If You Give a Kid a Laxative, Don't Let Him Sleep In (TMI warning!)

I should have seen it coming. I could have expected it and been prepared, or even prevented some of it. But no...I got hit full on because I didn't think it through.

Poop. Everywhere.

The pediatric nurse practitioner suggested that we continue to give Simon the Mira-lax till he effectively gets diarrhea. We gave it to him again yesterday, after he'd successfully pooped a few times. Because it's a powder laxative that goes in his drink, he only gets it when he drinks. He didn't drink much early in the day, so he effectively got a double dose at dinner. He didn't fall asleep till after 9pm, and we checked his diaper a few times right up until we heard him finally quiet down - no poop.

But this morning, I got up & got ready. I heard him talking in his crib, but he wasn't fussing so I took a few minutes to get dressed, put in my contacts & go to the bathroom. When I went in his room I was met with poop.

Simon was standing at the edge of the crib, poop covering him effectively shoulders to toes. It was all over the bed: sheets, crib rails, mattress pad. I stripped him down, gave him a quick "rinse off the poop" bath, dumped that water and gave him a clean bath. I called a friend to come hang out w/ Simon while I washed the bed, his pj's, diaper, everything. I had to take his sheet & mattress pad out to the curb & hose them off. For a moment I wished we used disposable diapers...I almost just threw the whole cloth diaper & everything away. But I didn't. I had to plunge & scrub the diaper in parts, and it took several flushes of the toilet to rinse it all away.

And then I didn't have enough laundry soap, so I had to stop & wash my hands, scoop up Simon & run to the Co-op to buy more laundry soap so I could finish washing everything.

It calls to mind images of so many movie scenes about the "tipping point" moments that make you pull your hair out as a mom. But I couldn't really get to that point, because I feel like I caused it. I gave the kid the laxative, put him to bed, and didn't get him up the first moment I heard him talking. Coulda, shoulda, didn't. Next time?

I have to say that Simon had more energy today than I've seen in a while. He weighs a few pounds less now, I think. And certainly his belly/guts feel better.

But it was probably the most disgusting thing I have ever - ever - experienced in my life.

Happy Vacation Moments, Chapter Eight - Some Views

My dad has worked at a successful car dealership in Grand Rapids for more years than I've been around...thirty-some, I think. Growing up with him has cultivated an appreciation of cars & car-related experiences that I might not otherwise have. For example, I love to wash my own car in the driveway. Love it. Also, I love to go to car races. We had the opportunity to go to a race at the Berlin Raceway while we were in Michigan. This was the classic car race. I went with Dad, Adam & Jason - me & the guys! Fun.

After the car races were over, they did a big fireworks display. It was a well done show.








One of many gorgeous Lake Michigan sunsets, as seen through the trees from our cottage back porch.





When I was little, I thought sun beams through the clouds were glimpses of heaven. I don't have the same simple idea of heaven as I once did, but I think there may be some truth to that juvenile assessment.

Happy Vacation Moments, Chapter Seven - Family Lovin'

Mom & her brother, my Uncle John, in a bear-squeeze on our cottage back porch





Adam got some snuggly love from our cousins' little boy, David. He's a teddy bear of a little guy.





Impromptu extended family photo op when we stopped by my aunt & uncle's cottage the night of the twins' birthdays. The family was having happy hour, and we were frantically trying to fit in the cake & presents & everything, so we didn't take the time to "perfect" the shot. It's the only extended family shot I have of the whole week though! And still so many people aren't present here.

Me & my sisters - looking "beached."

Happy Vacation Moments, Chapter Six - A Baby Chapter

Mom with a bouyant pink marshmallow.









Jason found one too. These were happy moments for the adults...maybe not so much for Anna & Rachel.





Why was Rachel wearing Anna's bathing suit on her head? We may never know. But it was a happy moment, evidently. The photo made the cut for this chapter!




Simon & I had a quiet moment. Me with Harry Potter, he with a bucket. If this isn't heaven - what is?

Happy Vacation Moments, Chapter Five

And I got to read - uninterrupted - a lot. In the middle of the day! I didn't have any "real life" responsibilities, and Simon was happily looked after by grandparents, aunts & uncles, cousins...
This was about halfway through Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows, I believe.





Family dinners. A tradition I love, and didn't realize was uncommon till after moving out of mom & dad's house. There's something magickal about a meal with your own family.

Baby-wearing! Brother-in-law Jason, Mom & I carry the kiddos for a walk on the beach.





Jason found other ways to carry babies too. Anna (and her tongue) look pretty happy about it!

Happy Vacation Moments, Chapter Four

Melissa giving Becky a backrub. Now if THIS picture doesn't say "relaxing vacation," I don't know what does. Gotta love a sister!







Farmer's Market veggie hunting proved fruitful & delicious.









Playing cards, more cards, and another game of cards. This is something we love and just don't get enough of.





Rachel figured out the Rubik's Cube too. She's pretty smart.

Happy Vacation Moments, Chapter Three - Rozeboom Time

Paul taught us how to solve a Rubik's Cube. Maybe I'll make it a goal to learn a new "amazing party trick" every time I go on vacation.







Uncle John catching a pause between wild wave rides.








Aunt Jeannie & Liesl watching the water.








Liesl hamming it up, upside down style.

Happy Vacation Moments - Chapter Two

My dad, happily displaying his "oops." I think the porch door "bit" him for one of the spills, but the other one was just being clumsy. Maybe this wasn't his first glass of wine for the afternoon?






Adam, in a rare moment of complete solitude & relaxation. Family vacations are fun and worth the craziness, but they're not as relaxing as something quieter. Adam found some peace, for a moment at least.







My sister, Melissa, practicing her Karate Kid "crane kick." She's pretty good at it, actually. All those years of dance lessons gave that girl some great balance & grace...or maybe she had it anyway.






Adam, working on his kite a bit. He got it flying a few times in the somewhat fickle beach breezes.

The Price of Parenthood

I just paid $75 for poop.

I finally brought Simon in to see a pediatric nurse practitioner today. She worked her magic, he pooped, and I wrote a check.

He seems to be functioning relatively normally now...I've had a few messy diapers since this morning's appointment.

The things you do as a mom that you'd never think of otherwise...pay $75 just to get a kid to fill his pants? And it was the sweetest moment...I almost cried with joy and relief.

Be Nice To Spiders...and their Families

After finding her on our porch, I got online to research black widow spiders. For my own peace of mind I needed to know how aggressive they are, how territorial, how long they live, what might tempt them to come in my house & eat my face. I found out a few things that made me want to make sure that we didn't leave our new red-hourglass-bellied friend on our front porch.

I found out that the young females are the brightest red, and based on her color, ours was young. I found out that they can live for 5 years. I found out that they usually spend the first part of their life scoping out possible homes, and once they find one they like, they tend to stay put. I found out how many hundreds of offspring they typically produce in their life spans. The numbers & facts were too much to be comfortable, and then we found this up under the carport today:

I didn't feel very happy at all about that. We assume that it's the same spider, because based on the fact that black widows are sometimes cannibals - one of (if not THE) only spiders who actually kill & eat other spiders - she probably wouldn't share our front porch with another one. I guess we'll see. But we decided that she needed to be removed from our house immediately.

This is where my story differs from the story that would be told if this particular spider family had been on the front porch of my friend Tyler or my sister Melissa's house.

We didn't kill her or destroy the eggs. We just relocated them. Carefully.

Adam & Simon & I took a little walk around the neighborhood to scope out a place that would meet our main criteria:

1. it had to be within relatively short walking distance b/c we didn't want to have to carry her around for a long time.
2. it had to be far enough from our house that we felt reasonably assured she'd not find her way back to our homey porch.
3. it had to be far enough from anyone else's home that she wouldn't endanger our neighbors and/or be killed by one of them
4. it had to be a place unlikely to be trespassed by children or pets of ours or our neighbors.

We found a good spot that met all of the criteria so Adam swiped the spider & the eggs onto an old broom and took a little hike with her. Simon & I hung out and danced to Katie Day Good in the living room. He returned several minutes later after having successfully placed her in her new home.

I called Tyler to tell him that we'd taken care of her, but he was mortified that we'd let her ("and all those babies!") live. I told my parents and they reacted with some concern. I told them I must've read "Be Nice To Spiders" a few too many times as a child, and they responded by telling me they didn't think my sister read it at all. I know for a fact that she, without remorse, kills just about any crawly critter that comes within reach of her. I remember challenging her on such violent anti-bug tendencies, to which she responded "they should know better than to come that close to me." Oh well. I guess that's why I have a black widow setting up camp on my front porch and she doesn't. Word gets out through the bug underground that I'm a softy. The effect of their responses caused me to second-guess what I'd done (or not done, actually) and feel like maybe I'd done something wrong. I fretted, just a bit.

An hour or so later I was at the laundromat, drying Simon's diapers that we'd washed. Due to the thunderstorm, we knew they'd never dry on the line and we needed them urgently. I find that we go through diapers at least twice as fast when he's constipated, b/c he's not quite succeeding in his attempts to poo, but he's succeeding just enough to require a clean diaper. Anyway, I view going to the laundromat as an opportunity to read, uninterrupted, for a half hour while my laundry dries. I'd been meaning to start a new book, The Language of God by Francis S. Collins, so I brought it along & got through the introduction & chapter one before the diapers finished.

Within that first chapter, I found a story that validated my choice to kindly relocate our albino-challenged spouse-less arachnid. I immediately ceased fretting. I'll leave you with it. The author relays that it is a Sufi story, told by Benedictine nun Sister Joan Chittister, and notes that he found it in What Does It Mean To Be Human? Reverence for Life Reaffirmed by Responses from Around the World.

Once upon a time there was an old woman who used to meditate on the bank of the Ganges. One morning, finishing her meditation, she saw a scorpion floating helplessly in the strong current. As the scorpion was pulled closer, it got caught in roots that branched out far into the river. The scorpion struggled frantically to free itself but got more and more entangled. She immediately reached out to the drowning scorpion, which, as soon as she touched it, stung her. The old woman withdrew her hand but, having regained her balance, once again tried to save the creature. Every time she tried, however, the scorpion's tail stung her so badly that her hands became bloody and her face distorted with pain. A passerby who saw the old woman struggling with the scorpion shouted, "What's wrong with you, fool! Do you want to kill yourself to save that ugly thing?" Looking into the stranger's eyes, she answered, "Because it is the nature of the scorpion to sting, why should I deny my own nature to save it?"

Happy Vacation Moments, Chapter One

I started posting happy vacation moments on Simon's blog, but I thought I'd share some here too. Not every happy moment had Simon completely stealing the limelight...there was magic in the WHOLE family being together. Here's the first installment - I needed to post some joy after the "stuck" entry.
Adam, Simon, Dad & sister Melissa - chilling on the porch, watching one of several lovely Lake Michigan sunsets.






My dad & my Simon snuggling & watching the sun set. Something about seeing the men in my life (whether my hubby or my dad) loving my son is just heartwarming & tear-producing every time.






Dad looking "zoomy." This is after a wild Sea-doo ride.








My fabulous neice, Sam, giving me a smooch. She's amazing. We didn't get to see her as much as we wanted to, but we made the most of the time we had!

Stuck (TMI warning)

Our whole family is constipated. Not literally; only Simon has that unhappy designation. But if you've ever been around someone who has been trying, unsuccessfully, to poop for a week - well, you know how stuck you feel. We've been on the phone with nurses & supporters, and it's so far nothing to be concerned about other than the discomfort & stress for all of us. Come Monday and our favorite pediatric nurse practitioner's return to her office, we'll probably take him in.

I think constipation is as much emotional & psychological as it is physical. I don't mean that it's psychosomatic, or that you create it for yourself through stuck feelings & thoughts, but that in the presence of physical constipation you become emotionally & psychologically stuck also.

My husband & I have done a lot of "just going through the motions" this week - we're operating very much on habitual routines. Some things that we're normally disciplined about (like dishes) are stacking up, and our relationship has been somewhat monotonous & dry.

When one thing gets stuck - in this case our baby's intestinal & rectal function - everything slows down. Nothing's moving this week in our house.

Boy, I hope some movement happens soon.

Yikes

How far does my kindness to spiders go? I'm not sure about this one...we just found this lovely large black widow living just outside our front door - about a foot from the front hose spigot.

She IS assisting us with cockroach population control.

Vest & Hat Combo

This is a vest & hat combo that I've made for several babies. I first tried to make it for Simon, but found that the head opening in the vest wasn't big enough. I've yet to go back & fix his, but I've made it at least a few more times to give as gifts. The pattern is from a great silly book of patterns for kids - it's called Monkey Suits by Sharon Turner. The pattern for the little "rasta hat" I gave to David Daniel is in that book too. It's a favorite book, so I wanted to give due credit. :)

Projects of Pride, again

This was another project - a hat for little David Daniel.








I made Simon model it before we wrapped it up for David.







The blocks, close-up. I was very proud to give them, b/c my sister (the twins' mom) is also a knitter - and she knew exactly how much work it took.