A Day in the Life

This one is about vomit. Don't read if you can't handle it.

I think most mothers, to fur- and skin-kids alike, would agree that the sound of puking can spur them into action regardless of their state of being 30 seconds before. Such was the case last night. I was snuggled comfortably in bed (and that takes a while these days), listening to a Hypnobabies CD, and practicing being in a deep state of hypnosis. From across the room and down through many layers of hypnosis came an unmistakable "SPLAT!" sound that one will associate with projectile vomit, if one has ever been exposed to it. The culprit? Jewel E. Cat, who was perched sweetly on top of my jewelry cabinet and vomiting onto the floor - precariously close to the dog's head, I might add. As any mother would do, I jumped out of bed (quite quickly in my present state), stopped briefly to rub her head and talk sweetly to her, and ran for the paper towels.

As I squatted down to clean up the mess, Georgia decided it was just too disgusting to watch any longer, so she moved from her spot in the floor - inches from the vomit puddle - to my spot in the bed with a look of spite for having her sleep disturbed. This made me laugh, even in the midst of cleaning up cat barf. I've never seen so much puke come from cat before, but the one good thing about cat puke is that it is rarely smelly. I cleaned it up, found the cat who had left the room, and successfully stuffed half a Pepto-Bismol tablet down her throat. She wasn't pleased with me, but hey, I didn't want her puking all night. I'm really hoping it was a freak thing and she's not getting sick. She didn't throw up again, so we may be okay.

Dave, of course, barely lifted an eyelid while all of this was going on. Then Georgia started barking because, Heaven forbid, the across the street neighbor's living room lights were still on! I shut the curtains in our living room and told her to shut it because she wasn't going out. As I headed back to bed, Dave mumbles, "What is going on? Haven't we been at this for an hour now?" Umm, no dear, WE haven't and it's only been 10 minutes.

Those that poo-poo the idea that animals don't prepare you for children have never dealt with mass quantities of animal poo, and puke, and pee, and house-training, and getting up in the middle of the night to take the puppy out, and bathing one and washing all it's bedding in the middle of the night or as soon as you get home from work because it had an accident, and medicating them when they are sick, and trying to figure out what's wrong with them because they can't tell you, and monitoring when and how much it pooped, and.. need I go on? Even Dave can stomach the smell of dog vomit (which, unlike cat vomit, is QUITE smelly) these days. I'd say our animals have prepared us well for the messes of early childhood and the discussions of bathroom habits that some might find so strange with a new baby. Bring it on.