Gastroenteritis... Or, Don't Read This Post at the Dinner Table

It has been a rough couple of days.

Seriously.

Sunday night Liam kept waking up wanting to nurse. About 1am Mommy and Liam were dozing in the living room, when Liam sat up and upchucked all over Mommy. Then he barfed again, and again. Mommy was covered in sour milk, and peas, carrots, corn... and a green bean.

Awesome.

The rest of the morning was more of the same, especially after nursing. (He is just too efficient at drinking, and it all came right back up.)

We visited the doctor at noon, who confirmed he had gastroenteritis. "A stomach bug," she said. "It's going around, and it's a nasty one."

Great.

Well, the puking ended Monday afternoon. In related news, there is now a really clean spot on the living room carpet. Yay for having a steam vacuum!

Let's see, what day is today? Thursday? The diarrhea seems to be finally tapering off. Liam has been subsisting on mama-milk and a few Cheerios since Monday, so we are back to those wonderful, barely-stinky, machine-washable breastmilk poops. (Remind me why we can't ONLY nurse until he's potty-trained??)

As horrible as these past few days have been, we did learn a few things:

1. Mommy is surprisingly OK with getting puked on. Grandma J was right - "It's different when it's your baby," she always says.

2. Don't bother about buying Pedialyte. Breastmilk is just as good... as long as the baby doesn't eat too much too fast. Besides, the baby still doesn't take a bottle or drink from a cup, and using a medicine dropper elicited screams of terror.

3. Best of all, Liam slept in bed with Mommy Monday night and Tuesday night. There are few things nicer than waking up in the night next to a sleeping baby.

Catching Up on a Quiet Afternoon

It has occurred to us that we did not measure or weigh Liam on his 7-month birthday. In a week and a half he will be 8 months old. Those numbers are now gone for time and eternity, just like his furry monkey ears. The time has gone so fast; Mommy must make a renewed effort to record everything. EVERY. THING.

Ok, seriously - who has that kind of time? Raise your hand! Bueller?

Daddy has promised to write a post to you dear People of the Internetz about Halloween. He hasn't yet, if you hadn't noticed. But Mommy will give you a little taste. After all, Mommy's a giver.

What else has been happening, you ask? Well this baby has been practicing his pulling up on the furniture to standing. He is an ACE at standing. If standing were an Olympic sport, he would get the gold.

But this week... THIS WEEK... Mommy has had several heart attacks. Now once he is standing Liam lets go of the furniture. He freezes, looks shocked / surprised / proud, and in sloooow motion sits down hard. It's almost like he is trying to grow up! And walk! Like a big boy!

Anyone know how to freeze time? Because there it goes, getting away from us again.

And now, a parting video, from 1977. Why can't Sesame Street have more of this and less of Elmo's World or Abby's Flying Fairy School? (Have you seen Abby's Flying Fairy School? It is ridiculous. Where is the life lesson in using the Spice of Life to bring to life a macaroni-saurus? Idiots.) But THIS we love:

Like Daddy, Like Baby

Two peas in a pod, eh?

Also, yes - Liam is not wearing a shirt because it makes cleaning him up after meals MUCH easier. And it cuts down on Mommy's laundry.

Bath Time

Tonight in his bath, Liam sat there and splashed around for a couple minutes, and then decided that he wanted to grab the side of the tub and stand up. This is a big no-no, so whenever he does this bath time is over. Of course, as soon as he was dried off he wanted to get right back in.

Is it just me, or does he look like he got caught doing something and is trying to act innocent?

Project Mayhem 2: Liam Attacks

This baby has been hanging out with Snickers. She has taught him how to be mischievious. Verrrry mischievious. And as it turns out, when a baby can crawl - and when a baby can pull himself up - he finds lots more things to get into.

The past couple days have been exceptionally challenging. Take today, for instance...

Liam took off his diaper all by himself:

(Thankfully, this was after the day's poop, and not during.)

Later in the day, Mommy found the baby pushing the stroller into the living room:

Each morning Liam and Mommy share a bowl of oatmeal. Today Liam took the spoon, wiped the oatmeal on his chair back, and squashed his head in the oatmeal. Did you know it is difficult to clean oatmeal out of ears?

And Daddy has been teaching Liam a thing or two also... like chewing on the woodwork.

And Liam's new favorite, getting into the TV cabinet. This is our life, every day, all day. Daddy nees to find a better place for the stuff in there, before the Wii-motes are ruined, the instruction books are soggy, and the little odds and ends are swallowed. Does anyone out there in Internetz Land have suggestions for baby-appropriate things we can hide in the cabinet? Liam is currently more interested in non-toys than his toys.

Question of the Day: What was / is your baby's favorite mischief?

Scott and Peggy

This is Scott. ("Hi, Scott!")

This is Peggy. ("Hi, Peggy!")

Scott and Peggy are married.

Scott used to work at Crane with Justin, until he retired a couple years ago after being diagnosed with ALS. Now Scott is in an electric wheelchair and effectively cannot use his legs or arms. He sometimes needs to use a breathing machine.

Mommy and Liam did not know Scott and Peggy until they started going to Movie Night with Daddy. Each Tuesday night, some of Scott's friends from Crane get together at the house (which Scott designed himself - and is it ever lovely!) to watch a movie and chat. Chew the fat. Shoot the... poo.

People have brought all different kinds of movies to watch: How to Train Your Dragon, The Invention of Lying, Blade Runner... even a movie called Anvil (think real-life Spinal Tap times 11).

At any rate, Movie Night is FUN, especially for Mommy, since she gets to talk to real, live, intelligent, funny people.

A couple weeks ago in Indianapolis there was a benefit walk for ALS ("Indiana Walk to Defeat ALS"). Mommy, Daddy, and Liam all went, along with other friends of Scott and Peggy. It was cold and rainy that day, and although Liam was probably the warmest, most bundled-up person at the walk, we sat with Scott and Peggy and the Shaff family in the White River State Park Visitor's Center while the other walkers braved the 2 mile walk in the rain. We felt bad that we ditched, but next year we will join the walkers!

This week's Movie Night was cancelled. But that is OK! Because that means Scott and Peggy are still Ohio. And that means Scott got to be part of a clinical trial in which he is fitted with what is essentially a pace-maker for his diaphragm. In fact, the word on the street is he is out of surgery and will be home on Friday or Saturday.

So say a little prayer for these two crazy kids.

Liam's Adventure with Grandma and Grandpa J

A message from Liam, as dictated by Grandma J...

Grandma and Grandpa J came from Wisconsin for a few days of adventure with me. On Sunday they went to church with us and then took me to my first gun show. For lunch we went to a BBQ restaurant and Mom gave me bits of turkey for the first time.

On Monday Daddy drove us all down to Bedford to see all of its sights. We stopped at a couple boat landings on Lake Monroe so Grandpa J could see what the lake is like. At one of the stops we got out of the car and I climbed a tree for a few minutes. Grandma J says I get some of my tree climbing ability from Mommy.

Then the big people thought we should drive to Nashville to lunch, but for 11 minutes I explained to them why that was a bad idea.

I can't wait until Grandma and Grandpa J come to visit again!