Follow the Link-er

Hey peeps! (it is the middle of the night, cut me slack for the crazy talk okay?)

Amiga BlueDaisy has an interesante take on this whole slew of "Mommy Blogs" - which, I freely admit, is my newest obsession. Somewhat healthy, at least. The funny thing is, I was thinking along MUCH the same lines earlier today. Or was it yesterday?

My thought process was how connected / grounded these myriad of blogs make me feel. Not exactly an online community of sorts, as I tend to be a bit o' a hermit and don't exactly reach out and comment a lot (online verbage- 'lurker' - but that sounds way more creepier than I am. or than I hope I am!).

But since my days are now mostly one way conversations with a 10 pound 'boss', and since telephone conversations with friends are difficult as the boss likes to begin 'communicating' intensely when I am not addressing him... and strangely, most of my friends dislike being chatted at in a high pitched language where every word ends in 'y' or 'ie' (goodie, it's time for some foody)... and since I haven't mastered the whole get-out-and-explore-with-the-young-un... and since he is "in hate" with the car seat (to quote MidwestMom)... and since it's too hot to take ANY kind of walk (unless there's a tropical storm to bring us some breezy wind, but then we've got other important stuff to try and 'secure')... well, you get the idea.

See, the thing is- it seems like there's some neat local groups for moms, but it literally took me 5 weeks to make it to ONE meeting- and they're just once a month. So having a first kid and feeling incompetent one minute and like Supernanny's teacher the next... well, it becomes a lot more bearable when you're reading about a bunch of other intelligent, funny women going through the similar stuff with their families.


And the best part? The honesty in the funny stories, like MoMommy's take on binkies. And the everyday stuff that really is heartwarming (see The Mother Load's latest post). It's probably a tad bit easier to be honest through a blog sometimes - a perfect way to vent and learn. Though the La Leche League meeting & leaders have also been *really* cool (another post for another day). And I have high hopes for the natural parenting and babywearing groups (which I hope I can make it to this month!).

Although maybe the best part is really the photos and videos, like Erin's great laughing baby. I mean, there are some seriously ADORABLE kids out there. On ALL the blogs I've seen. It makes me wonder: do we blog because the kids are cute? If they weren't, would we 'forget' to post a profile pic? Or is there an ugly-duckling group out there I don't know about? Or worse, are we (Kaden) in the ugly-duckling category but everyone's just too darn nice to point it out? No, that can't be it. I mean, just look at him:

I digress. The original point was, there's something to be said for these internet connections in our increasingly fractured social lives. Maybe, just maybe, blogging really does help us keep our sanity and be better moms, women, wives, workers, etc.... and isn't that something to celebrate?