Why I Blog

One of my best blogging buddies (oh, who am I kidding, I have no blogging buddies. I can't even find buddies in real life since I'm usually covered in three-day old spit up and my 2.5 year old's lunch) wants to know why I blog. Or more accurately why other people blog, and I'm crashing the party because I need to get out more.

So here goes. There are 2 reasons. One egotistical and one selfless. We will start with my vanity first. I'm a writer and have been one probably since the first poem I wrote in 4th grade titled, Spring. It was provocative, I'll tell you that! I studied Broadcast Journalism in college and dreamt of penning the script for the nations top anchors. Then I was blessed to get married and start a family and become a stay-at-home-mom. My writing skills were pushed into service drawing up grocery lists and frantic e-mails to my husband about the latest objects found up a child's nose. Then I noticed that everyone had a blog. Everyone had an outlet for their creativity and I wanted one too. I figured that with as witty and charming as I am, my blog would hit the big time in no time at all. Okay, I didn't really believe that, but my mother did and still does! And so I started a blog. But I didn't know what to say.

And this is where my heart came in. Being a mom is tough. And it's even tougher when the child-rearing books you read, don't relate to your child. It's hard when the best advice from a professional does nothing to calm, comfort, or help your baby. It's hard when you're child cries a lot more than others and refuses to be put down, and yet friends chalk it up to being a first time mom who just doesn't understand that all babies cry. Without a mom who had been there and done that (with me as a cranky baby), I don't know what I would have done. But not everyone has a mom whose been in their shoes. My mom didn't. She did it all alone.

So, I wanted to help even if it only helped one mom who was struggling. I wanted moms to know that we've got maternal instincts that are to be trusted. If you think something is wrong, don't give up until you find out what it is. If you find something that works for you, but seems bizarre or outlandish, go with it. Parenting doesn't have to fit in the perfect mold. My kids have both slept in the bathroom, in a bouncy seat with the fan running for the beginning of their lives. I've army crawled out of my daughters room when I was eight-months pregnant because she couldn't see me leave or she'd cry. I've nursed while hunched over the bouncy seat so that I wouldn't have to move her when and if she ever fell asleep. And yes, I get strange looks when that comes up in casual conversation, but moms get it. They understand that sometimes parenting is about doing the only thing that works. And being willing to selflessly do it is what makes us great mothers.

Now, go read why the real bloggers blog, over at TIP JUNKIE.