July 2007

Stacy graduates tonight. I need to go to the grocery store for her surprise graduation party tomorrow at our house. I decided to go after Noah’s nap. He took his nap and we were eating lunch when it started to rain – not just a drizzle – HUGE drops of blinding rain with thunder. The kind of thunder that cracks right outside – not a rumble in the distance. During the storm, Dave called to find out what time we had to leave the house. As I talked to Dave, Noah was playing with his toys in the living room…or so I thought. I heard him on the monitor upstairs in my room. I went up to find him sitting in the blue rocker playing with A&D ointment. His response to seeing me, “Toothpaste!”

After quickly ending my conversation with Dave, I do a quick assessment.

Did he eat any? If so, how much? Is it poisonous?

No, he didn’t eat any – I think.

The package says to call poison control.

Natalie has begun to fuss but she’s gonna have to wait her turn. I can’t take care of her; Noah is covered in A&D. During his bath, she begins to fuss and cry. She is sitting in her bouncy seat at the bathroom door. This bath is not going as planned. Noah thinks it’s the kind of bath he takes before bed. The kind that he gets to play and goof off. Natalie is beyond fussing. She is full on crying as though she has been abandoned.

I still need to shower and I have to go to the grocery store. It has stopped raining. Noah needs another nap by now. What time is it? We have to leave in 2 ½ hours. “Please cooperate, Noah. Get out of the bath.” He response, “No.” I bribe him with an episode of Veggietales. It works – he’s out. She’s still screaming and is now crying uncontrollably. I try talking to her as I dry Noah off and get him dressed. Talking to her doesn’t help to calm her down. Now she’s acting like, “You mean you’ve been here the whole time and you didn’t pick me up?”

As we all trek back downstairs, Noah for Veggietales and Natalie for comforting, she throws up. Not a small amount of baby spit-up but the great geiser of Yosemite projectile vomit. It lands – splat – in the middle of the kitchen floor just inches from Noah. I can’t handle another bath him and I don’t think Natalie can handle it either.

Natalie has calmed down a little and has stopped crying. I get Noah to the couch without incident and put Natalie in her swing. She immediately starts up again. I have to mop up her mess. A quick wipe with napkins or a sponge just isn’t gonna cut it with this mess. I call Dave, realizing a shower without supervision for the kids is completely out of the question.

“What time are you leaving work?” along with a brief summary of events from the last hour.

We agree he’ll be home by 530 so I can jump in the shower and rush out the door by 6. He has to walk out the door at work in one hour – “Please, God, don’t let anyone require his attention on his way out the door.”

Noah is finally lying down and Natalie is all smiles and babbling.

Okay – I think I can shower. As I turn the shower water off of a very quick shower, I hear her screaming and Noah is talking in his crib. So much for the nap!!!

I let him sit in my room to watch a Baby Einstein video. Natalie is only consolable if I bounce her in the bouncy seat or hold her. I have to dry my hair…A ball cap is not an option for graduation. I bounce her in her seat as I dry and fix my hair. I step away long enough to pull my pants off the hangar which causes the bouncy seat to stop bouncing… here we go again.

I hear the garage door open – finally reinforcements!!