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?