I’m so pleased to be joining the fantastic team of bloggers at The Parenting Post. I’m Shannon, and I’m the mom to four kids, ages eleven to three. I’m so pleased that I have the chance to meet up with you here each week. Over a decade into my own motherhood journey, I’ve learned that the best way to navigate this wild ride is to reach out to other parents in the trenches.

Hello, my fellow parents! I am the new Mom on the block. Let’s start this relationship with a few facts about my life. My philosophy on blogging and “sharing my life with complete strangers” boils down to one simple idea. The more we share the honest truth about motherhood with each other, the less alone we will all feel.

I am a mom to three kids — two boys, a teen and a ‘tween, and an elementary school age daughter. I have been married for 18 years. I am also the owner of — or as he likes to think am owned by — a 90-pound Doberman. Needless to say, my house is loud. I wouldn’t have it any other way. The chaos, the fun, and the endless drama keep me energized and, yes, at times frustrated. It is a busy life, but it is our life. I am here to share it with you. Warts and all.

Hello Parenting.com. Happy to be here being me. My name is Carrie. I am a Cuban-American living far from the Mother Country that is Miami. My roots now reach deeply into the country soil of a little town outside of Nashville, the lovely city where I once was a daily newspaper reporter. In nearly two decades as a journalist, I wrote about everything from fires to flip flop fashion to freaks.

I often tell people it is easier to cover an airplane crash on deadline than parent a preschooler. Mine anyway -- a funny and ferocious 4-year-old named Maria who has done her best, even before she was born, to do me in -- infertility treatment, 37-hour labor, emergency C-section. All followed by bad latch, eight months of exclusive pumping, hellacious teething, champion whining, and a Year Three that left me feeling each evening like I'd been chewed and shaken by a Terrier puppy.

Hello Parenting Peeps!

I'm the new girl around here and I've put a lot of thought into how I want to introduce myself. I woke up this morning thinking, "Gah! Must write! Must be brilliant and eloquent! Must convey gorgeousness and fabulosity via blog post!" If I hadn’t had a seven-month-old taskmaster hollering at me from his crib I would have rushed right to the computer and hammered it out. But the hollering was distracting, as well as the half-asleep conversation with my husband that went something like this: