the joy of motherhood

I hope you'll forgive the last two weeks of radio silence. As my sister spayed and neutered on the island of Pago Pago, I developed an even deeper respect for moms who blog. I had a three year old for exactly 7 days and, while it was exhilarating, it was exhausting. I barely found time to brush my teeth, let alone record our adventures on the internet.

I'm certain I will give a full report of my trip home soon, but tonight I feel like it is just important to get something posted. To inspire me, my troubled cat, OC woke me from my slumber just a few hours ago. At first I ignored his protests. He's on house arrest for having made only 3 known appearances during my 14 days gone. I'm used to hearing him complain before he needs to use the box. Then an hour or so later, more crying and then some barfing. Gross, but not a big deal. Probably just over full from having unrestricted access to food again. Lord knows how many times I have longed to purge after a bit of a binge. It wasn't until I entered his domain to locate and eliminate the evidence of his bulimia that I saw he was also straining to eliminate out the other end. Yep, the Buttless Wonder was plugged again.

I was surprised and relieved when my sis answered her cell phone at 4 am. She seconded my suggestion that he should go to the ER to address his issue. This is important as she is OC's benefactor. She had to agree to pay for all his butt related medical bills before I, as an unemployed parasite, would agree to take him into my home. I guess it was also surprise and relief I felt when I discovered, after getting dressed, that the ER was no longer quite necessary. OC had succeeded in clearing his colon in no fewer than 3 places on the carpet and one good one on the hardwoods. So I woke my sister again to get her blessing to wait until 9 am and save hundreds of dollars on his treatment.

You will thank me, dear readers, for resisting the urge to photograph and share his efforts. I will say, zen as I sometimes try to be, I nearly cried when I noticed after an hour of cleaning that I had missed a spot (of both vomit and poop) behind the couch.

Rather than end on such a gross note, I will share this one gem from my visit to motherhood. Last year, my inner cheerleader made up a rather infectious cheer for my youngest niece. It goes:

G-R-A-C-E,
Gracie, Gracie, she's for me....
Ggggoooooooo, Gracie!

More recently, I made up cheers for my other young nieces and in return, during my visit, they made up this one for me:

Anti Jenni, Anti Jenni
She likes me, she likes you

Anti Jenni, Anti Jenni
She likes pee, she likes poo

Gggggoooooo, Jenni!

Indeed.