Up. Down. Round and round.

Yogurt cracker snot barf does not make the car smell good. In case you’re wondering.

Oh hai Target!

we’re a badass mom and baby team

There are weeks where motherhood feels like it might kill me. I have been up at 4am this week with a fussy kiddo, and it turns out that it wasn’t just teething. Mother’s intuition wins again as I had to go round and round with Boof to convince him that Potamus was sick and it wasn’t just teething and that I wasn’t just trying to take a day off from work because of anxiety. Turns out he has a double ear infection and some sort of trouble breathing requiring a 1 dose steroid and an albuterol inhaler at night. And, because he’s had so many ear infections in his short life, we’re having him on a stronger antibiotic. Awesome.

Friday rolls around and I decide to get Mr. Fussy-pants out of the house, because I was going insane and he is way better when he can be distracted by shiny things. So we headed off to our rainy-day playground KidsQuest, and  I thought nothing of him occassionally coughing and sneezing in the backseat.

But yeah, let’s talk about how fun it is to clean up yogurt cracker snot barf…especially when it is pouring and I’m bent over the carseat with my buttcrack hanging out for all the world to see. Thankfully I had packed some extra pj’s, otherwise we’d have to have run naked baby into Target to get some replacement clothes. And I just didn’t want to deal with THAT humiliation. And yes I am the terrible mom who still brought her kid to the playground because he was feeling much better after the whole barfing incident. And, turns out, amoxicillian used to give me bouts of vomiting and diarrhea, too, so my parents think that he’s not sick…though he barfed and crapped through his jammies later in the day, and my hands and hair cannot quite get the smell of barf out.

So there were ups and downs and he went down for bed at 5:30pm and slept solidly until 11…not a norm for this week, so I’m hoping that he’s on the mend. And thankfully my parents are in town, so I get to sleep in…otherwise I might have spent the weekend crying into a bottle of wine…

The smell of vomit, sweat and grape flavored water

Last night I got gussied up in my finest, did my hair and makeup, and headed up to a friend’s wedding. My brother, Uncle Silly, was in charge of Potamus and they were happily munching on pizza together when I left. I cranked some tunes and was looking forward to having this ‘date-night’ with Boof.

I had made it to Greenlake when my brother called saying, “he just barfed all over,” but at that time he didn’t have a fever and it only happened once and he was in good spirits. Very glad it was my brother that was in charge of Potamus, because, as a parent he stayed calm and rational and sent me a picture titled “happy, smiley, medium energy and snuggly.” He said he’d phone if that status changed.

Boof and I made it through the ceremony, and we were just about ready to go through the buffet line when we get THE CALL: he’s vomiting again and has no energy. He feels really warm.

Without hesitation, we’re on our way home in our separate cars that we came in. Boof asked if I wanted to stay and eat, but NO, I wanted to be with my sick baby who was  waiting for us.

I have never seen him so sad looking. Laying in Uncle Silly’s arms, wrapped in a towel because of all the vomiting, he looked  so tiny and helpless and not like himself. I picked him up and he felt very hot, and we snuggled and he fell asleep, briefly on my chest and we figured out a game-plan for the rest of the night.

When Potamus woke up, Boof got him ready, bounced him and put him down to bed so that I could get a few hours of sleep. I then slept with him until the morning, waking up several times to nurse him. And waking up once with him barfing all over my neck and down my shirt. While I cleaned it up, there is something about the smell of vomit mixed with baby sweat that just lingers in the nostrils for the rest of the night.

Thankfully, this morning he seems to be in good spirits, with pretty reasonable energy, so we’ll see. Maybe it was a reaction to something he ate yesterday.  I hope that he stays feeling better…and I hope he takes a 4 hour nap today 😉