I dunno...

Ah. Here we are, naptime and back at the computer...having spent the first hour of naptime almost comatose, flipping through MSN articles and friends' blogs. Knowing full well that I have a whole list of crap to get done before our weekend guests arrive. But after slamming through a highly productive first two days of the week, I figure I can zen out on a little sugar, caffeine and internet blitz.

After reading two of my friends' blogs a few minutes ago, I'm a little lost as to what to say. Because they covered it:

• Change.
• Second children.
• Pregnancy.
• The effects of motherhood on one's body and appearance (Suave couldn't have come up with a better marketing ploy).

Although that's not all I have to talk about, these items are frequently at the forefront of my mind. Or the back of my mind. Ah hell, it's somewhere in there...difficult to tell what's front and back these days. Especially the last item on the list. Living here in Southern California does give a "normal Midwestern girl" (who wears t-shirts and, at her make-up most, pencils her eyebrows) pause when it comes to the looks department. These CA moms, as my brother-in-law so delicately calls them, are MILFs. I mean, they either work out all day or they don't eat or they have a nanny come in two days a week so they can keep up with their spa schedule. I'm baffled. It took me a good six months before I stopped feeling like a slob, mostly because I started hanging out with the right people but also because I just stopped caring. It takes a truck-load of energy to look sexy when you spend a good portion of your day crawling around on the ground, usually have a toddler hanging on your leg (wiping his nose on it), a shirt shiny with the afore-mentioned snot and broken crayons and cheerios rattling around in your bag. And really, who wants to do that in designer clothes?

To the litany listed above, I'd like to add:

• The Effects of Motherhood on One's PsychoEmotional State
• How Motherhood and Womanhood Can CoExist

The former embraces the multitasking ability and super hero hearing that seem to be birthed along with the child. I can hear Ari make a small cry in his crib with his door shut, a towel jammed in the crack and Lost blaring on the TV downstairs at normal volume. Baby monitor, we don't need no stinking baby monitor. Well, Sascha might. Add to that, the ability to think 10 minutes ahead of your current position...and cataloging the steps it will take to get to the desired 10-minute-ahead location...all the while wiping noses, pulling up droopy diapers, brushing my hair, making sandwiches and putting random objects away as we move along. This can also be called, "Trying to Get Out The Door On Time".

On the topic of How Motherhood and Womanhood Can CoExist, I haven't the foggiest. I'm still trying to pick up the slop left behind during "hospital week". And, frankly, at this point I don't even give a damn. I'm just glad my little boy's getting healthy, that his post-treatment Tantrums of Rage have diminished and that he's laughing and playing like he did before the fevers started. So, womanhood be damned for now, I'll focus on the mom part until it seems a little more under control. However, because I'm a research junkie, I did find this article on the subject http://www.sharingmom.com/motherhood.html (another nod to Suave). Someday I'll get around to reading it.