So, last month notwithstanding, I’ve been happily blogging here for three and a half years about my thoughts on working parenthood, raising young girls, not completely losing my sense of self, and how I’m handling this stage of life.

One thing I’ve annually determined is simply “too much” is the April A to Z Challenge.

You know, the challenge where various of my blog friends and acquaintances sign up to blog daily through the month of April and – at least from my outside perspective – progressively get more succinct and frazzled as the month progresses.

But I’ve always admired those who manage to make it through.

So I’ve decided this is the year I give it a go and see if I can knock this off my bloggy bucket list.

I’ve hit a bit of a crossroad as far as blogging goes.

I started blogging here when I returned to work from my second maternity leave. My daughters were 1 and 4, so the eldest was starting kindergarten, the youngest starting daycare, and barring any surprises, there were no more maternity leaves in my future.

So done with breeding, it was time to “get serious again” about career.

However, given this coincided with needing to make daycare pickup by 5:00, a husband that did shift work, and the beginning of my eldest’s challenges with school, this instead became pretty much the hardest period in my life to date given it was where expectations and reality rather harshly collided and made it clear to me that, no, you don’t get to have it all.

So I blogged about that.

Fast forward three years and while life is still challenging, I’ve adjusted.

Also, my girls are older. In the same way that I started this blog at the “leaving babyhood stage” I feel we are on the crest of the “leaving early childhood phase”.

Which brings me to my theme:

In April I will bring you 26 posts reflecting on my experiences raising my daughters in the past three and a half years.

So my plan is to give you a mix of what I’ve discovered and learned and what both they and I have loved mixed in with some reflections about the baggage I brought in to the whole experience, the baggage I’ve since let go, and my and their thoughts as they stand now on where we’re at.

In addition to giving me a theme for the challenge, it also serves as a nice reflection project for me on parenthood and blogging up until now.

Here’s the posting scheduling. I’ve been busy writing many of the posts in advance – and my girls have been pretty excited to help me with some of them – so I’m hopeful I will be able to stick with it and make it through:

I invite you to join me. As I go through the alphabet, think back on either your childhood or experiences with your kids and let me know what each letter would be for you or your family.

See you on April 1!