Hanging out

All of Ben's steri strip are gone now as you can see in the picture. I think that he gets pudgier everyday.

Gabriel has decided that being naked is the way to go, and the picture tells no lies! No accidents yet but I ask him if he has to potty quite often. No success in the potty chair yet either.

Ah, how cute

Gabriel loves to lay next to Ben and he insists that they both have a blanket on even when it's 110 degrees out...like today was. Blah.

We went to a potluck today with some new friends! It was nice. Hot outside though. It was a bit hard juggling both the kids with Gabriel being awakened from his nap to go. He was a little cranky. He was probably the most grump when he couldn't be naked in the kiddie pool. Haha.

It was nice to meet some new people. They are all from fresnomommies.com. Another reason Gabriel was upset was on the drive over there because the hotess' house was so close to his daycare and he didn't know why we weren't going there!

After the potluck we stopped by Gma Peg, Goomba and Richard's house since Gabriel was calling out their names in the car as we drove away! (and calling for the dogs) Plus it was close by.

We stayed for about an hour and then came home.

Right now Ben is asleep and Gabriel and Sissy are playing hide and go seek. A game that Gabriel and she play quite often now. :)

THE Blow Out

So there I was...

Watching Chicken Little for the upteenth time with my toddler and baby. My toddler, Gabriel was enjoying some grapes and sitting in his chair enjoying the flick when all of a sudden a horrible sound came from my baby, Ben.

KABOOM!!

I felt what can only be described as a tire flattening on the highway on my leg. Followed by unbelievable warmth. Gabriel turned and gave me a look as if to say "What the he** was THAT? (I couldn't agree more) but I don't know if he thought it was me! At this point I was afraid to even move either myself or Ben. And then there was the odor... Who says breastmilk fed babies don't have stinky poop?!

Of course I had to move us eventually. Oh how I dreaded what I was about to see. Poo all up his back and out one leg (Dang you Pampers sample!!), on my shorts, soaked through to MY underwear and on my skin, and puddled on the reclining chair which I had the cover off in the wash so it's right on the fabric.

Now, what do I do first? What was the plan of action? Don't get me wrong, I have been through similar situations but not to this extent. Luckily Gabriel was occupied so I stood up praying for no loose particals or "juice" if you will would fall to the floor.

I took Ben to the changing table where luckily last nights bath towel still lay and placed him down. Standing next to him I shed my clothes, naked from the waist down. Quickly I took a baby wipe and cleaned up the biggest mess on myself to ensure no spills.

Now the baby... The onesie? How do I get it off and not spread this toxic spill onto his beautiful little smiling, yes smiling, face? It could not be saved. I'm telling you right now, the onesie had to go. I reached for a pair of scissors in the drawer and began to free him of this hideous outfit. There would not have been enough stain remover in the world to clean this thing so ruining it forever was easily done. The diaper remarkably was dry in the front. Who would have thought.

Where was I going to put this stuff? I can't walk away and leave him on the table? Where is my DH at times like this? I just had to leave it on the table for the time being. Oh, the amount of poo on this child still was amazing. How could he have that much? He had already pooped this morning? What on earth did I eat to cause this nightmare? So many unanswered questions...

Wipes. I'm glad I buy in bulk. I had to at least wipe off the majority of it before bathing him...otherwise he'd be swimming in poo and I'd be dealing with poo water! About 10 wipes later, no joke, he was ready to transport to the bath. We made it there without peeing and I put him in it and then poured the water in. Smiling and cooing he enjoyed the clean up and appeared to be thanking me...or mocking me, I don't know.

I washed him, dressed him, placed him in the swing, surveyed the damage to the chair, threw out the onesie and diaper and as I took a breath of relief my toddler who had been enjoying his movie the entire time thankfully turns to me laughing. Oh, I forgot I was half naked! He found it funny that I had no clothes on. Great for self esteem! But that was not why he was laughing... "Poo Poo?" he said. I said yes there was a lot of poo poo from the baby. But then he pointed to himself and said it again. "Poo Poo?" And then the smell hit me..._________________
Pam

Look at this full belly!!

Obviously he's eating well...

My first born is leaving home! :(

Yes, the time has come for one of my kids to leave. Sean will be leaving to move up to Washington on June 14th. It won't be the same without him around here. Who will annoy Kirsten? Well, I guess Gabriel has to step up! We will miss him.

Ben is home and doing well!

Ben has been home from the hospital for a week and is doing great. Mild pain and eating like crazy!

He was such a good baby in the hospital. We are so thankful for everyone at Children's. They are amazing!

Pre-op this morning

This morning was Ben's pre-op appointment. Nate, Gma Peg and I took him and in all we were there 4 hours. He had blood drawn, a physical, a chest xray and an EKG. Can you believe our little boy now weighs 14 pounds 1 ounce? He gained nearly 2 pounds in three weeks. Go breastmilk! He is exactly two feet tall too. He was given a clean bill of health and the surgery is only 10 hours away.

We took a tour of the PICU and got to see the rooms and all of the equipment. It's hard to picture him hooked up to them and I know it will be tomorrow when we do. That moment scares me but I also know that I will want to see our strong boy as soon as we can.

It was comforting to hear from various people how healthy he looks for an infant with AVSD. It is great that his surgery is at Gma's hospital and so many people know about him!

We will be given pagers or get calls from the nurses I believe three times tomorrow with updates on how the surgery is going which will be nice. We plan to be there most likely all night. We cannot sleep in his room but can be in there all but between 7-9pm and 7-9am for shift change. Please understand that it will most likely be hard for us to talk to everyone tomorrow. I'm not sure that we will be making many, if any, phone calls. We will likely have someone else do that for us. We know that everyone is concerned and will want to know how it went and how he is doing but I have to think that the first 24 hours are a very private time for Nate, myself and Ben. I will also compose an update for someone to post since I'm unsure if I'll have computer access at the hospital. So please don't get angry if your calls/emails go unanswered throughout the day. We may find the strength ourselves to get in touch during the 7-9pm time but no promises.

Tonight at the house we had a Heavenly Blessing for Ben's surgery and for our family to have strength. We are so thankful to Jeff and Dean for that. It's wonderful to have so many caring people in our lives and Ben is very lucky to have all of the love and support.

It's time to give him his last bath and prep him for the morning. After he gets home he can only have sponge baths for awhile. He cannot have milk past 11:30 tonight and only sugar water before 3:30am with nothing past that time. Poor little guy will be starving I predict by 6am for some milk. I imagine there will be a lot of snorting going on!

Think wonderful thoughts tomorrow!