A Blowout, A Bee and a Barf Bucket

 What a title, but this last week included ALL THREE of those things.  I have pictures to prove it.  I think it was about Wednesday that I thought "I sure would like to start this week over... NO! I don't want to do this week over, I just want to get it done!"

Sunday morning Daniel needed to leave extra early and for another reason we were taking both his truck and the car to church, so that meant that I could come later with the girls.  Typically this would be a good thing. :-)  After Daniel got up to get ready, I fell back asleep quite soundly and did not get up as soon as I would have liked, but it was still going to work out mostly ok and we weren't going to be too terribly late for Sunday School.  I had Susannah fed, dressed and ready, myself dressed and ready and most of the stuff we needed to take (diaper bag, etc.) gathered and ready.  After I fed Sylvia her breakfast earlier (which was first thing for me), I had put her back in her bed to play in a contained area while I did other stuff.  No big deal.  I heard her talking and chattering and sounding happy most of the time. 

However, when I went in to put her dress on her (I'd already changed her diaper), this is what greeted my eyes and nose!!

Not only had she had a dirty diaper... but she'd had a major blowout and rolled and wiggled around in the mess.  It doesn't show up well in the picture, but her entire left leg was COVERED with yellow baby poop.  It was nasty.  She was also flailing her arms around and sucking on her fingers... I had to not even think about the fact that she had probably ingested some already digested food.  *gross* 

I quickly got on the phone to Daniel to let him know that we were not even going to make it to Sunday School, hopefully we would get there in time for church.  Then I swooped Sylvia up and gave her a full-blown bath.  We did make it to church right in time for the service.  :-)  Whew!  I was looking forward to having a normal week ahead.

And there were some normal things, like me catching Sylvia sucking on her toes one night.  :-)

But lo and behold, the blowout was just the beginning.  Tuesday evening I decided that Susannah would enjoy seeing some of the Olympics, so we settled onto the couch to wait the last few minutes before they came on at 8:00. 

We're sitting there and as nonchalantly as ever, she says "Bud ear?"
What on earth, did she just say "bug ear?!" Thinking that a bug (gnat, whatever) was flying around her head, I asked "Do you have a bug in your ear?"
Putting her finger up to her ear, very calmly "Yeah"
Quick as a wink, I turned her head so I could see the ear she was talking about and my heart skipped several beats.  I had to keep myself from screaming or otherwise freaking out.  Down in her ear with only about 1/4 - 1/3 of him sticking out was a yellow-jacket.

I am not kidding.  I had to shove my own fear of being stung way, way, WAY down beneath my Mom-Cape and while trying to keep Susannah from poking in her ear any more with her own finger, I gingerly reached in and was able to grab the bee's rear-end and pull him out.  I immediately dropped him, not wanting to hold him any split second longer than needed because I did not want to get stung.  I looked at Susannah's ear closely to make sure that she had not been stung (which she had not), and then looked at the bee to see if it was dead or alive.  It was alive, but barely. 

I only have a guess as to how the bee may have gotten into her ear: we were outside swinging earlier in the evening and my guess is that the bee was flying along and collided with her ear in just the right way that it (a) knocked him out and (b) shoved him down into her ear.  I do not have to guess how she did not get stung (I still shudder when I think about it!), and that is the grace of God.  No other explanation is possible. 

Sooo... we recovered from the bee incident and my heart eventually resumed beating normally again.  (By the way, Susannah had and has no idea that bees can sting, so to her having a bee in her ear was as innocent as having a lady-bug crawl on her finger.)

And then...  Thursday morning I went to wake Susannah up.  I opened her bedroom door and she is lying on her bed awake.  She sits up and says something about "spit out on pillow".  I look, and at some point in the night she had gotten sick and thrown up on her pillow.  She never cried or anything, and obviously went back to sleep.  Her pajama shirt was covered in dried vomit and she even had some in her hair.  Oh boy, oh boy. 

We went right away to the bathtub and I gave her a bath.  Then she had a little bit of toast and applesauce for breakfast, which did not stay down for long.  She spent the rest of the morning on the couch watching Baby Einstein movies.

At lunch I was able to coax a few crackers into her, and they did not stay down either.  Early afternoon she was able to keep down a cracker and some water.  After her nap (which I was nervous about, but she needed a nap) she still wasn't 100%.  By bedtime, though, she was feeling and acting much better and was able to eat a gentle meal before going to bed.  The next morning she was chipper and fine!

Wanting to end the week on a good note, Friday night Sylvia had her first meal of solid food (rice cereal). This is a picture of her first taste, which she was pretty excited about!

There were no out and out cues or indicators that she was ready for "real" food, but she had started eye-ing our food quite seriously and both Daniel and I felt like she was ready (5 mo. and 4 days old).  Boy oh boy was she ready!  The first meal she loved.  Saturday night's meal was so-so (but she was also quite tired).  Sunday and Monday nights' meals she was very eager and excited about.  Last night I couldn't get the food in her fast enough!

Now we are into a new week and so far it is going ... as normally as normal gets, I guess. :-)