Last fall I received an intriguing invitation sent to my blog e-mail addressed to Blonde Mom. Never mind that I was well overdue for highlights and that they didn’t know my real name, I was nonetheless honored to be asked to provide feedback for DivineCaroline, a fabulous new women’s website launched today by Real Girls Media.

It was exciting to have a small part in helping shape the development of this new destination on the web. I’m old enough to recall a time when the Internet was just a pie in the sky sounding futuristic pipe dream that conjured up images of big whirring computers and nerds with pocket protectors. Now I’m a blogging mama who relies on the Internet for news and information on everything from booster seat safety to diagnosing my toddler’s rash. The most welcome surprise, however, has been how technology has helped create an online social network, especially for moms.

Fellow Nashvillian Lindsay Ferrier, who blogs at the wickedly funny Suburban Turmoil, is also an advisor, as are a whole team of incredibly talented women writers, entrepreneurs, academicians, and philanthropists. I’ll be publishing some of my writing on the Divine Caroline site and they are inviting women like you, you, and you to register, write, and publish your unique stories. This is a great opportunity for you to have an online forum to share a story or a review. Real voices count. Let yours be heard.

So what are you waiting for? Go check out the new online community at Divine Caroline. You’ll be glad you did.

Pssst: I wrote this piece for Divine Caroline where I admit to being a former mommy snob who once thumbed her nose at full-time daycare and holiday cardigans. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

I wrote something down on my calendar last week that made me aware of how fast Caitlin is growing up and it scared me a little.

Kindergarten registration.

It’s coming soon.

In April.

KINDERGARTEN.

How can this be? How can my sweet little chunky baby girl, with no hair to speak of at her first birthday save a few blonde wisps that defied all manner of girlish barrettes and bows, the baby with the delicious fat rolls and the penchant for the paci and the strawberry birthmark on her ample belly that has all but faded…how can she be ready to start kindergarten? Real school? Real school with a cafeteria and big yellow school buses and chalkboards and recess? (And bullies, and mean girls, and peer pressure, and cafeteria food…mama panic ensues!)

Thankfully we are zoned for a great public elementary school. And Caitlin seems genuinely excited about going to “big school.” Two of her friends are already attending kindergarten and her weekly fall soccer practice was held on the school grounds, so she’s familiar with the school. And I like to think that because she has been going to daycare since she was infant, the transition won’t be as tough. I think…I really have no idea. I hope I won’t be the psycho mom peeking in the window after drop off. I hope I won’t be the crushed mom whose annoyed child looks at her and says, dismissingly, “Mommy I am OKAY!” I hope I won’t be the sad mom who spends the first day of school gazing at her child’s pictures, sniffling and mourning the loss of her “baby.” (Note to self: Wear WATERPROOF mascara that day.)

I’m also trying to determine what we’ll do in the afternoons because “big school” is out at 3, and I don’t officially leave the office until 5. I really want to be able to pick her up at least two days a week, possibly three as I’m already off on Fridays. Between the hubby and grandparents,we should be able to work it out so that she does not have to attend an after school program. And my trusty manny (my dad) has an antique Lincoln Continental and I’ll be willing to bet at some point Caitlin will get picked up from kindergarten in style and then she’ll never want mama picking her up in her old boring SUV again. I’ve heard the local afternoon YMCA program is great, but I’d really like to pick her up and help her out with her homework in the afternoons. Yes, you can quote me on that this fall when I’m complaining about it.

Here’s an interesting article I found about a study on after school programs. If you are a working parent whose child is about to start kindergarten or who is already in school, what do you do or what do you plan to do as far as after school care? I’ll definitely check into the YMCA’s summer program.

It’s going to be a big change for all of us. Ready or not kindergarten, here we come.

Edited to add: Yes, the week is here. I submitted this post to today’s Carnival of Family Life at Lil Duck Duck. If you’re here from the carnival, enjoy! Click over on my “best of” posts on my sidebar to get to know me a bit better.

This weekend I watched well-known blogger Melissa Summers who writes at Suburban Bliss interviewed by Meredith Vieira on the Today Show about the “growing trend” for stay-at-home moms to turn playdates into mini happy hours. Vieira also interviewed a woman physician and the taped segment featured comedian and author of “Sippy Cups are Not for Chardonnay” Stefanie Wilder-Taylor (love the name of that book) with a couple of her mom friends at a backyard playdate where they sipped on wine.

Now is it really a growing trend? Or is this just a “portray moms as desperate housewives” non-issue designed to boost ratings and drive traffic to NBC’s iVillage site? A New York Times story last fall featured moms who live in an affluent suburb of Philadelphia, which is not a snapshot of typical backyard America. One woman interviewed for the Times piece confessed that she basically passed out after a playdate happy hour. She obviously has a problem. And I don’t want to sound like a Kenny Chesney song, but back where I come from it was a huge deal to finally get liquor stores “in town.”

It’s tempting to criticize others for their parenting choices. Sometimes I drink a glass of wine or a beer in front of my girls. Does that make me a bad mother?

Open our refrigerator and you will probably see a bottle of white wine or a six pack of beer next to the apple juice and whole milk. My 4-year-old goes to “the bottle store” (liquor store) with her daddy. Just last weekend we went to our local pizza parlor and we each sipped on a beer. Afterwards my husband drove the less than one mile home. Neither of us overindulge on alcohol at this point in our lives. Now if you’re driving a car after drinking or in some way jeopardizing your childrens’ safety while under the influence of alcohol, that’s irresponsible. But drinking responsibly in front of one’s children is a chance to demonstrate that moderation and self control are essential to being an adult.

I grew up in a very conservative small Southern community. And today, although I live in the ‘burbs, it’s still a pretty conservative area. I don’t drink at “playdates” and honestly I’ve never really thought about it. I guess I’m really uncool because I don’t even use the word playdates. I usually call up a friend and say, “hey would you like to get together with the kids tomorrow?” For me, it’s more of a treat for my husband to watch the girls while I occasionally meet a friend out for a margarita or go out with a group of friends from work for dinner and a movie.

As you can guess, I am definitely not a tee totaler but the notion that drinking sorts the “fun” moms from the non-fun moms vibe I get bugs me a little. What are we, a big mommy sorority? My daughter plays with my neighbor’s little girl all the time and we don’t drink alcohol while they play. Does that make us both sticks in the mud?

I am doubtful that this is really a “trend” other than in a few metropolitan, more affluent areas. But it generates a “buzz,” no pun intended. As someone who works in publishing, I’ll be the first to admit that the possibilities for teasers on stories about cocktail playdates are a headline writers’ paradise. Booze and binkis! Sangrias in the sandbox! Oh, the list could go on. Don’t get me started.

Mothers are an influential demographic, shaping everything from morning news show programming to advertising campaigns. This article notes that moms control more than 80 percent of household spending. This would be the perfect chance for a winery to bottle a “Mommy’s Timeout” line. Hey, I’d buy it.

All kidding aside, when next year’s presidential candidates discuss the issues that are of utmost concern to the average parent, moms occasionally drinking a glass of wine in front of their kids will not be part of their talking points.

In the mean time, I’m going to focus on some of the disturbing growing trends at our house…”Children Who Refuse to Eat Vegetables!” and “Using Nick Jr. as a Babysitter!”

Updated to add: Click here to check out Stefanie Wilder-Taylor’s book on Amazon. And click here to visit Melissa Summers’ blog, Suburban Bliss (home of the momtini!)

And here’s photographic evidence that I like my wine.

Shortly after the new year I was sent a box of Aveeno Baby products to review. I promptly snagged the Aveeno Baby Soothing Relief Moisture cream, because suddenly my girls had more moisturizing products than mama and that’s just not right. The moisture cream has a permanent home in my nightstand drawer. It is fragrance free and is wonderful for the winter dry skin scalies. Come on, you know you get lizard feet in the winter.

The lavender and vanilla “calming comfort” scented wash and lotion are good for those nighttime baths when you want your kids to chill out. Although if your kids are like mine, bathtime is splash like mermaids gone buck wild time no matter what kind of aromatherapy mumbo jumbo you toss in the tub.

The Aveeno Diaper Rash Cream is especially nice. It’s also fragrance free and hypoallergenic and is a light creamy consistency that wipes off your hands easily. I hate the really hard core goopy diaper ointments that are nearly impossible to scrub off unless we are battling some serious alien like diaper rash from hell.

Good stuff.

Hypoallergenic.

A “baby” body cream you can use for yourself.

Smooth butts.

What more could you ask for? (Read on …)

So, I have a question for you moms who work outside the home (or work from home).

Do you ever have one of those days when you decide it would be fun to call in sick and keep your kids home for the day because one of them is a tad under the weather and then you are elated that your husband brings home McDonald’s for an early lunch because by 11 a.m. both kids have had a meltdown, you’ve somehow managed to freakishly cut the side of your bare foot on your 80-pound dog’s toenail, causing you to shout the worst of expletives in front of your children, and then after lunch, despite being 39 degrees out, you bundle your kids up so they can play outside and get their ya ya’s out and then your toddler plays a game of stop, drop and roll in dog shit before you realize what she’s doing?

And then by 5 o’clock you hate to admit it to yourself but you’re kind of looking forward to taking them to daycare the next day?

Yeah, me neither.

(Read on …)

Kelli at KelliBelly tagged me for this A to Z meme. It made me realize I’ve never written one of those “100 Things About Me” posts and I’ve been blogging for over a year. Hmmmm. I’ll get right on that. Some day.

A- Available or married? Married 10 years ago this spring. We’ve known each other for 20 years. Obviously we met when we were 5. Cough.
B- Best Friend? Besides my husband, and yes he really is my best friend, my longtime friend Amy. We met in 4th grade. I believe that was the year the Grease soundtrack was all the rage and I had a collection of scratch ‘n sniff stickers on my notebook.
C - Cake or Pie? Cake, preferably chocolate, although I love key lime pie, preferably while in Key West.
D- Drink of Choice? A margarita if I am indulging. If not, water with lemon or Coca Cola straight up.
E- Essential Item? My car. Have you ever been without your car for a few days? Eeek.
F- Favorite Color? Sage green.
G- Gummi Bears or Worms? Da bears. I don’t like worms in any variety.
H- Hometown? Somewhere in Tennessee where monster trucks, chewing tobacco, and barbecue rule. Suddenly I feel like I am channeling Garrison Keillor.
I- Indulgence? Massages and shopping recreationally with no vanilla wafers, juice boxes, or butt ointment on my shopping list. I know. I was only supposed to list one indulgence, but I thought I’d throw in a bonus item.
J- January or February? February. Valentine’s Day is much fun with two little girls and I can start the count down to spring.
K- Kids & names? Caitlin Marguerite and Amelia Grace.
L- Life is incomplete without? My family.
M- Marriage Date? May 3
N- Number of Siblings? Four!
O- Oranges or apples? Apples
P- Phobias/Fears? Heights.
Q- Favorite Quote? “Mommy, you are the bestest mommy.”
R- Reason to Smile? Walking in the den the other night and seeing Caitlin standing and holding baby sister in an affectionate embrace “just because.”
S- Season? Spring.
T- Tag three people! Liza, Nicole, and Charla.
U- Unknown fact about me: I dislocated my knee in 1989 and had to wear a leg brace to keep my knee from bending for about 6 weeks. In July. The brown Chevy Citation I was driving at the time, most fabulous for the single college girl, had no air conditioning. I repeat…July and no air conditioning and sweaty leg brace. I had a 45-minute interstate commute to my college internship at a community newspaper. I hobbled around like Mrs. Frankenstein for 6 weeks.
V- Vegetable you hate? Cauliflower.
W- Worst habit? Lack of patience with my kids.
Y- Your favorite food? It’s a toss up between Mexican and Italian.
Z- Zodiac? Leo. Rowwrrrr.

One of my favorite bloggers and someone I consider a friend, although I have never met her in person, is hanging up her blogging hat.

One of the first blogs I discovered in the summer of 2005 and immediately identified with was R*Belle’s blog, Musings of a Former Jr. League Dropout (now called Southern and Sublime). I was drawn to the humorous title of the blog and the fun juxtaposition of the beauty queen holding a can of cheap beer that greeted you when you clicked on her blog. I knew the woman behind such a fun blog had to have a great sense of humor. Like me, she is a mom to two little ones and works outside the home. I could relate to so many of the things she wrote with such wit and sass that I really felt like I was sitting at a table with a girlfriend and talking over a glass of sweet tea or a margarita. In fact, one of the first times she commented on my blog she mentioned that, should our paths ever cross, we should meet up for margaritas.

R*Belle, your blog will be missed! And I still hope to join you for that margarita.