Little stinker!!! AND she had broken a bottle of my perfume today so our whole house smells like Ralph Lauren Blue... not a bad scent to have in the house but pretty bummed about the perfume loss.

Since I was so lazy this afternoon with Maeve, nothing was made or planned for dinner. We had to eat leftovers from last night :(

And to top the day off, I was sitting on the couch talking on the phone AGAIN :) - totally not paying attention (I will admit it!) and Maeve was sitting over in the corner of the living room- like where all her toys are, just in her diaper. About 10 minutes later, she emerged from her corner diaperless- I laughed, thinking "aw what a crazy girl we have." Then as she started crawling on the couches I noticed a smell- she had POOPED in her diaper, taken it off and had now crawled her naked, poopy butt all over the couches, her toys, some laundry and ME. YUUUUCK!!!!

So, yeah, I should've kept my feet off the floor- sometimes reality just plain STINKS...
(how's that pun for ya Ang?)

So Much "STUFF"

This is going to be one of those "overloaded" posts that is crammed with bits and pieces of things that have nothing to do with the other... just things that are going on, filling my head and need to be said :)

So first off, that blueberry puking episode has turned into 2 days of diarrhea- thankfully we had her 15 month appointment this morning so we got EVERYTHING all checked out. Last night I hadn't been feeling so great and Ryan had mentioned to me he had been feeling funny all day too- like that sea sick feeling. We started thinking there was probably some bug going through our house and it was hitting MaeMae the hardest (which is common- kids always get it the worst.. or so I'm told?) anyways, no fever, but TONS- I mean LOADS of diarrhea. Yesterday evening was quite the scene to be seen to start off with, I was due in Saline (about 45 minutes away from Jax) at 6 to judge- MaeMae woke up from her nap around 4:30. I was in pj pants and a white tee shirt- NOT judging attire. I went to go change her diaper and noticed that it looked like she had peed out of her dipe... I was thinking "No biggie- I've cleaned the runs out of her hair, out of my hair, puke out of her nose, ears, etc. A little pee is nothing." And the funny thing was, it was totally orderless- so I really thought it was pee until I opened her diaper and saw the yellow "mess." WOAH!!!!!! I looked in her bed and sure enough, there were yellow wet splotches on her blanket and in the corner of her crib. UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I cannot take one more diaper/bed/clothing blowout. Our laundry is stacked up to the cieling- I THOUGHT we had a lot of crib sheets- apparently not enough- I had to go to Target today to pick up another one (luckily they're cheap). Anyways, back to last night- I did a quick time check and realized that I had to leave for Saline in about a half hour- I was totally not dressed, and now I had a giant mess to clean up.... CRAP! (haha what another good pun!) So I stripped Maeve and put her in the bath- as I was filling up the bath I started noticing these little orangish- looking chunks floating through the water- I grabbed one (YEAH smart huh?) and realized, Maeve was again having diarrhea IN THE BATH! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! I quickly snagged her up and let her keep doin' her business as I drained the bath, all the while with my foot, pushing the poopies down the drain. SICK!!! Maeve was crying- I felt horrible- I knew I needed to leave soon and here she was sick as a dog. Anyways, when she was finally done pooping, I stood her outside the tub as I did a quick Lysol wipe down and then I stuck her back in the tub for round 2. This time, I got her cleaned up and in record speed, dried, dressed and in her high chair with a snack. I wheeled her high chair in the hallway so I could see her as I got dressed and ready- amazingly enough, when Ryan walked in the door at 5:15 to take over, things were UNDER CONTROL. Ahhhhh :) I was proud!!! I kissed MaeMae goodbye and told Ryan I'd be home around 9:30 or so...

The meet ran really smoothly and I got TO Saline relatively quickly, considering it was Ann Arbor traffic at 5:30 PM. I now can say where things went very, very wrong- it was after the meet- now all through the meet and on the way up to Saline I was feeling "funny." Just not hungry- which was strange because normally I'm ravenous at dinner time. I kind of brushed it off as that "bug" that was going around our house... and I remembered hearing that adults normally just have diarrhea and get over it in 24 hours, so I really wasn't worried about it. However, leaving the meet, my stomach was feeling REALLY strange. BLAH. Know that I am not familiar with the Saline area AT ALL- in fact I have gotten lost there about a billion times, so WHY I thought I could find a McDonalds is beyond me, but I felt like I needed some pop really bad- and I didn't want to get out of the car (like at a gas station) I wanted a drive through. Off I drove through the streets of Saline- I actually DID find a McDonalds, got my pop and asked how to get to the high way- the lady at the window told me to keep following "Michigan Ave" and it would bring me to the main road which would eventually lead me to the high way... UM NOPE! I found myself driving through CLINTON (???? WTH IS THAT?), Manchester??? and all these other ho dunk towns. OH and did I mention that I had no cell phone??? (yeah I lost it like a week ago) So I was literally on my own on those country roads- all I knew was I needed to go North-West. It was an absolute nightmare- I started panicking of course, which lead to an even worse stomach ache, which eventually lead to me pulling over in the middle of NOWHERE (it looked like Texas Chainsaw Massacre Country) and vomiting. Anyways, by the grace of GOD I got home around 10:20-ish... I LEFT Saline at 8:40- I should've been home around 9:30. I went almost an entire hour out of the way. UGHHHHHHHHHHHH. When I finally got home, I went into the shower, sat down and cried- I was still panicking a bit and I HATE puking so I was all shaken up about that- Ryan came in the bathroom to try and comfort me, but I really just needed a minute... after the shower and a good frustration cry, I felt a hundred times better. In fact I went to bed feeling completely normal- like nothing had happened. If that sounds insignificant to you, than you don't know me very well :) Because what I did last night was OVERCOME a panic attack COMPLETELY- alone- without medication ALL BY MYSELF. What an accomplishment!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Now to this morning- like I said, this post is just going to contain a lot of miscellaneous "STUFF." This morning, bright and early was Miss Maeve's 15 month check up appointment. I was eager to get her in there and show the doc. her horrendous diaper rash (from the diarreha) and to tell her about the puking thing... I was hopefull there was a reason for this, like Strep or something, not just one of those things that has to run its course- that is the worst answer ever- I HATE that answer... unfortunately thats what we got- "its a virus that just has to run its course." BLAH... no meds, nothing- just lots of fluids and lots of laundry. Here are some good stats from her appointment though:

Weight: 23.12 lbs!!!!! She gained an entire pound since her last appointment (which I guess is a lot)

Height: Don't remember the exact numbers, but I DO know that its in the 97th percentile- again I ask, WHERE did she get that height???

Words: momma, dadda, nana, poppa, bad dog, please, thank you, no, yes, fish, hot, pretty, what's that, "yea", and her absolute favorite: BABIES. She is constantly saying "babies? babies? babies!!!" Its really cute :) The doc. said at 15 months they should have 4 words, so I was a proud momma walking out knowing she knew more than her fair share of words... yes I AM TOTALLY bragging and doing that annoying "my baby is a genius" thing... but whatever, I happen to know she's going to be a doctor and a pilot someday :) hahaha :)

Motor skills: walking, running, using a fork/spoon, holding her sippy, jumping, "dancing" (haha I told the doc she "dances" the doc. was like "ohhh how nice!" I KNOW I am one of those annoying moms!!!!) she "brushes" her hair, and I SWEAR- I will get this on video- she does forward rolls. I PROOOOOMISE YOU! She does- she needs a little assistance actually getting over, but she will run over to you, put her head on the floor and lean *almost* far enough to do the roll- she just needs a little tap :)!

Anyways good appointment :) We didn't get any shots today (she was due for her tetanus and her MMR- YIIIIIKES) but since she has this virus thing going on, they said it would be fine to wait on them. I secretly pretended that was the reason why we weren't doing the shots, when in all reality, I STILL want to do some more research on that MMR shot. 99% chance we're gonna do the shot- but GOSH its a hard decision.

That leads to the other completely random issue: Autism- I teach a handful of autistic children and all I can say is GOD BLESS THEIR PARENTS! Obviously if Maeve were diagnosed with Autism we'd love her all the same, as if nothing were different. But to be honest, I'd be devastated- heartbroken and feel pretty angry. If you talk to moms, they will tell you it was a vaccine, or an environmental factor that played a part in their child being diagnosed with autism. But if you talk to a doctor, they'll tell you its all timing- children normally start showing signs of autism between 15 months-18 months- and it just so happens you get the MMR shot at 15 months. So many parents blame the shot on the diagnosis. Me personally? I think that the only reason there has been a "rise" in autism, is because it finally has a name- and people (parents especially) are so desperate to come up with a formal name for why their child won't sit down and pay attention. Don't get me wrong- there are so many different levels of autism- but I have had parents tell me "Oh he has high functioning autism" to me, that means he's a high energy, 8 year old BOY with an attention span of 1 minute- just like MANY, MANY other boys that age. SOOOOO.... I truly believe that in the near future, autism is going to be proven to be genetic- not environmental. Also, there's that whole weighing the risks/benefits thing- would I rather have a kid with autism or have kid who from developing measles/mumps/rubella, now has blindness, permanent brain damage and countless other problems that can occur from those diseases? Hands down, I'll take the kid with autism. So- like I said, its 99% that she's gonna get the shot- we're just waiting a couple of weeks for this virus to go away.

Randomness continues... On Sunday I was browsing through the ads and found in the Target ad, that "Elmo Live" was on sale for 45 bucks... HOLY COW! I wanted to get that for MaeMae sooooooo bad for Christmas but either couldn't find it or couldn't find the guts to shell out 70 bucks for the thing. So no "Elmo Live" for Christmas. BUT I would certainly pay 45 bucks for it! Every time we would go to the store, I'd press Elmo's little foot and Maeve would light up as he blew her kisses and "talked" to her. Like I said, I judged last night and got 60 bucks, so I was planning on going to Target today and buying Elmo. Oh- and also, within that SAME Target ad, there was a coupon for transferring a prescription- if you transfer a prescription to Target, you get a 10 dollar gift card, so really Elmo was only gonna cost me 35 bucks... I was thrilled!!! :) Well I "transfered" my prescription from CVS over to Target and got my 10 dollar card, and then went to go get Elmo... there was only one left- I snatched it up, and noticed that there weren't any sale signs for it... When I got up to the counter, it rang up for 60 bucks- I was like "No, in the ad on Sunday its advertised for 45-" So they got a manager who got the ad out and sure enough there was Elmo Live for 45 bucks... They gave it to me for 45 (minus the 10 bucks) so now we are the proud owners of "ELMO LIVE!!!!" I am so excited! We're going to wait and give it to her for Valentines Day because at the moment, she is STILL discovering new Christmas toys! But I can't wait to give it to her!!!! And I've said this before, but it really, really pays to scout out those ads and clip coupons! :)

Alright, I think that's it for now... sorry for the plethora of topics that were discussed in this post... hope I didn't lose ya! :)

Oh and for the record- my tummy feels MUCH better- still a little funny- like no pizza or anything like that, but def. better! :)

What's Worse Than Feces?

VOMIT. Last night, Maeve was coughing a bunch and I kept getting up to check on her, she was fine- curled up in a ball, just coughing every once in awhile. Around 6 or so, I heard her coughing and then I heard what sounded like liquid splashing- I was a bit out of it because I had woken up to this, but since I had been in and out of bed all night checking on Maeve I kicked Ryan awake to go and check on her. In the meantime I fell back asleep, assuming all was well since Ryan hadn't said anything...

Later this morning, (like around 8 or so) I woke up with Maeve next to me- strange, since I usually get her out of her crib in the mornings. Ryan had made breakfast (YEA!!!!) so we went out to eat and he told me that last night when he went in to check on Maeve, her face was down in the sheets, with her hands on either side of her face and she had puked!!! I was like WHAT?????????? Why didn't you get me???? He said he just gave her a bath, changed her and put her back into bed with me... so that left the question about her bed- yeah- I won't post a pic of that, because its way too nasty but needless to say, I would rather clean up poop than puke. I also told him I'd rather clean up the actual CHILD than the bed, so in the future, get me up, have me take the sick kid and give them a bath, etc. while HE cleans the bed/carpet, etc. UGH anyways her bedroom door has been shut all morning... I'm hoping eventually Ryan will just take care of it- it stinks so bad!!!! And thats what boys are for anyways... to take care of the gross stuff. :) haha...

Well not sure what's going on with Maeve- if that was a one time deal or what- because she ate toast this morning without a problem and she's been her normal, wild, crazy self. I'm crossing my fingers that its NOT the stomach flu, but rather something she ate last night that didn't agree with her tummy. I guess today will tell...

Christmas Eve...2008

WOW this morning we woke up to a very unpleasant surprise: Maeve had once again exploded her diaper but this time, she had stripped it off of herself and thrown it in the middle of her floor. Nice. So the first half hour or so was spent once again, cleaning poop off of her, her bed and floor. I was worried I wasn't going to be able to get everything done that needed to be done today- BUT, somehow I've been pretty productive and I've baked just about everything on my list, I've wrapped more than half of the gifts, and my wonderful sister Meghan CLEANED my house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES! I had to go to the Christmas party at Ryan's work and so Meghan came to sit at the house while Maeve was napping... instead of sitting though she cleaned!!!!!!! SCORE for me!!!

We're now getting ready for church- not something I am particularly looking forward to, just because EVERYTIME we get called out of church to pick up our screaming child out of the nursery. Anyways I thought I'd post a few pics of the day...

This was taken right after the clean-up bath...

Cherry cookies- they may look a bit funny, but they are SO good!!!

I am really proud of how these turned out! Magazine worthy right? :) haha

Maeve "helping" OH BOY.

Not sure what she was doing... but this was her Christmas Eve DAY outfit :)

My Peanut Butter Balls :) SO GOOD!

POOP & Pottery :)

*Warning- graphic and gross- if you don't wanna hear about baby poo move on:)
We started the day off with an awesome play date at "The Chelsea Treehouse" I think all the babies had a ton of fun (check out the pics!). Unfortunately, I wasn't really keeping track of the time and I thought it was around 11:30 or so when we left and that I'd feed Maeve at home- WRONG- we got in the car and it 12:45!!!!!!! So my poor friend Kelli had to listen to Maeve scream the entire way home... but I felt really bad for Maeve- totally forgot to feed the kid lunch. Sad huh?:(
We made it home despite the screaming and blowing winds and I made her a delicious lunch- she's still on the BRAT diet- so she got Bananas, toast and gatorade. All I can say is to HECK with the BRAT diet because around 3 or so, Maeve woke up COVERED- from head to toe and every crease, space and crevasse in between in green diarrhea. I was shocked when I opened the door- she was standing at her crib, literally COVERED in it. Here's a confession for you: I walked in the room and over to the window and slammed my head against the blinds and started crying. HAHAHAHA what a sight huh??? Maybe it had been a long day, maybe it was the fact that Ryan didn't get a lunch, maybe its that I haven't seen MY mom in 4 days, or maybe it was just because I had spent the ENTIRE night before cleaning her room- changing her bumper pads, her sheets, putting all her books away in her NEW bookshelves, putting her stuffed animals up in the hammock thing, anyways, WHO KNOWS why I can't handle stuff sometimes, but I had a mini melt down. But it is at THOSE moments that you realize being a mom isn't part-time- there are no breaks- there are no "I need some help with this" its just you and your kid. As much as I wanted to squint my eyes shut, wallow in my self pity and click my heels three times to perhaps magically appear in Hawaii, I couldn't. I had a poop covered kid standing in her crib looking at ME to help her out.
There was no need to cut the onsie off (this HAS happened before- never so badly though- and I had cut her onsie off in order to not spread the poo poo to her hair) but this time, the damage had been done. I just unbuttoned it and stripped her- then I stripped down myself... took her into our shower- with her exploded diaper still on. I was honestly afraid of opening it- I was scared that I would open it and like an open levy on a dam, it would come spilling out. That's why I put her in the shower... I figured the drain could act as a garbage dump :) Sooooo.... slowly I peeled the diaper away- I really had never seen anything like this- this diaper was probably 5 lbs. heavy and the poo was smeared everywhere... ahhhhhhhhh. I sat her down and ran back in her room and pushed the diaper through the diaper genie- those of you who are moms know that it didn't work quite like that- it was more like poking the diaper with one finger through the genie hole... I was praying "PLEASE GOD LET THIS DIAPER BE EATEN UP BY THIS CONTRAPTION! NEVER TO BE SMELLED OR SEEN AGAIN!" After I had carefully "poked" the diaper through, I ran back to the shower- Maeve was sitting reading her bath books (good thing she's got an unatural obsession with her bath books! I can't even imagine the damage that could've been done if that poopy butt would've been running through the house!) I hopped in the shower with her- all the while stifling gags- and turned on the water. For the past 5 minutes or so I had been using my pinky fingers to pick at her clothes, poke at her diapers and trying anything I could to avoid touching my poo covered daughter. But as I turned the water on, I picked her up, poo and all, and rocked her in the shower and with my own bare hands, scraped the poopy off her back and out of her hair. Wow I love this kid :)

Flash forward to an hour later- Maeve is cleaned, I am cleaned, her bed is lysoled up- we were ready to go to "Make It Your Own." I had been planning on a trip to the pottery painting place for a few days- I got this adorable idea from a friend (Jessy) to make a platter every Christmas- with the kids handprints on it, the year, and their names. Of course this year, we have one pink handprint, one name and the year 2008. It was going to be a present for Ryan, but it won't be done until next week :( So, instead I think I'm just going to make it a tradition and gift it to myself :) Maybe in 10 years we'll have a platter set big enough to feed a group! Its fun to think about all the handprints that could potentially cover platters and dishes.

To sum it all up, today was a heck of a day. There is a part of me that feels tremendously guilty for crying over poop. And there's another part of me that is proud I actually handled the poop. :) I think I just said this in my previous blog post, but I am ever so grateful that God doesn't give children memories until the age of 2 or so :) Because crying with my head in the blinds isn't something I want Maeve to remember...

Thanks Lord for giving us new days, new opportunities and a fresh start!

If It's Not Something...

It's always another, right??? Maeve WAS doing much better this morning, but then the BAD diarreha hit. She's been have having diarreha for a few days (since wed. I think...) but I think her being sick combined with her medicine, its causing some very acidic and painful diarreha. POOR GIRL! She has had 4 poopy diapers today- all of which were runny (sorry! Thats too much info!) and her hind end was looking rather pink... well around 1 or 2 today, Ryan changed her diaper and when he went to wipe she SCREAMED- like she was in so much pain! Her little bottom was super red :( Almost looked like she had hives... So at the next diaper change, I said instead of wiping her, lets just give her a bath- I thought that would feel really good on her tush- WRONG! She screamed even louder- I mean worse than any shot shes ever been given- this was horrible screaming.

She is in so much pain :( Shes walking with her legs spread apart and whimpers and cries when she has to sit. Its really sad! :( And again, I'm worried about her fluid intake- it was going really well but now with all the diarreha, who knows...???

I can tell already its going to be another long night for us AND Maeve :(

I Feel Like Such A Mom!

This is going to sound funny, but from the moment I found out I was preggo, I just couldn't get a grasp on what it was going to be like to be a mom. It was almost like it wasn't happening to me- like an out of body experience or something. All the baby kicks, the ultrasound, it all seemed too good to be true... I kept thinking I was going to have this moment where I felt older, more in control, more "mom-ish," but nope, never happened. OHhhhhhh the hours I spent watching "A Baby Story"- I'd always think "someday I will give birth!" "Someday" came real soon! :)

I did have a successful vaginal birth (with no meds.... well the meds didn't work- I tried to get 'em!) and during the entire labor process I kept thinking "Pinch me! This isn't real!!" When Maeve came out it was the most surreal moment of my life! SUCH a high- she was SO real, but I still couldn't believe she was mine :) During the hospital stay, I was in such a state of discomfort (and overloaded on meds) that I don't even really remember too much- just ordering breakfast every morning over the phone like I was in the Ritz-Carlton! HAHA :) Anyways, nurses, my mom, Ryan, my sisters- everyone was taking care of her and pining over her that I didn't really do much in the first 4 weeks of her life. Then, once I finally healed (I wasn't completely, TOTALLY healed until about March-ish?? And I am still having issues but I'm not gonna get into that) I remember being so excited to do all the things that I had always imagined- dressing her in her little frilly clothes, playing with her in the sunshine, taking her shopping, etc. All I have to say is YEAH RIGHT! I mean, don't get me wrong- I do all of that with her, and then some! But its hardly that idyllic! Which brings me to my post today...

ALL in one day, I got peed on, pooped on, spit on, and head butted. I have never felt more like a mum! :) What a heck of a day. To be fair to my beauty, she is teething so she is a bit of a crab... BUT still- what a day. To start off the day, she was bouncing around in our bed- I had playhouse Disney on (I am desperately trying to get her to love Disney... so far nada) and she was happy as can be, smacking my chest- which she loves to do- so weird! I kept telling her "No. Thats not nice." But she kept at it... so then I decided to ignore her- haha. She head butted me- with ALL her force. Right in the schnoz! It felt like she pushed my nasal bones up into my brain. It was such a hard knock! She came out of it with yet another goose egg on her eyebrow (its not too bad) and I came out of it with a sore nose and a wicked headache. Move on to 2 o'clock or so; her nap, which normally consists of 2-3 hours lasted about 45 minutes or so- so I gathered her up, strapped her in the car seat and DROVE. My mom used to do this and I always thought she was crazy- who would want to just drive??? But by gosh, if it puts the kid to sleep, you'll DRIVE! :) It worked, it put her back to sleep for another hour (she desperately needed a nap- trust me!). We got home (after driving half way to Lansing and back) and she was fussing so I thought I'd give her a bath- she loves them and I felt bad for the teething babe. As SOON as I had undressed her she peed all over me- I think the last time I had been drenched in pee was when she was like 2 days old! :) And then it was like nothing! This stunk like people pee... yuck. Luckily, we were going in the shower, so it wasn't really a big deal (except that she had gotten it on my outfit). Haha... okay this next part is kind of funny- and someday Maeve will be so embarrassed that I wrote this- but we were sitting in the shower, I was reading a book to her- and she was having really bad gassers! Like left and right- she was tooting! I should have known it was coming, but I continued to read and laugh at her little rumbles...flash forward 5 minutes, I had a pile of poop on my lap. Nice visual huh? It was soooooo gross!!! We had to stand up and watch it wash down the drain, while I quickly gathered all of her toys out of the path of the poo poo.

DINNER TIME! My favorite time of the day- its when Ryan, Maeve and I all sit down and eat. We laugh about Maeve's crazy talk and usually have a glass of wine. Its so relaxing and very much needed at the end of the day (dinnertime rituals- not the wine...) anyways tonight I was on my own because Ryan had to work late- I started out feeding her green beans, (which she normally loves) but she was doing the whole head shaking "no" thing. So I switched to sweet potatoes- she was on the last bite when I guess she figured she was done- she spit them ALL over me- in my hair, in my eyes, up my arms- everywhere. Thankfully Ryan came home shortly after that episode and gave me a break. We ended up getting take out, good ol' Mexican food... and during the entire meal, Maeve screamed. She's just not having this whole teething bit.

Well, here I sit, with dried sweet potatoes in my hair, leggings (soooo mom-like), pounding headache and droopy eyes. Oh also- tomorrow we have our first official "play date" with a play group (I'm so excited!). Its the end of the day... thank GOD! I gotta jump in the shower and wash out the days grunge, but today, of all days, I've never felt more like a mom. :)