Strike 2

Michaela: no accidents
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 1

I called the ETC today and found out that they don't take our insurance. Dammit. So, I guess that's strike 2. I'm not sure we're out at strike 3, but I'd sure like to not find out. I think next I'm going to talk again to our pediatrician and see if it's worth finding a GI who might be able to help us. But for now, we're going to give the mineral oil and milk of magnesia another try and see if we can really just clean her out completely. Then maybe the Miralax might work better as a maintenance step and not as a disimpaction tool.

Nothing new to report

Michaela: no accidents
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 1

Michaela hasn't had any accidents lately, at least since the bathtub incident. Except once she peed her pants. I'm at my wits end with this girl. I wish I had more patience for her. Tomorrow I'm calling to make her appointment at the ETC.

The holidays have been fairly uneventful in the dirty diaper department. Maeve still shows absolutely NO interest in using the toilet. Doodie is perfectly healthy and we've stayed rash free now for a while. I do think, though, that my kids are somehow required to poop in every store we enter, preferably when we have a cart full of merchandise and we are at the farthest point possible from the restrooms. Amazing.

Honest, I swear.

Michaela: 1
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 1

So, I've obviously neglected my blog for a few days, but give me a break. It's Christmas!! And there's like a foot and a half of snow outside in SEATTLE if you can believe it!! I've never seen this much snow in the greater Seattle area in all my 32 years here. It's amazing!

So, anyway, I'm sure I'll be back to the daily recap once it's calmed down from the celebrations. I did, however, get Michaela to the doc today and got her a referral to the Encopresis Treatment Center in Edmonds. Hopefully we can work with them and try to get her soiling issues under control. The doc today said she was still impacted. I think she's been inpacted for 4 solid years, seriously. I'll make our first appointment after New Years is over. I asked our doc if I could give her some milk of magnesia to really try to get her colon clean and he said I could, and to add mineral oil to it as well. So I did. I mixed this really awful concoction of the MoM, Mineral oil and Egg nog. Gross. But she drank it all down and about 15 minutes later was in the toilet laying the hugest 1-piece poop I've seen from her in quite a while! But that was it. I was expecting a few hours of running to the bathroom, but it didn't happen. Then after dinner and a bath she vomited. I'm a little worried that instead of working with gravity the meds made it easier for things to work against it. Or she got a bug. I hope it's not the latter. I mean, it's Christmas!

Okay, we're finally doing something about it. Finally.

Michaela: 1 - she didn't quite make it to the bathroom this morning after waking up.
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 1

I called our pediatrician today and I'm taking M in on Monday morning to get a referral to the Encopresis Treatment Center. Good lord I hope they can help us. And my immediate plan is to give her some milk of magnesia tomorrow morning (assuming school is closed) so that we can maybe clean her whole system out.

M was probably in the bathroom about 6 times today and went #2 each time. Once I went in there to about 3/4 of a roll of t.p. and pooh all over the toilet. I mean everywhere. I don't even want to know what she had to do to get it where she got it. I'm glad to be in the dark on this one.

Sidump'r

Michaela: 2
Maeve: 0
Alasdair: 2

Okay, I have experienced the single most nasty moment of my life as a mother to date. The kids were in the bath tonight (we had spaghetti, so a bath is mandatory) all playing happily while I cleaned up the kitchen and living room, laying out their jammies and diapers, etc. After a while I walked by the bathroom and out of the corner of my eye I see Michaela getting on the toilet. So I look in there and see a HUGE BROWN POOP RUNNING DOWN THE SIDE OF MY BATHTUB. Oh. My. God. I totally lost it. I just should not have to do this with her at her age. So after screaming at her thoroughly to the point where SHE actually wanted to go to bed early, I went in and talked to her about it. I've decided that tomorrow I'm making an appointment with our pediatrician and asking him for a referral to the Encopresis Treatment Center in Edmonds. Even if nothing is physically wrong with her, of which I'm not convinced, the things we are doing to handle this are obviously not working. So we're going to go there to get some help.

I need a stiff drink tonight.

No accidents!!

Michaela: NO ACCIDENTS!!
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 3

Michaela made it through the day with no accidents!! Yay! I'm thinking I'm going to make her an "emergency kit" out of one of her old lunch boxes. I'm going to put some wipes in there, some panties and extra tights and a ziplock baggie. I'll ask her teacher if she could keep it on the floor by her desk so that if she thinks there might be an accident she can just grab it and go to the bathroom and then when she's done, bring it all back to the classroom. Plus, the lunch box is vinyl so it can be wiped out and sanitized easily.

Here's what I'd like for Christmas: Just ONE child out of my three than can use the bathroom consistently without help! Ahh, I can dream. :)

Birthday party massacre

Michaela: 1
Maeve: 2
Alasdair: 2

We went to my neice's birthday party this afternoon. Practically the minute we walked in the door I had to go and change Doodie's diaper. About 20 minutes later I had to go and change his AGAIN, and Maeve dropped a bomb too. Of course, with hers I decided to check and in doing so, stuck my finger right in it as I pulled her diaper out to see the view. I hate that. And then right as the girls were sitting down for the opening of the gifts, Michaela ran to the bathroom and promptly needed "wipes and a new pair of panties". So I had to go and clean that mess up. I pretty much spent the whole party in the bathroom. Fun!

Oh, and I missed posting on Friday. Here's the scoop with THAT. I go downstairs and notice that on top of my washer is a pair of Michaela's shorts that she has to wear under her uniform jumper. They are white. With a HUGE brown spot all over them. yeah. She pooped. After talking to her and my husband I got most of the scoop: Michaela pooped at school, like full on POOPED in her underwear and just didn't do anything about it. We keep a pair of clean panties in a zip lock bag in her backpack for just such occassions, but she didn't choose to use it for whatever reason. Then to top it off, my husband picked her up from school, she came home and watched a MOVIE before she decided to go to the bathroom and tell her dad that she'd had an accident.

What do I do with that? I mean, seriously. She's almost 7 years old and she pretty much needs a diaper. I am terrified of the day when her classmates notice and she get's deemed "Michaela Poopy Pants" or something equally horrid.

I think I missed a day...

Michaela: no accidents! Update: After publishing this post I noticed on my bathroom floor that there were TWO pair of soiled panties in there, just about Michaela's size I believe... I wish she'd at least tell me about them instead of leaving them on the floor. At least Alasdair didn't find them first!!

Maeve: 1

Alasdair: 1

The days are just flying by. I can't seem to keep track of anything anymore, much less poop.

So, today was an office day for me. Here's my second hand rundown:

From the sitter: Maeve had nothing, and Doodie had one small nugget.

A scene from my kitchen:

Scene: Mike is telling me the sitter's recap, then adding that since he's been home he changed a nasty one from Doodie and that Maeve dropped an asteroid.

Michaela: Maeve had an asteroid in her diaper?

Mike: Yep, she did.

Michaela: A REAL asteroid??

Mike: Yep, a real one. snicker

Michaela: Oh, so was it an asteroid that fit in her diaper?

Mike: Yep.

Michaela: It's not going to explode the house, right?

Ah, no promises, babe. I've seen what can happen in a Guthrie diaper!!

Hominy!

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 4

So last night Mike made this spicy soup with pork and hominy in it, pozole? I think that's what it's called. Anyway, did you know that hominy works the same way as corn? Yep, comes out whole. :)

They struck again

Michaela: no accidents
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 2

I had to take my husband's car to get the oil changed this morning, so after the kids and I got up, ate and got dressed we headed out to the car. Coats all on, backpack full of books and crayons, 1 diaper each with the wipes in my bag we head out. I pick up Doodie and walk down the deck stairs only to realize that he totally stinks. Damn. I tell the girls to get in the car while I head back in the house to change him and wash up. Then after we've been at the car place for about 15 minutes Maeve asks me where the bathroom is. WHAT?? Okay, so weird. So I ask her if she needs to go potty and she says YES!! Ureka! So I take her in there and pull down her pants and pull up. Yeah, I jumped the gun there on my excitement. A big pooh ball fell out onto the floor. So really she was just telling me that she had already gone and wanted to be changed. Oh well. Maybe next time. :)

mini post

Michaela: no accidents
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 1

My kids have sucked the life out of me today, so I'm just posting the basics.

We woke up. I changed diapers. I hour later I changed Dude's poopy diaper so that I could pack up our stuff (we were visiting my sister this weekend) and leave for home. I got everything packed up and got Michaela convinced that we had to leave NOW, and Maeve walks by. I get a whiff, and yeah, she's dropped a bomb. So I had to run out to the car to get the diapers and wipes to change her, too. But that was all the dirty stuff for the day. The rest has just been sheer attitude and lack of sleep for us all.

Out of town poops

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 2

A fairly easy day in the diaper department. We're visiting my sister in Chehalis this weekend and were out and about on the town for a few hours. And nobody had to go potty in the middle of nowhere or even had a dirty diaper until just before we were heading home. Nice! M & A must have decided amongst themselves to give me a break today. It always sucks to have to change a diaper on a lawn in public. :)

BAM!

Michaela: no accidents
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 4

I'm not sure what's up with Dude today, but he is FOUL.

And Maeve saved hers until right before lights out. I let them stay up late, put them to bed at like 8:30 and then let them read in bed until 9. As I was mopping my floor I hear Maeve yelling something at me, but I forgot to go and check on her. So at 9 I went in to turn off the lights and give kisses Maeve tells me she's poopie. Gah. HOW DO THEY KNOW?? Kids have amazing timing. :)

I can't believe it's not Friday!

Michaela: no accidents
Maeve: ?
Alasdair: at least one, and it was just as the curtain was opening at Michaela's school Christmas Program.

How do they KNOW??? Luckily I only missed the 7th grade band, and they pretty much sucked, so no worries. :D

Is it Friday yet?

Good Grief!

Michaela: no accidents
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 3

Okay, with the first two nasties of the day, one for each kid, I would have sworn that they just didn't poop at all yesterday and saved it all for me today! But apparently that's not the case. DH says that Doodie pooped like 3 times just yesterday evening! I guess I've got to give this kid more cheese. :)

Of course, those poops came at really great times of the day. Since I was out last night I was really super tired today and I hit my wall at about 1:00 today. So I attempted to lay down and close my eyes for a half hour or so to recharge, but Dude woke up early from his nap. Even so, I was able to doze in and out while he banged toys on my face and read me books and such. Then Maeve woke up at 2, just as I was about to get up and get us all ready to go and pick up Michaela from school. But I just lay there and lay there. Finally I got up with about 2 minutes left to get all our shoes and socks on, get out the door and strap the kids in the car, but WAIT! Maeve's seriously poopy and I do NOT want that in my car. So I had to change her. Then I picked up the Dude and WAIT! He's poopy too! But his wasn't so bad. So we piled in the car and went to the school. When Michaela got in the car she's all, Ew! Something stinks! Yeah, I know.

A night on the town and no poop for me!

Michaela: ??
Maeve: ??
Alasdair: ??

I saw my kids for approximately 1 hour this morning and won't see them again until we wake up tomorrow. Hopefully they didn't torture anyone with all their poo. Except maybe daddy. :D

I switched my day in the office on Friday for today so I could go to the Salon of Shame. My BFF Steph was reading in it tonight. I'll have a YouTube video posted soon! It was the 3rd anniversary and it was awesome!

Doodie put the "Toy" in "Toilet"

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 1

Alasdair: 2

So, here's how I spent the last 6 days. Yes, 6 days. Last Monday our toilet stopped effectively flushing. I mean, it wasn't overflowing, but it wasn't emptying out what we put in there either. We had to plunge it just to "flush" the water down, basically forcing it past the blockage. So first we start yelling at Michaela about using way too much toilet paper. I swear she uses half a roll of Charmin every time she poops. So we spent 2 days and 3 toilet plungers trying to unclog the toilet. No dice.

So, Mike's new theory is that Michaela threw a pair of underwear down the toilet, maybe because she had an accident or something. But I didn't think so. I mean, she's only 6. Her panties aren't that big, plus they're cotton, so we'd be able to plunge those out. My theory is it's a toy. Doodie LOVES to play in the toilet, throwing things in there, spooning water out, etc. And the toilet lock we bought is a total piece of crap. Half the time he walks out of the bathroom carrying the toilet lock.

So, I run to Lowes and by a toilet auger. I get the "home toilet auger" for $7 and change. We try and try and try to snake out the toilet, and we get some shards of pink and yellow somethings that float down into the bowl, but it's still clogged. After about 30 minutes we end up breaking the auger. Yep. No toy. Clogged toilet. Broken auger.

At this point, it's Wednesday night and tomorrow is Thanksgiving. So we plan that on Friday or Saturday afternoon we'll remove the toilet and see what we can do. So, on Sunday (:D) I went down to Lowes to buy a new auger. We decided we'd try it the right way. I'm thinking we have like a rubber duckie or something in the toilet so the auger should really snag it so we can pull it out. I spend almost 30 bucks on the "Maintenance Toilet Auger" because it's bigger and hopefully we won't break it. We try and try and try, and again, nothing. So I go back to Lowes and get a wax ring. We drain and remove the toilet, shove the auger in up through the bottom of the toilet, and here's what we found:

It's a wooden carrot from our kitchenette with a ghost finger puppet jammed on top of it. We were never going to be able to auger that sucker out, nor shove it down through the pipe.

Now the toilet flushes! And now the bathroom door stays CLOSED.

Thanksgiving Weekend Post

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: ??
Alasdair: ??

yeah, I know. I'm disappointed in me too. I didn't spend every day of the holiday weekend tallying up my kids poop. Sorry! :D And, we did not have any scary whole cranberry poops like I was fearing! Although Doodie really liked the cranberry sauce. Probably because grandma put amaretto in them. ;)

But last night Doodie kept waking up and not wanting to go back down. He would keep crying even though he was covered up and plugged in. Those are usually his issues. Come to find out this morning that he had pooped just a little bit, so I couldn't smell it when I was in his room. But that little poo make a big red bottom, balls and penis. Poor guy. It's not bleeding and weepy yet, but he definitely doesn't want me to change his diaper at all. We'll keep smearing up the Desitin and see if we can get the redness healing before it gets out of control.

Pre-Thanksgiving Post

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 2

And boy were the kids nasTEE. I can't wait to see what happens in there after a day full of eating, playing, eating, napping and eating! Cranberry poops can't be pretty. ;)

I probably won't post tomorrow seeing as how i'll be at the in-laws getting my turkey on. Then hitting the sack so I can head out for Black Friday. yay.

Diapers, Yes! Diapers, No!

Michaela: 2 accidents yesterday, none today!
Maeve: 1 yesterday and 1 today
Alasdair: 1 yesterday and 1 today

Okay, I suck. I got off track, then back on it for 1 whole day, then off again. Ack. But I have a good excuse. I was at the NKOTB concert on Saturday and it was SO much better than poopy diapers. :D

Anyway, we got some reward charts and put them on the fridge. So we've (meaning I've) started handing out stickers every night for the things on their charts. One of Maeve's is using her potty and one of Michaela's is no accidents. We'll see how it goes.

So, I thought maybe I'd post some of my own opinions about brands of diapers and why I would or would not use them. Here goes!

Pampers
Pros: They work! At least for some babies. We used them for a while, then had to switch because they started leaking, then we eventually switched back because the Huggies started leaking.
Cons: $$, don't sell them at Costco anymore.

Huggies
Pros: They work! But see above. AND they sell them at Costco.
Cons: $$

Luvs
Pros: Cheaper than the two leading brands. They used to be plastic lined like the diapers from the 70's, but they changed that a few years ago. In a money pinch, these are okay.
Cons: Barney is on them. They don't work as well as the other leading brands. The smell heavily of perfume.

Kirkland Signature
Pros: They work just as well as Pampers and Huggies. They sell them at Costco. They are cheaper than Pampers and Huggies.
Cons: Um, none! other than being a disposable diaper, I mean. :)

Store brands
Pros: They're usually much cheaper and you don't have to buy 600 of them at a time if you're just trying to get by for 2 days until you get to Costco next.
Cons: They don't work. They leak, bad. All of them. Just don't use them. Don't.

Nature Boy and Girl Diapers
Pros: Supposedly "Biodegradable", which is a myth anyway. BUT, they are made with cornstarch so they breath really well. And they're very slim, not bulky at all. We loved these diapers, but couldn't use them regularly. See below. They are a local company!
Cons: Freakin' expensive. Not sold at regular stores.

Cloth
Pros: Keeps diapers out of landfills. Can be cheaper than disposables if you don't use a service (unless the service is paid for by grandma!) The diaper covers are super cute!
Cons: Uses up water resources. Messy to clean. Time consuming with all the extra laundry. Hard to travel with. Bulky on the baby's bum. Leak more at nighttime.

Anyway, these are just my own personal experiences with diapers. I am a woman of convenience and very little time, so cloth diapers just couldn't work economically for me. I've tried LOTS of different kinds of disposable diapers, and they are NOT all created equally. Take it from me!

Okay, we're back on track

Michaela: 2 accidents
Maeve: ?
Alasdair: ?

I haven't a clue about the little ones as they were with the sitter and then Daddy after that. I didn't get home until 8:00 tonight. But I do know that Michaela's got some serious butt rot and she had TWO pair of soiled panties on my bathroom floor. I think tomorrow I might see if I can get her an official appointment with our pediatrician at the same time that i bring the little ones in for their well baby visits. It just can't be that a bright almost seven year old who has been potty trained for almost 4 years still can't figure it out. She can't make it to the toilet reliably, she can't wipe properly, she makes a complete mess of my bathroom, clogs the toilet AND forgets to wash her hands. Where did we go wrong?? ARGH.

Okay, another belated post...

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 2, plus he was gassy

But I was so damn tired! By body and brain literally just gave out on me long about 7:00 last night.

Here's a tip for anyone who needs to get more fiber into their kids diets: Feed them greens! My husband makes this dish with chard (swiss or bright lights) and rice, onions, garlic, whatever. Basically it just boils down the greens and stalks and cooks the rice. But Maeve loved it when she was small, and Alasdair really loves it, too. The disturbing thing is that a lot of it comes out perfectly whole. And it's much more frightening than, say, those raisins or the corn that you see periodically. The greens in there just make it look nasty. But boy is it good for you!

Belated Post, but for a good reason!

Michaela: 1 #2 accident
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 5

So, I didn't post last night because I had a horrendous day. Between a crappy day at work and a day full of crap at home, I pretty much lost it. As soon as dinner was over, I wiped the kids down, got them in their jammies and went shopping. I even missed all my shows on "Medical Tuesday". Yeah, it needs some alliteration there, but the shows are on Tuesday, not Monday. What can I say?

But it wasn't a good day in the diaper department. We finally got more Miralax last weekend and M's back on it. But then she has an accident? What's up with that?

And then Doodie has had some seriously weird colored and strange consistency poops, and a LOT of them. I'm kind of worried that his gut isn't doing well. But I don't see any of the red flags of enterocolitis, so I'll sit tight and see what happens with him.

Today was one of those days that made me want to write this blog

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 2
Alasdair: 4

So, even though Michaela didn't have any accidents today, she totally clogged the toilet with toilet paper because she uses an entire roll to wipe her butt. And then when we went to swimming lessons today I took her into the locker room, got her ready to go, handed her goggles to her and asked her point blank: DO YOU HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM? Nope! So off we go. We wait for about 2 minutes for class to start and when I start walking her over to where her class meets she says she has to go to the bathroom. Seriously?? Really?? Ugh.

And with Maeve and Alasdair today, they each had some poops during the day, maeve 1 and Alasdair THREE (and one of which made the poor guy wake up from his nap screaming bloody murder). In the afternoon we went to pick Michaela up from school and take her to her dentist appointment. And since Maeve will be three in January, she's due to go, too, so I decided to take her back and let her watch Michaela get her cleaning. The great thing is that she was raring to go! She wanted her turn now and wasn't interested in waiting until next time. So that's good. The not so great thing is that after the hygienist came and called for Michaela, i went to the play area to grab the little ones and smelled Doodie right away. Great. So I picked him up and took Maeve's hand. We walked through the door and Maeve turns to me and says, "I poopie." Yup, she was. So I got to trot both my poopie babies through the dentist office and stink up the corner of the place for 30 minutes while Michaela gets her teeth cleaned.

How to kids learn such great timing?

Okay, so the fast food backfired.

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 2
Alasdair: 3

About 15 minutes after I posted last night Maeve pooped. Argh. And today I went to hang out with my friend at her place with the kids. I swear it was constant poop. I was there for about 4 hours and changed 5 poopy diapers! Apparently the happy meals worked in reverse. Instead of plugging them up, it lubed them up. :)

The great thing though is that Michaela's been relatively accident free lately, and she's been able to actually hold it. So that's a good sign that nothing is physically wrong. It's a bad sign that she's a total butthead. She MUST be a Guthrie. ;)

Weekend craziness

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 2

Today was a pretty fair day as far as dirty diapers went. Mike changed the first of each kid, and then I took care of A's last one that happened, oh yes, on the way to the park in the car. So I barely had to do anything. Fair, right? :)

And we had McDonald's for dinner, or at least the kids did. So maybe I won't have anything to change at all tomorrow!

Ha ha grandma!

Michaela: no accidents! (except 1 in the shower left over from last night!)
Maeve: at least 1
Alasdair: ?

So, yeah. Mike tells me today that when he got in the shower there was a turd by the drain with one of our bathtub cups turned upside down over it. Um, gross! But he had to clean it up, so ha ha!

And it was my day in the office today, so I'm not sure what the report is from the sitter, but tonight was Mike's "holiday" party at work so my mom came to watch the kids for us. She said that she changed the little ones' diapers before she put them to bed. She tucked in A, then tucked in the girls. But when she got to Maeve, BAM! Let's go change that diaper again! Classic. Glad it was you and not me! :D

But thanks for watching the kids, though. Really. Poopy diapers and all, they love you grandma!

They saved it all for me!

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 2
Alasdair: 1

So, technically it's my office day today. But I got a personal invitation to a very fancy Teddy Bear Picnic in my daughter's first grade classroom this afternoon, so I worked from home. But I did send the little ones to the sitter's house for about 4 hours. She came and got them before lunch and brought them home after she got her oldest from school. So I was with m & a for the morning with only one nasty to speak of. But when I went to the curb when they were getting dropped off, the sitter's like, "um, they both pooped. But I swear I just changed them before we left to get Chloe!!". ;) Wink wink. Yeah, they just like to save it up for me. Maeve's was a really nasty one too.

Tonight I made chili for dinner. We got the big container of milled flax seed from Costco a few weeks ago and cracked it open. I put 4 scoops of flax in our chili! It thickened it up nicely, although it did sort of have a strange sort of gooey consistency. But I'm expecting with the fiber from that and the chili beans that tomorrow will be a busy day in the diaper department. Sorry Tina! :D (it's my office day!)

I got lucky today!

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 2

I didn't get the huge explosion from Maeve that I expected today. I wonder if I'm really in for it tomorrow? :)

Tuesday is Doomsday

Michaela: no accidents! Well, almost 1 accident, but...
Maeve: 0
Alasdair: 2

What I've learned from this blog is that when there's that big fat zero next to Maeve's name, I'm gonna get it GOOD the next day. Can't wait for that. Even though I can now see my poop future, I can't even do anything to avoid it! ugh! :)

It's been a slow day on the diaper front

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 2
Alasdair: .5

Oh, except for when we took the kids to the Pacific Science Center and the minute we got in the car Maeve pooped. How does she know to do that?? So, in true Guthrie fashion, the first place we went when we got to the science center was the bathroom. Always, always, always.

But Dude only did one little half-poop today, this evening actually. I'll be keeping an eye on him. I hope he doesn't poop in the middle of the night. Then we'll be starting the whole rash thing again, and right now his bum looks so good!

Saturday

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 2
Alasdair: 2

I don't know how my kids do it, but they know how to poop in unison. I'll smell the stank, change a diaper, throw it away wash my hands and the minute I walk back into the room I smell a new stank! Rinse, repeat!

On another note, Maeve actually sat on the potty yesterday 2 or 3 times willingly! I didn't have to force her to sit and have her throw a huge tantrum about it. She actually wanted to do it. I'm going to have to take advantage of those days. And I think i've decided that starting off the day by putting her directly on the potty, even though I know she's definitely got to go, is not a good idea. She wakes up like me, grumpy and nasty. So forcing her to do something she's not interested in will just put us on the wrong track for the whole day. So we'll have to just work on the middle of the day and see how that works for us. I had such high hopes that Maeve would be my easy one to train, but now I think it will be doodie. He's close enough to Maeve's age to see the training going on and it won't be such a foreign idea for him as it is for Maeve. Anyway, we'll keep chugging along with it and hope for some success!

How to get your kids to eat Beets

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 2

Honestly, I hate beets. I always have. They rank right up there behind celery as some of the foulest food on Earth. But we can get our girls to eat beets! Yep! All you have to do is tell them that they'll have pink pee and pink poop and they'll gladly eat them just to see the results. :P Although it doesn't seem to have worked with the Dude. And it also helps to try to cook them in at least a semi-edible state. I think tonight's recipe involved vanilla extract of some kind.

But I can guarantee that Michaela will be watching the toilet tomorrow to see what color her poop is. It's like solving two problems in one! Get them to poop, and get them to eat their veggies!

More Miralax!!

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: ?
Alasdair: at least 1

Yesterday and today were my days in the office, so I only know of 1 pooh from yesterday and then the stink bomb that Doodie dropped while we were at the pool with Michaela. Man, that kid is rotten inside!

And Michaela is out of Miralax, so I've gotta go get her more of that. Her charting is going well. She actually goes a lot more than I think she does, so that might help our case with the doc. If she's "constipated" to the point that she's having accidents, but she's still having 1 or more BMs a day, there's something wrong there.

It's a poopy kind of a day

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 2
Alasdair: 3

Days like today were my inspiration for this blog. :) So, here's how my morning started:

Wake up kids to get M ready for school.
Girls eat breakfast while I make lunch
M gets herself dressed
I change m's diaper and get her dressed
I change A's poopy diaper and get him in some warmer jammies
We get into the car to drop M off at school
"Maeve, are you poopy?"
"Yeah."
Dammit.
We're back at home after dropping off M.
I change Maeve's poopy diaper.
I make A some oatmeal.
A refuses oatmeal.
Maeve eats said oatmeal.
I go to take a shower.
After shower I open the bathroom door and A falls into the bathroom (he was sitting propped up against the door waiting for me! awww...)
"A, are you poopy?"
"Dammit."

So, at this point it's 8:30 am and I've already changed 3 poopy diapers.

Maeve drops another bomb at 9:30 a.m.
A wakes up from his nap with another nasty diaper.

Luckily for me, that's it. But it was a very busy and very dirty morning! :)

Now I'm getting nervous...

Michaela: no accidents
Maeve: 2
Alasdair: 1

Alasdair has been running a really high fever off and on for the last 24 hours. We went to the doc today and lo and behold, there's nothing wrong with the kid. So now I'm even more worried about the big "E". Especially since he only poohed once today, and it wasn't very big.

And I had a poop gross out today when changing one of Maeve's diapers. You can read about it here. It was so nasty I don't want to retype it. :)

To the Pot, I Say!

Michaela: 1 small accident
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 2

Michaela's been in the bathroom every 30 - 60 minutes from about noon until about 11:00pm. I'm not exactly sure what's going on there. And Doodie has started running a fever. He started shaking at dinner like he was freezing. After dinner we got into a warm bath and his jaw was shivering. So we got him out and got him in some warm jammies and cuddled up on daddy's lap with a blanket. Within a half hour he was roasting! He's running a fever of about 104. Every time this kind of thing happens I just get terrified that it's enterocolitis, even though so far it never has been. Off to the pediatrician's in the morning!

Post Halloween Surprise!

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 2
Alasdair: 3

I changed a really full Doodie diaper this morning and found a holiday surprise!! In dude's second diaper of the early morning (like before 8:30 a.m.) I found 5 whole and intact pumpkin seeds! Let's see, we carved our pumpkins on Wednesday, and today is Saturday, so it takes 3 days for pumpkin seeds to pass through an HD kid. :)

This isn't the first time we've found neat things in his diaper either. The first incident was a Friday evening. I took off his diaper to get him into the bathtub and it was poopy, of course. But nestled right inside the nasties was a little red rubbery frog. Yep. A frog. Now, I have photos, but that's even too nasty for me to post on my blog, so you'll just have to trust me. It was hilarious frankly. I called my husband to tell him, and then I called my babysitter to see if she was missing a small red frog toy. Lo and behold, they were! :) She was mortified, but I wasn't upset. In fact, when we went to our next check up with Dr. W at Children's Hospital I told him that his colon was working just fine and told him the story. He was cracking up. I love a surgeon with a good sense of humor. :)

The second incident was just a couple of months ago. I was changing his diaper, poopy of course, and found a rubber band in there!

Between Doodie's diaper surprises and Michaela's cramming foreign objects up her nose, I think I'm doomed. I don't even want to think about what Maeve will do someday. :)

Pecky's on the mend

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: at least 1
Alasdair: no idea

It was sitter day again today. Maeve hit me with one as I walked in the door after work, but other than that, I know not. But Doodie's pecky is looking much better today. Hopefully by tomorrow it'll look good as new!

It's Flaming!!

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 3

Plus, his little pecky is all flaming red! This morning I changed his first diaper of the day and saw something white and solid in the opening of his penis. I took it out and pulled back the foreskin and saw some more. I cleaned out what I could, but it was all red and kind of puffy in there. I'm not sure where it's coming from. We didn't do anything different, cleaned it all the same way as we have been for the last 16 months... When I changed his second diaper, also poopy, i found more white stuff to clean out. Then with his other diaper changes I haven't found more, but it's still very very red. Poor little guy. It doesn't seem to be bothering him at all though.

I called the nurse at the pediatrician's office and she said to keep it clean and put some zinc oxide cream (20%) on it, but come on, the kids LIVES in Desitin. What good will that do? Anyway we'll keep it clean and watch it until Saturday. If it's not looking better we'll take him in to the doc. Hopefully it will just get better on it's own. Poor Dude!! :(

Honestly, I don't remember

I didn't get to posting last night, and I honestly can't remember the tallies. I know Michaela didn't have any accidents, but that's about it.

It was just one of those days where life is catching up with me!

Monday Madness

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 2
Alasdair: 2

So, we bought the huge container of flax from Costco. I'm hoping we live long enough to use it all. :) But I think it's time to crack it open and start sprinkling it over things. It's sneaky and fabulous. I love it!

And we started our charts today. Maeve = no stars, Michaela = 1 star!

Charting Fools!

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 0
Alasdair: 1

So, I'm going to start making a chart for Michaela so that we can actually track her BMs. That will help us to know if she's having enough of them or not enough, even with Miralax. And maybe it will help to actually predict when she might have accidents or at least tell me when I have to force her to sit on the toilet and go.

And then I'm going to make Maeve a chart for using the potty. Even the allure of candy corn pumpkins is wearing off. She's so unwilling to even sit on the potty. It's frustrating.

Saturday Slow-downs

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 2
Alasdair: 2

And his bum is clearing up nicely without having to use the Ilex! I almost broke it out last night but I was too lazy to go grab it from the bathroom, so we just used the Desitin instead. Plus it helps that his poops are slowing down, making the contact with his skin and the caustic poo less frequent. Let's just hope it stays that way for a while. :)

No new updates today

Michaela: 1 small accident right as I walked in the door from work.
Maeve: ?
Alasdair: ?

Another day at the sitter, another day free of diapers and Desitin for me!

Hot Spots

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: ?
Alasdair: ?

It was my day in the office again today. I'm guessing that Alasdair had at least one poop today because after the other day when his butt was on fire, he's been getting steadily clearer with the exception of 2 little "hot spots" that are still really red and weepy. There's one on each cheek. I've been keeping a ton of Desitin on him and it's been sticking really well to those weepy spots, but tonight after his bath I was putting a clean diaper on him and those two spots were really bad again. So I'm guessing that he did a doodie at some point that re-irritated it. Poor guy.

All Quiet on the Diaper Front

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 0
Alasdair: 1

It was a very quiet day in the diaper department today, which is good. It gave Dude some time for his bum to heal up. It's all looking very nice now. :)

And we're continuing our attempt at potty training with Maeve. There's not been much success. I think she's really just not in to it, although she's totally ready to. She tells me the minute she goes in her diaper, she changes her own diapers, and she has plenty of vocabulary. She's just stubborn. I'm hoping to get her using the toilet before she turns 4 in 2010.

My whole house smells like poop

Michaela: no accidents
Maeve: 2
Alasdair: 5

I swear everytime I walk into the living room it just stinks like poop. Maybe it's just some sort of weird olfactory imprinting; I just know that when I'm home or in the car there's poop lurking about somewhere.

And dude sat in a poopy diaper for over an hour last night (thanks DH!) and his butt was on FIRE. He wouldn't even sit down in the bathtub and I couldn't hold him under his bum. I had to squeeze his legs instead. But a good frosting of the Desitin seemed to do the trick. In just an hour or so after the initial finding of the burn, it seemed to have already gotten better. Poor baby. I can't imagine having a rash like that on my bum.

HD Research Study

Michaela: 1 wet accident
Maeve: 0
Alasdair: 2

Tomorrow I have to call and make an appointment for Doodie's next post-op check up with our surgeon. While we're there, I have to try to sweet talk him into ordering a blood draw for me, DH and Alasdair so we can participate in the Johns Hopkins HD genetic study. I'm really excited to be a part of that. I know we don't get to have any specific information about us, but it feels good to help support the research efforts to figure out more about this disease.

What I'm not excited about is trying to get a blood draw from Alasdair. And I'm even less excited to get one from my husband. He's a needle wuss. :)

Busy Day!

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 3
Alasdair: 5

I don't know what these kids ate, but MAN! I think we'll have to eat some cheese and bananas.

So, potty training with Maeve is going slowly, but in the right direction. All of last week she went on the potty for me except for one day where she went in her pull-up before anyone got out of bed to get her on the potty. And for some reason my husband can't seem to get her on the potty in the mornings during the weekend. Now we've just got to get her to go during the day. I've had her sit on the potty for over an hour at a time sometimes and she just won't go. The minute she stands up she goes in her pull-up. Dang it!

Oh well. I'm hopeful that early next year I'll have one less diapered kid to change all day and maybe she'll do better than her big sister!

Friday Fun

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 2

Another office day for me, so this is just from 6 pm until bedtime. Maeve apparently "dropped an asteroid" according to DH. However, they did both do their dookie right before I got home, so I didn't have to change them. YAY!

Frosting the Bum

Michaela: no accidents?
Maeve: 1, but she did pee in the potty for me again!
Alasdair: no idea

It was my day in the office today so the sitter took charge of the poop, for the most part anyway.

And here is my promised how-to on the Ilex cream. If you have a kid with a weeping or bleeding diaper rash, Ilex is for you! But it's not as simple to use as regular creams. When I was in the hospital and I saw that Alasdair's little scrotum was actually bleeding during a diaper change I totally panicked. I mean, he's my first boy so I don't really know what to do with all that down there anyway, but to find it bleeding just broke my heart! So I called the nurse and she said all non-chalant-like, "oh, I'll bring you some Ilex for that". Um, okay. So she brings me the tube and leaves me to apply it. Being a woman, I flipped over the box and read the instructions. It said to put on a thick layer and top it with petroleum jelly. Well, the nurse didn't bring me any of that, so I thought I was good. I mean, the nurse at a Children's Hospital would surely know if I had to use vaseline, right? So I put on the Ilex and close 'er up. A few hours later at A's next diaper change I literally had to rip the diaper off of his already tender balls. Poor guy!! The nurse came in just as I was changing him (I can't remember if it was the same nurse or not) and was like, "oh! You need to smear vaseline over the top of that so it doesn't stick!" Um HELLO!! Whatever. So she got me some and showed me how to use it properly.

1. Clean the bum area thoroughly.
2. Dry with a clean cloth or air dry.
3. LOAD UP with the Ilex cream. I mean, like you're frosting a cake. TONS of it everywhere that it is weeping or bleeding.
4. Absolutely cover the Ilex with Vaseline or petroleum jelly. Put a really thick layer on.
5. Close up the diaper and you're good to go!

Notes:

• The diaper may still stick a little bit, but no worries. It's not too bad as long as you really cover it well with the Vaseline. This stuff turns into rubber cement, seriously!
• At the next diaper change, DON'T try to pick off all the old Ilex. If it's a poopy diaper, it might turn all brown and look really gross, but just leave it on. Apply more Ilex to the newly exposed areas for any that came off and redo the Vaseline.
• At bathtime the Ilex will come off nice and easy.
• I bet within 24 hours things will be looking much better!!

Good Luck!

Back to normal

Michaela: 1 pee accident
Maeve: 0
Alasdair: 2

We had our well baby check up today and Dude is great! Tall, skinny and loud. All normal for little boys I hear. :)

So, I promised and Ilex "how to", but it'll have to wait. I cut off a slice of my left index finger making dinner tonite, so typing is a challenge.

Cream Analysis

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 2 AND we peed on the potty again this morning, yay!
Alasdair: 6

I'm pretty sure I should own some stock in Desitin. Even with the market being as crazy as it is, I know I'll never be able to stop buying the butt cream. I'm sure we could keep them in business.

Here's a list of some creams that we have tried and my thoughts on them:

Original Desitin* - The BEST, and the best value. It actually sticks to their bottoms and doesn't disappear the minute they pee. Plus, it's got the highest percentage of zinc oxide in it than any other brand. Most brands are like 10% and this is 40%.
Creamy Desitin - Disappears the minute they pee. I don't like any "creamy" creams. I just don't see the point. If it's so easy to wipe off, then how is it protecting their bums?
Desitin Clear - This is just glorified Vaseline. Don't buy it. DON'T.
Triple Paste - This is pretty good stuff, but at more than $30 for the tub (yes, I buy in TUBS), I can get the same results with the Original Desitin.
Boudreaux's Butt Paste - Not worth the money. It smells nice, but it's so runny. It just doesn't do the job on an HD kid. Maybe it would work with a typical baby's rash.
Aveeno - No.
A+D - No.
Burt's Bees - again, it's nice and it's natural, but it's consistency is just too runny to do any good.
Ilex* - This is a specialized barrier cream that you can't just buy on the shelf with these other creams. I got it from the hospital before we left, and then they gave me more at one of our check-ups. But you can order it online if you're in the US, or you can ask your Pharmacist to order it for you. If your little one has the nasty HD rash that is weeping or bleeding, give this a try! Tomorrow I'll post instructions on the Ilex as it's not as simple as just applying it. But this clears up even our worst rashes in about 24 - 36 hours. It's amazing!

*I was not paid a fee for my support of these creams. :)

One Redeeming Thing

Michaela: no accidents!!
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 3

BUT, Maeve went pee on the potty this morning!! YAYAYAYAYAY!!! And she'll do it for merely 1 orange candy corn pumpkin. She won't do it for the sake of going on the potty, but for candy, she'll to almost anything. :) Which is good, because today the poo she had was running out of her pull up and down her leg. I had to retrace her steps across the house to find all the little spots where it hit the floor. Nasty.

And Michaela seems to be doing better since we've kept her on the Miralax continuously for the last 5 days or so. Alasdair's bum is still red because he still keeps pooping in the middle of the night. Dangit.

So, was it a floater or sinker?

Michaela: Last night's tub pooh
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 3

HA! About an hour after I left my house last night I get a text from my husband:

Michaela just pooped in the bathtub. Like a log. This is gonna be a fun night.

There's nothing sweeter than knowing there's a pooh emergency at home and YOU don't have to be the one to clean and sanitize everything. :D

I did ask her though if she could feel that she had to go and she just waited too long or if she really didn't feel it coming. She claimed she couldn't feel it coming and by the time she realized it, it was too late. It's so frustrating. I can talk to her about this all day long, but it's hard to figure out if she's telling me what I want to hear or what just sounds good to her, or if she's actually telling me the truth. So we're still on our quest to figure out if this is a behavioral thing or a physical problem that we need to diagnose and fix.

Early Post

Michaela: 2 so far
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 2

I'm leaving in an hour, so hopefully that's all the poop I have to deal with today. :) I'm heading out with a gaggle of friends for dinner and then back to someone's house for board games, a little DDR and a whole lotta drinkin'! (No worries, I'm spending the night!)

OMG

Michaela: 1
Maeve: 0
Alasdair: 1

Come to find out from my babysitter, that yesterday Michaela had 2 accidents yesterday with her, so that's like a total of 4, plus the 3 or 4 pairs of dirty nickers I found in the hamper from lord knows when. It's definitely time to get back on the Miralax. I have a plan. We're going to do 6 weeks straight on the Miralax. If she had any accidents, then we're going straight to the pediatrician to see if we need to see a GI. I mean, I know she's sort of a space cadet, but I mean, we've been potty trained for over 3 years now. You'd think she's have gotten the hang of the whole pooping thing by now. ARGH!

What the...?!

Michaela: 2 #2 accidents today, and 3 pairs of FULLY POOPIE panties from the last few days that she just crammed in her hamper without telling me.
Maeve: 0
Alasdair: 2

Lucky me! It's my day in the office! Although that doesn't stop my kids from hitting me from all sides. I came home from work straight to the dinner table. Everyone was done except Maeve, so I ate with her. We had spaghetti, which means we head straight for the bathtub after eating. So, Michaela runs in there with her first known accident of the night for me. I get her in the tub, then strip down Doodie, only to find he's got a full diaper too. After bath, I put away the mountain of laundry that I've been working on for 3 days now and Doodie hits me again! Then as I'm reading the girls "Rainbow Fish" for their bedtime story I can't help but smell Michaela's butt. Lo and behold, she's dirty AGAIN. Oh my god. I don't even know what to do with her. DH thinks she's just scatterbrained and can't remember to actually GO TO THE BATHROOM, but I still think something is wrong with her. She should NOT be so constipated all the time. We're all on the same diet every day and she's the only one all plugged up. Even Alasdair with the HD isn't ever constipated. Next time we go in to the doc I think I'll bring it up again.

Anyway, I thought I'd throw this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Stool_Scale

I added it to my links on the side bar, but it's a great way to "classify" these diapers, especially for your surgeons or GIs. Enjoy!

Blah Humbug

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 4
Alasdair: 3

So gross. I can't wait until this bug is gone from my house. Ick. Dude's bum is back to normal, so I guess that's a good thing.

It's Spreading

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 2
Alasdair: 2

Boy. Maeve's got something nasty going on. I don't usually have to hold my breath changing diapers, but I sure as heck did today! Gross.

On another note, Alasdair had his check-up with the Dietician at Children's Hospital today. He's been having "issues" with weight gain. He's never followed any growth curve. When he was born he was near the 50th percentile for weight and steadily decreased until he fell off the growth chart at about 1 year of age. Our pediatrician did a blood workup and it came back fine, so he left it alone. But our surgeon at Children's who did A's pull-through surgery was not fully convinced. He wanted to be sure that it wasn't anything related to his HD that might be causing poor weight gain. So he sent us to the Dietician. 3 months ago we saw her and she said A looked fine and healthy, but his height to weight ratio was not very good (meaning he was too tall and too skinny, have you SEEN his dad??). Anyway, she suggested keeping him on formula for a while and checking back in. So today we did that. His height-weight ratio was better, but I think that's because he was sort of scrunched up funny on the measuring table. Anyway, Alasdair is now OFFICIALLY over 20 pounds. 20.3 pounds to be exact. :) She told us to use up the formula and then try some other things to keep his calorie intake up. I think she just doesn't like the fact that we're still using a bottle for his formula, but no worries. Basically the sheets she gave us said we can feed him whatever the heck we want. We could feed the kid Taco Bell every night and they'd be fine with it. We can cook all his food in butter and fry it up in oil, add half and half to his breakfast cereal, and give him ice cream inbetween cookies or cake for dinner! :) I'm sure the girls will LOVE all the veggies that I'm making them eat while the baby feasts on candy for dinner. Good grief. But I've picked a bunch of the less offensive options to beef up his calories that the girls can also partake in, fairly guilt free.

So, overall good news today. Healthy bum and healthy skinny kid!

Healing Up

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 3

A's bum is finally healing up. With less stuff coming out it has time to heal in between. Things are finally looking up!

Weekend Update

Per my husband, as I was stuck at the Everett SausageFest for three days straight (tee hee).

Alasdair woke up both days with nasties (and during nap time both days).

I think he had 4 nasties sat and 5 yesterday. And, as you know his bum is raw. This runny stuff seems extra caustic.

I don’t have maeve’s tally, but it’s lower and her bum is fine.

Now, I only got to see my kids for about two hours yesterday evening, and I saw three nasty diapers, two for Maeve and one for A. What is it about me that makes their little colons extra motile? "Hey, there's Mom! Let's poop NOW!!"

Friday Blues

Michaela: 2 #2 accidents
Maeve: unknown
Alasdair: unknown

Today the kids were with the sitter today, so I don't know how many nasties she had to change today, but I got both lucky and unlucky. I didn't have to change any dirty diapers, but I had to deal with 2 accidents with Michaela, and one of them was out at the SausageFest Carnival, where we had no extra panties or anything. Perfect. There's another set of underwear thrown away!

A Day Off?!

Syke!

Michaela: 1 #2 accident
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 3

While that may seem back to normal, that doesn't include the 10 hours that Maeve and Alasdair were with the sitter today while I was in the office. They decided to nail me first thing this morning and right after dinner. And of course one right before bed. I'm not sure how they treated the sitter. :)

On the Mend

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 2
Alasdair: 6

Well, we're on the mend today. Things are not so red and rashy, although I have his whole bum smothered in Desitin and I'm changing his diaper every 90 minutes or so. Hopefully by tomorrow he'll slow down with the BMs and he'll heal up! (Update: A got stuck in a dirty diaper at the grocery store, he's back to rashy. Lame.)

So, Monday we had to snake our sewer drain. Wanna know why? Because Michaela (and DH, although he'll never admit it) use WAY too much t.p. Clogs up the sewer lines you know. Ugh.

A Poop in the Night

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 4, plus two mini-poops

Doodie pooped in the middle of the night again. He's so raw. And he just screams when we (I) change his diaper. Poor little guy. If he doesn't slow down the flow, I may need to pull out the Ilex tomorrow to help him heal.

Raw Bum

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 5

One of the Dude's was in the middle of the night. Bad news for us. If he sits too long in those dirty diapers, the trademark Hirschsprung's diaper rash comes back with a vengence. We narrowly avoided that today. He was a little pink, but not "rashy". Yay!

Update: Yeah, after all those diapers for Dude, he's got a rash. Not the weepy bleeding rash yet. But still it's all red around his legs and his balls are all raw. Poor baby. And one little spot on his bunger is bleeding. We won't need the Ilex I don't think. I think we can get rid of it with Desitin (the old-fashioned kind, not the crappy "creamy" kind). What good does it do to have a creamy diaper rash cream if the minute they pee it's all washed off?

Chili In, Chili Out

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 0
Alasdair: 1

Remember how we had chili last night? Yeah, me too. Yuck.

First Official Tally

Michaela: no accidents!!
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 5

We had chili for dinner. Does that make more diapers? Not necessarily, but it certainly makes them NASTY. They also come at very inopportune times. Like, right when we are heading out the door, or right in the middle of a pee wee soccer game. Or right as we've just finshed buckling all 3 kids in the car for a 90 minute car ride, and we're late.

Although on the plus side, the last 2 nasties of the night happened between dinner and bath time. Could be worse. It could be right after they get all bathed, diapered and jammied for the night. Then, BAM! But no, tonight was a good night.

Introduction

I'll start this blog by introducing myself and my reasons for having such a blog. I think to most moms it will be self-explanitory. I live in Washington with my husband and three kids. Every day in my life as a mother is consumed with poop. Who pooped? What did it look like? What was the texture? How many times? Seriously, if someone came up to your 20-year-old self and said, "Someday, when you're a mom, you will think about poop all day, every day" would you have believed them? Well, they were right. Although my family is fairly special as far as #2 goes, many typical families and all moms have the same "OMG" moments as they are changing the 15th dirty diaper of the day. Read on, my friends, read on.

Michaela is 6. She is chronically constipated to the point where she has "accidents" in her pants, frequently. (She's going to kill me someday!). We have her on Miralax fairly regularly and try to keep to a high fiber/whole grain diet. It doesn't work. She'll be fine for 2 weeks, get constipated and have "accidents" in her pants, go on the Miralax for 2 weeks and be fine. Rinse. Repeat. We have had her tested for Hirschsprung's Disease, but her barium enema came back normal. (See Alasdair's entry below). So it's either a diet thing, an as of yet undetermined physical problem, or a serious attitude problem. We're working on figuring that part out.

Maeve is 2 1/2. She is not potty trained. She is not interested in potty training, sitting on her potty or having anything to do with her potty. However, she does change her own pull-ups, so I can't really complain about that.

Alasdair is 1. He was born with a rare condition called Hirschsprung's Disease (HD). You can read about it here. Basically the lower part of his colon did not have any nerve cells and was spasmed closed, so he couldn't poop even if he wanted to. He had a pull-through surgery to remove that part of his colon and his rectum. He is doing well so far as far as motility, but kids with HD get a NASTY diaper rash that weeps and bleeds. We still struggle with that every few weeks. If you want to read more about Alasdair's journey during his diagnosis and surgery, visit his blog here. So, every day with him are the questions: Did he poop? How many times? Was it hard? Is he constipated? Does he have the runs? What color was it? How did it smell? (our babysitter loves this part. Really.) Vigilance is required with him. If he gets constipated he's at risk for developing enterocolitis, which can be deadly if not caught and treated in time. If he gets the runs, he could already HAVE enterocolitis. It's a scary thing for me each and every day. So far we've been lucky, but kids with HD get enterocolits all the time, sometimes frequently.

So, the purpose of this blog is to vent my frustration as I change my 10th nasty diaper of the day, or wash "accident" panties out in the sink, or open my second pack of wipes for today. You may find it helpful to know that as you drown in dirty diapers, YOU ARE NOT ALONE!!

Enjoy!

Jessica