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Theta Mom®

Redefining Motherhood

The Evolution of Blogging

When I started blogging, my kids were babies. Or so it certainly seemed that way. My daughter was only 9 months old at the time when I published my first post. And my son? He was not even three.

At that point in my life, my blog was my outlet.

It was my saving grace.

My sanity.

It was my home, my place to vent, to share, to connect.

It was my third baby.

I blogged between naptime, late night feedings and I even found myself reading and commenting on blogs in the wee hours of the morning – and to this day, I wouldn’t trade that time for anything. I loved every single second of it. Blogging got me through some of the toughest days of motherhood.

But now, I am in a different space. It feels almost strange, actually. It’s as if I am growing up – as if my blog is growing up.

My kids are also older, and growing up.

My son will be turning seven and starting first grade in the Fall. My daughter is in pre-school and will be attending full-time in September. She’s nearly four years old.

There are no more naps.

Or late night feedings.

And there is no more “luxury” of blogging in those wee hours of the morning.

My life is now consumed with helping my kids with homework, driving them to soccer games and nine million other school activities. I am out of the house more than I have ever been and even though I am still connected to the internet, I feel a bit of a disconnect.

It seems to be changing.

All of it.

So I wonder – as we evolve as bloggers, and as we evolve as mothers – do our blogs and our blogging habits change? How do you moms of tweens do it?! Many have often wondered how I blogged when my I had an infant baby, but I feel as though at that time, it was somehow easier to blog. It certainly seems easier than it is now.

I used to be home all the time. I was connected all the time.

But now, as my kids are venturing out on their own and growing up, jumping onto Twitter to tweet from a soccer game just doesn’t seem as important to me.

Or giving a Facebook update just doesn’t seem as vital anymore.

I’m not sure exactly what has changed, maybe it IS just me – or perhaps it’s just part of the evolution of blogging. And it’s certainly something I think blogging conferences should address. I know I can’t be the first to experience this.

Or the last.

Either way, I have to continue do what feels right to me. And right now, that means being completely connected to my kids. My blog, Twitter or Facebook won’t remember my son smiling on the soccer field.

But I certainly will.

No Matter Where We Land

I recently went out with a good friend of mine who I used to work with. Her baby boy just turned one and with our crazy schedules, it was actually the first time I was getting the chance to meet him. But, what I didn’t expect was how I would feel – SO nostalgic and reminiscent, not about missing the time in my life of being a mom of an infant, but how would I missed the life I built in the town I used to work in for so many years…

You may remember when I blogged about Passing the Torch, seeing some old faces from the life that I once lead.

Well, yesterday was another bitter sweet moment for me.

I was sitting at a red light heading toward the restaurant when many of the district school busses pulled up next to me. It was that magical time when the bus drivers were doing their afternoon run; as they were lined up and idling next to me, tons of memories rushed in my head – the kids, the classroom, the teachers, the parents, the recollections of my entire career – all of it.

Seeing those busses reminded me of the life that I built there for nearly ten years – the life and career I left behind.

That town has so much meaning for me because not only did I work there and hit the bars in my early 20’s as a young professional tying to find myself, I also “met” my husband there on our first date. Well, technically, I met my husband in a bar, but since I was living as a single woman in an apartment at that time, I certainly didn’t give him my address. {I mean, what if he was some crazy ax murderer or something?!} So, I did what any smart woman would do – I made him meet me at the town Library on our very first date.

So as I drove through town yesterday, I passed THAT library.

And I went a few blocks over and passed the church.

The church I was married in.

Maybe I’m feeling so emotional because my ten year anniversary is coming up next month and we’ve been through so much – three homes, two children and various jobs in between – we’ve had our fair share of ups and downs but we’re still in this thing together.

Or maybe it’s really bitter sweet for me because of the changes were are experiencing as a family right now – and I am feeling a bit melancholy about giving up my career I loved so much now as I stare directly into the face of change.

I feel a little lost.

And displaced.

Like I am not sure where this all fits in.

But I am still counting on the man upstairs to guide us as we move forward. Regardless of where we end up, it doesn’t change how I felt yesterday driving through that town, nor will it ever change how I feel.

That town will forever have a special space in my heart – no matter where we land.

For the Better

Sometimes, you never know where life will take you and often times, we are not expecting some major twist and turns…or at least we don’t expect them to hit all at once.

And that’s where I find myself right now.

Alongside my husband, together, we are currently making some huge decisions that will ultimately be life altering for us.

And for our children.

I believe that the man upstairs has a plan for us and even when we may not be ready for all of this change, it’s coming.

But for us right now, it’s coming all at once.

I have faith that the man upstairs will never give us more than we can bear, even when the change seems overwhelming because it’s part of a bigger plan – a master plan to which we have very little control, one that has been scripted and just ready to be played out; one that is part of the ultimate plan that is meant to be – but unfortunately, we just can’t fully see that right now because we’re still in mid-flight.

I’ve been anticipating some changes and have been ready to deal with them. However, my husband and I have been thrown a few curve balls and now we have to make some huge decisions that will alter the course of the rest of our lives but hopefully, for the better.

Amidst this change, my business must survive first, so I am not quite sure how often I will be able to post here until I have a better idea of where my “in-real-life” is all going.

And I thought you, my unbelievably supportive, amazing, dedicated readers deserved to know why I’ve been so absent here recently.

I’ve always been up front and honest as I’ve navigated through the world of blogging, but for the first time in nearly three years, my “in real life” has taken over in a way it never has before.

I can only do so much and right now, my family is and always will be number one.

So until I feel more settled about our future, where this is all headed and where we will land, I am treading slowly here and will publish when I can.

And I sure hope you’ll still be here.

Who knows? This may make for some great blog fodder – but until then, please say some prayers for us that we will find our way.

Because right now, we are still in mid-flight hoping this will all work out – for the better.

Vlogging Again

Sooooo, I’m vlogging again. And I *really* want to try and make this more of a habit between my blog posts. It’s been almost a year since I published my last vlog so it’s definitely time.

I also updated my YouTube Channel so if you’re an avid YouTuber, I would love for you to subscribe to My Channel: Theta Mom Blog.

But, be gentle as you watch my vlog – I’m still learning as I go through this whole new world. 😉

What Every Housewife Needs to Know about Pull and Push

Early in my marriage (one random day in January) I decided to take a day off from work because I had a nasty head cold and I just wasn’t feeling quite like myself, something was certainly off. It was either me being totally hormonal or it could have been the fact that my husband and I were also entertaining some house guests at the time and I was beginning to get irritable.

We had some of his family members visiting from Europe and you know how much work it is to have out of town guests (not only were they out of town, it was their very first trip to America. Yeah, THOSE kind of non-stop house guests).

Anyway, my husband wanted to take our “out-of-town-here-for-the-first-time-in-america-oh-my-god-i-want-to-see-everything-guests” to see the Statue of Liberty. But let’s not forget to note that it was a whopping 5 degrees outside that day with large amounts of snow on the ground and I sure as hell didn’t feel like riding the ferry and staring at Lady Liberty in that crazy cold weather.

If I was going to take a day off from work, it certainly was NOT going to be spent in frigid NYC weather with my husband’s family. No, my day off was going to be filled with lots of warm cups of coffee, comfy slippers and tons of senseless television – in an empty house.

So I bid my husband and his family farewell at the door and I told him I would call him later. You know, because I was feeling a bit under the weather myself –  so much so, I even took a pregnancy test.

Ahem.

Excited to have the whole day ahead of me all to myself, I was SO thrilled to begin planning the epic news of how I was going to tell my my husband that he was going to be a father. Before I could even begin planning how I was going to do it, I threw in a load of laundry and made myself a cup of tea. This sure was going to be a perfect day off. That was until the moment I saw water seeping out from under my laundry room door…

I ran over and opened the door to find out what seemed to be 8 million gallons of water ejecting from the washing machine directly onto my hardwood floors. The water was shooting out erratically from a pipe behind the machine and I just couldn’t make it stop.

I was a fairly new bride, maybe not one of the most domestic chicks you’ll ever meet – but I was always pretty confident when it came down to doing the wash. But, I had *no idea* why water was gorging from the water line – all I knew was that I had to make it stop but every second that passed, gallons and gallons of water continued to gush onto the floor.

Sloshing my way toward the basement door, I ran downstairs to grab a bucket of some sort – I thought perhaps I could contain some of the water in the bucket and then proceed to dump it out onto the snow covered ground. I know, not the most brilliant idea – but at the time (in the total of the two minutes I had when this whole thing went down), that’s all I could come up with. But as I was down in the basement for about two seconds, I knew I had even bigger problems.

The water spewing from my machine upstairs was now seeping through the hardwood floors and the water was falling through to the ceiling below directly into my basement. And it was falling onto all of the electrical cords down there – and that’s when I went into sheer panic mode. Not only did I probably completely ruin my floors, I now had this water issue oozing its way into my basement – and it was a clear fire hazard.

I couldn’t call my husband because he was busy showing his family around NYC so I had no choice but to call the police. By this time, the water was done spewing because the spin cycle had been complete, but the damage was already done.

The police finally came, saw the damage and walked over to my washing machine. After a quick investigation of the situation, it was made known that one of the pipes was frozen which caused the water to spew out – but the cop did point out one priceless little detail to me that day.

“You see this button on the machine?” the cop asked.

I leaned over to take a look.

And there were the words, clear as day.

 “Pull to Start – Push to Stop.”

With one finger, the cop pushed the button in, turning the machine off in just one click. After some silence, I stood there in my sopping wet slippers  and “Oh,” was pretty much all I managed to speak. I never felt so stupid in my life, I should have just blamed it on pregnancy brain.

And the cop’s parting words? “Well, at least you’ll know for the next time, right? Best of luck when your husband comes home.”

Ugh, the mere thought of telling my husband was beyond dreadful. There I was, surrounded by gallons of stagnant water, warped hardwood floors and a whole hell of a lot of explaining to do when the hubs got home.

Thank GOD I had the news that he was going to be a Daddy to share first. Otherwise, I’m not quite sure how that night would have all played out. Regardless, let me save you hours and hours of agony ladies – just know when to pull and push.

The end.