Out Through the "In" Door

Wow, forgot I had this blog started, what, two years ago? Ended up on Facebook instead, blogging in short sentences that often have no meaning. Great for sharing pictures, though.

Now, my baby is 15 months old. My wife is no longer nursing. My brother has passed away from cancer. My sister-in-law and niece and nephew have moved to Idaho. My sister has moved to Nebraska. My parents have moved to Indiana. And I'm still "officially" unemployed, though I have found work as a handyman this year.

Each line above could easily be a blog. Perhaps they all will be, one day. For now, I will talk about today. It's July 18, 2010. I am up early, drinking coffee while Amy and Mary Frances are asleep.

They had a rough night, as Mary Frances was sick all night. We were at a party having a perfectly good time, while Mary Frances had already fallen asleep in her pack-n-play. I went to check on her at the request of my wife, and found that Mary Frances was sleeping in vomit. She had vomited all over her crib and sheets and clothes, poor baby. So we had to pack everything up at midnight and get her home where maybe we could make her more comfortable.

Now, she had been ill on Thursday from what we thought was some bad chicken. She was up all night throwing up until Friday morning. She was fine all day Friday and most of Saturday but apparently began throwing up after she went to bed. I thought maybe it was the volume of food because there was a LARGE amount of vomit. It could have been the different food piled upon an already weakened immune system. It could have been the heat (it has been very hot and humid for three days.) It could have been teething, as some mother's say that kids will throw up when teething.

So I got up early to get to Henry's and get her some pro-biotics that will maybe help her digestive system. I'm not a doctor so perhaps I am full of doodie. I just want Mary Frances to have a day without vomiting. Turns out, Henry's doesn't open until 7am and I was there at 630. So I drove down to McDonalds and bought coffee. And McDonalds is right next to Vons, and they sell yogurt too, and Amy just sent a text asking for Kleenex, so why not go to Vons?

Walking up to Vons I had to separate two carts with a crow bar to get the one I wanted: a cart with a coffee cup cozie :P Arriving at the automatic door I recognize Erin, our favorite checker, coming to work. I went through her line Thursday night when I bought a bottle of Pedialite. Erin is our favorite checker because she is so friendly to us. She was very concerned on Thursday night and even more concerned this morning. I thought she was going to cry. I had to walk away, actually, from the deep look of caring on her face this morning. I don't think it was staged, but I had not had enough coffee to deal with an acquaintance fussing over my child in such a manner.

I pushed the cart to the bread section looking for bread "that she will eat," another text request from Amy. Will she eat french bread? Is the french bread ready? I smelled bread. I saw bagels. I didn't see french bread, and they were not speaking in English behind the counter, so I bought English Muffin Bread off the table and English Muffins that were stocked in the egg cooler.

I went down to the yogurt aisle, looking for Yakult cultures, a sweet and sour tasting 2oz milky looking product that has good bacteria in it. The yogurt aisle is also the potato chip aisle and at 630am the potato chip vendors are hard at work. So I was perfectly in the way of the Frito-Lay vendor while she tried to replenish the Cheetos.

I found the Yakult, and bought some impossibly flavored yogurt packed in flimsy plastic tubes to add to my arsenal of good bacteria. I went through the checkout where Erin showed more concern. I drove the van past the Henry's on the way home but did not go in. When I got home, Amy and the baby were sleeping. In my deep wisdom I shook Amy awake and told her to go ahead and sleep, I would listen for the baby.

Everything would be fine.