I'm officially a MOM - Gross story alert

I'm going to post a cute picture here.  And then I'm going to write a gross, true story.  If you clicked and are weak stomached, go check your facebook/email.  Otherwise, enjoy the pic of our beautiful daughter in her Minnie Mouse Birthday dress and read on.

As a quick reminder, Lily wears cloth diapers.  So when she goes #2, we dump them in the toilet, rinse it with our diaper sprayer Jay made, and wash the diapers. 

I had just gotten off the phone with my dad, and Lily woke from her nap.  I walked in her room and almost passed out from the stink from her diaper.  I should have known it would be stinky after beef and broccoli night.  Of course, she is all smiles and happy to see someone. 

So I changed her diaper, got her all cleaned up, and went to "process" the diaper.  I dumped it, rinsed it, and was throwing something away before I flushed, and I saw something stranger than the poop in the toilet.  It looked like a worm. 

I didn't know what to do.  I'm thinking it must be a tapeworm because she weighs all of 18 lbs and eats like a grown up.  It would all add up!  And this thing was separate from the rest of the poop.  It was longer than my finger, and flat.

Now, when we feed Lily, I cut up some food, like steak because she can't tear into it with her gums and 2 teeth.  Chicken she mows through.  Since we had beef and broccoli, I cut up the food.  So I'm thinking about this, wondering what could it be and what should I do. Jason is out of town, and I (a hypochondriac) have to make the decision if Lily has a parasite or what. 

And I did it.  I fished some weird poop out of the toilet.  And it stunk.  But what do you do with it?  I mean, its POOP!  Its not like I have some special container for gross stuff that comes out of my child's pooper.  And she's pooped out weird stuff, like whole raisins and a gum wrapper with gum in it.  I decided to lay it on the bowl, shut the bathroom door so the cat doesn't get it, and figure out what to do with it while I bleach my hands. 

Meanwhile, Dad calls back and I tell him I think Lily pooped out a worm.  He tells me to keep it and to keep it wet.  So I grabbed a baby food container, filled it with water, and flung it in there.  And bleached the area.  I didn't tell Jason about it right away.  I wanted him to hurry home but having some butt specimen floating in water in a jar for him to investigate would put a hitch in his getty-up. I waited for him to come home.

I showed my parents on Skype, and when Jason came home a day later, he told me what it was: an onion.  She didn't chew it but swallowed it whole.  I fished out a poopy onion.  But I did it for my baby.  To save her life from the parasite that COULD have been growing inside her.

I am truly a mom.  And it does require bleach.

Been a while

Lily's first birthday has come and gone.  We had just a great time in Texas seeing family.  I can't find the video right now; I'll find out from Jay where it is with her smash cake and such.  But here is a video of her eating breakfast.  She really loves her food, and then when she realizes she has an audience, she hams it up.

I imagine her saying "Well hello, I didn't see you there. How are you?  Would you like to join me for some eggs?  They are quite delicious.  Its the real butter that makes a difference."

An update on the rest of her progress.  She is currently cutting her 4 top teeth.  Hopefully they will be out soon.  She is crawling around like a scurrying rat, and is cruising on the furniture really well.  She is really into playing with air vents and singing into a microphone. 

Her eye surgery has been postponed until September since she got her very first ear infection a few days before her surgery.  Can't complain too much since she has been so healthy.  I attribute it to my letting her eat stuff off the floor.  She's just too quick sometimes so I just let it happen.  She ate bark the other day at the park.  I did try to stop that one but she sees me coming for her mouth and swallows.  Not bad for a kid with 2 teeth.  But I'm a good mom and wife; I warn Jason when something unusual may come out the business end.

Table Foods

I decided to make Lily a almond butter sandwich for lunch.  I figured if she handled it well, she could move to table foods exclusively, rather than me making baby food.  So I did, and she went to town!  I had made the sandwich, and tore most of it into bite sized pieces.  But when I went to get her bottle ready, she grabbed the rest of the sandwich and started mowing it down.  She's doing pretty good with it.

Since she handled the sandwich, we decided to let her eat what we were eating for dinner.  Potatoes (hers were unseasoned), pole beans, and steak.  She loved it.  Which makes me happy since I've been slack on making her baby food.  I love listening to her eat.  "Eumm, eummm!"  She liked the potatoes best, and then the steak, and finally the beans.  Such a big girl!

Curly Q Hair

Lily had a bath before bed and I didn't brush her hair.  She woke up with a crazy little curl on the top of her head.  We taped her eating, and acting like the ham she is.

Keep an eye on the crazy foot.  She is constantly playing with her feet!  On a Saturday morning when I was meeting some ladies for breakfast, Lily was strapped in her high chair, but somehow had "Houdinied" herself around so she had one leg out the back of the chair, and was straddling it away from me.  She then proceeded to wave like a manic at these two women she was trying to see.  They were waving and oohing back at her.  She was loving it.  Quite a flexible girl.

Beginning Crawling

Lily just finished PT today, and has really advanced her crawling.  Its still kind of a scoot, but she is so much better! I took some advice and prompted her with Puffs, her favorite treat.  She did GREAT!!

Been a long month...

Well, it has been a long month here in South Carolina.  Lily is now 11 months old and jabbering more and more every day.  The biggest news is two teeth FINALLY came up.  She's got her 2 bottom teeth, and may be cutting a third one.  They popped up about 2 weeks ago and are still growing into position.  I'm not going to lie, I was getting a little worried.

Lily isn't quite ready for crawling, but she really enjoys standing and walking with her toy and some assistance.  I can't say she stays put anymore, because between rolling, scooting, and pushing, she moves all around our floors.  I have been cleaning the floors more often, and have even toyed with the idea of making her a dustcloth suit.  Still may happen while I have time.

Teething was overall, not too remarkable.  She was a little fussy, and she had diaper rash.  We got some diaper rash cream and it cleared up quite quickly.  However, I learned a valuable lesson that I am still paying for: do NOT use diaper cream with cloth diapers.  Here's how I figured it out.

Lily had her rash, but we got the ointment and it cleared up in a day or two.  Then one day, Lily was standing up against the couch, playing on the seat, when her foot started getting a wet spot around it.  I looked, and her pants were completely dry!  Turns out, she was peeing and the diaper just funneled it around and down her leg.  I still didn't think of the diaper being messed up until... Lily stank.  She smelled like fish.  Grody.  Now, we do bathe the child almost every day, so there is no reason for her to stink.  So to trusty Google I go, and realize its the diaper cream.  It has cod liver oil in it, and its in our diapers now.  They can be cleaned, but its hard.  I am currently trying to strip them again, which basically means scrubbing them very thoroughly with Dawn.  It took me about an hour to scrub, and then two cycles in the wash, and they smell  MUCH better, but not quite clean yet.  About to do another round later.

But here is a video of Lily playing with her toy and watching Yo Gabba Gabba.  A friend recommended this.  Lily liked it enough, but she is all about dancing.  We are working with her on sitting in other positions, like on her knees here.  Plus, she waves!  How cute is that??

Survivor 2011

Well, we are starting again.  Planting season.  Who will survive?  Who will become mulch first? 

Our contestants:

My herb garden.  We have chives, basil, dill, lavender, lemon balm, and spearmint.  In my defense, the really sad looking ones were given to me free and they looked that way when I got them.

My orange tree.  Hopefully we'll get some fruit on it this year.  Also, there's Riley's nose!

Two tomato plants.  The topsy turvey worked really well last year.  But when we opened the one on the very right up,there was a nest in there.  Apparently a bird has a sweet house.  We left it alone and planted the tomato in the garden.  We'll see how it goes.

I have beans and peas and squash and peppers and the tomato plant.  They are starting to really thrive.  Unfortunately, I can't remember which is which.  I'll find out when they produce though!

My apple trees.  There are two here.  The one on the right is looking pretty rough.  I think it may be the first one to go. 


The one thing that is surely thriving:

See her little hands on her legs?  She just loves her dad!