Welcome to my new blog site!

Although I've been a regular blogger for two years now, I've been blogging at two or three different locations. But I'm hoping to settle in for good here at Blogger! So "thank you" to those of you who followed me from elsewhere, and "welcome" to those of you who are new to my blog.

For the sake of any newbies, let me introduce myself. My name is Sandy, I live in the Boston area, I'm 41 years old, and I have a gorgeous 10-week old son and a gorgeous 47-year old husband, both of whom I adore. I was laid off from my job of 11 years as a technical project coordinator for an environmental engineering firm a year ago and am currently a stay at home mom. (The pay sucks but the benefits package ROCKS!) I also blog for the website http://www.shejustgotmarried.com/ (look for me as "An Older Bride"), and you can check out my past personal blog at http://ooliegirl.livejournal.com/. I've been married for less than 2 years so I'm still technically a newlywed by some definitions, but I intend on staying a newlywed forever by my own definition. I'm often accused of being a bit of a Pollyanna, but I believe that optimism is a self-fulfilling prophecy, so I'll be keeping my rose-colored glasses on, thank you very much. You can decide for yourself whether I'm delusional or whether I'm actually married to the most wonderful man in the world. Or possibly both. I do have the ultimate goal of writing for a living at some point, whether it's by finally getting my book published (with hopefully more books to follow) or by getting a paid blog or newspaper or magazine gig. So your comments and input are very much welcomed as I hone my craft!

So, now that we have the preliminaries out of the way, let the blogging commence! Since this blog is intended to focus primarily on motherhood, let me explain how motherhood is affecting me right at this moment. I am typing this with one hand because there is a soundly sleeping barnacle baby attached to my chest, who is being propped up with my other hand. It is also 1:30 in the afternoon and I am still in my bathrobe, having yet to shower, brush my teeth, or eat lunch. This is a pretty typical day. No doubt all the moms reading this are nodding and smiling. Slovenliness and sleep deprivation are pretty much universal to new moms. I'm actually luckier than many, since my little one is remarkably unfussy (Pollyanna again - but it's really true) and since we are supplementing breastfeeding with bottle feeding and my wonderful husband takes the 6am feeding so I get 5 to 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep every night. But every morning I marvel at moms who do this AND have a full-time job outside the home. I don't think I could manage to get myself and the boy up and dressed by 8 every morning, even if all I had to do was drive around the block and come back home. (Which isn't totally far-fetched; hubby and I actually considered getting me a paper route.) So getting ready and also being able to have coherent conversations with other adults about topics other than poop and the absurd sizing system for baby clothes? Not gonna happen.

I can't even imagine doing a lot of things that many other stay at home moms do, like new moms groups and baby yoga and going to the gym. Luckily, since my baby weighs 20 pounds at 10 weeks, he's kind of a built in home gym. Getting up from the couch while holding him is great for the glutes; when I have him in the front pack and I need something from the lower cabinet, it's better than doing squats; lifting him in the car seat will give me biceps worthy of Madonna. And he's much more fun as a training partner than even the hottest personal trainer could be. I might be a little motivated by a trainer yelling at me to "feel the burn" or "just do three more reps", but when Ryan grins at me when I swing his car seat like a carnival ride, THAT will make me do rep after rep without even counting. THAT is motivation.

Well, Barnacle Boy is stirring, so I'll wrap up this entry. I hope that you check back soon! Please share this link with anyone else you think might enjoy it, and feel free to post or link it to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Digg, other blogs, or anywhere else you can think of!