A day in the life

Doug calls to tell me he is feeling sick at work and is leaving. Michael wakes up from his nap and I realize he has vomited in his crib. I get him in the bath and Doug calls and says he is vomiting on the metro and could I pick him up. So, instead of doing the intelligent thing and calling my mom who lives 7 minutes away and asking her to stay with Michael, I put Michael in the car and drive 45 minutes to pick Doug up. Doug and Michael end up both throwing up in the car. It occurs to me that I should probably clean the car seat, since I will need to take Michael to the pediatrician tomorrow and the car seat is covered in vomit. I take it out and wash the car seat cover, which by the way, can not go in the dryer because it will shrink, so it has to be air dried. I, in turn, am now covered in vomit. For some reason, I never learned how to put the car seat in, and Doug is upstairs throwing up. My bother in law comes over, puts the car seat back in, and says, "you should really shower, you really smell." While all this is going on I have a major work crises, and I really have to go to work tomorrow, but with a sick husband and a sick baby I am not sure that is going to happen. I really need to shower. And drink wine. If I ever mention I am thinking of having another baby, just say to me, "covered in vomit."

Mistakes

I screwed up, big time, at work. I won't go into the details, but I will say there are parts about my job that extremely confidential and I accidentally put something out there. It was a mistake, an oversight, but it has major ramifications. There is something about a mistake that makes me feel like a kid again. My first reaction is to scramble and cover my tracks and lie. Then I realize I am an adult, this is my job, and I can't do that. Now I just have a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that is making me want to vomit. And cry. And crawl back into bed and never come out.

Saying Goodbye

I had dinner with the friend I have had the longest, since 5th grade. We went through all of our schooling together, kept in touch in college, and ended up at the same law school. We went to each others bat mitzvahs and weddings. We have been close and not so close through various times in our lives. Last year she went through a messy divorce, and we became quite close. She has been away for 6 months in Isreal, trying to figure out her life. Tonight she dropped two bombs on me. She is moving to Israel, permanently. Making Aliyah. And, she is getting married, to an American who has also made Aliyah. Her children will be Israeli citizens. They will automatically be in the army, and probably fight, because the situation in the middle east will probably still be bad even then. I'm happy for my friend because she is happy. But I'm sad for me. I've known her most of my life. I wanted her to know my son. And life is so different in Israel. And hard. This is what she wants, she says, what she needs. She feels like everything in her life brought her to this point. Our sixth grade play was called "The Girl who Captured the Moon." That's what I think she is now-the girl who captured the moon. Goodbye-I'll miss you.

The best part of being away...

is coming home and sleeping in your own bed.

Things you said you would never do before you were a parent

My husband and I swore our child would not watch a ton of TV. And he doesn't, about an hour a day. We also swore we would never get an in-car DVD player. Why do they need it? They can entertain themselves. Michael hates the car. He screams, he cries, we stop every hour, it takes us forever to get anywhere. On the way to the beach this weekend we hit horrible traffic. A two and a half hour ride took four. I was surfing online today and saw circuit city had a car dvd player for $99. At 9 pm we drove 30 minutes to the nearest circuit city so we could have it for the ride home. It won't be long until he is allowed to have a tv in his room, something else I said I would never do.

A Post not about Thanksgiving

Breath a sigh of relief, no more Thanksgiving posts. We are at my parents beach house for the long weekend with my family. I have a five year old nephew I adore. My husband and I decided for many reasons that we are only having one child. Everytime I second guess that decision I am left to watch my nephew and my son together. It's great birth control.

And the biggest idiot in the world award goes to-

I decide to un-childproof our coffee table by taking off the stupid cushion things that my 12 month old could take off. It left behind this real sticky funky stuff on the edges that I wanted to get off. I tried soap, I tried windex, I tried bleach. Then I moved to nail polish remover. Nail polish remover? Yep, that's right. And, as everyone else in the world knows, it took off the stain. 2 days before I host a huge Thanksgiving get together. And I have no idea how to fix this. Any ideas?

More things that are wrong with me

Have you seen this? It's hysterical. But, I admit it. I love Neil Diamond. I love Barry Manilow, and Barbara Streisand, and ABBA. And show tunes. I love bad music.

Christmas in November

Two radio stations in DC are already playing Christmas Carols 24-7. I'm not even Christian, but why does this song always make me cry? And yes, I watched the terrible Rob Lowe TV Movie. And the other one, with Doogie Howser. There is something seriously wrong with me.

Doodle what?

So let's talk about children's TV. And this is not going to be a don't let your kids watch tv lecture. Michael watches TV. Typically Sesame Street or Little Einsteins, about an hour a day. Yesterday I was dealing w/ a daycare crises and I couldn't find anything on, so he watched the doodlebops. Have you seen this? Frightening, Frightening-what are these things? This prompted my husband and I to have a conversation about my "imagination problems." I think it's important that you have to go through Christopher Robin's room to get to the hundred acre wood, it means Pooh is a product of Christopher Robin's imagination. I think the little Einsteins are putting on a play, with their imagination. I don't understand why Jo Jo's lion has a clown's nose. She is a clown, but her lion is a clown? I don't think I don't have an imagination, I think it means I want to celebrate children's imagination. Pooh is because of Christopher Robin's imagination. We have Hobbes because of Calvin. And I still don't understand the doodlebops.