What a stinkin' trip

Warning: This post contains graphic poop talk.

So we went to the doctor's office today. Piper has gained a full pound in one week! That is great! She still doesn't register on the percentile charts, but her head does at 25% which is great, too. The doctor said that with malnutrition a lot of times what happens is weight drops, then height, then head size, which of course, means brain size. The fact that her head is on the charts is a good sign as far as that goes. I knew she was smart already :)

We have scheduled our first post placement visit at the end of September for our 3 month follow up with the wonderful Connie Conrad, at Texas Adoption Homestudy, our social worker. Yeah, she reads my blog, but I swear I'd say it anyway, Connie! We also need to get started on re-adoption, the whole lawyer-court stuff. The word "lawyer" makes our wallets shudder...

This week we found ourselves in a few more outbursts, fits or whatever. I think it is sinking in that this is the new deal. There is no going back. It kind of comes out of nowhere, but seems to go away just as fast. I can't imagine getting dropped off in a new country forever with a smiling nice woman who says things you can't understand. And then she brings in all these boys who keep trying to get in your face and take your toys, only you don't know they will give them back. Poor baby.

Good story, but graphic-kid-poop story, so reader beware. So the other day, we go to visit my grandmother in Houston. Dennis gives me the whole, "Don't go by yourself, blah-blah" story. I go,"I'm a big girl-don't need no stinkin' man, blah-blah". We get there at noon, nice visit, and leave at 3:10pm. No sweat. At 3:45 we are stuck in the middle of stop and go Houston traffic and Cam starts screaming that he has to go poop. Yeah, not gonna happen. We're stuck. "Can you hold it a minute?" He says he can. And then 3 minutes later he screams that it's too late. He had diarrhea. I was gagging and Brodan's yelling that it stinks and it takes me 10 minutes to get off the road! Only to find us in a warehouse district-y type of area. Luckily, I brought a change of clothes for everyone. Well, I wasn't prepared in the wipes-department. I used them all trying to clean him up, meanwhile it is everywhere, in all forms, I'm grossed out to say. Now, I am hot and sweaty, it stinks like a sewer, and I am worried we are going to get murdered in the isolated parking lot where no one can find us. Maybe my kid's stink will scare them off. Ok, now we need to find a store where I can buy some ziplocs to put his clothes in, some wipes to replace the others and finish cleaning him up, and anti-bacterial wipes to clean the car. And a drink, 'cause Mama is dying of thirst. 20 long minutes later, we get to a stinkin' HEB. 20 MINUTES! There is a pile of poop on my floorboard! Arrrgh.

So we are that stinkin' family where the kids have no shoes on and we walk into the bathroom because now Brodan says he has to go. "Hey, Britney, how'z Sean Preston and Jayden?" I make Cam wash his shoes in the sink (barefoot) and set Piper down (barefoot) and deal with Brodan having the same issues as his brother for another 20 minutes! WHAT IS HAPPENING???

Fine, we get done, and we buy all the stuff we need and go back to the car where a pile of poop has been baking in the 104 degree heat. Is this never going to end? No. Because I leave HEB and drive 20 minutes BACK THE WRONG WAY INTO HOUSTON. How dumb can I be? Well, I am losing it now, and am holding back tears, trying to tell Dennis what a nightmare the ride home is and I am THISCLOSE to checking us into a hotel. And what does Dennis say after "Do you want me to come get you", he says, "I told you not to go by yourself!" Don't even make me go there!

It took us 6 hours and 28 minutes to get home. It is a 3 to 3 and a half hour drive w/ stops. Dennis had to take the car to the car wash at 10pm at night to detail the thing.

Road trips and plane trips are over for awhile.