My Blogging Badge

I'm a Girl Scout flunkie. I never had the opportunity to don the coveted green and brown uniform complete with scarf, shirt and skirt. I never earned colorful insignia for mastering Yarn and Fabric Arts, First Aid or Toymaking. I always ate Thin Mints and Tagalongs; but I never sold them. I repeatedly watched Troop Beverly Hills and thought about enlisting; but I knew my scout leader couldn't match the rockin' style of Shelley Long.

So besides the countless boxes of cookies and calories I've consumed over the years, there is really no connection in my life to the great Girl Scouts of the USA. That is, until recently.

Before I became a mom, I was a professional writer. I wrote about all kinds of the big world issues as a journalist -- health care, free trade, development, corruption, murder, fraud. Working for a daily newspaper I constantly felt like I was accomplishing something great. My stories were published every day. I would spend my mornings, afternoons and nights researching, interviewing, writing and editing. Then my pieces went to print and I would start again the next day.

But all that came to a halt several years ago when I gave birth to our first and only son, Jack. My internal and obsessive need for journalistic accomplishment could no longer be met. I just really stink at balancing. So after much fretting I knew I needed to take a break and stay home (at least part time) with my new baby boy.

Pre-Jack my sense of accomplishment came from meeting impossible deadlines, winning AP awards and receiving accolades from community leaders. Post-Jack, well, it morphed into something completely different and unexpected and silly, really. If I kept us both alive and kind of fed and kind of clean and kind of happy, I felt foolishly proud. What was happening to me? I'd shower before 5 p.m. or clean the bathroom (a rare feat) or breastfeed and cook a kick-ass dinner at the same time, and I felt like I deserved a special medal or something.

This summer, after the birth of our third child, Eleanor, (we now have three kids ages 3 and younger) I began to realize even more how unbelievable my daily accomplishments truly are.

Let's be serious, if Brownies and Girl Scouts earn badges for Dancercize and Puppetry, I certainly am due something (a pin, a letter, candy, anything will do) for my mad mothering skills. And so is every mama I know.

Introducing the creation of the Mom Badge.

My girlfriends and I now reward ourselves with mom badges all the time. Sometimes I earn a dozen or more in one day. Only one timeout at breakfast and there's minimal food on the floor -- Mom Badge. Found an awesome recipe in Cook's Illustrated and all the ingredients were on sale -- Mom Badge. Eleanor's crying and Jack just hit Evelyn, but I've kept my composure and haven't hit anyone yet -- Mom Badge. Oops, I left Eleanor sitting in her car seat in the driveway because I forgot I have three kids -- Mom Badge (only this one is a little bit smaller and not as colorful as some of the others).

I am a highly-decorated mother and I've decided to use this blog (which I swore I would never do!!!) not only as a creative outlet but as a record of my Mom Badge-earning moments. I'm excited.