Six years ago, I became a mom.

Well first, I was 50-60 pounds heavier (maybe 70 but I stopped counting) and was carrying a beautiful baby inside my belly, waddling around with cankles when finally!  The contractions started.

This time, six years ago, I was in labour. With too much epidural so I couldn’t even feel my upper body, leading to the contractions that were slowly starting to get further apart, rather than closer.

I won’t get into the whole labour story because you’ve heard them all I’m sure. Plus I’ll wait to publish the juicy details another time.

But I will say this: 24 hours, group B strep, epidural, oxytocin, episiotomy, vacuum,  an emergency c-section scare and a few stitches later, my son was born. 

Ten little fingers, ten little toes, healthy and simply breathtaking.

The most amazing moment of my entire life.

Early on, he earned the title “The Boss” and hasn’t stopped monkeying around, as you will see in the video.  Wouldn’t have it any other way!

Happy Birthday Baby!

by Maria Lianos

On Thursday night, I (amotherworld) hosted a #NotGoingToBlogHer party on Twitter for those of us who could not attend BlogHer 2010 in New York City.  The response was overwhelming!  So overwhelming in fact that we trended in Canada!  

The questions received so many responses!  The most replies to the question was 75,  which didn’t include all the comments and RTs!  Originally planned to last an hour between 9pm and 10pm, the party went on for 2 hours!

The mutual vote was… “What happens at #NotGoingToBlogHer STAYS at #NotGoingToBlogHer!!!”

Many interesting (and I mean, shocking!) responses… it was truly AMAZING to see so many women come together and let loose!

Thanks to TweetChat, I was able to sort of keep up but not enough to give prizes that night.  Winners were announced throughout the day on Friday, August 6th.  Bonus prize winners were announced on Saturday, August 8th.

Here are the questions and winners for the various prizes: 

Q1:  What is something people don’t know about you? 

Prize:  Digital CDs or apps for kids courtesy of @Kiboomu  Kiboomu.com 

Kiboomu

Winners:  @miacupcake  @ElaineOrrMorgan  and @SomewhatCrunchy 

Q2: Which 3 celebrities would you most like to have sex with? 

Prize:  “Libations of Life: a girl’s guide to life one cocktail at a time” written by Dee Brun aka @CocktailDeeva 

CocktailDeeva

Winner:  @moeturner 

Q3:  What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done? 

Prize: Mabel’s Labels offered an Ultimate Back-to-School Combo! 

Mabel's Labels

Winner:  @amy_boughner 

Q4: What is the worst piece of advice you have ever received? 

Prize: $50 credit to use on www.clippo.ca thanks to @Clippopotamus 

Clippopotamus

Winner:  @nugglemama 

Q5:   One thing you would change about yourself? 

Prize:  A pair of dichroic glass earrings with sterling silver posts courtesy of @AnnBac9  and Teenzillas 

c/o Teenzillas

Winner:  @smilenwaven 

Q6:  One thing you love about yourself? 

Prize:  A package of 30 4″x6″ Photo Cards (perfect for the holidays) and a set of 140 return address labels courtesy of Grace Announcements @graceannounce  

Grace Announcements

Winner:  @ottawamom 

BONUS PRIZES 

Prize 1: Starbucks gift  – Winner: @kellidaisy  

Prize 2: Avon products – Winner: @pattysullivan 

Prize 3: Copy of Kathy Buckworth’s “Shut Up and Eat: a Tale of Chicken, Children and Chardonnay” 

Winner: @InfoSara 

THANK YOU for participating in my first Twitter party! and

THANK YOU to Grace Announcements, Mabel’s Labels, Clippopotamus, Dee Brun, Kiboomu, Kathy Buckworth and Teenzillas for the fabulous prizes! 

by Maria Lianos

When Project Mom, a reality TV concept about online moms, was announced, I thought:  ”OMG this sounds like sooooooooo fun!!!” 

The choice was simple; either write a 500-word post or a submit a 1-minute video. 

Lately I’ve been using my video camera quite a bit so a Vlog was the natural choice. Here is my entry!

Centreville, Centre Island  Early 1980s

2010

Here is my first vlog post!  Of course, with all the talk about the upcoming 2010 BlogHer in New York City, I had to respond… and I didn’t feel like writing it. So instead of putting fingers to the keyboard, I busted out my video camera and voila!  Go easy on me :/

Greece, circa 1976