Q: What about your daughter makes you laugh?
A: Everything. She's very funny. She has a great sense of humor. It's funny when she tries to manipulate me. When it's time to go to bed, she'll bargain with me. She'll tell me she will go to bed if I let her watch her favorite movie. Things like that, where it's like, "Well, that's not really a negotiation."
Q: What is your favorite family ritual?
A: Probably bedtime. My husband and I, if we are both up at the same time, will both lay down with her and read books and hang out with her until she falls asleep. If he's not there, I'll do it, and vice versa.
Q: What was your most frazzled mom moment?
A: My most frazzled mom moment: Going through airport security when Catherine was an infant, I realized I had to take her out of the stroller, collapse the stroller, put my luggage through, take off my shoes—I just didn't understand how anyone was physically capable of doing that. And nobody seemed very helpful, either. I don't know how you're supposed to collapse a baby stroller while you're holding a baby and luggage. I don't know—I just remember sweating a lot!
Q: What parenting issue do you and your partner disagree most about?
A: Probably about bedtime. I like to have a little consistency when it comes to bedtime, and I'll try to put her to bed by 8:30 p.m. seven nights in a row. And then I come home, and it's 10 o'clock, and Paul and Catherine are watching TV on the couch together. It's like, "Ohh Paul." It's not the end of the world, but I think we probably disagree on that a little bit.
Q: What is your parenting role: good cop or bad cop?
A: I'm pretty much the good cop ... although Paul is also a good cop. It's not a good combination. [laughs] There's no bad cop in our house! Clearly, my daughter is very spoiled. I don't know. It's hard. I haven't mastered bad cop yet.
Q: What do you wake up in the middle of the night thinking about?
A: When Catherine was a baby, I woke up all the time worrying about whether she was still breathing or not. I feel like I never slept through the night. I still kind of don't. She sleeps with us a lot, and I worry that I'm cutting off her circulation or that somehow I've gotten her tangled in the blanket. It's always health issues.
Q: What do you wish you had done before you had children?
A: I feel like I did it all before I had children, which is good. I was a late mom-bloomer.
Q: What is a typical Saturday morning in your house like?
A: Loud. Well, usually, we get up and make breakfast and the dog is running around. Catherine likes to watch cartoons, and we try to figure out what the day is going to be. We do a lot of Color Me Mine—hundreds and hundreds of dollars' worth of Color Me Mine, every weekend. We went there once for Valentine's Day, and now every time I take her back to pick up her pottery, she wants to color something else, so it's a vicious cycle. I need to pick up her completed pottery when she's not with me, otherwise I don't think we'll ever stop going there on the weekends.
Q: What was your mom most right about?
A: She would always say, "You'll see. One of these days, you'll understand." You know, just as far as how difficult it was being a parent. The snapping the fingers and the "Quiet, I'm on the phone," and things like that. She would always say, "One day, you'll see, you'll see." I didn't believe her then, but now I believe her.
Q: The writers of the show are asking readers to send in their real-life experiences. Did they include any of yours?
A: I actually told them about one of my sister-in-law's experiences, taking advantage of a little day-care situation at the gym. The gym's day-care workers actually came looking for my sister-in-law and her friend because the kids had been in the day-care for a long time, and it was just supposed to be for like an hour while you worked out. I think we are going to see that in one of the episodes. I haven't read the episode yet, but I think it's coming.
WHAT'S YOUR...
...guiltiest pleasure?
Playing poker with my friends. It's kind of bad because it doesn't really help anybody. It's not for charity and it's not for anything other than we like to get together and take each other's money.
...ideal getaway?
Anyplace where I can drink a piña colada.
...favorite clothing item?
They're not particularly great to look at, but I have some Frye boots that I love. They're perfect for everything. They're so comfortable, and it kind of feels like you're wearing your slippers.
...current reading material?
In the Motherhood. I get a new script every day. I honestly do not have time to read anything else right now.
What's your preference:
Chocolate or cheese?
Chocolate.
Cook at home or eat takeout?
Probably takeout, let's be honest. Anyplace that delivers pizza and salad is a good place in my book.
Coddle your tot or let him cry it out?
I coddle! Are you kidding me? I cry with her. I'm the worst. Whatever she wants—I just want her to be happy. All I want, every day, is my daughter to be happy. I'm not the strictest mom in the world, but you only live once, right?
