The above photograph was digitally altered using the "Dooce Effect™" in Photoshop.

The last month has been a real challenge, to say the least. First there was the travel. Then there was the flu. And the molar teething. And now...the insomnia. I'm one of those blessed people that wakes up at the drop of a pin. After that, once I'm up — I'm up. It's a gift, really. With the wee one still fighting teething plus growing pains nightly, it's almost like going through the newborn phase with him all over again. Except this time I'm lucky enough to also be entering the third trimester of another pregnancy at the very same time (which also comes with a lovely insomnia gift package). Even when daddy helps out and tag-teams me for nursery duty, I still get to lie there wide-awake tuned into the baby monitor. Add in a renewed case o' morning sickness and I'm feeling like anything but a domestic diva right about now.

Thank god for the bloggers out there that still "keep it real" (yo!) because otherwise I'd start to feel like a complete and total failure as a mother and a wife during the rare, spare time I actually have to read / surf around. I don't have a cleaning lady to help out. Or a nanny. Hell, our closest babysitter is a 3-hour plane ride away. (We've left our house together sans baby exactly once in his 13 months of life and that was to see "Troy" in the theater so you do the math.) We don't live our lives on any semblance of a schedule. It seems these days I'm doing good to get the baby dressed before his late afternoon snack. Nevermind actually getting showered, dressed and ready myself. And I can't remember the last time mommy and son actually ventured away from the neighborhood without daddy, other than for doctor's appointments. The dishes are stacked up in the sink eyeing the dishwasher suspiciously. And Todd may bring home the bacon, but he can just forget about waiting for me to fry it up in a pan! It's take-out for the two of us or nothing baby (and that arrives after 9 p.m. this week since he's on the west coast schedule at work). It's all I can do to keep the growing boy's mouth fed...

My child is happy, healthy, well-adjusted and thriving — well ahead of most of his peers in just about every comparison-chart imaginable — and I know that's all that matters in the scheme of things. I can't constantly compare myself to those I could never live up to even if I tried, and I need to stop doing so. But damn.....baby magazines, mommy blogs, parent forums and the like sure make it hard sometimes.

Now maybe I should quit updating the blog today and exchange these 'jama bottoms for pants. Nah. Who am I kidding? If I'm patient enough, maybe I can sit here and be "first" over at Dooce's soon!