This is my very first post. Being just an ordinary mom at the end of a long day, I didn’t give my first post a catchy title. I just wanted to see if I could set up a blog and share my thoughts on parenting, negotiating with children, making healthy meals that actually getting eaten, staying awake through bedtimes routines intended to lull far more stubborn subjects to sleep, decorating your home with glittery playdough… you know the day to day stuff. So here I am, writing my first post.

I have been wanting to start this blog for a long time. I just never had the time. Or made the time. I haven’t really done anything for myself or by myself in a while. Even go to the toilet. Or sleep without little limbs wrapped around me. Or eat my own food without having to share all the best bites.

Not that I mind really. I love sharing every waking, sleeping and exhausted moments with the little creatures I gave life to. They are my life. I love them with every fiber of my being. And I chose this life. I chose to be home with them and making the most of these very long days. Because I know the years are short. Even when the days (and especially nights) are sometimes interminable.

But now it is time to do this for me. Because I am a person too.  A little lost in my role of motherhood, but none the less a person. Quite an accomplished person in some former life. I traveled, learned languages, worked with people around the globe, got degrees, made money, met wonderful people. And that person is still in there, looking for an outlet at the end of the days of goldfish crackers, playdough, blocks and potty training.

I could drink wine, eat chocolate, watch TV, or simply fall over into a deep sleep (possibly for about 3 weeks if I was left undisturbed) – and I do those things often, but I felt it was time to build on my repertoire and do something more creative… and perhaps even better for me.

So this blog is about being a parent.. the daily challenges of the job, the bone crunching fatigue, the endless mess and disorder, and the surprising and breathtaking love. But it is also about being a woman who needs to rediscover herself, her beauty, her value. About an ordinary person, with no super powers, who is just getting through the days, delighting in the small every day pleasures, and being the best mom she can possibly be, while knowing she is making mistakes. It takes a village to raise a child, and perhaps today in our world of closed doors and keeping up appearances, there is village to be found in the relative anonymity of the web. Perhaps here we can be vulnerable, and honest, and kind.

I hope you’ll join me and share your stories. Together we can be stronger. And laugh more!