I have been thinking in bullets lately, so here are some "[not so] pithy comments:"

- I am a terrible mother. In trying to cheer Liam up and get him to eat something, I gave him Jell-O. For dinner. I also taught him how to play with Jell-O. My way of getting him to laugh was throwing it all over his tray. The good thing is that I also learned that he is disgusted by the texture of Jell-O. The look on his face was priceless when he would touch it with his finger and get really grossed out.

- I went one year without having to experience a diarrhea diaper. I am glad that I have been so lucky so far. I guess it had to happen one day!

- When we were babies, our moms didn't have the media available to them to broadcast their children's bowel malfunctions. Our kids will be mortified. Especially since I have no doubt that we'll be doing the same thing in 20 years.

- When I'm doing things like changing a one-year-old's mess, I laugh to myself. It is a defense mechanism. I laugh about all the new and expecting parents I know who are innocently rocking along right now, and who will one day find out what is in store for them. I am sure that my friends who are parents of two-year-olds are laughing at what is in store for me. Fair enough.

- I am also a bad mom because I am feeding another budding bad habit - blowing raspberries. We are right now in that stage where him imitating us is like this major breakthrough, like we're on a whole new level. I'll blow raspberries at him, and he'll do it back to me. In so doing, he looks like a total brat. I have no one but myself to blame for that one.

- I've talked with some other moms lately, and we have made mutual confessions that being a mom isn't the most wonderfully amazing thing every single moment of every single day. Motherhood comes with its moments, its hours, its days...Don't get me wrong; I love it with everything in me about 95% of the time. However, being able to admit to that other 5% of the time is cathartic. It allows you to feel awful and guilty about it while you're feeling down, but then finish feeling it and move on and enjoy the other 95% of the time without carrying over the guilt. I'm no less of a mom because I admit it.

- I unashamedly abuse Children's Tylenol. It's so good. Sometimes I can't help but steal a spoonful. It's good prevention, after all.

- I'm trying not to think too hard about getting pregnant again. We're not there yet, but the closer we get to when we plan on going for #2, the more I'm terrified of juggling having a toddler and being pregnant. It was hard enough the first time. It's not like the first time when the more time that went on the more ready I was. This time, the more time that passes, the more likely Liam would be to never have a sibling. Let's stick to plan and get a baby in there when the time comes - no turning back.

- I thank heavens for baby wipes, which fulfill my everyday cleaning needs. I see that I haven't dusted Liam's shelf his entire lifetime...I don't feel like going downstairs to get the dusting agent...no problem. Besides, breathing in Pledge isn't healthy, right?

- It's crazy, after having known your child for over a year, to think that there was a time when you didn't have any idea what a child of yours could look like, or what THIS child could be like. He becomes such a part of your life that you can't even begin to remember a time when he wasn't part of it and when you couldn't conceptualize him. I can't imagine now what ELSE a child of ours could look like. I had a dream the other day that I had another baby, and it came out a boy that looked just like Liam.

- I love Liam. 100% of the time. Whether I'm having a moment of frustration with the role itself, whether I'm cleaning poop off his shin, whether I'm going through Children's Tylenol withdrawal...my love for him and my little family unit here is constant and overwhelming.