A Billvember to Remember

10:30 p.m. this past Saturday night found me cleaning a vomit-drenched car seat inside the cold, dark minivan parked in our driveway. Before I go on, writing that sentence prompts me to offer the following word of advice for any prospective parents out there: while safety ratings in a car seat are great and all, I suggest you instead base your decision to buy a particular car seat on its ease of cleaning when something disgusting happens. Because, my naive young friends, something disgusting will happen, and many more times than just once. Car seat makers must take some secret glee in creating all kinds of nooks and crannies for nasty half-digested food bits and fecal matter to hide in, because despite my extensive efforts, I speak from experience when I guarantee that that car seat, and by extension the entire van, will still smell nasty 6 weeks from now.

As I went about my grim chore, my wife appeared behind me in the doorway of the van, looking bedraggled. Her voice husky with the beginnings of a cold and her lip still swollen to Angelina Jolie size from a shot absorbed from a two-year old head as she tried to wrestle one or another of the twins into clothes while I was at the office for six hours on Saturday morning. I turned and handed her yet another armful of vomit-soaked blankets and rags, careful not to put pressure on my toe that I was sure I had broken during some Christmas decorating excitement the day before. While it throbbed with pain the rest of Friday, it may not have been actually broken. It most certainly was on Saturday when Cooper jumped off of a wooden box directly onto nothing but the already injured toe, leaving me writhing in pain on the basement floor while Cooper stood over me asking "Daddy boo-boo?" over and over and over.

So, fittingly, ended November, not so fondly referred to as Billvember here at CloudEight due to the fact that it is the end of the billing year at the law firm where I am employed. Each year during Billvember, I disappear into a blur of work that leaves me largely unable to participate in any meaningful way in life at home and leaves Deanna spread even thinner than usual. During periods that I was at home, I was often distracted. My distraction did lead to some amusing incidents, such as absentmindedly handing the boys a half-full bag of cashews when they asked for oyster crackers for their soup. I only realized my mistake moments later, alerted by Deanna's confused exclamations upon finding Cooper enjoying a heaping bowl full of pumpkin soup soaked cashews. Anyway, while it is true that we here at CloudEight truly have an extraordinary amount to be thankful for, right now I am mostly thankful Billvember is behind me, and am looking forward to once again rejoining the family, and you all, for some Holiday and winter fun. See you soon!