Poovember

When Elaina was a baby she had constipation problems.  She will, most likely, in a few years hate me for announcing this on the internet, but the fact remains that she was one stopped up little baby.  As Matt and I watched her grunt and strain as she tried to poo I remember feeling very helpless and thinking that, in the diaper realm, this was the most terrible thing ever.  Now having gained the perspective and wisdom that 5 additional years of parenting can bring, I know this not to be the case.  There is something worse...free flowing poo.


As Poovember started it's reign of terror, I could be found at the Dr.'s office with Asher.  He had an ear infection that required the use of antibiotics.  Many of you can see where this is going as antibiotics are great for treating infections but are terrible on the digestive systems of some babies (and Adults).  Mine happen to be those kind of babies.  So we started the antibiotic and my once-every-3-day pooper became my 3 times a day pooper.  And of course I had just bought some really nice diapers.  Way to waste the good ones, Son.  My years of parenting these antibiotic sensitive babies has led me to a solution for such poos...yogurt!   Solves it every time, except when the child will not under any circumstances eat food.  Yep, my 19lb son wanted nothing to do with any kind of real food whatsoever.  So, with every teaspoon of medicine I forced into his mouth he got an additional teaspoon of yogurt smoothie administered by dropper.  I am sorry to admit that I may have scarred him for life and he may never like yogurt again.  But you do what you have to do to battle the poo.


Poovember continued with the introduction of the "wet fart" to the Widmer household.  The repeated onset of the "wet fart" has been traced to some deli ham that has now been eliminated.  The "wet fart" seemed only to make it's appearance in the middle of the night and required my oldest child to run from her bedroom to the bathroom several nights one week.  I do not find it funny to be awoken in the middle of the night by the dreaded "wet fart" but my other children seem to think that it's pretty funny and even Jillian (2) has gotten in on using the word "wet fart."


Just when I was hoping that Poovember might be coming to a close, the worst happened.  Jillian has decided that she doesn't want to wear diapers anymore, but hasn't gotten the hang of regular underwear.  So against my better judgement, the child is wearing Pullups.  Jillian as well as my other, non-constipated children, is usually a 3 times a day pooper.  Yes, 3 times.  (I blame the Harris...it comes from that side, it has to.  The Davies are far too logical to go that many times in a day.  That obviously means that you aren't sitting long enough.)  So one day, the last week of Poovember, my girls had a party to attend without their parents.  They are such socialites!  It was with much trepidation and second thoughts that I sent Jillian to the party that afternoon in a Pullup knowing full well that she hadn't pooed at all that day.  In hindsight I should have paid attention to my uneasy feeling, but alas, I did not.  When she returned from the party I was informed that it smelled like she had pooed on the way home.  She walked into the house and showed us all the fun things she got at her party acting if nothing was wrong.  Matt noticed that the smell seemed to be very strong.  Getting a diaper and wipes I began what I assumed to be a routine changing but it was anything but routine.  The accumulation of three poos all in one caused it to overflow the Pullup and ooze onto anything in it's path.  Shirt, jumper, tights, all met with an untimely and unpleasant demise.  There was no salvaging them...not even when Matt offered to take them outside and hose them off.  Her coat got a good washing too, but thankfully the car seat was spared.


Yeah, constipation is an unpleasant thing, but can be solved for the most part with a little apple juice.  The free pooer is a harder thing to manage.  It appears the Poovember may be trying to make itself into a multi-month event.  I will never forget my "whole chipotle burrito incident" and on the 30th the children got some mints that, come to find out, have an artificial sweetener in them that has unpleasant results. (read: anal leakage).  I have wiped/changed Evelyn twice, Asher 3 times, and Jillian 4 times today.  Motherhood is a glamorous job but I suppose someone has to do it.    

Birthdays

Birthdays are funny things.  I've spent most Octobers counting down until my birthday.  I usually celebrate a Birthday Month, the celebrating gets more intense in my Birthday Week, and finally when the 25th arrives I announce at the top of my lungs to anyone and everyone that it's my Birthday!  I'm really not shy.  This year hit me pretty hard though, 30, UGG.  To top it all off, Matt started a new rotation and I knew we weren't going to get to spend any time together today.  I was prepared to have a really sucky birthday.  Now, I am an eternal pessimist.  My motto is, "If I'm a pessimist I'm either always right or pleasantly surprised."  My mother doesn't appreciate this line of thinking, but then she's the one who heard on the news that if you're optimistic it means there is an abnormality in your brain.  


Today, I was pleasantly surprised.  I can't believe all the love I got.  I appreciate all of you who went out of your way to welcome me into "Club 30."  It was a great day with even a present from Jesus.  I happened to remember an ad I saw about New Balance shoes for cheap. (Having "Fat German Feet" and high arches, NB are the only kind of tennies I can wear)  I looked on the day that the ad was listed, but wasn't interested in that particular style.  I felt prompted to check again today and found just what I wanted for less than 30 bucks and the site had free shipping for today.  Yay, God!


Yeah, so, blah, blah, blah, I had a great day but you don't really want to read all my gushing.  What really got me thinking about Birthdays was an exchange I had with Evelyn tonight.  Evelyn's pregnancy was the only time I was pregnant through the summer.  It shouldn't have been a big deal as she was born in late November and I shouldn't have been "huge" pregnant during the hottest months of the year.  Well, that was a lovely theory, but it was 90+ degrees well into October that year.  I don' t think I let Matt take the air conditioner out until November.  So, needless to say, Evelyn is the only fall baby.  Her siblings' birthdays come in March, April, and May and then the poor child has to wait until November for her birthday to arrive.  To make her feel better about this fact, I have been telling her that her birthday is after Mommy's and it's in a special time of year.  Tonight as I was tucking her in to bed she was so excited and I quickly realized that she thought her birthday was DIRECTLY AFTER mine....like, tomorrow.  I had to explain that it was in the next month.  Oh boy, poor child was crushed.  She just cried and cried.  Thankfully, I had Matt on speaker phone and he started telling her how it couldn't be tomorrow because we needed time to buy all her presents.  (Note to self: she may need extra presents.)


I do feel for her as she has patiently waited through all of her siblings' and cousins' birthdays for her's to arrive.  I suppose I should consider this when "planning" (yeah, right) the next child.  She should have someone to wait with her.


Here I've been, whining about my birthday and poor Evelyn's can't come soon enough.  I guess perspective has a lot to do with it.  I think both Evelyn and I are OK now!  Thank God for birthdays and special people to share them with!!     :-)

Confession

OK, I have a confession to make.  I hate fasting.  I know that no one LOVES fasting, but I really HATE fasting.  Fasting makes me angry.  I can only remember a handful of times in my life where I really felt that a fast was profitable.  The most vivid one in my memory was a day long fast that we did while I was on my mission trip to England.  I felt very close to God that day and it wasn’t a struggle.  We just all did it.  Every other fast that I’ve participated in I have done out of obedience to the person in authority who has called the fast.  (Although, I’m not sure how much good it did me seeing as I was angry most of the time.)

So, in my head, I know that fasting is depriving ourselves of something so that we have to rely on God to meet our needs and that it is supposed to bring us closer to Him.  Where I get into trouble is that my heart thinks that it is extremely works based.  Kind of like a hunger strike to get God to do what we want.  I don’t like that.  No matter how much I know of the real reason, I can’t shake my feelings on the issue.  Maybe it makes me so angry because I feel like my life is sacrifice enough.  I don’t mean that in a whiny way, but as a statement of fact.  I have lived the majority the last 2 ½ years without my husband around so that we can follow the calling that God has given to us.  We live on loans without money for extras, have debt up to our eyeballs, and I rarely get quality time with my man.  Again, not whining, I was there when the decision was made, but come on, now you want me to give up FOOD TOO!

Here we are on the eve of another fast, during a week where I have two birthday parties to attend.  (However it does just miss my birthday.  Thanks God!)  There is a real part of me that doesn’t want to move beyond the desire to blow it off.  Here’s the catch.  There is an even bigger part of me that wants to know what God has for me and to know Him deeper.  I fully believe that we are designed to show the world what the promises of God look like in action.  We are overcomers and heirs to the promise.  And the only way to get there is to “throw the door open” and get into God’s presence.  (Alas, that probably includes fasting.) 

So that’s where you come in.  I know that lots of my friends are Believers who have valuable insight into life with Christ.  I want to hear your feelings on fasting because bottom line, I get angry enough, I don’t need to be angry with God too.  He’s got gifts waiting for me and I just have to get close enough to take hold of them.