If yesterday’s post wasn’t indication enough that I am one OVERTIRED girl, then I don’t know what to tell you. I haven’t had even CLOSE to a full night’s sleep in 7 months! (And, can you believe the Rascal is 7 MONTHS?! I mean, ex-CUSE me?) The lack of sleep is really getting to me now. So much so that I was barely able to scrape out a coherent post yesterday — I mean, ‘cuz, COME ON, was that post incoherent or WAS THAT POST INCOHERENT! Incoherent isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though. It’s just a little sign that someone’s going CRAZY! Twitch twitch. Twitch twitch.

Anyway, so here’s where I’m going with this. I wanted to write something COHERENT today about an intriguing article I read in The Globe and Mail today. It was about parent bloggers and questions of privacy and exploitation, among others, and there’s a beautiful picture of Catherine Connors of Her Bad Mother and her adorable daughter Wonderbaby — and the DON MILLS DIVA herself makes an appearance, HOLLAAHH! If you haven’t read it, you might want to because it’s THUPER interesting for bloggers and blog readers alike, I think. Here’s the linky. I’ll wait here till you finish reading it….

So, what’d you think?

OF COURSE, the article made me a bit anxious…. Because don’t all “WHAT IF”s make me anxious? I mean, what if Monkey HATES me later for writing about her toe-picking or her refusal to potty train or her “f*cking hat” or her frustratingingly (TO KNOW END) picky eating, etc., etc.. And, AM I being a bad parent by telling my child’s stories to the masses? AM I exploiting her?

And, what about the rascal? What about that old picture of him in the tub with the tupperware on his PEEPER? Will he be mad about how I recently spoke about putting a bag on his PEEPER to get a urine sample (did I mention I had to do it twice because he crapped in the first bag? No? Didn’t mention that? Well, there you go). Will he be mad that I’m using the word PEEEEEEEPER?

And, then there’s MINDEN! Minden WHO, by the way, IS TOTALLY FAMOUS NOW! Maybe he doesn’t WANT to be famous! Maybe he wants details about his love life (which, in a nutshell, involve darting — DARTING — his tongue into my mouth every chance he gets) kept private? Maybe he doesn’t WANT his picture on this blog either. I don’t put my KIDS’ faces on this blog, so why should I not extend that same respect to him? What about HIS privacy?

And, then there are the other cats — Marge and Tigger. Will they feel bad that MINDEN’S reaping all the fame and fortune from this blog and not them? And, oh yeah, JOSH-O. If it were up to Josh-O, though, truth be told, the kids’ faces would be on this blog NO PROBLEMO. He loves it.

Seriously, though. It’s not easy being a mommy blogger. Well, it’s not easy being an ANXIOUS mommy blogger. And, this article made me think, yet again, about how much I want to DO here.

See, we are on the verge of a big CHEATY MONKEY OVERHAUL. My brillers designers are working furiously to get this “suite” done. It will be bigger and better. What does that mean for the writing? What does that mean for the kids? For Minden? For me? Josh-O?

Basically nothing, really. As the kids get older, I definitely blog less about their “story.” I’ve written noticeably less about the Monkey and more about the Rascal in the past while. She’s her own person. And, while I’ll continue to write about her and embarrass her somewhat, I do so WITH LOVE and IN CELEBRATION, and not “for money” (WHAT money, anyway? Pennies, people, PENNIES!) For this isn’t exploitation. No. It’s documentation. It’s history. It’s THERAPY. It’s sharing stories. It’s bringing awareness. It’s connecting. It’s spreading joy and LAUGHTER — what’s better, what’s healthier, than that?

Yes, sometimes the blog interferes with the living: life imitates art and art imitates life, INDEED. I HAVE been known, for example, to WHIP OUT THE CAMERA at not-so-opportune times FOR THE BLOG. But, that’s part of the fun of it, part of the not-taking-life-so- seriously, part of the distancing-oneself-to-reflect-and-make-light, and, above all, part of the memory-making…. Everything I want to remember — all the laughs, the big moments, the hurdles — is right here. My kids will be able to know their childhood better than I ever knew mine. And, I’ll have everything…right here. Who needs a video camera when you have WRITING…? I’m a big believer in the power of writing (on so many levels — don’t worry, I won’t bore you with that here).

And, I plain-old LOVE to write. My monkeys have inspired me to TAKE THE PEN IN HAND AND WRITE like nothing else. Besides, did you know the “Cheaty Monkey” IS actually kind of sort of a little bit… ME? And… YOU? This is about so much more than just POTTY TRAINING and PEEPERS and TOE-PICKING. It’s MY story. And, I’m stickin’ to it.

Writing, blogging, gives me purpose. Makes me happy. ERGO, makes me a better mommy.

And, for that, I’m totally grateful to this blog and to this AMAZING parent-blogging community.

There. I’ve said my piece. Hopefully with a stitch of coherence. Your turn! What do YOU think of all this, Gorgeouses?

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