Hot bloggin' mamas (and daddies)
By Jennifer Wutz-Lopes
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According to Technorati.com, a blog-tracking site, there are over a million blog posts every day. This equals about 50,000 blog updates an hour, and moms who blog make up a large portion of those daily posts. “Mom Blogs” include as many diverse themes and viewpoints as there are mothers writing them, and some are extremely popular and influential, while most are really intended to be read by a close circle of family and friends.
Amy Corbett Storch blogs as Amalah on Amalah.com. Amalah is one of my personal favorites, and a daily must-read. She lives in the DC area with her husband, a cat, a dog, and her one-year-old son, Noah. Pre-baby, Storch used to blog about her obsession with Coach handbags, the contents of her makeup case, infertility, and getting the shaft at IKEA, but now blogs almost exclusively about Noah. And Coach handbags. Noah is pretty cute and clever (just like my kid!), but Amalah puts things in a way that makes me laugh and laugh. She’s not afraid to tell things the way they really are, and she is not afraid to swear—quite a bit. Storch recently quit her full-time job and now works out of the home as a freelance writer, writing about blogs. Go figure. She is so my role model. On the ‘About’ page of Amalah.com, she posted this tidbit: “I write a ‘best-of’ blog for ClubMom.com called Mom’s Daily Dose. I affectionately call it the Quaalude Blog: The One I Am Not Allowed to Curse On. Yes, I get paid to read blogs and then write about my favorites.” I basically love everything about Storch, except for the fact that she has not yet profiled my blog. I wonder if she is reading this now and feels badly.
Melissa Summers writes the Suburban Bliss blog (www.SuburbanBliss.net) which she maintains out of her home near Detroit, Michigan. Summers is another blogger with a huge readership and a fresh perspective on being a stay-at-home mom. She writes, “Common sense tells you not to talk about your job on your blog because it could get you fired. Mostly what I talk about is my job raising my children. I dare them to fire me.” This is good stuff, people.
Summers has two kids and a husband and mostly blogs about her family, organizing her posts into categories like ‘Good Days,’ ‘Inane Baby Talk,’ and ‘Lice Fest 2004.’ Her narration is so matter-of-fact, you can almost visualize her sitting next to you, giving you the scoop for the day. Summers is an excellent storyteller, and has been moonlighting as a contributing writer on the AlphaMom.com website.
AlphaMom.com and ClubMom.com are just two examples of the many websites that have sprung up in recently, aimed at offering support to mothers and fathers who might need a little bit of extra help. Blog sections have become a mainstay on websites of this type, with blog staffers or volunteers sharing their stories about breastfeeding, potty training, sleep deprivation, and any other subject you can think of. Blog topics at ClubMom range from home schooling to religion to single parenting to weight loss. Another site, BloggingBaby.com, is a bit heavy on advertising, but offers lots of blogging moms in one spot, covering such varied subjects as the pros and cons of childhood vaccinations and which celebrity has a bun in the oven. Some substance and some fluff, but a good site to check out.
There are quite a few moms who blog in the Buffalo area as well. My friend Emily recently started a blog describing her life as a stay-at-home mom with her two children. What Went Wrong (www.WhatWentWrongNow.blogspot.com) is an index of the daily adventures of Emily’s kids, Henry and Lucy. Amongst other regular child-rearing disasters, Emily recently chronicled her experiences treating a rash that Henry had, and one post that still makes me laugh is, “The mystery rash is gone. Although I kind of miss Henry on Benadryl.”
And lest you think I am neglecting all the dads who blog, I present you with Scott Stoddard, proprietor of The Fourth Row blog (fourthrow.blogspot.com). Stoddard is father to three boys—a four-year-old and a pair of two-year-old twins. He, his wife Leah, and the three boys all live happily together in Buffalo, and he offers his readers a unique and amusing view on helping raise his children. Stoddard posts on the dangers of flushing baby wipes down the toilet (don’t do it), how to entertain a roomful of toddlers when mom goes out (play guitar and sing “Old McDonald”), and possibly the most romantic pre-Christmas gift you can give to your wife, the mother of your three children (a vasectomy).
You might think that moms (and dads) have enough going on with their kids, jobs, and households, let alone updating a blog on a regular basis. When people ask me how I find the time, I tell them that I gave up on my real baby book about two years ago, but with my blog, I have a record (and pictures) of Will’s first solid foods, the first time he walked, our family vacations, and all the funny stuff he does and says—and I make the time, as often as I can. Even if it’s at midnight.
Jennifer Wutz-Lopes lives in Lockport with her husband and son, and blogs at www.Jen14221.com.
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