Tuesday, July 31, 2007

What's new in my life? Well, my daughter started swim lessons yesterday and I'm scared to death she's going to have a diaper blowout in the swim and racquet club pool. She's only 1. There are like fifty kids having swim lessons in various parts of that pool, and I'm told that everyone will have to evacuate at once if anyone poops in the pool. the pool will have to be drained and the club could be shut down for weeks. I've heard all about these kinds of catastrophes from other parents. If my child is to blame for something like this I will contact the government andl ask to enter the witness protection program. I will change my name and move out of state.

What else? I am insanely busy with my YA novel due next month and have all kinds of stuff for First Comes Love, which I'm told is doing very well.

We're moving in a few weeks to the biggest fixer upper I've ever laid eyes on (on the inside, outside's not so shabby) and author Jennifer Coburn who lives in a darling house is going to be my new neighbor.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

I have become a real pain in the ass since having a kid

I haven't been blogging much lately becuase my daugther has been very sick, so sick in fact she was briefly hospitalized. Much to my relief, she is recovered now. She got a stomach bug which snowballed becuase she refused to eat or drink thus becoming very dehydrated. It was traumatic for everyone to say the least. And perhaps some of the most traumatized people involved in this whole ordeal are the staff at Children's Hospital. You see, since having my daughter I no longer worry about stepping on other people's toes. In the past, I have always considered myself extremely easygoing, carefree, and very likable. I used to the be the type of person who made friends everywhere I went. A lot has changed since I became a mom. I'm starting to be realize that I have become a total pain in the ass. It's amazing how I've always been shy to speak up for myself, but speaking up for my daughter has felt as natural as breathing.
I have seen too many gnarly Datelines about medical disasters to turn the other cheek when it comes to my child. After I made the nurse switch IV tubing because the first one touched the floor, then demanded that anyone with hospital ID wear gloves when entering the room I think the medical staff was afraid of me. Frankly I don't care if the two resident pediatricians I pounded with questions about germs for a solid hour hate me. It's too bad if the nurse was annoyed that I made her call maintenance twice to disinfect areas of the room where strange people had been. I could care less if anyone was offended when I shamelessly confirmed that my daughter's roommate didn't have anything contagious. I think my husband was just happy that he didn't have to be the annoying one of the couple.

Sunday, July 8, 2007

The days have escaped me since FIRST COMES LOVE became available on Tuesday. I have all kinds of PR things for the book and a tight deadline for my young adult romantic comedy, plus my biggest priority -- my little one year old daughter. However, I managed to squeeze in some time to socialize this weekend. My husband and daughter and I went to a birthday party for some very good friends of ours whose daughter just turned three. And oh let me just say that parties have changed in the past few years. A friend of ours from the party put it perfectly when he said, "I've realized I've come to a point in my life when it's totally normal to be talking to someone at at party and they pause to sniff their kid's diaper."

It seems like just yesterday when we were all scrounging up a faded deck of cards to play A*$HOLE, and now we're all watching a bunch of little kids hammer a pinata (which by the way is one of the most entertaining things I've ever seen). It doesn't seem that long ago when I was in Mexico karaoking to showtunes from Grease and doing shots of tequila with a few of the girls from the party. Last night I observed two of these same ladies affectionately rubbing their pregnant bellies while discussing baby names. And the third friend from the Mexico weekend yawned at eight-thirty and went home with her husband. So I guess with this new book I've also entered a new chapter in my life. Life is different but it's a good life and I wouldn't change anything.