The difference between moms and dads

Kaitlin has been having a run of what we call "Hiroshima" poops - the name should be pretty self explanatory. Since Scott was off with us for the past 3 weeks, he was privy to quite a few of these. What I didn't realize before last week though, was just how differently we would handle these situations. I should warn you, this story is not for the squeamish or for those under 18.

Cut to early morning last Thursday. Kaitlin had exploded, so I called for my assistant to come play interference with her so I could get down to the business of what looked to be a messy project. Now you need to realize, sometimes this scenario ends with poop on several surfaces due to the sheer volume involved. This was one of those times. After she was all cleaned up, there remained the business of cleaning and disinfecting the area, what I like to call the HAZMAT portion of the show. When I'm home alone with Kaitlin, I simply put her in her crib to watch her mobile while I remove the changing pad cover and take that and whichever articles of clothing were exploded upon into the bathroom for a good rinsing and spot treatment. Seems reasonable, right? Well, you can imagine my surprise when I go to leave Scott to this task and he asks me...

"Should I just ball all this up and put it in the bottom of the laundry basket?"

WHAT?!?! Did I hear you correctly? Did you just ask if you should take feces-laden clothes and let them stew until I get around to doing laundry, which could be DAYS from now? Were you hoping they would magically un-poop themselves and be sparkling clean when it came time to put them in with all her other clothes? Did you not consider that you would essentially be washing all her other clothes in poop when I did in fact get around to doing the laundry? Who thinks like that? Seriously! As all these questions were rattling through my head, I looked at Scott's innocent face and realized he really didn't see anything wrong with this course of action. And so, rather than speak them aloud and ruin his perception of our magical poop-removing laundry basket, I simply handed Kaitlin over to him and took care of it myself. And made a mental note to always check the bottom of the basket if I think her room smells funny.

Christmas & Hawaii

Well, we've had a busy 3 weeks! After Scott's last post we left for Hawaii for 7 days for a much needed family vacation. Scott and I didn't really have any vacation this year other than Tahoe in March, so we were excited to get out of town together again, this time with Kaitlin in tow. She did wonderful on the 8+ hr flight out there and back. Scott had the brilliant idea to bring a pillow with us on the flight, so I just set that up against the seat in front of me and she just hung out there the whole time, talking and playing with us. It really was a lifesaver to have that. She slept on it the whole way back since it was an overnight flight and thankfully she was on a good schedule so she didn't have any problem getting some shut eye. While we were in Hawaii we had a great time visiting TONS of beaches, going to a luau, and eating a lot of good food. Scott spent some time golfing and deep sea fishing with his brother and dad while the girls toured the beaches. I also took a glider ride which was awesome. If you haven't seen them already, we have a ton of pics up on Shutterfly. All in all it was a great trip.

My parents picked us up from the airport on Christmas Eve morning and we spent a couple days at home with them. We really enjoyed having them up for Kaitlin's first Christmas. She was a good sport and sat in her bumbo chair Christmas morning and even reached for a few of her presents (only so she could try and get them in her mouth!) She cleaned up as far as presents go and is badly in need of the new toybox her dad and grandpa keep promising her.

Last night we had our first long night out as a couple since Kaitlin arrived and we had a blast. Jim, Sarah, Wade and Chelsea all came up from Houston and we went out with Britt and Christine to Sambuca to ring in the new year. It was great to spend it with old friends and to have some time away from the house. Elizabeth, our new nanny, had a preview of her upcoming 2 day per week job and she did great, getting Kaitlin fed and to bed between frantic text messages from her mom and Nanny! Kaitlin did stay up a bit later than usual though (10:15) so she was pretty cranky today. It's funny how these babies demand a consistent schedule!

To round out the 3rd week of our Christmas vacation, Scott is going to watch Kaitlin while I treat myself to a spa day tomorrow. I can't wait to be massaged, plucked and pedicured into oblivion! Hopefully we'll take Nanny and Pawpaw up on their offer to watch KRK while we go catch a movie, and then it will be back to work for Scott and I on the 7th. I'm not looking forward to Scott starting busy season, but I am looking forward to starting my new job and to getting to spend more time with Kaitlin. New year, new baby, new job - pretty crazy times for the Keith clan, but we wouldn't have it any other way!