Face-Lifts, Boots, and a Life Lesson

Hi all!  Welcome to the new blog!  Ok, ok, so it's the same old blog.  But I thought it was time for a face lift.  I stumbled upon another mom using plain old Blogger (instead of one of the more fancy sites for actual serious bloggers) and thought it was super pretty!  So I clicked on the link at the top and found myself at Shabby Blogs!  What a cute site!  The best part is, all of their backgrounds, headers, and other stuff that I don't even know what to do with is FREE!  I was amazed.  It took quite a bit of playing around (and googling for help) to get it just right, but I think I've worked out the kinks and I'm super happy with the result.  It's nice to have a blog that more accurately depicts my favorite things :-)  OH!  And did you notice the name change?!  Story time... 

So when I first set out to start the blog, it was as a way of keeping everyone up to date on things happening with our family.  Specifically, my pregnancy.  So I thought it would be cute to have a name like "Birth of a Mom" or "Becoming a Mom" or something like that.  Guess what?  Those were all taken.  So, due to a lack of other options, I decided on the less-cute-but-still-alliterated Heather's Household Happenings.  I never really liked it all that much, but it worked and it wasn't taken.  I guess all the other Heather's out there in blog-land didn't like it either!  So then I got a tablet (the closest thing to a smart phone I can have right now!) and thought it would be cool to be on Twitter.  And then I was stuck on another name.  I did what all modern folks would do when faced with such a tough decision - I asked my facbook friends for their suggestions.  And a good friend suggested MamaMcDee.  And I loved it!  And it wasn't even taken!  So I snatched that baby right up before the next McMama could.  

When I finally decided to give my lovely little bloggy a face lift, I thought I'd see about changing the name, too.  Lo and behold, MamaMcDee: NOT TAKEN!  And so my little blog space is now known as Mama McDee.  Which is great.  But everyone knows that a good blog has got to have a good tag line!  Luckily for me, this is only a small, mediocre blog so a short, mediocre tag line would suffice.  So I thought long and hard for a bit and came up with something I actually really like: Becoming Mom, Becoming Me.  Because that's generally what I write about.  This is my journey to becoming a mom - because let's face it, that journey's pretty much never over - and realizing the ever changing concept of 'me.'  Story time...

The Hubs said something to me a little while ago that made me mad think.  I've decided that I am really super in love with boots.  Like the suede kind with the toggles on the side and a little bit of fuzzy sticking out the top.  

Not Uggs.  But I guess to a man, they are close enough to be considered the same thing.  I got a pair in black last spring and then splurged for a pair in grey and brown when Kohls had them on sale for Black Friday.  And I'm so excited that now I have a pair of boots for every outfit.  I really do love them.  Anyway, when I brought them home, Hubs looked at me and said, "I thought you hated uggs.  We had actual conversations in college about how people on campus would walk around in uggs and you thought it was so stupid and you swore you would never be caught dead in a pair."  I tried to explain that these are not uggs.  First of all, they were about a quarter of the price, plus they are in colors that actually match my outfit, plus I don't walk around with just a shirt and leggings and uggs and then complain about being cold because my boots should be keeping me so warm, plus I don't use them as snow boots and then complain when the super-expensive suede is ruined by the wet snow.  Clearly they are not the same thing.  And he replied with, "Yes, they're pretty much the same thing.  That you swore you'd never wear.  You're just not the same girl that I married."  Now, he said it with a smile and a laugh that let me know he wasn't upset or disappointed in me or considering leaving me because I bought three pairs of boots (like I said, it was a really good sale).  But that still kind of haunted me for a while.  Two days later, I finally came up with the perfect come-back.  (Isn't that always how it goes?)  And so I sat him down and I said, "Hey, remember the other day when you gave me a lecture about how now I wear boots and I used to hate uggs (which I still would NOT wear and these are NOT the same thing) and then you said that I'm not the same girl you married?  Remember that?  Yeah, well, you're right.  I'm not the same girl you married.  Now I'm a mom and I drive a mini-van and I wear scarves and my favorite color is purple and I like to wear boots.  Deal with it."  And he laughed and said, "They're still the same thing as uggs."  Clearly I made my point.  

Anyway, it got me to thinking about how who we are is so fluid and constantly changing.  I'm not the same person I was five and a half years ago.  That would be awful!  So often, especially as teenagers, we're told to just be yourself and don't let anyone change you!  There's such an awful stigma on change.  But it can be so, so good!  As long as that change comes as a form of growth and not regression, there's nothing to fear or resist.  Change!  Do it!  It's awesome!  Allow yourself to become a slightly different person from day to day.  Drop old bad habits and start new good ones.  Try a different style of hair cut or a new accessory.  Wear a color that you thought you could never pull off.  Do something that challenges you physically, emotionally, spiritually.  I remember the person that I was in High School and College and I'm so glad that I've allowed myself the grace of change.  I used to be painfully shy.  Painfully.  No one who meets me now believes that.  I've branched out and opened up and allowed myself to grow into someone who is, dare I say, outgoing!  And I wear scarves and boots and bright colors because that's what I like.  And I try really hard not to care what other people think about how I look.  (Except when they ask me if I'm pregnant.  That one's hard to ignore.)  

So I guess what I've been trying to say is that this blog is changing.  Just like me!  It isn't just about the things that happen in my house.  Or my pregnancy.  (Because NO, I'm not pregnant.)  It's about my journey as I become a mom to my awesome toddler and as I become more genuinely myself.  Whatever that means :-)