Boobs and Poop

The owner (and unknowing recipient of my buried feces) from whom we rented a cabin  finally left her review : Nice little family! Kept to themselves the whole four days Could have taken more care not to scratch the wood floor when moving furniture around Apart from that, they were easy guests to host  July 2016 Phew! By the skin of our tushies, we got away with it.

This somehow insanley relevant image was pulled from this article .  We like to use Air BnB or VRBO in lieu of the traditional hotel room when we travel with the baby. Having a kitchen and a separate-ish sleeping space for the baby is critical, especially for longer trips. We didn't have the option to lodge with family this time and so Air BnB it was. This particular Air BnB experience wasn't so great... This isn't a formal review, as I think some of our experience wasn't about the cabin or the owner - we were just woefully unprepared for the rustic cabin experience with a crawling baby. I also remembered Topanga Canyon being a little more centrally located than it is. I didn't recall the winding canyon roads being so long, or nauseating. We both ought to have known better because we both lived nearby for many years. I, however, was the one who went through the process of booking this accommodation on Air BnB. So I feel responsible for the misery of our poo...

A few weeks ago, we took our (then) 9-month-old baby on her first cross-country trip, complete with a layover. We lost 3 hours heading from west to east and forced her to suffer two separate ear-popping take-offs. To boot, we'd subjected her to an hour-long car ride, remote parking at LAX, a shuttle and airport security before the aerial adventure even commenced. It was a long day for us all, but baby girl was in a great mood anyhow. She smiled, clapped, cooed and made many friends. She was actually impressively well behaved. The day was of course not without incident. During the first flight's departure, my husband was holding the baby. He had her wrapped in a soft, warm blanket and was trying to feed her a bottle to ease the discomfort of ear popping. She didn't seem interested in the bottle, even though she'd not eaten much that morning. So he propped her up, she let out a giggle and then he smelled it. He nudged me. He cautiously moved a corner of the blank...

Thank you, Cleveland Clinic Children's Health Team ! I thought about recreating this, but it's just so well done I decided to share it as is instead. I can't compete, and frankly, I don't want to. Behold:

Certain things are a guarantee when you travel with an infant. Some people will open doors; other will do anything they can to get away from you and the enormous stroller, diaper bag, carry-on luggage and struggling grimace on your face. Older women will smile at you and compliment the baby, and some may relish in an old tale about their first travel experiences with their first babies. People who don't need certain accommodations, like the handicap stall or family bathroom, will use them anyway. I am certainly guilty of having done this - especially using the handicap stall if I didn't see anyone who needed it. I'm sure I've also used a family bathroom when I didn't need to. I like big bathrooms and I like extra space and privacy. But after this latest incident, which I am about relay, I have resolved to try to never use an accommodation specially designated for someone else (unless it's an emergency).  Baby girl and I had some time to kill before ou...

Image taken from this article (which is riddled with misspellings but very funny). My baby's boogers are ridiculous. They're usually grayish or white, so I'm not talking about a sinus infection or anything. She just gets these giant, hard boogers on a regular basis. They're like obstructive boulders that stymie her breathing. I expend a lot of energy extracting them from her nose and studying them on a daily basis. I even call this apparent ritual our "daily booger excavation." I once called it a "daily booger extraction" but those days have long passed. It's truly an operation that requires planning, precision tools, patience, dedication and time. I'm a booger archaeologist, unearthing the remnants of a very recent past from my daughter's nasal cavities. Recently, baby girl has also taken an interest in my boogers. The other night she was struggling to sleep, so we snuggled. She settled in, stuck her finger up my nose and only...

This image was taken from this awesome article on pileofbabies.com .  Leading up to baby girl's due date, I imagined nightmarish labor and delivery scenarios. I also worried about recovery (but mostly in terms of vanity). I had heard of tearing and episiotomies, yet I somehow convinced myself I'd be walking out of that hospital without stitches. Yes, there were times I pictured myself walking out of the hospital carrying my new baby. I tried hard not to have any specific expectations for going into labor or what it'd be like to be in labor. I just reassured myself that I'd "know" when it all started happening, then I'd be getting an epidural and there'd be nothing I could even do about the rest. A good friend of mine had told me that nothing is going to be as bad I'd imagined - I also reminded myself of her saying this quite often. About 3 days before our baby girl's due date (Friday), I had a lot of heavy discharge. I thought my wate...

California Condo and HOA Swimming Pools    are now required to post this sign near the pool entrance. I've Googled diarrhea so many times this past week, and I rarely spell it correctly. Baby girl has had a stomach bug. We finally went to the pediatrician yesterday after a week of spectacular diaper shows. We currently go to Foothill Pediatrics , and yesterday we saw Dr. George Madanat. He said it could be a reaction to her recent Rotavirus vaccination (10/22), or it could just be diarrhea. He recommended Pedialyte only for 24 hours, followed by alternating between Pedialyte and breastmilk for 12 hours. My husband and I are a little concerned about this. 24 hours seems too long to go without breastmilk. Won't she be hungry? And honestly, I don't think I really understand why he wants us to do this. What he said was that the Pedialyte will give her digestive tract a break from breastmilk so she can fully digest anything that could be upsetting her stomach. The Pe...

If you're looking for a fetish site, you've come to the wrong place. 7 weeks and 2 days ago, I became a mother. My little girl has certainly rocked my world, and surely my life (and my husband's life) will never be the same. I expected to hear myself say stuff like that once she arrived. But I was not prepared for nursing and the toll it's taken on my body and psyche, nor was I prepared for so much poop! BOOBS   My life now somewhat revolves around my boobs.  I knew I'd be breastfeeding if my body would allow it. But I couldn't even begin to understand what that really meant until I was in the hospital with a 1 day old baby, crying hysterically as 2 nurses worked together to shove my nipple into my daughter's mouth. That was the first glimpse into how challenging this whole breastfeeding thing actually is.  Challenging and time consuming! Since our breastfeeding journey began that fateful day in the hospital, my daughter has been o...