Bad bugs!

So we've had a rough couple of weeks here in the Mari household. I think they may need to put a biohazard sticker on our house.

Mari has had diarrhea for 3 weeks, 8-10 times a day. YUM! When she came home, we tested her for everything and it was all negative. So I've been running the gamut of food intolerances, lactose issues, etc. Bananas used to constipate her so bad that I wouldn't even let her look at them. We switched off rice cereal as soon as we were home from Ethiopia for the same reason. Well last weekend, we did three solid days of the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, apples, toast) and, with the exception that I gave her some real bananas, it was all stage 1 baby food. Can you get any blander than that? I also gave her SILK and made absolutely sure she had no dairy. After three days, she was still exploding green poo everywhere.

She had a diaper rash so bad last week that she wouldn't even walk...she just stood in the middle of the living room sobbing. She would reach for a toy, stop and just cry. I finally put her in a cool tub of water, wrapped her in a towel and we read books the rest of the evening. I then slathered her with the thickest layer of desitin, put some beach towels in the crib and very, very loosely fastened her diaper and no PJs. Several nights of this made a HUGE difference.

We went to the doctor on Wednesday and they wanted a urine sample and a poop sample. We put a little urine bag on her and they were going to send me home with a cup for each to bring back but I asked if we could just wait a few minutes. So I gave Mari a sippy cup (which she sucked down in less than a minute) and a couple minutes later she made the poopy face. She peed and pooped on command! Yea! Anyway, the urine was fine. The poop showed one of those nasty little stomach bugs that you get from drinking yucky water and is very popular in developing countries. She probably came home with it but it was just laying low until now. Why now? My theory is that, because she has been on 7 antibiotic courses in the last 6 months, her poor intestines probably have no "good bugs" left, so now the "bad bugs" can take over.

So she is on medication now (which it took me calling 4 pharmacies after Wal-Mart told me that they couldn't do it before one finally told me that it had to be specially compounded and only a couple pharmacies did that--luckily the one that is a block from Mari's daycare does, that was nice). I am also giving her probiotics to help regrow her "good bugs." Dannon has those little drinkable yogurts and I put those in her sippy cup with a little milk to thin it out and slurp!

So, after a day and a half of medicine, I'm noticing a difference already. Less frequent, a little thicker, but the smell is still hazmat worthy.

So are you still reading? I figure that some of you out there that are getting ready to go should be enlightened as to one of the many fun things you may look forward to dealing with!

Anyway, not much else to report. You would never know she was ill except that episode with the diaper rash.


Well, I guess you probably want pix. And if you have read through all this, you deserve pix!

Mommy, I didn't want Ollie to eat my goldfish pretzel!

Gotta wonder when she's being so quiet....
Mommy, read book!
I'm so big. Don't I look cute in my blouse Auntie Diana got me for my birthday.
Ollie, Sit!

Discovering where everything is.

Okay, so her rhythm is not so great but Dora gets her moving and grooving. Before I grabbed the camera, she was literally dancing in circles.

Miss Us?

No, I haven't forgotten to blog. Just sometimes there is not enough time to even think around here. Mari is into EVERYTHING! And she can move fast. I left her for less than 30 seconds tonight, she was standing in the bathroom watching the tub fill up for bathtime (she loves to watch the water run), I grabbed her PJs and a towel and when I came back, she had unrolled all the toilet paper. And was SO proud of herself.

Our trip to St. Louis went great. We had so much fun meeting everyone. The only glitch was sitting for over an hour on the runway in Cincinnati waiting for weather somewhere over Virginia to clear. They actually boarded us and taxied out to the runway knowing that we were delayed. Mari was good, considering. She was restless and fidgety but we managed. I ate about 300 "hand-me-down" soggy cheerios and she drank all of my 16-ounce water bottle (it had a squirt top--SO COOL!). Somewhere in America there are 15 National guardsmen who will probably shoot themselves if they hear "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." Sorry!

But we had a great time with all our new friends. I got a couple more tidbits of info from some of the families that met Mari in Ethiopia before I went. I found out that, during tummy-time, my daughter would roll over the other babies...sounds about right! I also got a couple of pictures from one mom this week (after she did some digging in her trip pix) that absolutely touched me to the very core of my being. I can't really share about them, but I got a glimpse into the future and Mari has a treasure that I can't wait to show her one day. Thanks C.H.!!!! It's amazing how random picture-taking can mean so much to someone!

So now that we are home, it is back to the old routine. Mari is having a blast at daycare. They had sprinkler day on Friday and Mari was the only one that would get in the water--big surprise! They are also doing art every day and it is hilarious to see some of the things she is doing, I'll have to take pix and post them. Can you imagine doing art with a roomful of toddlers? Brave souls! She is learning sign language at daycare and I was very surprised by the signing she does, I wasn't even aware they were teaching her. Needless to say, the furious signing for milk took me a little bit to pick up on (I had a baby sign book and looked it up after I finally thought "I wonder if they are teaching her sign?"). So her sippy cup of milk was very appreciated, if not timely. She discovered that her finger fits nicely in her nose...I just hope she doesn't figure out that other things fit in her nose.

So, on to some pix.

Mari's new hairstyle. I got some great advice on haircare while in St. Louis. Just being able to get my hands on a great head of hair helped (thanks S!). The moral of the story--product and lots of it. I was being too skimpy. So now her hair is healthy and curly and soft. Yea!!! It is getting very long but the curls are so tight that you can't really tell and we are not doing relaxers yet.

Here is what $9 will buy you at the dollar store. I don't think we will need barrettes or rubber bands for years to come!


Just a little messy. I finally learned to just take the shirt off.
My backpack that Kaili got me. Don't I look so grown-up.
This picture was taken a little over six months ago. The first meeting of the cousins.
And here they are last week. Haven't they gotten so big? Soon there will be three!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Fun Times...coming soon!

Okay, I promise a run-down of our St. Louis trip with lots of pictures but I'm still trying to catch up on everything. It was exhausting but unbelieveable. To tide you over until more pix of all the kids, I thought I'd give you one picture. The look on Mari's face sums up the entire weekend. She LOVED it! This picture also sums up her general personality. I fall in love with her more every minute of every day.

Thanks to Jen Newcomb (from CHI) for taking this picture.

Am I going to regret this?

Hopefully at this time tomorrow night, Mari and I will have landed safely (and on time) in Cincinnati and should be boarding our plane to St. Louis. We leave Richmond at 6:15 and hope to be in St. Louis at 9:15 (10:15 our time)...please pray that everything goes smoothly. Since Mari's bedtime is usually 7ish, I'm hoping for some night-night time during travel. And I'm praying that the first flight will be on time because we only have about 50 minutes in Cincinnati between flights. Augh!

We will be picked up at the airport by Mari's younger boyfriend, Mamush. We are all staying at the same hotel and Jenni and Jim are being lifesavers and playing chauffeur for the weekend. That way, I did not have to worry about renting a car and carseat or lugging a carseat around the airport. Thanks guys! On Saturday, we are going to the CHI Reunion Picnic where we will meet up with lots of close friends we've never met (kind of weird how the adoption/blogging friendships work!). We will get to spend lots of time with some familiar faces...Mari's older boyfriend Micah, J & S & E, Spud (who I met in Ethiopia and can't wait to see how he's grown), Anna, Ash, and Nataly. It will be interesting to see who else shows up and who I recognize from their blogs.

We will fly home on Sunday, leaving St. Louis at 12:00 (1:00 here) and should land in Richmond at 4:45. Again, only a 50 minute layover in Cincinnati so let's hope everything goes smoothly. I won't have bedtime to help me out but maybe naptime will kick in. Or maybe Mari will just be super good and content to fly, she certainly was a stellar flyer coming home from Ethiopia. But that was before she could wiggle and scream and throw fits and run away from Mommy and need constant Cheerios, etc.

So I hope to have lots of pix to share when we get home but I have to be at work bright and early Monday, so it may take me a few days to post.

6 Months Home!

Wow, it is so hard to believe that we've been home for 6 months. So much has happened, Mari is growing so quickly. She has just come alive lately. Or maybe I should say she has become "lively." She is full-throttle now. She is very spirited and mostly a happy baby. Her tantrums are short but very loud! She is talking all the time now and getting more intelligible. If you tell her it is bath time, she will walk to the bathroom and stand next to the tub to watch the water. She has finally really taken to reading and will sit and look at a book on her own (in one of the very brief minutes that she sits still) and she now will carry a book over to me and wiggle her little butt until she is sitting on my lap, pushing away anything I may be working on or petting (in the case of a certain dog). She has started to use a spoon and gets it right about 1 out of every 4-5 bites...messy, but she is getting more resistent to Mommy feeding her.

I bought a sippy sup with a straw to try; it took her about 20 minutes to figure it out, she got the sucking part down but kept wanting to flip it up so the other end of the straw wasn't in the milk. She finally got it but then I noticed that the combination of soft plastic and sharp teeth was not so good...so it got trashed right before she bit the straw in half. We also tried crayons, Crayola Tadoodles. Again, the teeth thing was an issue so those will be tried again later.

So life is moving forward in the fast lane. She was supposed to stay in the infant room at daycare until sometime in August but they called today and want to move her now. They said that she is so lively (I think she is running over all the babies) and they feel she will be happier with the toddlers. She apparently stands at the gate that separated the two rooms and watches them all day.

Impressive, huh? Modern art? Turtle under the duck's hat--maybe the duck was hungry?

I showed Mari where to sit her toys (instead of throwing them out of the tub) and she now lines the tub with them. I love the sweet, innocent look on her face.


I put Mari down for a nap the other day and kept checking on her. All I could see from the door was her head as she sat in the crib playing. After about 30 minutes of wondering why she hadn't gone to sleep, I went all the way in the room and found her sound asleep. Looks comfy, huh?

My first July 4th!! Maybe next year Mommy will have gotten her act together and made me a citizen!!

Great picture...falling, falling, boom.

Sippy cup with a straw. Too bad I bit right through it!

My How Time Flies!!!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Week in Review.

Just a quick post...then I have to get to bed. The real world awaits in the morning. So to wrap up a long week at my new job, overall it went well. I was pretty overwhelmed Monday but things went uphill from there. My coworkers (my "team") gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers on Tuesday and everyone has been so nice and helpful. I guess I haven’t really explained what my new job is and, truthfully, I’m not really sure myself! I am now "plant nurse" at a large factory that specializes in spinning synthetic fibers. There are lots of hazardous materials and toxic chemicals around that I’ve had to learn about, as well as all the fun stuff that comes with working in an occupational health field (worker’s comp., hearing testing, respirators, etc.). Add in that I’m in "management," and that threw in a lot more training and stuff about proprietary info and trade secrets, etc. All stuff I know nothing about and couldn’t tell you if I did! The corporate world is very different from the hospital.

My job description is somewhat fluid. The nurse that I’m replacing (she’s retiring) actually specialized in some of the other aspects of the plant and only assumed the nursing role after the previous one left, so she really didn’t do a lot of the medical stuff. The medical stuff has been handled by the physician’s assistant that is there but his specialty is also elsewhere and they want him back in his other role more. So I’ve basically been given the green light to take over the medical end of stuff and make the clinic my own. The clinic is 3 rooms (not including offices and hearing room, respirator room, etc) that were built in the good old days. Very antiquated but definitely workable. I’ve started going through everything and will start rearranging to my liking and revamping after I get my feet wet and learn more what is necessary. The only "real" nursing I got to do this week was irrigate some ears (which they were all excited about because they usually send these to the employee’s doc to do). Very far cry from the ER! But the hours are great. I get to pick Mari up from daycare about 5 and we go home and eat dinner and play, then bath and bed....just like it’s supposed to work!

As for Mari...she actually had some difficulty with daycare. Her first day was fine but Tuesday and Wednesday were rough. I was surprised because she never cried before at daycare but she’s had a LOT of changes lately. Thursday they peeled her out of my arms (she even held on with her legs) and Friday she did better but still cried. Overall, though she is doing great. Every time I pick her up, someone is playing with her or helping her walk around the room, they are VERY interactive with the kids. She was walking Friday when I got there and she ran into my arms, hugged me and then waved and said "bye-bye" to her caregiver. Too cute!

She totally forgot how to crawl this weekend. I’m not sure she spent more than about 15 minutes on the ground. She LOVES walking and she can move fast! Good thing her diaper provides a cushion! She also decided she wanted to feed herself, so we started with a spoon and spork. I learned the messy way to just remove the shirt when using a spoon for the first time! She is talking like crazy and can now tell you that the "doddy" (dog) says "wuff-wuff." She sings "ro, ro, ro, bo" (Row, Row, Row your boat)–we sing this ALL the way to daycare in the mornings. AUGH!!!

On to pix.

My pretty flowers!

Spoon and Spork!

Yummy!

My SIL Diana's baby shower was Saturday. It was an English tea party at a local tea room. Diana didn't want her picture everywhere so here is a picture of the lovely treats we had. Just a little longer for the newest member of the family!

This is what a long day ends up to be. A new babysitter for a few hours. A couple hours walking around the grandparent's house. Zzzzz!

Feeding the doggie Cheerios! Watch her drop the Cheerio, pick it up and put it in her mouth and then give it back to the dog. I guess it could be worse, it could go from the dog's mouth to hers.

Walking. Not the best example...she gets a little excited and goes splat! But the way she walks (like Frankenstein) is so cute. Notice that she does not let go of the Cheerios even when she falls and smacks her face (she wasn't hurt!).

Look for a new post on Wednesday. It will be the six-month anniversary of our "Forever Day" (I saw that used on another blog and I like it better than "gotcha" although I still use "gotcha" most of the time, it makes more sense to the "outside" world). Anyway, I have something special planned for that day.

Long time, no post.

Sorry for the long time between posts. Mari and I have been enjoying a couple of weeks of just "Mommy & Mari time." It has been very pleasant and my little girl is absolutely blossoming. She is quickly becoming a comedian (and the bigger the audience, the more silly she gets). She can fake cry, laugh, sneeze, cough, and now we have added fake "oh" for surprises. While her talking has increased exponentially, the amount you can actually understand has not changed...she is in a constant state of babble but still with the same amount of actual words as before. She is using words more appropriately now...when I ask her if it is time to leave or time to go somewhere, she will say "bye-bye." She looks at the dog and says "wuf-wuf" even though she still calls him a "kit-cat." And the cutest thing is that she seems to know that her socks and shoes go on her feet because she grabs the socks away from me and sticks them on the bottom of her foot. When you put her shoes on, she says "bye-bye."

Walking is getting much better. I noticed a huge difference just today (maybe because I was away from her all day). She was getting better about taking off and was making it farther and farther as long as she was distracted. If she realized she was walking, she would fall down or cheer so much that she knocked herself off balance. Tonight she was taking off purposefully and even trying to turn a little. She had a great day at her new daycare center today (I LOVE it, at least so far). She even had pizza for lunch...okay, whatever.

Started my new job today. VERY different world than what I’ve been used to. I very definitely will miss the clinical aspects of nursing and this new field will take some getting used to. I left today with a monsterous headache (not used to that much screen time) and sore feet (new shoes and lot of walking) and soaking wet (freak rain storm while walking to my car). But dinner, caffeine, ibuprofen, and Mari snuggles made everything better. So, it’s going to be awhile before I am even close to understanding half of my job–not a position I’ve been in for a LONG time. But my new coworkers are super nice and supportive and I have to admit, the hours are awesome. I even have next Friday (July 4th off, paid!!!!!!).

Well, on to some pix.

Play date with little Cooper.

The view outside my front door. I never get tired of it.

Hmm...Lesa, do you think Mari will get good driver points from State Farm?

Probably not if she drives this sleepy.

Or if she drinks and drives. (No, she did not drink any Coke...give me a little credit people!)

Mmmm. Mommy's spaghetti is so much better than that jar stuff.

Hair photos...finger curls.

Ponytails and natural curls.

This video I'm calling "Mama kisses." It's the best.

It's hot and Mari's walking!!! (Long post)

We’ve had a wild and crazy weekend here in the land of Mari. I had my last day at work on Friday...it was a pleasant day, lots of cake and not too many patients–a nice combination. I’m going to miss everyone terribly and it was very weird leaving there...the ER is definitely one place where life goes on without you.

When I arrived home, my cousin Juli had arrived from KY with her son Brendan, now 4 years old. My Aunt Phyllis also came along and I got to visit with her for awhile before she zoomed off to stay with my parents. The company was a much needed distraction and, let me just say, a 4-year-old will make you forget everything else. From sneaking tootsie rolls in bed to chasing the animals, he never stopped! Mari had a blast! And, thanks to some AC problems, my brother Chad and SIL Lesa spent quite a bit of time at my house this weekend with my niece Madi. The heat index was well over 100 for the entire weekend and their house was trying to match the outside temperature. So we had a massive slumber party. The kids had fun together but I think the adults had more fun after the wee ones were asleep. We had a rip-roaring game of Cranium; it has been a long time since we sat down to play games because one or more of us is usually cutting out early to get the kids to bed...the solution, a sleepover!

The interaction seems to have spurred Mari into developmental overdrive. This weekend she suddenly decided that she could just stand up in the middle of the living room without any help. And today....SHE WALKED!!! She took a step and sat down, stood up and took 3 steps and then face planted in front of me. We practiced lots and lots and made it up to 5 steps...exhausting work! She is also blowing kisses to everyone and today she learned to kiss on the face. So now, she crawls over and smacks a slobber on me...so cute. Lots of new words and sounds...she loves saying vrrooom with her cars and has added a sort-of buzzzzz sound (she has a bee toy that we buzz). Tonight the dog was barking outside and she grinned and said "uf-uf." Close enough!! Crazy cute...I’m LOVING every minute of this age.

On to some pix (and video!).

Cousin Madi turned 1 year old on Tuesday the 3rd. Happy Birthday! She had a party last weekend, so here are some pix. Mari dressed for a party but hiding under the table...go figure that one out!

Playing together before cake time!

Yum, Yum, Yum.

"I'm ONE!"

"Hey, can I have some?"

"Okay, that's better. A cupcake all my own!"

Styling in some cool clothes.

Madi's first try at swimming in Mari's purple-pink-plaid-three-ring-inflatable pool (from Target--who else would sell a purple-pink plaid pool?). Not so sure she likes it. "Mommy, pick me up!"

A little better in Aunt Jill's lap, but not really feeling the swimming thing yet.

The crazy clan. Mari, Brendan, and Madi. Don't let this picture fool you...it was snapped quickly and the next second, there were tears and nose-dives.

Cleaning out the toys so I can play in the cabinet.

Our favorite toy. Stick the balls in the giraffe's mouth, he sings songs and the balls swirl down and pop out the legs. Mari has gotten so good at it, she decided that she should branch out and use more toys. I actually had to do a toy-ectomy on the poor giraffe. Weebles just don't digest well!

This is what a day of learning to walk does to you!
Mommy was nice enough to pick me up off the floor but I wasn't ready to get up--she didn't mind too much!


Videos!!!! (No one was hurt in the making of these videos...even though the first one cuts off with Mari laying one the floor, she laughed it off. But I cut off the camera to pick her up so it doesn't show that she really is okay...trust me, we've had a lot worse tumbles!)