Answers to questions received so far.
pantsie -- This one is tough, it's hard to narrow it down to just one thing. I'd say "do everything you can to make sure you know what you're getting into", but that's kind of a cop-out, because it encompasses so much. I guess I'd say spend as much time as you can with other people's kids - including overnights and multiple days in a row if you can. It's not the same, but it will give you some idea as to the constant nature of their needs and demands. Oh, and buddy up to
lorac because she loves to babysit.
smurfchick-- Yeah, but I doubt I ever will.
dchenes -- Handle with Care from Origins. The name is terrible, and it's stupidly expensive, but I love it.
brainysmurf --
Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote. (oh, and the wording of your question made it seem like you asked more than one. If you did, the dumb poll thing ate all but the one I answered.)
pmegan -- I can't even conceptualize that much money. Earmark half of it for charity before I even touched it, even if it took a while to figure out what to do with it. Quit my job, open an awesome stitching store wherever I wanted, and hire lots of great people to work there so it could be a hobby for me rather than an all consuming lifework (I'd pay my employees very well too). Give my family and friends enough money that they could all afford to do what they loved too, without becoming a charity well for all of them.
lorac -- Yeah, with a couple of "buts" attached.
solcita -- Every day. Most often when she wakes me up 2 hours before I want to get up. The real truth is, you get through it because you don't really have a choice. There's this little person who needs you, and that's all there is. When you really need a break, you find a way to get one, and you go on.
halleyscomet -- What's 6 times 7, of course.
The rest of
you need to
go ask me stuff RIGHT NOW!