If you don’t already read my friend Erin’s blog, you totally should.  She came up with a fun idea for a link up and I’m all about it.  Why?  Because it has to do with sparkly stickers.  Let’s face it, I love sparkly stickers about as much as my two-year-old loves them.

Her idea?  Parents should get gold stars for being awesome, or simply for doing things that aren’t terrible.  Agreed.

• My little potty-trainer said she needed to drop a deuce.  Yes!  We’ve been working on that.  I hurried her to the commode.  I helped her pull down her pants and a turd fell out and rolled on to the bathroom floor.  I did not groan and grimace.  Nope.  I plastered a shit eating grin on my face and said, “Uh oh!  That’s okay!  You got really close to the potty!”  I helped her do her business and cleaned up.  My little one then reminded me “You no eat poo poo, Mama!  Is yucky!”  I had my shit eating grin on for nothing.

Watching the Golden Globes tonight made me realize, it’s not the silly little starlets that are being celebrated these days.  Yes, cleavage and ass shaking by 19-year-old’s is still glorified.

But, those girls didn’t win awards.

It’s the women who are seasoned writers and comedians that are not only nominated for awards, but asked to host the show.  The women who took the honors weren’t slutty or too thin or too plastic.  The winners were women like Adele.  She wrote a beautiful song, won an award, and admitted she was a new mom getting tipsy on a night out.  Anne Hathaway acted her brains out and performed a role we’ve seen a thousand times in a way we’ve never seen before.

Yes, there were risque dresses that objectified the female form.  Yes, award shows are circle jerks for the rich and famous.  But, I have to believe there is hope for Hollywood when Tina Fey and Amy Poehler bring the house down with insightful, unique comedy.  Jodie Foster is honored for a body of work spanning decades of perfecting her craft, not her body spanning a centerfold.  Anne Hathaway paid homage to the generation of women before her with her salute to Sally Field.

My favorite moment of the whole night was on the red carpet before the show when Claire Danes told Ryan Seacrest about how her mother is babysitting her one-month-old and how she really hoped she didn’t leak on her dress.  I fell out laughing and ran to Twitter to tell my fellow mom bloggers about how Claire Danes was my new hero.

It’s honesty like that, that gives me pride as a working mother.  20 years ago you probably wouldn’t see a woman making boob leaking jokes before winning a best acting award.  I’m so glad to be a mother in this era.  Rock on, career mamas!

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Yes, this is a resolution post.  It’s January 2nd for pete’s sake!  It was either write this blog post or go to the gym where I would have to wait an hour for an elliptical machine.  “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”  So let’s just go with it, shall we?

I heard it said recently that “goals not written down are just wishes.” So true!  Some of my goals for 2013 are very personal, others mundane.  I won’t bother you with them here, but I wrote them down elsewhere.  I’m not wishing 2013 away.  “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”  (Wait, I’m starting to think that reference too 2012.  You think?)

Anyway, I read a lot of blogs today about resolutions, or choosing a single word that describes a theme for the year 2013.  I’ve come up with my word.

Question

Yep, as in asking questions.  Instead of resolutions, I’m asking questions.  Everyday I will ask myself this series of questions.  I made most of them open ended.  For example, I’m not going to ask myself, “Did you eat healthy today?’  But, instead I will ask, “What healthy food choices did you make today.”  It forces me to think about my decisions.  Here is my list of daily questions for 2013.

• What did you thank God for in your prayers today?
• What did you do today to show Greyson and Charlotte you love and appreciate them?
• When did you pet the dog?
• What did you do at work that accomplished a task or showed leadership?
• What step did you take to make your blog better?
• How many blogs did you comment on today?
• What healthy foods did you eat?
• How did you get exercise today?
• What junk did you get out of your car?

Is this a good idea?  Do you think I can do it?  Should I add to this list?  What questions are you asking  yourself in 2013?

I haven’t written since Christmas, and even then I didn’t really write.  I’ve just enjoyed my vacation.  It was a week of uninterrupted time with family and friends and exactly what our little family needed.  No work, no blogging.  It was really fantastic.  Do it if you can.

It could be the excitement of having Christmas with a 2-year-old that made this year special, but that’s not all of it.  I can’t put my finger on one thing that made it fantastic.  It was every little moment.  I think we have to go back before our actual vacation, to the week before Thanksgiving.

• That is when we took Charlotte to her first Christmas parade and the Santa mania began.  She didn’t even want to sit in her wagon.  Nope, only our shoulders would do.  She wanted to see everything.

• During Thanksgiving she watched her first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  She couldn’t wait for the Sesame Street float while she sat on her Sesame Street potty.  Greyson and I laughed and laughed at our little naked baby.

• Charlotte ran to Santa and gave him a hug.  She asked him for a baby doll.

• One night in December, Greyson and I had a date night to see Raleigh’s famous version of “A Christmas Carol.”  My former colleague and great friend, Mark played Nephew Fred.  I was so proud I teared up.  When the cast ran into the audience as part of the performance, he found us and hugged us.
• Another night I had a girls night at “The Nutcracker” I told all of you about.
• We got an extra special treat when Greyson’s parents surprised us and flew in from Colorado the weekend before Christmas.  They got to give Charlotte her new kitchen set.
• I got together with my friends from my old dance company growing up since everyone was in town for the holidays.  Some still dance.  For others like me, competitions, recitals, bleeding toes and tutus are all part of a past life.  It was exciting to catch up with them and plan dance days for our own daughters.  

• I also got to meet up with friends from high school.  It was like herding cats for Meagan, Megan and myself to keep track of our two-year-olds.  I love seeing old friends from the past and seeing their life successes.  It does my heart good.  For me, when I look at old friends I see the 17-year-old me, forever preserved in them.

• Santa came!  Her beloved baby doll was in her arms.

• We traveled to my Grandparents houses for a little extended-family time.  Charlotte has not stopped talking about her second cousins Lana, Emma, and Willow.

• New Years Eve we went downtown to Raleigh’s First Night celebration.  We drop an acorn because we’re the City of Oaks.  It’s silly, we know, but it’s our thing here in the Capital City.  We went to the 7:00pm Acorn Drop for children.  This was Charlotte’s first and she couldn’t have been more delightful.  If she kissed us once, it was a million times.  I teared up singing Auld Lang Syne at 7:01pm.  I was that ridiculously happy with my bundled-up little family.

 

Quick sidenote:  This holiday I realized how often I use my Instagram.  (Duh! See above post.  Half these pics are IG.) Seriously.  It’s as much as I use Twitter and Facebook.  I’ve had my account for about 1 1/2 years.  I was shocked at BlogHer ’12 how many bloggers I recognized from Instagram.  Therefore, I’m keeping my account even though many are jumping ship because of all the drama.  I’m considering watermarking my pics.  I dunno.  I just don’t want to worry about it.  Anyway, let me know what you decided.  Let me know if I’m not following you!  

Next week I will be getting on a plane to fly to one of the world’s largest cities to attend one of the world’s largest blog conferences and it blows my freaking mind, ya’ll!

What?! What has this turned into? This was just a hobby. It was a way to remember being pregnant. It was a way to write and get my thoughts out. I really knew nothing about blogging nor the blogosphere. I believe I may have heard the term “mommy blogger” some time and cringed at the thought of the Stepford Wives with MacBooks who must have taken up that hobby.

Somebody’s Parents was just a few diary entries written in a Google Doc back in 2010. Not anymore. Somewhere along the way people besides Greyson, my sister (when she had time), and a few very kind friends read my meanderings. All of the sudden I wanted to read more blogs, more stories, and more tales of pregnancy and motherhood. I found women from all over the world experiencing the same joys, disgusting syptoms, and hardships that I was. I joined blog communities, met local bloggers in the flesh and had late night Twitter chats with “friends” I only knew by their avatar. It was fun. It was more than message boards and Facebook. It was a community.

Blogging has gone from a hobby to a passion. I love doing this. I want to get better. I’m taking myself and my little blog to New York City on my birthday. It’s my first birthday away from family in all my 31 years. I can’t think of any place I’d rather be.

I’m not big-time. I know that. I’ve heard about the “types” that you run into at BlogHer. Is it intimidating? Only if I let it be.

I got a little something this weekend to help me on my journey. Yep! Blogging with the iPad2 and a keyboard. I have also ordered my business cards.

The lovely ladies pictured here are two of my BlogHer ’12 roommates. (Visit Erin, Andrea, and Andrea!) We got a few new festive frocks last week before the trip. They are even helping me celebrate my birthday!

Am I nervous? Maybe a little, but I’ve never been much of a wallflower. I figure if I go into BlogHer with the same open mind and joyful spirit that I did when I started blogging, I’ll be okay. Wish me luck! If I see you there, please say “Hello!” Let’s exchange cards. Tell me what sessions and parties you’re going to. I promise I have no idea what I’m doing and I won’t act like I do.