Wow.  Hello!!  Welcome to my itsy bitsy teeny tiny bit of the web’o’sphere.  Please, don’t mind my scatter brain, I swear it’s normal.  I’m a tad flustered as this is my first ever large blog party.  Well, that’s what it is anyways, right?

Also, don’t mind the mess that is currently my blog.  The layout is not ideal, but we are working through it. 

My name is Alex.  Short for Alexandra, but after 18 years of my mom insisting that my name is Alexandra, and not Alex, I had to rebel. 

Mommy of 4 year old Konnor, always and forever my baby, and 10 month old Ariana, the baby girl I have always dreamed of having.  My children are hands down my life and the reason for my being.  To most of you, it will come as no surprise for me to tell you I would give the world for my babies.  They are my rocks, whether they know it or not. 

Working full time as a customer service representative at the local electric company is my day job.  A repetitive job that is not nearly as rewarding and fulfilling as I would like a job to be, it pays the bills.  That’s all I have to say about that.

Writing has always come natural to me.  I can change my style from serious to funny, laid back to professional, and anything in between without much thought at all.  

Blogging/writing since I was in middle school, I have owned 3 diaries, one online diary, 4 blogs, and one online journal.  The random short stories and no less than one dozen unfinished plays and auto-biographies sit buried in all of the above places listed.  At the moment I am in the process of compiling all my thoughts and life snip-its into one big book.  A story of my own life, which I refuse to call an auto-biography (I just despise the term).

If I’m not playing mommy, working, or writing, I am most definitely taking pictures.  Photography is a passion that falls dead even with my passion for writing.  On a bad day I take no less than 20 photographs of anything and everything that inspires me.  Some say I have a knack for the hobby and should go pro, but a hobby (to me) is more fulfilling than a job.

Living with my kiddos and my boyfriend, Justin, in our apartment in Oregon couldn’t be more amazing.  Well, a house would be more amazing, but that’s a different story.  The Pacific Northwest is known for its beauty, but you can never really understand that beauty unless you live here.  Who wouldn’t want to live an hour from the mountain and two hours from the ocean?

Well, I think you are probably tired of listening to me, so go and find some other fabulous bloggers who are participating in the 2010 Ultimate Blog Party.

Want more of me?  Or, I suppose, in a sense, it’s less of me.  I live my life 140 characters at a time on Twitter.  You can follow me @theJAKAmommy but I’m warning you now, I am not all peaches & cream.  My life is not perfect, nor am I.  I can be rude, harsh, and my filtration is not always top notch.

By the way, I’m not entering to win any prizes.  :)  But good luck to all those that are!  Happy blogging!

You learn the true meaning of life.

There is an overwhelming force that drives you to keep your child(ren) safe.

Unconditional love is no longer something you imagine, but something that you can feel.

You realize that priorities change. Life rearranges. The world no longer revolves around you.

The true meaning of friendship becomes apparent. Those without children can never understand what a parent feels.

Then you realize. They aren’t true friends if they let your bundle of joy get in between the two of you.

I remember the friends I had. The relationship that I lost. I was 19 when I had Konnor. Barely out of school. At first, I could pawn him off on my mom to watch while I had fun from time to time. Mostly at her house, while Konnor slept in my room.

Looking back, I sucked at being a mom. I thought I was hot shit, when in reality, there was nothing hot about my relationship with my son. Sure, he knew who his mommy was, and he loved everything about me, but I wasn’t the best.

In almost four years, I have come so far. Honestly, I can say that I am proud of who I am. The mother I am. A woman. I have grown up.

Sometimes I find myself reminiscing about the times I could party, spend all my money on myself, and quite frankly, not give a shit. I have driven under the influence, spent most my money on booze, and am a recovering nicotine addict. Sadly enough, some of the people who I used to hang out with still do all these things, and some do more.

Having children has tough me a lot about my life. But my children have also helped me cut out a lot of people in my life that never really mattered.

Stay tuned, Part 2 of this is coming up…….