Car seats and vomit is a gross combination

There is nothing like a vomit incident to cut short a family outing.

I am convinced that darling daughter suffers from occasional motion sickness. We’ve had our share of vomit incidents while travelling. One of the worst incidents we experienced was last spring when we were in the States on our way to visit friends. She threw up at a restaurant and then later when we were back on the Interstate, she threw up again all over herself and the car seat. I hate cleaning up vomit from car seats. It sticks to everything and it seems impossible to clean up. It is disgusting.

Since dear husband has the week off, I’ve been wanting to go to a sugar bush. Unfortunately, this week looks pretty crappy weatherwise. But this morning, it looked okay. So after packing the diaper bag, the stroller and an extra couple of coats, we were on our way.

We were two exits away from Kinburn Side Road when darling daughter vomited. It is scary to watch your toddler vomit, especially in their car seat. Dear husband quickly pulled the car onto the side of the highway and we got out to assess the damage. She was covered in vomit. She was in tears. And no wonder. I wouldn’t want to be covered in vomit, either. I thank my lucky stars that I forgot to put her in her new hoodie that I knitted for her. I would have cried if she had thrown up on it.

So we did a quick clean up, got off at the next exit, turned around and went home. Field trip over. *Sigh* After stripping her out of her vomit covered clothes and giving her a bath, then there was the task of cleaning the car seat. Thankfully, water, vinegar and elbow grease got the car seat squeaky clean. But I still hate vomit. Dealing with it is one of the grosser sides to parenthood.

Sometimes dreams don't translate well into reality

After today, I am thanking my lucky stars that we bought airplane tickets to Newfoundland. Dear husband and I had contemplated making the drive to Newfoundland. It would be a scenic trip, we reasoned. Darling daughter would absolutely love it, we thought. In my mind, I had visions of me reading copious amount of books while dear husband drove and darling daughter happily looked out the window, cloud gazing. But just like all my visions related to parenthood, my daydreams don't quite match up with reality. Case in point is my standard parenthood image involving dear husband and I lounging on our bed, while we gaze lovingly at darling daughter as she plays quietly between us. Yes, it is a lovely image in my head. But the reality is that darling daughter squirms a lot and loves to climbs and hang off the head board. We have no time to lounge as we are too busy making sure she doesn't fall and hurt herself.

Lately, darling daughter has had a real hate on for her car seat. Last week she cried all the way home during a 25 minute car ride. Today, she cried for an hour to my grandmother's house. She cried all the way home. However, that was our fault as we decided to make a stop into Wal-Mart and if we had just kept on going, she would have slept for the entire drive. Sadly, we forgot one of the golden rules of parenthood: don't wake a sleeping baby. But the allure of wide aisles and good bargains was too much to pass up. However, we did pay for it on the car ride home as she basically cried for about 45 minutes straight. Nothing I did could console her. The classic trick of letting her play and chew on her Robeez lasted for about 15 minutes before she tossed them aside in a fit of rage. I even made a make shift sock puppet out of her sock, but that got no laughs. Argh! If she can't last an hour into a car ride without crying, how could she ever survive a three day road trip?

Thankfully, we have used the common sense that God gave us and buy airline tickets. Dear husband told me today that he would like to make the drive out to Newfoundland. I understand, I said, but we will have to wait until she is older. How old? he asked. Probably when she is out of the house, I replied. Despite the crying, I don't think I can stand hearing "are we there, yet?" for three solid days.

Puke doesn't come out of a white blouse

One of the cutest blouses that darling daughter sits on top of my dryer, stained. No amount of Nature's Miracle or Shout can get that stain out. If there is any hope in getting that eliminating that stain completely, then bleach is likely answer. But quite frankly I have been too lazy in the last week to get the bleach out and see if it will work its magic.

I don't know what I was thinking when I dressed darling daughter in her cute little white blouse for our road trip last week. It never occured to me that she would throw up her dinner at a fast food restaurant (we ate Burger King while she ate some wholesome bananas and pears out of a jar). Twenty minutes after getting back onto the road (obviously she was wearing fresh, clean clothing) she threw up again. I won't get into the gruesome details, but lets say what was coming out of her mouth was basically a river of puke that I caught with a blanket.

I have had some experience in stain removal and as soon as we arrived at my friend's house, I quickly sprung into action and squirted the shirt with Nature's Miracle, a product that my friend swears by. However, it was no match for the pears and bananas. I tried Shout when I got home. The stain was still there. I learned a lesson when it comes to road trips: don't put your children in clothes that are white in colour or that you love.