Challenged

 Posted by Domestic Diva at 7:23 pm  Uncategorized
Apr 212011
 

This has been one of those weeks where I’m feeling like I’m being tested daily (and not just as a parent).   There’s been no shortage of bloggable material, but to be perfectly honest, I just haven’t felt like sitting down and writing about it.  Aside from this week being incredible busy with a ton of running around, I’m in some sort of allergy haze as there’s been an eruption of pollen in my area.  So rather than doing multiple posts, here’s the week in review:

Saturday: Went to the beach even though it was raining and took the three kids outlet shoe shopping. No further explanation needed.

Sunday: Went to a park, played mini golf, went on the beach, ate an actual bucket of boardwalk fries, and nearly slipped into a coma.

Monday: With Easter less than a week away, I decided to get the stuff for the kid’s baskets while my husband took a quick break for lunch.  This was a deliberate move because the store where I was headed was the same place Jake insulted an old lady, biker, and cashier with an unknown gender all in one trip.  For the first time, I grabbed a cart because the “Easter Box” with all the baskets, grass, and plastic eggs I had saved from last year was swallowed by my basement.  I also had other items to purchase as well, so I hurried around, filling the pharmacy’s cart.  As I approached the front of the store the cashier placed both hands over her mouth and began to giggle.  She’s worked there a while so I know who she is, and I’d say she was socially awkward to say the least (that’s not an official diagnosis, and I’d rather just not go there).  Anyway, as I start unloading she loudly exclaims, “Your hair is like KAAAA-POOOOOW!”   I smiled and agreed, after all I walk around like this every day; I know what my hair looks like.

And yet for some reason, she kept at it.  For nearly six minutes she rang up my items, and stopped after almost every item scanned to comment on my hair. “Do you know it’s out there?” and “I don’t mean to say it like that, but it’s all like WOW!” and “What’s it like in the summer?” oh, and “Can you even fit it under a hat?”  There was a man, in his early forties maybe that was behind me in line.  He just kept repeating quietly, “Oh, my God, stop talking.”  If it wasn’t for the 10% off I get with every purchase, it might not be worth it to face the slew of insults at my local Rite Aide.

Tuesday: Spent the morning on a farm with Joey’s class, and Jake was also there with his preschool group accompanied by my husband.  I’m not real into touching livestock, getting intimate with my future food, or thrilled about ecoli, but the trip was really entertaining for the kids and only a couple of hours long. We managed to get out of there with only one) goof when I told Joey to listen to a man who was speaking to the kids about various seeds (wonder why he was not paying attention)? This particular “farmer” had a pretty thick accent and Joey yelled out, “I can’t understand him, Mom! He’s speaking Spanish!” (Except he was Indian and speaking English). The gentleman shot me a look and did not seem amused.  Other than that it was a good trip.

The kids were then loaded back on the bus and taken to a local park where all 106 of them respectively (with some other park goers and a few siblings) played for several hours after enjoying their lunch at picnic tables.  For the most part it was fine, but all those kids climbing on the equipment at the same time, some hanging out the sides of the “rocket” jungle gym 10 ft in the air, was almost too much for me to take.  I would have added some rum to my coke or tried to get my hands on some Xanax or something had I know the absolute mayhem that was about to take place. Just too many kids, too large of an area, with too few adults. Aside from some minor arguing over prime playground territory, a few kids drinking out of a dog watering bowl, a couple tumbles, and a few rain drops, the kids had a blast. There were no missing children, compound fractures or catastrophic falls, so all in all a good day.

The giant Rocket Jungle Gym that nearly gave me an anxiety attack. Please picture 100+ kids ALL on this at once. It happened.

Wednesday: Just like the last few weeks, we’ve had one day that hits 80 degrees (before it drops down to 50 again). Worked in the garden all day, husband had an allergy attack after cutting the grass and his eyes almost swelled totally shut. Ran to the store, saw FIVE people I knew, spoke to all of them, came home, looked in the mirror and was surprised they didn’t give the same reaction as the lady from Rite Aide. Dirt on my face. Dirt on my shirt. Hair was like “KAAAAA-POOOOW!”

Thursday: Spring break started a day early for Joey. He woke up with red, swollen eyes and a bad headache.  I spent the day trying to rid our house of all the pollen I let in yesterday when I had every window open.  Dusted and cleaned furniture, windows, walls, floors. Dust rag was a yellowish green from pollen and I sneezed most of the day. Considering wearing Depends Adult Diapers while Cecilia, the former sweet and innocent baby turned curious and destructive toddler, is awake. Took two bathroom breaks and paid for my brief moment behind a closed door.  Trip one into the bathroom she spilled both of her brother’s juice cups on the kitchen table and the kitchen floor. She then proceeded to empty a container of baby wipes in order to spread clean the mess up.  Two cups of coffee and a couple hours later, I slipped in the bathroom unnoticed…or so I thought. I heard a gentle scratching sound at the door and called out “Who’s there!” to which Cecilia squealed in delight and ran down the hall. Upon leaving the bathroom I discovered the scratching was not a sound made by her hands but rather from a red crayon that was all over the bathroom door, front door and down the hallway.

As I mentioned today is the official start of Spring Break. Pray for me, people. Pray for me.

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I hate being right all the time. Seriously, I do.  I wish that some of my “predictions” would not come true, especially those about how I would be spending my holiday.  The week before Christmas is when my first premonition came to me.  I was standing with my three year old in his preschool class, when another little boy wandered in the room, visible sick and tired.  One of the teachers asked him if he was “awake yet” and his mother replied “he was up all night coughing.”  It took a lot of will power to not a) smack this idiot parent in the face and b) not to take Jake by the hand and just leave.  Instead, I said goodbye to Jake, said a silent prayer for good health, and walked down the hallway towards the exit listening to the echoing sounds of what I would have diagnosised as whooping cough.  Two and a half days later Jake started with a cold, cough & fever. Cecilia followed late the weekend before Christmas, and Joey started coughing a few days before Christmas.

Jake ended up breaking his fever over the weekend, but in an effort not to share what he had, we kept him home to recoup (which meant he missed his Christmas party & festivities).  Cecilia also broke her fever the Monday before Christmas, and Joey who was still “well” attended school the week before Christmas which was just Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  I volunteered at school to help out all morning Monday & Tuesday during which several kids had to go home because they were still sick or had become sick.  One child, who was puking all day Monday, returned, still sick and feverish Tuesday, was sent home before 10am and was back on Wednesday to spread his holiday cheer again.  It’s cases like this, where the school’s policy is that the child must be fever free for 24 hours, that I think the school should be able to say, “Sorry! Take your sick kid home you horrible parent! We said 24 hours fever free! You think all these kids want to be puking on Christmas?!”  Premonition #2 befell me Wednesday at Joey’s Christmas party as I observed him sitting in between two of the sick pukey kids from Monday & Tuesday trading & sharing snacks. Yum!

Christmas Eve we had no fevers (it had now been over a week after they started and only had mild-lingering cold symptoms), but as I packed my holiday diaper bag, I told my husband to take our spare trashcan and stick it in the back of the truck just in case someone needed it.  As he was packing the food, presents, and kids, he mumbled something about me being a “weirdo” but still took the trashcan and placed it in the back of the truck anyway.  My thought process here was that just two days before Joey was sharing snacks with his two barf-buddies, and we hadn’t quite cleared the “incubation” period.

As we pulled back in the driveway after a long but enjoyable Christmas Eve party, I was happy that my husband was right about me being such a “weirdo” and that the trashcan was still sitting in the trunk unused.  Christmas morning was not quite as happy as I would have hoped, but after a late and exhausting evening, I assumed my cranky kids were just feeling the effects of the holiday.

Before we got back in the car that afternoon for another 40 mile trip (each way), Jake complained of a headache, so we gave him some Motrin and headed north.  We had another fabulous party, and the gift exchanges were a hit again. Great food, good people, and did I mention the food?  The kid’s palates are a little less refined and they enjoyed bowls of candies and seemingly unending cups of juice in combination with the excitement of so many gifts.  Jake had been using his best “Oliver Twist/Puppy Dog Eyes” to get handfuls of M&M’s from various Aunts, Uncles & cousins, and after a sugar high, all the kids, including Jake, seemed to be finally winding down as we hit 157 miles of our 160 mile round trip Christmas 2010 bonanza.  Expecting snow the next day, and with the car quiet, my husband pulled into a gas station about three miles from home just as Jake began to puke juice, M&M’s and Motrin all over himself.

Without a thought, he threw the car in park and ran and grabbed the trashcan from the back of the car that his weirdo-wife insisted on taking the night before just in time for me to jump in the back over the seat and catch “most” of what his body was rejecting into the can.  It was moments like this, standing in someone else’s sick, facing backwards in the car, nearly home after the longest two days of my life, that I hated being right.  My husband, the next day however, refused to admit I was right because he says I wanted the trashcan for the wrong kid and he was puking from 8lbs of candy and not from a virus.  Give me a break!  Sorry that my crystal ball ain’t so crystal clear.  My mother’s intuition got most of it right…at least the important parts.

All the running around, excitement and junk took it’s toll on Jake though.  After 9 days of a cold (which we’re told by doctor’s can last 7-14 days in kids), poor Jake developed a fever again and they advised me he had to be seen (in the snow storm) at a Urgent Care Center.  After he and I spent four hours and what will undoubtedly be hundreds of dollars with the tests/X-Rays, Jake was diagnosed with walking pneumonia.  The following day, just after the snow storm ended (and with 8″ of snow on the roads) Cecilia redeveloped a fever after 9 days of cold and earned herself her very first ear infection.  My husband soon followed with an antibiotic, and Joey and I were the only two to come out un-medicated.  So we spent the week battling secondary infections, running humidifiers, and finally were well for New Year’s Eve.  I am now enjoying our third consecutive day of good health, before school starts back tomorrow.  Anybody seen my bubble?

Hope you all had a Happy Holiday & Hope you all have a fabulous & happy New Year!

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What? No tip?

 Posted by Domestic Diva at 2:36 pm  Uncategorized
Dec 072010
 

‘Tis the season…for awful germs and illnesses that is.  My son Joey began throwing up Sunday morning, while we were  an hour from our home at the beach, and the poor kid continued to puke for another 10 hours.  I had spoken to the doctor, and being seasoned at this type of illness would normally not have called, but Joey couldn’t keep even teaspoon of fluid down and hadn’t peed in nearly 10 hours.  I was getting ready, under advisement from the doctor, to take him to the ER, when he finally used the bathroom and drank a few sips of juice that stayed down.

Anyway, the last few days have been bad.  The sick kid is currently quarantined to his bedroom, and either too sick to leave or is enjoying the TV and Wii in his room for the time being.  I have gone into a frenzied state of sanitizing, wiping and re-wiping common surfaces and hoping for no other new patients from this terrible bug.  My OCD is in overdrive (I even wiped this keyboard before typing this post), and I feel as if it’s me versus the unseen forces causing my children to be sick.  I’m not sure who’s winning, but I’m giving it my best crazed-cleaning attempt.

This afternoon, when my daughter went down for a nap, I got Joey in the tub and emptied the kid’s laundry for another load to be washed on sanitary (thanks LG for such a wonderful setting).  I reached around Joey to shut off the tub water off just as Joey went into a sneezing/coughing fit and the kid sprayed the front of my shirt with boogers (did I mention the cold/flu symptoms started with him yesterday just after his stomach seemed a bit better-good times people, good times).  Since I already had the laundry basket right there, I took off my shirt, told Joey I’d be right back (relax, he’s five and I can leave him for a minute) and I went to take the laundry downstairs.  Just as I cleared the landing, I tripped on a misplaced toy and literally threw the basket of germy kids sheets and clothes down the remaining seven stairs. Fortunately, or unfortunately because I could use a break, I caught myself after tumbling down just a single step.

As I began picking up the contagious sheets and clothing of the foyer floor, my mind was already thinking of spraying the carpet with Lysol “just in case.” Perhaps this is why I did not hear the Fed Ex truck pull up outside. See where this is going, people?  A few loud, abrupt knocks and I turned, startled, and found myself staring into the eyes of a Fed Ex Delivery Man through the skinny window next to my front door. I yelled screamed, and he threw a gloved hand over his face and ran down my steps. I stood, shirtless, covering myself with a germ infested pillowcase, and pondered throwing myself down the stairs again.

At least this wasn’t the UPS Delivery man who Jake casually told I was shitting and unable to come to the door last summer (you can read that one here), and this was also not my normal Fed Ex guy.  They’ve had several drivers a day come through my neighborhood given the time of year, so hopefully, in a few weeks, I’ll never have to see him again.  Of course, if a stranger was to see my shirtless, I wish I was at least wearing a nice bra (my husband may dispute that).  I had on one of my oldest, used to be white but was stained off blue in the wash, just around the house, barely holding on Mom-bras. Sheer Hotness. That’s surely what he’ll call me as he tells his Fed Ex friends what he saw today.  And honestly, I was a tad disappointed once I found a new shirt and went to retrieve my delivery, to find just my package, without a tip, sitting on my doorstep.

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I always feel a bit anxious before taking my kids to the doctors, even if it is just for a well check up.  Maybe it’s knowing they’ll be crying as soon as we get in the exam room, maybe it’s because of the shots they’ll have to have, or maybe it’s my germaphobia and it’s like attending “exposure therapy” every time I head into known bacteria cafeterias.

Once parked, I went around to get the stroller and nearly stepped into what was once gold fish (I think) in a pile of kiddie puke.  I then climbed back in the car and went to the opposite side of the lot and tried again.  I cringed a bit as I reached the door and we walked inside.

We’re now nearing two months since kids went back to school and I held my breath and flinched a little as we walked past the now full sick side with a symphony of hacking coughs.  As we signed in, Cecilia still didn’t know where we were, so she happily smiled at the other kids in the waiting room who waved and smiled back at her.  I filled out her papers and I paid in advance (since there’s usually a sense of urgency to leave once we’re done).  As we waited, I read Cecilia a book but we were suddenly interrupted by the waiting room door to the back of the office swinging wildly open.  “Wait, Michael!” a woman shouted after a snotty blond boy who torn into the well waiting room.  The woman soon emerged along with her husband and she began what would be a ridiculously long check out.  First she chattered about the weather and her plans for the weekend, and as the receptionist tried to guide her to the task at hand (scheduling another appointment),and then she began to talk about Halloween.  At least she had her husband to watch their son…and watch their son he did.  He watched him climb over chairs. He watched him tip the little kids table over. Then he watched him run right over to Cecilia and without stopping, leap into her umbrella stroller, stuffed nose running, mouth open with tongue out, and lick her arm like a God damned retriever.

Call it divine intervention, but I managed to not kick this small boy in the face and his father in the nuts…and his mother in her ovaries.  I did, however yell out, “Noooooo, noooo little guy!  She’s got a bad cold, no touch!”  His father said, “Oh that’s okay, so does he!”  Really?  The booger trail on my daughter’s arm wasn’t a big enough clue.  For anyone as dense as Booger’s Dad, I’ll just tell you that was my “nice” way of telling a child, who because he was born to idiot parents, doesn’t know that you shouldn’t climb and jump on strangers.  The mother at this point, still had not turned around and I proceeded to use antibacterial wipes from my bag to clean my daughter’s arm and stroller.  The father stared at me, and I gave him a dirty look, then smiled a little more than I should have when his son smacked his forehead off the windowsill he was attempting to climb while virtually unattended.  I shook my head and thought about how some kids just don’t have a chance.

The rest of the visit was pretty routine, and thankfully Cecilia is growing well and didn’t cry for 90% of her exam.  She likes the doctor who lets the kids play with the medical tools before he uses them.  He let her continue to hold the reflex hammer after checking her and as he listened to her heart and other parts of the exam.  I could only watch as she swung the hammer wildly, but somehow managed to miss the doctor with each swing.  She even showed off a bit and chattered away, stringing some words together in small sentences.  What can I say, she’s advanced?  Of course, if it’s one thing we know how to do in this house it’s talk. Oh, and we had a different nurse which was good too!

So after a nice bath and clean clothes when she got home, we sat down and enjoyed a sliced orange for some extra vitamin C.  I also said a silent prayer of thanks that I didn’t flip out to those idiot parents. Some days it’s the little things that count.

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Oct 042010
 

Did you eve feel like you were outside yourself?  Like you were going through the motions, but not totally there? I was having a day like that Monday.  I didn’t sleep well Sunday night, both boys were up at various times through the night, my husband was traveling early Monday morning, and I feel like I’m starting with a cold.  Plus it’s been rainy, windy, overcast and generally depressing outside for the majority of the last week.  Additionally, I think the busy weekend, the second half of which I spent cleaning, is catching up to me.  When I say I was cleaning, I mean I was on a cleaning rampage again after Joey puked in the powder room Sunday evening, didn’t tell anyone, cleaned it up himself using toilet paper, tissues and my hand towel which is now in the trash.  Approximately two hours after we think it happened, I went into the bathroom to replace the toilet seat cover that I had just washed and dried (it had mystery poop on it), and I stepped barefoot in a pile of regurgitated hotdog. Once Joey fessed up and I saw the full extent of the damage, I just let myself go- Cue frantic cleaning of bathroom, rugs, carpet, common surfaces, and children.

Needless to say, I’m exhausted.  I trudged through my Monday, praying for sunlight or at least for bedtime to hurry up and get here.  To make matters worse, Joey was in an awful mood because I kept him home from school.  He had only gotten sick the one time, and I think it may have been from coughing,but he was really pissed he wasn’t at Kindergarten.  Jake’s mood began to decline rapidly through the afternoon as he complained of something in the back of his mouth hurting;  he seems to be catching a cold. Cecilia, who was already Missy-Pissy from getting a row of teeth, is now presumably developing whatever funk(s) her brothers have caught.My husband, who normally works from home, got out of this infirmary just in the nick of time.

Monday evening I waited for a break in the rain to take the trash out to the curb, and finally just said forget it.  With the rain pouring steadily down, and a rip in my trash bag from my shitty JcPenny’s trashcan,  raw chicken juice and other undesirables dripping onto the floor, I ran outside quickly and without closing the door.  Before I was off the deck I knew the open door would result in a ton of water, so I called out to Jake to close it, and I ran down the steps of the deck into the sopping wet grass.  After pulling the can out to the front curb and soaking my pink plaid pj pants from the ankles down, I skipped a few steps on the way back up to the back door.  My hand pulled hard on the door, and I slipped backwards for a moment, almost losing my balance. I reached for the door to try again and still it did not move. Jake did listen to my request and closed the backdoor, but he had also locked the sliding glass door and disappeared somewhere else in the house.

As I knocked on the back door, calmly at first, I hoped Jake was simply raiding the pantry and eating cookies while I stood out in the rain.  There was no movement from the kitchen and even though I knew the front door was locked, I moved around the front and began to ring the bell.  I began peering in the family room window and caught my 15 month old daughter’s attention and she began playing peek-a-boo as I stood in the cold feeling my cheeks begin to burn from the persistent whipping winds.  It was also at this point that I began to knock on the door with a bit more purpose as I realized I was outside wearing an old white hoodie, plaid pink pj pants, multicolored striped socks and black dress shoes.

I knew where the boys were and why they were not responding to my furry of knocks.  They were down in the finished basement playing games or watching a movie.  It was at this point I knew I had to get their attention down there, so I proceeded around the side of the house and opened the lid to the egress window. As I made my decent I slipped on the slick plastic ladder and fell into the bottom of the window well and the lid crashed loudly behind me.  I heard the boys start screaming bloody murder as my ass and legs crunched into the pea gravel bottom.

“Boys! Boys! It’s ME! Go open the door! Jake locked me out!”  I screamed.  As they rounded the corner and ascended the stairs, I considered for a moment (or two) just giving up.  Even for a Monday being locked out, soaking wet, and covered in gravel was a bit much.  However, the thought of what Cecilia might be climbing, or what Joey and Jake might decide to “cook” in my absence gave me the extra courage to rise to my feet, climb the slippery ladder and finish out the day.  It’s times like this where the act of rising to my feet, soaking wet and dirty, climbing that precariously slimy ladder only to emerge right back into the shit storm I just left, felt like a metaphor for my life.

I was happy to see the front door open as I made my way around through the yard.  I smiled as Jake greeted me with a kitchen hand towel to dry me off, and told me “Don’t worry Mom, Joey’s making you a cup of coffee…”

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Sep 252010
 

The house seemed darker than normal yesterday morning, and as I peered out the window I saw a thick layer of fog hanging over the neighborhood that gave me a sudden shutter. I swiftly closed the curtains and softly moved down the dark hallway, perplexed at why the kid’s bathroom door was closed and the light was off. Typically, I go around in the evenings shutting off bedroom lights, hallway lights, but always leave their bathroom light on and the door at least half way open.

I peeked in both of the boys rooms and saw they were still soundly sleeping, and I lingered for a moment at Jake’s door wondering why the bathroom door would be shut. Maybe my husband did it on his way to bed? No, not likely. Just as unlikely was the thought that one of the boys turned off the light, shut the door and walked back to their room in the dark.

I reached out my hand and touched the door knob, just holding it there for a moment. What was I afraid of? Surely a burglar wouldn’t be hiding waiting to jump out at me. Last I checked, although it some times felt like it, this also wasn’t an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Some crazed knife wielding killer wasn’t lurking behind the shower curtain. “Turn the knob, Susan.” I told myself, but my hand stayed motionless. Why am I not opening this door. That’s it, no more paranormal shows at bedtime if this is how I was going to act. I’m cutting myself off. How ridiculous was it for a 32 year old woman to be afraid to go in a bathroom?!

A sudden noise behind me made me jump and grab my chest. Joey, like the ninja that he was born to be, had climbed out of bed, opened his door, and made it all the way down the hallway before I heard him. “What are you doing, Mom?” Before I could answer he was already on to his next question, “Can I have Frosted Flakes for breakfast, pleeeeease?” I quickly shushed him and hurried him back into his room. After picking out his outfit for the day, I instructed him to get dressed, and returned to the bathroom door.

Before opening the door, I turned and peered down the slightly lighter hallway and could see the dense fog just outside the window through a crack in the curtains. I immediately resolved that the spooky weather conditions coupled with the late night paranormal shows must be fueling my imagination. Even with that rationalization fresh in my mind, I found myself turning the door knob ever so slowly.

As I began to push the door open with one hand and lean into the bathroom, I half smiled thinking how the creaking of the door was playing right into the terrifying tale my mind was weaving. The door was now completely open, and although the small bathroom was still totally dark, it was apparent that no one was hiding in the shower and that aside from the darkness, it was just a bathroom. Feeling slightly relieved, my arm outstretched and I flicked the switch on the wall.

In a flash, a scene far more terrifying that any horror movie I had ever watched was now illuminated right before me. I started to yell out, but my voice caught in my throat. Joey immediately ran up behind me and I felt as though I might faint. Was it a bloody scene there in the bathroom? Words of terror scribbled on the wall from the great beyond? No, no. It was far worse.

“What is that?!” Joey questioned which immediately cleared him as a suspect.  My chest tightened as I tried to give him an explanation.  “That, Joey… Oh, my God…” I rambled hardly able to complete a thought, “that is poop….poop everywhere.”

Poop smeared on the toilet seat. Poop smeared under the seat, down the front of the toilet bowl. Poop on the tub. Poop on the rug. Poop on the sink. Poop in the sink. Poop on the light switch. Poop. Poop. Poop.

My thoughts turned immediately to Jake, the obvious culprit.  I opened his door and he still laid there in bed, under the covers, sleeping like an angel.  I flicked on his light and he didn’t stir. Looking around his room I saw two dark spots on his rug in front of his closet and directly next to a couple of Pull-Ups.  Just like when detectives and crime scene investigators on the popular TV cop dramas put the pieces of a mystery together and replay the scene, showing us the viewers what happened, I too painted myself a mental picture.

Jake, who has now been potty trained even at night, for at least a couple months must have gone to the bathroom sometime in the night to do his business.  Either he called out and didn’t wake us or he decided to wipe himself and smeared poop all over the seat as he climbed down.  He bent over in front of the toilet to wipe, but was standing too close and smeared poo on the front of the bowl.  Going to reposition himself, he turns, bends again and hits the side of the tub with his apparent shit covered ass, stamping several “Mr. Hanky” style poo splotches as he moves.  In the attempt to wipe his own rear he gets more poo on his hands. He sits on the rug to get redressed leaving another smudge of poo on the rug.  He  then attempts to wash the evidence off his hands, but before that happens he leaves behind several shitty finger and hand prints in and on the sink.  Upon seeing the mess he is about to leave behind, the toddler thinks quickly and shuts off the light and closes the door behind him as he leaves.  He then returns to his room where he discards the poop stained Pull-Up and trades it for a new one, but not before rubbing even more poop into the fabric of his rug.

My first instinct is to wake him and bathe him in an alcohol based solution like Purell.  I resist this urge and first Clorox the bathroom.  I use nearly an entire container of wipes and go over every inch of the room, including places I’m sure he didn’t reach.  My obsessive/compulsive disorder kicks into overdrive as I fight to kill every shitty germ in that bathroom.  I go over surfaces multiple times, and still feel like the bathroom is coated in e-coli.

Jake got a bath in antibacterial hand soap, and again I resisted the urge to clean his nails with an antibacterial wipe and just used the baby nail brush to remove the remnants of the bathroom disaster from the night before.  After taking the boys to school, I then scrubbed the rug in Jake’s room with Spot Shot, sanitized his sheets and blankets, and cleaned the bathroom one more time just for good measure.

The next time I get that scared, creepy feeling in the pit of my stomach, I won’t be so quick to dismiss it.  No it wasn’t a ghost, or a  murderer or an alien.  For someone like me… someone phobic about germs it was far worse. It was a real life shit-astrophe.

Either Jake or "Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo" (shown above) made the biggest mess with poop to date

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My germaphobia has gotten a hundred times worse since having had children. Not because they are like little carrier monkeys but because I hate seeing them sick. Besides, it’s hard to be fabulous when you have a hacking cough or have your head in the toilet. I think I may have hit a rock bottom with my phobia on a recent trip out to Pittsburgh, but more on that later.

Let’s talk about my issues. There are definitely certain items that make me feel more comfortable in this dirty, dirty world. First, there is my Purell instant hand sanitizer. It kills 99.9% of germs. This is my holy water. I probably use it 50 times on an average day, and probably 300 times on a day when I was working and a coworker was sick. If I could drink it, and gain some of it’s cleansing powers, I would. Additionally, had they a pump large enough, I’d bathe in it too. I keep some at home in every bathroom next to the soap, in my purse, in my car, and I used to have one on my desk (for public use) and in my desk (my private use only). I’m sure if they ever took Purell off the shelf, I’d either never leave my house, or I’d have to invest in a bubble.

Along the same lines, I need antibacterial soaps, not just regular hand soaps- especially in the kitchen. I prefer cleaning products with bleach and I love Lysol. I like using latex gloves for “dirty jobs.” My new washer has a sanitary cycle which makes me sleep better at night.

Going to known bacteria cafeterias (like the doctor’s office), I will use my non-dominant hand (my left) to open doors or touch surfaces. This way if I accidentally touch my face/rub my eyes I have less chance of catching a germ since my dominant (rubbing) hand is “clean.” I sign in to such places using my own pen, and on one particular occasion put on a (SARS) mask which is only for sick people with a fever and cough (even though I was not there for a sick appointment). There is a sign in the doctor’s office stating “if you have a fever and/or cough please wear a mask to prevent the spread of germs.” In my defense, on this day, there were 5-6 persons coughing, without masks, and I was 7 months pregnant and not sick but in need of a physical therapy referral.

I only used public restrooms at work in case of emergency. Some days I would go a whole work day without having to use the public facilities. I only used the bathroom on my floor with the handicap button to open the door, so I can hit it with my (left) elbow and the two doors open automatically. I used at least two paper toilet seat covers and still tried my best to never let my rear hit the seat. I then would dispense a large quantity of soap into my hand and turn the water off with a paper towel. An additional paper towel is then required to hit the auto door opener and a few squirts of Purell followed after I return to my desk.

When getting coffee at WaWa or filling up self-serve cups with soft drinks at restaurants, I take a cup from the middle of the stack. I do the same thing with the lids, straws, or any plastic ware. I kept my own paper plates, plastic-ware, salt/pepper, creamer, etc. in my desk at work. I preferred then, and even now, not to put anything the general public may have handled into my mouth.

I joke with my family, friends, and coworkers about my “quirks.” I smile when someone describes, in detail, how they puked all weekend while I’m quietly crying on the inside. I used to watch in horror nearly every single day as I saw people cough in their hands and then open door knobs. I would hear stall doors open and toilets flush but no water turned on for hands to be washed. I had caught people picking boogers while sending a fax, and even scratching their ass only to shake someone’s hand just moments later. I’ve yelled at strangers who have coughed in my hair while waiting in a line at the Post Office, and also at coworkers who have stuck their bare hands in an ice maker to scoop out ice. I’ve called people out who I know by sight when they tried to skip out on washing their hands after going to the bathroom. I never even cared what any of them thought about it. Once, in Boston Market, I yelled at the cashier for using my debit card to scratch her ass. So judge me if you will, but I am a product of my environment. I also would like to blame the media. Without their constant coverage on H1N1, SARS, MRSA and even stomach viruses that are at epidemic levels, I might not have that reinforcement that I need to keep on being crazy. So I go on washing (and rewashing) my hands, sanitizing surfaces, and purelling dozens of times a day trying not to catch what ails the rest of the world.

There comes a point in every crazy person’s life though when even they realize they are crazy. I’ve never denied that I take things a bit far with my sanitizing and germ prevention (as I prefer to call it). However, as I mentioned earlier, during a trip to Pittsburgh I had a moment where even I questioned if I had taken this “germ prevention” too far.

As you can imagine, a rest area public bathroom is a place I would prefer to avoid at all costs. In fact, I have always avoided these scariest of public places. Even as a young adult and teen I would wait to use the bathroom at our beach house in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. That’s a 7-9 hour drive depending on traffic. I’ve done this many many times, and I have never had an issue. What I have learned recently though is that after having three children your bladder is not as strong as it used to be.

On a Thanksgiving trip to Pittsburgh, which normally takes about 5.5 hours, I began to feel like the couple bottles of water I drank were a bad idea. Thank God we were almost there. Just 35-40 more minutes and sweet relief would be all mine. Wrong. Really, really, really wrong. We hit absolute gridlock in the city, and that final stretch took our trip from the normal 5.5 to 7.5 hours. Sweet Jesus, I had to pee. No, I needed to pee. Drip, drop. Drip, drop. The rain taunted me. Swoosh, swoosh. The three rivers of Pittsburgh laughed at me as their waters flowed by out my window. My husband laughed too. I was trapped in my car, in the center lanes of downtown Pittsburgh. So after about and hour when I thought I would have already made it to my destination and would have already relieved myself, I did what any crazy former NASA astronaut that was stalking another astronaut and driving cross country would have done. I peed in a diaper. No really, I took a garbage bag, opened up my two year old’s size 6 Huggies diaper and peed. In that moment, with traffic on either side of me, my husband hysterical in the front seat, and my four and two year old a row behind me trying to figure out what was so funny, I knew I was crazy. I never wished for a rest stop bathroom so badly. Being sick isn’t fabulous, but neither is peeing in a diaper.

Now, in addition to dieting, I also must now reevaluate my mental wellness. I have a list of New Year’s Resolutions going for 2010. Perhaps I can start to tie them together? So here’s to hoping that next year my fabulous, skinny ass can touch a public toilet seat.

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