Poop...And Other Things

So it has again been a long while since I have written a post but life has just been too crazy. It is hard to believe that it can be so crazy when I am not even holding down an away-from-the-home job, but I feel like each day begins and ends without me knowing what happened. It is still rare that I have time to actually turn on my computer and, once it is on, have two free hands to type, so you lucky readers out there are reading what is being done with these precious moments of time. I hope I make it worth your while.

Since becoming a mom, many things have changed. As highlighted in a previous post, modesty has gone out the window. In my life B.T. (Before Tenley), I wouldn't have been caught dead letting anyone see my boobs or other private parts, would never have talked freely about such body parts, and would never in a million years thought that someone else's poop (or lack thereof) would be a constant worry of mine. Well folks, I'm here to tell you that all of the above have happened, continue to happen, and will probably keep happening for a long time. Everyone and their dog (literally) have seen my chest because, deal with it, my child has to eat. When I had Tenley, my mother, mother-in-law, and anyone who walked through my hospital room got a full view of all the goods so that too went out the window. I ran errands with my mother-in-law (whom I love) yesterday and this random thought went through my head: "I wonder if every time Carol sees me she just sees my vagina with a baby hanging out of it?" I've probably scarred that woman for life. Finally, I think, worry, and obsess about Tenley's poop more than anything else in the world. So I don't have a run-on (and on, and on) paragraph, I am going to start a whole new one dedicated to my child's constipation.

My poor Tenley is constipated. There- I said it so she doesn't have to. Hopefully this post won't embarrass her in 13 years. That baby has such a hard time pooping that I almost want to cry with her when she tries to go. I have come to recognize her pooping face because she gets really still, kind of stays in one place, and grimaces a little. That's on days that she can poop freely with nothing stopping her up. These days, she kind of whimpers, grunts, and her face gets as red as a tomato as she tries to get things moving. Most times I just stand her up and she looks deep into my eyes (they learn about focal points early) and just grunts and grunts and eventually ends up in tears. It breaks my friggin' heart. After all the grunting, I take her in to change her and she has one hard-as-a-rock deposit. For as hard as she works, she should be birthing a watermelon.

We have tried several things- prunes, prune juice, easing up on the cereal, adding more fruit, bicycles, stomach massages...the list goes on. I finally called the doctor today and he recommends switching from oat to barley cereal and to give her non-diluted adult prune juice. We'll see how it goes. For now, my baby is going to be one big non-pooping machine. :(

Now for the "Other Things" part to this post. Now that the holidays are over I feel a bit of a void. Not really bad, but not really good. We had an absolutely fantastic Christmas- I couldn't believe how much more awesome an already awesome holiday could be until having a child. Tenley was spoiled silly and was really good throughout all of the festivities even though she was working on two teeth. I know that once Christmas was over, I said that I was happy. There is so much preparation that goes into Christmas, especially because a large part of both sides of the family have birthdays that fall during the holidays. The thing is, I never realize how much I kind of enjoy the preparations until January rolls around and there are no real projects or places to go. I love, love, LOVE staying home with Tenley but I am viewing the upcoming months and realizing that the weather could suck and with nothing fun in the near future, the days could get long. I will figure something out, and it is going to start with getting a regular workout in (P90X here I come!) and cleaning out closets. We'll see how both of those go. :)

I have to dedicate the end of this post to bragging on my baby a little. For months, John and I have been trying to get Tenley to sleep in her crib. She has been sleeping in her rock n' play sleeper since she was born and she is now much to big for it. Her sleeping has been awful and I was at my wits end. We have tried 3 different times to get her to sleep in her crib but it has always resulted in her waking up every hour and a half (NOT KIDDING) and, once we put her back in her sleeper, she sleeps peacefully. We came to the point where there was no other option because her feet are sticking out of the end of her rock n' play. We had committed to the fact that Operation Crib would have to happen the week after New Years so that John could help me get up at night while on vacation from school. We had been DREADING this week for a month. We put her in the crib for the first time on New Year's Eve and she woke up....only once. The next night, she woke up....only once (for an hour, but still only once!)...the next night she woke up at 1 AM and then slept until 8:00 and last night she slept through the ENTIRE night. In her crib. Like a big girl. If I could make out with a baby, I would make out with her. But that is wrong on so many levels, so I will just continue to count my blessings that these last few nights have been so good and continue to pray that every night will be a good one.