Poop Emergency

There is a law that exists in the world of Trish. This law states that whenever one of the kids has a huge poop (and I'm not talking about any poop, just the ones that are out of the world!) I am out in public (always in a mall or store) and I am alone! So the very first time that it happened with Bulldozer I was out downtown at a mall. Some crazy guy showed up and decided to sit down at the table right next to me and start up a conversation on our medical system. Oh no. About twenty minutes into the conversation Bulldozer (when he was just a little guy) starts to cry and I try to give the guy who won't shut up the subtle hint that it's time to do just that. No such luck. He continues to talk even though I am now ignoring him and I pick up Bulldozer to soothe his wails. Without looking (oh have I learned my lesson since then) I hold him up to my chest only to realize that's he's completely covered in poop and look at that, so am I! I put him back down in the stroller (much to his protests) and throw a sweater on top of my poop covered shirt which of course doesn't cover the stench of the bowel movement that's claimed the whole front of my precious yellow shirt. Finally I get to a washroom and change Bulldozer because of course I have a change of clothes for him... For the next 1/2 hour I walk around the mall covered in poop trying to find a place that sells an inexpensive shirt. Hubbby shows up just before I complete my task and do you know what he does? He howls. Yes, in the middle of the mall he laughs at me like there's no tomorrow.
This time it's not Bulldozer that gives me a present. I'm walking through Toys "R" Us with the boys and I smell a very distinctive odour coming from the Wee Little One. After ten minutes of fighting with Bulldozer to go to the washroom and leave all the toys behind, I am surprised to realize that my previously clogged up baby has suddenly unclogged himself! So to make a long story sort of short the clean-up process included an entire roll of paper towel (thanks again Toys "R" Us!), a box of wipes and a very strong Trish that insisted on rinsing out the brand new outfit because it was just too cute to waste. Upon meeting my Hubby later, he shared his feelings that saving the outfit (never mind washing it out in the sink) was dispicable and disgusting! Maybe a little bit of that Dutch is shining through in me!

P.S. I washed the outfit and behold, it's as good as new! Take that Hubby!

Two Hats In One Week

Bulldozer lost his Habs hat and he was so crushed, his "Bubba" got it for him and he loved it so much! Now today while we were out the Wee Little One decided to launch his own hat out of the stroller while we weren't looking! I suppose he imagined a life without having to wear a hat (have I mentioned that he hates hats?), that must be a dream world for most babies! However to his disadvantage we found the "lost" hat on our trek home and he looked so dejected. Poor Boo. I looked at him and asked what he had done with his hat and his face lit up with this evil grin! I then showed him the hat and he looked a tad bit confused! He must consider himself one unlucky dude!

Hot Baby #2

So I have been proved wrong. The Wee Little One's general well-being went from sorta bad to worse. His fever went up and then down and then up again. He went from happy to not so much so! Hubby and I spent a lot of time up with the Boo trying to comfort him last night and not a whole lot of time sleeping. I am tired today. Hubby is feeling worse because he stayed up even longer than I did. When your kids sleep so well you forget what sleepless nights actually feel like. So the Wee Little One's pediatrician wants to see him tomorrow just to make sure that every thing's okay. Wish us luck!

Hot Baby

We have a health help line in Quebec that has nurses on the other end to answer your health care questions. Usually I call if I have a question about baby care, etc... and I find that they're really laid back and confident that everything is okay. I guess they're trained to be like that so you don't freak out.

The Wee Little One woke up from his nap today with a fever of 38.7 Celsius. I knew he was hot because when I picked him up I could feel his burning skin on my own. He's in a great mood though and he hasn't been fussing all day. He's not tugging on his ears and he's not congested. He is however going through the teething process but so is every other baby in the world! I called the health line to get a second opinion on my decision to just let him be and see what happens.

I told the nurse that I thought he had a fever from teething and she told me that they now know that babies don't get a fever from teething, since when? I feel out of date from the information I knew when I had my first son, a whole twenty-eight months ago! Then she asked me a whole bunch of questions, basically to see if there was anything else wrong. Then she told me that babies don't just have a fever for no reason at all (Really? That's sarcasm!) so it had to be something and maybe it was his ears. I don't know, it doesn't seem like he's pulling on his ears. Seriously, he's in a great mood! She told me to give him Tempra anyway so I did. I'm supposed to keep an eye out on his condition.

Now that I've written this he's getting more fussy as we speak and watch, I'll have to eat my words later on! Here's hoping that the fever will just disappear and that will be the end of that.

Sitting Up

The Wee Little One is growing up so quickly! His new milestone is that he can go from a lying down on his belly position to sitting up all by himself! You should see the look on his face! I can't help but clap every time he sits up and he just beams up at me, knowing that he's doing something that makes Mommy happy. His dimples show and I wish that I could freeze this moment in time and remember it forever. I love him so much!

To The Doctors We Will Go

So we've finally decided that we're going to the Wee Little One's Doctor to follow-up on his constipation issues. It's been about two and a half months since we've started solid foods and ever since then he's been completely blocked up! We've tried everything, from prunes, to bottles of water to laxatives that are safe for babies. Which brings me to my next point... this morning Hubby called the Doctor's office to try to get an appointment for today. The secretary grilled him left, right and center. I know it's her job but it was very rude. While he was explaining what was wrong she cut him off and said, "is that all yet?" Then she kept suggesting all of the things that we have already tried. It's frustrating because we've been aware of the situation for awhile (and we've been through it, albeit less severe, with our first child) and it's not like we haven't taken all the necessary measures! No bananas... check. Water... check. Prunes... check. On top of that she gave us heck for asking the Pharmacist about laxatives, we were supposed to call the Doctor's office first! With so much clogging up of the system it seemed reasonable to consult a qualified medical professional that has studied medicine! Anyway I'm happy because we finally are going to get everything checked out and make sure he's okay. Wish us luck!

Learning Time

So the big news of the week:

One, I believe Bulldozer is well on his way to being potty trained! Yes I said it. Maybe this will come back to bite me in the butt but we're two weeks into the process and I'm so excited! I foresee a day without diapers, hopefully sometime before he hits kindergarten! It seemed like such a lost cause because he kept starting and then he would flat out refuse to continue after a few days, I have to admit that I was quite discouraged. However now we have a schedule going and I'm desperately hoping that moving in a month will not mess it up...

So our schedule consists of Bulldozer changing into "big boy underwear" in the morning and the only time he gets to wear diapers is at nap time and if we go out. After all it's only been two weeks so I'm not going to trust fate and go out without the comfort of a nappy YET. We'll see what happens in the future.

Yesterday while at his Grandmother's house he actually went potty on the big toilet! He asked to so I held him up and he made a huge poop! Why do I feel like writing all of this is going to make him hate me later on in life?!?

On another positive note the Wee Little One is making great progress on the crawling front. He doesn't get into the "traditional" crawling position but believe you me, he makes progress moving from point A to point B! He sort of drags his little body on the floor with his arms in front of him and squirms with his hips to propel him forward. This morning he was doing so well, it brought tears to my eyes!

Side note... I went shopping at my favorite second hand store yesterday and bought four new (used) shirts. I also purchased a pair of really nice jeans, a black sweater for when it starts to cool down (if ever) and a belt. Almost a whole new wardrobe! I had so much fun shopping sans children!

A Good Night

Here's hoping that Bulldozer goes to sleep without a fight tonight. It's been rough lately, he's lapsed back into fighting us tooth and nail to stay up. It wouldn't be so bad if he was using his crafty ways to try to convince us but instead he screeches, screams, kicks and throws himself all over the floor! I think that our neighbours probably wonder what goes on behind closed doors! ... Well Hubby just came out of the room and except for one more attempted escape things are going pretty well. Even the Wee Little One is dozing in his rocking chair and all feels right with the world. I am very tired tonight and my back hurts so I'm looking forward to an earlier night and some rest to face the week-end ahead. There's a lot to look forward to! :) More to follow...

As a side note I'm very proud of the Wee Little One! He is making great progress in the transportation department, meaning the transportation of himself. He's not quite crawling yet but he's getting pretty close. Go Wee Little One!

My heart dropped out of my chest last night and I didn't have the energy left to talk about it. Hubby and I were watching "So You Think You Can Dance" and right at the end of the show there was a huge crash and bang. Hubby flew from the couch before I could even react... I followed a few steps behind him. All I could think was that something fell on Bulldozer and he wasn't even crying in protest. By the time I reached the door Hubby had thrown on the lights in Bulldozer's room and was in the process of going to check on the Wee Little One. I felt sick to my stomach. All I could think about was the crib and maybe it had collapsed... Thank god no one was hurt and everything was okay. Surprisingly even though Hubby had said that Bulldozer had opened his eyes when he turned on the lights, he must have done so and promptly went back to bed! When I peeked my head in he was fast asleep so I turned off the lights and closed the door. The Wee Little One didn't wake up from all the commotion either. There was something about the crash that left both Hubby and I drained of all emotion; left feeling raw and empty. We had a good cry and then headed off to bed.

Oh by the way it was a big plastic frog that holds Bulldozer's bath toys that had fallen off the wall.

Progress

I'm convinced that the Wee Little One is going to crawl soon! I'm so excited! This morning before I pulled my tired butt from bed Hubby told me that he had gotten his little legs under him and then sort of pulled forward with his arms. Then while Hubby was busy doing something he tried to crawl twice! He was resting on his elbows and his knees and then all of sudden, boom! He fell sideways and laughed! I clapped and clapped and clapped. You know you have to encourage him to move forward!



On a not so positive note I think the Wee Little One is teething. He's refusing to eat as much as he was before, he had some pink spots on his cheeks and he wouldn't let me go anywhere near his mouth! He cried and cried and cried. I gave him some Tempra which seemed to help and then I gave him another dose around supper time and now he's passed out and sleeping. Poor Boo. I feel so helpless during these episodes because there's not much that I can do about his pain. I can just hope that he gets through it quickly. With Bulldozer we never really had any problems with teething, he took it like he takes everything else: head on! I can only remember one time when he really fussed and we had to dose him up with Tempra. No two babies are alike!

A New Skill

So our seven month old son has learned a very "valuable" lesson in life. He has learned to remove his diaper, you heard me right, all by himself. What a wonderful, fantastic, beautiful thing to learn at such a young age! I have nightmares of walking into his room in the morning only to find poop smeared all over his walls because he's taken his diaper off in the night and has been creating beautiful pieces of art! Up until now I've been waiting for what Bulldozer will do if left alone but I have a hunch that might change...

Mr. Happy/Mr. Sad

I've decided that the Wee Little One reminds me a whole lot of those kid's books with Mr. Happy and Mrs. Polite, etc... You know the ones that I'm talking about, right? They had a really simple cartoon drawing on the front and the title in bold black letters across the top. Anyway if I could condense all of those titles into a nickname for my youngest (I mean something more original than Mr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) I would!

When he's hungry he goes from perfectly happy and smiling to screeching his lungs off for something to eat. There's no happy medium with this child! He even has this split personality trait where he's crying his eyes out but still has a half smile on his face and he's even giggling a bit in between the screams!

Another area that we tend to see this extreme flip of character is if we are out in the "elements". From the time he was born the Wee Little One never liked the wind, the cold or even too much heat. It makes for tough living considering usually one of those three conditions exist on any given day. Today on the bus ride home he was ducking his head out of the way from the rays of sun that were streaming in the bus windows. Again perfectly content to absolutely pissed in 1.5 seconds!

A New Burrito Addition To The Family...

The wee little one was rolling around on his quilt that my Mom made for him. He managed to get all wrapped up, from head to toe, he resembled a burrito quite well!

Just in case the joke was missed from my last entry, we laughed because it was like Bulldozer was saying that Mommy was a piece of meat ... Daddy's meat. Way over his head at the tender age of two but funny nonetheless!

So today is the day that the wee little one pooped! For an entire month he's pooped hard rodent-like pellets (except for maybe a total of a couple of semi but not entirely soft bowel movements) and we had tried everything to unblock him. First his Doctor had suggested glycerin suppositories which failed to work and only left us traumatized from having to keep them in for fifteen minutes. Next step was a constant dose of anything that we thought would relieve him, from prunes to prune juice. It was a no go. Then we called our local health line and they suggested trying, get this, water! Well wasn't that obvious? Maybe it would have worked had the wee one decided that he would actually participate in drinking the stuff! So that was a failure. The nurse on the phone also suggested we try a teaspoon of corn syrup which did absolutely nothing. Finally I was ready to bring him in to see the Doctor or even a trip to the hospital so I figured I'd try the pharmacy. A laxative that was safe for babies was recommended and that brings us to this moment in time... Hubby is leaning over a nappy filled to the brim with a present that I've so long been looking forward to. RELIEF.

Reading Is A Good Foundation!

The absolute cutest thing happened the other day. Bulldozer was actually down on the floor next to his younger brother and was reading to him. It was so adorable... He had the book upside down but never mind that, his intentions were nothing but the best! He kept repeating "Bubba, Bubba" (his word for "truck", of course named after his grandfather who drives a truck!) and showing him the pictures (which again were upside down!) We managed to videotape it but it was so much cuter when he didn't know we were watching him. Imagine us the two crazy parents hiding around the corner, peeking out trying to witness a kind act from one of our children to the other - possibly one of the last ones we may ever see! Something to remember for the future when they're teenagers and fight like cats and dogs!

Looney Tunes

So Hubby is still holding to the fact that he did not steal the cookies, I do not believe him!

Thunderstorm warnings are in effect for today and I have a theory about thunderstorms and the environment around us. It's similar to the concept that full moons make people a little crazy. From my experience people/animals tend to go a little nuts when those electrical surges pulse through the air. So far so good this morning. Bulldozer is his regular crabby self and the wee little one is kind of crabby too. Hubby is lying about about the cookie stealing and Dexter is quiet in his cage. All is well in this household. I have an awful feeling that won't be the case for the rest of the day though... I will keep you posted!

Poop Emergency

So my Dad picked up Bulldozer at 8:30 this morning to take him to play with his friend. Hubby and I have only one child present today, it feels awfully weird and I have forgotten how much easier taking care of one kid is than two! First item on the agenda, to let the wee little one roll around diaperless in the living room. I get that look from the Husband and the obvious question, "why?" Well for one he's had some diaper rash and I think the air would do his bum some good. Two, it's cute what more do you want? Off goes the diaper and within the first thirty seconds he decides to sprinkle. Have you ever seen a baby pee when they're lying face down on a surface? The stream gushes upwards like a fountain, it's actually quite amusing! Hubby does not look amused. Not even two minutes later we notice a brown heap emerging from the depths of his little butt. Yikes. Helpless looks between the two of us... The heap keeps rising and the look on Hubby's face gets more and more disgusted. I on the other hand stifle laughs (which doesn't really work) for the sake of the one who must clean up the mess! An excellent start to the day!

Wildfire

The wee little one has the most beautiful smile in the world. I know it's not fair to say that one child's smile is superior to the other one's but he has this totally engaging, brighten up your day smile that starts slowly and spreads like wildfire. Even the tips of his little ears react by twitching. The one downfall is that often it's just not that easy to convince the wee little one to actually smile. He could be in a seemingly good mood and you appear in his line of vision and oh, there he goes, he's wailing like he's been tortured or something. And believe you me, this kid can wail! Sometimes you make silly faces and dance the jig and no reaction at all. Other days you're not even looking at him but he's watching you and his face will light up like the sun. Of course the weird man at the restaurant can make him smile out of the blue! A smile that is slow to appear but genuine, is far better than a fake one.

As I write this he's giggling up a storm with his Daddy and I'm thankful for these happy times!