Friday, November 5, 2010

Today I Snatched Up Britt. Again.

Ok.  I thought it was bad that every time I turn around Britt is eating the dog food at her Nana's house.  And she's in Nana' house a LOT!  Let me tell you a baby that has chewed on dog kibble and drooled it all over the front of herself does not smell appealing.  Nope.  Not at all.  But I am now starting to think that eating dog food is just fine compared to what she could be eating!

Well, after getting the girls up, changed, and dressed this morning, I brought them out into the main room.  I put Britt on a bean bag and proceeded to clean up all my papers and project that I had left out on the floor last night.  Ash immediately started playing with her little pumpkin from the harvest party.

After putting my stuff up, I turned around just in time to see Britt chasing and grabbing one of these:


(credit go to Cheryl Moorehead, who obviously likes bugs.  What?!?!)

 Holy Spider Batman!! And YUCK!!!!!!  The icky thing was trying desperately to move away from the big, crazy baby.  And it wasn't having much luck.  If my derriere was that big in proportion to the rest of my body I probably wouldn't be a quick mover either.  Well, it really startled me. 

Quick Jamie History before I finish the story.  My mother is deathly afraid of spiders.  She has passed that on to, I think, all of her kids.  My mom can't get near a spider.  Not even to smash it.  She can only get them with a vacuum.  That's how most of my sisters are too.  My dad is the opposite.  He's not at all scared of any bug.  But he did use our fear to his amusement.  He'd get the spiders and chase us with them.  Yeah.  Not cool.  Or he'd pick them up (in kleenex), wad it up, and put it in his mouth.  He just loved the squeals and disgusted looks on our faces, I'm sure. 

So - I've always been scared of spiders.  The heeby-jeebies would overtake me if I even looked at one.  I couldn't even squish them.  Especially not the kind that Britt found.  As a kid, my siblings and I, called them "big butt spiders."  They are actually called orb spiders, or cross spiders.  Yucky.  I feared them and hobo spiders most (I still fear hobo spiders because they bite and the bites are bad).  Orb spiders always build their nests where people need to walk.  I have given these big butt spiders a ride or two in my lifetime.  Not on purpose, of course.   Ok.  I'm not making this story within my story very short, am I?  Anyways, I went on a mission to Houston about 4 years ago and dealt with very big cockroaches (something we don't have in the Pacific Northwest, as far as I know).  And that really helped me to get over a lot of my bug fear.  I didn't have a choice.

Oh, for those of you who think it is cruel to kill bugs, you may want to skip this post.  I don't feel the same way.  I'm still trying to figure out why God made bugs.

Fast forward - now I've got kids.  Spiders bite.  I don't want my babies to get bitten.  All of a sudden they aren't so scary.  Maybe they bring out the momma bear.  I've touched spiders to protect my kids.  But I still don't want them (the spiders) to touch me.  But, more importantly, I don't want my kids to be afraid of them.  I don't want my children to have to feel that yicky, skin-crawling sensation when they see a spider.  Obviously, it's not inherent or Britt wouldn't be chasing them (more on that in a moment).  I don't want spiders to have anything on my girls.  So - I do NOT yell or scream or jump around when I see a spider.  It is SO hard not to when they take me by surprise though!  Haha.  I swallow my fear and put on a brave face and grab a shoe.  One time I did let out a little scream but then I saw that Ash was watching me so I changed it to a berserker bellow and acted like a warrior with a weapon, aka flip flop. 

So - yeah.  Seeing my baby touching grabbing a spider just about blew my cover.  I picked her up and moved her and gave both the girls a lesson about how we do NOT eat spiders or even pick them up (in case they are biters). I explained that we squash them with shoes and then I did a demonstration.  :)

Now.  Are you grossed out enough?   If you are, I suggest you end your reading here.  I'll even make it easier for you. 

The End.

There.  I wish. 

Two days ago I fished this out of Britt's mouth:



**gagging**  I seriously almost passed out.  My skin still crawls when I think about it.  I'm almost certain that it was living when she put it in her mouth.  I had to do some research because I was afraid that it may have bitten back, though doubtful.  But, based on what I've read, I think it probably met its drooly, gummy death without a fight.  And yes, it's another (bigger) orb weaver.  Will someone stop tracking these things into my house?!?!  Unlike hobo spiders and daddy long legs (and many other types), these things don't want to live indoors.  But, I've seen three in here in the past week.  Two of which Britt found first.  Guess  that's what happens when you're so low to the floor.  We have seriously had a bumper crop of spiders, in the Pacific Northwest, this year!

YUCK!!!!!!

My apologies for subjecting you to the nasty pictures in this post.

12 comments:

Rachel said...

Holy cow. I am TERRIFIED of spiders and this pregnancy has brought on 1-2 spider nightmares a week that are so bad, that I have to wake up Scott and have him turn on a light so I can see that there are no spiders in our bed. But, I think what actually happened to you is so much scarier than those nightmares!

I am proud of you for being so brave! I think I would have fainted or screamed bloody murder if Andrew had done anything like what Britt did. I have never seen an orb weaver before, but those look frightening!

Ash said...

I hope that never ever happens again. I will pray for your dear, sweet, daring baby!

Amy said...

Ugh I hate spiders too!!! Good for you for teaching your girls to just kill, not fear them. yucky stuff.

Thank you so much for your sweet comment on my blog! I sure appreciate the love and prayers. You are a sweetheart!!

D said...

Eeeek!! I don't like them either! Eeek, eek!

Mrs. K said...

Gross! I'm not a fan of spiders either but nothing scares me more than...you ready for this? it's kinda silly...frogs/toads. Now those things I find very nasty and make my skin crawl. I've always said that I need to get over my fear so that I don't pass it on to my kiddos one day. So good for you for toughing it out for your girlies--I'm so proud of you. BTW, I wont even mention some of the gross things that my mother said I ate as a kid :)

Alexia said...

EEK! I can't believe she was EATING it *shudder* I have a hard enough time killing the crazy looking spiders we have around here, I can't imagine finding one in my child's mouth. YUCK!

The Crandall Clan said...

NASTY Jamie! I hate spiders as well. And I think it all stems back to my dad and mom chasing us kids around the house with a smashed spider in a tissue trying to put it down the back of our shirts. Yuck!!! AND did you read my post on face book about a week ago about me steeping on a pregnant spider? After I steeped on that spider I turned around and I am not kidding you with in 30 seconds I had to step on 3 more spiders. Luckly I have never had one of my kids put a spider in there moths.

The Rantings of a Drama Queen's Mum said...

I hate spiders also. We have tons in our house. That is scary that she had that in her mouth. Yuck.

Nicole said...

i know one of my baby twin ate a beetle the other day--- well, she got some protein!

thanks for being a part of the fall leaf guest post recently!

the sleepy time gal

Anonymous said...

ooo yuck! Glad you got it out! How funny she is so not afraid of them that she things they are fun to catch and eat :-P

Dani said...

Daaaaaaang!

We are kindred spirits. I **hate** spiders as well. But, like you, try (try, I said) to put on a brave face.

Once, I got that fierce weapon (flip-flop) and hit a spider. Little did I realize that it had millions of little baby spiders on its back that then scattered all over the place. Hellooooo horror movie!

I live in Houston. I know those devilish cockroaches well.

I kill bugs too. With glee.

An Apel a Day said...

Yucky that Britt almost swallowed it! I don't mind spiders so much, but even that yacked me out.

When I lived in Savannah, GA they had roaches all over-YUCK! But the worst is that they had spiders as big as my hand. Not joking! They move fast to! There was one in between my ceiling and wall - right in the crack. Worst place ever for killing it! Again, I'm not that afraid of spiders, but this one had me freaked out! I had never seen one so big except a Daddy Long Leg, which is pretty harmless. This one was furry on it's body and shiny on it's legs. What really freaked me out is at the time I didn't have health insurance. I had no clue what would happen to me if it bit me. I tried to kill it and it ran fast! Latter I saw it again. This time it was in between the door and ceiling. A little more clearance, but still not much. I got it. It shrunk from being the size of my hand to a the size of a quarter. Crazy, but I kept it outside in a baggie. I did just in case I got bit by one and they would have to identify the spider.