- Matthew loves Dixie, his daycare provider, and the other kids whom she watches. We know he likes it a lot, because he’s treating it like home - all the kids now, as they get ready for lunch, say, “Put Matthew in the high chair first!” because if they don’t, he wanders around, taking food from everyone’s plates.

- Today, I took Matthew to get his very long hair cut. He hated every minute of it, but looks quite adorable. The sad part is that he really looks like a little boy now, and not a baby. At what point will I ever stop thinking of him as my baby?

- I am down 4.4 lbs from my first week returning to Weight Watchers and running again. Both parts of the plan (the eating and the running) have gone better than the first time I got serious, and better than I expected as well. I don’t think my weight loss will continue in this dramatic fashion - I think my body’s a little bit in shock. “What do you mean, run? Christ, I haven’t done this in a year. Where’s my chips? Sour cream? Wait, you mean we’re not going … what are you doing?” Things I’ve learned thus far? It feels amazing to me when at the end of a day I have proof that I’ve eaten cleanly (I’m counting every morsel of food that crosses my lips). It feels amazing to me that my endurance with regards to running hasn’t dropped down as much as I thought it would have (perhaps lugging around a 30 lb baby helps in this regard). It feels amazing to me that I am slowly regaining control of my life again - the very sustenance of it.

It just feels really, really good.

Of course, today we ended up eating our weights in dim sum in San Francisco - we met up with some friends in the Inner Richmond and while the food was good, I quickly realized how sane and sensible eating all week long, with one off day last week, really makes a difference - I ate too much too fast and was too bloated. Ugh. It was quite tasty, still, but definitely not repeating that mistake again.

On the slate for tomorrow - the farmer’s market and a run. This time without the dog - she can’t keep up, the lazy slug.

Maybe my body remembers what it was like to fuel it healthily and work it hard and with vigor, because today was amazing. I ate clean today, walked almost two miles*, and ran again - this time a little over a mile. Workout 2 of the couch to 5k plan and it went over really, really well compared to even Sunday, so I have hopes that my stamina wasn’t permanently lost in my postpartum struggle to balance things like sleeping with an amazingly unsleepy infant, full-time work outside of the home, and my sanity.

I was telling someone the other day that I run, but I kind of hate it - the actual action of it. I much prefer the feeling I get after having run - when I’m sweaty and slightly out of breath but my lungs are awake and my body is on point and I am in control. I still prefer that, but for some reason, this go-round with running has made me appreciate the simpleness of the action - feet, pavement, feet, pavement, breathe in, breathe out. My mind is a lot more relaxed than it was before I started, for sure.