are we on vacation?

it turns out santa monica is a really really fun place to live. since i don't know if there'll ever be another time in my life when i'm not working and i have an adoring, impressionable young baby to pal around with, i decided this week to start taking full advantage of what's around us.
on tuesday we found the main branch of the library. it's super with a huge kids section and baby storytime and even a coffee shop and cafe. granted, there are huge signs posted in the bathrooms that say "please do not set fires in this restroom" because i guess homeless folks have been known to do such things. but as we passed a man sleeping on the sidewalk on our way there i explained to t2 that there are all kinds of people in the world and we have to make room (or step over) them all. so i bet that sign won't alarm him when he's old enough to read it himself.
today we ventured to the santa monica pier because i'd heard that the aquarium reopened. on the way we had to stop and ride the carousel. t2 loved the fish and the pony ride. for the first time i found myself really thinking not about sleep or schedules or pumping or feeding, but about all the fun things we can do in the months to come. i really can't wait.
so i logged on earlier today to write a brief post about the horrifying hairloss i'm experiencing and before i did, i checked my friend reid's blog. lo and behold she's having the same terrifying problem.
there are so many dirty little secrets of pregnancy and childbirth -- too many to count -- but this may be one of the worst. this is not moderate hair loss or occasional hair loss. this is a mass exodus of hair. so much i'm looking for bald spots.
my locks had gotten so knarled in our drains that there was standing water in our tub. from tuesday.
ew. i just threw up a little thinking about that.
thank god for tayloe the husband because he fixed the problem this afternoon. i didn't ask how or for details.
i find hair everywhere - on my clothes, on the dishes, on my pillow, dangling from t2's hands. i for sure beat wolly in the shedding department. in fact, i bet he's looking around our floors and wondering when we got a golden retriever.
but if that isn't bad enough, here's what babycenter has to say about post partum hairloss:
A note to new moms with long hair: Strands of hair can end up tightly wrapped around your baby's tiny appendages, including his fingers, toes, wrists, ankles, and penis. This is called a hair tourniquet, and it can be quite painful for your little one.
um, did they say hair tourniquet? on his penis?
i guess i better watch for that to save myself a very uncomfortable and scaring conversation with him later in life.
oh. how. terrible.
ps -
t1 (or 'ol glue ear as i've been calling him) is borderline miserable because his ear infection is, um, sticking around. he can't hear a single thing out of it. everything we've read (and the doctor) says it could take as many as three months to clear up. and well, folks, one of us is going have a hatchet in our head long before that day comes. so i'm asking because i'm really, really hoping you do-- got any sage advice?