Adventures at 1:30 in the Morning

The time is 1:22 and Frog Face had been fussing for a bit.  I had just finished feeding him so decided that I might try changing his diaper and re-swaddling him to see if it would help him settle.  Frog Face is old enough now that he usually does not poop during the night anymore so I laid him on the bed and proceeded with the diaper change.

Big. Mistake.

As soon as the diaper was removed, poop was squirting everywhere:  all over his clothing, his blanket, and of course all over my bed.  I quickly scoop up my little poop machine and move him to his changing table.  Frog Face currently sleeps in our room in a pack-n-play that has a bassinet and changing table attachment.  Now for those of you who have never changed a breast-fed baby's diaper, there is something you should know.  It is normally very liquidy and usually a yellow color.  Therefore, when a breast-fed baby has a bowel movement, it sounds EXACTLY like mustard squirting out of a squirt bottle.  And it distributes the same as well.  I like to compare it to when the mustard bottle is just about out and you are trying to get the last little bit and it splatters everywhere when you squeeze it.  Yeah, it's like that.

At this point I shove the clean diaper under his bum in the hopes that it will catch a bit of the splatter.  Nope!  It gets all over the diaper.  Being the resourceful person that I am, I use receiving blankets to cover the changing tables because it is easy to toss them in the wash if there is a mess.  So I use the receiving blanket to try and mop up the mess only to discover my little man is not done.  At this point we are both pretty much covered in yellow mustard.  I reach for another receiving blanket (good thing I have extra nearby!) and tuck it under his bum as well.

This works for a  split second before I realize that I should have been paying attention the the pee stream that is arcing toward our window and blinds and sadly strikes the poor little guy right in the face.

I manage to get the diaper on.  I toss the load of mustard clothing and blankets in the laundry, and wipe up the baby (and myself) as best I can with diaper wipes.  (By the way, diaper wipes are AMAZING and can be used for anything from taking off makeup to washing dirty hands and feet).  I make a mental note to give Frog Face a bath first thing in the morning, then redress and re-swaddle the child.

As I am settling back down (after finding a new blanket for myself) and getting ready to feed my little poop monster to try and lull him back to sleep, I look down at him and he gives me a big, gummy, froggy smile that melts my heart.  I don't blame him: I would smile too after all that!

And where is the Weatherman during this entire adventure?  Sound asleep.  Of course.

Lucky.

How he got the nickname "Frog Face"

Well that was fast!

I can't believe that today is my last day of maternity leave.  Little Frog Face is 9 weeks old today and after the holiday weekend, I start back to work full time on Tuesday.  It is very bitter sweet for me, since I do enjoy my job and look forward to getting back in the swing of things and start with our new "normal".  However, I will miss staring at his sweet face all day.  I have actually been off work for 10 weeks, but it flew by so quickly!  With my daughter, I worked until the Friday before I went into labor and delivered her on a Tuesday.  This guy however, decided to be overdue so I took the week before his birth off since I was having tons of contractions and did not think I could handle the 100 degree heat any longer.  But those are stories for other days.  Today I am talking about maternity leave.

I am sure that many working mothers would agree that the United States has a really sucky system in place for new mothers.  According to the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) we get 12 weeks of unpaid leave if we have been with the company for at least a year and the company has at least 20 employees.  The key here is "unpaid".  In order to get 10 weeks off with my little man, and still receive a paycheck, I had to use almost all of my vacation and sick leave and I requested to only receive pay for 32 hours a week instead of 40 so that I could stretch my time out even farther.  I also had to make sure to hold back a week or so of sick and vacation so that when the daycare germs and cold and flu season kick in, I would be able to stay home with my sickos.

I know some countries, like Canada, have a much better maternity leave package.  They get 6 months of fully paid leave and then can take another 6 months at half  pay.  As appealing as that sounds, I would probably go stir crazy with cabin fever after 4 months or so.  In fact, I am impressed I did not go crazy staying home this time since I started getting really antsy with Goober by this point.  However, having that kind of option available is fantastic.  I know of too many new mothers who are forced to find care for their 6 week or even 2-3 week old babies because they just cannot afford to stay home with them.

But there is no use crying over spilled milk (unless that milk is breast milk, then by all means, cry away!) so back to work I must go.  I am thankful that I had this time with my Frog Face and will probably miss our afternoon naps snuggled up together the most.  But there are many things to look forward to as well, such as being able to pee without a wailing infant or a curious preschooler interrupting.  It is the little things after all that make everything worth while!

Frog Face on his birthday

Frog Face today at 9 weeks