Bless Your Heart

Thank you for all your input regarding blogging with kids.  I talked everything over with CSP & we’ve come to an agreement.  I had to compromise, but it’s a good thing.  Being married to CSP keeps me balanced.

• Since we’re fostering to adopt I won’t blog about the children until the adoptions are final.  That is going to be so hard!
• Once the adoption is final I’ll blog about the kidlets, but won’t use their real first names.  They’ll get nicknames.  I won’t blog any identifying details about our location, etc.  I mean, y’all know we live in Charlotte, and that’s as detailed as I’ll be getting.
• After the adoption I’ll only post pictures of their faces on flickr under the privacy option of “viewable to friends and family only” as well as on Facebook.  This way CSP knows who will be able to see pics of the kids.
• On my blog I’ll still be able to post pics, just no faces.

SO, if you want to see our little ones, you  need to be a friend or family.  Now, I do consider my bloggy friends real friends.  Some of you, like Lisanne, Jenny, etc. even though we’ve never met in real life I feel like I know you.  We’ve exchanged emails and regular mail and read each other’s blogs for years and years. I trust y’all plenty and feel very comfortable sharing our child’s pictures with you.  So if you’re a bloggy friend, but we’re not Facebook friends and you want to see my kids, then send me a friend request.  If I know you and feel comfortable then I’ll approve it.  Once our child comes home, which may be months and months before the adoption is final, I’ll be removing the Facebook link from my blog page.

These aren’t hard and fast rules.  CSP & I have never been parents.  I’ve never been a mommy blogger.  Things may change, but if anything, our children’s privacy will become even more protected.  I know I can password protect this blog, individual posts, but I know that passwords get passed around.  I won’t become some crazed, obsessive mom with spreadsheets trying to control who can and cannot read my blog.  Facebook & flickr offer an easier way to deal with the photo issue.  From there I have to trust my peeps.

Ladies, I need your help.  This whole impending motherhood thing is new to me.  Add that to the interwebs and it can get a little complicated.  So, tell me….

• Do you blog about your kids?
• Do you use their real names?
• Do you show their pictures?
• Do you use your real name?

See, I feel that people are generally good.  That the people that read my blog are doing it for various reasons, but one of them is probably not to gather info for their detailed murderous plans.  If internet stalkers were using my blog to kill me and my family, then they could have done it already.

But then there’s the privacy issue.  I don’t want to cross the line when it comes to my kids.  But where do you draw the line? Part of me feels like blogging with their real first names & pictures isn’t going to be harmful.  But the budding Mama Bear part of me is a little worried.  I suppose that’s CSP’s influence.

Thanks for your help!