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! :)

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. :)