Laughing through the Poop

Okay, so a few weeks ago, I couldn't sleep because I got this idea for a book in my head:

"Laughing through the Poop"--Trying to laugh (not cry) through your child's icky messes. 365 days of icky stories that can help you laugh through any sticky situation.

I hate to admit it, but we all like to hear people's funny, messy kid stories. I just love them because they make me laugh. They also make me feel normal. It is nice to hear that so many other people have such awesome stories. It makes me feel like saying, "Okay, my child is not the only one who was curious and touched their poop and spread the poop all over her crib" or "I wasn't the only one whose child put a crayon in the dishwasher and all the dishes came out green."

I would love to compose a book of stories like these with quotes that make us laugh and encourage us to hang in there. I just want to let mothers know that kids will be kids, and you just have to laugh through the messes.

If you have a memorable story that still makes you laugh (or cry), please email it to me at courtneyhaynie@gmail.com. The story can be about any crazy mess your kids made! Please email me your contact information in case I need to email you a waiver.

Just a fun idea I wanted to pursue. I will keep you updated along the process. Also, I need tons of stories, so please send me your top 3 favorite stories. You can copy them off your blogs. Also, let any of your friends know if you think they have some good stories.

Confessions of a Craigslist Junkie

Okay, so I have come to realize that I am a little addicted to shopping on craiglist.com. I mean, it is like going to a garage sale but tons better--way better. It is like going to all the garage sales in your entire city and you don't even have to wake up at the crack of dawn to go. And, there are tons of these "garage sales" every day. I mean afterall, isn't another man's trash MY treasure? :) Anyway, here are my latest finds on craigslist:

This sweet new reading rocker chair that matches Emma Janes room perfectly and is super duper comfortable--$30.

This wood Bunk Bed for the guest bedroom upstairs including a matress and boxspring: $60

This bed, boxspring and matress in the guest bedroom downstairs...

plus the big dresser, mirror and nightstand: $80

These two crazy, scraggly children: $0

Getting tons of furniture for really cheap and getting your husband to pick it all up: priceless!

The craziest story I've ever heard....

I didn't ask permission to tell this story, so I hope my friend doesn't mind my telling it. One of my old anchors from Montgomery came up to visit and told me this story about her sister, Nicki (sp?).

Nicki is 23, recently graduated from Auburn and just got a job as a bank teller. She called Stefanie one day and said I am having the worst menstrual cramps of my life, you've got to pick me up from work and take me to the hospital. So they head to PriMed, while Nicki pounds on the car the whole way there. The doctor asks her if she's pregnant and she says no way, I've been on birth control since who knows how long and I'm on my period right now. So he does the urine test and says I think you're pregnant and should go to the hospital right now.

In complete denial, they get in the car and head to the hospital. The staff there measures her and says 'oh boy, you've got to go up to labor and delivery.'

Let me stop here and back track. I only know Nicki from a few pictures and the stories Stef would tell me at work. She is like most average college age girls, loves to party, drink and be less responsible. I'll also add that she is pretty skinny, because I've heard these kinds of stories with heavy women, but not skinny. Stef said she did look like she had gained ten pounds maybe, but it was fairly normal because their whole family gained weight easily at the midsection, and she'd been drinking and eating unhealthy for a while in college.

So, they rush her up to labor and delivery and less than two hours later out pops a completely healthy, 6lb. 7 oz. baby, born full term at 37 weeks. Crazy story, huh? Like me, you probably have all sorts of questions going through your mind right now, and I won't even try to answer them. But there were two things that stuck in my head after hearing this story.

First, the amount of time it takes to have your life flipped upside down. Almost all the time, it's because of tragedy. You lose someone, you develop a deadly disease, a car wreck, etc. It always involves death. This was the exact opposite. That morning she probably woke up thinking what am I going to wear to Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow and where will I party this weekend. She went to bed thinking, I'm a mother. Her life made an astronomical 180 degree turn in TWO hours!

Secondly, Stef says although having kids was the last thing on her mind, she has become quite the natural and has the baby glued at the hip. It makes me think of how instinctual mothering is for women. Not that there isn't a learning curve, but the basic instinct comes so naturally to you moms. I really like that.

I wish I had pictures to go with the story, but she wasn't carrying around a camera at the time, just in case she had a baby. Maybe this story is less fantastical to med buffs, but Court and I are still in shock at what it must have been like to be a part of that experience, from Stef's, the new grandma's, the ex-boyfriend's and most certainly from Nicki's perspectives.

Can't say we weren't warned...

My mom said it would happen and I didn't believe her. The funny part is it happened at 2:30 in the morning. We were under a freeze warning and I had told Courtney as we went to bed we needed to leave the faucets dripping since our pipes weren't wrapped. When it fell there was a boom, loud as thunder, then we felt the bedroom shake. Mabel, who was sleeping at the foot of our bed, jumped up and started barking. I was totally out of it, so I instinctively jumped up and onto Mabel to keep her from barking and waking the kids. Courtney figured the pipes had burst, so I got up and checked the water pressure. Still good. I got dressed to head to the basement to double check, and that's when I walked by the closet. I'm fairly certain that it was Courtney's winter wardrobe that did her in. Apparently 22 drywally anchors, six support brackets and two side pieces is not enough to hold up a women's closet (and both my outfits). I located the studs the next day and fixed the problem. For at least another week. Your so wise, mom.

Helpy-helperton

She loves to watch, then copy, her mom. And she does a very good job of it too. After CJ wouldn't eat anymore she set the bowl down to get a wipe to clean him off. This is what she found when she came back. Apparently, CJ was not finished.

The fruits of your labors!

This is for my brothers, brothers-in-law, sisters, mom and dad that helped put up the stairs to the attic. We finally fixed the electricity, pushed the wall back, built the guard rail and installed the carpet. And we love it!!!! We still need to finsih painting the fence (guardrail) and move the rest of the toys and stuff up there, but it is such a fun room for the kiddos already. So glad we did it. Nightmares still occuring about the inspector, but I don't think he'll kick us out of the house for this.

Bottoms up!

Mabel thinks the water line running from the sink to the fridge is a missing bone. For two hours straight she kept pacing back and forth sticking her nose and paws as far back as she could trying to reach them. And she would whine incessantly. Funny for the first five minutes, but annoying the rest of the time.

THE NOAH PROJECT

This is something we are doing with our ward. Look at the side panel for more information. It is a great, easy way to increase some essentials to your food storage.

That Dang Poop Again

Okay, so I promise to post pictures soon. I just have a really funny story. So today, we went up to Atlanta and met Carl's sisters, Amber and Anna, and their kids at the Georgia Aquarium. We left at like 9:30 am. We had just gotten on the road, and it smelled like one of the kids had just pooped which I was not too happy about since we had just changed their diapers 5 minutes ago. I had Carl smell them, and no poopies. About 3 times on the way on our 2 hour journey, I asked Carl to check for poopies, and no poopies. I was beginning to think that Carl just had bad gas.

Anyway, while we were at the aquarium I had to go back to the car to get the baby bjorn. The car smelled AWFUL. I did a quick search in the car, and all I found was an old bottle that didn't smell that bad.

Well, after we went to the aquarium, we went to IKEA to return yet another thing they had messed up on (a whole other story). When we got in the car, the smell was even worse. We both were dying. I was like someone needs to clean out this van and wash the carpets as soon as we got home b/c this cars smells FUNKY!

Anyway, when we got to IKEA, we had gotten all the kids out and were headed for the entrance when Carl asked me to get something from his seat. As I was searching for it, I found a Wal-Mart bag with lots of wadded up paper towels. INSTANTLY, I knew what was in the bag. Yesterday, Mabel, our dog, had pooped all in the house (which she never does, seriously never). Anyway, I had cleaned it up with paper towels and stuck everything, including the poop, in a white plastic Wal-Mart bag. We had been driving around all day with tons of our dog's poop in the car! That is where that awful smell had been coming from.

But how did this get in our car you might ask? I had put the bag outside by the front door. It was raining, so I was going to put it in the big trash cans in the morning. Well, in the morning, as we were loading up the van, Carl remembers Emma Jane carrying around the bag, probably as if it were her purse I'm sure. Anyway, Carl says she was in the front seat playing as we were loading up the car and must have taken her poop bag with her.
We had a good laugh, and left the poop bag at IKEA. Take that IKEA for all the times of horrible customer service!! Hee Hee! Just kidding, we didn't stick it in the store, we just put it in a trash can outside the store.