Jennie Finch on baby vomit, pacifiers and more

ESPN’s Page 2 caught up with its past Hottest Female Athletes for a Q&A update on their lives since being honored with such a prestigious title. Its inaugural 2003 champ, Olympic gold medalist softball pitcher Jennie Finch has a more significant title these days – mother to 10-month-old Ace Shane. She shares some anecdotes on her new role and why Ace was eating cardboard boxes.

Click below for the highlights:

- While the Hottest Female Athlete award can get to some people’sheads, Jennie has since been humbled by Ace and her duties as a mom.

It’s funny, [a representative from USA Softball] called to tell me thatESPN wanted to do a hottest female athlete follow-up, and as he’stelling me this I’m on my hands and knees cleaning up throw-up. On my kitchen floor cleaning up baby throw-up! I was laughingand just thinking, ‘My, how things have changed!’I 

- Jennie had previously revealed that her husband, Diamondbacks pitcher Casey Daigle,had his heart set on naming his first-born son Ace and brought that upafter two weeks of dating, dumbfounding Jennie with his forwardness. But it all workedout in the end as "Shane" has a special meaning for the couple as well.

[At first] I was like, ‘What?! What are you talking about?’ I totallyreamed him.But he said that ever since he was a little boy he always told himselfthat he would name his first son Ace. I loved the name, so I was like,’Great, whatever.’ Now, here we are with little Ace Shane. We actuallyeach have a brother named Shane, so it worked out nicely.

- With pitchers as parents, Ace seems destined for a career on themound. At the moment, he’s ambidextrous, to which Casey jokinglythreatened to tie his right hand behind his back to see if they canmake a lefty out of their son.

- Like most parents, Jennie says the hardest thing about being a motheris leaving her son behind because she doesn’t want to miss anything hedoes. So far, mother and son have only been separated for two nights.Still, the 26-year-old realizes how lucky she is to be able to have herchild with her most of the time.

I’ve been so blessed with being able to travel with him. He’s got hislittle passport. He’s quite the world traveler. He’s been on over 100flights already. He’s so good on airplanes. He came with me to Chinaand Japan…It sounds crazy, I know, but you have no idea what it’s like to step away.

- Jennie is so attached to Ace that she nearly didn’t celebrate her two-year wedding anniversary in January until her motherintervened, offering to baby-sit and forcing Jennie out of the house tohave a romantic dinner with Casey.

- Ace is not a difficult baby at all, sleeping through most of thenight. If he does wake up, it’s usually around 4 a.m. when he wants tobe fed. Jennie says closing out a no-hitter is harder than putting herson to bed because "once Ace is down, the hardest part is pretty muchover."

- The technologically-challenged Jennie says she’s out of the loop whenit comes to the latest gadgets and gizmos. The only things she is awareof are pacifiers.

Probably the different lines of pacifiers! I’m serious. That’s the best thing I’ve discovered!

- The funniest thing that has happened to Jennie as a mom is when shediscovered Ace tasting the piece of cardboard she had propped up as astairway gate.

I’m thinking, ‘Oh Lord, help me. My son eats cardboard.’ He chewed on a box. We had a cardboard box blocking the staircasebecause the gate doesn’t reach all the way across. So I put a box thereto keep him away from the stairs, not thinking he would eat it. He wasjust standing there chewing on it and I didn’t get to him in time,obviously. I ran over to take it away and then sure enough, 10 minuteslater he is spitting up cardboard! This is where I am now!

Source: ESPN