And baby makes…

it really hard to get anything done.

So I guess when you have a kid your life is no longer your own, which can be depressing for some women.  Couple that with long bouts of travel to a strange country, baby in tow, and a thyroid disorder, and you might as well photoshop a black cloud over all your pictures from then out.   I am finally crawling out from under said cloud and getting back on my feet, but I have still not figured out how to go back to doing even an iota of all the things I used to enjoy doing, save hiring a full-time nanny.  (Paul votes for a hot French aupair.  I told him he could have a stocky Eastern European woman.  We’d be like twins!)

Other than a total upending of my lifestyle, few things have changed.  Coffee has assumed a starring role in my daily routine, and I am on a never-ending search for cool parents to befriend.  The test for coolness consists of sprinkling the playground conversation with a few tentative curse-words, and ordering beer at the mom’s night out and waiting to see who follows suit.  I’ve been lucky so far–no one has grabbed their baby and ran…yet.