Namely...

Wanted to change it up a bit here.

We started blogging back in 2007 when we started, full-swing, into our adoption journey. The actual first steps were taken back in 2006, but we found out in September of '07 who Jake was. And knew that blogging would be a great way to allow others to keep up with us as we got closer to bringing him home.

I was -- and to a great extent, still am! -- fearful of having our identities fully exposed to the general public. There are some truly sick people out there, and I want to be as careful as possible, especially where my kids are concerned!

For that reason, I never named anyone in our family except for Jacob. He was the whole reason our blogging experience started, and it seemed natural to talk of him by using his name. Everyone else, though, has been referred to with descriptive phrases, only.

Well. I'm bored with that, and never even thought about nicknames until my daughter started writing her own blog & used nicknames.

All that to say: I'm switching to nicknames, something to personalize us a bit more and give me less to type.

Dad and I are still... just... Dad and Mom. Good enough.

My only daughter, oldest in the family, is Mem. Or Memma Lou. (Yes, there's a story behind every one of these!)

Oldest son is Mac. Sometimes Big Mac (because myword!! that kid has grown in a scary way)

7-year-old, the one missing his adenoids but can now hear a pin drop 2 miles away, is DJ. Yes, like "disc-jockey" -- and you really don't want the story on this one. Just know that funny & weird things happen here sometimes! Family stuff that's better kept under wraps!

Rounding us out in the best way is Jake. Short for Jacob. Sometimes known as Jay-COB, because DJ has his own nicknames for everyone. Daddy is "Daddy-Joe" and I am called "Momma-Joe."

I like those much better!