Thoughts Of A Social Media Mom

Today's fabulous guest post is by The Crayon Wrangler, who has been our September Blogger of the Month. I hope you have had a chance to visit her blog to enjoy her flare for words and most recently her eye for the fun and beautiful. She has just opened her own photography studio and the photos are just wonderful. Please join me in thanking Alycia for sharing her site with us this past month! 


6am
Personal Action: Woken up by the baby

Social Media Reaction: Tweet about how early it is. "Follow" Folgers on Twitter. Search Facebook for a Fan Page of moms addicted to caffeine.

7am
Personal Action: Wake up other children and start breakfast

Social Media Reaction: Search back of cereal box for a web address. Start a discussion in a forum about how you fed your kids a cold pop tart so other moms will chime in and make you feel better about your choice.

8am
Personal Action: Flip on some educational programming for the kids

Social Media Reaction: You are now in a full fledged battle about nutritious breakfast ideas within the previous mentioned forum.

9am
Personal Action: Hurriedly throw some clothes to make it to the grocery store before first nap.

Social Media Reaction: Tweet about the mean breakfast food women, take a Twitpic of your pathetic yoga pants in the store, take another Twitpic of your temper tantrum 2yo and receive tons of sympathetic tweets from other moms who have "been there, done that"

11am
Personal Action: Put up groceries and feed children lunch making sure it would be nutritious enough for the mean mommy forum.

Social Media Reaction: Get caught up in reading 18 blogs with healthy meal recipes and somehow one about raising chickens and farming crafts.

12pm
Personal Action: Put children down for nap

Social Media Reaction: Write a long blog post about how some moms are judgmental and how we should bond as women over the fact that we want what is best for our children, rather than fight about breakfast food. Check comments every 3 minutes to see if someone blasts you. Tweet with your friends about your post.

2pm
Personal Action: Wake kids up, snack time and out to the park

Social Media Reaction: Wonder about snack nutrition (this woman really got under your skin) twitpics for the next hour of your kids blurring on the swings and blurring down the slide.

4pm
Personal Action: Realize hubby will be home in one hour.

Social Media Reaction: Tweet about how you will be gone because you got nothing done.

4:05pm-8pm
Personal Action: Whirlwind of cleaning, cooking, eating, bath times, brushing teeth and bedtime stories

Social Media Reaction: Brainstorm about 40 good blog posts. Tell husband all about mean breakfast nutrition lady (Gals...don't do this one...he really doesn't care!)

8pm-9pm
Personal Action: Spend time with hubby and tell him all about what was going on in the Twitter universe. Shockingly he actually remembers these people by their screen names.

Social Media Reaction: None - it's hubby time and he will take away your phone if you tweet one. more. dang. time. when. he. is. talking. to. you.

9:30pm
Personal Action: Sit down to write one of those killer blog posts from earlier

Social Media Reaction: Blank on posts. Go back to blog about raising chickens and read until you get sleepy. Tweet that you are going to bed. Wait up another 30 minutes to see if anyone is going to tell you goodnight.

Word"less" Wednesday::Upcoming Announcements

Chicago

Ok, I admit it. It is hard for me to keep my Wednesday's wordless!! I try and I try, but it is just too difficult! Heh. One of these days I will surprise you....and myself and keep it to just a photo.

Today is not the day! :)

A lot is coming up here at Mom Got Blog this week, so words are necessary.

Tomorrow we will have another guest post from the Crayon Wrangler! She has once again created a fabulous post, so please come back to read it and enjoy.

Friday is October 1st, which means we will welcome our new Blogger of the Month! I am so excited to introduce you!

This weekend marks the start of speedskating season. Yes! Skaters have traveled to Milwaukee, WI to compete in Short Track American Cup (AmCup) series races-look for the latest updates and a story or two about those skating fast and turning left.

So I caught you up through the weekend with lots of words. Maybe next week I will try to zip my lip.

Guest Post::Parenting You Should Never Lose Your Humor

I am so excited to have our first Guest Post! And who better to kick this off than our Blogger of the Month, The Crayon Wrangler! Have you had a chance to visit yet? Getting to our Blogger of the Month is easy! Click the link on the sidebar, or follow the link through the tab above and prepare for some fantastic writing.

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Parenting is one of the hardest things you will ever do. It requires an insane amount of forward thinking, being fast on your feet and even faster with your responses. It can easily bring the strongest adult to their knees either in exhaustion or prayer. One should never look at a parent and believe that they have an easy life. Likewise, never tell a parent that their job is an easy one. You will get eaten for dinner with a nice red wine. 

I get asked a lot how I am able to look at parenting with so much humor. Don't put me on a pedestal just yet; there are many days I am hiding under my bed armed with a box of chocolate and murmuring incoherently about my spawn when my husband is able to find me and pull me out. The majority of the time, I try to just laugh about it. I am able to do this because:

If I don't laugh about it, I will cryI look at it as a home movie and ask, "If I was watching this 20 years from now; would I laugh?"Laughing about life lessons teaches my kids to laugh and builds self esteem. 

Let's face it, many times in parenting when you walk into a kitchen with cereal spilled on the floor, trying to get a pea out of a child's nose or the infant just painted the crib with a certain body function; you just want to cry. I believe the response to cry is because you are living in the moment. What if you don't live in the moment? What would your outlook be on those scenarios? If you look at that moment with the forward thought of it being someone else's kid or you are watching a home movie about it 20 years from now; you would be laughing. Why wait 20 years to laugh about it?

Let's look at the home movie of the cereal spilled all over the floor. You see the entire contents of the Cheerio box coating the floor. You are amazed at the fact that such a small box can actually cover 40 square feet with enough grain and wheat O's to make valleys and peaks. It the middle of all this is a child with an expression mixed with pride because they just fed themselves and fear over what your response will be. Instead of immediately grabbing the vacuum, you have other options. Grab some deep belly laughs and a camera. Praise your child for trying to feed themselves. You have just taught your child that while mistakes happen, the intention of what they were doing was correct. They have seen their mistake and learned that its OK to laugh at it and move on.

You have increased their self esteem and empowered them to continue to try to learn the correct ways of doing things, but if they make a mess of things you will be there to help willingly and not criticize. Later in life this will be crucial, because you want your children to come to you with the really big mistakes to ask advice and receive help. The lesson they learn from you blowing your top over spilled cereal is one of fear of messing up and fear of your correction.

Don't get me wrong and send me hate mail; there are times that a serious situation warrants a serious response. Not everything in life can laughed off, but with our children...don't sweat the small stuff and understand that every situation can be a learning lesson for them. This parenting thing is hard; no doubt about it. If you want to see some lessons that parents have learned check out some of these lessons from myself and other parents. http://coloringoutsidetheline.blogspot.com/search/label/lessons%20learned  If you visited that link, I am assured you are laughing. Let's keep that laughter in our parenting, know that you are not alone in the daily trials with your kids and never wait 20 years to laugh.

MGB- Blogger of the Month is Here!

All the months that have gone into the planning- I can't believe that the day has finally arrived!

Today is the day that the new feature MGB-Blogger of the Month begins!

So many great blogs exist on the web and it can be daunting to find one that you like to read.  This is why I created Blogger of the Month- to help you find some of the jewels that are out there that maybe you would not have found otherwise. On the 1st of each month, I will introduce you to a blogger that I enjoy and I think you will enjoy too. There will be a main post highlighting our blogger, an article or two throughout the month and a place on my sidebar which will give you a quick link to their site so that you may visit at your leisure. Please feel free to also visit the  Blogger of the Month tab on the top of this site where you will find a link to the current Blogger of the Month and all past recipients.

So, with no further ado, it is my honor to introduce you to:

The Crayon Wrangler 

http://coloringoutsidetheline.blogspot.com/

Alycia, who has been blogging since October of 2005, is a writer that I only very recently met through the "31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge." I was immediately drawn into her blog as she shared her stories laced with truth and humor. She commands your attention and before you know it you have finished her post nodding in agreement, laughing or both and wanting to read more. She is a gifted writer and a fabulous storyteller both in word and image-she also takes amazing photographs! You will find a woman who cooks, has written a book and even vlogs (video blogs!) A woman of many talents who is down to earth and as real and laid back as they get. I wish we were neighbors, because coffee talk or cocktail hour would always be a hoot!

I asked the Crayon Wrangler a few questions and here is what she had to say:

MGB: Why did you start a blog?

CW: I started a blog because if I couldn't remember to close the lid on the washer for it to start its cycle, there was no way I would remember moments of childhood, first tooth or funny things that might have happened with my girls. I saw it as a way to have a diary that saved hand cramping writing, came with spell check and easy to insert pictures/videos. As I have added two more kids; it is even more imperative that I write before I forget their names along with everything else.

MGB: What is your favorite & least favorite thing about blogging?

CW: My favorite thing about blogging is the creative outlet and the sense of community among the bloggers. My least favorite things about blogging is the constant second guessing about what my readers might want to read that day instead of just writing what I feel like writing. It's a constant struggle to write only for myself.

MGB: What is one of your personal favorite posts? Why is it your favorite?

CW: OK this was a hard question to answer. I have so many that I enjoy re-reading, but I saw this one and had to pass it along to you.


Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving

I love this one because I love writing poems or doing song parodies on my blog. For me, its a fun way to tell you what is going on in my life in a fresh and exciting way. Although I am a "serious writer" there is nothing (well, almost nothing) on my blog that is serious. I love being silly and have found that even years later, I can still surprise a reader with a goofy stunt.

MGB: What would you like readers to know about you?

CW: I think they probably know most of it. I have tried very hard to be authentic on my blog. I am just like all of you. I have good days and bad. I laugh and I cry. I love my kids and I want to strangle them. I forget the clothes in the dryer and I burn dinner. I try very hard to look at every hiccup in life as an adventure and I actively seek out the laughter in it. When I was younger I was way too serious and let everything bother me. I haven't grown up (because I refuse to) but since I have gotten older I have made it my motto that "if you can't laugh at it, you can't live with it" So I strive to live a life colored in bright laughter.

And laughter is definitely threaded throughout Alycia's wonderful blog.

Please join me and welcome Alycia, The Crayon Wrangler as our very first MGB Blogger of the Month!