MomGyver

Molly wanted to go shopping for her birthday today.  We left the house about 1:30.  I had my shopping bags, my purse, my coffee, water bottles for each of us,  a leotard for Rowan to change into later and supplies to do her hair.  I did not have the baby bag.

Unfortunately, I didn't notice this until Desmond pooped.  Across town.  At 4:30.  No where near a store that sells diapers.

I really didn't want to drive to a store and buy disposables.  We have been using them at night to keep Des from getting a rash, but I am hoping we don't have to buy more than the one package.

I had also been in 6 stores by this point in the day, and couldn't stand the thought of loading everyone in the car, driving,  unloading & loading up again.  I still had to feed 5 children and drop off Molly  & Savannah before going to the gym.

My other options raced through my head...

Leave him in the stinky diaper. -  No, his skin is way too sensitive.
Let him go diaperless. - No way!  We won't be home for at least 3 hours.
Find something in the car to use as a diaper. - It's just been cleaned out and only the things we need are in it.
Buy something to use as a cloth diaper. - That's it!

I scanned the shopping center and decided to try World Market.  As soon as I entered the kitchen section I came across  flour sack dish towels.  They'd definitely work & I'd love to have them, but I didn't want to pay $10. I perused the cloth napkins, but they usually have to be washed before they have any absorbency. Then I spied a microfiber dishtowel.  It claims to "hold 7 times it's weight in water".  It's also on sale.  50% off $5.99.  Yay!

Molly helped me change Desmond with the wipes I keep in the van.  We reused the diaper cover he had on  and one of her plastic shopping bags for the dirty diaper.  Then we were on our way...

I have to say, I am totally proud of myself.  I handled the situation without compromising my principles with needless driving and buying of disposable products.  I would rather have not bought anything at all, but at least that dishtowel will be used for years to come in our home.  Yay, me!

Anyone else have a MomGyver story to share?

24 Hours of H E Double Hockey Sticks

Wednesday morning Rowan started throwing up.  It didn't seem like such a big deal.  She would puke then play.  Puke then eat.  Puke then bounce around the house in her  normal, happy way.

Thursday, she was fine.  We went to gymnastics, ate tacos (try to forget about the tacos while you read the rest of this) and watched Survivor just like usual.

Here's where the 24 hours start and where Rowan gets her new nickname from Daddy, Typhoid Rowan.  (Beware, I'm gonna say puke a lot.)

Around 11:30 pm, Desmond started puking.  In his bed.  In his sleep.  Wave and I cleaned him up and changed the bed.  Des went right back to sleep.

In 15 minutes we went through the same routine.  Ugh.

This time Desmond wouldn't go back to sleep so easily.  Lydia was still awake, so she came into my room and played with him a little.  After a bit, he fell asleep in my bed...and woke up puking.

We changed our bed.  I laid down extra blankets under Des just in case.  Then Lydia started puking!

Des moved off the blankets and puked some more.  Lydia went to bed and puked all over her bed and Rowan's (Yay, bunk beds!).

I'll spare you all the details and cut to a couple of sheet changings later.  I have Lydia and Desmond in my bed.  Wave is sleeping in his office.  I have left the light on because I  am tired of turning it back on every 15 minutes or so.  It is 6am and I really haven't slept yet.

Then it hits ME!  I run to the toilet and... you know.  Then Lydia wakes up.  Have I said, "ugh"?  How about a double ugh for the puke traffic jam.  Lydia pukes on the floor, I puke in the sink.  I cover the mess with a towel and leave it for the morning.

By this point, I guess my body had had enough.  I slept for 2 whole hours.

When I woke up, I felt like I'd been beaten thoroughly  AND sleep deprived.  My only hope was that Wave could take the day off of work.  Unfortunately, he had also succumbed to the  virus.

Most of Friday is a blur to me.  I know I was hot and achy.  I know I spent most of it on the couch.  I know I was too weak to lift Desmond.  I know I couldn't eat or drink.  Lydia and Wave were pretty much in the same state.  Desmond was feeling much better, but not quite 100%.

Luckily Molly was here to save the day.  For all the trouble that girl gives me, she really shines when it comes to helping out when I am sick.  She took care of us all all day long.  She did it all without being told to or complaining.  She stripped beds, did laundry, changed diapers, brought us water and medicine, gave baths & cleaned.  I don't know what we would have done without her!  I feel so grateful to her for her loving, caring attitude towards her family.

Poor Molly saved the day, but was not spared for her kindness.  Around 9 or 10pm, just as Wave and I were starting to feel better, she fell prey to the vile sickness.  By that time I felt okay enough to help her out some and take over with Desmond.

This morning, everyone except Molly felt normal.  Lydia even felt well enough for gymnastics.  Molly seems to be doing alright, she asked for donut holes and hot Cheetos first thing this morning, but couldn't eat them after Wave bought them for her.  I wouldn't have even asked at that point yesterday!

By this time tomorrow, I'm sure we will all be back to normal.  The house needs major bleaching and ants took full advantage of our lowered defenses.  The piles of laundry need to be folded and put away.  I am just glad to feel well enough to take care of it all!

(Just in case you didn't get enough...puke, puke, puke, puke, puke.)

One Year of Desmond

My baby boy is one today. He is such a nice, easy going little man so far. I really, really love him!
Thanks to all of you who sent gifts & cards or came to see Des today!

My History With Birds

As a child, I liked birds.  We had 2 cockatiels for a long time.  One even whistled when it heard the words "pretty boy".   


 I rescued a parakeet or two who had careened into windows and injured themselves while playing the roles of free-birds in Dad's fair displays.  They survived reasonably well as pets.  


My memories with birds turn dark with the doves.  My family kept a large cage of them on the porch outside the house.   To me, it seems we had them forever.  Really, I don't know how long they were there.   At some point, the doves started to mate too closely and quite a few deformed chicks hatched.  These chicks fell prey to the many cats we had and were caught right through the cage and dragged out.  Maybe my subsequent run-ins with birds are some sort of karma.


Around the age of 12, I spent all my birthday money ($100!) to buy a cage for a dying dove.  I kept it in my room, but it died very quickly.  I dragged the cage around throughout my teens and early twenties.  I really couldn't tell  you how many birdie souls were lost in it.

My troubles with wild birds started about 15 1/2 years ago.  I woke up one morning to find a juvenile heron perched on a curtain rod in Molly's bedroom.  I was alone and had no idea what to do about it.  After many fruitless phone calls, a neighbor finally threw a blanket over it and took it outside.  


Exactly one week later, I awoke to find a scrub jay in my house.


Around that time, I saw a turkey attack a man.  (He totally deserved it, don't tease a turkey.)  It jumped up on his chest and started beating it's wings in his face.


Several years later at the San Francisco Zoo, a low flying duck grazed my head as it flew away from a misbehaving child.


There was the time in Golden Gate Park when I screamed my head off at a flock of pigeons flying in my general direction.


A year or so later, I called the police on a mocking bird.  I thought it was a house alarm.  


A couple of months ago a large bird slammed into my windshield while I was driving.  It hit hard enough to make feathers stick. I think it was a hawk. 


About a month ago a Masked Lovebird flew around our backyard for a while.  It was in no way terrifying, but why us?


Saturday night, Wave found this thing perched on a chair in our back yard.  It really freaked me out at first.  My initial, totally irrational, thought was that it was a snake coiled up on the back of the chair.  


When my eyes adjusted to the dark, it became obvious it was some sort of bird.  But what kind of bird?  My mind when first to the more distasteful types of birds common to this area.  Juvenile Turkey Vulture?  Baby Turkey?  Could it belong to the neighbors?


I was terrified of what it might do if it were startled!  Wave didn't want to walk past it the second time.  We let him in through the front door


Actually, it did nothing.  It sat and sat and sat.  Then it tried to fly and couldn't.  We put the cat inside so they wouldn't hurt each other.  It managed to fly/climb onto the fence where it sat and sat and sat some more.  It was still there when I went to bed.


I looked at a million pictures on the internet trying to figure out what kind of bird it was.  I couldn't find a thing that looked like this.  Any ornithologists out there?


I am to the point now where I can be near birds without screaming hysterically.  I can appreciate birds from afar, but I keep a close eye on pigeons (not trustworthy!).  I'd even like to have chickens someday.


I wonder if this much unintentional bird interaction is normal, though?  Do you have crazy bird stories?

Learning To Sew

I have been trying to teach myself to sew.   It has been a long and frustrating battle!

I am threading challenged in the most severe way. Reading the manual was no help to me.  Wave finally had to thread the darn thing for me!

After many fits & unladylike words, I can finally thread the machine by myself.  Des is modeling the things I made today.

The diaper cover is made of micro fleece given to me by a lady Freecycler. It, unfortunately, has already failed its purpose.  It didn't hold in the wetness like the other homemade micro fleece cover I have.  Sewing friends,  should I add another layer?  Is the material only water resistant on one side?  Help!

The baby legs are made from a pair of socks I picked up for 98 cents at Target.  I just cut the extra fabric from the heel, sewed it back up, cut out the toes and hemmed the now open end.  I am super proud of myself for thinking to use a zig zag heel to make the opening stretchy!  So far (15 minutes!) the leg warmers are successful.  Only time will tell!