1) Clothes: I packed way too many dresses for Harper. Dresses are fun to put little girls in, but they aren't the most functional outfit for a baby in the winter. I wish I would have swapped a few of the dresses for more onesies and pants.
2) Snot Sucker: I pretty much jinxed Harper into getting sick by not packing her nose snot sucker. She ended up getting a cold, and we had to ask her aunt and uncle to make a stop at Walgreens to buy a snot sucker to give her nose some relief. DO NOT buy nose snot suckers from a store. Take the one the hospital gives you. It is the best one out there. The store snot sucker's sucking power does not even compare to the hospital's super sucking strength.
3) Open Suitcase Space: We always dedicate a suitcase for Christmas presents. This suitcase is full of presents for our family and friends when we leave our home and the same suitcase that we bring all of our presents back in. This was the first year that we weren't able to take all of our presents home because we didn't have enough room.
So back to the Christmas sickness. I often wondered in the past why adults with children were always sick. Shouldn't their immune systems be amazing with all the germs the kids bring into the house? I used to think I had a near perfect immune system. I was dead wrong. Gone are the days where I would get sick once or twice a year. Now, whatever the sickness of the week is at Harper's daycare I end up getting. The most recent of the sicknesses was a sinus cold. Both Harper and I were the lucky ones to endure this runny nose/coughing disgusting mucus grossness.
I do have to say Harper was a trooper. She was as smiley as can be, which only further supports my theory that Harper is a superhero (more on that in a future post), and her happiness through it all made me feel bad for complaining about how crumby I felt.
Harper was still sick when we got back this week. Dale took her to the doctor on Wednesday to get checked out. Of course once he arrived there Harper stopped coughing and her runny nose dried up. When the doctor took out her stethoscope to listen to Harper's chest, Harper started laughing. Of course she would. I'm sure the doctor was thinking we were over reacting parents. The final diagnosis from the doctor--Your daughter is perfectly fine. Then after the appointment she was dropped off at daycare. She cried the whole morning. Go figure.
Not only was Harper sick during Christmas, but she was also constipated for a few days. We think all the traveling brought it on. We made a special stop to my old stompin' grounds--Shopko--for some prunes to fix the problem. Harper wasn't too interested in eating them but did get some down. I wasn't sure how long it would take exactly for the prunes to work, but I should have guessed it would be at the most inconvenient time.
On our two hour drive to Dale's grandparent's house, we had to make a pit stop at Walmart to pick up some supplies for a holiday party. While weaving through the isles in the store I started smelling an unpleasant odor that I would normally blame on my husband, but knew instantly the prunes had worked and how "lucky" we were that I could change the diaper at Walmart.
I got the diaper bag and the baby and b-lined to the bathrooms at the front of the store where I was greeted by a sign notifying me that the family bathrooms are in the back of the store. No way was I going to lug a baby in a carseat and a full diaper bag to the back. I entered the bathroom and found the world's smallest changing table that was basically large enough to hold Harper and nothing else.
I started uncovering Harper and notice her pants were wet. We had a full fledged blowout on our hands. She had green poop everywhere. I have come to the conclusion that babies and pigs must have similar diets since their poop smells exactly the same. Green odor waves that are often seen in cartoons were radiating off of her diaper.
I had the smallest space in the corner of the changing table to pile up all of her soiled close. I was so glad she didn't find them and start playing with them. I was also glad that I had purchased arm and hammer plastic bags to put dirty diapers/clothes in. Otherwise I would have probably thrown those clothes away. I swear I was in the bathroom for a good ten minutes trying not to get any green stank on me while cleaning Harper up.
Let's not forget to meantion that everyone that walked into the bathroom had a comment for me.
"Adorable boy you have."
"Oh wow, what a poopy diaper."
And a few more. Including the correction of Harper's gender by the lady who called Harper a boy once she could see Harper without a diaper on. Seems inappropriate doesn't it?
Ok let's get back to Christmas. We had roughly 10 days to spend time with both of our families and friends. We are very fortunate that our families only live an hour and a half apart. We had a great time eating tons of food, seeing everyone love on Harper, getting caught up on the past year's events and just spending time with family and friends. It is hard being away from them for the majority of the year, but we were very appreciative of the time we got to spend with them. Tears were shed when we had to say our goodbyes, but we were comforted in knowing we would meet again this summer and that this isn't a permanent situation.
Sorry I had to sum up Christmas so quick. This post started running a little long and I now know you all just page down to the pictures anyway.
PICTURE TIME!
Thanks Katrina for the dress!
Yes, I am a finger sucker.
Can I get this ear into my mouth?
Auntie Tess!
Peekaboo!
