I had planned to show a “one year later” picture from the pregnancy announcement I made a year ago this week. You know, a sappy collage showing “what a difference a year makes.” That’s when I saw Jill’s Slice Of Perfect In Our Messy Reality challenge. That’s a perfect excuse to dress up my kids and take the pictures I wanted to take anyway! Jill is fun. I love her blog and I enjoyed talking with her when I met her at BlogHer a couple of years ago.

Then my messy reality hit and I couldn’t find the originals of the photos I took of Charlotte when we announced that she would be a big sister.  This is likely due to my progesterone fueled brain in April 2013. So, for last year click here. I think it turned out pretty cute, but I’m all kinds of biased.

On with the challenge! It’s April, 2014.

Here are these beautiful slices of perfect I captured of Charlotte and Henry the other day. Ya’ll, I can’t even stand it when I see these shots of my babes. Gah!

Now for the messy reality. Sorry to break it to you, but they are not always this darling. I had to coax Charlotte into taking these pictures. Bribery in the form of Easter candy was involved. I did have to do a little editing with these. I cropped out some extra space, boosted the highlights and removed the wall socket. Now I will back up and show you the whole room. Charlotte is blocking the pesky socket in this shot.

We’ve lived in this house for a year now and this room remains pretty much empty. It will one day be a formal living room or dining room, I guess. Watch for the rogue coffee table we took out of the den because our kid kept banging into it. Beware the modem and WiFi extender on the floor. We still have mediocre WiFi at best. On the left is my nephew’s car seat since my sister and her family are in town for Easter.

I appreciate Jill doing this challenge. I have a bad habit of comparing myself to other’s perfectly edited DSLR photographs. Ya’ll, so many of us are duped into believing we aren’t good enough when we see other people’s lives through Instagram filters. Remember, no one shares shots of the messy reality on their Facebook wall.

About halfway through my first BlogHer conference I realized I had only slept about 5 hours in two days. There was no stopping at this realization. I was off to the next event. I said to my roommates, two of which had been there before, “Oh my God! This is insane. I am wiped!”

One responded, “That’s BlogHer!”

She was right. That was BlogHer. It was three days and nights of non-stop hand shaking, nametag reading, card swapping, and swag toting. This is all while anxiously smiling at people you may or may not recognize from their Twitter avatar and wondering what parties they got invited to.

That is BlogHer, but it’s so much more.

I decided I had the privilege of taking four days out of my life to be there and I was going to experience everything I could. I started with rushing off my plane into a cab to be at the hotel in time to hear the leader of the free world speak to bloggers. President Obama spoke via satellite to the conference. Later in the weekend we got to hear from Martha Stewart and Katie Couric. It was also Martha Stewart’s birthday on Friday. When the crowd started singing to her, I pretended they were singing “Happy Birthday” to me too. Martha and Katie were great, but not the ones who truly inspired me.

After hearing the posts of the BlogHer ’12 Voices of the Year winners I wanted to throw open my laptop and lay fingers to keyboard. What words could I come up with to create such beautiful stories? Could I craft a piece with that much meaning, humor, or poise? After this weekend I’m starting to believe I can.

The last night I got lucky enough to be in the same room as two of my blog idols. I saw Jill from Scary Mommy and Kat from Mama Kat’s Losin’ It. I watched them pile into the funny photo booth at one of the parties. They were so at ease, laughing together. It was clear they had “been-here-done-this” but were taking in some of the festivities anyway. I felt like a freshman watching the popular senior girls. Finally, I gathered my underclassman gumption and just went up to them and introduced myself. I told them how much I like their work and how they inspired me to write. Both seemed genuinely appreciative of my words.

I suppose I could walk away from the weekend thinking there is no way I’ll ever be as talented or successful with my blog as those women are with theirs’. Or, I could use BlogHer as a start. This was the launching pad I needed to take the next step.

After all, I did become a senior girl.

After the party where I got to meet Jill and Kat I met up with some of my fellow freshman bloggers. Above all else at BlogHer, I learned no one becomes successful without others. That means in my quest to get better, I have to support others.

Support. That’s BlogHer.

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.