I think parenting and "new mom blog"s are a dime a dozen, and frankly kind of annoying.  I read them from time to time, enjoy a few, but subscribe to none.  My life is infinitely funnier than any of them, I'm a much better or worse mom on any given day, and frankly many of the authors are convinced that they are the only woman to have ever given birth.  All children are miracles, but nothing about parenting is really miraculous.  It really is the oldest profession....well....ah, nevermind.

So, I decided that the blog format would serve me for other purposes.  First of all, it will provide me a forum for capturing "momories" for my children.  As an adult 'orphan' I cannot tell you how many times I have picked up the phone to call my mom and ask her about me as a baby, or a faint memory of a family event...only I can't.  Her void in my life is the largest ache since my own children were born.  I miss the laughing-until-we-peed moments with my mom, but also the vital information that I never thought to ask her: medical history, family history, etc.  I also dearly wish I had more photos of me and my dad, whose absence still floors me.  I wish I had written down all the great advice both of my parents had given me.  Really.  Some of it was annoying at the time - "You should put away a little money for a rainy day" kind of stuff, or downright riduculous - "Do not drive through such-and-such a state because it has the highest percentage of serial killers."  But it was all real, and all given with an incredible amount of love.  I want to capture that for my own kids.

It will also help me address my major guilt at not having done a better job with those baby scrap books.  I can quickly post a picture from the cell phone with a caption or spend a little longer and write down something witty.  Right?

Truthfully, this blog can also help me be less of a jackass about keeping in touch with my family and friends not so nearby.  I hate the yearly christmas letters when they arrive, but I love finding out what people have been up to.  I get my briefing and then I can throw it away, or stick it to the fridge for a while.  With my blog, they can choose to catch up or not, popping in from time to time.  It also prevents those awful oversharing moments on Facebook that we have all come to know and love.  The beauty of a blog is the implied presence of too much info when you begin!  You're bound to hear about the baby's poopie diaper so you are somewhat prepared when you begin.  And I don't hit you over the head with it in a tiny blurb on your twitter or Facebook page.

And since I first began this space, there have been some of those uphill moments that shake you and your very belief in the universe.  We've all had them, I just happen to have had a few more than most people.  It's definitely not Facebook stuff - a cyber Emily Post would not approve - but it is real and it is a part of my newly defined parenting role, that of a single mom.  I hope I can give those events justice in capturing them and recording them for my kids and for others.  And maybe I will be able to help someone else in the process.

With that wit in mind, maybe I'll even publish it someday and make some serious bank to pay for college.  Probably not, but if, along the way, I make someone laugh out loud or just smile I will feel like I have done something worthwhile.

And with all that being said....

"And now Harry, let us step out into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure."