Baby's First Epidemic

I've decided there's nothing sadder than a baby throwing up.

Romelie got sick for the first time last Sunday (1/20). We were watching football as a family (Romelie was cheering for the Giants as she, too, despises the Packers. Ask her, she'll tell you), and she did something that looked like spitting up, but with more substance. So we changed her clothes and didn't worry. Well, then she lost it all over herself and her dad - I mean, ALL over. She ended up throwing up three more times between Sunday night and Monday morning/afternoon. It was so sad, cause she didn't cry or anything - she just got exhausted by it. Sad mom.

The good news is, the barf-bug only lasted 24 hours. The bad news - that was just long enough for her to pass it on to Chason (who, I'm sorry to say, lost it on the way to the bathroom at about 3:30 in the morning on Tuesday) and to me (lost it just before midnight Tuesday night). You'd think with my 8 weeks of constant barfing during pregnancy would have gotten me used to it - nope, still would rather feel sick in any other way besides stomach flu. Yuck. My FlyLady system was a bit neglected for a few days there - though I did still manage to make my bed in the morning!

We're all better now, and the rest of the kids in her daycare are healthy so far (one of them had it about a week before Romelie got it, but apparently once you've been exposed, it can take anywhere from 1-14 days to show up...) so hopefully it's gone and won't return. Ever. For the rest of her life. That's realistic, right?

I've been a bit neglectful with my camera lately, but I did manage to take a video of her about 2 hours before her first barfing episode. Listen closely and you'll hear her pass some gas. My daughter, the charmer.

Learning how to fly

My friend Erika is a huge fan of this website, www.flylady.net. She makes frequent references to it in her blog, and I've checked it out in the past, but it's never really caught my attention - until now. The website is all about getting and keeping your house clean and free from clutter by helping you to develop routines, schedules, etc.

Now, Erika is a VERY organized individual - so it's pretty clear to me why she loves this system and why it works for her. I, on the other hand, am not very organized at all. I can be extremely anal retentive about certain things (clothes all facing the same direction in the closet, big spoons and little spoons not getting mixed up in the silverware drawer, etc.), but overall, I don't have many "systems" in place for my living environment. Well, I went back to the FLYlady website on Friday and joined - and I have become a systems-creating, schedule-keeping, clutter-removing, bed-making, sink-shining freak - and I LOVE it!! I'm doing more than I'm supposed to at this stage (you're a FLYbaby for the first 28 days and you're supposed to take baby steps to actually develop long-lasting habits), but I'm still setting limits for myself (I'm only allowed to clean this shelf; I'm only allowed to de-clutter this room for 15 minutes, etc.).

The space I'm most proud of (so far) is the linen closet. It's a mess, and it's always been a mess. Even when it's organized, it hasn't looked clean, because there has always just been too much crap in it, so any time something new has to go in there (clean towels, extra toilet paper rolls, whatever), there's nowhere to put it, and eventually it just gets piled on top of other crap. My ONLY cleaning goal for my maternity leave was to get this closet clean. I felt that was a pretty realistic goal considering I had five weeks to do it. Didn't happen. Well, in only 3 days (15 minutes a day, per the FLYlady rules, working as fast as possible so you don't waste time second guessing whether something should be kept or tossed), it is BEAUTIFUL!! I'm serious, I'm going to take a picture of it and put it up as soon as I get a chance, I am that proud.

So thank you, Erika, for inspiring me to be a cleaning weirdo. Lovin' it. I'll keep everyone updated on the de-cluttering progress - so far, I've done the linen closet and the shelving area of the fridge (fridge door tonight, freezer tomorrow, freezer door Saturday night...wow, I may need a life! But I don't care).

Hello, 2008!

First of all, congratulations to Bronwyn and Shane whose baby girl, Greta, was born last week! Best wishes to you all (and Torin, too!), and we can't wait for her and Romelie to meet. :)

I hope everyone had a happy new year. Per my prediction, I was in bed by 10:15. And it was great. Aunt Crystal came over to celebrate with us for a little while, and I realized that I had absolutely zero pictures of Crystal with Romelie. Problem remedied.

I think our flea situation is finally slowing down. It's hard to tell new bites from old bites, but I think I've only had one new bite in the last week, and I haven't seen a single flea in 2008. We'll keep going with the Frontline doses (I know there are more out there, I just know it!), but our problem seems to be getting better. Finally.

Romelie started day care on Monday of this week. For those who don't know our day care situation, we found a gal back in September who runs an in-home day care. She has a baby girl about a month older than Romelie and a son who's about 2-1/2 years old. The best part of the deal is that she lives 6 blocks away, so it's really convenient for us. The not-so-good part is that she's got 7 babies and toddlers that she watches. Only her two kids, Romelie, and two toddlers are full-time, but then she has a part-time 11-month old and a part-time 8-month old. That's a lot of babies, and that makes me worry that Romelie isn't getting the attention I would like her to have. I really like our provider; I just wish she was watching less kids. And that she was a little cheaper. But Romelie has reportedly been doing really well so far, and Chason and I are always sure to give her lots of hugs and play-time in the evenings. The other kids apparently call her "Rommy" (like mommy with an "r") because they can't quite get Romelie. Which is cute.

More visits in 2008...after saying good-bye to Grampa Steve and Gramma Angel, we've had visits from Heidi and Andrea, two BSM volleyball coaches, and from Shad and Jennifer (who are newly engaged!). Unfortunately, I'm a dummy and forgot to take pictures again. I'll work on it. And Romelie spent her first time outside other than running to the car and back. It was 40 degrees on Sunday, so we went for a (short) walk in the stroller. Good times were had by all.

Finally, Romelie had her 2-month well-baby checkup on Wednesday. She's at 24-3/4" and 12 lbs 8 oz. She's still got baby acne and male-pattern baldness, but she's healthy and developing well. She had to get immunizations, so she cried, but no side effects afterwards - no fevers, and she didn't even seem to be sore! What a sweet baby...