A Glimpse into my weekend

I think every week I will have one post be a story around my experiences of fatherhood and more specifically around this unusual world of raising a girl. Today, this story, is just about the wonderful world of an everyday parent.

Let me setup the weekend. We had a quiet weekend at home for the most part. Fedea came over Saturday night to watch the football game and the bulls-heat game. He left around 10:30. After that, Michelle went to bed and I stayed on the couch flipping the channels. I saw that Transformers was on TBS and I am easily hooked on movies. It ended on midnight...so at 12 when it ended, I was heading to bed but Samantha was crying.

Typically, Michelle gets up with her in the middle of the night (if needed) and I get up with her in the morning. Since I was already up, I went in her room and she was sitting up. I rocked her in the chair for a few minutes and she fell asleep. No big deal right? Well, I tried to put her down and she woke up and screamed no. So....I stood over her crib holding her calming her down. Once again, she was asleep so I tried to put her down. As soon as she hit the bed, she started crying again. At this point, I am thinking, "How does Michelle do it??? I can't get her to go back to sleep!"

So, I resort to the only way I know how to put her to sleep...THE COUCH! It always works for me. This time though I decided to just sit down on the couch and let her lean against my shoulder. Of course with her was her blanket and Minnie Mouse. Well we were on the couch for about 30 seconds before she pushes back slightly and just blows her lunch and dinner all over me. (why oh why did I try to put her back to sleep...)

Luckily this wasn't my first rodeo with vomit. When Michelle was out of town a couple months ago, Samantha has a 24hr bug that reared its ugly head. Lets just say it was a long night for a single parent...a story for another time. (I have been nailed twice now by Samantha...Michelle -0...WTF!!!!!)

Well, as she was vomiting as much as possible all over me she starts crying. I try to console her but she can't really lean on my shoulder as it is dripping on its own. I stand up with her and her blanket (thank goodness that was there. it caught a lot). I yell for Michelle and run to the bathroom. Michelle was of course in a deep sleep and woke up in a pure PANIC. She comes out of the bathroom to see her daugher standing in the tub crying, with Minnie and her blanket of course swimming in vomit and me running past her with my shirt dripping everywhere I go (I was heading to our shower to take up my shirt and rinse it out).

To speed this up, we calm her down, put news clothes on her and have her come lay in our bed with us (15 min process). Well, the next couple hours we spent with me holding the bucket, Michelle holding the hair and Samantha throwing her face into the bowl. She only threw up a few more times. Poor girl.

Don't be too alarmed. It was bizarre actually. She was fine all day, never had a fever and never showed symptoms. We still don't know what happened. Sunday she definitely was not right and really didn't eat but she drank a lot of fluids and was in good spirits. Luckily both Michelle and Samantha are home tomorrow for MLK day.

A few things I learned from that night...

1. I am NEVER on overnight duty again. I try to put her back down and instead her meals come UP!
2. Throwing up sucks extra for girls or should I say people with long hair. Not only do you have to hold hair back but vomit also gets in there. YUCK!
3. My love for peanut butter runs deeper than I ever thought. Even though I saw it coming flying out, I still had a craving for it on Sunday.

In the end, it was a very sharp reminder that I am no longer a college kid or even a single guy in my 20s. I am a 34 yr old father of a 21 month old daughter. I mean 10 years ago...my Saturday night...lets just say it looked a little different...ok, a LOT different.