TiVo

I now know why TiVo is so important to new mothers, at least this new mother.

As is the routine around here, Mr. Doodlebug was in charge of baby Doodle during the after dinner hours of the evening, except for when baby Doodle is eating. As 9:20 pm rolled around Mr. Doodlebug was getting increasingly frustrated as baby Doodle cried and whined. 9:20 was the witching hour for us last night because the season finale of The Office was on. Mr. Doodlebug had temporarily forgotten his head expecting baby Doodle to quiet right down in order to pay attention to the best show on television. When he didn't Mr. Doodlebug gave me a look as if to say "give me the damned pacifier now so I can hear the important and hilarious lines of the show that I am missing while the baby wails." I handed it over, not that I was keeping it from him. I had every intention of doing everything I could to get the baby to keep quiet during our precious TV time.

Now to my point. I realized last night that I don't have this problem during the day or most nights because I watch just about all of my television via TiVo. Meaning I can pause when the baby is cranky and resume once I've quieted him, which usually means putting him on my breast. I TiVo just about everything I watch (The Apprentice, The Office, 24, The OC, The Daily Show, the Colbert Report, Oprah, and Seinfeld and 90210 reruns) and watch at my leisure. Luckily, we have last nights Office recorded on TiVo so we can watch it again for anything we missed. I have to say, and I don't take credit for vocalizing this observation first, The Office has the most realistic love story portrayed on television, and last night proved just how good it is. I love that show, can you tell?

My advice to anyone who plans to be a stay-at-home mother or father for any length of time is to get TiVo and use it wisely.