High Maintenance Mom

I spent about an hour this evening trying to get as many components off of our Kelty jogger for washing. The ends of the straps are stitched at angles making them very difficult to thread through the "buckles". I'm trying to remember if the stitching at angles was sold as a feature -- baby can't accidentally bounce out. Baby was not going to undo the straps without advanced engineering skills.

Perhaps, it would have been easier if Little Grab hadn't barfed all over them, or possibly if they had dried before I tried to remove them. I joke, but it wasn't so funny yesterday when he couldn't keep anything down and we realized that he had lost a pound in three days. That was when we got the shot of antibiotics in the butt, to go with the monster diaper rash, and were told if he couldn't keep pedialyte down, we should admit him to a hospital for IV fluids. But now that he's beginning to feel better -- keeping food down and occasionally napping in his crib -- my current focus is the Kelty jogger...

My husband took him for the walk during which he barfed, mostly on himself. He was given a bottle of milk in Barnes and Noble and then promptly threw up. My husband covered him with his blanket and left (he said the vomit was mostly on the baby and a little on the jogger -- after cleaning the jogger I have a better appreciation for the volume). A baby covered in barf is a good incentive for power walking and both made it the mile home at a good pace.

So here's where better communication would have helped. I spent Monday and Tuesday home with Little Grab and my husband was home Wednesday. Thursday morning I prepared a bottle of milk at a really early hour of the morning, one of those hours that I rarely see unless a child is really sick. Not realizing that the milk was an issue on Wednesday, I was surprised when Little Grab vomited on himself, the carpet, the glider ottoman, and me. Once we were all clean and the sixth load of laundry had been started, I called the doctor. They were concerned and I was told no dairy products for a week. Here is a summary of the suggestions.

• Pedialyte for 24 hours
• After that, lactaid or soymilk
• Rice, bananas, and applesauce (apple juice causes diarrhea, whereas applesauce is constipating)
• Give small amounts (1-2 ounces) of fluid at a time
• Gradually reintroduce dairy in a week

Here is what I did. I took my screaming baby home for a nap. When he woke we drove to Safeway to get pedialyte where I waited patiently in line thinking, barfing now might expedite the process. I also bought prepared white rice in yet another line but it was worth it because Little Grab screamed every time I tried to put him down so making any food was a challenge. The other challenge, was trying to give him only 1-2 ounces. He was so hungry and he had such a fit when I took the bottle away that I was afraid he would cause himself to vomit. So he drank about five ounces at a time, and was fine.

So here I am, washing the four small components I could remove from the Kelty without a wrench and looking forward to using the power washer on it tomorrow. The glider ottoman cover was washed earlier and replaced along with a plastic bag to cover the foam -- to protect for next time. I will also be buying our new Dyson vacuum cleaner tomorrow.