Cloth diapers, Vomit, Names, and Thanksgiving

It really is hard to come up with names for a blog, especially when I have full intentions of touching on numerous subjects within one blog post. As we all know, I don't blog too often, so I have to cover a lot of subjects when I do. I always have good intentions of blogging, but too many other things come in my way and I get easily sidetracked.

So to all you young moms out there who use cloth diapers. Kudos to you. I applaud you and appreciate you, but I have just one thing to say. When you go away and take cloth diapers and your child requires a diaper change, go ahead and change the diaper, but PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE take the dirty cloth diaper with you. It is most disagreeable to the nurse to walk out into the waiting room and find a suspicious diaper laying half on a little chair, half on the floor. A glove is gotten and the object gingerly picked up, (all the while, the nurse is thinking, surely not, surely not. Surely no one actually left their dirty diaper here did they? I am taking unnecessary precautions and making an unnecessary fuss, but the proof is in the pudding right?) felt, and sure enough--it is heavy, smelly and obviously used. Well, that is one left-behind object that didn't make it into our lost and found box.

Have I mentioned that we have a good secretary. Now, if you read this, secretary, don't let it go to your head, but please take it as a compliment, because it is true. You are a good secretary despite the hard time you are given. But this particular good facet of the secretary that I want to discuss is her cleaning skills. She is the one that is often blessed with the job of cleaning up vomit. For instance, just the other day, a dad comes to the window and mentions his son is acting like he might puke. In the time it takes the secretary to whip around and find an acceptable basing, the son has filled the dad's hands, spewed out around it and onto the floor. Now, I do commend the dad for trying. That is very commendable and much more than some would do (possibly even me included) This secretary very graciously cleaned up the floor, the bathroom, and the run without one word of complaint. Really, she actually had some positive things to say such as, "At least it didn't really stink." Now, I have to confess something--vomit is not something I am good at. I can gag and dry heave along with the best of them when I have to clean up vomit. I still remember as a school teacher cleaning up my little 6 year old that puked and I'm washing him off with a rag, all the while trying to hold back my own gag reflexes. That image is still very clear to me today. So the fact that the secretary has taken up on herself the title of "Puke Cleaner Upper" means the world to me. Now, I will also say that the secretary has had to clean up much worse things than vomit, but we won't get into that now.

What do you say when someone names their child a name you think is absolutely awful? What is the polite response? You just asked them what the baby's name is; you kind of need to make some sort of response. If this is their second baby you've seen and you really liked the first name, they may even be expecting a nice response. "Oh, Okay," really sounds just like that. Okay, I guess, you really are going with that, huh? Well, it's your choice!!:):)

Also, if your wife is at her due date and hasn't had her baby yet and she is taking blue or purple or pink or whatever color cohash it is and hasn't gone into labor yet, it really is okay. Even if she went early with all the others, it's still okay. It doesn't mean something is wrong; it just means baby hasn't decided to join the family in a visible way. Now, I suppose all of you moms are going to say, "But she has no idea--she has never had children." And that would be true--but I still know the philosophy behind a due date. And if it is your first child, please do not assume that you will go early. That, my friends, is a recipe for disaster when you go overdue.

I'm sure everyone is appreciating my free advice and if you are frustrated with me, just stick it out for one more thought. The thought where I talk about being grateful for everything. The thought where I may even ask you to be grateful for the unwanted advice I gave you in this blog.

I have been reading "1000 Gifts." This, frankly, is quite an accomplishment for me. When I see books that have attained to the best seller list and are sought for and fought over, I am very likely to turn a deaf ear. "The Prayer of Jabez"? never read it--have it, plan to read it someday, but because of all the hype, it's not on my "gotta read now" list. That is a little bit the way I was with "1000 Gifts" except that people I admire kept commenting on what a good book it was, etc. etc. Then I was at the library and saw it with the new books and I broke down and borrowed it. That is a decision, my friends, I do not regret. I am not through it yet, but I have been challenged by her thoughts and her style of writing. I want to be a grateful person--to see God in the small, everyday aspects of life--to know that He is present and working in my life. I want to make my own list of 1000 things I am grateful for. Little things like: the clack of fingers on a keyboard typing out this blog post, the click of the furnace as it starts up to heat the house on a cold, blustery night, the warmth of my electric blanket, the beautiful sunset that I glimpsed tonight in it's red and purple splendor, a girls' club gone well, 2 new babies birthed into the world this weekend (another one on the way anytime), the gift of the cross and the salvation it brings (now that is not a little gift) and the sound of D's truck as it crunches across the gravel signaling that he is home another day is drawing to a close. That should be happening soon and then I am going to call it a day.