A Diarrhea-filled Christmas Story

Another Christmas has come and gone, but this was probably one of the least memorable ones. Least memorable because the wife and I didn’t get anything for Caitlyn, I didn’t get anything for the wife, and the wife didn’t get anything for me. That includes Christmas cards.

Well, actually, she did buy Christmas cards, but she’s misplaced them somewhere without writing anything in them, so that doesn’t count. And I found an old unused Christmas card, but we decided to reserve that one for my parents. Thankfully, Grandpa and Grandma and other family members were on top of their game and were able to come through with some gift giving.

So why no joyous Christmas celebration this year? The main culprit was the busyness of moving into our new place. Yes, it is finally completely renovated and it looks great, but that’ll be for another post. Our original plan was to move at a later date, but the landlord at our previous apartment said we would have to pay another month’s rent for just staying a few days past our lease. Therefore, it was quickly decided that we would move in this past Friday.

But to add on top of the moving, Caitlyn got some sort of stomach virus on Friday and started having chronic diarrhea where she would go every few hours or whenever she ate something. At first, we weren’t too concerned because she was still her usual chipper self despite all the diaper changes. But as she continued to have diarrhea, we decided it best to take her to the hospital on Saturday to get checked up.

The doctor stated that it was nothing to worry about and that it was best not to give her anything to eat for awhile. Easy for her to say because she doesn’t have to deal with a cranky, crying baby that’s hungry. But even eating something plain and simple like rice and bread still made her stomach upset.

On, Monday, I think the toll of constantly having diarrhea finally hit Caitlyn. In the morning, after she woke up, she was like a limp rag doll. We tried to feed and make her drink something, but she didn’t have the energy to open her mouth even though she wanted to. It was quite a frightening scene to see her like that, but since the wife was doing enough freaking out for the two of us, I had to be the one that was calm, cool, and collected.

We went back to the emergency room and the doctor suggested we put her on an IV drip to help get her fluid levels back. We weren’t sure about this because needles and babies just don’t mix. We were afraid Caitlyn would be thrashing around like crazy and do more harm than good to herself. I could picture her accidentally ripping the needle out or her arm and blood squirting everything.

However, after seeing how lethargic and pitiful she looked, we decided to give it a go. She only cried a bit when the nurse poked the needle into her. After that, she was content to just sit in Mommy’s arms for the duration of the time. She didn’t once pick at the needle. Talk about a major shock and surprise. First the Christmas party and now this. This new 2.5 version of Caitlyn has yet to cease to amaze me.

Only bad news is that she still has diarrhea. Because of this, I’m pretty sure the wife is going to say that she inherited the diarrhea gene from me.

Family picture

Say, "Cheese!"

 

Baby looking, Mommy not

Mommy looking, baby not

 

Worried Mommy

Ouch!

Sick, but still cute

It only hurt a little!

An Early Christmas Present

This past Friday, my school had their Christmas dinner party. The plan was to bring Caitlyn along so we could use her as an excuse to exit early if things dragged out too long. We weren’t sure how she was going to react with so many people there, but we definitely didn’t have very high expectations.

So imagine our surprise when Caitlyn behaved beautifully during dinner. She sat in her chair and quietly at her food. There was no whining or playing with her food. In fact, the people sitting at our table all commented on how lucky we were to have such a manageable baby. Bwahaha!!! As if. I had to set the record straight and let them know I was just as surprised at her angelic behavior.

As the evening went on, there was a part where they asked all the kids to the stage to sing a song. The wife took Caitlyn up there and while she wasn’t exactly clinging to her, she didn’t exactly look like she was really enjoying herself either.

But after they got off the stage, Caitlyn kept insisting on going back up. Perhaps she got her first taste of being in the spotlight and got bitten by the acting bug. But whatever the case, she went back to the stage several times throughout the night, even by herself, and thoroughly had a blast. And to top off the perfect evening, we won a raffle drawing and received a bag full of goodies for Caitlyn.

I think the expansion pack has just arrived. We’re now running Caitlyn 2.5.

Staying warm and cozy

Whoo! I did it!

 

Being fed, massaged,
and watching b-ball

We love hair bows now!

Clothes modeling

Uh, is there something on my head?

You Can Do It!

The weaning-off process at school has slowed to a crawl and the wife’s frustration is on the rise. For the past two weeks, they’ve been stuck at the wife leaving for 15-30 minutes. Some days, the teacher doesn’t even work with the wife because she’s too busy. On the days in which the wife has left, Caitlyn has cried for the majority of it, though it’s slowly decreasing. At this pace, the wife probably won’t be able to drop off the baby and permanently leave for at least another month.

I suggested she apply for a position at the school because she’s more or less become part of the staff there. When all the teachers are occupied, the kids will go to find her instead. Unfortunately, this seems to be a large portion of her time there. So instead of just focusing on Caitlyn, the wife is also taking care of a slew of other kids. All this free of charge, which is just plain wrong.

While she would love to go off at the school for the way they run things, she’s hesitant because she fears the teachers might hold a grudge against our baby. Besides, nobody likes an overbearing parent. Besides, their stance is pretty clear based on how they responded the last time the wife made a suggestion, “If you don’t think you’re suited for this place, you’re more than welcome to look elsewhere.”

This of course has led to people questioning why we’re still sending Caitlyn to the school with all its inconveniences and indifference. But the fact remains that Caitlyn does seem to really like going there, which is why we’re still there. Too bad the wife doesn’t feel the same. But my argument is that she’s already spent nearly a month there now, so it would be a shame to just stop and start over from scratch at some other place. If she could just hold out for a little bit longer, the hardest part will hopefully be over soon.

I know we're close because this weekend, the wife and I left Caitlyn with Grandma and Grandpa for close to seven hours while we went to run errands. She didn't cry when we said goodbye, and when we came back, she barely batted an eye as she went right back to playing with her Legos. Just a week ago, she would have bawled her eyes out and clung for dear life to Mommy as we left and flung herself onto Mommy when we returned.

And now, for some strange reason, she's also all of a sudden become OK with putting bows in her hair. What the heck is going on?! I don't know if going to school or my parents visiting or maybe a combination of both is having an effect on her, but I'm definitely liking the new and improved Caitlyn 2.0. Hopefully the expansion pack where she's able to stay at school by herself is coming soon.

Hanging around

Lift those legs!

Horsing around

Don't you love my pretty bow?

 

 

 

Training Camp

My parents arrived for their bi-annual visit last week, which means Caitlyn has been kicked from her room and is now back in ours. This has led to irregular sleep schedules and resulted in her waking up at least once or twice during the night and getting up at 6:30 in the morning.

This could be a problem because Caitlyn has officially begun her weaning off process at school this week, and a tired, cranky baby is not the easiest thing to manage. But thus far, the wife has been reporting back positive progress.

Right now, the teacher has her sitting in the corner of the classroom while she takes Caitlyn off to play. Every 15 minutes or so, Caitlyn will go back to check up on Mommy, but will then go back to play afterwards. The goal is for the wife to slowly disappear minutes at a time until she's able to be gone for the whole morning. They haven't given a specific timetable for this, but hopefully by the end of the week. I think this is definitely doable as long as Caitlyn is kept preoccupied and busy.

The getting acquainted process between Caitlyn and the grandparents has also been going well. This past weekend, they were able to take her to the toy store and park by themselves without any problems. And they were able to take care of the baby for a few hours yesterday afternoon while the wife and I went to run a few errands.

Our aim is to have them be able to pick up Caitlyn at school and take care of her until 5 p.m. This would give the wife a break and also hopefully create a stronger bond between Caitlyn and her grandparents. It’s a win-win situation for everyone, so hopefully we can convince Caitlyn to jump onto the bandwagon, too.

See, Grandpa doesn't bite!

Piece of cake

We're all smiles!

Ready for a walk

And we're back to being serious

Not a Mommy-approved activity

Double-teamed

Is this how they ride horses in Texas?

I can do this....

In another month

Looking dapper dan

Hands up if you love suspenders!

Second Week

A second week has come and gone at daycare and thus far, I’ve only been hearing negative things from the wife. So it’s surprising to me that she’s still willing to take Caitlyn there. But I suppose the desire to have Caitlyn detached from her hip is greater than leaving her at a place that is not ideal or going through the problem of finding another place.

I find it hard to believe that this place is as bad as she makes it out to be, but she claims other places are even worse. I think the wife can accept most of the school’s flaws because of one reason. She feels that if she’s able to leave the baby at the daycare by herself and doesn’t see what’s going on firsthand, she won’t think so much about it.

It’s kind of like eating at a restaurant. You know the people in the back cooking your food probably didn’t wash their hands after going to the bathroom and probably dropped your burger on the floor before putting it back on your plate, but as long as you don’t see it, you don’t think about it. Out of sight, out of mind.

But therein lies her main problem with the school – their unwillingness to let her drop Caitlyn off and leave. The daycare has been giving her the runaround whenever she asks when she can just drop Caitlyn off. They haven't given a specific date yet.

Currently, they have two other new students who they are training to separate from their mom. Like the wife, these two moms also have to accompany their child to school right now. But the teachers are slowly starting to wean the kids off their mom. They say as soon as these two are acclimated into the school, it’ll be Caitlyn’s turn to be weaned off the wife. Of course, how soon this will be is anyone’s guess. Personally, I think the school just likes having these extra bodies around to take care of the kids, so they don’t have to deal with them.

But to end on a positive note, the wife did say that Caitlyn was able to be by herself for 15 minutes while she went to hide without crying last Friday. That’s my girl! Now we just need to work up to 3 hours.

Play dates

Stacking blocks

 

Make a wish!

You gonna eat that?

 

The cake is making me drool!

Only pudding for you

 

Ready to climb the hill

Almost there!

 

Oopsy!

Taking a break