Explosive Poo

That's right; it is a reason for celebration when we get through the day without any explosive poo.  For approximately 2 weeks now, Audrey has been coming home from daycare every day in her extra change of clothes.  At first, it was a little funny; however, cleaning the poo off of the clothes and pre-treating them for the washer is getting old.  Cleaning up clothes daycare sends home is nothing though, especially compared to getting first-hand experience with the poo explosions.  

We have had a few explosive poos in the past, but as she gets bigger and eats more, Audrey's poos get more explosive and yuckier.  Last weekend, we went to the Lake of the Ozarks to go to the boat races.  If you look at the pictures, you'll notice a bunch of different outfits.  That is because of the constant poo leakages that lead to wardrobe changes. We took a long weekend and drove home last Monday. We cleaned up explosive poo a couple of times at the lake house and twice on my parent's boat.   On the way home, my parents had some issues with the truck, and eventually decided to pull over at a Ford dealership in O'Fallon, MO so they could take a look at the truck.  When we got there, I decided to take Audrey out of her car seat for a little bit to let her stretch her legs.  When I picked her up, I could smell it.  I turned her around, and sure enough, she had a large yellow-brown spot in the middle of her back.  It has leaked out of the top of the diaper and through the onesie and the pants. 

With 6 months of parenting and diaper-changing experience, we are proficient with curbside diaper changes.  Explosive poo, however, throws even the most experienced diaper aficionados for a loop.  The back of the car was full of our bags and Audrey's pack'n'play, so we had to change her on the back seat.  My mom took the dogs to walk them around so we didn't have the added element of curious dogs sticking their noses in the poo explosion. 

If you've ever had to face explosive poo, you know that it works best to clean up the baby with two people.  My mom and I had perfected the routine over the weekend, but Billy wanted to help out this time. So, I held the baby while he undressed her.  Removing poo-covered articles of clothing from a baby is sort of like playing Operation; the goal is to avoid touching the baby with the poo-soaked parts of the clothes while you pull the pants off of her legs and the onesie over her head.  Unfortunately, the 20 mph wind gusts and cramped quarters on the car seat were not conducive to a clean clothing removal.  The poo was smeared up Audrey's back and all over her arm. 

I didn't even know how to begin to wipe her off.  My mom had a washcloth and some water, but it wasn't enough.  We needed running water.  So, we wrapped Audrey, now in only a diaper, in a blanket and walked across the Ford parking lot and around the building to find a bathroom.  Then, we basically bathed her in the sink at the Ford dealership.  She came out of that bathroom clean and happy, and I found a plastic bag to keep the smelly clothes sealed for the remainder of the car ride home.

Then, last Wednesday, Audrey came home from daycare in the backup outfit I had sent with her that morning.  We had church that night, and after I fed her, hopped in the care and hit the road.  I did not put another change of clothes in her back.  When I went to pick her up in the nursery after our classes, Audrey was wearing a dress, pants, and sweater that were at least 3 sizes too big.  I don't think my uncontrollable laughing was what the nursery person was expecting upon my arrival.   

With that experience, we decided to move up to the next larger diaper size.  I definitely thought the size 3 diapers were the solution, until yesterday.  We were planning to go to the last service at church, so we decided to run some errands before-hand.  When we got to Target, we discovered...what else but explosive poo!  For the next 15 minutes we took over the family restroom at the Target in Brentwood and managed to clean up the baby, and save her cute little pink dress and white tights from permanent discoloration. 

Audrey, we love you, but enough with the explosive poo already! 

Summer Fun

As the summer comes to a close, I look back and realize that we have been blessed to already have so many great memories with our beautiful daughter. As Audrey grows and begins to show more of her own unique personality, we are having more fun making new memories.  Audrey reacts so much more to everything around her.  Her favorite things right now are the dogs.  She will watch everything they do and especially loves it when they play fetch.  She giggles every time they bring the toy back to us.  She is also quite fond of "bouncy chairs."  She bounces and talks to us, which at this point can sound very similar to the sounds she makes when she is fussy. She also reaches out and tries to grab everything, including hair and jewelry. 

As much fun as we have had this summer, we are looking forward to fall, Christmas, and all of the other firsts that Audrey will have over the next 7 months.  The next big milestone will probably be eating baby food.  Right now she is on a diet of breastmilk with baby rice cereal once a day.  She is very close to sitting up on her own too; if we put her in an upright position, she can sit by herself for a long time, but she still cannot move herself into a seated position on her own.  She is also getting better at scotting herself around on her tummy.  It's only a matter of time before she becomes mobile! 

Summer Cold

Audrey has caught her first cold.  Last night, she was sneezing a lot, and then woke up at 4 am fussing a bit.  She wasn't crying like she was hungry, she was just making a lot of noise.  I didn't think much of it, until we got up this morning; then, I noticed her nose was running and her eyes were watering.  We took her temperature, and sure enough, 100.8 degrees.  So, we stayed home from church to take care of our baby girl.  This evening, she is still running a fever, and her nose and eyes are still running constantly. 

It is so hard to see her not feeling well.  She is actually surprisingly good for being sick.  She is not that fussy, except when she starts getting really tired.  Then she naps for a bit, wakes up, and wants to play. I know it's just a cold and that she will have many more before she even starts kindergarten.  It doesn't make it any easier to watch though!