Team Cold

Friday, 1 February 2008

It's a good thing that I have a part-time teacher who works with me because she had to do most of the teaching and talking today. The kids tried to whisper along with me and kept asking, "Why are you whispering?" They didn't understand how I lost my voice. I actually was straining to talk, so I did mostly paperwork at my desk and helped one or two kids here and there.

It didn't seem to phase Chase at all that I didn't have a voice. He just smiled at me, and I smiled back. We played and read books together...minus the reading of course. There has been lots of dancing and funny faces....The things you do to entertain the baby, especially when you don't have a voice to do so!

Chris managed to leave work about an hour and a half earlier, and we picked him up and headed to the Punahou Carnival. We paid 5 bucks to park at the nearby Central Union Church and walk to the school. We thought we had it all planned out so well, but we were a disaster to start with!

Just call us Team Cold. Here I was with no voice, trying to communicate with my husband and my baby. Then, Chris was sneezing and had a runny nose all day, so he had kleenex stuffed in his pockets and would go through sneeze attacks as we were trying to organize all of our stuff. Chris is outside the car trying to get the hiking backpack all situated, and I moved Chase to the front seat of the car to nurse him before we leave. I look at my hand and notice this yellowish-greenish poop on me. (Oh, did I say that it's pouring rain out!)

Me: "What the hell?!"
Chris: "Oh a bird must have pooped on you."
Me: "It's not bird poop. It's all over my nursing cover and my carrier. It's probably baby poop. Check the car seat."
(By this time, it's starting to pour down hard and I ask Chris to put his backpack and stuff back in the car and get Chase in the back seat so we can check him.)

Sure enough, there is poop on the car seat and the poop has exploded out his pants onto his leg. Together we attempt to change a wiggly, screaming baby (who's very hungry and irritated at this point) in a crowded back seat (because we had two huge umbrellas, a car seat, lots of extra clothes and other crap, and a huge hiking backpack back there). All the while, I can't talk, and Chris is blowing his nose and sneezing, and I don't want him to touch Chase's hands to get any of his snot on him. Talk about a mess! I think we sat in the parking lot for about half an hour before we finally got all clean and packed up and started walking towards Punahou School.

Most people would have just packed the car right back up and headed home. But, we were determined to spend a couple of hours at the carnival, since we had a feeling the rest of the weekend weather was going to be even crappier. Ah, the things you do for your children!

So, even though the weather was absolutely miserable, muddy, rainy, and wet...Chase slept some of the time and had fun looking around at all the people the rest of the time. We bought $20 worth of scrips and figured we would use that up. We ate saimin, teri burger, noodles, and malasadas. We visited the art gallery and bumped into a bunch of friends along the way. The kids and teenagers were having a blast sliding around the campus in the mud and riding all the rides. We went to the plant booth, the White Elephant Booth, and tried to keep dry. Our last $10 worth of scrip was spent on rides. Not any crazy roller coaster like I used to love when I was a kid, but our goal was to take Chase on the merry-go-round. So, we each got our $5 ride. Chase and I rode first, then Chris took Chase on. I forgot the horse goes up and down. Chase smiled each time it went up and down. We took lots of pictures, and by 7 pm, we called it a night. It was cold, windy, rainy, and muddy. Plus, we were both sick. No need to keep Chase (the only healthy one, who was bundled up good in pants, shoes/socks, and a fleece hoodie) out in this weather.

I decided to stop at the hospital lobby on the way back so that I could nurse Chase. Chris walked back and got the car and picked us up in the turnaround. What a nasty night! But, we had to bring Chase to his first Punahou Carnival. Don't think we'll be going back tomorrow as the weather forecast doesn't look any better. We did two loads of laundry once we got home, baby clothes and stuff, which were poopy, and our clothes, which were dirty from walking around the carnival.

We'll have to wait again till next year (and hopefully we'll be in better condition!).