Being a mom has changed me

As I type this, my 15-month old daughter is playing in the living room, babbling and occasionally coming up to bang on the keyboard, which is a super fun distraction.  It got me thinking about how being a mom has changed me.  And not in the regular ‘I didn’t know I could love another person so much’ kind of way either.  I’m talking about the ways that you don’t quite notice until it happens.

I am a girl who loves her shoes and in the old days, I wouldn’t be caught dead in anything less than three inches.  Yes, I was the girl who wore platform wedges to the grocery store.  I literally laugh when I think of the old me because now, my footwear uniform is flats flats flats.  Don’t get me wrong, I still try to look put together but I sure don’t try as hard as I used to.  These days, I take a quick spin in the mirror and if there are no noticeable stains that aren’t *that* big, I’m good to go!

I’m not even sure what this woman is doing, but then I remember I have similar objects grouped together on shelves in my house.  I haven’t done anything with them in oh, 15 months, but I think it’s called reading?  While sitting down?  Perhaps I’ll get to do that again one day because if I remember, I used to be kind of good at it.  Now, if I sit down for longer than a minute my eyes will either start to close or my brain will go into hyperdrive thinking of all the things I should be doing right now, why are you sitting down you lazy lima bean, get up and get some work done, the baby’s asleep!

Ahhh, dining out.  Leisurely asking the server to describe the evening’s specials at length.  Lingering over appetizers, entrees and desserts.  Three hour dinners with mood music.  My husband and I used to do that at least once a week and we called it Saturday night. Now?  The last time we did that was our wedding anniversary last year and I was crying into my glass of wine because I called my mom, who was babysitting for us and she didn’t pick up on the first ring like I told her to.  My head was swirling with visions of her laying on the floor and the baby crying her head off like that one scene in Steel Magnolias.  You know which one I’m talking about.  I was nearly about to make my husband pack it up and speed home when my mom called me back because she couldn’t get to her phone fast enough.  Over our appetizers, I fussed at her for not having it attached to her head at all times!

When I went looking for a picture for this last one, I totally smiled because I never thought I’d be the person to laugh about poop.  Yet, that’s what being a mom does to you – it makes you obsessed with poop.  Frequency, color, size and it doesn’t even phase you.  We were on vacation last month and I was in the shower with the baby after we’d gone to the pool.  She was babbling and playing with the washcloth and I happened to look over just in time to see her squat and um, make a deposit right there in the shower!  Instead of screaming or being totally grossed out, I couldn’t stop laughing and I called to my husband to come look, and of course to take it out of the shower!  It was one of those total mom stories that you can’t share with anyone but another mom because they’re the only ones who get it.

So what about you?  How has being a mom changed you?  Do you tell the whole world about how your kid pooped in the shower?