Questions That Have "Sprouted" Up

I have a two year old.  Which means many things.  The main thing it means is we, as in the adults in the house, have ABSOLUTELY NO CONTROL over the T.V.  EVER. NEVER, EVER, EVER.

If it were possible, we'd only need to subscribe to one channel.  Of course, that channel is the SPROUT channel.  It's the only thing we ever watch.  If the TV is turned on, and it's not already on 337, it's pretty much a full on panic attack by a certain member of our family.    The shortest member.  (That's not me anymore!)  If ever we try to sneak the TV on and he catches us, he makes this huge production of covering his eyes and ears and starts chanting, "I not watch this, I too little.  I can't watch it.  Change it, change it."  It's really rather ridiculous.  Disclaimer...we don't watch bad shows...that happens during the 5:00 news!

Earlier this summer, Reilly was content to watch whatever was on...in the order it came about.  However, now, he's not that simple.  He has his favorites.  And that's all he wants to watch.  ALL THE TIME.  Right now, we're very stuck on...




Oh, how we love Caillou!  (As in, I can pretty much recite each episode!)

However, back in the good ol' days, when we were allowed to branch out and watch the other Sprout shows...they made me think.  A lot.  Here are the questions that have "SPROUTED" up from watching channel 337.

• Why is Mama Bear from the Berenstein Bears ALWAYS wearing the same exact outfit?  Even when she's going swimming?
• Are little kids really supposed to know why Thomas is the cheeky one?  What exactly does cheeky even mean?
• Will Nina start to wear winter jammies soon?  I'm afraid her ankles are going to get quite chilly this winter...
• Why is Caillou 4 years old and still bald?  (I actually know the answer to this one...but I did spend a lot of time thinking about it.)
• How exactly do we get to Sesame Street?
• Why are the Berenstein Bears the only Bear Family that live in a tree when all the other Bear Families get to live in a regular house?
• How do the families that Shawn, Noodle and Doodle visit always know exactly when to be outside when the bus pulls up?
• Is Nina really the one making the sand picture?
• Does anyone ever feed Hush the Fish?
• Has anyone ever tested Jeff on the Wiggles for a sleep disorder?
• Do Sean, Kelly, Dennisha, Carly, and Chica really love their jobs that much?  Who is really that wide eyed and bushy tailed so early in the morning?

This is just a small dose of what's been on my mind while suffering enjoying the amazing world of Sprout.  I may just end up spending the evening googling some answers.

I Have An Ugly Pan!

Sometimes it pays to have ugly pans.  Today was one of those days!

My sisters, Kim and Keely, along with Bonnie, hosted a Longaberger Open House today and they challenged their guests to bring an ugly pan. 

I knew I had this one.

I have some ugly pans.

So I dug it out.  Not that I had to search hard, I still use it all the time.

And guess what?

I won!

Hooray!

Guess what else? 

I got a brand spanking I'd-never-be-able-to-afford-one-on-my-own  new FLAMEWARE PIZZA PAN!!!!

Hooray for having an ugly pan!

Hooray for having such amazing sisters and friend named Bonnie.

Thanks for my new pan, girls!

The Trouble With Butts

Yep.  This blog is about the trouble with butts.  Not the conjunction buts, but rather the back end of a person kind of butt.

(Disclaimer...this is not a butt that belongs to anyone I know!)

For those people that know the Woods' Family well, you've heard our trials regarding Reilly's fanny.  It doesn't always do what it's supposed to do.  As in, it never hardly ever releases the digested and processed food from his belly.  Let's be frank...the kid just doesn't poop.  Like ever.

This isn't a new issue.  We've been dealing with it for quite some time now.  We've chatted with people, we've taken medicine, we've done lots of suppositories, and we've even eaten special food and drank special drinks.  Heck, we've even prayed for poop.  A LOT.

After visiting the Dr. a couple of weeks ago, we've been taking 2 cap fulls of Miralax, 2 fiber gummies, 3 Tbsp. of mineral oil and really limiting the amount of dairy he's gotten each day.  Just last weekend I nearly did cartwheels down the aisle at Meijer when I found PRUNE ACTIVIA yogurt.  There's really no explainable way why this kid isn't running around constantly pooping...but it just isn't happening. 

Ms. Betsy (our babysitter)  is amazing and totally on board with trying to get Reilly to poop.  She takes such good care of him, does exercises that he's supposed to do and feeds him high fiber foods.  She also usually gives us a run down of diapers when we pick up since she knows we're tracking them closely.  We're so lucky she's a part of Reilly's life and his pooping progress. 

I got a phone call from our pediatrician on Friday that we were being sent to a specialist at Memorial, who will do some further investigating to see what's going on.

We also got some other news on Friday. 

News we weren't expecting.

News I'm not sure we were ready for.

News that doesn't make us proud.

Dave went to pick up Reilly from Ms. Betsy's after work on Friday and found this waiting for him.

And then Ms. Betsy began to tell Dave about Reilly's day.  She went to change his diaper earlier in the day and saw something strange.  (Remind me sometime to blog about what she found previously this week in his diaper.)  There was something in his diaper that didn't belong. 

I'll spare all the details, but let's just say, it hadn't completely passed.  She had to help.  And she saved it for us.  Luckily it's not a great picture.  (You should still skip this part if you are weak stomached!)

MY KID ATE A CAPRI-SUN STRAW.

AND WE HAD NO IDEA.

WE DON'T KNOW WHEN.

WE DON'T KNOW HOW.

WE DON'T KNOW WHY.

But he ate a straw, and Ms. Betsy had to pull part of it out.  Of his bum.

SERIOUSLY?

OH. MY. WORD.

I have no idea if this has been part of the pooping issue. Not that I'm excited that he ate and swallowed a straw, but I am praying that was issue and now that it's out, we'll get back to normal.    We've had some movement this weekend--more than usual, but still not enough.  My fingers are still crossed though.

Thank Goodness we have some pretty special guardian angels looking down on this crazy boy...we could have had some very serious issues with that silly straw.

Now...we're going to bed to pray for more poop.  We'd appreciate your prayers, too.