Everyone told me that integrating the third kid would be the easiest, and I have to say it’s totally true. She sleeps when she’s supposed to, smiles most of the time, and is very easy to comfort. The boys love her and she loves them. Except…there’s a little compartment in my brain that was marked Things You Have to Remember Occasionally. Now those words have been crossed out with big red marker and the word ZUZU written over it in Sharpie. I forgot Stacey’s birthday (um, happy birthday, Stacey! I know it was six weeks ago!), I forgot my mother-in-law’s birthday, and I constantly have overdue library books. That is, I constantly HAD overdue books, and then I discovered that our library has a program where they email you two days before your books are due. Thank you, South Portland Public Library! Check with your library – I bet they have a similar program. It’s so much better to receive a definitive list than to have a vague feeling that some of the books from that giant pile must be due sometime soon. I have to explore birthday-notification programs now.

The image to the left is a great Roz Chast cartoon showing how your brain only has space for so much stuff. I know it’s unreadable here. I’m mostly just encouraging you to go get The Party, After You Left and find the cartoon for yourself.