Introspection, thanks to a Gurgle in the Night

Well, it probably had to happen sometime this month. Everyone warns you about it with regard to Mexico - Montezuma's revenge, e. coli, the barfing and the pooping and the whole uncomfortable bag of tricks. But just when we were getting all cocky and had prepped for a weekend getaway to Acapulco, it hit. One of us got sick. And unfortunately it was Maya.

Now I want to say first of all that she's totally fine. As a matter of fact, it sounds like she's fallen asleep for a much-needed morning nap after eating and drinking a bit. If all goes well and we get her past this without too much other discomfort, it may just be one of those not-necessarily Kodak moments to add to the treasure trove. Here's just a bit of detail for those of you that have followed Maya's ebb and flow over the past 15 months.

Maya had been increasingly eating like a champ over the last few days. Her fave - simple cheese quesadillas - but we try to mix it up enough to cover the bases. Following the advice of almost everyone, we've been trying to be totally anal about using iodine to decontaminate our fruit. And unless she's been drinking pool water we thought we were "doing a heckuva job, Brownie" keeping anything other than bottled water from her reach. We didn't even get her in the pool yesterday. It should be noted that she did start going to a truly top-notch daycare center for a few hours a day this week after our nannie options totally flaked out (she won't even eat the stuff we bring for her, we've been told - too many other kids and toys and group nap/bonding time to distract her). But last night after heading to bed like normal, she started to make some noise 'round midnight. At first we thought it was the rather typical nighttime thunder and lightning for Cuernavaca. Then we heard something different over the monitor. A sort of gurgle. Nothing freaky, just sort of, ya know, gurgly. Didn't think too much of it at first, but then I went to check on her because Sarah's done so the last few nights that she's stirred. Well, let's just say that it wasn't a typical wake-up call.

Maya was covered with largely cheese quesadillas and I'm sure pretty confused about the reverse flow of her system. We did our best to hop into parent/decontamination mode. The next hour was pretty rough on all of us. In addition to our villa's supply of towels and sheets and rugs and pillows and, well...'nuff said. Her room has two double beds so we moved the whole famn damily over for an occasional slumber and laundry party. Maya mainly slept on Sarah until morning while I bargained with the great unseen Conference Committee in the Clouds that hasn't really heard much testimony from me in the last decade or two. "Get her through this and I'll offer up extra random acts of kindness one weekend a month plus every other Thursday afternoon yada yada yada" - ya know, typical metaphysical wagering.

As the sun rose and we assessed where we were at, things looked a lot brighter. Maya got rolling, more subdued than usual, but certainly acting like the kid we know. And after a few hours of getting her feet back on the ground, I'm hopeful that the worst is past. New parents can't help but get introspective on such mornings. We've been so lucky with her thus far, and not just in terms of splatter radius. So knowing that she's asleep in the other room right now feels like the Best Nap Ever. Any time you see your child in discomfort, it blows. I'm a little late to that lesson, some might say. But once she gets up and I wash any lingering stink off of her, you can bet that she'll get a little longer than the usual snuggle as she wipes the sleep from her baby blues. And no more tacos for her bought out of the back of some toothless woman's '78 Dodge Van.

I'd better get back to my usual snarkiness before a group hug breaks out in here. Otherwise, we're still having a great time getting to know a little sliver of Mexico. I haven't really shared much over the past week, but we did a day trip last weekend to Taxco ("Silver City" known for its amazing area silver mines and jewelry craftspeople) and Xochicalco (totally trippy cool Mayan era city). Our Acapulco trip has been postponed to next weekend - it's the off-season for resorts so prices are low and re-booking things was a piece of cake. Plenty of other smaller plans we hope to spread out over the next two weeks before we head back to the States. Check back for more and thanks for reading. Oh, and hope your own laundry facilities are mercifully untaxed today. Rock on.