Yesterday when I dropped Allie off at school, her teacher told me that Allie said she wasn’t getting enough sleep. Apparently, this was the exchange…

Teacher: How do you know you’re not getting enough sleep, Allie?

Allie:  My hands are still tired!

Teacher: Ohhhhhh, well you do have really busy hands!

Allie: Yeah… they need lots of sleep to do all the art we do.

I have FOUR girls, ages 6, 6, 4, 4, running around my house and, if my motherhood sensors are accurate, dangerously close to the dog poop in the backyard, but I simply must take a moment for ME and write about what’s happening with MA!

Starting early last month, we jumped on a wave and we have been hangin’ ten ever since!

First, MileHighMamas (http://www.milehighmamas.com/2008/02/06/motherhood-with-attitudes-hilarious-boxset-giveaway/) highlighted us and we got a lot of local attention.

One week later, the extraordinary e-newsletter CoolMomPicks (http://www.coolmompicks.com/2008/02/because_greeting_cards_are_not.php) picked us as a favorite!  That really set things moving!  We got a bunch of orders and a bunch of retailers called us!  THEN we discovered that the very same week, Real Simple magazine highlighted CoolMomPicks as their blog of the month, so we picked up a bunch of hits from their fortune!

THEN, we actually had a real-live photo shoot for a story run in the Colorado Springs Gazette! (http://daily.gazette.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VGhlR2F6ZXR0ZS8yMDA4LzAyLzI2I0FyMDIzMDA=&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom) That was a total hoot because the picture was gy-nor-mous and the story was right-on.

OK, perhaps best of all — the Associated Press picked up the Gazette story and it’s been running all over the country!  No lie!  My friend in Rochester started yelling “LOOK AT YOU! LOOK AT YOU!” when I called her and told her to check her paper!

OK, then yesterday, something happened that had us screaming like giddy school girls: PARENTING MAGAZINE (http://www.parenting.com/)  called us!  They took some details about when we launched, how much our stuff is, etc.  It was all via phone tag, so I have no clue what they’re doing or when they’re doing it.

Just to prove that motherhood still yanks us back to reality, at about the same moment we discovered that PARENTING called, my older daughter hauled off and BIT her little sister. This was a first and I was shocked, furious, and frustrated. I didn’t know how to punish her, was contemplating all the possibilities, when I got the message from PARENTING. I had to call Tiffany in the midst of it all and leave her a cryptic message because my girls were sitting with me and I wanted to keep the mood somber. I said, “I can’t sound like I’m doing back hand-springs right now but I am because Parenting magazine called. I’m in the middle of an ugly parenting moment and can’t share my real mood but, sister, we’re gonna be in Parenting!” (that last part came out as a squeek.)

Best of all, Tiffany and I keep saying, “This is fun!”

Hang Ten!

(Dang, one kid just came in and said I need to clean up the dog bombs…)

Last night, Dave, Allie and I sat on the couch while Delaney read from her assigned ‘chapter book.’  I couldn’t take my eyes off Delaney.  Reading!  Now, as a writer, I’m sure that I hold this experience more sacred than some, but there truly is something magical about the world she’s cracking wide open right now.  We’ll be driving and instead of hearing about airplanes, dogs, clouds, cars and every other object she sees, I can hear her sounding out words. “Stop.” “No Parking.” “Zoo.” “Home Dee-Pot.” (“Dee-po,” I say, not sure how to explain silent Ts to a kid just beginning to learn silent Es.)

But… now she can read the graffiti.  And now she can read headlines. Now, the world seems more sinister to me, in many ways.  She can read the word “killed” in the newspaper and ask, “What happened to the woman in the picture? Is she dead?” Her innocence keeps being chipped away.

And yet, I know it’s part of growing up and I’m so danged proud of her! I’m excited to read Harry Potter with her in another year or so. I like that the questions I’m asked are no longer complete stumpers like, “How high is blue?”  Now, we can discuss sentences that she reads!

I’m so proud of her!