Author: Rebecca Cuneo Keenan

Rebecca Cuneo Keenan is a writer who lives in Toronto with her husband and three children.

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Three Nights in A Row!

DAILY SNACK

It started on Sunday afternoon,

When Colum hung out in bed rather than visiting with company,

And threw up all over his bedding and himself.

He then threw up a couple times that night,

Which was to be expected.

The next day he seemed better.

Low on energy, but in good spirits.

He ate a bit and kept in down.

Until the middle of the night,

When WHAMO!

More vomit.

And then again yesterday he seemed much, much better.

Cue 2:30am and VOMIT ALL OVER THE BED!

What is this?!

Not one solitary episode of vomitting has managed to hit bare flooring,

Or any other surface that doesn’t involve vast amounts of laundry.

And only at night?

Yesterday, Irene started to run a fever and I thought, “Oh no.”

She’s a bit sick, sure, but no vomit.

None.

Has anybody ever experienced this strain of nocturnal regurgatation before?

I mean in their kids, not after a night at the bar.

(Because I’ve done the field research on the latter, thanks.)

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The Still of the Night

DAILY SNACK

Sitting up late at night,

Pushing myself to keep working through my fatigue,

I hear a wail.

“Mommy!”

Not again.

After a day of keeping what little he ate down,

Colum is throwing up in his sleep.

So I scoop him up and let him finish in the bathroom.

We wipe off his face and hair and put on fresh pajamas.

Dad changes the bedding,

And we brush his teeth.

Then we cuddle and whisper words of comfort.

And all the world stands still and deadlines don’t matter and all there is this moment.

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Don’t Hate Me Because My Husband Can Cook

DAILY SNACK

Yesterday morning,

My husband woke up with a hankering to cook eggs benedict.

Not to eat them, mind you,

(He dislikes eggs.)

Just to cook them.

For us.

IMG_1014That’s two poached eggs sitting atop a thin, crispy slice of back bacon,

And a perfectly browned potato latka,

Covered in homemade hollondaise,

With asparagus, fruit salad, and a croissant on the side.

It doesn’t even matter that it took all morning to make.

Dinner was all me, though.

The angel hair prima vera with jarred pesto sauce I whipped up,

Was not exactly blog-worthy.

But I did stumble upon one culinary discovery.

Behold the poor man’s mandolin:

IMG_1016That’s right.

Vegetable peelers, not just for peeling anymore.

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Five Ways To Eat Your Goddamned Breakfast

DAILY SNACK

1. Here’s your favourite cereal sweetie. To which the response is an adamant, “No! That cereal gets soggy. I don’t like it anymore.”

2. Okay, fine. Here’s the honey-nut version of your cereal. His eyes light up and he digs in. Then, when he’s about half-way through he pushes it away. “Soggy.’

3. Good morning. I’ve made you a nice hot bowl of oatmeal with diced apples and raisins and cinnamon added. Here, sprinkle on your own maple sugar! Well, right away you know it’s too hot. So we cool it down in the freezer for a bit and add some cold milk. One day he’ll devour his bowl. The next day he’ll eat about half and by the third time, he’s pushing the bowl away.

4. Grrr. Yeah, here’s the sugary instant dino eggs laden packet of oatmeal you requested at the grocery store. Whatever. Just eat. He’s eating now, for the first day or so. Then he starts playing with the dino eggs, not eating them unless the egg part has totally dissolved, revealing the little candy dinos inside. This means we have to put them in a cup with hot water a couple times. Then I need to spoon feed him the rest of the oatmeal when he tries to get away from the table.

5. Peanut butter sandwhiches it is. Again. No, you can’t have just jam! I am so totally screwed when he starts school in September and we can’t eat peanut butter before going. (Allergies, man, which I totally get because the peanut butter does get everywhere with little kids.) To be clear, I’m not waking up on a daily basis to make pancakes, french toast or eggs either.

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Sticky Fingers

DAILY SNACK

Everything

Tastes

Vaguely

Of peanut butter.

I now totally get the rules against nuts at schools and daycares,

And how parents of children with severe allergies

Are beside themselves with worry.

Also, hot dogs and peanut butter?

Not the winning flavour combo you might think it is.

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Is It Too Soon To Give Up?

DAILY SNACK

We get the house

In two weeks.

We move in a month.

Between now and then is a mountain,

A seemingly unsurmountable mountain,

Of fixing and painting and grouting,

Of deep cleaning,

Of purging and organizing,

Of packing.

So far,

Colum chose a box in which to pack his cars and trucks,

And then decided he’d rather have them to play with for the next few weeks.

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The Joke of the Month

DAILY SNACK

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Interrupting cow.

Interrupt –

MOO!

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Interrupting dinosaur.

Interrupt-

ROAR!

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Interrupting  human.

Interrupt-

Hey guys, how’s it going?

And it goes on and on and on.

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Breastfeeding Safe With Most Meds

Last week I wrote about needing to stop breastfeeding Irene due to a heavy-duty antibiotic I was prescribed. A couple commenters noted that most antibiotics are not counter-indicated for breastfeeding and that I should look into it. I did. The particular medication I am on and the duration for which I need to take it does pose a small, theoretical risk to Irene. Given that I had already stopped breastfeeding for two days before doing further research and that she seemed to be coping reasonably well I decided against resuming breastfeeding.

I would like to note, however, that many medications are safe to take while breastfeeding, even if they are not safe during pregnancy. Much more is able to pass from the mother’s blood through the placenta to the baby then is usually passed into breast milk. The baby then drinks the milk and is able to further process its contents through his own digestive system. Needing to wean your baby in order to treat most common infections is rare.

How can you find out if your medication is safe to take while breastfeeding? I’m glad you asked. Even if your doctor and pharmacist advise you stop breastfeeding, I urge you to check in with the following resources. Docs and pharmacists often get their information from the drug companies who mostly just want to cover their own asses. They can’t test their products on breastfeeding moms and babies, so they presume they are not safe.

  • Motherisk run by the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto is a fantastic resource for pregnant and breastfeeding women. In addition to the information about drugs and toxins posted on its website, Motherisk has hotlines staffed by actual people who can answer all and any questions you may have. It is amazing.
  • LactMed is a searchable database of medications and their compatibility with breastfeeding hosted by the United States National Library of Medicine.
  • Kellymom.com is also a fantastic resource for breastfeeding and parenting in general with a lot of information about specific medications.
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Search and Destroy

DAILY SNACK

A couple weeks ago,

Colum started putting on DVDs for himself.

I guess he’s been practising for a while,

But now he’s waking up and scaling the furniture to get something in particular down.

Then yesterday I discovered,

That every

Single

One

Of his movies and shows skips.

Except for the Muppet Movie that we picked up cheap at Zellers not long ago.

Let me put that in.

Colum leaps across the room,

“Let me see, Mommy!”

And somehow the DVD goes flying,

Hits the ground,

And is scratched.

I think I see what is happening here.

Note that I don’t have cable,

And we paid way too much for this,

For it not to last forever and ever.

Maybe it’s just the DVD player?

Praying.

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You Know What’s Awesome?

DAILY SNACK

Spending over an hour pleading with your kid to get dressed.

Not having enough time to get to the grocery store before lunch.

Managing to come up with a tomato-y rice and beans concoction,

While holding whiny, hungry-tired toddler.

Realizing said concoction has burnt to the bottom of the pan.

Past-tired toddler now livid,

Lunch is ruined,

Lagostina pot is ruined.

Quickly reverting to fried cheese sandwiches,

Again.

Appeasing kiddie appetites with milk and dried fruit in the meantime,

And thus nobody touches their sandwiches.

So that’s one and a half hours of cooking/burning,

One expensive pot down,

No children fed.

Awesome.