I Wear the Maternity Pants in This Family

It was September, and humorist Susan Konig had just put her youngest child on the school bus with his brother and sister and thought, "Wow, my life is really going to change now. All three kids in school full-time. For the first time in a decade I'll have my days to myself! I'll write another book, get to the gym four times a week, run for political office, save the baby seals . . ." Almost immediately, she started throwing up. Around the clock. She knew the drill. She was definitely pregnant . . . with her fourth child . . . and about to turn forty-three. Time to break out the big pants again. While Susan thought that the next chapter of her and her husband's lives involved making plans for their impending child-free, swinging middle-aged-dom, instead she's back to two A.M. feedings. Meanwhile her tween daughter is receiving her first phone calls from . . . boys! And in between this twelve-year-old and the newborn are two rambunctious sons, eight and five. So it's training wheels and training bras; first dance, last diaper; Miss Clairol and Ben & Jerry. Will Susan ever get back into shape? And what shape was that, exactly? Will she be the oldest mom at preschool in a few years? Will she survive that long? And will she and her husband cope with a national radio show that brings their disorganized household to the whole country? Acclaimed humorist Susan Konig follows her successful debut, Why Animals Sleep So Close to the Road (and Other Lies I Tell My Children), with this charming, hilarious, and realistic account of being a mom. After all, it's a big job---and it requires big pants.