I know.
But here's the deal.
When I first started blogging, I had just had the twins. Five years ago. Wowza.
And I thought I would make a cute little name for my brand-new blog. Octamom. Like 'octagon'. But with 'mom'.
Cute, huh?
Fast forward a year and a certain woman in California gave birth to octuplets. And the news media went wild. And at some point, someone highjacked my cute little blog name.
With a twist.
They added an 'o' and took away the 'a'. And hence, Nadia Suleman was deemed 'OctOmom'.
There were inquiries. News media and branding groups alike offered to buy my 'Octamom' name. But I had made a little home for myself here on the interwebs and I wasn't about to move from my homestead. I thought the OctOmom/Octamom thing would die down. I thought Nadia Suleman would go silently into the annals of oddities from 2009. I thought the media would remember she had six other children in addition to the octuplets, realizing she was not a mom of eight but of fourteen.
Nope.
No such luck.
I've wrestled many a time with 'what now?'. On the one hand, I've had folks arrive at the blog and stay around who wouldn't have found me had it not been for the Octamom moniker and a search for the 'other one'.
And on the other hand, I'm not crazy about being associated with OctOmom, with the interesting career and mothering choices she has made. I want to give help and inspiration and laughter to moms and women out there, helping them realize their best lives.
Which does not seem to be the program Miss Suleman is promoting.
So what's a blogging girl to do?
Great question.
For which I presently have not an answer. I've enjoyed healthy blog traffic because of the association of our monikers. I've dealt with hate mail. I've dealt with identity confusion.
It's a hard call.
But a call I will have to make at some point.
For now, just know that's it's all under consideration. But that I do consider the Octamom name original, both by copyright and by calendar. I had it first. And I really liked it.
But you can always call me Julie.
Hi!..Just want to say!..Your doing a great job, no matter what others say!...Raising kids is a JOB!...I don't have kids of my own but, I was a nanny for 7 years and am a preschool teacher...I do so much running around to help my parents with there children so they can have some peace of mind and know that I'm here to lend a helping hand...So, I have my handsfull as well, but love and enjoy every minute of it!
ReplyDeleteTake Care!
Michelle
Michelle~~thanks so much! What an encouragement your are! Blessings to you and yours and for the important work you have done, both as a nanny and a preschool teacher~~so, so important! You touch the future.
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So you took the original octamoms title, and tried to get famous off of it.
ReplyDeleteI'm disappointed in this website.
Nope. If you'll read above you'll see that my original name, the one legally copyrighted by me, was highjacked. Not trying to get famous~~just enjoying blogging and the good folks I get to meet through the internet.
DeleteBlessings!
First, I feel almost like I need to apologize for random humanity for the "anonymous" poster above, who seems a mite lacking in the area of reading comprehension. You are obviously a mother very much like most of the rest of us ... hoping and praying we are getting it right a lot, getting it wrong sometimes, but most definitely giving it all we've got with our families' best interests placed firmly and squarely foremost.
ReplyDeleteI too followed the coverage of OctOmom, myself with a strange mixture of sadness, wishes for the first six being shoved aside by the octuplet hoopla, complete bafflement at the motives of Nadia herself (but with my utterly indestructible belief in the basic good of people insisting that somewhere in her heart lurked some admirable and acceptable motives), and oddly, a streak of hope.
My grandfather was one of eleven. I am the youngest of nine. I grew up in a church/faith which encouraged (but certainly didn't require or interfere in) the idea of couples having as many children as they felt God wished them to have. Mostly that tenet went extremely well and resulted in clans that were close in adversity, humble in materialism, and off the charts on the fun-o-meter. There were, of course, families in which the one or both parents simply were not made, suited or intended to have a large brood, and this usually resulted in bad endings to unhappy marriages. But even as a little girl, I noticed one immutable fact: no matter where the parents fell on the scale of Econo-Van-Requiring-Offspring, the KIDS somehow were always just fine.
They had each other, you see. They BELONGED. They were part of something special. They might be fighting with each other like rabid cats one moment, but let anyone hurt one of their siblings, and suddenly that individual would find themselves faced by a group of anywhere from 4 to 10 children of every age, united only by two things: a home address, and the determination that no one ELSE was allowed to mess with their brother/sister.
I sincerely wish good mothering to and from Nadia, and that somehow, every one of those fourteen children will have everything they need in childhood (materially, spiritually, in every aspect) provided for them by their mother and other adults who give of themselves whatever they can. But I also really believe that with so many ready-made friends, playmates, confidantes, protectors, and compadres ... they will ultimately do fine, regardless of whether she can keep her train on its tracks or not. They belong to something much bigger (spiritually speaking) and better and more sustaining than a mom with a tabloid name, and a bi-annual 20/20 show to satisfy the morbid curiousity of the masses, so many of whom seem perversely to almost WANT Nadia to fail.
I created my own little playful play on my name/family, as you can see. Cat is short for my name; my husband and I have seven wonderful children between us from 2-18, which makes us a current total of nine; and I never outgrew my childish love of all things pirate-y (although the children have certainly never been keelhauled! Lol
I am enjoying reading your blog and always appreciate finding other moms out there who, like me, simply find themselves happiest and most at home when surrounded by their large families.
Such a delight to find your comment this morning! Thank you! It is interesting in this age of reality television and media and all the rest to look at the ideas and assumptions folks have about big families. From the Duggars to Jon and Kate Plus Eight to Nadia, it's always fascinating to hear people's questions and field their presumptions~I bet you've been there too! It's my hope that the people who know us and the people we encounter get a sense that, while we're not a perfect family and I'm far from being a perfect mom, we have a lot of love and a lot of laughter and a strong, strong bond made all the stronger by the cooperation and patience it takes to be part of a big tribe. Blessings to you and your seven!
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