I just joined two new Minti groups. One is Tips on Getting Pregnant--although I assure you, I am not trying to get pregnant. To be maybe-too-honest, because of post-pregnancy complications with Christa, I can't get pregnant. But because I am immersed in the whole late-in-life motherhood trend, I am sympathetic to women's struggles with infertility. I interviewed a number of these women for my book BABY CHANGES EVERYTHING (Revell,Summer2007.)

I also joined the Inventions are the Mother group--after staring at the thumbs up/thumbs down icon for weeks and weeks and weeks. I figured I had nothing to offer this group.I haven't invented anything to make mothering easier. The only thing I've developed in my 23 years of mothering is a finer sense of humor.

Truthfully, the best thing I've done as a mom is to find other moms I respect, watch what they do--and then do it. Sure, I may tweak their parenting technique a bit to work for my children. But, if I see another mom (or dad) raising good kids, then why re-invent the parenting wheel?