by oh amanda on June 26, 2010
Once I responded to a comment from Mandi—I thought it was my sisterchick, Mandi from itscome2this.com. But when she responded to my email she said, “I think you’re confused! I’m a different Mandi…!” And a fun friendship was born! Mandi is the “other” Mandi Ehman from Organizing Your Way and Doodles Place.
She is a mama first. And a blogger extraordinaire second.
In both arenas I’m in awe of her.
Me and Mandi Harry-stalking at Blissdom.
She is incredibly purposeful in her motherhood. Her Doodles Place blog is a spot to showcase her children and the amazingly incredibly fun stuff she does with them. She also exhibits her real desire for them–to love God and their family. (And you know how much I admire this!) Recently, she and her husband made an even bigger step in the journey of doing the best for their families–her husband quit his job so he could be a stay-at-home-dad and co-homeschool with Mandi.
Now, what is Mandi doing while she’s not co-homeschooling? Why, she’s being a wildly successful blogger, of course!
Mandi makes things happen. My first Blissdom I saw this in real life when Tsh from SimpleMom stood up and said something that turned out to be my biggest tip from the whole weekend…she told us how Mandi had called her and asked Tsh to mentor her. How bold is that?! But it’s a move that has paid off. Mandi’s niche blog, Organizing Your Way is hugely influential and has a great reach. But even without Tsh’s advice, I know Mandi would still be making things happen in the blogosphere. The first time I was blown away by her was when she launched The One Dollar Give. It was really just a month long blog that asked people to donate ONE dollar to a different charity each day. Mandi thought this would be an easy way to make a big difference. Isn’t that great?!
Before our big IRL meetup at Blissdom, Mandi posted on her blog that she wanted to meet me because she thought we’d be BFFs. I left her a comment that said, “Wait a minute! I thought we were BFFs!”
Mandi, I’m inspired by your gentleness, your willingness to give and help on a bloggy and friendship level. Thank you for standing 5 feet from Harry Connick with me AND for sending me HTML code even when I didn’t ask for it. Thank you for your inspiration, your example and your sweet smile! We are BFFs!
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This is the final post in a 5 part series thanking incredible mom bloggers. It is a paid campaign by theMotherhood.com and P&G’s ThankYouMom.com. The best part is that YOU could win some cash to visit your mom by thanking her on the ThankYouMom.com website. It’s a beautiful tribute to moms with a fun prize at the end!
Next Tuesday, June 29th the mom bloggers who have participated in this campaign PLUS a few of the moms who have been thanked will be hosting a chat on theMotherhood.com. Please join us!
by oh amanda on June 23, 2010
My first foray into social media was a messageboard on iVillage. It was for moms who had babies born the exact same month as my Lydia. Those ladies were a lifeline to me the first year of Lydia’s life. Today I still talk to them on facebook, see some of them in real life and think about their kids and our conversations often. One of the mamas from that messageboard is Amber Ferrell. She was one of THE first blogs I started reading. In fact, I think hers and Candace‘s original Laughing Daisies blog were the first blogs I actually ever saw!
Do you remember back in the bloggy day when all blogs were just about, you know, LIFE? Then brands and twitter and paid posts and facebook kinda changed the atmosphere of the blogosphere? Well, Amber’s blog has never changed. It is the most beautiful honest-to-goodness mom blog I’ve ever read. She can write about her kids’ mishaps, her mothering mayhem and still dazzle me every day. I don’t know how she does it.
Amber is an outstanding photographer. Each of her posts are loaded with beautiful (and hilarious) photos of her life. She can write brilliantly about her first house (ugh! I can’t find the link to this post…it’s on her old blog and I still remember it!) or about her day as a mom of 3. She’s hilarious and her kids are stinkin’ cute. And these last 2 years she has been a warrior for her son.
Her son, Nathan has Mitochondrial Disease, Complex I and III. I really can’t give you a good description of what this does to his little body and what it means for his (and their family’s) future. But let me tell you that it doesn’t really matter. Amber makes her way with gladness and joy. She’s honest about her questions and pain. But she’s become an advocate for Mito while still maintaining a normal and joyful home for her three children.
I read Amber’s blog regularly (even though I rarely comment…are you sensing a pattern here?) but am inspired by her ability to be so consistent in her (bloggy) voice. Through the lens of her camera, I feel like I can see the lens through which she sees the world. I am forever grateful to her heart, her friendship and her inspiration to me. (Not to mention, she gives me traffic almost every day!)
(I took these pics off her website without asking her because you just had to see her gorgeousness!)
This post is 3rd in a series of thank-you posts to great mom bloggers (see part 1 & 2). I am overjoyed to be working with P&G and theMotherhood.com. Please visit theMotherhood’s Thank You Mom Circle to see all the awesome mom posts and ThankYouMom.com to enter a contest to visit YOUR mom!
by oh amanda on June 22, 2010
All day I’ve been thinking about which mom blogger I’d like to thank today. I am surrounded by a sea of amazing mom bloggers. There are many that have changed and impacted my blogging life. I’ve done blog events with them, written posts for them and had conversations via email that were as real and heartfelt as any in real life. There are other bloggy moms that have inspired me to go further in areas of my life, to try new crafts, new foods and new disciplines. Then there are the moms that don’t even know me. The ones that I follow because I am in awe of them. There are even some mom bloggers who wouldn’t consider themselves part of the “mom blogging” community that we know. They just blog because they want to get the word out on their cause, their kids and their mission. Today, I’m going to thank one of those moms.
Meet Rachel Coleman.
If you’ve been around my blog for awhile you already know Rachel. She is the founder, owner and star of Signing Time, a DVD series that teaches American Sign Language to hearing children. Signing Time is a staple in our house. I am a big believer in sign language for hearing babies and toddlers!
The first time I ever heard of of sign language for babies, I lived in Florida. My friend Jonathan told a story about a kid signing “need more Daddy”…which is actually a funny story when you know Jon. Anyway, this got me intrigued and as I was looking up baby sign language online I found a website with a little treehouse on it. I didn’t have kids so I didn’t buy the DVDs but I always remembered that website.
Years later when Lydia was born, I found that same website and ordered Baby Signing Time. We loved it and Lydia can sign over 100 words. (Asa? About 20. And they all look like “fork”.) But as I got more into Signing Time, the more I fell in love with Rachel Coleman and the story that started her company. I won’t retell the entire story because I think I’ve done so on my blog about 4 times but basically, her first daughter, Leah is deaf and her second daughter, Lucy has cerebral palsy and spina bifida. These videos were a natural result of their life!
I’ve loved Signing Time so much I became an affiliate*, I follow Rachel on twitter and I read her blog. That is when I have the emotional wherewithall to make it through one of her posts. Rachel is a woman on fire. She is a purposeful mother who blogs honestly about her shortcomings as a mother, her motivations and her children’s ABILITIES.
The photo on the top of her blog is a picture of her pushing her daugher Lucy in a jogging stroller. Lucy is eight years old and unable to walk because of her spina bifida. Why is she in a jogging stroller? Because Rachel runs marathons with her.
In 2008, Rachel wrote a post that I still think about regularly. It’s called Strong Enough To Be Your Mom. Their family was going to Cancun and one of the excursions was not wheel-chair accesible. But they went anyway. And Rachel carried her 50 pound daughter the entire way. Lucy experienced it as if she had no disabilities. A year later Rachel wrote Strong Enough To Be Your Mom Part 2. She tells how she and her husband hired a personal trainer to make them stronger—so they can transfer Lucy from the bathtub to the wheelchair as she gets older, so they can hike through the mountains when she’s 12, so they can always always always say YES to Lucy and her dreams.
This is the kind of mom I want to be. Even with children who don’t have physical limitations, I want to push myself for my children. So I can say YES! ABSOLUTELY! LET’S DO IT! to my children’s dreams.
Thank you, Rachel. Thank you for Signing Time. Thank you for thousands of lives you’ve enhanced by doing more for your own children. I’m forever inspired by you.
Thank you to theMotherhood.com and P&G’s ThankYouMom.com for the opportunity to thank the most amazing moms in the world.
*no affiliate links today, folks!
by oh amanda on February 12, 2010
I find them everywhere: in my closet, in the washing machine, on the kitchen counter, in the toy boxes, in the car, on the floor and most of all in Asa’s hands.
What is it?
Matchbox cards? Nerf balls? Dinosaurs? Nope. None of the above.
Asa loves puff balls. You know, like pom-poms?
We had some out for Lydia’s birthday and he was totally attracted to them. I keep them in a ziploc bag and if he sees that bag he grabs it and grunts and whines till we open it and pour it on the ground so he can play with them.
If he’s being grumpy or needs to be distracted, just pull out some puffballs and he’s good to go.
But the best part is when he says it himself: PuHBaahs!
How did my little boy get so big?!
by oh amanda on December 3, 2009
This is the first picture I ever posted on my blog. I thought I would never post a picture on my blog because I just knew my blog was going to be an outlet for my creative writing. *snort* Anywhooo, I posted this picture because this is when I first met IN REAL LIFE some of my messageboard mamas and their kids.
I joined a messageboard for moms of kids born in January 06 when Lydia was about 3 months old. And I don’t think I would have made it through that first year without those women! They gave me friendship and encouragement and love and advice—right there from my little computer screen! And even though I don’t keep up with them on the board now, they are still facebook friends and huge pieces of my heart!
When I moved back to Atlanta, 3 of these ladies lived close by. So, we met up at one of those bounce-house places (even though the kids couldn’t walk!) and chatted the day away. Wendy, who lives about 10 minutes from my old house and I became instant “IRL” friends, too. We get together anywhere from once a week to once a month. It has been so cool to have a friend that is so similar to me–we share a birthday week, have kids the exact same age and both abhor housework. What more could you ask for?
Anyway, today we went back to that same inflatable-game-palooza place and realized it’s been almost 3 years since that first meet-up! When Lydia and Ryan met they were the same age Asa is now! They were just babies!! And now they’re chasing each other up slides, holding hands and talking and laughing together. We couldn’t let the day go by without posing a picture…
How adorable are they? I have tears in my eyes! Love you, Wendy!
