Blog Friend Feature: She'll be on your must-reads list!

Squeeee! I'm so excited to introduce you to this week's BFF.  Because I just adore her! She's so honest and real. Her posts are very thoughtful and genuine.  And she moves all around and has similiar fears/experiences with playgroups that I do. I feel like if we got a chance to meet *cough, cough* someone sponsor us both to Blissdom or Blogher-we'll room together and would therefore need less of a sponsorship we would just instantly click. Though, hmmm, you know what? Would that mean that others would see US as the motherbitches????

Because I'd never use that word to describe this sweetheart! Meet Ashley from Just Another Mom of 2!

I am still jumping up and down that Shell is allowing (er.. asked me..) to be one of her BFF’s. I have loved and followed her blog for so long, I am not even sure how I found it anymore. But, Things I Can’t Say quickly became a favorite read of mine- and then I got to connect with Shell even more on Twitter. I can tell you, Shell is one of the bloggers that inspired me to reach out more- to take a chance in tweeting at people (I may take this a little too far), connect with my readers more, and just realize what a sense of community blogging really gives. It is so true and I have enjoyed slowly finding my voice. I am still not entirely sure that I have it figured out, but I know that I have learned to put myself and my journey into my blog.

So one day, I had a baby. (Okay, there was slightly more to it than that, but you get the idea). All of a sudden, I was responsible for another human being. While I was in love with my new son, I was not entirely sure what I was supposed to do next. Not the whole diapering/feed your kid thing- that, I had a handle on (well, at least a sleep-deprived idea of a handle). But what do I do on a regular basis- I had never stayed at home, nor had I planned on it. Until I held that baby, of course.


I tentatively entered into the world of motherhood- but before I could really get into a routine and figure out what the heck I was doing, we went and moved to Utah. Oh, did I mention that we have moved five times to four different states in the five and a half years that we’ve been married? We threw in another baby along the way (both kids were born in Georgia) and at some point, I embraced the stay at home mom thing- which, at about year 4 1/2, I guess I should have by now. My degree may be in legal studies, but my experience is all mom. So, I navigate the states we move to with our two kids in tow. In fact, since we’ve been in our current state for almost a year, it’s about time to move again.


No, we are not nomads, though truth be told, I’m not sure how long we would last without moving given the choice. The travel is a result of my insanely genius engineer hubs’s job- he makes alien spaceships fly or some such sort (or at least that’s what it sounds like to me). While I have left my heart in Georgia , our travels are not yet done for awhile (or so we know at the moment). In fact, at the end of this year, we will head to Alaska.


Yeah. Not quite ready to blog about that one.


But I do blog about my moves (a new state is coming next week!) and my attempts at organizing our life and my role as a mom. While I realize that it is not only my job, but my responsibility to teach my kids, sometimes I am amazed at how much I learn from them. I have learned that sometimes chores and tasks can wait and that it is more important to stop and smell the roses (or to play race cars and baby dolls). My kids have taught me that what I do affects them and sometimes it’s important to say you’re sorry. Most of all, my children have taught me that there is no limit to how much the heart can love and that I am so lucky and blessed to have them in my life (especially when they’re quiet. Ahem.)


Throughout all of my moves, I have gained an incredible insight; there really is such a thing as being ‘just another mom’. No, not as in diminishing the role that we play but rather celebrate the gift that we are given to share such a strong bond with other moms. We all have our perspectives and we all have our philosophies; if we did not believe in how we parented then we simply would not do it. This is why I feel it is just so important to leave those cliques behind. Be confident in your decisions and be supportive to those around you. After all, there are days where we can use the support of ‘just another mom’. Sometimes we need to realize that we cannot do it all and need to take a break and remember that being a mom is only part of who I am. These are the reasons that I blog; keeping my sanity in a world of parenting and self-conscious insanity. Finding community and support in the blogging world has helped to keep me so much as I have moved countless times, often losing touch with those who are not nearby. It is for this that I am thankful and look forward to getting to know you all more- because thanks to blogging, thanks to people like Shell, I never feel that I’m without a friend.

I just know that Ashley will become one of your must-reads! So, please, leave her some comment love here and then go follow her blog!