Monday, April 6, 2009

Why blog?

Some of you fair readers (Hello? Is this thing on? Anyone reading this thing aside from Ben’s grandparents and Liz from the good old days in Evanston—hi Liz!) might wonder why I blog, as most of what I write is very focused on Ben.

The truth of the matter is, I have only one creative gene in my body and that is used purely for my photography. Therefore, trying to make a cute baby book to document all of Ben’s milestones and big adventures would probably turn into a stressful mess. Not interested!

I look back at my baby book, with its impeccably written notes (my mother was a school teacher and has absolutely perfect handwriting), and realize that I don’t have the skill to put together something even half as nice, but documentation is still very important. Hence, The Chicago Riveras blog was, uh, born, if you will.

Someday I plan on printing this thing out and binding it--maybe I’ll do that each year. I sometimes peruse the first few entries and marvel at how big Ben has gotten. I can picture Jonathan and Ben sitting in the living room reading over the entries, laughing at how his hair used to stick straight up (Ben’s, not Jonathan’s!) or how he used to sleep swaddled. Things that seem so important now are just going to be fleeting memories in a few short weeks.

I guess, as with most baby books, I am really only documenting the “good” stuff that Ben does, probably because nobody wants to read about the long, sleepless nights or the trouble with breastfeeding. Or maybe you do, since that’s also very much the reality of raising a child.

So, Ben, this is your life, on screen, as it happens. Through the marvel of modern technology, we can share these great events with our family and friends far and near, who don’t get to see you as often as we’d all like.

*Note to Ben: thanks for sleeping from 8:30-3:30 last night. Mommy was wide awake at 1am, waiting for you, but that’s okay. Keep it up!

1 comment:

Liz Jimenez said...

Hi! :-)

I started mine as an outlet, when I was first pregnant and bursting at the seams with the news, but wasn't ready to tell "real" people. It's sort of baby book, sort of pregnancy documentation, mostly social/emotional outlet and community. I do tend to write more of the good stuff, but I'm trying not to skip the bad stuff. After all, since it's a community-builder for me, part of the point is to be honest about struggles and find things in common with other people.

Wow, that sounds kind of deep for a silly little website...

Mostly, I think I like to rant and give unsolicited advice. :-)