to blog or not to blog...

A recent column written by John Barry at Salon.com entitled "My Baby Is Too Boring to Blog About" seems to have stirred the waters of the parent-blogosphere (there's an irony there, I'm sure of it). I can't decide which he's more annoyed with: those who write blogs about their babies, or their babies (who, by the way, have very little or no involvement in the writing of their blogs). I get his likely frustration with the massive proliferation of 'mommy-blogging' online, which has now generated a whole marketing campaign geared towards these mommy-bloggers and their followers/readers -- which in turn, has directly and indirectly caused many such bloggers to focus more on the profit-potential for their blogs than on the actual writing of the blogs (ie. how many pop-up ads, widgets, and product listings can you include). You might be amazed to know that, according to research at MediaPost.com, there are an estimated 23 million to 26 million moms in the blogosphere ... Egads! And TheBump.com now has the Mommy Blog Awards, for crying out loud. And that's not even including all the dads (maybe not quite as many, but certainly a number that is growing). So there may be some room for snarky opinion columns about baby blogging.

But, setting all of that aside, I think Mr. Barry has it all wrong -- and I'm not alone (check out recent short post from good 'ole DadWagon). Writing a baby blog or online baby journal has been such a great experience for us, and can force a person to be reflective, thoughtful, and humorous in regards to the little one that has so profoundly changed your life. I would think that a father (and a writer, nonetheless) would get that. I mean, if he can find something interesting enough in the shipping industry to write about, shouldn't he be able to write about the daily trials and tribulations of raising his 9-month-old son (which I think is different for everyone -- it's not just rolling, crawling, teething, and walking, yada, yada, yada). Not that every post on our blog is interesting, exciting, or fun to read (far from it), but the process of thinking about these life moments, capturing them in pictures and words, and then sharing them with friends, family, and others who might be able to learn or laugh from our experiences ... that makes it all worth it to me.

Perhaps when Holden gets older, we'll simply create a digital and/or hardcopy archive of this blog, and then decommission it (we certainly wouldn't want photos of him in a diaper to jeopardize his chances of becoming a Supreme Court justice). But for now, we'll remain staunch supporters of baby blogging and the not-so-boring (?) adventures of our little Short Stranger.