To blog or not to blog...that IS the question

Well, here it is--my very first blog post. Several of my friends have been blogging for quite some time now, and I have never felt even the slightest inclination to follow suit until very recently. I have never been one to keep a diary or journal or do any kind of writing for myself. I'm a talker. I'd rather talk about everything with other people than write it down for myself, so naturally blogging did not hold a major draw for me. Plus, I never learned to type. I get teased about being the fastest two-fingered typist ever seen. So what am I doing here? Good question. Why do people blog, anyway? To whom am I supposed to be writing?

Well, I think that, for me, this blog will serve essentially in lieu of a baby book for my girls (Jelly Bean & Sweet Pea, I believe I will call them here). I've been thinking lately about how much more lax I've been about filling out the Pea's baby book as compared to the Bean's, and Jelly Bean's certainly isn't what anyone would call a comprehensive record of her babyhood. My husband and I have been talking about writing down all of these cute or surprising or even horrifying things that the kids do, but neither of us ever does it. And so they fade away into our ever more poorly-functioning memories until we are left with just a vague impression of what life was like when the girls were little. I know that I can (and do) lead a happy productive life without knowing how I pronounced the word "cookie" when I was a toddler, but I sometimes wish that I could read more about those days. I have the usual baby book, conscientiously filled in by my now long-deceased mother, describing the dates of major milestones, mostly relating to bodily functions--eating, peeing, cutting teeth, etc.--but it doesn't have much to say about those ups and downs and funny moments and quirky behaviors that really capture the character of a little girl growing up.

So I hope to record enough here that the girls can someday sketch out a decent picture of what life was like in the days before they can clearly remember it, or to let them in on a different perspective of those years when they are ready to see it. Right now Jelly Bean has tearfully retreated to her room for quiet time even though she is NOT TIRED, and she NEVER gets to do what she wants, and nap time is TOO LONG. (Darling Bean, I hope that you read this very paragraph someday while your own children are napping, and you realise that 2 hours is but a blink of an eye when you are on the mommy side of nap time!) I suppose that I also hope to put enough of myself into these pages that the girls can look back and see who I was and how I've grown up with them too.

Note: As a toddler, Jelly Bean said "coogie" in an unnaturally low voice. It was hilarious and adorable and I don't think I ever got a proper audio recording of it.