If ya don't like poop stories, come back later.

Hey. I warned you. Right up there on top. I mean business.

Last night I made dinner. Yummy dinner. Chicken manicotti, garlic bread, and salad. Even oatmeal raisin cookies for dessert.

By the way - can anyone guess why we had such a well rounded dinner? Yes, MOPS mommies - you probably guessed it. I took dinner to a new mom and made the same thing for us. It's like the only time I include a dessert. Anyone else do that or is it just me?? Anyway...

Chris got tied up (not literally, don't worry) at work so I was had the kids eat early and figured I'd wait and eat with my hubster when he got home from work. Yum, yum - everyone eats and Miss G decides she's done.

So.

I say "Are you ready for me to clean you up so you can get down?"
She says "Ummm, I got some poop."
I say "No problem, let's just change your diaper then."

I walk over and whoooooooooooooo. She sure did have some poop - it was stinkin' to high heaven in that little pink booster seat of hers! So, I put the changing pad on the floor in the living room, grab the wipes and go get her. She starts FREAKING OUT when I'm trying to take her pants off. I'm like what is the deal??? (Oh, and I hear the garage door go up right about this time, so he hears her getting all nuts.) I get her calmed down, assure her everything is okay and she's fine.

So, I lay her down -- looks like a mini-blowout. You know the one. Slightly on the waistband of the pants and a tiny bit on her lower back. No biggie. I've seen worse.

(Ha, ha, ha, ha. I can hear my husband laughing at me right about here.)

Take her diaper off and ohhhh, my word. The stink. VERY stinky. UNUSUALLY stinky. As in gag stinky. My hubby walks around the corner right about now and brilliantly says, "How's it goin'?" Yeah. I think I managed to lock eyes while rolling them at the same time, and possibly may have grunted in his direction as well. Mitchell is a doll and runs upstairs to get her pajamas for me so that after I'm done washing off her back she can just jump in her jammies.

Mitchell comes back downstairs and says "Hey, Mom - is that poop on your shirt?" I look down and see a little spot where I was attacked by my spoon when tasting the sauce for the manicotti. I say "Nope. Just spaghetti sauce." Chris says "It really does look like she pooped on you." I say "Nope. Just sauce." Meanwhile I'm thinking that he's the one who gets pooped on in this house.

Back to the massive cleanup. Luckily it was trash night so Chris was on his way out to the curb with the trash anyway, so I just added the toxic grocery bag to his collection. Georgia is fresh n' clean, in her jammies, so I squirt her hands with the antibacterial stuff that I should buy stock in -- and she gets up to go play. I go toss her clothes into the washer on the soak setting and then head to the kitchen to wash my hands. Wash them up and am drying them when Chris comes back in.

I said to him "You know, I must really have been bothered by that stink because I can still REALLY smell it!" He said "It's fresh in your mind. It'll pass." Two seconds later, as he's helping me clear the table, he says..."Well, I think I know what you're smelling."

Yeah. A nice little pile of poop on her booster seat. DIS-GUS-TING. It was so gross. *By the way, I figured out this is why she was freaking out. She must have felt the poop come out when I picked her up or something.* SOOOOO, he goes to get the lysol for me while I scoop the poop. Together we manage to get all of the straps out of the chair so that they can join her clothes in the washing machine. I remember that there is another set of clothes that could use some soaking so I ask Chris to grab those for me.

He comes into the laundry room and I say "You know, I can STILL smell that poop! It just WON'T leave my nose!" He says "Well, why don't you just toss your clothes in there, too. Maybe that's it?"

Okay, just so you know, I'm literally sitting here giggling as I type this.

I take off my shirt and OH. MY. GOODNESS. There are two HUGE smears of poop on my shirt!! One is under my big ol' left nursing boob and one is on the sleeve of the left arm. My boobs are big enough at this point that they hid the poop from my sight...how sad is that? I started cracking up and said "Oh my gosh! There's poop all over my shirt!!"

Chris says "We tried to tell you that, but you said it was just sauce."
I laugh and point to my tiny little smear of sauce and say "THIS is the sauce. THIS (big, giant smears) is the poop!"
My hubby says "Well, I know you - and being in the position you were in, I wasn't about to argue with you about what spaghetti sauce looks like. I figured you probably wouldn't like that."

Smart man, that Cabana Boy! I hope you got as big of a laugh out of this as we did. I was about crying I was laughing so hard. We both agreed that this was another of life's very bloggable moments.

Caffeine...

Is NOT my friend.

I met a friend (a real one) for coffee this morning and decided to be brave and get a caffeinated drink. It sounded REALLY good -- all minty and chocolatey -- two of my favorite things ever.

So NOT the smartest move I've ever made.

After coffee I went to Qdoba (yum, and more yum) to get lunch for my dad. It's his birthday and he's working all day. He can't leave at all, so I told him Georgia and I would bring some lunch down. He loves the chicken tacos there so I stopped to get some. I had to pick Mitchell up from school at 1pm and this was at about 11am. By the time I got her out, used the bathroom, ordered our food, got it all set in the car, drove down there, parked walked in, nursed her, let him hold/cuddle her for a few minutes, it was time to get in my car and drive back to school.

I got a naked (hee hee) burrito and for a minute, I seriously considered trying to eat it while driving. Um--yeah, probably smart move not to, considering it's rice and black beans. Well -- considering it's not GASOLINE, I'd probably be safe. (Husband story there -- you can infer away.)

So -- by the time I made it back to his school (a few minutes early) I think the coffee had eaten a hole in my stomach. I was ready to gnaw my own arm off and scarfed down most of my lunch in about 3 minutes.

Caffeine + Tara = Ouchie, hungry tummy

It sure was good though. Mmmmmmm.

Still not worth it, but dang close.

Potty training...

is NOT my favorite thing in the world. I think it's just so frustrating. Not for him, but for us. We know he can do it, he just doesn't care.

I've also found that potty training is something that is REALLY hard not to feel that tug of peer pressure/wanting to keep up with other kids thing for me as a mom. I just feel like he's the LAST one potty trained out of all of our friends with kids his age and some kids have been diaper free for a year now! (Holy cow -- that's a lot of extra money!!) I also don't think it helps now that we have two in diapers -- extra frustration with trash, cost, actually changing them, etc.

I'm afraid to jinx myself but I think we might be close to turning a corner. The other night after his bath I had Mitchell all wrapped up in his towel and we were singing songs. All of a sudden he stands up and says "Mommy, I think I want an Elmo sticker." (He can pick a sticker if he pees in the potty. We have a little chart on the wall next to the toilet.) I said "Well, that means you have to sit on the potty and go pee." He says "Okay!" and jumps right on up there. Boom! Instant pee in the potty.

I about fell over. And cried. I was SOOOO proud of him!! I mean -- to not pee in the tub, to not get up there when prompted but to have this all be his idea because he felt like he had to go -- that was AMAZING. He's almost 3 and a half and he's NEVER sat on the potty on his own. Ever. It was really cool!! I made a HUGE deal out of it, we went downstairs so he could brag to Georgia and Daddy and he got his "pee pee chocolate".

The next morning I asked if he wanted to go pee on the potty and he said "Sure." His pull up was dry from overnight (this is the part where we know he can do it) and he hopped up there and boom! Instant pee in the potty again. He also went another time yesterday!

I think we might have BIG issues transitioning to other potties, but we'll just get him successful where he's at first and then branch out. I got a new video and two new books at the library for him this morning. We'll see if he cares about those.

Wish us luck!!! I'm SO ready for this to be done and I'm hoping he's one of those kids I keep hearing about. You know the ones that train themselves in a week when they decide they want to do it. That would be fantastic. And unbelievable. :)

The kids are sick...

Yep, even Georgia. It's so heartbreaking to have a person that teeny tiny be sick. It started out that she was congested last week. I remember expressing a bit of concern to a couple of people about it, but always got the "all newborns are stuffed up" thing. Then she had her 2 week appt on Wednesday -- he didn't seem concerned, but she wasn't too bad at that time. Well, Thursday rolled around and I felt like complete poop.

Wake up Friday morning, Georgia's miserable and so am I. Fight through Friday and looks like everything's fine -- I'm in the bathroom around the corner and hear "cough/splash, cough/splash". I thought "Oh no!!" Sure enough, Mitchell had thrown up twice all over the living room. (After eating his red fruit snacks, btw. We have light grey carpet. Yes -- it was as pretty as it sounds.) There was quite a bit of mucous in it, even though he didn't sound stuffy and hadn't been coughing, I had a feeling it was the same thing as G and I were dealing with.

He woke up Saturday morning -- yep, he's got the crud too. (Personally, I'm suspicious that he had it first and showed up sick the latest, but we'll never know.) This weekend basically just SUCKED because the three of us were just sick. Poor Chris -- hope he doesn't get it. We whipped out the lysol and clorox all weekend and both of our hands are dry as bones from washing them over and over.

Throw the illness on top of a huge temperature drop and a snowstorm and boy howdy! Does it GET more fun than this??? Only when your kids don't sleep - like last night. Mitchell was up from 1 - 3:45. So fun!! NOT. Ugh. We even gave him tylenol which usually makes him conk out, but that didn't help. He was just awake and looking miserable. Oh well. He's up and at 'em this morning and doesn't seem to be feeling too badly, so hopefully that's a good thing. The encouraging thing about him is that his snotties are still clear. Georgia's got all of this green and yellow goo that makes me a bit nervous. Oh well, we called the ped and they said it sounded like we were doing all of the right things -- I'm just ready for her to feel better and breathe easily. Poor thing -- she's too little to be sick. Makes me so sad. :(

Okay -- he's done eating breakfast now. Gotta run -- should be a LOOONNNNGGG day. Oh, and Chris has to stay late tonight -- I don't know who's more upset about that -- him or me. Both, I guess. Oh well, wish me luck with today!!

Random thoughts on a Sunday morning...

Well, if you'd like to know, the title for each new blog post is usually the stumper for me. Since I don't have a specific topic in mind this morning, thought I'd just call it what it is and be done with it.

I felt AWFUL yesterday -- bathroom issues. My dad and mom were sweet enough to take Mitchell to a friend's birthday party for me, which ended up being a good thing. I didn't feel okay again until I woke up this morning. The issues resolved like mid-afternoon, but I still didn't feel really great. I found out that not only did they go, but that my sister in law, brother, 2 nephews and my sil's sister all went too. I really couldn't believe it when I heard that -- who would ever think to do that? (My family, obviously.) I was of course concerned about how my friend received them. I mean, it was in a restaurant that has tons of kids anyway, but I just felt bad that the focus was supposed to be on Mitchell's little friend and here comes my herd of a family. Apparently they got their own table, but I feel bad about that. I think that Mitchell should have sat at the table with his buddy, not with my family. Anyway, nothing I can do about it now -- I just feel bad about it. My sister in law called last night and said she'd like to send my friend's little boy a book or something with a thank you note for being so nice, which is a nice gesture. Ugh. Oh well...can't worry about it now. I just left my friend a message apologizing for the crashing of his party. I really hope she's not mad. I had no idea that would happen or in all honesty, I would never have had them take him. I just know Mitchell loves that place (it's the same place we had his party), he was excited to see his buddy and we already had the gift.

Anyway...today we're going to Sam's Club. I'm already cringing thinking about how much the total will be at the checkout stand. We have a hard time getting out of there for under 2 or 3oo on our normal trips, and we really want to stock up today. Plus, we've really run down our freezer and pantry supplies lately, so I think it would be more than usual anyway. Oh well...we've got it figured out, just those big numbers are hard to hear! It sure will be nice to bring baby home to a well stocked freezer and pantry though. At least for those first couple of weeks, or hopefully the first month or so.

Chris is excited because NASCAR starts again today. I'm happy for him, but my goodness, they just finished like 2 weeks ago, I swear!!! It's like the neverending sport season. This also means that we were in Daytona for the big race a year ago...strange. I was at my thinnest, having some beer, eating blue cheese, staying up late, etc. I think that's one of the things about having a baby...for the rest of the family, it really kicks in when baby comes home. For the woman carrying the baby...you pretty much start giving up things from day one. I want to try and breastfeed again for at least 6 months, so by the time it's all said and done, that's a good year and half or so of my body not being my own. I know it sounds selfish but I'm ready to have it back to myself.

Last night Georgia was a maniac when I was trying to go to bed. She was REALLY on the move, kicks and punches in my sides, in my ribs, out my hoo-haa (I swear!). Chris was downstairs doing some work, so I was all alone and silly as it sounds, I sat up after about 10 minutes and had a chat with my little girl. It was after 10 pm, I was wiped out and all those movements really HURT. I sat up and said "Look, Georgia. Either screw your head way down in there and break my water or settle down and go to sleep." 5 minutes later she decided to go to sleep. I actually only got up once to go to the bathroom last night and Mitchell slept till 7. I feel much better today...amazing what some rest can do for the body. I actually woke up because I heard her mobile playing music...he LOVES it. He was standing in there watching and listening to it. He said "Hi, Mommy. I like her mobile-wheel." :) He's such a cutie. It's just bizarre because the last time he was so in love with it, he was a little infant boy laying in his crib giggling every time the yellow guy went around. Sigh. How'd he get to be so big??

Okay, before I get mushy I'm gonna go. Let me just say that I wouldn't be opposed to a little help from the full moon tomorrow night. A Valentine baby would be fine by me at this point. I'm ready to have her here.

I hate potty training...

and so does Mitchell, I'm pretty sure. I think the thing is...we've tried to be really laid back about the whole thing...making everything available and offering to help, but not pushing it. Usually we'll ask and he'll say "No thanks" or "Not right now" or something along those lines. The thing that Chris and I have COMPLETELY had it with is that the kid won't even TELL us when he needs a new pullup if he's pooped. It is just disgusting and nasty and the MOST irritating thing in my daily life at the moment. I mean, he's 3 years old, we haven't AT ALL pushed him in the potty training, we're not even requiring him to sit up there, we just want him to tell us when he needs a new pullup. That's it. Not hard. No punishment. But boy howdy do I get angry when I go to change him (if I haven't smelled it) and it's obviously been there and stuck on and mixed with pee and the whole 9 yards. Nothing guaranteed to get my goat sooner than that these days. Chris is right there with me.

We've told him OVER AND OVER that all he has to do is tell us, we'll get a new pullup, change him and be done with it. Nope. Not happening.

Well, I had reached my wits end Saturday night when he did it. I just told Chris we've got to start making something happen...I can't do this anymore. I can't explain why it makes me so angry/irritated, it just is a major hot button. (I'm sure preggo hormones factor in there somewhere, but it could be the fact that we've been doing this for so long now.) Anyway, Chris and I decided that yesterday, whether he liked it or not, Mitchell would be spending a good chunk of his day on the potty.

So he gets up yesterday morning and I inform him that before we go downstairs for the juice, cheerios, vitamins and cartoons ritual, he will be sitting on the potty. I got some minor whining and complaining, but nothing major. Sat up there, nothing happened, but at least he cooperated. Well, I also told him that I'd be setting the timer and when it went off, no matter what we were doing, we'd stop and go upstairs to try pottying again. "Okay, mommy." (Yeah, right...I've learned to add that mental response.) 45 minutes later, all hell breaks loose when the timer goes off. He just completely loses his mind. You know those hysterical crying, drooling, swatting instead of hitting, completely out of control meltdowns? Well, that's where we were when I was getting him on the potty.

Now here's the dilemma I faced...do I let him learn the lesson that if you throw a big enough fit, you'll get your way? Or, do I let him learn the lesson that he's going to have to start taking some active role in this even if he's not all that excited about it, and if that means stop playing with toys for a potty break, then that's what he needs to do. I do have to pat myself on the back and say that I remained super calm (on the outside -- I was really upset inside) but held him on there and told him that we could let him down when he calmed down. Chris was awakened by the commotion...I wouldn't be surprised if we woke the neighbors-- so he quickly came to my aid. He held him on there and it was a good 15 minutes or so of just freaking out on Mitchell's end. We asked "Is it hurting you?" "No." "Are you scared?" "No." If either of those had been yes...he'd have gotten down, but he was just being a stubborn little pill who didn't want to stop playing. (That's been the problem all along.) Now keep in mind that we have SEVERAL incentives built into the whole operation and we were reminding him of them...some are natural, some are tangible. When he finally stopped his freak out session, we talked a lot about why we were doing what we were doing.

We came back downstairs with the understanding that the next time the timer went off, he would again need to sit on the potty. We were really, really playing up the "big boy" part of all of this, as that's a big deal these days. Well, I'm glad we stuck to our guns and gutted out the 15 minutes of chaos because the timer went off and what do you know? He literally RAN to the stairs and said "Come on, mommy...it's time for me to sit on the potty!!" By the time I waddled up the stairs, he had his pants off and was climbing on the toilet seat. I about peed my own pants. Nothing productive, but hey...it was a start. Same thing the next 2 times the timer went off. And last night, there were two times he got this funny look on his face and said "I need to go potty." We got up there and you could tell he had JUST peed in his pullup, so I think he was starting to hook the two things up. This morning, he came over to tell me something and stunk to high heaven. I said "Mitchell, is there anything you need to tell me?" He said "Yeah, mommy. I pooped and I need a new pullup." I think my jaw dropped to the floor. I said "Well, please go get one and come right back." "Okay, mommy." And he did!!! Afterwards, he said "I told you mommy, I told you!!" He was so proud, heck, I was so proud...it felt really good.

This little teeny bit of progress makes me wish we'd been more forceful earlier, but the meltdown thing was always in the way. I just couldn't get past it because I had all of these "voices" (experts, friends, etc.) telling me that holding him up there and making it a negative experience was the worst possible thing I could do. Well, I tried to combat that by not letting him down until he was okay and it wasn't so bad anymore. I'm so glad we did because it does seem to have made an impact.

In the meantime, I still hate potty training. I think I need some tangible reinforcers to stay with it more than he does!!

That stupid alarm clock!!!

Okay, so it's really nice and all not having to wake up at or before the crack of dawn in order to get ready and go to work every day...but it really stinks when Chris' alarm wakes ME up, but not HIM like 10 times every morning. He woke up and went to work really early yesterday and actually got up like on the second alarm sounding. Well, we both fell asleep watching tv last night so when we went upstairs he just set his alarm and went to sleep. I didn't think anything about it until it started going off at 4:30!! Of course, then I couldn't go back to sleep. When it went off the third time I said "Are you needing to get up early?" He said "No, I forgot that it was set so early yesterday. Sorry." Grrrrrrrr!!! Totally not his fault and I understand, but here it is 5:45 and I'm about to head back in the bedroom and make sure he gets up on time. I just wish I could sleep like he and Mitchell do...they could sleep through anything and me, I hear one noise and I'm up for good.

Here's the other bad news about today...I have had diarrhea three times already this morning. Ugh. Ick. Gross. It is one of my least favorite things on the planet. I made myself an egg salad sandwich yesterday which was really yummy, but I'm guessing that it is the culprit. I can't think of anything else, and hope that this is a short-lived thing. Guess we won't be going anywhere today! I'll just try to drink even more water than normal and stick with toast and soup. Yuck.