Good Thing She Didn't Have To

My very pregnant friend Chelsea was at my house the other day.
She had to use the bathroom.
"Are you going to pee or poop?" Tage asked.
"Uhh... just pee." Chelsea answered and proceeded into the bathroom and shut the door.
A few moments later Chelsea emerges and Tage says:
"Did you keep your baby in your belly?"


Later... after Chelsea left our home...

"Did Chelsea pee or poop Mom?"
"I think she just peed."
"She didn't want to poop because she didn't want to push her baby out of her bum?"
And then I laughed really hard.
Pretty accurate for a 3 year old who knows absolutely nothing about the child birth process!

The Pumpkin Package

Last week we went to the Pumpkin Patch. Tage called it the Pumpkin Package! Unfortunately, the hay ride was only on the weekends, and it was supposed to raid so we went on a Thursday. Tage even asked if we were going to ride the tractor... she remembered it from last year!!! We still had fun though!

The cutest pumpkin of them all!

I don't know why Tage wore her helmet... she insisted. Good thing too!
She fell off of Kevin's shoulders while we were there.

Kevin and Mason with the pumpkin Tage picked!



We love the Pumpkin Patch! And as Tage would say... "the Pumpkin Package loves us too!"

I don't blog much

I Love This Boy

Skeeter Syndrome

Yes. It is a mesquito bite.
Yes. It got worse after this picture was taken...
swelled down to my ankle, and almost up to my knee, but not quite.
Yes. It gave me a limp.
Yes. It itched FREAKING CRAZY.
Yes. It hurt.
Yes. I now have a deep fear of those devilish insects.

More Chad and Shannon

More pictures from the wedding... check out those storm clouds! Chad and Shannon were lucky they caught a short break in the down pour and were able to get pictures in front of the temple!

This was the best photo of our little family... too bad Mason isn't looking!

Here is a better picture of our little smushie with Daddy

Chad and Shannon Wedding

Friday, July 31 Chad and Shannon got married in the Washington D.C. Temple! We are so lucky to have Shannon in our family now! She is the only one I know that can put a feather in her hair and not look like a loser! Enjoy the pictures! (Doesn't Tage look adorable along with her cousins??)

"The Turtle Is Sad"

WARNING.... THIS POST CONTAINS A GRAPHIC IMAGE. VIEWER DISGRESSION IS ADVISED.

Around the 4th of July, Pop Pop and Tage went on a walk by our house. Tage came back telling me that they saw a turtle and it was sad. I asked her why it was sad, and she sad "A truck squashed it! The turtle is sad Mommy!" A little bit later, Tage got her camera out and said she wanted to take a picture of the sad turtle... and so she did.

A few days ago, she went to visit the sad turtle again. This time, she came back saying "someone cleaned the sad turtle up"

photo by Tage (a 2 3/4 year old)

I would be sad too.

Sorry for the graphic picture!

Slow down for wild life!

p.s. a few months ago I was driving and saw a turtle in the road, so we stopped and Tage and I saved it by carrying it back to the side, and farther away from the road by some trees... we love turtles, incase you may have thought otherwise!

A Full House

Tagester has quite the imagination....

A crocodile lives at the top of our stairs, every day Tage will come down the stairs and slam the door saying "NO CROCODILE!" Whenever she goes up the stairs, she hurrys fast saying "Hurry! Hurry! Don't want the Crocodile to get me!" She has been observed with a toy saw, sawing the carpet. When asked what she was doing, she said "I'm cutting the Crocodile!"

One day, while eating breakfast, Tage told Daddy there was a Hot Pink little girl over by the sink. She has pink hair, pink eyes, pink skin, and pink clothes. Daddy accidently stepped on her... oops! I think Tage recently changed the little girls color though... if I'm not mistaken, she is now blue!

A while ago, Kevin was wiping Tage's bum after she used the toilet. Noticing a bruise on her bum, he asked her about it.
Daddy: "Tage, you have a bruise on your bum! What happened?"
Tage: "Oh.... a beaver bit my bum..."
Daddy: "A beaver???"
Tage: "Yeah... a beaver, with little green teeth!"

As you can see, our house is getting crowded!

Stay tuned for "The Sad Turtle"... a TRUE story!

Marathons

The ward I attend is very athletic. There is a very large runner's group, and they keep convincing others to run to. Not short runs either. LONG marathon runs. 26.2miles... or more... some run 50. Kevin did a 1/2 marathon last year and is going to do the full one this year. He'd also like to do the JFK 50 mile trail run. Not me though. I'm not interested! I'm not into marathons. Which is why Kevin was suprised when I asked him to drive 2000 miles across the country and back with a toddler and an infant in the back seat!
Yes, it was so brutal it has taken me this long to recover and even think about blogging our adventure!
Kevin went to work the day we were leaving. All morning Tage was whiny and kept wanting me to hold her. She laid on the couch a lot. I thought she had to poop. She said she didn't. I thought maybe she was sick. She said she wasn't. Kevin was home by 11:30am and we finished packing up the car. Tage siezed the opportunity to paint her finger/toe nails while we weren't looking. We now have a hot pink toilet!
I should have known the drive would be rough when as we were walking out the door Tage puked. LITERALLY, we were walking out the door. Then, 30 minutes into our drive, she puked again in an empty carton we had grabbed on our way out and made her hold incase she felt sick again.
We drove most of that night and arrived in Nebraska the next morning, May 30th, and stayed with my parents.

Mason and Tage with G & G

After being there a few hours, Tage had diarreah... need I say more? We had a great time visiting Grandma and Grandpa though! Oh and Woofer. Can't forget him. We went to church the next day and played some more with G & G and then left for Utah that night around 7:30. Drove all night.

One of MANY naps in the car!
Got to Eagle Mountain, Utah, around 11am. Just prior to that we made a pit stop and Tage got an icecream cone, played on a playground (still feverish) and got to see a "Personal Penguin."
The drive out really wasn't too bad. Tage had a few rough times when she would wake up at night and was disoriented/sick/tired. Mason slept most of the time and didn't cry too much. We would pull over so I could feed him and then he would be happy and go back to sleep.
We stayed with my brother, Chris, and his wife, Trista. Tage and her cousin Jaxton had a great time playing with together, and Mason and Emberlynn just ignored each other.

Tage and Jaxton being silly!

We came at a good time, their community was having "Pony Express Days" and had activities for the kids each week.

Tage was THRILLED that Minnie picked her up!

Trista, Me, and Jami Harward at the petting zoo during Pony Express Days!

Daddy and Tage

We saw some good friends. Played in the mountains. Went to D.I. Good times!

On Friday Morning, we left for St. George. Drove all morning. Arrived at Col. Whicker's home early afternoon and hung out for awhile with the whole Whicker clan until Ali and Perri's wedding reception that evening. It was a beautiful rececption and we had a lot of fun. Tage had fun on the swing set in the backyard, and got a pretty nasty scrape on her chin that she still talks about (even mentioned it this very night!) That night we stayed at Kevin's sister's inlaw's house in St. George (they were out of town). Mason gave us the best laugh of his entire life up to that point... at 11:30pm.

Saturday morning...

ALISON WHICKER MARRIES PERRIS KUSILEK AND BECOMES ALI KUSILEK!!!

Woot Woot!

Perris and Ali.... Gorgeous eh?

I was so glad that we were able to be at their wedding ceremony in the St. George Temple. Ali is one of my bestestest friends of all time... since we were 14. At the temple, I felt a sense of gratitude that I was able to have Ali as a friend through high school and that we kept our standards high and both married in the temple.

After the ceremony, we attended Ali and Perris' wedding luncheon. Afterwards, when getting ready to leave, Ali's sisters Tara and Cami were asking me about our drive home and how long we expected it to take. As I was starting to reply, I shocked myself when I started bawling! I was already sooooooo tired and the thought of the journey we were about to embark on was difficult. As we walked out to our car, I started crying again! I was so surprised at my emotions!

We began our drive at 3:30pm western time, Saturday June 6th. Our marathon ended at 5:30pm eastern time June 8th. Along the way, we tried unsuccessfully to sleep at the summit of a FREEZING mountain in Colorado....I slapped myself to stay awake in Kansas until I could get to the next exit.... Watched a storm in Missouri while we were pulled over at a gas station.... were sad in Illnois when Mason would cry and we would pull over, get him out and he would smile and laugh, only to cry again the second we put him back in his carseat...and laughed in West Virginia at a gas station when we turned around just in time to see Tage, with her pants pulled down to her ankles peeing in the grass where anyone could see (I had JUST taken her to a toilet, but she refused to pee in it because it was a "yucky toilet").

It was a great adventure, well worth it to see so many people we love.... but also a journey we will not be making again anytime in the near future!

Rainy Days

On days it RAINS, I don't do laundry. I can't. Darn septic.

A Few Of My Victims

I have another confession. i. kill. plants.
Really good ones too. I don't know why I do it, but I just can't seem to stop.
Any plant unlucky enough to make it into my house DIES.
The pink Azalea.
The coveted Red Japanese Maple
Delicious Basil
The Christmas Amaryllis (3 of them!)
Soothing Aloe Vera
Pine Tree
Clematis
And Many Others.

Many of these plants are currently under my kitchen sink, an unworthy grave for such wonderful plants.
I ditch my victims there when I am in a hurry to clean up and hide the deadly deed when visitors are coming over.
This post is for all of you that I have killed.
I'm sorry.
Truly I am.
I wanted all of you.
Especially you, Mr. Red Japanese Maple. You are expensive.

I just want you to know that I sucessfully grew from seed many plants indoors this spring.
Many of them made it outside and are still alive today.
I am trying.
Really.

A Few Weeks Ago...

You're gonna have to wait for the words.... I know, I'm slow!

Pay Day

Yesterday the big bonus I've been waiting for finally came in!

I have been working SO hard, the past 3 months I have changed about 1,000 diapers, been peed on, scrubbed poop stains out of clothes, done laundry double time, fed the boy too many times to ever possibly count, and have been sleep deprived. I have been so involved in my work, that I even skip showers (not always my choice) and have been known to wear the same pajamas for almost 48hours straight.

But like I said, yesterday was pay day and my bonus came through.... I've worked hard and really, really deserved this!

Yesterday, I gave Mason a Raspberry in his neck, and he Giggled!

Crazy Tage

Left to right, top to bottom...

Tage in her sneaks and hat, doing the "poopity poop" dance on top of the couch.

Tage wearing Mason's beanie, and putting lotion on her legs

Tage in her hat, ballerina outfit, and christmas slippers

Tage in a bag

Tage doing yoga in a top to an old dress of mine and her snow boots.

Wow! What will she wear tomorrow???

20/20

A friend of mine recently asked me if I had any marriage advice, as she is about to get hitched. I told her that her and her husband's problems should always be just theirs. No one else needs to hear them. If you have an issue with your spouse, you tell him, not your momma, or your girl friends. It really bothers me when I am with a group of women (or just one woman!) and they all start baggin on their husband. I would be really hurt if Kevin started telling his friends things I do that he hates or makes him mad (which although I do lots that he can complain about, he never gets mad... really. Never. Never ever yells either. It's great. He's the best!) So I'm not going to talk about him behind his back either.


Anyways, I've been thinking about what advice I have to give newly weds and what I'd do differently and I came up with these other things as well.

1. Stainless steel. That is the only way to go when you buy cookware. I bought some expensive nonstick stuff and less than 5 years later I am replacing all of it. Stainless steel yo. and glass for baking. Just say 'NO' to nonstick!
The only thing I did right with kitchen items was my knives.... I dished out a lot of dough for some good ones and I'm glad I did... Just sharpen them and they will work forever!

2. Kids. If I could have controlled some health issues that had to be resolved before I could have kids, I would've had them right away. I love my kids so much, and there is nothing greater than being Mommy. I wouldn't have waited if I didn't have those issues, and knowing what I know now. But that's just my opinion.

3. Don't spend your money. Sure have fun every now and then, but hold your money tight... you'll be glad you did in a few years, when you have to buy diapers. We were able to save a lot in our first year of marriage and then we bought a money pit, and now I miss my green.

4. Who am I kidding, I don't have that much advice. This is where it ends......

Confessions

I have a confession. I am a pack rat. It's true. As I have been trying (constantly) to simplify and organize, I have come to this realization. I try to find things I don't want or need anymore, but I want it all. I "need" it all. I am trying to change this though. I want to boss my stuff. I don't want my stuff to boss me.

I think the things we own say a lot about who we are and what is important to us. I don't want to be a mess! That is not who I am.

Cleaning Progress: I went through Tage's toys recently. I meant to get rid of a lot, but only got rid of a few (one of which was a giant plush pink cat with "Bratz" style eyes...bleh)

8 Hours Of Bliss

My 9 week old baby slept through the night last night! Only 10months sooner than his big sister did! Even if it doesn't last... I'm good to go for at least a week!

Blessing and More

SUNDAY, MARCH 1, Mason was blessed. What a fabulous day it was! Mason was a stud in his white suit! Kevin blessed him, of course, and in the circle was Kevin's brother, Chad, and his Father, Larry (Pop Pop) and Bishop Kippen (my Bishop ran the JFK 50, did yours?) Mason cried the entire time, and I went to the mother's room immediately after. When I arrived back to our seat in the chapel, Kevin nudge me and pointed to Shannon's (Chad's girlfriend) hand and I spotted her huge BLING! I was mad they made us sit all through Sacrament Meeting before we could get the story on their engagement. I am thrilled that Shannon will be in our family. She is wonderful and will one day find a cure for Malaria!

We had everyone over lunch, I made a great Chicken Noodle Soup, which ended up being Turkey Noodle Soup because I had no chicken, and then ended up just being Turkey with carrots and celery, because I FORGOT to put the noodles in before I served.... oh dear. No one cared though. They even ate every speck of halfbaked brownies.

The day was great, but there was a touch of sadness, because my Dad was unable to participate in the blessing. He suffered a stroke in February, two days before they were supposed to come visit us. Luckily, it was a minor stroke, and he is recovering very well.

SATURDAY, MARCH 7: I took a flight with the two kids, to Omaha, to visit my parents. Tage was on a Monkey leash, and Mason was in the Bjorn. Pretty smooth sailing.

The trip was good, Tage chased Woofer around the entire time, and Mason slept.

The last day, my mom was a little weepy, because we were leaving. Tage kept saying "Grandma! Don't cry! I'm still here!" and when we were back in Maryland, she called her and said "Grandma, you sad Tage had to go to Daddy's house?" Tage is adorable!

TUESDAY MARCH 17: Flight back to Maryland. Not as smooth as the trip out, but still fairly pleasant, considering Tage had awful sleep the night before, and had no nap that day. We had some tantrums in the bathroom at our layover in Chicago (apparently I wasn't doing the soap right...) and for the last 45minutes of our flight, Tage cried that she had to pee (a tough task to help her with in the eensy plane bathroom and holding an infant) and finally when we landed, I tried to get her to use the plane toilet, but the second she saw it, she said "No" and she ended up peeing in her pull-up, which was fine with me, that's why she had it on in the first place, so I wouldn't have to deal with the airplane bathroom scene!

So, I had told Kevin I thought it would be easier if I just picked up our luggage and he picked us up outside, instead of him parking and coming in and then making the trek back to the car with the kids. MISTAKE! The baggage didn't come for awhile, and Tage was crawling on the floor, with me holding her back with the Monkey Tail. When our bags finally came, she wouldn't get off of the floor, and finally when she did, I struggled to grab my bags, and a very nice man helped me get them off the belt. Then, everything came crashing down. Literally. One suitcase fell, and then Tage tripped, bumped the other suitcase, spun around and fell on top of the suitcase. All in a split second, with Tage crying, and Mason screaming in he Bjorn, and me wearing a backpack that weighed about 1/2 of what I do! The same man that got our bags, insisted on helping me, and I told him I was just going to sit and wait for my husband. I didn't want him to know that I was going to walk out of the airport myself. He carried my bags to a bench, and when he was gone, I headed to the doors. Automatic doors? No. They were broken. So I pushed the door and tried to navigate it's narrow opening, before another person came to help me. We were all thrilled to see Kevin, Tage got giddy when she saw him.

Great to be home! In the 10 days that I was gone many of my seeds have begun to sprout. YAY! This year, my yard and garden are going to look GREAT! I hope.


Update on cleaning: Umm, well... let's see... I gave a bin of clothes to my mother in law to consign. And I sold a spare exersaucer (again Tage's words as the toy left "Hey! I want my toy back!" Mommy: "Sorry, we gave it to those people, and they gave us some money, and mommy is going to...." Tage: "Go to the store and buy more Yoooooguuurrrrt!") A small dent, but a dent it is.

STUFF

TOO MUCH STUFF.
TOO MUCH MESS.
I'M SO TIRED OF CLEANING.

Seriously... where does all of this stuff come from??? Kevin and I are penny pinchers. We don't like to spend our money (if we had any to spend, and I'm not even being sarcastic there) and yet we seem to accumulate more and MORE stuff. Maybe part of it is because we don't have any money and so everyone feels bad for us and gives us things... I don't know. But it is really bad to have a lot of things and only one teeny closet.

Last October my friend and I did a yardsale during Colorfest. I sold $300 worth of STUFF, but felt like I brought home just as much as what I took. That stuff has been sitting in a spare room ever since. I constantly, try to organize. And now I am serious about getting rid of A LOT of STUFF. (I don't know what stuff yet though, that's the hard part) I already got rid of about 1/2 of Tage's baby clothes, but still have a lot. If my 3rd baby is another boy, I'm getting rid of 95% of all of her clothes (hopefully I'll sell it, which is actually another problem of mine. I always want to recover money that I spend. So when I decide I don't need something, I put it in the corner and tell Kev I'm going to try to sell it... and then it sits. For a long time.) I have identified three problem areas: Clothes, Papers, and Toys. These things clutter my house.

SO, This next month I am going to drastically SIMPLIFY the things I own. I will hold myself accountable on my blog.

This week's progress: nill. I'll try again next week.

That Would Be A Cold Swim

Last Friday, we took a trip with the fam (DE Harrisons + Shannon) to the Baltimore Inner Harbor. We met at Shannon's and then rode the light rail. We had to walk about four blocks, it was bitterly cold, and the wind hurt our faces. Tage walked most of the way, but also had Daddy hold her so she could bury her face in his shoulder to keep warm. I pushed Mason in the stroller, cozy in his carseat with his ganket, bundler, carseat "hat" and the sun visor to the stroller. He slept the whole time, oblivious to the trauma we were all experiencing. Once we got to the Harbor, Tage saw the water (Atlantic Ocean for those of you who are unawares... I once called it a "some kind of big lake" when Kevin and I were dating and he took me to Bower's Beach in Delaware... did I just admit that? Oh dear...) and said "I don't want to get in that water!" I guess she thought we were going swimming!

Swimming we did not... instead we went to the Baltimore Aquarium. The first thing we saw when we got there was turtles. Tage, standing at the glass and seeing the creatures swim around got SO excited! Throwing her arms up in the air, and then down to her sides, she exclaimed "TURTLES??? OH MY GOODNESS! OH MY GOODNESS!" It was hilarious! She was also pretty thrilled with the "big, big, big, snakes" and wanted to touch them, the sharks, and the sea horse. She later recounted things she saw and said "didn't see kitty at 'quarium' though" Haha, nope, no cats at the sea zoo. Sorry Tage! We asked her what her favorite thing was that she saw and she said "Fishes, that's my favorite color!"

After the Aquarium, we stopped in at Heaven... I mean the Cheesecake Factory, and had dinner, and (duh!) cheesecake. YUM!

THEN, we made the treacherous trek back to the light rail, Tage crashed in Kevin's arms, and slept the whole way back to the car (poor kiddo was so excited anticipating the train ride again, and missed it!)

Mason slept the whole trip, except a brief awakening for a snack. Once we got home, (11pm) he awoke (of course) and was up until 1am! He did great though for our first lengthy adventure out with both kids!

911

This is delayed but I thought I'd write about it anyways. A few Saturdays ago we were at the Hampton Inn with Kevin's parents. Here are the highlights of the night:

Tage swam in the pool.

Tage pooped in her swimsuit.

Tage peed on the carpet in the room (drank too much pool water!)

Tage dropped her yogurt on the carpet.

Tage called 911.

The police came.


This was a night for the record books!

(oh and Tage's cousin Kaden wrapped himself in the towel that had Tage's poop all over it.)

Ahhh... toddlers are full of surprises!

Cries, Falls, and Water (lots of it)

Last Friday pandemonium struck! And it all happened in less than 5 minutes! This is how it went:

Mason, getting ready for a bath, is stark naked, and Kevin says "Do you hear that?" and goes to the bathroom to get a towel. He then yells "oh no!" and runs out of the house and down to the cellar.

Then I hear a crash in the kitchen and crying. I leave Mason on the floor and run to Tage, who has fallen off of the barstool and is hurt. At this point Mason begins wailing, and I see what Kevin was concerned about as water is flowing out of the bathroom door. Curse the cold 200 year old walls!

Baby+Toddler+Burst pipes= A lot of dirty laundry

The chaos ended as quickly as it started (except the pipes aren't quite fixed yet) and it wasn't all that bad... worse things could have happened, like Mason could have peed on the carpet during his naked aloneness, but he didn't!

I guess this is what it is like having more than one child! I look forward to more crazy events, as long as they don't have any lasting concequences, such as the carpet smelling like pee. (Again, Mason, I thank you for exercising some bladder control.)

A Perfect Day

The day I went into labor was perfect. I woke up around 3am with contractions that came about every 7 minutes. From 7am-9:45am I cleaned up a bit, played and read stories to Tage. At 9:45 I was really tired and laid down on the couch, Tage curled up next to me, and we both took a nap. I woke up and laid there looking at my little angel, savoring the moment. It was very early for Tage to be taking a nap, and very rare for her to curl up to me like she did during the day. I scooped her up and carried her to her bed.
Kevin came home (it was a teacher work day and he was able to leave early), and I went to my OB appointment at noon. I was completely effaced, and 3cm dialated. The Dr. stripped my membranes but made no promises that it would speed things along. I called Kevin and told him not to keep the car running... it could still be days before we went to the hospital. I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things.
Then the contractions got worse. When I was ready to check out at that store, I said to myself "Just get the milk and bread here... don't go to Sam's Club... just get it here and go home..." But instead of listening to my gut, I went to Sam's Club.
"I'll be really fast," I said to myself "I can make it..." I was like a rocket in Sam's... but again, my gut spoke to me "LEAVE THE CART AND GO HOME" "No, I can make it" I told myself. This time I atleast skipped half of my list. Contractions were coming every 3-5 minutes and I was struggling to not show any pain. I paid for my goods and left quickly, for fear of giving birth in Sam's Club. I then called Kevin and told him to get Tage ready to go to Cynthia's, and to get our bags ready, and that we were going to the hospital when I got home (He was shocked at the quick change in plans... it had only been an hour and a half since my appointment). I sped home, praying that I wouldn't get pulled over.
We were at the hospital at 3pm, I was 5 cm dialated, I had my epidural around 4, at 6:18 I was ready to push, and Mason was out ten minutes later, at 6:28pm.
Tage came and saw Mason, and brought him a stuffed frog. When she first came, Mason was still in the nursery, and she walked into my room and said "No! I don't want to see Mommy.... I want to see Baby Mason!"
I had some really great nurses who did an AWESOME job of keeping me from passing out after the delivery. I passed out 3 times with Tage, and this time I nearly passed out about 10 times, but the nurses wouldn't let me. Once I got hit with an ammonia packet thing, and I yelled... That stuff really wakes you up! It hurt my nose too...
My only complaint about that day was that when I got back to my room I was by myself for a few minutes and was on the verge of throwing up, with nothing but my bedsheets to throw up in. I kept pushing the nurse help button, and no one came. A minute later a nurse answered my call on the little speaker thing, and I said I needed a trash can to throw up in. A few more minutes passed, and finally someone came. I had suppressed the urge to vomit by that time though, and Kevin had already come back and had provided me with a bin.
Oh, and I thought they kept my baby in the nursery for WAY too long. I was waiting FOREVER to hold my baby again, and that irritated me.
Other than that though, it was really a perfect day. I got some special cuddle time with Tage in the morning, and special cuddle time with Mason that night.

Best Friends

Today Kevin walked in the door from work and Tage went running... "Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad! Hip, hip hooray! Daddy's home!" just like she does every day.
Kevin came into the living room where I was holding Mason (13 days old!) and sat next to me. Tage climbed up on his lap and looking at him said "How 'bout maybe Daddy be my best friend. Daddy be my best friend?" That of course melted Daddy's heart! I hope Daddy and Tage are always best friends!

And Then There Was FOUR

MASON COLE made his debut JANUARY 21, 2009 at 6:28pm! He weighed in at 7lbs 8oz. and was 20in. long!

Waiting...

Sunday morning I woke up and my body screamed "I AM DONE!" Now the baby just needs to get the message... And so we wait.....

It's Not Constipation

It's WITHOLDING.

Be forewarned, this entire post is going to be about bowel movements. Yes, I am talking about poop. Why? Because this is my blog and I can talk about what I want, and this is the #1 issue and stress in my life. It breaks my heart to see my 2 year old going through this every day, and maybe someone will find this post useful with their child who may have the same problem.

It started around February of last year. Tage had a painful poop. She didn't like it. The next time she had to go, she didn't want to. So she held it in until the urge passed. This made it painful again the next time she pooped. So the next urge she had, she held it in. She wouldn't poop for days. When she finally would go, she would scream and cry and dig her fingers into my shoulders. And I would cry too. And so the cycle began.... Painful poop.... withold... painful poop...withold even more....

In MARCH, I took her to the doctor for pink eye. Since I was there I figured it was a good time to mention the constipation problem. The doctor dismissed it as from being sick and said to give her more fluids and fiber filled food (DUH, like I hadn't already thought of that). And so we continued on our own for a few months, trying to find a problem in her diet, trying to increase fluids, trying to bribe her to go poop. NOTHING worked. We tried combinations of everything... water, juices, prune juice, prunes, more fruit, more veggies, less dairy, everything. Once we even gave her a suppository, and I vowed never to do such a cruel thing ever again. Tage wouldn't let us touch her bum for a month (it made for very difficult diaper changes!)

JUNE came along and it had gotten so bad that we took her back to the doctor to be seen specifically for this problem. Once again, the doctor (a different one, but from the same office) dismissed my concerns, and just told me to put her on Miralax for awhile. The doctor didn't really seem to acknowledge the serious problem that it really is. We bought the laxative and started giving it to Tage. She had the urge to poop. She screamed. She cried. I cried. She pooped. It was soft. We repeated this process for a few weeks, but started to get nervous because we felt that maybe she was on the laxative for too long and it wasn't good for her. We went back to trying to change her diet. It didn't work. We put her on the laxative again for almost a month, but still, she witheld. We took her off the laxative. And this took us up to....

OCTOBER. We took her back to the doctor. I expressed my concern about her bowel movements. I suggested taking her off of dairy completely. The doctor said that would be completely unnecessary.

She suggested increasing her fluids. Tried it.

Prunes. Tried it.

Prune Juice. Doesn't work.

Fruits. She eats tons every day.

Veggies. Tell me something we haven't tried.

Put her back on Miralax. Thanks for the great advice doc.

And so I went home and did more research on my own. We bought books. and this is what we learned. It's not constipation: It's witholding. And 30% of children have this issue. The books validated everything I have thought. Tage's witholding issue is COMPLETLY consuming. Our lives revolved around her poop. Kevin and my conversations pretty much consist of Tage's poop. I think and talk about her poop so much that I think I might turn into one. Tage is a completely different child once she is finally able to go.

We are in JANUARY now, and Tage has been on Miralax for about 3 months. She has not had a painful poop that entire period, and yet... when she has the urge, she crys, she lays down, she rocks on the floor, she wants to be held, she won't move, she won't eat, so won't play. This will go on for hours. When she can't hold it in any longer, she screams and cries and then finally it comes out against her will. It is awful how stressful it is. Unless you have a child that has this problem, you really don't know how consuming and serious it is. I never knew poop could become such a problem. And once Tage has gone, she is full of life and energy and it is so sad to see how she could be all of the time if pooping wasn't such a problem. She will do ANYTHING not to poop. It seems to be her main priority. We bribe her with all sorts of treats and exciting events and prizes, and yet nothing can get her to willingly push the poop out. She loves to go to the park. We will be walking there and just as the park is in sight, if she suddenly has the urge to go she will grab her bum and say "No thank you, don't want to go to the park. I want to go home." So we go home, and she gets her pink blanket and cuddles with it and lays on the floor, rocking, crying, screaming.

What we have mainly learned is that we are doing all we can do. We will keep her on the laxative for as long as it takes. We will continue holding her, and encouraging her to go, and when she does, she will get a reward (sometimes it's a "Big, big, ice cream with SPRINKLES!" other times it is baking cookies, or eating two suckers at once... whatever is exciting to Tage!) We wish we had been better informed about constipation and it's repercussions 11 months ago. We wish the doctors had given us more information and better advice earlier. We hope that she will be able to realize soon that she can poop right when she has the urge and go on with her day. It really is amazing the power she has to keep the poop in. All we can do though is wait, and hope that this will improve soon.

I will end with Tage's victory chant(s):

"Poop, poop, poop. I like to poop! I like poop each day! poop, poop, poop."

And....

(say while jumping around in circles) "Pooooooooop. Poopity poopity poop. Poop Poop Poop. Poopity poopity poop!"

Those are our two recent favorites. But after 11 months, we have a lot of poop victory dances and chants.

Sticks

I spent Friday morning up at the Olsen Ranch helping prune fruit trees in the freezing cold. I did a little bit of cutting, but was not very confident in my pruning abilities, and was not ready to accept any responsibility that might come from the trees not producing any fruit this year, so mostly I picked up sticks. Lots of sticks. Some of those trees got massive haircuts and I cleaned it up. Tough work for being 37 weeks pregnant! I have spent the rest of the weekend trying to recover (I'm so sore!). After all the trees were sufficiently cut, we headed to the barn and gathered around a fire and enjoyed the company of good friends. We drank hot chocolate, roasted marshmallows (on apple wood sticks!) and roasted chestnuts.
Thanks Olsen's for another experience and another great memory at your ranch!