Poo Fountain

I hesitate to write anything more about my ongoing struggle to find a formula that doesn’t make Gaia

a) fussy
b) gassy
c) have excessive diarrhea
d) constipated
e) break out in a rash
f) all of the above

until we’ve finally locked down a bonafide solution. For the purposes of this post all you need to know is that our current formula seems to have solved the majority of our concerns save for the fact her diarrhea is so excessive it’s like her baby bum is a rusted tap in an old farm house that persistently sputters out brown water. Don’t worry, you don’t have to thank me for the visual. Today she was sitting in her Bumbo, happily playing, when she let out a series of farts. As I always do post fart I stopped what I was doing and approached her to survey the scene. The smell seemed to confirm a poop, but I picked her up to be sure. Instantly my hands felt wet. I turned her around to see a gigantic skid mark that traveled up her back and culminated in a diarrhea splatter on her neck. I can only surmise that the force of her farts caused her brown water poo to shoot up and out of her diaper like a glorious, disgusting baby poo fountain. Needless to say the damage control was extensive and included anti-bacterial soap, a washing machine, no less the twelve wipes, a shower nozzle, a wash cloth and an entirely new outfit. On the plus side the dog saw fit to lick the Bumbo clean for me while I was washing myself and Gaia. Like a revolting and hairy Mother’s helper she is. Now if I can just remember to be extra diligent in my attempts to keep the dog’s mouth away from the baby for the next few days we’ll be just fine.

Oh and if reading this post made you feel uncomfortable or cause you to mutter a serious of judgmental “ewwws” at any point please take a moment to remind yourself… this is my life.

Yellow Poop and Other Reasons Why Life is Good

Given the horribly depressing mood of Thursday’s post I thought I should write a little something to perk things up around here. List format seems best as I’ve got a million and one things to do this morning.

1. I opened my email yesterday to find an amazingly supportive message from my official ‘Mommy Friend’. It made me feel like someone understood, like somebody cared and invariably made me feel like a better mother. Plus it made me laugh out loud. If you have a baby but don’t have a ‘Mommy Friend’ you should go find yourself one immediately. She won’t be as great as mine of course but we can’t all be so lucky.

2. I bit the bullet and started Gaia on soy formula yesterday to see if it made a difference to her demeanour, skin and poop (I’m a mama and an excessive portion of my mind space revolves around baby poop... deal with it). I know they say it can take up to two weeks to notice a difference but she drank the first bottle without stopping, without fussing and without tensing her entire baby body for the first time during a feeding in almost two weeks. She eagerly consumed three more bottles in the late afternoon and evening, each followed with a dainty burp, some big smiles and quick cat-naps. When I went to take her diaper off for her bedtime bath it was filled with the most glorious baby poop I have ever seen. Not only was it the perfect soft consistency but it was... wait for it... YELLOW! Gaia officially had her first appropriately coloured baby poop. I almost kissed the dirty diaper I was so happy, but I settled for kissing Gaia instead. She acted nonchalant but I know she was excited too. I also feel it’s important to note that the reason I hadn’t noticed she’d pooped was that she didn’t clench up, stop breathing, turn purple and grunt while pooping, but rather hummed the little BM song I’ve heard from all the breastfed babies I know. I still have a nagging worry that the fact the formula is iron-fortified might be a problem but overall I feel the experiment has been a success. Did I mention I put her to bed at 10:00pm and she’s still sleeping? It’s almost 8:30am. Yeah.

3. I have amazing parents. I moved far away from home in my teens and while brief instances reminded me of this fact overall I think I grossly underestimated them. If they weren’t so fantastic there is absolutely no way I could be doing this all on my own. Plus they’ve been divorced for almost ten years and when I came home from running errands yesterday they we’re tag teaming a screaming Gaia, trying to get her to sleep. This is the kind of civilised behaviour everyone should expect from two people who chose to have children together, even if they later chose not to share their lives. Unfortunately I know lots of people who aren’t so lucky. Thank God for Grandparents. Especially Gaia’s.

4. In a few short hours Gaia and I will be boarding a plane to Vancouver. Not only is Vancouver my official ‘happy place’(the ocean, the mountains, the trees and the sky... oh my... not to mention the shopping) but it’s also jam-packed with some of my best friends in the world. I don’t care if it rains all summer... I love it there.

5. In just thirty-two hours I get to pick up my husband at the airport after one hundred and fifty-one days apart. Better still, he gets to hold his daughter for the first time. Words can’t express my excitement.

Regina Famous

About a month ago my friend Carey Shaw photographed and interviewed me and Gaia for the CityLife section of the Prairie Dog, a local alternative news and entertainment magazine. The interview, as published, is below.
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WHO: Risa, Arts Educator and Baby Mama to newborn Gaia. WHERE: Home. CLOTHES: H&M Top, 13 Euro, bought in Barcelona, Spain ; Blue Jeans, $79, The Gap (Cornwall Centre). SHOES: Steve Madden Gold Flats, $50, bought in Miami, Florida. ACCESSORIES: Wedding Band, $15, from a shop in Peru; Silver Rings, one from the MacKenzie Art Gallery Shop (3475 Albert St.), the other from a street vendor in Barcelona; Nixon Watch, a gift from Mom. HAIR: Fidela at Studio 13 Salon and Day Spa (2937 13th Ave.).

Peru, Costa Rica, Mexico, Venezuela, Italy, Spain, Portugal, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Bermuda, Caribbean Islands, and almost everywhere in North America. This long list proves that Risa definitely has a little bit of a travel bug inside her. Something passed down from her parents, perhaps – farmers from Rouleau who took the family on vacation for a few weeks every year. Start with a student exchange in England, add in working on cruise ships, sneak in an arts degree from Vancouver and Risa now has a Peruvian husband, is the new mother of a hermosa niña and sports a really big grin daily. Sounds like it all worked out.

Thinking about style in your travels, where has been the most inspiring?
I think going to England when I was 16 was really good for me, having grown up in a small town, because everyone has their own individual style. I definitely took that from being in England. Whatever you looked like was OK, and whatever you wanted to wear was great too. Lately I’ve fallen in love with Spain. In Barcelona the women take pride in the way they look, and that makes it such an interesting city.

Favourite thing you’ve picked up in your worldwide adventures?
Jose, my husband!

What in your life haven’t you done yet that you hope to do?
A lot of things. I think it is really important to have things in your life that you haven’t done but want to, because that’s what keeps your life interesting. I’ve done so many things for myself, and done so much travelling, that I’m pretty excited to have my daughter grow up and share experiences with her. I took every opportunity when it came. I don’t feel like I missed out on anything, so now I am excited to settle down and start my “grown up” life!

If you could hold on to something from your closet for Gaia to see what you were like when you were younger, what would it be?
When I was a teenager, I had this gigantic [hole-filled] t-shirt that had a roller skate on it. I thought it was so cool. I wore it all the time. So that, with my dad’s old work jeans, and skate shoes. When I was a teenager I thought I was Courtney Love. I wanted to be her. I don’t think I had any style but I guess that was they style. I had teeny short little bangs that were never even and really thin eyebrows. I thought I was just the coolest thing ever.

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What Carey doesn’t include is the fact Gaia screamed for the entire three hours she was at our house. I bounced Gaia on the exercise ball for the twenty minutes she interviewed me in an attempt to calm her for the photoshoot. The photo she eventually used was chosen simply because we felt Gaia’s screams could possibly be interpreted as squeals of joy as I lifted her into the air. Not to mention the fact her face is partially obscured because it’s in profile. In her brief history that day was the worst she’s had. Last week Carey sent me some of the photos that didn’t make the cut. Have a good look at Gaia’s face in all of them. That’s a baby that doesn't want to be photographed if I’ve ever seen one. Canada’s Next Top Model here we come I’ll let you know about baby number two?

After Carey left Gaia continued to cry for upwards of seven hours. She refused to eat and got alarmingly overtired. As her waking hours reached a consecutive sixteen I was reaching the end of my patience and tearfully at a loss as to how to help her. Suddenly Gaia let out a series of adult sized farts and pooped the most gigantic baby poop I have ever seen. She then promptly fell asleep.

Interview and all photos by Carey Shaw. Check her out at here.