I think I need to re-introduce myself.
I started this blog as a 28 year old with a far less wrinkles and even less of a clue on how to date as a single mom.
Nearly three years later – here I am.
With far more wrinkles, a giant 4 year old son and even a man (a very good, very healthy and well-adjusted normal man). That last bit is still a bit of a shock to me.
Oh, and, as I found out this weekend at the incredibly awesome Nelsonville Art & Music Festival I definitely can’t drink like I used to. In fact, I can’t have more than one beer without developing a slight head ache. This is just another reminder that I am definitely over the hump and well on my way into middle age and full-on adulthood.
So – hello – again. I am Alaina – a girl who survived an unexpected pregnancy, a not-so-unexpected divorce and everything that followed. And yes, I have the wrinkles and gray hair to prove it all.
Now… can you all help me with something?
I’m re-designing this blog but I need some ideas for a new tag line. For the time being, my online persona – Ms. Single Mama – isn’t going anywhere but I need a tag line summing up the gist of this madness.
So far, this is the only one I’ve got and I’m so-so….
Ms. Single Mama
Sipping a long tall cocktail of single motherhood since 2006
Realizing I’m just too close to home with this I want your ideas for a tag line? Any ideas?
More pictures.
Click here for the photos from this weekend. Should have taken more…
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I like the original tag line.
How about something like this:
“One single Mom, Lots & Lots of stuff to say”
Ok the second half is weak, but you seem to be transcending what “single mom” used to mean to you, so leverage the phrase but elevate the meaning to be about your singular point of view on what ever you want to focus on. Or something like that.
I like the original tag line too! Why are you changing it?
Me, too. Good question.
“Ms. Single Mama…
…I think Canadian Bald Guy’s pretty awesome.”
It may not be the best tag line, but it works for me!
THIS is awesome.
Hi,
I’ve been following your blog for a while, I’m not a single mom or a mom at all-I just think you kick ass and you remind me of my mom when she raised me-pretty much alone. On that note, I can see that you’ve outgrown the single-mom thing, but I think It would be really cool to include Benjamin and John Bear in your new tag-line-what happens when you make a family, even when it’s not like you imagined it and doesn’t fit in a perfect box. Whatever you do, I’m sure it will be great!
Tell John Bear thank you-he’s a good man for loving you and your son. I’m a lucky girl to have an awesome step-dad who found me at 14 and till this day treats me like his own kid. There are not enough men in the world like that and John Bear deserves a medal for it-
Zlata
Yes… he is a part of this picture now. Thank you Zlata. And I will pass that on to John Bear. He does deserve a medal!
I say that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Hear, hear.
ummm, maybe now you have changed, and now you don’t feel comfortable with your ‘single-mama’ persona…is it possible? (don’t be angry with me if I tell you this). I explained you why: i’m single mama also and some months ago i started a relationship. For a time, I have to ‘live’ and ‘think’ as a …glups.. ‘normal’ family (i don’t know how to catalogue it, sorry), and this experience was a very strong changement in my life and my mind. Unfortunately we don’t continue, but during this time i tested a new kind of thought
Absolutely – I completely know what you mean. Resetting my mind to family mode, to having a partner in parenting has definitely been an adjustment – although, John Bear does make it easy on me.
Hi Alaina, I’ve been following your blog for quite a few months (and I might add some of the blogs you’ve recommended now too – hello Canadian Bald guy and Steen Ink!) I’m a single Mum of two boys, 8 and 10, from Perth Western Australia, and I just can’t find anything here like the network you have over there. I’ve been a single Mum for two and a half years, and just dipping my toe into the coupledom pond again too, so I relate a lot. On a general note, you have wisdom, patience, kindness and understanding that I have found both comforting and familiar, so please continue to tell your journey!
As for my suggestion of a new tagline, how about “three becomes two plus one” (Not sure if Bear would appreciate being known as a plus one though!) or just simply “Ms Now not-so-single Mama ” Daggy though I know..
Can I suggest though, something I have learnt through my past few years is that I used to feel like I was a Mum first and a modern woman a distant second, but now I feel I am equally both. Perhaps you can look towards the sides of you that isn’t just about being a mum, but as a successful business woman, partner, friend, blogger and multiskilled woman!
Take care,
Tansy
Yes! This is exactly right… the focus – in my life – has definitely changed.
i like the original. remember, when you’re getting sick of something, it is probably just breaking through the clutter.
I don’t comment much on the blogs I read, even the ones I read all the time, like yours, but I have to say something today. When the page opened up and I saw that photo of you smiling and John Bear in the background, I thought, “wow, she looks so happy!”
When I compare photos of myself now – I am a divorced single mother of two who is in a happy relationship – and photos of myself in relationships where I thought I was happy, it’s obvious! It wasn’t easy for me or, I imagine, for you to get to this happy place, but it’s great to be there, isn’t it? Don’t we cherish it that much more when we’ve experienced such unhappiness?
As for your tagline, I have to say I agree with most of the comments. I think it still works in many ways. Life, love, motherhood: those are still the things of which you speak, no? And you’re still a single mama. Then again, you aren’t single! I understand what you mean about the focus of your life changing. I often wonder what to call myself; I am a single mother in that I don’t have a partner for the parenting side of things (even though my children’s father is very present in their lives), but I’m not single.
Maybe “Musings on a new life, love, and motherhood”? BTW, I’m looking at the tagline, didn’t it used to have the word “dating” in there somewhere?
Anyway, enjoy these happy moments.
Jen
I love it just the way it was…. but the beauty of your site is that, though you’ve found someone now, you’re still teaching women who are *newly* single how to date as a single mom, through your own personal trials and tribulations. I find that incredibly brave of you. You helped me to break through those first few dating experiences, and now that I’ve got my “wings”, I feel I can confidently find a man, if I do, that fits my life. I’m not going to settle.
Secondly, you give the rest of us who haven’t found “that guy” yet hope, seeing JB getting along so well with you and fitting in without pretense. Still, that video of him chasing the dog across the floor is the image that sticks in my mind. He is unabashedly himself, and even lets you include the details of your life on here to encourage hundreds of other women who are hurting and feel alone. WTG.
It’s kind of like being an Army wife. Even when you’ve ETS’ed and you’re no longer in the active duty world, you always have battle stories to tell and can be an encouragement to the gals who are facing the fear for the first time. Once an Army wife, always an Army wife (or SINGLE MOM!).
How about….
One woman’s journey through motherhood to adulthood and everything that falls in between.
I like the original….but the one right above me is pretty good too.
You look so stunning in that photo. And yes, I like the original tagline too. Your blog is still about those things. (I also like the cocktail one, by the way!)
I can understand wanting to make a change. I just did a simple theme change to my blog myself (since I’m still saving up for the big redesign we emailed you about!) and it feels good to have a fresh face to my web space.
Maybe try out the cocktail one for a while – see how you like it “live.” I think it’s really cute.
I’m tempted to suggest “More wrinkles, a giant son, and even a man.”
Just because I like this post (and the photo). The happiest people, I think, are the ones who embrace and explore change as it comes rather than fighting it and holding on to the past. And that phrase sums up what’s changed at the moment — probably more spontaneously than you’d like for a blog tagline!! — with refreshing candor.
“Sipping a long tall cocktail” is catchy but not the later part with year mentioned…that sounds boring. Yes, the original tagline of musings is definitely Great! Your writings are amazing…keep it up!
I like the original… it’s cute and direct. Yeah for all the John Bear’s in the world that deserve Gold Medals!!! and doulbe kuddos for making life easier.
Hey,
I just stumbled into your blog, and am about to feast on the archives
As a single mom with an 8-month old boy and a new boyfriend, I suspect there’s a lot in here that I will relate to!
Maria
PS: You’re so pretty! And I love your haircut! (I’m such a girl sometimes, sorry :$)