DC Metro Moms

What I Learned at BlogHer '08

... cross posted from our sister site, Silicon Valley Moms Blog.
I have to admit I was very intimidated at the beginning of BlogHer'08, I had no idea what to expect and it has been years since I attended anything like this. As a small business owner I was always the vendor at the trade show, and I was never wined, dined or even given a free water. Well.....times have changed and I do not think I will look at a conference or trade show again after this affair. With the swag, the parties, the cocktails, the make-overs, the free gifts and free food I felt like like Sally Fields at the Oscars,"You like me, you really like ME!"

By the end of the event I was t-i-red. I was tired of talking about me, about my blog, about other blogs, learning about blogs, what I should (and should not) be doing with my blog, B to the L to the O to the G - ahhhh enough about it! Being around over 3,000 women (and a few men sprinkled in to make sure it did not turn into an free for all pillow fight in our panties) made for some interesting conversations, observations, discussions and I learned a even learned a few things:

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You are in MY Camp

... cross posted from our sister site, Silicon Valley Moms Blog.

Listen up My Little Kiddies- you are in MY camp now!

So, remember last summer when Mommy signed you two up for all kinds of different camps that you said you wanted to go to? Remember how you begged me to sign you up for golf camp, Lego camp, art camp, soccer camp, sports camp and then swimming lessons AFTER camp? And if you recall Mommy and Daddy emptied out their savings accounts so you could enjoy your summer? Remember? Remember? Well, um do you also recall how you both sort of complained after about two days of camp? How you did not want to go to camp and how you hated swimming? I remember the tears after week 3, of camp as I dragged you to golf camp? No? Well I remember....

So this year I cut back, I mean way back on Summer Camps for you two. I don't want tears again, even though I work I want you to enjoy summer. Daddy and I agree you can handle staying home this summer, we think that it will be fun for you. Don't worry, Mommy is lucky that not only is she the boss but she has the ability to take a break from work and hang out with you two. Don't worry we will have fun, I mean lots of fun! Here take a gander at what our first week of what MY camp looks like:

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White-Trash Babysitter

...cross posted from our sister site, Silicon Valley Moms Blog.

My six year old son, Guy-Guy, learned to read from the television. That's kinda white trash. I wish I could say he learned from his teacher or Sesame Street or ANY show on PBS, but it was lower than that. He learned to read the list of shows on our TiVo. Three years ago he was recognizing the words Scooby Doo, Pokemon, and Thomas the Train well enough to scroll through the list and pick his favorite show. So, maybe it wasn't real reading, but he did get the main idea.

When I took him to the eye doctor last year, I sheepishly explained that we realized he had a vision problem when we got new TiVo software. The list of shows changed to a smaller font size. He'd had a tantrum since he couldn't read it anymore and threw the remote at the TV. Turns out Guy-Guy is far-sighted, and thanks to TiVo we'd figured it out.

Clearly, we let our kids watch too much TV. That is probably our biggest parenting vice. Early word recognition is an upside, but the whole family has become marketing victims.

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Wildfires, Technology & Feeling Helpless

...cross posted from our sister site, SIlicon Valley Moms Blog.

My sister's house is 3 miles from the line of the wildfires today and I'm 3000 miles away in the midwest with our parents, safe away from the flames, the smoke, the danger.  But all I can feel is helplessness and concern for her, her husband, their home and the animals they have there.

Late last night, I finally spoke with my sister, who had no power and had spent the day gathering resources in the event of an evacuation.  Then she asked a favor that was as much for me as for her - to track what was going on online, so feeling like perhaps I could still help in some small way, I spent until late researching what was going on and trying to get an accurate picture of the situation.  What I learned is that even with incredible technology, we're still in the dark in these emergencies.

Last fall, we suffered one of the worst quakes we've had in the Bay Area in a long time, and as a result, from my fanatic list making, girl scout history and security experience, I pieced together 3 articles for SVMoms about why we need to be prepared, how to prepare, and what should be in our kits.  That became a part of a Red Cross Ready blogging effort and I think people really benefited from thinking about what we need to do to prepare for emergencies.

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Mommy Wars Suck!

....cross posted from our sister site, Silicon Valley Moms Blog.

All of a sudden, I have become a "field trip mom".  You see, this past year has been extremely hectic for me and I must admit that my volunteer hours at the school have been lacking.  Yes, I am coming clean.  I have not been the best volunteer mom. 

So, the end of the school year is fast approaching and the volunteer sign up sheets went up on the classroom doors asking for parents to help out with the last class trips.  I thought to myself...I could put my name on the list, show up and be a responsible parent helping out the teacher and kids.  Guilt took over.  The girls begged me and I said OK. 

So the past two weeks, I have been the stellar field trip mom.  Last week I drove to the San Francisco Zoo in hundred degree weather. (Do I get brownie points for that one?).  Today I helped chaperon the kinder class to a garden.  Oh, and I even took pictures.... and (gulp) a phone call, to the horror of another parent.  Yes my blogosphere friends, I took a phone call in the middle of the class trip, and was caught.

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I Just Don't Get It

....cross posted from our sister site, Silicon Valley Moms Blog.

I have only been blogging for 2 1/2 years, and I do not claim to know all there is to know about blogging.  Nor am I one of the lucky few that have one of the most profound, humorous, honest and amazing blogs of our generation.......sorry I digress.  I write what I write about and I feel that I contribute a passionate perspective, or at least a humorous view of my life and my views of the world.  That being said, there are a number of things in the blogosphere that make me scratch my head from time to time and say hmmmm.  I honestly question certain aspects about blogging more often then I would like to admit. 

The definition of a blog, or a web log is this:

A blog (an abridgment of the term web log) is a website. usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog....ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs.

Here is my problem with some of the blogs or writers of blogs and the relationship with the readers.......um, the unknown, the hidden and pretend people write or comment on.  I am a person who likes true stories, I crave honesty and I need closure.  The thought to be, uh dishonest never occurred to me when I started blogging....no really, NEVER!

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Not Just A Mom

....cross posted from our sister site, Silicon Valley Moms Blog.

It always seems around this time of the year, that I ponder the whole motherhood thing. I go back and forth between feeling powerful in the role of being a mother and powerless at how moms are perceived...But this year has been different on many levels..

Yesterday as I was talking with a group of people at a family running event, one of the dads mentioned his wife to me and said something to the effect of "Just a mom". He was actually complementing how amazing his wife was to give up a career to be a mom, but it hit a nerve with me. Feeling the power of my parent blogger network and specifically one of the pledges in the back of Maria Shriver's book "Just Who You Will Be?', I said in a clear and steady voice "Never say Just". To confirm another reason why this year is different, a fellow mom friend of mine standing in the group said "Yeah, you are talking to a mom who blogs and was just interviewed on Forbes.com".

heh.....

I wondered why it took being a gadget obsessed mom interviewed by mainstream media about being a gadget obsessed mom to feel validated on a new level. But the secret to my sense of power is not only in the interview, it is in the "Groundswell". Charlene Li a fellow Silicon Valley Moms Blogger and co-author of the book defined Groundswell as the "social trend where people use technologies to get things they need from each other, rather then from traditional institutions like corporations".

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I Was Robbed!

....cross posted from our sister site, Silicon Valley Moms Blog.

No really, I was robbed.

I arrived home from picking up my kids at school, stopping to get gas, and as I pulled up I received a call from ADT that something was going on with my home alarm system.  Five minutes into asking the guy on the line from ADT what he meant, I finally caught grasp of the fact that this means that maybe someone tampered with our alarm system. Hence, the call.

My husband fortunately pulled up at the same time, and I sent him inside the house with my cell phone connected to ADT while I unloaded the children from the car.

From outside our house we could all hear the BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP sound which caused ADT to call me.  Something was going on.  I told the kids to wait on the porch as I reached to open the front door.  It was unlocked.  Uh oh.

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Mom Apprentice Wannabe

Cross posted from the Silicon Valley Moms Blog

Jumping off the partner track at a consulting firm to tackle motherhood was the right career decision, but there are times where I long to be a consultant again. This craving comes on strong while watching The Apprentice series on television, to which I am addicted. Just the night before last, I watched the season finale of Celebrity Apprentice, still dreaming of when Donald Trump will announce next season's theme: Mom Apprentice. If I were picked for that show, I don't know what I would look forward to most - the challenge of the business cases or the absence of carpool duty for a few weeks.

Maybe the next show should take businessmen and put them in charge of kids for a week. Now that would be fun to watch....

For now, I will just have to settle for the challenge of re-inventing a career that works with motherhood... Finding a workspace when my former home office is now the twin's bedroom... Learning to ignore the piles of laundry in front of me while I work on my laptop... Blackberrying work emails while waiting in the school carpool lane. I was hopeful to learn about the new work/life balance web site past Apprentice judge Carolyn Kepcher created, which includes a grant program for women entrepreneurs called Seeds for Success. I may just have to apply.

Click here to continue reading this post on the Silicon Valley Moms Blog

Vasectomy regrets

...cross posted from our sister site, Silicon Valley Moms Blog.

My husband and I have been happily married for almost 10 years, have four great children and are pretty sure we’re “all done” (to quote my 2 year old). We are also only 32 years old, love being parents and would welcome a fifth child with open (although stretched) arms. To top it off, I am decidedly maternal. I always wanted a big family; six or seven kids, at LEAST, ha ha. However, after going through the last two pregnancies with an extreme separated pelvis (a debilitating and very painful condition!) and with my cholesterol being 379 un-medicated, we decided it would be the most responsible thing to declare our family complete. After almost two years of debate between us, each taking the pro-con stance in turn, we finally, kind of, decided to go for it. However, it was more like- Brian decided he was ready and I decided to stick my fingers in my emotional ears and say “na-na-na-na-na” until it was over. That, I learned, was my mistake.

I wish someone had told me what I might feel like after it was all said and done....

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