Grossness = Being a Mom

I was going to write yesterday but I was too grossed out by myself to sit at the computer. And I was pooped. Literally. Figuratively. All of that.

Two days ago Sungu pooped on the carpet in his room. Again. This time it was WAY grosser. And this time Jeehon stepped in it, not me (Sweet! For me. Not Jeehon.) He did it during sacred 'Nap Time', and at the beginning of it, not the end (cause he had dried on poop on his foot, leg and butt). So when my sister went into his room, the first thing she saw was the poo on her foot, then her poo stained, pantless, diaperless son, who had gotten poop on his sleeping area. He didn't look like he had played in it at all cause his hands were clean. If he had some on his hands, he licked it off real good...

But that's old news. Today we had an action packed day. We went to the mall to hang out and play in the kids area. Though it was pretty crowded, we had an injury-free time! Yeah! Then we went on the carousel, which was perfect cause we had three kids, and three adults cause James was there with my sister and I. Then we went outside where they had a new shaved ice stand. SO GOOD. I am not a huge fan of sno-cones, but shaved ice is a million times better than sno-cones. The flavor runs to the bottom, but still gets every flake of ice wet with tasty-goodness on its way down. James was nice enough to buy the carousel ride and the icy treat. He was at the stand with Sungu, and after I got my kids and Jeehon situated by a grassy area, I went back to help James out. So I took Sungu from him and started walking over to the others. And I noticed my shirt was wet, right where Sungu was resting on me. I put him down, and sure enough, he had peed through his diaper. He had drank almost an entire bottle of water while we were in the play area, and now a lot of that was in pee form on my shirt. And James' too.

Then we got home, fed the kids dinner (yes, after they had already had dessert.) and started to go upstairs to get ready for bed. I was holding Topher when I was slapped in the face by a nasty stench. Topher had diahrea (sp????) and it leaked through his pants, and on to my arm. Awesome. So I got him changed, bathed, and in to bed, along with the other monsters.

When I got back downstairs I was ready to enjoy a quiet and lovely evening with my sister and brother-in-law. I started tidying up the living room, and I picked something up that looked like a little cashew. It was a little bit soft, but kept it's form. I had no idea what it was, so I did the 'Ultimate What is it? Test' I smelled it (the step down from the 'Ultimate Test' is the 'Serious Test' which involves licking). My being the idiot that I am (for SO MANY different reasons) I brought it too close to my nose, and so it touched my nose. And of course- it was poo. I don't know whose poo. But it was definitely poo.

So I stood in the middle of the living room wanting to just pass out. I had pee in my shirt, diahrea on my arm, and poo in my hand and on my nose. So I put the baby-poop in the toilet (cause that's where it belongs!!!!!!!!!), hung my head in shame and sadness, went upstairs for a serious disinfecting shower, and went to bed. I love being a mom. I really do. But if you see me, and I smell like poo, it's probably cause it's on my shirt, or in my hair, or on the tip of my nose, or all of the above.

Fun Times With the Malloys and Watsons

here are some ridiculous moments from the lives of the Malloys and Watsons, as we are officially together again (It's only been two days!)

1. This is just a Malloys story. But it's amazing and therefore worth mentioning. Yesterday was Jeehon's 31st birthday (I know- she looks like she's 26. It's a gift) and she spent most of it in Missouri with her family, and the end of it with me and our friend Grace. But the minute it started (12 midnight)- it sucked. Jeehon had fallen asleep on the floor with Sungu in their hotel room. Jeehon fell asleep, not Sungu. So the little party animal went into the bathroom and unravelled a whole roll of toilet paper into the toilet and FLUSHED. He took off his clothes and started splashing around in the toilet water, that was leaking down into the room below them. Jeehon discovered the fiasco when Sungu came to wake her up to join the splash works. Happy birthday Jeehon. That sucks. But her night ended with presents, and Coldstone Ice Cream Cupcakes, and that is never a bad way to end any day.

2. This is just a Watson story. Topher dropped a deuce on the floor while I was letting him air out between diaper changes. I try to do something nice for the kid and that's how he repays me! Punk. And of course he had to touch it. Fortunately he did not have to eat it. And fortunately he pooed on tile. But come on! That's still gross.

3. James and Chris are driving from Missouri to Arizona, starting last night. They are presently in Gallup, New Mexico. They are going to spend the night somewhere, and then arrive some time tomorrow. They had a slow start to their day which involved brunch at the Olive Garden, and a run-in with the worst road in America. I will have to find out exactly which road they were on, but apparently they thought their giant Budget truck was breaking down cause the cab was shaking SO violently. SO they pulled over and called a mechanic who was trying to tell them that the road they were on was REALLY bad. The guys thought he was just being lazy, so they made the mechanic come and get them on the highway. The mechanic came. Jumped into the truck with them and told them to drive and get off the road they were on. Sure the cab was shaking them like they were popcorn in the microwave, but the mechanic very calmly said he was sure it was the road they were on. As soon as they got off that road- the truck sailed along very smoothly. Something I will probably never let Chris live down.

4. Finally, the three kids are back together again. So sweet. Had a great day today with lots of playing, some screaming, and a bit of fighting- the way things are supposed to be! The day ended off with a bath as usual. But as they were waiting for their towels that Jeehon was grabbing, Lily looked over at Sungu, who was standing beside where she was sitting, she stuck out her tongue, and licked Sungu's butt. YOWSERS. I told her very firmly that 'We do NOT lick people's butts! EVER!' Then she looked at me and smiled, and licked my face, which was extra disgusting since I saw where that tongue had just been, and I told her that we just do not lick people. Ever.

And this is our very special, very gross, but happy family. (butt happy?...)

Corban Kenneth Watson

I love pictures of women on their wedding days and on their birthing days. Though two (or more) of the more stressful days of any woman's life, I have never seen a picture of an ugly bride, or an ugly mom holding her brand new baby- no matter how rough and tough labour may have been.

Lindsay Watson is no exception to the rule! Sunday night, at 11:45 pm, my awesome sister-in-law Lindsay birthed a very healthy Corban Kenneth. He was 7 lbs 12 oz, and 20 & 1/4 inches long. He has stunning dark brown hair that naturally 'falls' into a faux-hawk. Very stylish. Just like his mama. (The stylish part, Lindsay has never sported a faux-hawk, nor will she ever.) The poor little guy came out with his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, but the doctor's immediately cut the cord, and all was well. The poor little guy has a bruised face though, which I have not seen before, but I did not hear him complain once! What a good baby. (Although the only two times he screamed at the hospital when visitors came to see him were when he was being held by his Uncle Justin. That's just plain funny.)

Lindsay is a natural when it comes to bringing children into the world. Her labour with Gabe was quite short, but painful, as she did not have time to get an epidural. This time, she was a little more aware of what was happening, so she got to the hospital in time to get drugged up so that she could really 'enjoy' birthing another child.

The whole day was very special as it was the sabbath, and we all love the sabbath. And we also have family funtime at Wes' house every Sunday afternoon for swimming, brauts, and hamburgers. Lindsay complained about her skirt being too tight about every fifteen to ten minutes. And she was pretty flushed. One thing led to another (in a matter of about 2 hours) and then she was off to the hospital. The timing was perfect since they were able to leave Gabe with his awesome grandparents who watched him till Tuesday afternoon. Kim, Chris' super step-mom led us all in a team-huddle prayer with Lindsay, and it's really so great to be able to pray as a family!

Chris and I went home and put the babies to bed, and then Chris and his dad went to the hospital to bring the hospital bag, play cribbage, and wait patiently for the newest little Watson. I just love our family SO MUCH! I feel like throwing up when I think about all the incredible people God has blessed me with, but especially this Watson clan that I married in to. And I love that it keeps on growing one cute little baby at a time. Jen's next in October!

Proud Grandpa Wes with his 6th grandkid

Proud Gabe and his baby brother Corban

Update from November 21, 2008

What is special about 11/21/08? Nothing really. Except I posted a post with some prayer requests on it, and I don't know if you readers prayed for any of the families that I mentioned, but if you did- God has answered a lot of those prayers! So here is a little update, cause it's always great to know how God is working in our midst:

The Vs: still not pregnant. Apparently there is need for surgery for the severe endometriosis that Mrs. V has. BUT praise Jesus cause they 'have' a new adopted little boy from Haiti! They are very excited to meet him one day soon. BUT the paper work and the hoop-jumping involved makes the process long and tedious. Some people who have adopted Haitian babies have had to wait two years before meeting their baby. Please continue to pray for them as they wait, but praise Jesus cause He is good!

The Bs: are so pregnant! After two years of faithfully waiting their turn, my beautiful friends Mike and Cindy are very much pregnant with a very healthy little girl. And the amazing added sprinkles on the story is that Cindy's sister Christin is pregnant with her second girl, so the cousins will be about a week apart. That's not something any of us prayed for, it's just something awesome that God schemed up on his own. What a special gift.

The Ts: are doing well. They are waiting till November until they are allowed to try again. Apparently after a molar pregnancy you CANNOT try to have another baby for an entire year. Though it's been hard, God has certainly been using the Ts and blessing them and teaching them lots of stuff about Him. Please continue to pray for them.

The Zach: is so great! I don't even know how many surgeries and visits to the hospital he has had in his year and almost-a-half long life. But he is doing so great, and so is his sweet little family. God is good.

Thanks again if you have prayed for those who are so near and dear to me. Prayer is so real, because the God we serve is so very real. I don't know where I would be without Him. Please let me know if there is anything I can lift up in prayer for you.

Mental ProActiv Anyone?

I have not been blessed with very good skin. I have this skin condition called Psoriasis which is kind of the bane of my existence. Basically my skin grows faster than other people and I get rid of it by developing lesions and it flakes off. Yup, it's as gross as it sounds. And I have also had a couple of different run-ins with acne.

I had decently good skin till I hit 16ish. Then I got a good number of zits that just wouldn't go away. My dad happened to be on a infomercial watching kick at the time, so he actually ordered a facial scrubber for my mom (there was a motorized scrubber and a cream that had little microcrystals in it, and my dad gave my mom a facial almost every night for a while. It was kind of amazing to watch.) And he also decided to order some ProActiv for me. (Which he did NOT apply on my face everyday. Thanks dad!)

Anyway, it worked! (Jessica Simpson and P.Diddy do not lie folks!) That was kind of great. But then my acne came back a few years later, and it didn't work any more, so then I went on the Pill for awhile, and then that helped. Then I moved to Korea after college, and you'd think that I was all done with puberty. Think again.

I developed the WORST case of adult acne in the world. It happened somewhere between the time of Jeehon getting engaged, Chris dumping me, my being severely stressed out at work, and my getting back together with Chris, and Jeehon's wedding day. I was going to a dermatologist in Korea and I spent A LOT of money trying to look 'ok' (I wasn't even trying to shoot for 'great' because that was too far fetched) for Jeehon's wedding, and seeing Chris again for the first time in over a year.

Anyway, all that said, my skin is just fine now, but recently I was reminded of Lily's little run-in with zits. Or one in particular. It was on her brain when she was just a wee little one in my gigantic belly. I don't remember what week it was, apparently it was around week 20, and the doctor noticed a cyst on her brain. This was after we had already had tons of extra ultrasounds done because the doctor couldn't even FIND her brain for a few weeks. And then when they found it, it had a choroid plexus cyst. Sounds so serious and scary. But apparently it's not. Here's a little shpiel about 'this conditinon' that I got off of the internet:

"The choroid plexus is the area of the brain that makes the spinal fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. Once in a while a cyst forms inside the choroid plexus and is called a "choroid plexus cyst". A choroid plexus cyst does NOT cause learning problems or mental retardation and are not cancer. Although it can be scary to hear the two words "cyst" and "brain" in the same sentence, these cysts are not known to cause any problems for a baby. Choroid plexus cysts are seen in approximately 1% (1 in 100) of all second or third trimester ultrasounds. They usually disappear during the third trimester but they don't always. These cysts can also be found in adult brains and go unnoticed during our lifetime."

If the cyst is a big deal it usually means there is a chromosomal issue that results in Trisomy 18. But usually if your baby has Trisomy 18, there are much more severe and apparent indicators than this little cyst on their brain. The doctor told us that it would in all likelihood be gone in about two weeks, and that if we had had an ultrasound two weeks later, than we never would have seen this cyst, which could also be thought of as a 'zit'. So, Lily had this cyst/zit, and it went away two weeks later, just as they had predicted. But definitely during the two weeks, I was freaking out. I prayed tons. I didn't tell too many people about this, but they prayed tons too. And maybe she was supposed to have some serious defect and we prayed it away. Who knows? God is pretty awesome and powerful. BUT, maybe it was nothing to begin with and therefore it ended up being nothing.

Anyhoo, I was reminded of all this trauma and drama recently because a friend of mine was experiencing the same thing with their new little bun in the oven. And Chris had to remind me that this happened to Lily a little over two years ago. But I had seriously forgotten all about it! It is amazing how I have already started shutting out bad memories and only remembering the good stuff. And it is amazing that sometimes we want to know EVERYTHING about our babies, but when we find out 'too much' unnecessary information, it just drives us crazy and we would have all been better off not knowing. Ignorance proves to be bliss once again.