Let's Get Started!

Why a blog?  I'm not really sure, except I have a lot of mommy thoughts that are often too long to do justice in a Facebook status update.  I have two daughters - Katie (6) and Carly (3).  I was scared to death to become a mommy - even warning my husband during our engagement that I might not ever want children.  I didn't have the best of childhoods or examples of motherhood until I was almost an adult.  But, fast-forward about seven years into our marriage and I was ready - and we together were ready - to tackle parenthood.

What has amazed me most about motherhood is how fun it is!  I remember telling Trey that if people hadn't spoken so much about how much work it is and told us how FUN being a parent is, we might have done it years sooner!  But we had our girls at the right time for us, and I can't imagine life any other way.

As for the name of the blog - well, that's easy.  Katie is in her second year of Girl Scouts - a proud Daisy Girl Scout - so I am a Girl Scout Mommy.  And I was a Brownie for one glorious year before life changed for me, so I guess technically I can claim alumna status.  But most of all I guess for me a "Girl Scout" is what I aspire to be - and often I feel like I fall short of that goal - but I want to avoid the pitfalls of trying too hard.

For instance, I dread becoming one of those "helicopter parents" that we hear so much about - and see every day in carline, on the sidelines of the basketball or soccer game, or in the bleachers waiting for gymnastic to be over.  But it is hard to not run out onto the court during a time out to tighten the drawstring on your skinny kid's shorts because you're afraid that they will fall off and traumatize her so much that the college fund becomes the therapy fund.  But, hey, I asked the parent beside me if I would be too much of a crazy mommy if I did that, and she agreed that yes, that would be over the top. So, hey, if you're not scared to show your potential crazy to another mom you might just find a friend.

So, this may just end up me getting free therapy by putting all of my crazy thoughts out there.  But my hope is that as I confess my fears, my crazy thoughts, and my vulnerabilities someone else out there will realize that we are all in this together, we all trip and fall, and while much of motherhood (and fatherhood ) is a joy, some of it SUCKS, and there's nothing wrong with owning that and moving on.