Can you buy yourself a cake for a blogoversary? Because today’s my 6th and I kind of want cake. Six years and almost 900 posts; that’s a whole lot of crazy, right there. We all deserve some cake for that. Pie, too.

When I started blogging I knew nothing. NUTH-ING, as evidenced by my first post, which was actually my third post because I kept accidentally deleting it. My lack of tech knowledge was an embarrassment to geeks everywhere. Now I speak at conferences about social media analytics and the geeks are all, “You are our people. Come, let us show you Star Trek things.”

When I started blogging my daughter was eight years old, now she’s getting ready to start high school. If your small child is in the room, stop reading immediately and give them a hug. Hurry up, because before you know it they’ll be asking for the car keys.

I’ve written about a lot of death. I don’t want to write about that any more.

This space has seen me through a concussion, the swine flu/pulmonary embolism scare of 2009, surgeries for me and my son (he’s had three to my one; he’s such an over-achiever), anxiety, insomnia, a change to a vegan diet brought on by high cholesterol, and a colonoscopy. If you have a health question, just let me know. I’m like Web M.D., but in my case the “D” stands for disaster.

I have made unbelievable friends because of this blog; far too many to mention, actually. You know who you are. *fist bump*

Thank you to the hundreds of thousands of you who have read this blog and to my husband and kids for never minding that my head is buried in a computer screen. Thank you to BlogHer for being the catalyst to a major life change and for giving me an annoying level of confidence. And, thank you to the companies who sponsor me in this space. Each and every one of you are rock stars. Yes, YOU!

Now, I shall eat cake.

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I just got back from a business trip in Austin, Texas.

I had the immense pleasure of speaking on a professional panel with my wonderful friends and co-workers Denise and Melisa. I totally got my geek on.

As if social media measurement wasn’t enough to get me excited, there were also a lot of margaritas.

And, when I got tired of regular margaritas, there were avocado margaritas.

And, cotton candy.

And good friends.

Photo shamelessly taken from Melisa’s FB wall.

And kids of friends.

And 20 minutes of me trying to figure out how to take a picture in my new, awesomely soft, Home T shirt without making Ohio come out backward. I blame the margaritas.

The Home. T sent me this shirt to wear to the American Dairy Association Mideast and Ohio Poultry Association party. Ohio REPRESENT! But, I wore it the night before because I could. Not. Wait.

And, there was heat. Lots of it. So there was also a lot of time spent in front of fans. Luckily, I look like a model and the wind just enhanced it.

There were also the heartwarming and soul-filling stories told by food bloggers, a lot of guacamole, engaging sponsors, and a chance to work in the same room with my co-workers who all live on the other side of the country. It was an exhausting, cankle-creating few days, but worth every bit of work we put into it.

I can’t wait for 2014.

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When my son was young, he was very sick, not only because of his congenital heart disease, allergies, and kidney disorder, but with near-constant, chronic, bacterial infections. A bacterial infection is nothing to mess around with, but when you have a heart condition, you need to be extra careful. We faced what seemed like a never-ending battle against these bugs in order to keep his ticker, well, ticking.

He had strep many times. One case was so severe, and antibiotic resistant, that it nearly killed him. Have you ever heard of a mastoid infection? I hadn’t, until my son got one. It’s a bacterial infection in the bone behind the ear, which is not to be confused with adenitis, which made him look like he had swallowed a golf ball. Oh, and there was that UTI that he got before he was even one week old.

More than anything, though, my boy suffered from sinus infections. From October to May, his little head was crammed with crud and mucus so thick that he could barely breathe. We filled prescription after prescription of antibiotics to keep the bacteria from traveling to his heart. He spent, roughly, two out of his first nine years on Penicillin.

During this same time, when we were pumping him full of medicine, we tried natural remedies too. We even had the air quality tested in our house to see if there was mold hiding somewhere. I knew that all of the antibiotics were keeping him alive, but I also knew that they were killing the good bacteria right along with the bad, and I worried that someday they simply wouldn’t work anymore.

Then, on television one day I saw someone talking about neti pots. Something told me that this was what would help him. I had a talk with his pediatrician and she thought it was worth a try, though she suggested a sinus flush instead of a neti pot, something that would force the water up instead of just letting gravity have its way with his nasal passage.

I bought purified water and a sinus rinse kit, positioned my kid over the kitchen sink, and promptly made him vomit. We tried again the next day, and the next, and the day after that, until my son became a nasal irrigation pro! Now he can even tell me which side needs to “go first” in order to clear his sinuses quicker.

I would love to say that he hasn’t had to take any antibiotics since we started this all-natural solution, but I can say that he’s gone from needing medication about three months out of the year, to about two weeks. He rarely has sinus infections anymore, when he used to live with them perpetually.

He’s had three sets of tubes to help with ear infections, he had his tonsils removed to cut down on strep, and I’m happy to say that sinus infections are, mostly, a thing of the past. I’m glad I made him stick with it and keep trying. I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what we parents are supposed to do.

This post is part of BlogHer’s My ‘I’m a Mom’ Moment editorial series, made possible by Seventh Generation.

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Hi. Remember me? I’m the woman in a perpetual state of pony-tail. Pony-tail is not a state? Says you.

Last night I went to a gala fundraiser for a local special needs school and I wore something sparkly. Do you know what doesn’t go with sparkly? Pony-tails. Actually, since Pinterest came along and made hair-dos the next DIY craze, I don’t feel comfortable going anywhere with a rubberband in my hair.

So, once again, I turned to a tutorial. Some people use online tutorials to create their own wine racks from discarded wood pallets; I take bobby-pins and make a bun. Here’s the video I used:

And, here’s how mine turned out. This was only the first try, so I’m pretty happy with it. It was hard to pin the left side of my hair, but with a little practice I think I could do a better job. Clearly, the skill I really need to work on is taking a photo of the back of my head in a mirror.

Other bloggers are choosing their favorite hairstyle tutorial videos and asking for your opinions on which you love most. Each week, BlogHer is giving away prizes to 3 lucky winners: one grand prize viewer will receive a $250 Visa gift card and two more folks will each receive a $100 Visa gift card! Visit the Prizes and Promotions page on BlogHer.com for more info!

Hair Sweepstakes Official Rules.

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