Nelsonblog

Ew.

Just…  'Ew.'

So, let me set the scene.  When Evan wakes in the night- it's usually because he's knotted himself up in his blankets, or hit his head on the bars of the bars of the crib- once he got a leg stuck in the bars, poor guy.

Anyway, my default fix for all of this is to make soothing noises, reposition him and drape a blanket over him.  90% of the time this is enough to put him right back to sleep.

Last night, however, was different.

At around 3:30 AM- Evan started crying.  Okay, this is not uncommon.  Upon entering the nursery the first thing I was assailed with was the stench.  My eyes began to water and my stomach churned.  Phoo-WHEE! That was FOUL.  Yikes.  Looks like we have an MAGENTA-OMEGA level stinky-pants on our hands.  Hoo-boy.

So, like a fool in complete darkness, I reach down into my son's crib so as to soothe his piteous cries.

The substance my digits encountered…  My soul shudders recollecting the horror.  It was clammy.

I turn on the light (using my other hand).

It.

Was.

Everywhere.

In his hair, all over his back, the bedspread, bumper-protector thingy… MY HAND.  There were chunks or rice, beans, Vienna sausages, peas…  Oh, the humanity!

Poor little guy.  If I woke up with poop all over my head, I'd be screaming too. 

Getting his poop-soaked clothes off of him (no article of clothing was unsoiled: onesie, pants, both socks- he was accurate, gotta give him that) while minimizing the additional exposure/distribution of poop to the both of us was a VERY difficult task, especially with the added burden of a 3:30AM befuddled mind and a screaming child.  It included but was not limited to holding Evan upside down by right ankle and swabbing all fresh and partially dried and crusty poop from his back and nether regions.

Wow.  Have I mentioned how fun parenting is yet? 

Eventually I was met with the impossible task of holding a damp, cold, stinky baby in one arm and changing his impressively soiled sheets with the other.   Impossible, you say?

You're RIGHT.  I woke up Sue.  She tackled the sheets and I drew a bath for the baby (poor Evan, he almost nodded off mid-bath once or twice).  Together, we cleaned him up, put on a completely fresh set of bed linen and clothes, sprayed some bathroom freshener and put him right back to bed.  It took us a little over 30 minutes.  That's TEAMWORK, baby.   

All this almost one year from the unforgettable first Pooplosion.  I suppose if we have to put up with merely one pooplosion a year, we're ahead of the game.

Here's hoping tonight will not be quite as eventful.

Chris and I had Evan dedicated at our church today.  It was a special day – Chris and I had been married almost six years ago at the same church and now we were standing at the same alter with our son – to dedicate him.  

For those of you who are not familiar with what a dedication is – it is basically a recognition from the parents in front of the pastor and church that we commit ourselves to raise Evan to know our heavenly father and that we are responsible for his spiritual upbringing.  

As we stood at the alter it was an awersome feeling to think that a few
years ago Chris and I had dedicated ourselves to one another before God
and became our own small family.  Today we stood at the alter with our son – our family has grown and has been blessed.  And for those wondering if we will have more children – the short answer is yes – but not anytime soon. 

Evan took his first step almost a month ago but hasn't started walking yet (and that's okay with his parents).  He is still practicing his balancing and will stand with out support for longer lengths of time but hasn't quite figured out how to take more then one step – but he is sure trying!  The doctor said he's on schedule developing and it probably won't be long until he's running around!

We celebrated Evan's second Easter this past weekend.  He enjoyed crawling around the yard and putting the plastic Easter eggs into his basket.  It has been several years since I had spent Easter with my family – it was a blessing to be with them and have a Sunday Easter meal together.

Here are a few pics of his adventures egg hunting:

Greetings from Utah.  It has been over three weeks now since the big move from California to Utah and I'm just starting to catch up on my blogging.

Before I go any further – a BIG THANK YOU to all of our wonderful friends that helped us on the move day.  We couldn't have done it with out you all!  We are truly blessed to have such great friends and we miss all of you!  Come see us sometime!

We are all doing pretty good out here in Utah.  It snowed up in the mountains today – it was a beautiful sight to see.  We are about 20 minutes away from the mountains and great ski resorts.

We are settling in and temporarily living with my folks – they have graciously opened their house to us and we are staying in the basement (the basement is about the size of our entire condo that we just sold!).  Chris is currently seeking full time employment and just started a contract job today that is temporary to help pay the bills.  Evan was sick when we first got here but is doing much better and is starting to adjust to the new environment and people – he's starting to sleep better.  I'm doing fine as well – as of March 2nd I'm no longer working so I've been able to focus my time with my family.  I'm looking forward to getting back to a routine – I'm the type of person that likes routine and everything has been out of sorts lately (for all of us) but things are calming down.

We haven't been actively looking for a house yet – waiting until Chris gets a permanent job before we settle down.  The housing market here is going up so hopefully in the next 2-3 months we will be moving into a home of our own.  I'm looking forward to having a house with a backyard for Evan to play in – already have my eye on a swing set for him.

Again, thanks to all who helped with our move!  Also, thanks to all of our friends for being a part of our lives.  We were SO blessed to make some great friends in California and we truly miss you.  We feel at peace in Utah and excitied about what is ahead – but our hearts also ache for the familiar faces that we called friends.   Keep in touch!

Not only did Evan transition to regular milk this week but he also had his first experience with drinking from a straw!  We were out to eat and I gave Evan my glass with a straw to see what he would do.  He clamped his little mouth around the straw and sucked with all his might – the water went racing into his mouth and surprised him – he ended up coughing and spitting some of it out.  I thought he would be frustrated and not want to do it again – but once his coughing settled he sucked on the straw again but this time showed some restraint and only sucked twice to get a small amount of water in his mouth and swallow it before proceeding to suck more down.  Evan still perfers the bottle over a sippy cup or straw but we are exposing him to other drinking methods so he will be off the bottle in the near future.  Evan is such a big boy!

Among all the changes that we've experienced – one big change for Evan was going off formula and drinking regular milk!  He sure likes milk and prefers it over formula – we didn't really have a problems with him switching.  Also – it's nice to not be spending SO much money on formula!

The Nelsons have sure had a lot of changes these past few weeks.

Another big change for Evan was – he no longer has to wear his helmet!  He was released on March 13th and no longer has to put up with wearing the awkward head piece.  

The therapist was overall very pleased with the progress that Evan made and how his head rounded out and is more symetrical now.  We are also very pleased with the results and glad to be done with it. 

It was a very hard decision to put Evan in the helmet (back in November) – I didn't want anyone to look at Evan and assume there was something wrong or that he was 'different' – but now looking back it was, overall, a pretty smooth process and I got so use to the helmet that I really didn't even notice it was there. It was interesting some of the things people said – especially other kids – but they were more curious then anything and wanted to know why he wore it.

Thanks to our family and friends for the support – we are glad to be ending this chapter!