Record-breaking badness

I have to make this quick because right now I'm supposed to be doing 556 things and none of those require blogging.  BUT, monumental terribleness happened today and I must record it.  After all, every second that ticks by another brain cell in my head implodes.

Amelia didn't sleep well last night.  I have thought for the last couple of days that I was being a super awesome mom by figuring out a way to get protein in my baby's lunch.  Add black beans!  Problem is, beans are a magical fruit.  Baby's got gas.  She didn't go to sleep until 9:30 last night then woke up at 2am (I hadn't been to bed yet) screaming.  I rocked her and fed her and rocked her some more.  She finally went to sleep and I finally did, too.  I thought she would sleep in a bit but she was awake at 7:45 this morning and wouldn't be put back down.

I gave her a bath then put her down for a morning nap which only lasted 45 minutes.  Not long enough.  I tried rocking her - she was obviously SO tired.  She's been cutting teeth so I gave her a little bit of Walgreen's version of Tylenol.  She loved chewing on the dropper so I let her hold the bottle.  It was in her crib when I put her back and hoped she'd fall back to sleep. 

Meanwhile, I called David's mom and asked if she was free to come over and play with the baby so I could get some things done.  I was feeling a bit overwhelmed.  She said she would be happy to (LOVE her!) and she'd be here after lunch.

Amelia had gotten quiet then all of a sudden started crying.  It was the poo cry.  Sure enough, I walked in to her room and smelled it.  Then I looked in her crib and saw it.  Not poo - reddish pink stuff.  My first thought was "She threw up the Tylenol" but .08 mL is not enough to coat her crib sheet in 5 different places and make my baby a completely sticky mess. 

I found the dropper and the bottle.  Empty.  It had only been half-full to begin with.  I changed Amelia's diaper and stripped her of her sticky, gooey clothes.  I called David at work and he said I should call poison control, something I was planning to do anyway but for some reason called my husband first.

Amelia's baby tub was still in the kitchen from when I bathed her, oh, and hour or so before.  I stuck her in the tub and let her splash around while I ran a wet washcloth over her and called Poison Control.  The guy on the other end needed info from the Tylenol bottle.  In Amelia's room.  I grabbed her out of the tub, wrapped her in a towel and found the bottle in her bedroom.  I gave him the information he needed and he put me on hold while he did some calculations.  I took Amelia in the living room to put a diaper and clothes on her while I waited.  As I was trying to diaper Amelia one-handed, he came back on the line.  Amelia was fighting me and the diaper so I let her air dry while I wrapped up the phone call.  She crawled next to the towel, sat up, and peed.  On the carpet.  Reminded me of those fireboats:

David's mom came over and played with Amelia for a couple of hours while I worked on finishing my lesson for the ladies class.  I taught the class - it was on Homemaking.  I was told it went well!

I should be packing and making bows.  I'm so far behind on the bows I need to make that I feel I'll never catch up.  Most are donations to a wonderful charity but I also have some gifts to finish making. 

Happy Friday!

Starting to Forget

I was so concerned about potentially boring my few readers that I neglected writing about Amelia as often as I wanted to and should have.  Now I'm starting to forget so much about her first several months.  I know we had rough nights (and some rough days), but not wanting to be a downer, I rarely posted details.  How lame.  Life is full of ups and downs - how can anyone read a blog that's all "ups" and no "downs" with any sense of reality at all?  Especially with a newborn the wonderful moments outweigh the tiring, emotionally exhausting ones, but I think they're all worth documenting.

Often we drive past the gas station where, on the way home from Bible class one night, we had to park there so we could take turns soothing an inconsolable baby.  My parents were in town that night and my mom spent a lot of time with me trying to figure out what was wrong with her...I think Amelia was maybe a month old.  Finally my mom, being the rockstar superhero that she is, soothed Amelia with a combination of song and belly rubbing.  I know now that it was painful gas causing my baby to get so upset.
So, I'm here now. I have to get back on the proverbial horse and write about my sweet baby. It makes me so happy to go back and read the few posts I did manage to write when we first brought her home and the months that followed.

Here are some things about my 10 1/2 month old baby girl:

- She doesn't like anyone to touch her hands.  At all.  I was able to put a finger puppet on her pointer finger tonight in Bible class before she slipped her hand out of my grasp.  I think it was just an attitude thing, but when I was holding her tonight I had my hand on her leg and she kept pushing my hand off.

(Picture to the right is of Amelia and her pediatrician.  We love her!)

- She still only has 2 teeth that are all the way through and those are on the bottom.  The white of her left eye tooth is clearly visible but no sign of her two front teeth yet. 

- She loves graham crackers, green peas, cheese, all fruit, Costco hot dogs and buns, and beef.  She's not a big fan of chicken or turkey.

- She loves Tess.  Every morning when she first sees Tess, she claps and says "Hi Teh!"  She's constantly grabbing Tess's toy rope and waving it in front of Tess's face until Tess grabs it and they play some tug-of-war.

- She hugs me every time I get her up in the morning and after her naps.  I love it.  She will give me hugs and kisses any time I ask, and I ask a lot! 

- She's a daredevil.  Climbs on things, including our couch, and loves to be tossed into the air.

- She says "Mama", "Dada", "Bah" (Book), "Teh" (Tess), and tries to say a lot of other things.  She's just at the age where she'll look at your mouth when you're saying something and she really tries to figure out how to say it.  She babbles all of the time.  I can't wait to see what she says next!

- Her favorite games are "Peek-A-Boo", "I'm Gonna Get That Baby", and "I See a Belly!"  She loves her books, especially "Open the Barn Door" because I make the animal noises.  Every time I say "Woof Woof", Amelia laughs.

(Picture to the left is her about a week ago when she fell asleep for the night using her stuffed bunny as a pillow)

- She loves her daddy.  When she hears him come in the door, she crawls over to the gate and claps and bounces up and down.  She wants him to hold her right away and she'll spend until dinner snuggling and playing with him.  She loves repeating noises that he makes.  He'll say "Ha ha ha" and she will repeat it.  They do a lot of "Ah!"s back and forth. 

- She has learned on her own how to uncap lipbalm and Vaseline as well as how to push the button on the wipes box and start pulling wipes out of the container.

- If she is done with something it goes on the floor.  This applies to books, toys, and especially food.  Tonight I gave her pieces of cooked chicken breast dipped in mixed veggie puree.  On the floor.  Then I tried salvaging the pieces (they had dropped onto a clean towel which we had underneath her) by putting a small piece of pineapple on top of each piece.  That did the trick.  My baby loves pineapple, just like her mama and completely unlike her daddy.  The "on the floor" thing has become an issue in the middle of Bible class or worship services when she just lets go of whatever toy she's done holding and it falls loudly onto the floor.  So, we are teaching her not to drop things on purpose.  It's a fine line between purpose and accidental at this age.

- She's not so much a drama queen, she stays pretty even tempered.  However, her whine/cry sounds like the most pathetic noise in the world.  Sometime I'll record it and post it.  There are days when she's not in the best mood and that's all I hear.  It makes me want to saw my ears off with a spoon.

I think that's enough for tonight.  Good timing on her part - she just cried out.  Hopefully (praying!) she isn't really awake and that was just a squeal in the night.  We'll see.  Mama needs sleep.  I planned to get up with David tomorrow morning but I also planned to go to sleep 2 hours ago. 

Happy Thursday!