I HATE that she had to have four shots. Owee. She only cried for about 30 seconds � then she bucked up, shot the nurse a dirty look, and burrowed her head into her Daddy�s chest for comfort.

The sleeping thing is going really well. We�ve had four straight nights of excellent sleep. Baby Catnip fusses for less than ten minutes and then settles in for the night. She wakes once or twice for feedings, but falls right back asleep after she�s done eating and I put her back in the crib.

She�s happier. I�m happier. Blue is happier. Sleep ROCKS. It is a slow form of Mommy torture to have to listen to your child cry and not rush in and fix it immediately. Four minutes of baby crying feels like forty minutes. But knowing how much better she feels with good sleep makes it worth it. It makes it easier to know I�m doing the right thing.

I�ve realized something rather sad.

I have a finite capacity for taking care of living beings inside my house.

This is a fact that gives me pause when I sometimes let my mind venture into the territory of having more children.

Right now we have two dogs, two cats, a baby, and a bunch of houseplants. We used to have a ton of houseplants, but they�re slowly dying off. Lack of water is the main reason they�re not surviving.

You know, watering thirty houseplants takes about 30 seconds. Seriously. And they only need water once, maybe twice a week. Yet somehow I can�t seem to find the time to fill up the pitcher and quench their little wilty thirst.

The dogs are feeling neglect, too. I try to take the baby for a walk every day � and most days, I take the dogs with me. But sometimes they�re harder to handle than I can deal with, and I leave them behind. Yesterday they got so mad about being left at home that they destroyed, and I mean destroyed the wooden blinds in the front windows of the house. I know it�s because they haven�t gotten enough exercise or attention � but ARGH!

And have I mentioned the cats? Their claws are so long you can pitch them upwards and they�ll be able to stick to the ceiling. This is not a good thing around babies, dogs, or my pants-legs.

So if I have more children, I�m worried. I�m worried that I won�t have the capacity to deal with them. That I�ll forget something vital, like feeding them.

Hmm.

Short-term goal: water the plants.

Longer-term goal: worry about other kids later.