Adventures in Poo

Lucky you! Back to back poop posts! Or lucky me. Somehow I think you are getting the better end of the deal here. After today's poo explosion, I am seriously considering renaming this blog to Adventures in Poo or My Poo Filled Life or From Me to Poo or..... I could go on an on but I think you get the point. I had planned on writing a sweet post this month because it's September and September is a pretty special month for this family. I still plan on writing a little bit about why it's such a special month for us but first you have to read about poop. I guess you could skip over the shitty part but where's the fun in that?




I'm really considering starting some kind of exploding poopy diaper contest. M would blow away the competition, literally. After M laid down to take her nap today, I decided I should probably take a shower instead of reading my very overdue library book. It is Friday after all, and my husband gets home early tonight, I decided it might be a nice surprise for him if I took a shower and straightened my hair and maybe put on some clean clothes. I showered, dried and straightened my hair and put on my best yoga pants and fanciest t-shirt. Yes... fancy t-shirt, I need new clothes. I even remembered to put on deodorant and perfume. Mommy's lookin good (haha)!! M woke up just as I finished getting dressed, I brought her downstairs and made lunch. As soon as she finished eating, I saw her making the poo face. I gave her a few minutes and after I was confidant that she had finished preparing the poo, I took her upstairs to change her diaper. Lately, I've caught myself trying to determine the consistency of the poo based on the smell (do I have to remind you that I have no life?)...... As I carried her up the stairs, I was surprised that there was very little smell. Maybe I was actually going to get lucky and it would be a mess free poo. As I put M down on the changing table, my arm brushed against my chest and something wet. Ugh... here we go. First thing I see is a giant smear all down my arm, I follow the smear down to my fancy t-shirt which is COVERED in poop. I start to change the diaper, expecting to find a record amount of dookie. No. No. No. No dookie in the diaper!!! It all somehow managed to shoot out the top/front of her diaper and all over me in the 15 seconds that it took me to carry her up the stairs. What. The. Poop?! I know everyone deals with their own shit on a daily basis but this is getting ridiculous.
Aside from massive poop explosions, M is doing great. She isn't walking yet but she's trying. She still walks around using her push toy and she walks while holding our fingers. It's mostly a balance issue at this point and that she gets excited and tries to walk fast and she can't quite keep up with herself. M is a talker! She now says no, yeah, My Dog, Momma, Da-Da, uh-oh, Zeke, puppy, thank you, tickle, bye-bye, hi, see, book, yum, and probably a few more words that I'm forgetting right now. It seems like she is always trying to copy what we are saying. She really enjoys saying "no" though. I've been encouraging her to be as creative as possible lately. So, I've been making homemade play-dough and different types of edible finger paints for her to play with over the last few months. We both think it's important for her to be allowed to express herself and we want to do anything we can to encourage her to be creative and use her imagination. Especially since she loves doing things by herself. Ryan said she took her own shirt off a few nights ago before her bath. She is such a big girl now! Her 12 month check up went really well! She is right on track with her growth, M is in the 90th percentile for both height and weight. According to her pediatrician, M is perfect but... Of course she is!  M has recently picked a best stuffed animal friend. She takes Violet or "Puppu" everywhere with her and even sleeps with "Puppu". It's pretty precious.

As for M's parents... I played with the idea of going back to work once again. It didn't work out though, and I am trying to convince myself to just give up on the idea. I really don't want to go back anyway and nothing seems to be a good fit for our schedules. It's still hard for me to feel like I'm not contributing financially though. It really is a struggle for me to allow Ryan to be the provider when I have had to take care of myself for so long. He's happy to do it and I think it's been really good for him. I think it gives him a purpose and encourages him to be a better person and work harder. Although, he did just quit his 2nd job. It just was not working out. He's an incredible person, a wonderful husband and I am constantly amazed at what a great dad he is! Not that I didn't think he would be but for years he said he might want to have 1 kid someday. Just 1. Maybe 2. I, on the other hand, wanted 3 or 4 or more. Now he says he definitely wants 2 and maybe even 3!! So, I am pleasantly surprised by his enthusiasm. We actually just celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary and tomorrow we celebrate 11 years together. I'm a lucky girl and I don't know what I did to deserve Ryan and M but I am so happy that I have them!

Our Anniversary is part of the reason why September is such a special month for us.On September 13th we will be remembering Mamaw and Big Matt on their birthday. They are two people who meant a lot to both of us which is why we chose to name M after them. M's first name is in memory of our good friend Big Matt. I first met Matt when I was still in high school. Ryan and I were taking a break from each other at that time and I just remember this big guy with red hair hanging around Ryan a lot. When Ryan and I decided to get back together, we kept it a secret from everyone until we were sure it was going to work out. Ryan was especially reluctant to tell his friends. One night, I was hanging out with Ryan at his apartment (in secret of course) when he got a phone call from big Matt and invited him over to hang out and watch a movie with us. This turned into the first of many nights the 3 of us spent at Ryan's apartment, hanging out and watching movies. Matt was the first person Ryan allowed to see us back together. I think that was because Matt was the most understanding, kindest and most open minded person either of us has ever known. He never judged anyone, I never saw him be unkind to anyone, unless of course they deserved it but even then in most cases it ended with Matt giving the person a hug after giving them a black eye. Matt always greeted everyone with a giant hug and they were the most protective, sincere, and warmest hugs. Matt had a great sense of humor and his laugh was infectious. I loved coming up with the most ridiculous things to say to Matt just so I could hear him laugh. Matt passed away about 2 months before I had M. Ryan and I had a lot of trouble picking out a name for our little girl. We went from Charlotte to Tallulah to Harlow and then to Sadie. I was set on Sadie but Ryan was not. I think he was just tired of talking about it and finally agreed to let me use the name I liked the most. After Matt passed away, we decided to name her M after our friend. We wanted her to have her own name but we also liked the idea of naming her after someone that meant so much to us. All I could think was that I hoped M would have a similar carefree and loving attitude towards life. I hoped she would be as happy as Matt always seemed to be and laugh as much as he did. Now I can't imagine calling her anything else. She is M. We picked M's middle name almost immediately. My great grandmother's name was Mary and she was more like a mother to me than a grandmother. My parents were both pretty young when they had me and obviously were not prepared to be parents so they were not around very much. For the first 7 1/2 years of my life, I was primarily raised by my great grandmother "Mamaw". Mamaw passed away 9 months before I got pregnant with M. At her funeral, I managed to get up in front of a chapel full of people and tell everyone how wonderful she was. I started off by telling everyone that my first memory is of Mamaw's smile. I remember being really young, so young I was still crawling. I crawled into her bedroom and stopped in front of a mirror to look at myself. I remember hearing her voice but I don't remember what she said, I do remember turning around to look at her and seeing her smiling at me. I don't think anyone has ever loved me as unconditionally as Mamaw did. She taught me how to be a mother and I honestly don't want to know how my life would have turned out if I had not had her to take care of me. Mamaw was a strong, loving and fiercely protective woman. Mamaw also had a great sense of humor and loved to laugh. These are all qualities I hope my daughter will possess. So, I knew I wanted to name our daughter after her but I wanted M to have her own name at the same time. I had always liked the name Mae and at one time we had considered using the name Maebyl or Maeby but decided to stick with Mae once we realized it was a diminutive of Mary. M Mae, is the perfect name for our little girl. She has an amazing sense of humor already and is showing signs of having a very strong-willed and independent personality. When M gets older I hope we can find a special way to celebrate September 13th so she will always know how much we loved the people she was named after and how special they were to us.

Well, enough with the mushy stuff. I think I smell like poo still, even though I changed shirts. I should probably take care of that before Ryan comes home. By the way... who reads this? I always wonder if anyone actually does. I mostly write this for our out of town family and so I can keep track of M's progress. I would like to hear from you if you're out there reading this. What do you think? Should I write about other stuff besides poo?