Why am I here?

Dear Andrew & Abby,

Hi, it's your mom. It's the beginning of a new year. A year in which Abby, you will turn three years old (in just over a week - on January 14th - I can hardly believe it!), and Andrew, you will turn eight years old (on February 27th when, as you like to point out, you will be only eight more years away from getting your license - my head pounds just thinking about it). Recently, I've become inspired to begin documenting your lives in writing. Since you are almost 8 and almost 3, you might be wondering what has taken me so long to make such a simple decision. Well, besides the fact that you two can be pretty exhausting and that I did just finish my college degree all of two weeks ago (woo hoo for Mommy - but let that be a lesson to both of you - do NOT wait to finish college until you have jobs, bills, and family responsibilities! It is too hard, and your mommy wants an easier way for you!), I discovered the world of blogs just a few months ago. I'm a bit behind, but I finally feel a little more in tune with the world that lives on the Internet. Initially, I scorned the bloggers - online diary-writers, sharing their journals and diaries with the world. Why? Who wants to read someone else's diary? Well, turns out, lots of people do. And I am one of them (your daddy, not so much - he doesn't know I'm writing this now - he wouldn't understand. I'll tell him later). I'm devoted/addicted to one in particular (Dooce) and have discovered many others I like from links on that site. There are some amazing people out there on the Internet. Amazing writers, fabulous photographers, and people much braver and more resiliant than I think I could ever be. By reading what the writer of Dooce has to say about her life and family and daughter (who is just a few weeks younger than Abby), I feel connected to someone who is sharing some of my struggles. And she makes me laugh, something I love to do. She also writes lovely monthly update newsletters to her little Leta, and all of that, combined with recent evidence of my aging and failing memory, put the idea in my head that I should be documenting the things you both do that make me laugh and cry and even sometimes want to pull my hair out.

So here we are. I hope for several things by starting this project. First, I hope I can stay devoted to this for longer than I was to your baby books! Second, I hope that someday you read these entries and know that you were and are loved very very much and that you will be able to appreciate some of the experiences we shared as you grew up that you may not remember when you're big. If I find that I can keep up with this well enough, it will also be a big help to me so I can send updates to our family to tell them about all the fun they miss since we live here and they live there.

love,
Mommy