a mouse, poop, and night-night

So, Keith left today at 3:30 p.m. to start his night shift at 4:30 p.m. at St. Vincent's Hospital in Hartford. This is the last week of his OB/Gyn rotation so he will be catching babies. He's working nights all week...which means Isaac is stuck with me, and I am stuck with Isaac. Stuck in a good way, of course. However, allow me to tell you how our first evening went without Daddy...

Isaac and I first ran an errand to Babies-R-Us to find some new spoons so Isaac can try feeding himself. After checkout and while we were putting coats on, I see a dark object roll across the aisle. I freeze and Isaac points. I wonder...did that roll, or scurry? I pick him up, and don't ask me why, but I walked closer to investigate. And then, there it was, right below the Team Jacob/ Team Edward New Moon display. A tiny mouse. People, a MOUSE!! And, instead of freaking out, I proceeded to point and say,
"Look sweetie, a mouse! Squeak, squeak says the little mouse." "Eeeak, Eeeak!!", replied Isaac in an adorable high-pitched voice while pointing with his little finger at the nasty rodent.

OMG!!! At that point we fled the store. Disgusting! We get home, dinner goes well, and we head upstairs for bath time. Isaac is stripped down to his diaper waiting very impatiently for the tub to fill up. When I finally take his diaper off and lower him into the warm water, he makes some bubbles. "Silly little lovie, are you pooting?" Um, not quite. He pooped. POOPED! In the tub! Lovely. I pull him out and flip the drain, which drains slower than honey through a screen window! Isaac is really going crazy, dying to be back in the water. I fished all the poop out, cleaned the tub, and started to fill it again. I plopped Isaac back in and he looked up at me with a blissful smile. My eyes dropped a little lower to see a yellow stream coming from Mr. Peepers. Are you KIDDING ME!!! (now, i'm sure he probably manages to pee in the tub quite often but there is something about actually seeing him do it and then deliberately using the pee-pee water to bathe him that i just can't bring myself to be okay with.) Back out of the tub, drain it again, and then thankfully, third time's a charm. Finally, pj's, books, hush-a-bye, and night-night.

At 7:30 I was eating a warm bowl of red beans and rice and thinking, no, praising God that I am not a single mom. I know I can handle this for a few days, but more than that, and I would be a total stress case. That's why I have to say...

Keith, sweetie, I love you and am more than words grateful for your equal, hands on help with Isaac every day. I would never want to do this without you. You are a wonderful daddy and an even better hubby. We miss you already!

projectile vomit

I'm driving this morning to drop my ear-infected child off at daycare. The decision to take him was based on the fact that he had no fever, was happy, and for the most part, not fussy. (and...I am seriously lacking on PTO hours!) About a minute away from the drop, SPLAT!!! "Huh, that was a strange sound." Then, a sudden, pungent odor crept to the front of the truck...smelling strongly of bubble gum flavored antibiotics and baby puke. I heard no crying, no screaming, no fussing. Silence. At the stop light, I dared to turn around only to discover that my child, the car seat, and half of the back seat were covered in chunky, pink vomit. Awesome. Just great. I pulled into the driveway, ran up the steps, and opened the front door, shouting, "I need gloves, paper towels, and plastic bags, STAT!" (insert: i could only do that because isaac's daycare ROCKS! the girls that run the place are amazing and they are so helpful. it's a small little house, isaac's second home. thanks Ericka and Heather!) I was followed out to the truck where we stripped Isaac down. He was whisked away indoors while I stayed out in the cold to do a cursory clean up job. I left him there and came back home where I attacked the vomit covered backseat with soap, water, and sponge. DISGUSTING! My hands were numb and I reeked of bubbalicious puke. Another Mommy stripe earned thank you very much! So, I am now showered and clean. Vomit clothes are in the wash. And the windows are down in the back of the truck where the car seat cover is hopefully air-drying.

Now... to apologize for taking FOREVER to post again. Allow me to explain...You know how when you leave something, like the laundry, and you keep saying..."I'll do it tomorrow", and it piles up, and it gets bigger and taller and creeps all over the bedroom floor and instead of getting it done, you start to avoid it because it's so overwhelming that just the thought of carrying it to the laundry room is enough for you to put it off another day? Whew. Well, that was me with the blog. SO much has happened and as the days went by, the thought of sitting down to catch you up seemed like such a big task, that I kept saving it for another day. So, let me bring you up to speed on our lives since Christmas Day:

Dec 30: Our 3rd Wedding Anniversary. We celebrated at home with sushi and wine. My incredibly thoughtful hubby surprised me early on with a trip to NYC and tickets to see the Rockettes' Christmas Spectacular Show. I was like a kid at Disney World for the first time. It snowed all day while we walked around the city. It was perfect.



Dec 30 - Jan 8: Papa Doc, Mia, and Auntie Ains came for a visit. Isaac got to stay home from daycare for a week and play all day. We had a great time and can't wait for them to come back in May for Keith's graduation. (holy COW! did i just type that?)


Jan 1, 2010: Isaac started walking! Papa Doc and Mia witnessed it, Keith and I were in the kitchen. Go figure. It has been so adorable to watch him master this milestone. He still walks with his arms out to the side, picking his feet up and down as if he were marching. I love it. Thank heavens for the helmet! All his trips and falls have had few tears as a result of the extra fortification. Unfortunately, I don't have any good pics of this yet. Papa Doc took some great ones of Isaac's first steps and I'm still waiting for him to download them so I can post them here...HINT HINT Papa Doc!!

Well, that's all for now. I promise to try and return to my previous once a week (more or less) posts. Sorry you had to look at his adorable elf pictures for so long. Ha!!