A rough 2 weeks.

Clover's daycare had an outbreak of a stomach virus and she got it.  The poor thing was sick for almost a week.  She got sick on a Tuesday night and I stayed home with her the rest of the week. My mom came over Wednesday night to help me give her a bath and put her to bed while I got some rest.  I had gotten sick too, but with different symptoms.  This caused a chain reaction, and my mom got sick too.  It was bad timing, because she had surgery scheduled the next week and needed to get a lot done before Christmas and be in good condition for her surgery. 

Throw up is gross, nasty stuff.  I'd say its worse than cleaning up poop (like in my last post).  It just kind of lingers in the air after you clean it.  Icky.  But when it comes, you have to react fast.  Clover didn't know what was happening.  I took her straight to the sink in the bathroom and she was looking like "what the heck?" and didn't get too upset about it. 

Clover and I had a lot of good times together although she was sick.  She usually doesn't want to snuggle with me (she saves it for daddy).  We snuggled up on the couch together and watched all kinds of kids shows on TV.  "Little Bill" is my favorite.  I watched a bit of the Mickey Mouse Club.  It was horrible.  I remember loving to watch the old episodes when I was a kid.  Now it is computer generated and I was shocked when I heard Goofy say, "Whats up?....CHICKEN BUTT".  I remember getting in trouble for saying that when I was a kid.  I guess having your first kid at 40 creates a huge generation gap (more like 2 generations).  I have friends my age that have grand kids older than Clover.

Clover was back at school by Monday and was eating very bland foods.  I was so glad to get out of the house and go back to work.  My mom had her operation on Tuesday and we went to see her on Wednesday night.  Clover was confused and upset when she saw grandma in the hospital bed, but then calmed down when she saw that grandma was okay. 

After being home with her for almost a week straight, Clover has been talking and signing more.  Today I was talking to her care provider at day care and I said the word "crying".  Clover made the sign for crying and then said, "crying".  She also said, "bite" when I was eating my dinner and she wanted a bite.  I asked her if she was hungry and she said, "hungry" and made the sign.

So, needless to say I haven't posted any pictures in the last few posts.  It has been mostly puke, poop and boogies around here.  I'm looking forward to our next post.  We are excited about Christmas.  Clover has her own tree in her room and she loves both trees.  She will point and say, "tree".    We are hoping we can find the real Santa before he leaves to deliver presents.  We have not been able to get her out to see him due to her being sick or weather, so hopefully things will work out today.  Johnny is bringing "The Night Before Christmas" to read to her before she goes to bed tonight and we will put out cookies and milk.  We are spending Christmas day at my parents house and then Sunday Clover will get to see all of her Wheatleys. 

Merry Christmas!

So Much Fun with Clover

I always loved spending time with toddlers and had forgotten how exhausting they can be most of the time they are awake.  From the time I get Clover up, fed, dressed, and out the door for daycare and then picked up, fed, bathed, play time and back to bed...it seems I am either running after her to wipe her nose, stop her from entering a potentially unsafe room, or trying to get her to stay still when changing her clothes or diaper.

Yesterday morning we woke up to crying coming from Clover's room.  We both got up to check on her and when we did, had a great big nasty, stinky mess to clean.  Clover had pooped and then taken off her pj pants and then her diaper.  Three big balls of poop had fallen out of her diaper and on to her floor...the rest she stepped in and  it got all over her feet, legs, crib and linens..not to mention her "Ducky".  My first reaction was to laugh and think how smart she was to take off her pants and get that poopy diaper off right away. I contemplated taking a picture of her in the mess and decided against it.  Some things are better left to the imagination.  I gave her two baths and washed her hair and washed all the linens while Johnny cleaned every nook and cranny of her crib. 

Clover has been having fun at "school".  She cried the first few times I left her and now she is happy when I take her and really happy when I pick her up.  I love it when I get there and she says, "MOMMY!"  and runs to jump in my arms and give me a great big hug.  She wont let me put her down until we get to the car.  Last week, her class had a Christmas party and my mom and I went to be with her during the party.  She was so happy to have us there and I could tell she felt special that we came.  I had brought some organic muffins and treats for her to share with her class and I also brought her favorite..a banana.  Santa came to her class to see the kids, but she acted like he was just another person in the room.  She was more happy spending time with us than anything else going on around her.  

After her party, I went home and put up our Christmas tree.  I also put a tree in her room and a few decorations on the mantle.  When I brought her home, she walked into the living room in amazement.  She stood in front of the tree looking at all the lights and ornaments.  She looked at me and then pointed to a bulb and got closer.  She put her finger up to the bulb and looked back at me as if she was asking permission to touch the light. I told her it was okay and she proceeded to touch it and opened her mouth wide and let out a  big laugh.  She was thrilled.

On Saturday, after hearing a forecast of snow, I ran out and got Clover some acceptable outerwear and waited.  There was a little snow accumulation on Sunday and after we cleaned her up, showed it to her from the window.  She was very interested in it and we told her it was snow.  She said, "no" and pointed to her nose.  We later took her out when we went shopping.  She really liked it and was trying to catch the flakes. 

We took Clover to the toy store to see what she may like Santa to bring her for Christmas.  She really enjoyed looking at the dolls and musical instruments.  When she saw Elmo she let out a scream filled with excitement and yelled, "Mel-mo!"..she held out her arms...kind of like when she yells for me when I pick her up from daycare.  I sure hope Santa will bring her a Mel-mo.

This morning we had a delay because of the weather.  I kept Clover home from school for a few hours so I would have a better commute to work.  We had a great time hanging out and because we weren't rushed, I really enjoyed getting her ready and feeding her.  We even had time to play a little before leaving.  When we went to get in the car, there was a little snow coming down.  Clover was in my arms and yelling to the sky.."No"..pointed to her nose and looked at me...smiled really big and was trying so hard to grab it. 

Even though being a mom is hard job sometimes, Clover is such a joy and is worth it.  I'm so glad she is my daughter.