Why I Love My Mom- *Content Contains Gross Bodily Functions- Beware!

Last night I couldn't sleep. It was 1am, then it was (all of a sudden) 2am. Wil was at work. I was dizzy, nauseated, and my heartburn was terrible. I was tasting and re-tasting the chili I made for dinner. Ari was knocked out on the couch, and I wanted to follow suit but I just could not sleep. The baby was swimming around in my uterus at a rapid pace, looking for a suitable organ to kick.

Finally, I relented and called my mom.
"Mom, I can't sleep. I feel like I'm going to vomit, but I can't."

It was 2:30am. She didn't hesitate. She climbed three flights of stairs to my apartment, and sat by my side as I threw up the entire contents of my stomach into a white plastic garbage can.

Meanwhile Ari was shouting:
"Mommy! You no throw up!"
"It's okay, honey," My mom said to Ari as I was detoxing my system "Mommy is going to be okay."

I'm okay. But it's only because of my amazing mother.

Thank you mom! I love you!

Mom Guilt: Share Your Stories

Yesterday my nine year old niece, Francesca, (or as Ari calls her "Ches-ca") came over for a play date. Ari and Ches-ca were painting, Wil and my mom were watching them create their collaborative work of art, and I was cooking chili in the kitchen. All of a sudden Wil called across the apartment:

"Sarah, what did Ari eat today?"
"Why?" I asked suspiciously.
"Because he's throwing up." He replied.


I dropped the knife I was using to cut an onion and bolted from the kitchen to the living room. When I got there, Ari had thrown up more than a college frat boy.

"How did he get sick again?" Wil asked. Ari just got over having Croup, and now he appears to be sick again.

He woke up with a fever in the middle of the night last night and vomited for the second time. I've concluded he has a virus. But Wil's question stayed in my head: "How did he get sick again?"

My internal answer is to blame myself. He wasn't dressed well enough for this 27 degree weather, he needs warmer pants, long underwear, He's not eating enough, he's not eating well, I'm taking him to germ infested places like the library and communal play spaces.

Whatever the case may be, it is most certainly my fault that he's sick. This is what I like to call mom guilt. I'd like to think I come by it honestly with my Jewish heritage, but I think mom guilt transcends cultural boundaries.

As mothers, if something "goes wrong" with our kids, we blame ourselves. Who else do we have to blame?

What I want to know is, what do you feel guilty about? Post a comment with a story where you felt particularly guilty. By the way, guilt is not exclusive to moms, dad guilt is alive and well. Dads: please share your stories too!

Potty Training Day Three Postponed Due to Baby Shower!

Yesterday was my baby shower. It was beautiful! Mint did an amazing job coordinating it and raised enough money from my friends and family to buy this bassinet:


Ari's old bassinet was recalled so we were in need of a new one. It rocks, literally, and it also rocks as in: it's awesome!

There was so much excitement yesterday, that Wil and I decided (upon the recommendation of early childhood expert Mint) to leave Ari in a diaper for the shower. I mean, I had to focus on eating as much food as possible and hanging out with the people I love.

Here are some pictures from the shower, which was held at The Moxie Spot.




Cordy- If you're reading this, I don't know what happened to the picture of us! It disappeared from my camera.

Anyway, thank you again to my amazing best friend, Mint, for this wonderful shower! I love you!

Potty Training Day Two Part Deux- Potty Training and Multi-Tasking Don't Mix

Despite the yellow paint incident, things were going so well today. I took Ari to the toilet every 30 minutes and he peed each time. He wasn't thrilled about visiting the bathroom so frequently, often screaming "No! No potty!" But he peed and received a toy car when he did; that was alright in his book.

Then I got cocky. Since things were going so well, I thought, why not multi-task? I decided to do 18,000 loads of laundry. I dragged my little toilet monster downstairs to my parent's house, put on an favorite episode of Blue's Clues for the boy and loaded up the washing machine and dryer. As I was bending my enormous pregnant belly down to reach the clothes in the dryer, I smelled something funny.

I thought the smell might be the cat litter, so I dismissed my superhero-esque pregnant bloodhound sense.

I went to check in on Ari and as soon as he spotted me he announced:

"Mommy! I went poopie!"

"Um...you need to go poop or you went poop?" I asked hopefully.

"I went poopie over there!" He repeated and pointed to his underwear and the exact location in the living room where he squatted down to do his dirty work.

I sighed a long old person's sigh, and when I was done, I took care of the pressing situation and gave the poop monster a bath.

A word to the wise, if you're potty training don't try to do anything else but the task at hand. Laundry + potty training = :-(

Day 3 should be interesting.

Potty Training Day Two Part One- The Joys of Yellow Paint

Since Wil worked so hard getting Ari to use the potty yesterday, I decided to let him sleep in and work with Ari myself.

This morning I took his diaper off and instead of letting him roam around naked, I put him in Thomas underwear. He promptly peed on himself and all over the kitchen floor.

Grandma and Grandpa Fader came up with some bribery: a case of tiny plastic cars they got on 42nd Street for a bargain price. I emptied the cars into a Target bag and showed them to Ari.

He was immediately intrigued. I told him he could have one car if he peed on the potty and two if he pooped. It took a while, but after several visits to the potty every 30 minutes he finally peed twice! He got a car each time.

I was in a great mood, until lunch time. I went into the kitchen while Ari was in the living room ostensibly playing with his toys. When I returned to the living room bearing lunch, I found this:

That was about 1 % of the mess. There was yellow paint all over the floor and all over Ari! Needless to say, a wardrobe change occurred as well a visit to the bathroom sink.

Then it was time for lunch:

To be continued.

Potty Training Day One Part Two

After much nakedness, Wil put Ari in Thomas underwear. Ari ran up to Wil frantically and said:
"Daddy underwear, Daddy underwear!

Wil rushed him to the toilet, and...he pooped!

So Ari got a special prize:

Potty Training Day One Part One

Since I'm bored and depressed, I decided that the next logical step to combat my SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) was to start a project: potty training Ari.

This morning, I informed him that I was going to change him.
"I don't want to change!" He said, a familiar saying of his.
"What if I told you, you didn't have to wear a diaper?" I asked him
"Huh?" He replied quizically.
"After I take off your diaper, you don't have to put a new one on." I said.
"No diaper?" He asked thoroughly confused.
"Yes. Would you like that?" I asked
"Yes!" He confirmed.

For the next several hours, he peed in corners, on his Thomas sheets, on the couch and each time he said one of the following:
"I went pee!" "I peed on my leg!" "I peed on Thomas [insert hysterical laughter]." "I pooped." He didn't, he just peed.

Wil and I kept putting him back on the potty at regular intervals and bribing him with food (cookies) or TV to sit/produce something on the potty. Okay, maybe the cookies weren't such a great idea, but I was at the end of my rope with all the pee everywhere.

My great friend Donna was here, and in between drawing an elephant and two cats for Ari on his easel:



She read online that this naked method works best if you have the kid "help" you clean up after they pee/poop on the floor. Then take them to the toilet.

At one point after he had peed on the floor, I took him to the potty, and I had to hold him in place on the toilet as he was screaming:
"No, no no!"
Yeah, that wasn't exactly a shining mothering moment for me.

Then something exciting happened- can you tell I have no life? Ari opened the bathroom door and, of his own accord, got onto the potty, and sat there himself! He didn't really do anything, but it was a start!

Wil announced that he had an idea.
"I have an idea, I'll be back in ten minutes, trust me."
He was gone for 20 minutes and came back holding this:

"Ari, if you poop on the potty, you get this!" He said holding up the box.
Immediately Ari made a bee-line for the potty and gave it all he had.

But still nothing. To be continued...