Not a post to read while eating

There are many things that you don't think you'll ever do or say...until you're a parent.  Voluntarily catching someone else's vomit in my hands is one of those things I can now add to the list.

2013 continues to be a tough year in the health department for Brady.  We went to the Ear Nose and Throat doctor last week and it looks like tubes might be in Brady's future.  He has fluid in his ears and the rule-of-thumb is around 5 ear infections in a year....since Brady has had 4 in just over a month, he's a pretty good candidate.  Since it's the end of flu season, we're crossing our fingers that he can miraculously avoid another one, but if/when he gets the next one, we'll be going in.

On an unrelated (we think) note, Sunday was a bit of a rough day. Brady woke up early from his afternoon nap in good spirits.  But 20 minutes later, as he was playing, he walked over to me and started vomiting pretty severely (although by definition, I find all vomiting quite severe).  This is the first time he's ever thrown up, and I will tell you that it was scary for both of us.  I won't soon forget the panicked and pleading look in his eyes, since he obviously didn't know what was going on.  It seemed to never end...probably 4-5 times before he stopped.  I've only thrown up a handful of times myself, so I don't have a whole lot of experience with vomit, but I will say (warning, TMI), when vomit came through my poor baby's nose, it was a sad sight.

Fortunately for us (and unfortunately for him), Eric had a rare day off, so I was so thankful to have him there to help with the aftermath.  Because it was messy.  Early bathtime for everyone!  Brady threw up three more times in the next few hours so we both had several outfit changes.  Of course, it was beautiful, warm, and sunny yesterday, so it was a bit of a bummer to be laid up inside.  But we did get outside for a little while and Brady was in pretty good spirits between puking bouts.

He went all evening without throwing up and right after Eric and I both fell asleep, Brady puked all over his crib at 11 pm.  Needless to say, we did a lot of laundry yesterday.  We're vomit-free today and while he seems tired, hopefully the worst has passed.

Although a fascinating subject, I'll now offer my apologies for writing an entire post on vomit.  I did omit grisly details as to what foods we saw for the second time around.  Thankfully, they were not colorful.

To end on (an only slightly) less gross subject note, we brought up the potty someone gave us from the garage and put it in Brady's room.   We haven't really started potty-training, but Brady likes to sit there and he knows the potty is where he's supposed to "oop."  (He has a tendency to drop the first sound in many words).  The first time we took off his clothes and encouraged him to try to go, he happily took a seat, then got up, walked across his room to get one of his favorite books, "Goodnight Moon" (simply called "oon" by Brady"), and came back to take a seat. 


This is not a learned behavior.  And I have no idea why he has one sock on.

I couldn't resist the photo-op, although I had to question my own judgment the next time he got on the potty, looked up and smiled and said, "Eeeeze."

 Oh no, I am that mom.

Where a kid can be a kid

We (Eric) decided to take Brady to Chuck E Cheese a few nights ago since he didn't have practice. It's debatable who had more fun, but I think the elder Hoots won. The pizza was actually pretty good, which is the only reason I won't refuse to go back. Shockingly, shooting baskets was Brady's favorite activity.

Trampoline

I remember jumping on trampolines as a kid without a net.   Don't think that would've worked too well for Brady.

Random thoughts on Valentine's Day

-What is it about naked kids that makes them so happy?  When we strip off Brady's clothes to get in the bath, its like he's transformed to another level of ecstasy.  He runs around like a madman squealing like a pig.  Naked Brady is my favorite.

- Our child is so smart!  He can count...to one.  Its quite funny when he's performing a specific task (shooting a ball, pushing cars down a track) and very seriously holds up one finger and says, "One..." and waits for you to finish the count to three.  We do a lot of counting to three.

- Nobody should be shocked by Brady's first sentence: "I shoot the ball."  The context is not always perfect. I heard him say this in the crib last night over the baby monitor.  I guess he was trying to give the Tar Heels some good mojo.  Which takes me to the next point...

- I will never understand how the fire marshall allows basketball games to take place in Cameron Indoor Stadium.  Against my better judgment, I went to the Duke/Carolina game last night.  It's the worst, or best, place to watch a basketball game, depending on your perspective.  I almost enjoyed the experience, but we couldn't quite pull out a win.

-Brady picked the perfect day to share his love.  Yes, he picked Valentines Day to wake up at 5am  knowing mom got home from the game last night at midnight and dad even later.  He laid in our bed in a half-sleep state, completely content to lie and be quiet, if and only if he was tugging on a handful of my hair.  If I took it away, he would totally wake up and start crying.  I should be used to this by now, since my hair has been Brady's personal comfort for the past year and a half, but my scalp still cries in pain each day.  If anyone can find a doll with real hair, preferably blond, my scalp will thank you.

- I got the best Valentine's present from my wonderful husband when he got up at 6 am with Brady after he realized his wife was not having a pleasant morning and after Brady voiced his desire for breakfast by repeating,"Fa-fals."  That's waffles if you don't speak Brady.  My hair and I lavished in the empty bed until about 7. (*Update: Brady was awake in our bed until about 12:30 Valentines night because he'd scream in his own.  Doc said both ears were highly inflammed so he probably has had some degree of an ear infection for over a month now.  Poor guy. ENT doctor is next up).

-One of Brady's favorite past times is taking all our DVD's off the shelf (we're working on the putting back part).  There is one DVD that he really likes and whenever he sees it, he brings it to me, points to the cover and says "Mama."

Which do you think it is?



If you guessed Juno, you're wrong. I guess I should be flattered that Brady thinks I look like the lady on the front of Dance Dance Revolution and not the pregnant teen. But I can't convince him that it is not me. Must be my awesome dance moves.



Happy Valentines Day!

Back to the projects

After a long hiatus, I'm back on a bit of a crafting kick.  Not sure why, maybe my form of "nesting" since I can't nest, since we're trying to sell our house and hope not to be here when the baby gets here.  But it's been a good excuse to do absolutely no preparations for the new baby.  Sorry, 2nd child of mine.

I did most of the first project over Christmas.  I am pretty bad at remembering birthdays and now, I have no excuses.  This birthday board was quite the undertaking, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

My mom is equally as bad about birthdays, and since her grandchildren seem to be multiplying, I made one for her, too.

My latest project was one I actually came up with on my own.  Most of my ideas come straight from Pinterest, so having an original idea is something new for me.

Below are the silhouettes, now hanging over our bed.  The most difficult part of the process was hanging them: despite my use of a measuring tape and level, I'm not sure I was completely successful at lining everything up perfectly.  But the project itself was fun, I used photos I had of us, fixed them up in Photoshop and transferred them on a wooden board.  With a couple other steps sprinkled in.

 

I had a different "love" picture originally, but I remembered we had a baby coming and wanted to include him/her somehow, so (confession) I manufactured this picture by taking a picture of Brady standing on a stool and then one of myself gazing down lovingly at nobody. 

But Brady does kiss the baby (and try to pull up my shirt in public), so it's not a total farce.