Melodramamma http://feeds.feedburner.com/Melodramamma Before I begin on a topic that makes my fiery Italian blood start boiling, may I mention that we have had the stomach virus go through our home (including both two NONpotty trained babies) FIVE times in the past 14 months. One of which lasted SEVEN painful days coming out both ends day and night on again I repeat a NONpotty-trained toddler. So, sicknesses to that degree are nothing less than trauma to a new mom or mom of multiples, who is the one caring and cleaning for her sick baby(ies). Therefore, to that casual parent out there who just overlooks the green snot, loogies, fevers, projectile barf episodes and diaper explosions that defy the laws of gravity by dripping up the back, please don’t be surprised if Melodramamma wants to bath herself in sanitizer and nearly goes into cardiac arrest on the floor as your oh-so-adorable-but-ever-so-germ-hosting little one crawls near her bambinos. So, on that note, the question of the day is how do you send a mother into straight paranoia, swooping up her children and running like there’s no tomorrow fast and far away in the opposite direction? If you saw me a few days ago, I could have personally modeled this for you. There’s one simple rule: Bring your very contagious baby who is clearly exhibiting viral/flu symptoms near to play. It doesn’t matter if it’s at a playground, a nursery, a class, or a store. Just be forewarned; you might play it like it’s no big deal, and maybe even outright lie about it, calling it allergies or teething, but MOMMY KNOWS. And, you just might taste the dust off her shoes as she runs away with her children into the wind. Here are my top favorites: ALL of which have happened to me in the course of the past two years. 1.) Bring your child who is having diarrhea blowouts into close proximity and play it like it’s no big deal. But ask to borrow some wipes. And when you’re done, return the container because really it’s not like a mother will be freaking out visualizing all those diarrhea germs declaring war and marching all over her wipes container. 2.) The only measure that will top off #1 is if the child is vomiting, and believe me it will have the same effect. But be sure to mention something like: “Yeah, I don’t know what was wrong with Billy, he threw up three times last night. But don’t worry I think he’s fine now. He only threw up once this morning.” 3.) Wear a surgical mask while out and walk as closely by as possible OR block the only entrance/exit of a doctor’s office as you nearly hack up a lung into your mask. 4.) Wipe that forest-green loogie off your child’s nose but only after letting it dangle there a few minutes. Then comment, “Oh, spring allergies are really bad now aren’t they,” OR “yes, little one is teething.” It’s an extra special touch if this happens during 5.) While the kids are playing together say something like, “Yes, Billy has a fever and was up all night the past few nights. Does he feel hot to you? It must be teething.” It has an extra special touch if you say this around flu season. So yes, all of these instances have happened to me at one time or another. I just want to ask WHY? Why don’t people leave their sick children recover at home so that they don’t get the rest of us sick? It is especially difficult for moms with infants who due to their underdeveloped and weakened immune systems can get seriously ill from a simple cold. OR for moms with multiple children who the illness goes through the entire family. Either way, it is of course difficult for anyone caring for their sick child—you get the picture. Thankfully, my friends and family have established a clear verbal understanding: if any of our children have symptoms or colds, we let each other know and cancel our play date. Yes, this isn’t always fun or convenient, but it’s definitely not as inconvenient as getting each other sick. But, not everyone got the memo. Help me get the message out. Some Advice for New Mommies: 1.) Establish a clear verbal understanding with your family and friends about your expectations regarding germs/sicknesses: Everyone’s idea of what is acceptable with babies and colds and playing together is different. You can’t be frustrated with another mom if you have never communicated your ideas to her. Kindly set up your understanding. Mine went something like: “I am very cautious when it comes to germs to the point of being a big germ-a-phobe. I just want to let you know that if we have a play date I will cancel if my children are sick so that we don’t spread our germs to you, especially, after all the sicknesses we went through this past year. Would you also mind letting me know before the play date if your child has any cold symptoms? I’d rather error on the side of being cautious.” 2.) Wash hands frequently when out. 3.) Beware of mall playgrounds: this is the very place my daughter contracted that 7-day vicious virus. I am certain of this because I met a friend there with her little boy to play and in spite of washing their hands with sanitizer, exactly 4 days later, both our kids were violently ill with the same symptoms for an entire week. Are mall playgrounds ever cleaned? 4.) Beware of toys in the doctor’s office. Who do you think is playing with these toys? 5.) When you see sick children, just run away. A final word: of course there are times when a child gets sick suddenly and you had no idea when symptoms develop. That of course happens sometimes. This is not what I’m talking about in this post. I’m talking about when parents know their children are sick and choose to bring baby out to play and drop baby off at nurseries. To that I would say, from one mother to another: Please just take your sick baby home. Thoughts anyone? Thanks for the voting for me by clicking at the top right of this post. We’re #2 in humor. Ciao Laura http://www.melodramamma.com/?p=322 Welcome to Melodramamma! Notice anything different? 1. Name Change: Picture my Italian grandmother saying it with her big ole Italian accent: MelodraMAMma! Why change melodramommy? Because the Italian word for Mommy is Mamma, which also happens to be what my 2YO and 1YO actually call me. In addition, my blog description points to a “dramatic Italian mommy,” so, there you go. As the father in My Big Fat Greek Wedding giving lessons on the Greek root words would put it—Wait, rather, as my Italian Grandma would put it: “MelodraMAMma is-a come-a from de Italiana word-a Mamma and Melodrama. Muh! Melodramamma is-a big-a big-a Melodrama from-a de Mamma! Aaaaaa!” When I first started blogging back in December, I actually started off as Melodramamma and Melodramama. I then changed it to Melodramommy, but the more I thought about it the more Melodramamma made sense, but by that time I was already going by melodramommy and had quite a few posts and I figured since I had already claimed the names and it was going to get redesigned, why not just do it all at once. Have I utterly confused you yet? So there you have it. You can still call me Melodramommy if you like. And, if you try to go to Melodramommy.com it will bring you here to Melodramamma.com because we are one and the same, and my husband fixed it cause he’s cool like that. 2. Blog Redesign: So what happens when it’s Mother’s Day and after YOU serve the kids and hubby breakfast, you clear your throat a few times expecting accolades, but he instead exchanges a warm but blank stare in return? “Ahem, may I open my card now?” You politely ask with complete confidence even though you don’t see one. Your fingers as though they have little eyeballs on the tips are just scanning the room searching for that big wonderful somethan’ somethan’ be it a card, roses, or even that gift you had hinted about weeks earlier when … Silence and a guilty face greet you in return. Naaa-uhhh. This is clearly a joke! You think. There is NO possible way he could have forgotten Mother’s Day. But the only response you get is a completely saddened and repeated, “I really wish I were joking.” Disappointed? Truthfully? Yeeeaaaahhaaa. BUT, as I sat there sipping my coffee I was reminded, I have to keep perspective. He NEVER forgets things like this, has been incredibly busy and stressed at work, and yet, still is an incredible father and husband, so keeping it in perspective, not a big deal. Besides, I knew he’d make it up to me. The day was still young. And he did end up taking me out to a quaint Greek café for lunch after church but there was something else he did that was far beyond what I had expected . . . something even more amazing than a card and gift that morning . . . You’re looking at it! So THANK YOU to the Greek-love-of-my-life-best-friend-and-Hubby for all the time, talent, blood, and sweat in redesigning my blog. I love it. He gave me above and beyond in his time designing the look of this place. I love it. I wanted something cleaner, more organized, easier to navigate. Because, the way I see it is if my house isn’t all that clean with two little crazy people running around at my feet all day long, for Pete’s sake, let the blog be! And, if all this is what I get for him initially forgetting Mother’s Day, well then, shhhhhhhhh! PLEASE, don’t anyone tell him that this weekend is our five-year anniversary. 3.) From Blogger to Wordpress: Soon I’ll post a bit more on the redesign process: like why I changed from blogger to wordpress and a lot of other fascinating bloggy things to think about. 4.) A Work in Progress: There’s some things we’re still working on: fixing categories, tags, the pictures didn’t all transfer right so I have to delete them and reload them (uhhhhh) and the links in past posts don’t all work so I have to go in a relink things. So, we’re tweaking things out. Well, thanks for coming by to take a look. I hope you enjoy it and if you wanna make my day? Vote for me by clicking on the flashing picture to the right of this post. Ciao, Laura http://www.melodramamma.com/?p=262 I’m getting a makeover–well the blog is. I hope it will be up by tomorrow. Come by and check it out then. In the mean time, here’s a funny conversation I had this morning with my 2YO: Mommy: “Ok, you sit here and watch TV while I jump in the shower.” 2YO: “Mommy, You no need to jump in the shower.” Mommy: “What?” 2YO: “You no need to jump (she hops twice) in the shower! You can walk (she models walking) into the shower.” Well, there’s nothing quite like getting a lecture on safety from your well meaning 2YO. True story. I meant it when I said this is the most entertaining job ever–and tiring. That of course happened after 2 time outs for 2YO and five races after 1YO who was attempting to climb out of the high chair, crawl up the stairs, open the kitchen cabinets, jump in the potty, talk on the house phone, and grab daddy’s video camera–all before my morning cup of coffee. Keep the votes coming. Posted by Laura http://www.melodramamma.com/?p=255