Heartbreak Hotel

Well it happened. I knew it would happen eventually. I knew it was OUT there, waiting to get my little boy.

He caught a stomach bug.

This marks another in a long line of "firsts" - his first illness. And it was a doozy.

The poor little guy woke up throwing up in the middle of the night on Thursday. I felt so bad for him. So we nursed him all night and into the morning. He got to sleep with mom and dad (what little sleep he/we got).

Friday got worse with a fever and diarrhea. JD moaned and fussed all day. We both went through 5-6 sets of clothing. I could still coax a little smile out of him, but it was rare. It was almost painful to see my little boy so miserable with not much that I could do about it. He would just drop his little head with the droopy eyes onto my chest and wail.

Friday night hit the highlight of the illness with a "code brown" in the middle of the night. For all of you lay people, a "code brown" is the technical term for a blow out in the diaper region. It requires multiple people, lots of wipes, possibly washcloths and soap, new pajamas and lots of hand sanitizer.

JD woke up a new person on Saturday morning - all smiles and laughs. Whew - thank goodness we survived that one! I'm glad he is feeling better, even if I can barely keep my eyes open.

Is There a Helpline for This Problem?

I have said it many times recently - It is a good thing that JD was born a boy and not a girl. Have you seen the baby girl clothes that are out there? I would need to go back to work just to keep us out of the poor house.

I am such a sucker for Gymboree. The little girl clothes are beyond precious and then they get you with all the cute accessories - bows, socks, tights, shoes, blankets, etc, etc. I have always had a hard time resisting buying out the store for my nieces around birthdays and Christmas.

Now that I have a dirty, messy little boy, who would want to dress them up in anything cute? They will just get it dirty or torn anyway, right?? WRONG! I love the cute little boy clothes with their matching hats, shoes, socks and bibs. And we have an outlet just down the road from us. That way I can justify buying more because it's "cheaper." Oh and those Gymbuck qualifying periods...word of warning now to all future mothers. Don't even go to the mall during those times. You will come out of the store with a very light wallet.

And JD looks so cute in all of it. The latest outlet baby clothing line was all elephants. What could be sweeter than that?? I think I have a problem. My name is Mandy and I am addicted to buying cute baby boy clothes at Gymboree. There. I said it. I already feel better.

Working Dinner

Last night, JD and I went to have dinner with some of my EDS girlfriends. JD soaked up all the female attention from his "aunties" and I enjoyed some much-needed adult conversation.

I am thankful that I am still in contact with these great ladies from EDS. I have learned from each of them over the years and have "grown up" in their presence. I am grateful that I can call on them to be there for me during the happy times and the sad times.

When asked if I am sad that I am no longer working or if I miss it, it is very easy for me to answer with a question "Would you leave this adorable little guy with anyone else if you had the chance to stay home with him every day?"

But the reality is, I do miss the daily relationships that you develop over the years.

But I'm lucky because I got to take the friendships with me.

Starting Over

This will be the second time that I have tried to set up a blog in the past few weeks. The main problem with the last attempt was that few people could actually GET to my blog. Hopefully, this one fixes that problem.

I am excited about this new fresh start on the blog because it actually represents what I am going through right now. While becoming a mom is the most exciting thing to happen to me, it also is a huge learning process. I feel like as soon as I get the hang of something with my son JD, something new has cropped up that I have to figure out.

For instance, JD woke up a few weeks ago with a runny nose and was just miserable. He was fussy when he ate, he cried a bunch and he couldn't go to sleep. We have been so lucky up until then because JD started sleeping through the night at around 5 weeks old. So this was new territory for me.

We had 3 days of misery, Pediasure, Tylenol and Vicks humidifiers until it dawned on me to check his mouth. Sure enough - a little tooth had popped itself out! His little nose dried up in the next few days and he was back to normal.

Until...we started the weaning process. We have started to introduce formula feedings one-by-one during the month of September with the hopes of having him completely on formula by October. So far so good! He actually took a room temperature bottle at church yesterday with no fussing! But with formula comes another side effect - baby constipation!!

My poor son grunts and groans and starts to cry as his little face turns bright red with the effort. And it usually doesn't even result in anything. I have resisted the urge to go to the store for some prune juice so far. I don't think they even make metamucil for babies. So far, he has managed to get things moving along in the dead of the night on his own. But it makes for noisy days of grunting and groaning!!

It doesn't seem to get JD down in the dumps though (all puns intended). One second, he is grunting and crying and the very next second he is laughing at his favorite toys or the sunlight on the floor. His attitude about life is inspirational! No need to stress about things you can't control, it will happen on its own time, so you might as well have a good time while you wait!