Thursday, June 16, 2011

Anne and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day (although it is getting better)

I think that I could rewrite the book today.  It was a long morning.  It started off well enough (depending on when the "day" begins, it could have been at 12:30, 3, or 4:30, when I got up with the baby), coffee and oatmeal before the girls got up.  My potty training Noella went right on the potty, and then 20 minutes later pooped in her underwear.  Into the car we went, to discover a cracked windshield.  We got Mariel to Princess Camp (her summer activity of the week), then stopped at the grocery store, when Noella managed to find Mariel's water bottle and dump it all over herself.  Screaming baby in tow, we stopped at the store bathroom for a try, then did our quick grocery run. On our way home... she peed in her car seat.  Nice big puddle.  We stripped on the porch, got the groceries inside, got Noella new clothes, changed the baby, did a few things before running out to get Mariel.  Of course Noella went on the potty again before leaving the house, and on our way home from camp she still peed in her car seat yet again. More puddling action (glad for leather seats!), another strip act on the front porch, a bathtub quickly piling up with clothes and car seat parts.
(Note that our daily routine involves sitting on the potty about every 30 minutes.  And that she has been totally dry except for when she sleeps for days.  And that Mariel just watched the Potty Training Success DVD yesterday and has been offering lots of helpful pointers today, such as "Potties go WHOOSH when they flush, Noella")
Did I mention that Mariel announced that she had another bloody nose right around this time?  She got one last week- this was the same.  She looks up and the lower half of her face is covered in blood.  It stops immediately (Thank goodness!), but it is both alarming and spectacular to see.
The windshield man arrived and took out my windshield, only  to discover that the replacement windshield he had put in the back of his truck had cracked... so off he went again.  While on the front porch I opened the mail and discovered that my health insurance had rejected the $5000 bill from the hospital because of a failure to precertify the stay (I called twice prior to having the baby to be told that I did not need to precertify for childbirth).  Gasp.
Inside to feed the girls some lunch (with several trips to the potty for Noella) and nurse the baby.  As I ferry their dishes to the table our cranky baby starts grunting and straining.... and Mariel's eyes open wide.  "Mom... your leg...." Noella smiles "Cutie Pie's pooping again!"  as it shoots down his leg, down my leg, and pools on the kitchen floor.  Sigh.  Our Lysol and washing machine are getting a workout today.
Post lunch- much better.  Windshield is fixed, Noella is napping (in a pull up), Holden is napping (after a bath and fresh clothes), laundry is in, car is disinfected.  Health insurance customer service agent agrees with me and has sent my bill back for review, and assures me that it should be cleared up in 7-10 days.  Mariel and I ate two big bowls of popcorn and played a game of Fancy Nancy dress up, so things are looking up.  I hope.
So I don't think that I will need to move to Australia.

Monday, June 13, 2011

One Month Old
Holden weighed in at 11 lbs 4 oz this morning and was 22 1/4 inches.  He is following in the footsteps (and extra chins) of Noella as an infant. Here is the traditional monthly picture, although since Holden was not too interested in posing for me I have included two.


Holden is generally a good baby and (thankfully) takes substantial naps during the day, which frees up my hands to deal with the girls a lot.  He obviously eats well, and he is starting to take more interest in the world around him.  Ceiling fans and being outside are usually good entertainment.  He does OK at night, although both Patrick and I would love a bit more sleep.  The good thing about the third child is that we are relatively resigned to exhaustion, and also have reasonable hope that we will sleep again... someday...