Nearly Wordless Wednesday – Why Being A Mom of 3 Is My Special Occasion

Hallmark Shirt Photo

At BlogHer, Hallmark had a booth in the Expo Hall with these shirts to customize and then they took your picture for a virtual mosaic. I stood there for a minute, thinking about what exactly in my life is a special occasion, and the answer came pretty quickly. Chris and I were sure we didn't want kids, maybe because we were still kids ourselves when we first started dating. Neither of us had any experience at all with babies, and when we tried to imagine ourselves as parents, we just couldn't, so we agreed that kids were not in our future. And then I had an unplanned pregnancy that ended in a blighted ovum, and I realized with much shock that I had actually been excited about having a baby, and it turned out Chris knew just how I felt, and a year later, Ryan was born. From not wanting kids at all to having THREE of them, and doing a pretty okay job of raising them, makes the fact that I'm a Mom of 3 a special occasion every day! And so, the caption on the shirt :) … [Read more...]

BlogHer ’11 Friday Continued – Old School Bloggers Session and Two Parties

Old School Bloggers 2

Read this post first. So I left off having taken some Immodium (thanks again, Robyn!) and deciding I was up to doing at least something conference-related.  I found the room for the Old School Bloggers session where I met up with some of the bloggers I've known since BlogHer '06!  Here's  TwoBusy, LaurieWrites, and IzzyMom: And here's Jenny, SJ, and Sarah: On our way out I snapped a photo of three women who have been there for me since the beginning, who I think of as part of my blogging family - Jenn from Mommy Needs Coffee, Liz from This Full House, and Elizabeth from Busy Mom: From there, I went to the MomCentral and Johnson & Johnson cocktail party, which was wonderful because there was actual FOOD and not just tiny nibbles grabbed from passing trays. I stuck to a virgin Strawberry Daiquiri, got lots of hugs from the MomCentral reps, sat and chatted for a while, then a bunch of us left to go to the Cheap Sally Dance Party, which was AWESOME. The … [Read more...]

BlogHer ’11 Friday – Started Out Crappy, Ended Up Awesome

Before I get into the insanity that was yesterday at BlogHer, I just have to say one thing - San Diego is AMAZING! The weather? 75 degrees, no humidity, bright blue skies, every day. After the last three weeks in Michigan of it being so humid that you could wring yourself out like a sponge, I stepped out of the San Diego airport and it was like my pores breathed a sigh of relief. Even my hair is happy here. The people that I've met so far, the pedicab driver, the taxi driver, the hostess at a rooftop restaurant - every one of them told me how much they love living in San Diego.  There's San Diego Magazine in my room, the "Best Of" issue, I flipped through it last night, and the reader comments page was full of love for every part of the city. It must be so amazing to live in a city that people love so much! Okay, so on to my adventure. I got here Thursday, went to the Welcome Reception for the Bee Squad, chatted with the CEO of Bumble Bee Foods about how is three boys surf, … [Read more...]