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I Just Cannot Escape Vomit

This week has already been off to a rough start. Actually, EVERY week is a rough start. Kaydence has a horrible Monday and by Friday is amazing. Saturday is okay and then comes Sunday. I dread Sundays now. I like the daytime, but Kaydence wants to stay awake with the people who party behind our apartment building.

To explain what is behind our apartment building will tell you a lot about it. If you tell anyone in Baltimore that Baltimore Street is right behind our building, they all react the same way. Everyone from the area knows that it is the party scene. Not just any party scene. It's the scene that I would place my hands over Wade's eyes everyday driving through if he were with me. I can tolerate seeing the many homeless people on certain corners, but women who appear to be prostitutes, and clubs advertising strippers...well...that is a little different. Some may refer to these as "gentlemen's clubs," but let me tell you, I don't see many gentlemen standing on the very packed sidewalks outside. It makes me feel like if I walked back there I'd be kidnapped and sent into a trafficking ring. Needless to say I only walk toward the Inner Harbor, never to the area behind us. Every night, not just weekends, they are loud out on the sidewalks. We are on the 22nd floor and it is like they are standing right outside the window at times. On the weekends, especially this past Saturday, it sounds like they are rioting. It was so bad this past Saturday that the police came through at least three times. Sirens blaring. Because that makes it better for around thirty floors of people trying to sleep. Did I mention that right there on Baltimore Street is also the police station? City Hall is on the next block. Gosh I love the city life.

Sunday night, Kaydence woke up about 2 something and didn't go back to sleep until about 6. I tried to get her back to sleep and give my mom a break, but seriously no one is sleeping in this apartment if Kaydence is up. Mom tries to relieve me at night so I can be awake for the day shift and also because without sleep my immune system apparently quits working. So there I am just killing it as a mom and patting her back as I laid beside her. She had been laughing and giggling and being so funny and then got all quiet and I was thinking she was just about to fall back asleep. Then just like a raccoon jumping into a trashcan full of watermelon, she jumped on my head and pulled my hair with her tiny terroristic fingers wrapped all in the roots. I held my tongue as I firmly gripped her little hands and tried the whole technique I learned in teacher inservice one year to get a student to release your hair. It. Does. Not. Work. With. Kaydence. I just grabbed those little wrists and worked each little finger out of my ensnared hair.  Then her attitude got B-A-D. Screaming and crying. (I'm really considering getting my neighbors gifts because I KNOW they have to hear us.) Finally I gave up after that and left her to Nana. After a couple more hours she was down. Until I had to wake her up to go to therapy.

Needless to say, therapy did not go well. She was fussy. She denied the bite as much as possible before finally having to eat it. The poor grad student who is second in command on this (there are a lot of grad students working here as it is part of the process) always gets her on Mondays and has to deal with the full brunt of Sunday night's escapades. But there was a twist! Another grad student who has been taking data and evaluating was going to feed her dinner. She obviously is just beginning the learning to feed kids process. Ugh. She gave her a bite of spaghetti and meatballs (ground up) and Kay just gagged. She gave her another bite and I'm pretty sure Kaydence had a couple of pieces of meat on her tongue and was trying to scrape it off. No one else seemed to notice this because she was trying to learn and our regular therapist was holding Kaydence's little octopus arms out of the way and teaching. Next bite in. Vomit. Not horrible vomit, because they hadn't given liquids yet, but still, vomit. She was cleaned up and finished her meal and drink.

To preface today's activities, I will explain that Kaydence has some pretty complicated orthotics going on. I mentioned earlier that I think of Forrest Gump each time I put them on her, and that is for a real reason. Her feet turn in really bad, so to correct that, she has a set of cables that run from an attached belt that is about 2 inches wide, down to her regular orthotics she wears on her feet and ankles. I refer to these as her ski boots. So the wide belt can cinch up any top and accentuate both her tiny waist and expanding tummy. I put these on her each day after weigh in and before breakfast. This week I decided, with her PT's input of course, to bump up her morning wear time to right after lunch. Breakfast went well, but then we had lunch. New girl was still learning to feed her. Kaydence was doing ok, so I left out of the viewing room as soon as she started her beverage session because she always does super with it. Mom and I were sitting there laughing away at Heather Land videos and then, I was called back in the room after what felt like a really long time. I got there and her regular therapist said that she had vomited again. On the very last drink. She felt like maybe the belt was too tight. Now we had gone through breakfast, and two therapy sessions (one PT) without the belt seeming too tight, but I guess that all of the food in her tummy was just too much with this belt. It was bad. Soooo bad. Luckily, I had a change of clothes because moms of kids in diapers know never leave without a change of clothes. BOOM! Cleaned up. With the help of the head therapist. Kaydence went on to take a good nap and have a stellar dinner sans the training therapist.

I hope we have a great night tonight, but judging by the fit she is currently throwing, that is up for debate. Tomorrow is a new day. Hopefully without vomit.

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