Just Another Mommy Blog

I've lost my motivation. The marathon is no longer in my plans this year. I was doing pretty well. I got up to 14 1/2 miles for a long run. But, I wasn't enjoying it. Here's why:

Every Friday night I had to watch what I eat and go to bed early. That stunk -- Chloe's sleep schedule is great now, and I want to spend Friday evenings having a nice dinner with Martin, watching a movie, having a glass of wine, and catching up from the week.

The person I was running with got an injury, so I did a few long runs by myself. The runs went OK, but I was board. I was thinking about all of the fun Martin and Chloe were having without me. For 14 miles, I thought, "Why am I doing this?"

I am a slow runner, which means that 14-15 miles takes me about 2 1/2 hours. By the time I stretch, chat with the other runners, head home and shower, half the day is gone. Half the day with Martin and Chloe...watching her experience new things, etc. I didn't want to miss out on that every weekend.

My weekday training was hit or miss. I was pretty good about getting out 3 times during the week, but my runs were only 30-40 minutes, depending on how long Chloe wanted to spend in her BOB. That is not enough for increasing the long run mileage.

So, the marathon is not in my plans this year. I'll still run, for fitness. But, right now my goal is to get back to a place where I am happy running, and where putting on my running shoes doesn't feel like a chore.

Maybe next year.

Today I saw a childhood friend. She has known me for as long as I can remember. Our friendship dates back to the late 70s, when we could run around the neighborhood until the street lights came on. We jumped on pogo sticks, and split one pair of roller skates, each speeding down the street on one skate and seeing how far we could go around the block. We played dodgeball, and split packs of bubble gum cigarettes from the blue ice cream truck. We staged our own production of Annie in the garage, and tried to learn how to do black flips on the front lawn. We threw water balloons at the boys across the street, and played tetherball. We spent summers making pot holders on looms, and later, bleaching our hair in the sun with lemon juice and peroxide.

As we got older, we were separated by distance. We took different paths. We kept in touch though, and every time I saw her, I still felt that complete acceptance you reserve for your family and closest friends. We may not talk or see each other every day, but it doesn't matter.
We had a great time catching up...hearing about her family, and sharing news from mine.

I'll look forward to seeing her again!

Before I became a mom, I heard other mom's talking about their babies' poop. I thought they were weird. I was not going to be THAT mom.

I was wrong (not the first time). I try to keep talk about Chloe's poop limited to those who need to know (the doctor and Martin), or those who feign interest for the sake of their job (the nanny). But anyone who has been around me at all during the last year has probably heard something about the various states of Chloe's diapers. I do take comfort in the fact that I am not the only one. Several other moms have confessed to me that they have taken extra care in examining the contents of their babies' diapers, too, in broad daylight.

That's why my interest was peaked with a recent study, which is set to be published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior. The study showed that mother's prefer the smell of their own baby's poop. The question is whether this preference is due to the mothers being more accustomed to their baby's smell, or, whether it is an evolutionary adaptation that allows them to take better care of the wee ones.

In my case, I can't say I prefer the smell of Chloe's dipes. What I can say is that I KNOW the smell of Chloe's dipes, and in fact know whether she is the one who stinks in a room with several other babies. I can also take a pretty accurate guess at the state of her poop from the smell.

Gross? Yes. Who cares? I dunno. But somebody funded that study. Kinda makes you wonder.

Chloe has discovered the toilet roll. Notice how she left the empty roll, just like her mother.