Happy BLirth-day!

Ellen– Get it?

[Blog]+[Birthday]=[bLirth-day].  Our blog went live and in the spirit of Sisterhood, we are sharing our bLirth story with you.

Erin I still think we can call it a bLaunch…

Ellen- Ummmmm, no. Just no. Sounds like the noise the cat makes when she coughs up a hairball.  And, I am really feeling the pregnancy metaphor.  We had only been gestating this baby for 2 ½ months, but you all know that feels twice as long in pregnancy time.  This blog was draggggggging out through the holidays—HALLOWEENTHANKSGIVINGCHRISTMASNEWYEARS.   I was tired of the whole thing.   I was begging for some relief. The only thing missing was swollen ankles.

Erin- So we did what any sensible mom would do.  We kicked the blog under the bed with the dust bunnies and walked away. FOR A MONTH. I once tried to mention the blog to Ellen, and she almost stroked out begging me not to discuss it.

Ellen– But then we got our Christmas miracle.  Steve surprised Erin with a MacBook Air.

Erin- Forget that he broke our “Hey, it’s a frugal Christmas” agreement.  Forget that I felt huge guilt when he was opening his dixie cups and chapstick (For real. We were supposed to be frugal, People, and, that’s right, I wrapped them, too. What of it?).  I was already posting on Facebook from my shiny, new Mac.

This sweet man in one grand gesture gave me the biggest, best vote of confidence in our blog. With one click, I dragged our blog out from underneath the metaphorical bed and blew off the dust. I loaded our site with everything we had written and then some.

Ellen- We are giving Steve props for getting us back on track. We were going to make everything perfect. We were going to finally birth this baby.  So we did what every sensible mom does, we made a plan.  We even made a date, for scheduling a date, to create our Facebook page and Twitter account.  Then with the good fortune that has constantly shone on this project, Elizabeth, our graphic designer, emailed us our banner.  Oooo, we could take a step forward!  Then came the email from our Tech Angel, Colleen: “Ok, I just added your header – let me know if you think you’re ready to go.”

Ready to go!?! I’m not ready to be a blogger!  What do I know about blogging? I made all kinds of excuses to Colleen about why we were not ready: no social media buttons, no contact form, blah, blah, blah.

As with all good “birthing” plans, ours was not worth the computer file space it was residing in.  I woke up the next morning, logged onto the site, and right before my very eyes, I could see Colleen adding the social media buttons.  Colleen was addressing every excuse, um, I mean barrier, that was preventing us from taking this blog live.  The Sisterhood’s water had broken, and things were starting to move.

I was not entering this bLirth-ing room alone!  I picked up my phone to call Erin and… nothing. Direct to Voicemail.  No response to text.  No response to email.

ErinTo quote one text from Ellen: “I am dying of excitement.  Colleen is pimping out our site so we can go live!  AHHHHHH! Please call me when you get a chance :P. I will respectfully continue to blow up your phone with every new development. ”

Ellen is using an emoticon.  She means business, but she doesn’t want to yell at me.  Yet.  Good grief.

Ellen –  Soooo, no response still.  Whatever.  This thing was happening.  Over the next 6 hours I proceeded to add some “final touches” to the site.  This blog was not ready for prime time.  I was laboring in the bLirth-ing room alone, people!  A-lone!  I felt abandoned like an iPad on the day they launch version “so-much-better-than-the-one-you-just-maxed-your-credit-card-out-on-three-weeks-ago.”

Erin- You are such a PC. Don’t be a hater.

Meanwhile, I was exactly where I told her I would be— teaching Advanced Math to middle schoolers.  After 13 years at home, I was dipping my toe back into a classroom as a substitute.  No horror stories to tell, but I couldn’t have been more difficult to reach if I were on the moon or at the bottom of a well.  When class ended, I checked my phone.  Ellen was summoning me, in ABUNDANCE,  back to the blog.

Ellen- FINALLY, my phone rang.  Erin was like, “Hey, I got your four emails and ten texts during math class.  Deleted your Voicemail.  I guess we’re starting today.”  Someone needed to go to some bLirth-ing classes, because this was clearly not the enthusiastic, supportive response required.

Erin- Oh, I wanted to revel in our moment.  I did. But jumping back into the classroom was the easy part of my day.  When I got home, an afternoon was brewing unlike any I have had since the days of endless sippy cups and potty-training.  

Cue a rising jungle beat crescendo. Serious stuff was going down at home. And Ellen needed my input. A LOT.

On this of all days, my kids decided to revert to their alter-egos Whiny, Clingy, Punchy, Needy, and Snotty. 

Charlie was in a panic, because his report wouldn’t print. He was on the verge of a breakdown.  Apparently, he had lost all memory of how to choose printers from the menu bar. Click. Crisis averted.

RRRIIIINNNGGGG (or really, new/age zen crap stanza)

Ellen- What do you want our Twitter user name to be?

Erin- Simultaneously, Biddie lost it.  Middle School is a vicious creature and was having its way with her. I needed to talk her out of her tree.  Hug.  Crisis averted.

RRRIIIINNNGGGG

Ellen- You have to “Like” our Facebook page for me to easily make you an Admin.

Erin- Charlie, now buoyant from his printer triumph, was wrestling with Deacon and Eddie all over the house.  At one point, they were perched together on the back of a chair like spider monkeys wrapped in headlocks.  Mommy yell.  Boys sent to their corners. Crisis averted.

Ellen- Yeah, I heard that one go down over the phone.  She might be sugar-coating it a bit.

Erin- Then Ace joined the fun. He couldn’t find his soccer referee card that he needed to be recertified.  Not in his room, his ref bag, his wallet, the wash. He was hyperventilating into a bag. Found the website and got his ID # electronically. Crisis averted.

RRRIIINNNGGGG

Ellen- Do you care if we have a gravatar before we launch?

Erin- And then my parents pick THIS moment to call, AND they want to talk about booking our summer vacation,   AND they are not tech-savvy, AND they want my help.  Oy.  I might cry or kill someone.

Ellen- Erin is the best. In the middle of all that was going down in her home, she took every phone call to answer every question.  I did giggle directly in her ear that SHE is her parents’ tech guru.

Erin- This was not an ideal environment to be having a moment, even a great one like the birth of our blog, with Ellen.  But that’s the way life rolls. It’s coming whether you are ready or not.

Ellen-  So, in the midst of Erin’s maelstrom, on January 11, 2012 at 5:47pm, I got the text from Colleen that we were live.  We were the proud creators of a bouncing, brand-new blog!  As I gleefully watched the visit counter spiral upward, I was so grateful that Colleen “bLaunched” us from our nest.  We needed the push.

Erin- Aww, look at you, using “bLaunch.”  And I was grateful too. The Sisterhood Secret: By all means, plan, but (and we are totally stealing this from Nike), in the end,  JUST DO IT.  Time to get blogging!! Happy BLirth-day!

 

 

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4 thoughts on “Happy BLirth-day!

  1. Colleen

    I am laughing SO hard at this post!! I had no idea all of this was going on… Who am I to be the one to stand in the way of your BLirth, or BLaunch, I was trying to get things done as fast as I could because I knew you were excited and that this had been in the works for months. You two are so talented, I can’t wait to watch great things happen with your BLaby!

    Reply
    1. The Sisterhood Post author

      Colleen, you really have no idea how much we appreciate all you did to help us get started. Thanks again soooooooo much. Big love from your Sisters!!

      Reply
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