Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This

Yesterday was one of those days where nothing seemed to go right. Prepare yourself for a long blog entry. Some parts of this fiasco may be gross to those with a weaker constitution...consider yourself warned.

The morning began as every morning does. Carter woke us up around 5 am and we started getting ready for the day. Mike and I took turns feeding and playing with Carter while we get showered and dressed, etc. I was about to get in the shower when I heard a louder-than-normal cry from downstairs. You know the one parents, the cry that doesn't mean frustration, or hunger, the one that means pain. I figured since Mike wasn't rushing upstairs yelling about blood, that it couldn't be that bad. And it really wasn't too bad, just the worst Carter's had so far. His head collided with the base of the TV stand, resulting in one of those robin's egg knots on his head. We snuggled, put a cold pack on it, gave him some Tylenol, and watched his favorite movie, after which he played with his toys again as if nothing had happened. The first of many bumps and bruises I'm sure.

Mike left for work and I was trying to decide what Carter and I should do for the day. The rain they had called for looked like it wasn't going to come so I thought something outside would be fun. I had been wanting to go to the outdoor pool at the local rec center since it opened Memorial Day. It looks like a really fun place to go...water slides, lazy river, but still small enough to not get lost or pay a fortune to get in. While Carter took his morning nap, I packed up all that we would need: towels, sunscreen, baby food, swimsuits, dry clothes, etc. When he woke up, we headed out.

Going to the pool by myself with Carter is always a challenge. There's so much stuff to carry! Even though they have family locker rooms, it's still difficult to get Carter and myself ready for the pool. With his mobility, it's usually a wrestling match to get him in his swim diaper and swim trunks and then another magic trick to keep him from rolling or crawling away while I get myself ready. Somehow we managed and I even remembered to put sunscreen on him (wrestling match round 2). We make our way to the baby pool. The water is only a couple inches deep with little spouts that spray water out. Carter loved it! However as soon as the water hit his skin, all the sunscreen came right off. I realized that this was the first time I actually needed waterproof sunscreen, so I hadn't thought to buy it before. Since it was so sunny out, I instantly had to re-evaluate how long we could stay at the pool. We played for about an hour, going from baby pool to lazy river, taking breaks in the shade to people watch. I was worried about sunburn so I started packing things up. The idea of carrying everything to the family locker room and wrestling match round 3 to get Carter in dry clothes was not very appealing. He wasn't too happy to be leaving so just carrying him was physical challenge. Plus, I didn't get a chance to eat my lunch yet, so I was hungry and ready to leave. I decided to leave Carter in his swim trunks for the ride home. He seemed pretty dry.

We get in the car and head home, earlier than I had planned. Of course Carter falls asleep in the car after all the fun. I look at the clock and realize this is one of those "it's too early for an afternoon nap but too late for a morning nap" times. I was already thinking ahead to the rest of the afternoon when I'd have a cranky, tired baby on my hands. (Sigh.) At least he had fun. I drove around a little bit to extend his nap in the carseat. Finally we get home.

I drop all our stuff just inside the door, then go back to get Carter from the car. I lifted the carseat, with him in it, out of the back seat and found water streaming out of the bottom of the seat. I looked in the carseat base and discover small pools of water. I heaved a big sigh. I thought maybe the trip to the pool wasn't really worth it in retrospect. I carried the seat inside, spread out a towel and set the seat on it. Taking Carter out of the seat, I realized my expectations for the swim diaper had been too high. Oh well, at least it was just swimming pool water without any contribution from Carter.

Carter's had some dry skin problems lately so I wanted to rinse the chlorine off before getting him lotioned and dressed. I decided the easiest way to do this would be to just take him in the shower with me for a quick rinse. While carrying him back to his room, I threw some towels on the changing table and in the bathroom. I stripped him down and set him in the crib naked. I hurried into the bathroom to get the shower going and take off my own clothes. I couldn't have left him for more than a minute. (You can see what's coming, can't you?) I got back to his room to get him and he is sitting in his crib on a pile of poop with pee everywhere. Not only that, but he has a fistful of poop which he is squeezing and watching with interest as it escapes through his fingers. "Oh my God!" I yell. I think if I had walked in a second later, the poop would have been in his mouth. I grabbed him by the armpits and held him at arms' length. For a second I deliberated on the best course of action...do I put him on the changing table? No, he's covered in poop. To the shower then. In the meantime, he still has his fistful which is leaving a breadcrumb trail wherever I walk. Poop on the carpet, poop in the hallway, poop in the bathroom, and finally poop in the shower. Ugh!

I rinsed him off, got him dried, lotioned, and dressed. Then I set him in the Jumperoo (thank God for that thing!) in front of a movie while I cleaned up the mess. And what a mess it was. All I could think about while I scrubbed where the lyrics to "Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This". Needless to say we spent the rest of the day inside.