Mommyblogging

On this Mother’s Day, let me tell you about some women you should be reading.

You probably all know flea, who writes One Good Thing. She’s got two little boys, a sex-toy shop where you can shop online for your womanly needs, a wickedly snarky sense of humor, and a fabulous literary bent. Join me in pushing flea to write her memoirs of growing up in the South—those posts are simply amazing. Her older boy has some behavioral issues similar to my son’s—I’m a sucker for all the snarky but heartfelt “special needs” mommyblogs.

You’re probably also reading Bitch Ph.D.. An artful blend of mommyblogging about her bright little boy, profblogging about the maelstrom of academia, feminist issues, and so much more. How many times a day do you check in over there?

Over at her blog, SBFH, Psycho Kitty writes about maintaining her sanity while raising two sweet kids, a wee girl and a boy who’s a few years older. Her boy has some issues of his own, and I get a lot out of reading about how PK handles things. And handle things she does—she’s a divorced mom who kicks ass.

Our friend known as “the nut” gives great blog at Welcome to the Nuthouse. Like PK, she’s divorced. She’s working on raising her 5-year-old boy to be a feminist man, and working on a degree at the same time. She combines entertaining mommyblogging with a lot of politics. Someday this mom will be molding public policy, and wherever she lives will be better for it.

You can’t leave comments (grr) at Dooce because it’s just too darn popular, but Heather still writes a mean mommyblog. Just think of the public service she performed by coming out of the closet last year with her postpartum depression. She’s one funny bitch, and I’m also learning so much from her about the constipated people (who knew?).

Another entry in the “moms with special-needs kids” sweepstakes is Squid, who writes the adventures of leelo and his potty-mouthed mom. Squid has a brilliant daughter who’s 8 (roughly), a son who’s 4 or 5 and autistic, and a baby girl. All three kids keep her hopping, but Squid and her husband manage to keep it all together.

Newer to the mom category is my local homegirl Loretta, who has Gone Feral after the birth of her twin baby girls. She’s effing hilarious. None of that sappy “I love my babies so much” from Loretta. Nope. Go read her.

Sarahlynn is a fresh variety of special-needs mom: she has a daughter! She also wins the prize for most creative blog title, Yeah, but Houdini didn't have these hips. Her girl Ellie is a cute blond toddler with Down syndrome. Sarahlynn’s latest post reminds us not to stereotype kids with Down syndrome (or anything else)—she points out that despite the chromosomal thing, Ellie’s genes do come from her mom and dad, not from some magic pot of Down syndrome “traits.” A good reminder for all of us—the same goes for autism, or this, or that.

JT’s another local girl. She writes My Blog Too: Electric Boogaloo, has two boys (one 5, the other 2), and is currently enjoying some heavy-duty first-trimester barfing. (Though she may be one of those women who keeps barfing throughout the whole pregnancy.) And whaddaya know? She’s pretty darn funny, too.

Remember the Ayelet Waldman flap, where Ayelet wrote about how lubby-dubby she and her husband were? Mona, of Mona’s Barbaric Yawp fame, and Sergei (who writes The Lowland Seed) are a hot couple. Frankly, I don’t know where they find the time to be so hot all the time with two young school-age kids in the house. But I do find it refreshing reading.

Mona’s kindred spirit is Lisa, the Bored Housewife. Lisa’s twin boys are almost 5. One of them asked to sleep in the coat closet recently. She took a picture and posted it. Lisa also wants to hoot lewdly at hot construction workers (apparently they grow ‘em hot in Utah). Her blog is sort of a stream-of-consciousness thing. Check it out.

Two new additions to the mommyblogging world (and veterans of the infertility blogging world) are Julie of A Little Pregnant and Tertia of So Close. Both of them struggled with too much infertility crap and complicated pregnancies, and now their houses have been invaded by healthy babies. Julie is so funny, it’s not fair to the rest of us. She has a sweet (if colicky/refluxy/fussy) baby boy named Charlie. Tertia throws South African idioms at us (naff?), educates us about life in South Africa, and teaches us by example how to be Gorgeous and Divine. Her twins, Kate and Adam, couldn’t be more different from each other.

I’m also a sucker for infertility tales of woe, having traveled a bit of that route myself. These ladies haven’t become mothers yet, but they get a Mother’s Day shout-out because they deserve to share their fabulousness with the next generation. In the meantime, you can partake of their fabulousness by reading their blogs.

First up is the saucy wench Getupgrrl at Chez Miscarriage. (Is it redundant to say “at Chez Miscarriage”?) Her egg and her husband’s sperm have created a fetus who is thriving within another saucy wench, Grrl’s gestational surrogate. Best wishes for a healthy baby in a few more months, Grrl.

Then we have some incredible stepmothers who are trying to cook up some babies. Suzinalexa at Post-coital Babble just got a sweet Mother’s Day gift from her stepdaughter, and is planning to try a donor-egg cycle after spending a summer having cocktails on her new boat. Anna Beth at Hashai just did IVF for the first time and sadly, ain’t pregnant. But things look promising, as she and her husband make a hell of an embryo. In the meantime, I wish she’d write more in her blog. More, more! Suzinalexa, and AB, I hope next Mother’s Day finds you pregnant or cuddling a newborn.

Happy Mother’s Day, everyone.