A Fresh Air Break

Last night my son woke with a fever, a sore throat, and aches all over. Ibuprofen took good care of him, as well as some cuddles in our bed.  Thankfully, him and I both got enough good rest, and the day went by happily. His fever came and went, as well as the pains, but he was mostly good all day. Still, being cooped up all day can really put a family on edge. 

Right before nap time, and after too much TV, I had him put on his flip flops for a quick walk around the block. I explained that fresh (and wonderfully warm) air would make him feel a lot better. Nature heals. He was happy to go outside, so was the baby. So, the three of us took a walk around our block.

At first, he said he was cold, so we started to jog. He was good after that and we spent the rest of the trip in search of beautiful flowers to smell. He found lots of great roses, he touched a lemon growing on a tree, he said hi to the passing people, and he was careful to look for cars when crossing the alley. 

We all came home happier, more refreshed, and ready for the rest of the day. What a great way to break a funk.

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Getting into Girly Things

When I found out I was pregnant with a baby girl, I resolved not to be a pink fanatic once she was born. Pink is cute, but seriously, too much is just extreme overkill. I wanted to put my baby girl in girls clothes that were other colors besides pink. Although, I've always had a deeper connection with DARK pink stuff. I decided no dresses until she could walk, because I remember how t-shirts on our son were very annoying when they would ride up all the time. Most likely I had many of these feelings due to only having my boy and having a hard time switching from "blue" to "pink" so to speak. But things are improving now. 

She is 10 months old right now, and I have since put her in a few dresses, quite a few t-shirts, and inevitably... much pink. Most of her clothes (as well as my sons') come as gifts. Baby showers, birthdays, holidays, baptisms etc. So, many of those gifts for our girl came in pink. Some things have been returned for more suitable items, most were kept to wear. Honestly, some of the long t-shirt and pants sets have been some of my favorite outfits on her. The dresses always have pants underneath, so they are essential the same as the sets just mentioned. It's getting more and more fun to dress my baby girl even though she still isn't walking yet. She just started to pull into standing. 

Maybe I had the switch over when everyone kept assuming she was a boy. With yellow and green on, I got a lot of, "Oh, he's so cute". The more I heard it, the more I began to see her looking like a boy in those clothes myself. And slowly we have gotten to this stage of pink, dresses, and other cutesy things. I am looking forward to more dresses, many hair accessories, and adorable girl toys occupying our shelves.

Actually, I am really looking forward to having an easy Easy Bake Oven in the house. I love playing with the kids' toys.

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The Disney On Ice Fiasco

We're a Disney family. We love the movies, the characters, the music, the shows and of course... Disneyland. Last night we got the chance to go see the "Let's Celebrate" Disney On Ice Show. We were excited all day, but had to work on our son because he had no idea what and "ice show" was. This will be one to remember.

We left our house almost an hour and a half early. It was in Long Beach, which is about 20 minutes from us here in West LA. We clearly accounted for traffic, or so I thought. It took about an hour to get there and an hour to park. The line to park was so bad I was kinda hoping they'd postpone the show since it seemed like half the audience was out there trying to park. At the parking booth, it was cash or check only. Neither of which we had. Lovely. The guy was super awesome though and said he wouldn't ruin it for the kids so he let us go without charging us. I wonder now if he knew what was in store for us in the coming hours.

Finally parked, fought through the crowds and found our seats. It was 7:58 when we sat. The show started at 7:30. So much for leaving early. Two things went through my head as we sat there settling in. 1) "I remember that story my Mom always tells me about me throwing up on her during a fireworks show, I'm so happy my kids have never done anything like that" and 2) "Well, since it's the baby's bedtime right now I will feed her a bottle and then she is free to fall asleep as she pleases". Apparently, the "watch what you think about fairy" was listening in. I made the bottle, and fed her. She decided she'd eat 6 of the 8 ounces. When she was done I got situated and had her stand on my lap to see the show. Immediately following (and just 15 minutes after sitting), warm creamy fluid was projecting out of a little baby's throat and all over all four of us, the people in front of us, the floor around us, inside the diaper bag, and on everything we had with us. That 6 ounces turned into 18 ounces somehow and it was pouring out of her mouth and her nose. As I sat there with no other choice but to wait for the shower to be over, the sound of a 3 year old gagging faintly filled my right ear, though I wasn't thinking clearly enough at the time to figure that out. With a quick Daddy distraction, our son was detoured away from puking himself, and tuned back into the show. All the while... no one around us knew what was going on (we were in the back row).

Baby wipes cleaned off the majority of the mess from our legs, and I called for a cleanup and I walked briskly to the nearest bathroom. All the while, thanking myself for having put on so many layers and always bringing a change of clothes for the baby. I was super thrilled in one way, because I had to use the restroom since before we got there and this was my chance. As soon as I was done with the baby I was going to use the bathroom myself before we made our way back to our seats. Well, I was almost done changing the baby when intermission began and a flood of women flocked to wait in line. There went my chance.

Mostly clean, reeking to high heaven, and wondering why she puked in the first place.... I sat back down, apologized to the people around us and proceeded to finish the show. When it was over, we all took our chance to use the restrooms since everyone was leaving. First the boys, then me. On my turn I hand over the baby. When I come out I am greeted with, "Now, she's pooping." Lovely, but we're leaving, so let's go. Walking through the building, both my hands and my stomach grow increasingly warm and slippery. Soon the smell saturates the air around me. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? This insane amount of fluid coming out the the OTHER end was leaking out of her disposable diaper, through her clothes, and all over me. I had no choice but to walk, fast, back to the van to change her again.

The thing about my van is, there is no interior light thanks to my son and a penny incident. So, there I sit in the van, working by flashlight, to change the baby and clean up this obscene amount of poop she created. I took off my shirt and traded it out for an only slightly puke covered sweater. I got the baby comfortable, we get in front, and took off. Thankfully, the trip home didn't take as long as the trip there because, our son cried the whole way home about how he didn't want to go home, he wanted to see the ice show. Weeeeeee!

I know people try to make light of these things by saying, "The joys of parenthood". We certainly had our share of joys last night. The best part is that we both stayed really calm the whole time. I mean, it sucked, but we were laughing about it. No wait, the best part has to be that my little girl got puke on everything in arms length.... EXCEPT her SHOES!! haha.



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