I have a blog now...So that makes me a blogger right?

People always ask me if i "read." Not like as in "are you literate?" what they really mean is "Do you read "real adult books," not magazines, TMZ or the newspaper". (I found this tidbit out the hard way...but that's another story!) I do love reading BLOGS! I subscribe to feedspot and read about 30 blogs regularly and also follow people on Instagram, Twitter and of course Facebook. I am, and have always been jeaolus of women who started "mommy blogs" all about their funny children stories and pictures of their kids covered in baby powder or covering their sibling with peanut butter. They record these wonderful moments in their children's lives and then get paid to share them with others. Many of them do not work outside the home (please don't send hate emails. I am a Stay-Home mom and I do plenty of work "outside the home," what I mean here is I don't GET PAID for doing anywork outside of the slave-labor I perform for my family directly - (love you guys! and I wouldn't trade it for the world! ☺ ))

When my kids (19 and 13) were small there weren't any 'Mommy blogs' (at least not like the ones you see today). I raised kids in the Pre-Pinterest era. Which meant if I wanted to throw a princess birthday party I had to come up with my own ideas or go to the library and research how to make a castle cake out of ice cream cones, rather than finding 5000 ideas in mere seconds (first world early internet problems!) and if I started one up now - it would be rather awkward. I'm not too sure how much my kids would enjoy me sharing anything about their lives. I mean I could blog about the time my daugther popped two tires on her new (used) car on the way to high school when that same morning I mentioned that her back tires looked low (I used facebook to chastise her instead - that's what I like to call "good parenting"). I reflect on that moment often as there is nothing better than a could "Told you so!" sometimes.

I could have also shared the time my son thought it was a good idea to have a "candy eating contest during lunch' and the nurse called and told me about how he was "projectile vomiting in the lunchroom garbage can" and how school rules state that when "a child vomits during school he must immediately go home and then stay home the next day to reduce the possible spread of stomach flu. (That was a day that lived in infamy. I don't know who was punished more - him with no video games or me with a kid stuck home from school 2 days who couldn't play videogames!) Regardless - I don't plan to share anything about them unless I have them read it first (unless they really make me mad...in that case all bets are off. ☺)

While I enjoy reading all these "Mommy blogs" and self-help posts, I can't help but notice that the majority of these lovely women seem (I don't want to group them all in the same pile, just commenting on the blogs I read) "appear" to have 1 or more small children. Many have a whole group of kids under 10 years old. The bloggers that do have older children have at least one small child in the family so the can pepper their posts with tales of "Elf on a Shelf" or how to make homemade potty targets for your son to pee on in the toliet (I guess cheerios don't really 'cut-it' for todays youth. It sounds like you have to create something yourself and get an elf or some other inadimate object to guilt your kid into behaving....) But I digress.

I just don't think there is enough information out there for parents who send their kids off to college. Especially for parents who are actually "close" with their kids and enjoy their company. I mean if I was a self-help writer, my library would include such interesting and informative titles as:

How to Handle it When Your Daughter Gets a Serious Boyfriend and You Realize She Doesn't Want to Hang Out With You or Your Family Anymore.

Or What to Expect When You're Expecting that Your Kid Will Be Homesick at College and She's Actually Thriving and Doesn't Even Want to Come Home on Weekends Anymore.

Or your Daugher is in College, She's Not Dead - How to Stop Treating Her Possessions As If They Are A Shrine To Her Memory.

Oh not to leave out the Grade School Moms, I'd also have a few Middle School treasures like You Seriously Need Deoderant Now - A Tween Mom's Guide to Discussing Personal Hygine With Your Kids

Or Drop Me Off On The Corner - A Middle School Mom's Guide to Drop-Off Ettiquite.

Or What to Expect When You're Expecting - Your Middle Schooler Can Handle 6 Classes at School ,Each With A Homework Schedule, Even Though He Forgot His Homework Nearly Every Day in Elementary School. I'm seeing the Best-Seller List money rolling in now! ☺

It has been hard on our family with our oldest being away at school. And even though I see her at least once a month (Thank you Jesus for her needing to do laundry!) Its still different, espscially without her being her for little holidays like Halloween or Valentine's day. I never realized that when we did family outings, even though she was older, a lot of them we did for her, and maybe she did them for me because I loved it!

My son, he is my pride and joy, but he is a boy, and just like my husband. He doesn't care to see the "Spring Flower Show" or go to the "annual pumpkin patch." He may not even want to color easter eggs this year, the same way he didn't want to make a gingerbread house, or carve pumpkins. And that's not "bad" its just different. Its hard to see your kids grow up. On one hand I am happy that they are growing up to be happy self-sufficent adults (which my daughter is) and proud of their accomplishments (She got a 4.0 GPA and was asked to join the Honor Society in College!) yet its hard knowing that they don't 'need' you anymore and that part of your life is over. No more taking anyone "trick-or-treating" or going to "Winter Wonderland" to see Santa. Now I'm going to College Football games and taking my son to see the "Monster Truck Show." And I treasure these things, its just sometimes not as 'rewarding' as it was when they were little. (((sigh)))

If I could give any advice to someone who's child is going off to college and you feel like a part of you has died (seriously being the only girl here is NOT as fun as I hoped) embrace the good parts. Sure I cried like a baby in the car driving home on move-in day. But I really enjoy hearing the crazy stories she tells me about someone passing out in the dorm hallway, while secretly rejoicing that it wasn't her. I've also learned to be a bit less "preachy" and more "suggestive" with my advice: Constantly nagging her about filling out her FAFSA (If you have no idea what this is be glad! The addage "ignorance is bliss is true in this case) has been replaced with statements like "You don't need to fill out your FAFSA, if you lose your scholarship, you can just come home and go to Community College." It's a lot less hassle than living in the dorm anyway and you can spend more time with us as a family!" - Guess what. Those papers were filled out, filed and turned into the Bursar's office in less than an hour! Now If I could only find some way to work that kind of magic with my boy. I think I will randomly change the Wi-Fi password tonight and hold it for ransom until he finishes his homework. Restricting cell phone use is the new "Elf on the Shelf" for teenagers you know? ☺