I n B l o o m

A "nakey time" I'll never forget

Summertime is so great for kids in diapers because it means they can run around (or crawl/cruise, in Violet's case) naked when no guests are here. It's especially good when babies (like ours) wear cloth diapers. The "airing out" is much deserved & welcomed by all parties.

So that's exactly what I did for Violet this morning. She was just cruising around the house making happy sounds, and I thought, "She deserves a little naked time," so I took off her diaper.

She was minding her business. I was minding mine. Until I smelled something. Something horrible. Something horribly familiar.

I followed my offended nose into the living room (simultaneously feeling horrified when I remembered Violet was undiapered) where I immediately become much more horrified. Violet was standing in a smooshed-around, how shall I say it..."artistically disheveled" pile of her own poop. Wait - it gets worse. She was eating yesterday's undigested carrots out of the poop. I almost threw up.

Anyway...one call to the pediatrician and 13 Clorox wipes later, things returned to a virtually peaceful state again.

Avy slept until 10am (!), and stumbled down the steps while I was still cleaning things. She's very articulate and funny in the morning due to her cheery disposition. She looked at me with her "huh?" face and said, "Mommy? Did you POOP on the steps?!" To which I replied, "of course not," to which she replied, "Ohhhhh little Charlie...." (i.e., Violet).

Today was adventurous on many levels. But thank goodness for one thing: it's over.

(Sorry. No pictures. I thought it might get flagged as "inappropriate" and I'd lose my perfect online record!)

Teething Bites

Since last I posted (yes, it was a month and a half ago -- I have things to do, I'm sorry!), Avy has become the most amazing child in the world. She laughs, she "talks" (in her own language), she's sleeping without being swaddled (a HUGE feat!), she's started sucking her fingers and thumbs, she plays alone (when she feels like it), and she LOVES the car. Woo Hoo! And now that she's getting older, she's really starting to look like a little girl instead of a baby. A few days ago I was looking at her and we were having a little conversation where I was telling her how awesome she is, and I found myself talking to her like she was an adult, telling her that she is beautiful and that I love her awesome personality. She looked at me like she understood, and I swear I saw a 10-year-old in her eyes. It made me cry, of course. My baby is growing up.

She's really amazing. For those of you who haven't seen her in a while, you wouldn't even recognize her! She is in the 95th percentile for height, weight, and head size. She is officially the size of an average 7-month-old. This adds a strange twist to our lives because she looks like she should be able to crawl and sit up by herself because of her enormous size ... but alas, she cannot. But she's getting there! She's so advanced. She did sit up by herself with the help of the Boppy for one whole minute on Tuesday!! She's also really cooperating well when I take her to my office at Bryn Mawr to get some work done. She loves my office, which is a huge sigh of relief since she's coming to work with me! (Exciting times!)

But there is one thing that's been hard (on my fingers), and that's TEETHING! Poor Avy is chewing on everything she gets her hands on. I think she's actually hurting pretty badly considering she's shown an excellent pain tolerance in the past (like when I hit her head on the corner of my dresser by accident in the middle of the night and she didn't even wince), and now every time she's biting on something she groans. The worst of it is this: she hates teething rings and cold, wet rags, which would sooth her so well if she liked them. She chews on her plastic chain link toys all day, but that seems to only help for a little while then she gets frustrated. Does anyone have any ideas? Please share them if you do. I'll try anything to help her!

Well, I've posted many new pictures, so don't forget to check out my Picasa Web Photo Album. I've got so many great pictures of her there, so don't miss them!

Kermit was right.

It's really not easy being green. Pregnancy nausea: It feels like death. Today I've been reading all of these pregnancy websites about how to tame the beast. Some of them work for me and some of them make it worse. The "sea-bands" work pretty well (one on each wrist, of course), and pretty fast actually. And a tiny bit of vitamin B-6 seems to have helped. And I switched from pre-natal vitamins to Flinstone vitamins. But for me (and some others who are just as verbal about it on the internet), it's not just morning sickness. It's morning, noon, & night sickness. In one of the articles I read today, one lady was talking about how morning sickness is actually a misnomer. "It's really 'all day' sickness," she says. "Six weeks of constant, undeniable, miserable nausea and vomiting."

The woman speaks the truth.

And I have 5 1/2 more weeks of it.

Shoot me now.

On a happier note: My first doctor's office visit went quite well. There was celebrating, a confirmation of an April 22nd due date, and lots of packets telling me what to do and what not do, how much exercise and sleep I should get, what drugs & foods to avoid, etc. I also got seven viles of blood taken to make sure I'm not a disease carrier. (Why do they wait until I'm pregnant to test for diseases? Am I not important enough by myself? Just wondering.) Then Tara talked me more through the changes to expect in my body (like extreme nausea), and then it was all over.

I wish I could say I am still bright and sunshiny. But right now all I can think about is how badly I hope I don't see my dinner a second time. Or third.