TMI Tuesday: Throwing Up (And Down)

Well, this is one of those inevitable things that we expected to encounter with our son. In fact, we were anticipating that this would happen more often than we are currently seeing. With that said, the throwing up is still something that happens and sometimes it is at some pretty interesting times.

Usually, the spew flows after a feeding but it is not always the case. These are the moments when he is usually half asleep and it just kind of bubbles to the surface… like in the opening credits of the Beverly Hillbillies. These are the moments happen before we have a chance to burp him and when you just grab a wipe and make sure you get it all off of his face and neck.

Of course, there are also the occasions when there is a little more force behind the projectile. Most of the time this is when my wife picks him up just after his feeding and during the transition she gets a little shower on her shirt. For some reason my wife can deal with the poop and pee but the puke takes her back a bit. When home, I am frequently reaching for a wipe at this point.

When it comes to burping this is one of the reasons why I prefer to put him on my knee. Having him slightly bent over makes it much easier to clean up when the regurgitation occurs with only a small bit on the hand and around his mouth requiring some attention. Anything more and the floor takes the brunt of the punishment. I would rather him throw down than throw up.

In addition to the feeding related emanations, there are also the times when, for one reason or another, our son gets a little too excited or worked up and the fountain is turned on. There are times when he cries and this is a little exclamation point and there are also instances when the opposite happens and the milk streams through a wide smile. And there are some moments when what little remaining burp bubble carries some luggage with it hours after eating.

All of these moments are pretty minor even during some of the moments when there is greater volume and force than usual. They are moments that can quickly be addressed and, as was stated before, come with the daily baby routine. Of course, just like we will encounter on the other end, we are still not looking forward to the escalation that happens with the introduction of other foods.

Frequent Errands

One thing that has definitely increased both since we found out about our son’s arrival and since his birth is the number of errands that we have to run. This is pretty much on a daily basis as there is always one thing or another that we have to pick up, drop off, exchange, or just get more information as well as a plethora of appointments. And it really doesn’t matter how well prepared you think you are, there is always that one essential item that is missing from your stockpile of baby stuff.

I do my best to take care of most of these things, so long as they can wait until the end of the work day when I am on my way home, but, for the most part, my wife is the one that has to run back and forth trying to get everything done during the day. This would be hectic enough if it was just her but adding the preparation and logistics needed to get the baby ready and out the door adds to both the length of the commitment and the energy it takes to get some of these seemingly simple things done. I don’t know where she finds the energy but, somehow, she is managing to get all of the constant errands done.

All of these small time and energy consuming trips during the day are something that we tried to prepare for but, in the end, we weren’t expecting. While no one thing in particular is consuming the hours in our days, all of these small trips have added up. Some days more than others and overall having a huge impact on our schedules. Hopefully things will calm down a bit in the coming months but we are definitely not holding our breaths for that.

This is why I have been trying to stick to a more consistent schedule at work. In the past, my departure from the office has been fairly open ended. There were some nights when I would get back home well past eight and sometimes long after 10. Now I am doing my best to get home by 7 while trying to walk through the door around 6:30. This allows me to both get some of those other things done but also allows me to spend more time with our son while giving my wife a much needed break at the end of her day.

It is not a perfect system by any means but it is working fairly well thus far. It may be time to take a day off here and there to better prepare above and beyond our anticipated needs. Until then we will have to keep trying to become more and more efficient with these small trips.