How a Toothbrush Saved my Life

So E fights going to sleep like a champ. He gets so tired but he doesn't want to miss anything. I guess this is something I have caused as I have a hard time turning of my brain and going to sleep without some sort of distraction. Well car rides and sometimes bed times can be very difficult when someone is so tired but won't go to sleep. A couple of weeks ago I read someone say that they put a cheap electric toothbrush in their carseat and it calms the baby. It just so happened that we had one in the house that my Mom uses when she stays with us. So I went and tried it to see if there was something there. It was like a gift from heaven! He is so calm in the car now, and when he gets really fussy at home we put the toothbrush in his crib and he calms right down. I now always have a toothbrush with me just in case. People will stop me and ask what that whirring is. I respond simply "his toothbrush" and leave it at that. I know people must think I am crazy, but on the contrary because of the toothbrush I am sane. So anyway if you walk by a women with a baby in a carseat buzzing just smile and think ahh she is keeping her sanity.

The other day E and I went out for a walk. We walked across the street and started down the sidewalk when we heard a crash behind us. I immediately turned to see what had happened. A women had crashed her car into the median so hard that she set off her airbags. I asked if she was ok and she got out of the car and said she needed help. She lifted her hand up and I could tell it was broken. I called for an ambulance and 2 other pedestrians helped her from the middle of the road to the sidewalk where I was. This street is probably the busiest street in Southern California so there were plenty of people around. Not one car stopped to help this lady. It is really strange to me because Brad and I are always so willing to help that others can not be bothered. I think it is a sad commentary of our times.

Our very good friends gave birth to a daughter Wednesday night. We have been teasing that she is E's girlfriend. We went to visit her at the hospital and E brought her a toy flower. It was very cute. The baby is so tiny born at a little over 6 pounds. We never knew E when he was that little so it was strange to see how tiny she is. I held her for a little bit and it was quite odd to hold half of E. They are coming home from the hospital today so we might be going over tonight to help them get dinner and adjust. I went by this morning and brought a care package for their dog as well as a sympathy card to her from our cats. They did the same for us when we came home. The poor dog is so thrown for a loop. SHe doesn't get what is going on and she just stood there with her tail between her legs. I never really thought about how hard this transition really is for pets but Zacchy is really only gotten back to herself in the last month. She still keeps a wide berth from E. It will be interesting to see what she does when E gets mobile and chases her tail. Anyway I hope that their dog does ok when they come home as her whole world has just changed. It has been a little chaotic for them because they followed Jewish superstition and did not set up the nursery until the baby was born. So her humans have been gone and people have brought all this stuff into her house. Poor girl.

On Monday I am going to my first play group. We will see how it goes. I am nervous about fitting in with a bunch of strangers. It is a group with children under 6 months so hopefully it will work out and we will have some socialization. It is always a bit strange meeting new people here in Los Angeles because sometimes it is full of very superficial people. I am so not the typical L.A. person. Anyway I will have to post later how it went. I am sure much like our prepared childbirth class* I will do something to completely embarrass myself.


*I don't think this class did much to prepare me for the childbirth I had