Her Bad Mother

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

More Fun Than A Barrel Of...

Parenthood is a messy enterprise. A really messy enterprise. The spit, the shit, the snot, the generally cruddiness of it all - I knew this going in. It was gonna get ugly. I knew this. I was ready.

I was prepared for the meconium poo. I went to the prenatal classes, I gasped out loud with everyone else when showed the video and it flashed past that picture of a newborn's diaper filled with a black, tar-like paste. I was ready for it when it came to a diaper near me.

I was ready for the breastmilk shits that looked liked runny spoiled condiments of the seedy Grey Poupon variety (must. resist. pun.) I'd read about them. I'd seen pictures. I was ready.

I was ready for the dribbly spit-up and the upchuck spit-up and the projectile spit-up and I laughed, laughed, whenever anyone commented on the spit-up with words to the effect of my, that was a big spit-up because ha ha ha they had never really seen serious spit-up, the kind that ends up down the front of your tattered nursing bra and the back of your stretched-out yoga pants, all in one go. I'd seen and felt the worst of the spit-up. I was ready for it.

I was ready for the ever-running rivers of snot.

I was ready for the transformation of the poo that occurred when solids were introduced. I was ready for the increase in volume, and for the substantial intensification of pungency of odour.

I was even ready for the tub dump, even though I didn't have to deal with that myself. (OK, so maybe that one doesn't count. Still, I would have been ready, if it had been me attending to that particular bath. I might have gagged a little, but I knew that babies pooped in the tub sometimes. I would have been ready for it.)

Hope is not the only thing that floats.

The interesting thing about that new-parent condition of constant readiness is this: you experience each moment of readiness-met - each experience of having felt prepared for some discomfiting aspect of new parenthood - as an accomplishment that brings you one step closer to the moment when you will no longer need to be ready. You spend the first year of parenthood being ever at-the-ready, secure in the unspoken-but-ever-present-assumption that one day you will be able to relax your guard, that one day, the spit will stop and the shits will end up in a toilet and the snot will not be your responsibility. You forge ahead, believing that things will get easier and cleaner. The children will get bigger and more self-reliant and the days of spit and shit and snot and mess will fade into the background behind you, lost in the mists of recorded (what, you didn't keep a record of the newborn shits?) and unrecorded family history.

That's how it's supposed to work, right? RIGHT?

Because this morning I got up and waded through the knee-deep lake of books and blocks and stuffies and DVD cases that has overtaken our living room and tripped over not one, not two, but three half-eaten mandarin oranges. After picking up the oranges, I tried to give WonderBaby some breakfast, and was rewarded for my efforts by being pelted in the head by a handful of corn puffs and half of a partially-masticated banana, which remained in my hair while I pleaded with my tiny monster to eat please eat some breakfast, a plea that might - might - have elicited a response were it not for the sudden arrival of the morning poo, heralded by a series of distinctly indelicate grunts. Which required, of course, that I interrupt the tossing of the corn puffs and mashing of the fruit to remove her from her chair, during which process I was smeared with the other half of the partially-masticated banana, which she had decided to store in the back of her pajama bottoms for later consumption. By the time I had removed the banana carnage from her pants and readied her for her diaper change, WonderBaby had had enough and decided to remove herself from her change pad mid-change, leaving me with a handful of shitty diaper, which had to be disposed of one-handed so that the other, clean hand could retain its grip on the shit-smeared Wonderbaby who was now determined to head into the cluttered living room and spread fecal matter across all manner of unwashable objects.

At which point it hit me: this is my life. This is it: this messy, shit-smeared existence is not a grotty way-station en route to some more ordered destination, some permanent condition of tidy domestic balance. It is my life. I am going to remain smeared with shit and/or snot and/or vomit and/or food for a very, very long time to come. It is going to be years before I can relax my Yuck Preparedness System, before I can let my guard down and begin each day without the expectation that I will be confronted by something icky or yucky or messy or some combination of all three.

No, oranges and lemons aren't yucky. Until they're chewed up and left in pieces for Mommy to step on.

There's at least one more year of shitty diapers, after which is the no-doubt messy process of encouraging the redirection of the poo toward receptacles involving plumbing. There will be snot and vomit for as many years as I bear primary responsibility for nursing her through illness. There will be clutter and mess indefinitely. And although I assume that WonderBaby will someday overcome the habit of throwing her food on the floor, I imagine that she will continue to derive enjoyment from dumping bowls full of oranges on the floor and frolicking in fruit for some years to come.

There's no end in sight.

I'm right, aren't I? I have, in choosing motherhood, embarked upon a project that is not entirely unlike the care and feeding of the Lopburi monkeys in Thailand. My life is just one big Monkey Festival and there is nothing that I can do about it.

This is pretty much what it looks like underneath WonderBaby's high chair. Citrus fruits, discarded pop cans, Macaque monkeys and all.

It's a good thing I like monkeys.

*******

Thanks, so much, all of you, for your supportive comments on my decision to withdraw from the finals of the Canadian Blog Awards. It was gratifying to me that so many of you understood.

*******

If I haven't been visiting very much, it's not that I don't still love you all. I'm just a little bit tired and overwhelmed by life these days, and needing to do a bit of cocooning. I'm trying to get caught up as we speak, but my energy is a bit slow to pick up. In the meantime, I'm lurking. I'll be back up to speed soon.

68 Comments:

Blogger Damselfly said...

Ah, yes, this is our life. You think you're prepared for the yuck and then the yuck after yuck after more yuck starts getting to you....

=:+[]

2:08 PM  
Blogger kittenpie said...

Ah, with the poop going in a place intended for it, I still need to wipe small butt, rinse small potty or flush toilet, convince small nose to blow into kleenex held to it (once I've convinced small body to stay still for the purpose), and, freuqently, suggest that noses weren't expressly intended for small fingers to mine. Yes, it will be some time yet...

2:18 PM  
Blogger Crunchy Carpets said...

Yep....doesn't end.
They will never be clean.
They will always leave gross things around to deal with.

I have a boy. He can't actually HIT the toilet when peeing.

He has had a flu bug. I have been dealing with barf and laundry for two days now. Caity also has a bug but that has resulted in really bad diapers.

So both ends.

A dog is good for the under the high chair clean ups though.

2:19 PM  
Blogger Karen Bodkin said...

"There's at least one more year of shitty diapers..."
Honey. Try nearly TWO more. I'm sorry. Don't shoot the messenger.

Cocoon all you need to - that's the best part of being a parent. Cut yourself some slack!

2:20 PM  
Blogger moplans said...

It was difficult for me to accept that this mess is my life but if it is the price of my baby then so be it.
Mine started to use the potty just before two and I cannot tell you how sweet that it is not to deal with the poopy diaper.
My latest mothering wtf was the suggestion by our dentist that I should be flossing the childs teeth.
Surprisingly that has turned out better than I expected. Which is really like most of this mess I suppose.

2:20 PM  
Blogger Her Bad Mother said...

Yeah, I know that 'at least one year' was optimistic (hence the 'at least'). A girl can dream...

(And, um, FLOSSING?!?!)

2:33 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I had one of those 'this is my life?!' moments yesterday, when I walked in the door and wondered when the tornado hit my house. I totally getcha.

And "Hope isn't the only thing that floats" is like, the best thing I've read all day.

2:35 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

it sure is glamorous, isn't it?? :)

2:48 PM  
Blogger Iris said...

I think you have been to my house a time or two, that scene sounded so familiar. But one thing I missed, are you ready for the fingerpainting poo episode when they wake up from their name in their crib with a diaper full and an empty wall in front of them??? Now you are prepared...........Fantastic spray with Bleach and a bit of Febreeze works really well

2:49 PM  
Blogger Mayberry said...

It is amazing, the never-ending-ness of it all. On the ONE occasion in the last 4.5 years that my daughter used the toilet totally solo, including wiping, flushing, and washing hands, I almost wept for joy.

3:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Do you know what I sing to the girls when I greet them in the mornings?

Good morning to you, you live in a zoo, you are my sweet Goosie/Mousie, and I love you!

Key words here: "You live in a zoo." We all do. And with the zoo comes a stinky, dirty, cluttered, chaotic mess.

And while I'll admit that it's a beautiful day when the shit hits the water in the toilet bowl, that doesn't necessarily mean that it gets flushed by the little person who shat.

3:02 PM  
Blogger crazymumma said...

tired? overwhelmed? what could be the problem? oh ya. sorry I forgot. child. you have child. smart. messy. poopy child.
I can hardly wait to help my biggirl buy her first package of tampons. Therapy anyone?

3:03 PM  
Blogger OhTheJoys said...

Oh, the endless piles of plastic cr*p all over the house... this must resonate with all of us. This morning I walked into the kitchen only to bang my shin into one of those giant, plastic red and yellow cars that are usually OUTSIDE. But, no. There is one in the middle of my kitchen.

3:11 PM  
Blogger Lara said...

yeah, i can tell you from experience that it never ends. not because i'm a mom, but because i'm a daughter, and i have a sister, who's also a daughter. a few years back, my mom, sis, and i were out to breakfast, and my sister got sick to her stomach. when my mom helped her to the bathroom to take care of her, she got thrown up on. by a 20-something. and just this past weekend, i had a huge crying fit and fell asleep beside a gigantic pile of used up snot rags. when i woke up in the morning, pile was gone, because mom had cleaned up my used kleenex for me.

yeah, we're perhaps a bit pathetic to be so old and still depending on mom. but mom loves us, and still takes care of us, even through the gross stuff.

and you will do the same for wonderbaby.

3:32 PM  
Blogger ewe are here said...

Oh dear. Perhaps a strap for your changing table to hold her there?

As for the rest of it, yes, I suspect I'm going to be doing a lot of wiping of various parts and stuff for many years to come. Sigh. Luckily for MF, he's darn cute. :-)

3:58 PM  
Blogger metro mama said...

It's a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it.

4:03 PM  
Blogger Mimi said...

Hihi. Well, now you've dashed my hopes of a mess-free future. I thought spraying breast milk was messy, but in a couple of weeks, Miss Baby will be starting solid foods. I have been trying not to imagine what that will be like.

As for vomit, projectile vomit, I've even got pictures ...
yuck.

4:08 PM  
Blogger Her Bad Mother said...

Oh, dear Ewe: change WonderBaby on a change table? HA. We have not used a TABLE since she acquired the ability to forecfully propel herself off of said table. WonderBaby gets changed on the floor. Undignified, but hell, is anything about parenthood dignified?

4:28 PM  
Blogger Stacy said...

Ah yes... those were the days! And just when you think you've turned a corner with potty training WonderBaby will start school. School means exposure to all kinds of nasty vomit-causing germs. For me, there have been many nights that I've changed the pukey sheets, blankets and pjs; given the girl a bath; and wiped the vomit chunks off the bedpost and the walls... and then had to do it all over again, every hour, on the hour. Fun, fun!
That's motherhood for ya.

5:06 PM  
Blogger Melissa said...

Mine are almost five and two and a half and I will tell you it does get easier. I can go days without cleaning up anything but the table and Nata's face after dinner. They both now use the toilet and wipe themselves, they only eat at the table, so I only have to clean that up. However when something does happen now, it is just bigger and much messier. A one year old throwing up is different that a five year old throwing up. Snot is snot, but eventually they learn to use Kleenex. It may be a while, but I promise you, there will come a day when all of that is not your life. Now the toys on the floor and everything else....well I'm still there with both mine, so that may never go away.

5:14 PM  
Blogger Beck said...

Eh, no. Eventually the poo tide does go back out to sea - my seven year old, seriously, it's been YEARS since she's been even remotely yucky. Even when she's sick, she's like a sick little adult. Of course, she now fights with her brother like an angry monkey, but that's neither here nor there.

5:33 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I say own it. Own the shitty monkey life -- right? I mean, that's the only way to get through it.

That's what I'm trying to tell myself.

5:54 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

ack, stop - the truth is blinding me!

Okay, somewhere, deep down, I might have suspected this. sigh.

Have a deep breath and another cup of coffee. Oh, and I seem to have acquired a few extra bottles of hand sanitizer ...want one?

6:26 PM  
Blogger Chicky Chicky Baby said...

The damn mess! Poop and boogers and animal hair covered, half eaten crackers everywhere. I've given up on thinking of when it will get better and less yucky and decided to concern myself with just getting through the day.

6:28 PM  
Blogger PunditMom said...

Hang in there, HBM. It does get a little better, but then you get a 6-going-on-16 year old, and that's a whole different barrel of monkeys!

7:12 PM  
Blogger Girlplustwo said...

lovely. i mean that. it's the journey and the bending that shows us what we are made of, even when we are ready to run the other way.

An aside to shit: M was sitting on her little chair (she'd turned it on it's side) took off her diaper, and well, yes, crapped through the chair onto the floor.

(Her father was on duty.
Enough said)

nice.

7:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ahhh, the things I have to look forward to...

It's all fun and games until someone shits in the tub.

7:45 PM  
Blogger Sharon L. Holland said...

I hear the shit gets easier.

But then, one word: lice.

7:55 PM  
Blogger Creative-Type Dad said...

I've always wanted to go to that monkey festival. But I've been to Gymboree - same thing.

Never had to poo in the tub happen yet. Now I'm a little afraid....

8:07 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

one time during a stomach bug plaguing our family, we put our 6 year old on a mattress in our room outside the master bathroom to make it easier for him to at least get to a tile floor to puke on...and he himself is a tidy soul, the whole experience was completely shattering to him, all the more reason for me to cowboy up and stay ready for the YUCK...and I have two more besides him to shepherd through this charming life!

8:09 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The skeevots factor will never get easier for me, but thankfully, I have had to endure decades of cat vomit, hairballs and poop encrusted fur to ease me into this human whirlwind of messes! I love the monkey analogy, BTW.

8:14 PM  
Blogger motherbumper said...

I've tested and pushed my boundaries this past week and I'm proud. And disgusted. It's what I signed up for (sigh).

Loving the monkeys.

8:31 PM  
Blogger Laural Dawn said...

I thought it was just me!
I love my child a tonne. I can't handle some of the odours. we kind of started toilet training, and then seriously, the poop in the underwear almost killed me. He's not ready. Neither am I.
The other day I had my own puking incident (at work). It was awful and gross and the only person I could think to call was my friend who has a child - (age 11) and could deal with it.
So, my point, once WB is over the grossness your close friends will call on you to clean their puke cause you can handle it.

8:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Actually the monkey festival does come to a hiatus at the end of potty training when there is no more poo on floors and in panties. Then it starts up again when the kids are teens and start drinking and vomiting in the flower beds. Congratulations on navigating it all so far!!

8:47 PM  
Blogger Nichole said...

There is light at the end of the tunnel. Eleana is also going through this picky food stage, and my MIL kindly called her on her "tactile issues." Eleana takes after me and my fear of all things ucky, yucky, squishy and/or gooey. For too long Eleana found bananas too gooey to touch. She got over that and now finds rice to be too sticky.

Eleana's new food routine is to take a fork from me which I have poked food onto, shake the fork wildly in the air, and finally put any food survivors still on the fork into her mouth. If the food flies off the fork, the fork hits the floor.

Of course, sometimes we're really lucky and are able to witness huge torrents of tears at the mere sight of anything that isn't of a bright red color (like ketchup or grape tomatoes - her favorites!)

Suck it up...this may be our life, but it does get better...I think...

8:58 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I sometimes wish my son was born potty-trained because he poos all too much!

9:41 PM  
Blogger karengreeners said...

ok, i'll stop laughing just long enough to say that, dude, call me a terrible mother, but i'm really happy that my (very regular) baby's morning grunts and ensuing stinkfest happens after i leave for work every day.

10:16 PM  
Blogger Refinnej said...

It does get better. Rarely do I see, smell or have to deal with bodily fluids not my own. There is the occasional butt wipe, and some reminding about the proper place for mucous (affectionately called boogers by my monkeys), but it's all good.

One thing, farts don't count. I have to deal with them daily. Boys love to fart. And then tell you they did it. In case you missed the smell. Or the sound.

Mine are 8 & 4. Things have been good since the younger turned 3 or so.

11:10 PM  
Blogger Blog said...

Oooo I live this post! I was thinking about this today, as I cleaned yet another load of crap off the monkey's ass! I just laugh it off. Because, I remind myself, this is the easy stuff. When they get older, there's other kinds of crap we have to deal with. Hopefully, it will be easy for us (it will!)! Anyway, this "Yuck Preparedness System" prepares us, will always prepare us....It's all good. :)

11:33 PM  
Blogger Blog said...

I meant I "love"...not I "live" -- by the way! ;)

11:34 PM  
Blogger Awesome Mom said...

I have always thought that reaching into Harry's high chair should be an event on Fear Factor.

11:54 PM  
Blogger N. said...

I hear ya sistah!

There comes a point when every mom wonders if she will always be forced to care about and clean-up after the bodily fluids of others. Toilet training the kidlets helped, but I'm still waaaaaaaayyyyyyyy too involved in the process!

12:20 AM  
Blogger jdg said...

thank you for teaching me about the monkey festival. my life is just a little bit happier right now.

1:48 AM  
Blogger Go Mama said...

OK, aside from your lovely and eloquently detailed shitefest, you really only have another say year or year and a half of the deep, down in the trenches of it all. Then you graduate to skidmarked undies and your kid bellowing at top lung, "Mama wiiiipe meeeee!" Nice.

Take heart, girls train a lot faster than boys.

3:45 AM  
Blogger Lady M said...

Oh, for the life of a monkey.

I'm braced (if not prepared) for this messy life caring for Q. But to start over with another one? Not. Ready. Yet!

7:03 AM  
Blogger Mom101 said...

For every stupid teenager who has sex without a condom, I'm just dying to show them this post. Good thing all the pros of baby owning outweigh the shit. So to speak.

8:06 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Speaking of recorded family history, I would have loved to see that all on film. It's really amazing how, at one moment, all can be calm. But then, moments later, everything hits the fan. Including the shit.

Yes, thank god they make babies cute.

9:10 AM  
Blogger Kate said...

Funny post! Nobody really prepares you for the "shit" do they? My brother's kid once flung shit from her diaper all over the bedroom once, too. Not pretty!

10:24 AM  
Blogger Mad said...

Oh and the bodily fluids and solids are just the tip of the ice berg. The breakfast rebellion, the nudist demands, the tantrums, the, the, the... Monkey festival it is.

10:39 AM  
Blogger Baby in the City said...

I'm crying over here, this post is so fucking funny. I'm glad this is your life and not mine. Promise me you'll never stop writing about it.

11:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

And then...after the snot and poop comes the blood. Blood from having sibling knock your tooth out with a golf club or accidentally running over your foot with a lawn mower. Yeah...wait for it.

11:21 AM  
Blogger Kate said...

It does get better. My 6-year-old is close enough to self-cleaning that I'm willing to overlook the lapses, AND she empties the dishwasher and feeds the cat. My 2-year-old is still leaky and messy in all the wrong places, but I know we're on the down-side of this particular roller-coaster.

And when it gets ENOUGH better, then mommy-dementia will set in and I'll start to think that it's a good idea to have a third baby. Because I Just. Don't. Learn.

11:45 AM  
Blogger Run ANC said...

Finally! I've been wanting to comment for a while now, but every time I open the comments section at home, my computer shuts down! Stupid computer.

Luckily, I don't have a problem with baby mess. However, being thrown up on twice (two times!) before 8am in the morning is no fun. No fun, I say! I don't have that many clothes that still fit.

1:44 PM  
Blogger Gabriella said...

oh this was a good post. i was thinking about this exact same thing this morning after I tried for about 20min to change my daughter's diaper but as usual she escaped me and ran around naked, and then peed on the floor to which my husband arrives home and says; hmm that never happens with me!
i think it does get better though, or at least the hope of it gets me through each day!

2:39 PM  
Blogger BabyonBored said...

Yesterday Elby took her nap with a small container of black play-do. I don't know how she snuck it into her crib but she did. The end result was sheets ruined with black gunk and play-do in her hair, under her nails etc. And she's 2! It never ends.

3:14 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Yuck Preparedness System of mine never prepared me well enough for the double-yuck produced by precocious twins. Now, adding an active toddler into it, you'd think I'd wisen up and wave the white flag.

But I still try and beat back the chaos-- because 10 minutes of clean is still worth it.

'sigh.
-Rachael

3:19 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'd be lying if I said there were some days I don't want to do something about it. Motherhood is what it is - a messy, turmultuous, get you in the gut kind of business. Not for the faint of heart.Thanks for writing.

4:18 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Indeed. You're in it for life.

Just wait for WB to be 9 years old! Then you'll get spaghetti dinner throw up...on the bed and the floor. Who knew that spaghetti expanded that much!?

ew. We did this on PURPOSE???

4:35 PM  
Blogger Her Bad Mother said...

Spaghetti EXPANDS? Ew. Somebody warned me about corn in poo, but I hadn't heard about spaghetti vomit. Nice.

Here's the thing - I AM the faint of heart. I have always been faint of heart. I gag at cat spew. How I have been coping with the ick of motherhood, I DO NOT KNOW.

4:40 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Looking back I think I must have blocked the yuck and the sleep deprivation out of my mind. Ill take tired over grossed out any day.

4:51 PM  
Blogger Radioactive Tori said...

My kids (almost 9 and 6 year old twins) are not so messy anymore. My almost 3 year old isn't so much work either. It gets easier quickly, but then you have dating, makeup, etc. to deal with. I think maybe the "yucky" stage is something I might wish for again soon.

2:59 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I remember the really good months with my daughter were when she started sleeping nights to when she started walking...maybe about 3 whole months, it was great!

It never improves. She's in her 30s, and I could still wring her neck!

4:54 PM  
Blogger Ruth Dynamite said...

Yep - it's a mighty disgusting enterprise, this parenting. (I try to make the grosser realities seem more important by calling myself an excrementalist. It helps - a little.)

I think the shit is always there, morphing from one form to another, until the very end. Maybe it's not so bad?

5:14 PM  
Blogger Jezer said...

64 comments, and how can I find something fresh to say? Except I can't. But yeah, that's our life. Forever. Because to paraphrase RD, today's literal shit will be tomorrow's metaphorical shit. We really effed up this time, huh?

Nah. It's a beautiful little mess.

Now that November is over, I'll have some time to catch up with you (and expand my vocabulary, you damned brainiac!).

This one really spoke to me. Perfect, as usual.

7:54 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh man, I am so not ready for any of that. Not in the least. It's a good thing my husband and I have a good sense of humor because this is going to get ugly, isn't it?

8:57 AM  
Blogger the mad momma said...

oh my God... i just posted this morning about poop in the tub... i sure hope it gets easier!

9:15 AM  
Blogger kittenpie said...

Oh god, I fgorgot about the vomit. We havent' had any for quite a long time (she says clutching the wodden desk). I knew I was officially a big step further into this motherhood thing the day she started to yak in her high chair and I put out my hand and caught it. And then the other hand, while dumping the first handful in a bowl, and hand over hand for several handfuls until her wee tum was empty.

And yeah, flossing - but here's the thing about that. Use the little prestrung flosser tools, which come in kid size too, and then it's a neato implement. Pumpkinpie resists brushing, but is fascinated by flossing! We do it as an incentive to get the brushing over with most days!

11:23 AM  
Blogger petite gourmand said...

Oh how happy am I that we are past the puking stage.
well sort of..
with the exception of a pretty gross incident a few weeks ago when lulu wasn't feeling well.
I'll spare you the details.
the up side is at least it wasn't on the new white sofa.

good times.

2:19 PM  

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