And the winner is … Mama!


Can someone please pass the disinfectant?

Allan had quite the exciting week, with the introduction of solids and all. Unfortunately, his bowels weren’t so excited. After the 2 1/2 tablespoons of rice cereal, I decided that it was time to introduce some sweet potatoes instead. On Thursday and Friday, Allan ate a container of stage one sweet potatoes. Surely this would jump start those bowels, right? By Saturday, I was really getting nervous. So was Brad. And most importantly, so was Allan. Somehow Brad convinced Allan that it was time to just let it go. When Brad changed his diaper, he was surprised to see only a small amount of substance. We knew more was coming. We could smell it in the air. The clock was ticking. Allan was miserable all day.

On Sunday Brad excitedly brought Allan to me and said, “This is for you.” I politely refused his offer to allow me the privilege of changing Allan’s poopie diaper. Alas, when Brad went to change him, there was Nothing! False alarm.

After Brad went upstairs for an afternoon nap, I placed Allan in the exersaucer so I could practice some music. Allan became fussy after a few minutes, so I decided to take him out. As I lifted him out of the saucer and onto the changing pad I noticed there were globules of poop running down his legs. Allan was so happy and giggly. Then I looked at the exersaucer. Surprisingly, Allan’s poop had propelled out of his onesie right onto the base of the saucer! There was no poop on the fabric seat! Katrina was kind enough to photograph this amazing feat.

I think I must have gone through half a bag of wipes in order to clean the boy off. He kept grabbing his dirty socks and spreading his mess everywhere.

As usual, Brad lucked out on this one.

(Comments from old site:)

That is just gross.

Poor Allan. He will surely have some very - uh- interesting pictures to show his family some day.

Ha!

It’s all part of my evil plan.

No poop yet


Allan in the pre-rice cereal days

So I began giving Allan rice cereal this week. The boy seriously poops like 3-4 runny stools a day under normal circumstances (with just breastmilk as his food source). on Monday, Allan ate 1 teaspoon of rice cereal. No poop. Tuesday, he ate another tablespoon. No poop. Wednesday, I gave him ANOTHER tablespoon. Still—no poop. That’s the definition of insanity, right? I knew rice was constipating, but I thought it would simply normalize his stools, not eliminate them!

By Thursday, I decided this was serious business. I called my neighbor, Vandana, and asked her to pick up some sweet potato baby food in the afternoon. Surely, that would loosen things up! Katrina fed him the entire container. Allan loved it. I’ve never had a child who actually finished an entire serving in one sitting at only six months of age!

Today I eagerly awaited the explosion of Allan’s bowels.

NOTHING.

Two hospitals, one day (updated)

I’ve had it with hospitals for a while.

First I took Elena to Providence Park Hospital today to have an ultrasound, and I was lucky enough to get to listen to her scream and cry for Mama and for them to put her diaper back on (she needed a catheter, which was the main source of the stress). I stopped and got her a chocolate milk shake at McDonald’s.

Tonight, while Helen was at the dentist, I was home with the kids. When I told the girls we were going to feed Allan, they got pretty excited — Katrina slipped while running to the chair next to Allan and slammed her chin onto the edge of the chair. When I saw blood on her chin from a half-inch gash, I called the dentist’s office to ask Helen to get home as soon as she could.

Katrina did well at the ER at Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital. I got her a chocolate milk shake at McDonald’s, too.

Updated Thursday: Katrina didn’t get stitches, thankfully. She got Steri-Strips, and she was happy they were still there this morning.

(Comments from old site:)

You’re such a good Dada.

You’re such a good Dada. Can I have a chocolate shake too?

Chocolate shake

At a buck-ninety a pop? For the child size? No way.

Cheepskate. Sheesh.

Cheepskate. Sheesh.

How do I stop posting

How do I stop posting anonymous comments?

Girls feeding Allan (updated)

Updated March 31, 2008: You can see a higher-resolution version with better audio and video at YouTube. I tried embedding that one here, but the YouTube player stretches the video vertically.

Our ARM is resetting

We got a letter reminding us that the interest rate on our mortgage is adjusting on May 1. Our interest rate will drop a quarter of a point. Thanks, Dr. Bernanke!

I had figured this out before we got the letter. It’s not difficult at all. First, I looked at our loan paperwork and found the list of details I’d need:

On our loan, they use the most recently published data 45 days before the reset. So, looking at the Federal Reserve’s information, I saw that as of March 17 (45 days before May 1), the most recent data was 1.52%. I added the margin given in the loan documentation and rounded to the nearest eighth. (To round to the nearest eighth, you multiply by eight, round, then divide by eight.)

(Comment from old site:)

I’m glad I’m not the one

I’m glad I’m not the one doing the finances!

Allan eating rice cereal


(Comment from old site:)

Good job, Little Paddy!

Good job, Little Paddy! You’re eating like a pro!

I would rather see them in order

I’ve really enjoyed the show Dexter on CBS, but I missed the first few episodes. Furthermore, I knew that I was seeing the sanitized version, and I wanted to see the original in all its cursing, gory glory. (“Motherlover”? Please.) I added the first couple of seasons to the top of my Netflix queue, making sure that the disks were in the right order.

Late last week I got the first two disks. More precisely, I got disk 2 one day, then disk 1 the next, even though they were sent out the same day. A little frustrating, sure, but no big deal. Disk 2 just sat there, mocking me that first day, but I could take it. Then today, expecting disks 3 and 4, I received only disk 4. And we might be leaving town before we get the mail tomorrow, so I’ll have to wait until Sunday night or Monday before I can see the next episodes. Maybe I’ll just stall for time.

A serial drama about a serial killer, and I can’t get the disks in the right order. The irony is delicious.

I am now a little bit sad

I was taking a survey for work when I saw the following:

Which of the following categories includes your age?

  • Less than 22 years of age.
  • >
  • 22 to 34.
  • >
  • 35 to 49.
  • >
  • 50 to 64.
  • >
  • 65 or older.

I’m now grouped with people born in the 50s.

(Comment from old site:)

Ha Ha Ha-one category behind

Ha Ha Ha-one category behind your Mom!

On childhood illnesses and febrile seizures

I hate ’em.

Special thanks go out to the Salvation Army, from whence Katrina’s noisy bed frame came, and the television show New Amsterdam, the program I was watching downstairs when I heard said frame.

(Comments from old site:)

Poor baby!

Was this last night? Is she okay now?

She ran downstairs to see me

She ran downstairs to see me this morning exclaiming, “I feel much better, now!” I have to take Elena in for a possible UTI today, so Katrina’s going to get examined as well. It’s been two years since her last febrile seizure. She has no symptoms of the cold the rest of us have, so I don’t know where she got the fever from.

Update (12:04pm): While we were playing Candyland, Katrina lay down on the floor and said, “I’m tired.” I checked her temp and it was about 101 degrees. I guess my drug concoction from last night finally wore off.

Elena was at 100.4. Both girls got a dose of acetaminophen and a popsicle. Katrina wanted her popsicle to warm up because it was “too cold!”. I convinced her to drink her beverage, though. Now they’re both in bed trying to fight off this lovely virus. Allan finally passed out in the bouncy seat since I didn’t take him for a ride in the car as I often do in the mornings. (p.s. he has developed a little cough today, too.)