Isabel has been super busy this past week keeping me on my toes. She is currently putting me through a grueling mama-training course called, Caring for a Toddler with Nasty, Foul-Smelling Stuff Pouring out of Both Ends. Yeah, I don't know who gave that course such a ridiculously long name. ;-)
It all started Friday (5/27/11) with Isabel's 15-month well check at her pediatrician's office. Dr. R was very pleased with Isabel's large noggin (90th percentile, whooot!) and with her advanced vocabulary of words: uh oh, BooBoo, Coco, Mama, Dada, ball, duck (guck), quack quack, thank you (tankooo), agua, Oma, Opa, go-go-go, baby (baaaabeeee)....that's all I can remember right now. There may be a few more. Anyway, after impressing the pediatrician, Isabel was very upset when she was suddenly accosted by the Physician's Assistant with THREE shots....TDaP, MMR, and chicken pox. However, her first ever (that I know of!) lollipop did wonders in helping her get over this grievous offense.
That evening we went to our first Round Rock Express baseball game. Now, baseball is right up there with golf on my list of the Most Horribly Boring Sports of All Time. But B was given 8 free tickets by his employer, along with a $15 gift card (which turned out to have more like $30 on it!!) to be used at the game for whatever overpriced food/beverages we wanted, so that was nice. We invited our neighbors (family of 6) and met them up there. It took awhile to get there from S. Austin, but we eventually did, and I honestly had a really good time! I even got into the game for a bit and cheered along with the home crowd at all the appropriate times! After the game they put on a spectacular fireworks display, which was my favorite part of the evening. Isabel only seemed mildly impressed with it, though. During the game she had some hot dog, popcorn, one Skittle, and some Gatorade. So did I (minus the Skittle).
We got home from the game and just as B was carrying Isabel into the house, she turned and barfed all over him. I think it grossed him out pretty thoroughly. I was rather grossed out too, but had to turn that compartment of my brain to the OFF mode so that I could clean both Isabel & B up. That done, we all went to bed.
Saturday dawned nice and humid, and Isabel's tummy troubles continued. This time it was the other end. She went through 4 pairs of pants that day. That night, she regurgitated her meals.....in our bed. Ugh. I got up and took her out to B in the living room while I changed the sheets on the bed. Then with fresh sheets, she and I went back to bed, where an hour later, she hurled yet again, this time on my right boob. Thanks. I was so tired at that point that I just cleaned up the mess and covered the area on the bed with a towel. We went back to bed with no further incidents.
Sunday Isabel and I both felt under the weather all day. We snoozed and nursed and generally lamented our pathetic-ness (I suspect I may have made that word up) until B got home from work that night with some Pedialyte for Isabel. Oh, and she went through 4 pairs of pants again that day.
Monday (Memorial Day) was HOT and muggy. I had a few errands to run, so Isabel and I left the house trepidatiously and sallied forth. First stop was Joann Fabrics. I put Isabel in the Ergo and browsed happily for about 10 minutes or so. I found what I needed and as I was heading to the cashier, I thought I smelled poop, but brushed it aside as having smelled it so much for the past few days that I was just used to smelling it. Got back to the car and took Isabel out of the Ergo..........yeah, there was poo. It was on my shirt, on the Ergo, and definitely on Isabel. She had her first diaper change in the back of the Big Body in the parking lot. I'm sorry sweetie, but we had to display your bits for everyone to see. I had more errands to run, so when we got to Southpark Meadows, I ran into Avenue (luckily my neighbor, Carrie was working) and wailed that I needed a new shirt since Isabel had just had the squirts on me. She laughed and found me some options, which I took back to the dressing room. Just as I set Isabel on her feet, her bottom exploded again and she gave me a look that said, "Sorry mom. I did it again." I changed her in the dressing room (wondering if the other patrons were fainting dead away in their respective dressing rooms from the smell) and changed into the new shirt. We paid and went on to Target, where by some miracle, we managed to conclude our shopping without further incident. That day she went through four pairs of shorts....again. I did a load of laundry that was just clothes (and the Ergo) that had either been pooped or vomited on. Delightful.
Tuesday and Wednesday were better - her stomach seemed to be settling down and she had only a few squirty diapers those days instead of gatrillions of them. Just as I was relaxing and thinking we were over the worst of it, Wednesday night happened. B bathed her and as she was acting tired earlier than usual, I took her to bed at 7:50 pm. I was wide awake though, so I read in bed. I discovered that there are some good free books on Amazon Kindle for my Epic 4G, so I downloaded them and was really getting into one when suddenly I felt the need to check my eyelids for holes. (That's what my dad would always say he'd been doing when we caught him sleeping at the movie theater! Hi dad!) Next thing I knew, Isabel was spewing all over herself and the bed (and a little on me). Lovely. No warning, she just became a sudden faucet of nastiness at 1:00 AM. I took her into the bathroom to access the situation, and there was no other option but to hose her off in the tub. It was in her hair, all over her chest, neck, down her arm...yeah. Totally disgusting, poor thing. After cleaning her up and getting her into fresh jammies, I went to change the sheets on the bed when I heard a massive squirt. I looked over at her and she had that look in her eye again, as if to say, "yup. That was me again, mom." Miraculously, the massive squirt had not yet escaped into her pjs, so after a diaper change, she was good to go again. I had to strip the bed completely, including the mattress pad, and I threw all of that plus our pjs into the washing machine right away. We went back to bed - somewhat cautiously on my part, fearing another explosion - but she wanted to nurse (I guess she was hungry after losing her supper all over the bed!) and we slept the rest of the night without incident.
I like to know what causes things to happen, and it's annoying the crap out of me that I can't figure out why Isabel can't beat these squirts (and the pukies). I also want to know WHY in the world my child does not puke during the day, but rather only in the middle of the night when I am sound asleep. I also wonder why in the world my husband does not wake up when such incidents happen, leaving me to handle them all alone. *shrug* However, he is doing the Super Dad routine today while I am at work and taking Isabel to the doctor by himself, so that makes up for last night. He also got up and fixed me eggs, toast & coffee this morning, which was ready even slightly before I was, so that was super nice.
Anyway, I would now consider myself well initiated into the joys of parenting a toddler. I have now been baptized with excretions of all kinds, and I'm still alive, so I think that I may just live through this stage. ;-)
Isabel!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Mae-Day Challenges
Mae (affectionately-ish known as Mae-Day to the adults in our neighborhood) is a little girl who lives two doors down from us. She's 7. Her mother took off with another man (or men, if you believe the neighborhood gossip) at Christmastime, and so since then, her poor father has been struggling to raise her alone (well, with the help of his live-in brother, who Mae calls 'Unky'). I am sure that this is hard for him. But especially so since Mae-Day is....challenging, to put it nicely. I think she's a lot like her mother. (A quick side note about her mother: one evening when I was about 6 months pregnant with Isabel, her mother trapped me at the community mailboxes and told me the story of Mae's 37-hour labor & birth in all its gory detail...geez, you should NEVER do that to a pregnant woman who has never given birth before! She scared the poop out of me!)
Mae-Day has recently adopted B and me as her surrogate parents (I think), as well as another couple in our neighborhood. This means that she drops in unannounced on a regular basis, asking for fruit, popsicles, water, a personalized appliqued tee shirt, sympathy for invisible cuts and bumps, undivided attention, love, to watch movies, and to play with our Wii. Yippee. She often asks to play with Isabel, which actually consists of her hugging the stuffing out of poor Isa, and then complaining to me whenever my BABY daughter steps on, touches, breathes on, looks at strangely, twitches an eyelash in her direction, or otherwise in some way disturbs Mae-Day's very delicate self. *sigh* She is bossy, an incurable tattletale, and has ONE VOLUME OF SPEAKING VOICE. ONE GUESS AS TO WHAT THAT IS. Right. She shouts everything that she says. I have observed both her parents speaking at that volume. Ehh, I guess she couldn't help that.
My challenge is that often when Mae-Day comes over, B disappears to the backyard deck with a tasty beverage and either one or several of the neighborhood men/children, leaving me to deal with Mae-Day alone. Without help. One afternoon I read sixty-twelve books to Mae while B snored on the couch and Isabel got into all kinds of mischief. The neighborhood children don't much like her, but she ALWAYS is outside looking for someone with whom to play. She invites herself in to all manner of houses (well, ours and the houses of the neighbors with children her age) and then expects to be entertained. When I see her coming, I have to stifle my immediate impulse to dive for cover behind the nearest car/tree/fire hydrant/cat. I suspect that several neighbors have similar impulses. ;)
So how do I deal with Mae-Day? She very obviously is lacking something, since she comes looking for it from us. She really needs some guidance and refining. B is good with her, and has implemented several new rules in our house, which all the neighbor children have been exhorted to follow:
Rule 1: Shoes come off in the entryway.
Rule 2: You must make a beeline straight to the antibacterial gel and apply it liberally, rubbing your hands until it is completely rubbed in.
Rule 3: You may NOT under any circumstances use B's hand towel in the guest bathroom. Paper towels or air drying are the only options. (or another liberal squirt of antibacterial gel)
Rule 4: If you are sick, DO NOT COME OVER!!!
Rule 5: Quit bringing your snotty, germy toys over to our house! We don't want Isabel to lick them and then get sick!
These rules are new as of this week, so we'll see how things go. B came up with them because he had a pink-eye scare on Sunday, which turned out to be a mild case of allergies instead. But still, I think the rules are good, and it's funny to see the neighbor kids reminding one another if they forget to do something! Back to Mae-Day...I really don't know what to do about her. She drives me caa-raaazy, but I suppose this is one opportunity that has smacked me in the face to be a good example and perhaps to help her become a little more...mmmm, human?! Palatable?? Something.
"Be brave, Humphrey. Be Brave." - a quote from a play I was in in high school. (Kara & my folks will get it!) ;)
Mae-Day has recently adopted B and me as her surrogate parents (I think), as well as another couple in our neighborhood. This means that she drops in unannounced on a regular basis, asking for fruit, popsicles, water, a personalized appliqued tee shirt, sympathy for invisible cuts and bumps, undivided attention, love, to watch movies, and to play with our Wii. Yippee. She often asks to play with Isabel, which actually consists of her hugging the stuffing out of poor Isa, and then complaining to me whenever my BABY daughter steps on, touches, breathes on, looks at strangely, twitches an eyelash in her direction, or otherwise in some way disturbs Mae-Day's very delicate self. *sigh* She is bossy, an incurable tattletale, and has ONE VOLUME OF SPEAKING VOICE. ONE GUESS AS TO WHAT THAT IS. Right. She shouts everything that she says. I have observed both her parents speaking at that volume. Ehh, I guess she couldn't help that.
My challenge is that often when Mae-Day comes over, B disappears to the backyard deck with a tasty beverage and either one or several of the neighborhood men/children, leaving me to deal with Mae-Day alone. Without help. One afternoon I read sixty-twelve books to Mae while B snored on the couch and Isabel got into all kinds of mischief. The neighborhood children don't much like her, but she ALWAYS is outside looking for someone with whom to play. She invites herself in to all manner of houses (well, ours and the houses of the neighbors with children her age) and then expects to be entertained. When I see her coming, I have to stifle my immediate impulse to dive for cover behind the nearest car/tree/fire hydrant/cat. I suspect that several neighbors have similar impulses. ;)
So how do I deal with Mae-Day? She very obviously is lacking something, since she comes looking for it from us. She really needs some guidance and refining. B is good with her, and has implemented several new rules in our house, which all the neighbor children have been exhorted to follow:
Rule 1: Shoes come off in the entryway.
Rule 2: You must make a beeline straight to the antibacterial gel and apply it liberally, rubbing your hands until it is completely rubbed in.
Rule 3: You may NOT under any circumstances use B's hand towel in the guest bathroom. Paper towels or air drying are the only options. (or another liberal squirt of antibacterial gel)
Rule 4: If you are sick, DO NOT COME OVER!!!
Rule 5: Quit bringing your snotty, germy toys over to our house! We don't want Isabel to lick them and then get sick!
These rules are new as of this week, so we'll see how things go. B came up with them because he had a pink-eye scare on Sunday, which turned out to be a mild case of allergies instead. But still, I think the rules are good, and it's funny to see the neighbor kids reminding one another if they forget to do something! Back to Mae-Day...I really don't know what to do about her. She drives me caa-raaazy, but I suppose this is one opportunity that has smacked me in the face to be a good example and perhaps to help her become a little more...mmmm, human?! Palatable?? Something.
"Be brave, Humphrey. Be Brave." - a quote from a play I was in in high school. (Kara & my folks will get it!) ;)
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Appliqued Onesies and Shirts
I've been absent from Bloglandia lately. Here's what I've been doing (aside from my full-time day job and raising my 14-month old!):
I really wish I could make & sell my appliqued stuff full-time, but unfortunately, it doesn't pay the bills. Yet. ;)
Awesome photos by Michelann Quimby .
Awesome photos by Michelann Quimby .
Monday, April 4, 2011
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