I had two missions in mind for this morning's naptime: deep clean the bathrooms and wash every stitch of baby laundry in the house in preparation for our Thanksgiving trip. I mopped the floors, gave the tub the kind of scrubbin' that leaves sweat at your temples, pretreated a million different stains on a bajillion tiny garments, and got all that laundry washed and in the dryer. And still had time for a shower and a drop-by visit from a friend. I was feeling GOOD about the state of things.
Fast-forward to this afternoon's naptime. I merrily fold those bajillion tiny garments while watching the series finale of Jon and Kate Plus 8 and survey a clean apartment with all in good order and, again, feel GOOD. (Hint: This is foreshadowing.)
Just about then, I hear Andrew wake with a cry. I go in to scoop him up and find--eek!-- the exploded diaper of all exploded diapers. And believe you me, we've seen some around here. Every last thing is horribly filthy...his crib, sheet, blanket, bumper, booties, socks, clothes, everything. I grab him by his (thankfully unaffected) armpits and, at arms' length, carry him straight to the freshly scrubbed tub, where I dump him in the water, clothes and shoes and all. Nastiness is everywhere. I finally get him stripped of everything, drain the tub, refill it, and scour him 'til he shines.
Now, I have a bathroom far dirtier than it was this morning and a big ol' load of baby laundry that needs some serious attention.
But all is not lost in the pursuit of cleanliness. No, Andrew's insides are spic n' span.
There are people who pay good money for that kind of thing.
C'est la vie!
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7 comments:
Such a good baby, to get so much digesting done before his trip! Hooray for Andrew! Love and sympathy, Mama
What great attitude about something that can seem so awful!! Glad you can find humor in the little things in life!! :-)
bless your bones!! but what a delightful perspective. :)
you always make me laugh! :)
You're right Elizabeth. Lots of people would pay good money for a colon cleanse like that!!!
I need a little of your attitude!! I also need to know how you get Andrew to take such good naps...I got in a nasty little habit of "bouncing" Miss Mary Lynne to sleep. We haven't broken it...not only will she not just "lay down" and put herself to sleep...Sandner can't bounce her there, so it's always me. We need nap help! What do you use on the baby stains? I've always used Oxiclean, but lately we've had some explosions it just hasn't handled!
Hey Rhonda--As far as naps go, I followed Babywise. No bouncing, rocking, nursing to sleep, etc. I sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star twice before putting him down, simply as a cue to him that it's sleeptime. I put him in bed awake and now he almost always goes to sleep right away without any crying at all. If he cries, I let him cry it out and it's usually only a few minutes. Sometimes (in a new place or if we're off schedule) it is longer, but I never go back in. I think he just knows now that I'm not coming back until after his nap, so there's not much point in crying. Also, he oftens wakes at about 45 minutes and gives a few minutes' cry. If I just leave him, almost always he'll go back to sleep for another 1-1.5 hours. Because we started with Babywise from the beginning, it was easier, I think, to do the sleep training, but I still recommend it completely for ML. Start on a weekend when you have time to deal with it and just drop the bouncing. Maybe at the sleep period where she is the most tired (night?). Explain it to ML, pray about it with her, and then put her down the way you'd like to always be able to put her down and leave. It's hard, but good sleep is so important for babies, so I think it's worth it. Good luck!
I use the Dreft baby stain remover. I think it works particularly well on 'protein' stains, which is pretty much what we're always dealing with with the babies. When that's not enough, I use bleach and then run the laundry through a second time with just water so that the bleach doesn't irritate Andrew's skin.
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