Finley is constipated. Parker is not. You thought since we were four months in with no talk or mention of poop on the blog that you might have escaped it. I too was hoping I wouldn't be one of those mothers who discusses her children's bowel movements ad nauseum to anyone willing to listen (i.e. the passive readers of our little blog). Then it happened. Prunes to be exact.

We started feeding the babes banana and rice cereal for breakfast only to find out after two days with no bowel movements that these two foods were the top to cause constipation. Figures. They really liked it too. After scouring the internet for a solution, the top 'treatment' for infant constipation turned out to be diet. Every website I visited informed the worried mother with the stopped up babe to feed their child foods with a high fiber content. Well, what higher in fiber than prunes. Out I went. Scooping up all the prunes that Kroger had on the shelf (I didn't even mind they weren't organic. I was desperate.).

Within minutes of arriving home the twins were covered in brown goo. Finley flatly refused hers and went so far as to spit them out at us. Literally spit them out at us. A habit she now finds amusing at all meal times. Parker, on the other hand LOVED prunes. We couldn't get the spoon to his mouth fast enough. It was a chore to get him to eat 5 bites of peas and here he is wolfing down his prunes like a little old man.

I wish that was where the story ended. That was yesterday. Fast forward to today- poor Fin is still constipated. As I mentioned previously, Parker is not. Finley was taking her afternoon nap (which Parker decided he didn't need) and Parker was in his Johnny Jump up. I thought he was really getting it...he had started jumping around in the thing. He was having a great time and then I heard a few juicy farts. Now this is pretty normal for Parker and usually I just wait about five minutes (to make sure he's done- I've made the mistake of changing him right away and boy did I pay for it) and then change him. I had my back to him checking my email and turned around to find him giggling and slipping around on the wood floor...

Slipping around you say? Well it turns out the prunes did what they were intended to do. Just so happened Parker was in the Johnny Jump Up when the event occurred and poop ran down his leg and onto the floor where he happily played it...

In case you can't see what is occurring underfoot, here is a closeup...

Yes. It doesn't look sooo bad, but again the story doesn't end there. I was in such shock at what was going on that my first instinct was to grab the Clorox clean up wipes. While he was still in the damn Jump Up I'm cleaning the floor and trying to disinfect his feet only to have him jump and fling more poop all over the place. Brilliant. After a few more poop-jumps I wiggled him out of the contraption (which is not easy to do with a clean baby, let alone one encrusted with their own excrement) and ran him into our bathroom where I found this...

Poor kid must have really been stopped up. I've never seen so much poop in all my life. Keep in mind the other 3/4 of it is still in the diaper... As I'm going through wipe after wipe, I realize how futile my efforts are and quickly start up the tub. This is where I discover poop under all of his toenails...mmmm!

Did I mention that Brian is on call again, I'm in the middle of making all of their baby food from scratch, trying to clean my house because I'm hosting Christmas Day brunch for 8, and packing to go to St. Louis for the weekend...don't my children know I don't have time for this?! Ah, prunes. Tis the season you know....