Inconvenient Poop

I belong to an elite club. My father tells me my mom was the founding member and in her footsteps I follow.  It's official club title is "IBTWBC".  In layman's terms that the Itty Bitty Teeny Weeny Bladder Club.  I've been in the club my whole life.  I gained platinum membership and held several offices while pregnant but now I'm simply back to being a regular member.  With such devotion towards the club, I am a professional when it comes to planning. On a long trip I stop drinking liquids by dinner the night before.  No midnight snacks or drink.  Certainly no orange juice with breakfast.  I may bring a bottle of water in the car but that is only for emergency situations such as the utter brink of dehydration.  Since I am such a professional when it comes to my restroom habits I thought it would only come naturally that my son would quickly gain these same expertise.  He has proved me wrong time and time again.


The first few weeks of his life, my days and nights felt so similar.  Feed, burp, sleep, cry, feed, burp, sleep, cry.  You'd think with all the repetition it wouldn't matter when a poopie diaper hit in that cycle but it did, it still does.  Daytime equals altert time. Energy to think, to make good decision, to seize the day. Nighttime equals falling asleep while feeding and mumbling incoherent phrases to your spouse.  Which time do you think most poopie diapers occur? That's right, nighttime and more specifically, middle of the night time, like 3 am.  And not conveniently before a feeding, but typically right after feeding, just when he's snoozing peacefully again then BAM, poop! And lots of it.  Inconvenient.  My favorite inconvenient moment though was just recently while on a trip to Austin for a family reunion.  We are at a beautiful, luxurious, fancy, refined resort. We chose a particularly lovely day to introduce Nolan to the joys of the pool for the first time.  I knew it would be redneck of us to put him in the pool 1) naked or 2) in a diaper which would immediately absorb half the liquid in the pool soo we purchased swimmers diapers, sized small or for 15lb infant.  Nolan was topping ten pounds at the time so these weren't exactly hugging his small frame but they would do.  So Nolan's in his swimmer diaper and a onesie as we joined Derek (husband) and Stuart (brother) for a fine lunch overlooking the golf course.  The topic of choice? LSU football of course. The topic must have been stimulating in more ways than one because Nolan's bowels erupted, exploded, let loose...right into his loose swimmer diaper which quickly spilled its contents onto my resort casual capris.  I freeze in that moment.  What do I do with liquid poo running out my child, onto me, in this lovely restaurant, within this refined hotel?  I didn't know so I looked to Derek.  His expression matched mine. Horror. Survival mode kicked in.  I dug out a blanket from the diaper bag. I wrapped up my child so nothing will drip on the long walk of shame back up to our hotel room. I literally RUBBED poo into my capris so I too will not drip along the journey. Derek asked if I happened to bring a sweater with me to lunch so I might tie it around my waist and cover up the evidence. No such luck honey.  I excusd myself and my son and walked the long walk back to the room, avoiding all eye contact along the way.  Note to self: Don't dress child in swimmers that don't fit until you are literally two inches from a body of water.

    

And So It Begins

My son Nolan is six weeks old today. This means I am a professional mother.  I have joined the ranks of women everywhere who beneath their faded maternity clothes they are still wearing a month and half after delivery, they have on a Superwoman costume.  But it's no costume, it's for real.  Being a mom or a dad for that matter is not for sissies.  I thought I knew a lot about children and was "prepared".  From the time my brother was born when I was seven I considered myself a miniature mother.  Babysitting, working the church nursery and a general love for children gave me an air of confidence when considering my role as a mother...and some days that confidence still follows me.  Take this morning for example.  Nolan was clean, clothed and fed, and yet unhappily crying loudly.  Enter confident mom who takes this sweet baby, swaddles him and deposits him in his swing knowing he was just tired.  Two minutes later, he's asleep and I pat myself on the back.  Other days however I can't believe we have survived six whole weeks.  I've said to lots of people "I read all the books before he was born, but babies aren't textbooks and studying doesn't always help." In fact some days I've found the opposite to be true.  When he appears hungry before his "scheduled time", his diaper has leaked again for no apparent reason and the baby acne just doesn't seem to be clearing up I wonder just how steep the learning curve can get.


And yet I love it... This blog is called Needing Nolan because as much as I think he needs me, I really need him.  He is my Jerry Maguire moment, he "completes me".  He has changed the direction of my compass and puts purpose and passion into my day.  He helps fulfill my destiny, my desire to be a mother.  He is my new challenge in life.  He shows me my areas of strength and weakness.  Motherhood has given me an indepth look into what "God the Father" really means....and I love it.  I love being a Mom.


I love the smell of Johnson's baby lotion on my little man who is so fresh and clean just out of the tub.  I love when he gets so sleepy and he lays his head on my shoulder and stops wiggling.  I love that he can focus now and track me across the room with his eyes.  I love his long fingers that may one day play a piano.  I love how he sighs after sneezing.  I love how he smiles in his sleep. And I want to share him with you.  You aren't here day in and day out but I want you to be.  So I'll be sharing our adventures and the lessons we learn as Derek and I move through this adventure they call parenting.  We will try to keep updated pictures on the site and give you a peek into the daily life of sweet Nolan. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!