Before we jump right on in with our interview, we must take the time for a quick sing along. Yes, we are aware that this is not the standard protocol (but then again, what is around here?) We have yet another Mommyblogger first today. One of our featured bloggers is celebrating his birthday today. (And we love any reason to celebrate here at Mommybloggers.com!) You all know the words, so join in:

Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear CHRISSSSSSS! Happy Birthday to you!

*applause applause* Ahem.

Mommybloggers: Beth and Chris (in alphabetical order... diplomacy rules), we know you are not getting much sleep these days due to your beautiful baby girl. We didn't get these questions to you as early as we had hoped, so if you only have time for one word answers, or grunts, that is cool. We have a grunt translater. Or if you prefer, one blink means yes. Two blinks means no.

Beth: She actually slept really well last night. Chris and I offered to pay her 20 bucks if she did and it worked. I’m looking forward to many years of bribery to come.

Chris: Yeah. This is going to be the first kid in the history of the world that we raise and, at age 18, owe money.

Mommybloggers: Beth and Chris, you both have blogs, rudecactus.com and sothefishsaid.com. Do you guys ever have smack-down fights? Like do you instigate malicious attacks on each others servers and stuff like that? Do you get blog envy?

Chris: Hey, I’d really never thought of that before. I know what I’m doing tonight! As much fun as that would be, I handle most of the technical site stuff so I’d really just be making a mess that I’d have to clean up. And I don’t like cleaning up.

Beth: No fights, but we do call dibs on blogging funny things that happen and sometimes argue over whether an inappropriate dibs was called. I also sometimes call Chris out on giving himself all the funny lines when he writes about conversations we have.

Mommybloggers: But seriously, what inspired each of you to start blogging?

Chris: I have no clue. I was surfing the Internetwebosphere one day and stumbled on a blog. It was just so different from what I was used to seeing and I was captivated. I mean, here was a person who was just putting their life up there for all to see. There was something insane and a little appealing about it. I kept surfing and ran into a few sites I really enjoyed. Eventually, I figured, why not? Of course, I thought I’d stick with it for about a week before I lost interest. That was two and a half years ago. I’m not bored yet.

Beth: Chris did, mostly. He got into it long before I did and I started my own blog mainly in self-defense so I would have some clue what he was talking about. When I started my site I told Chris I was going to do nothing but post pictures of the cats and it took a while to figure out whether I had anything to say (which I admit is still debatable).

Mommybloggers: Beth, do you consider yourself a mommyblogger now? What do you think of the term? (You know we have to ask that!)

Beth: I resisted the label for a while, but have to say it is an accurate description since it is all I can seem to talk about these days. I don’t mind being a mommyblogger since it puts me in great company, but I think I would prefer to be a mamablogger. It’s hard to sound adult and intelligent while saying mommy.

Mommybloggers: Mamablogger sounds so much nicer. Chris, are you okay with the title of daddyblogger? What do you think of the term?

Chris: Well, technically there’s nothing wrong with it. I’m a daddy and I blog so it’s correct. But I think a term like that carries a lot of weight..and is limiting. Like, when you say someone’s a serial killer they become defined by it. Sure, the serial killer was a bad guy but maybe he could whip up a mean lasagna or was double-jointed and could bend into freaky positions. I guess what I’m trying to say is that, yes, I’m a daddy and a blogger but I’m blog about more than parenthood because I’m more than just a parent.

Mommybloggers: Right on, Chris. As the song on "Free to be You and Me" goes: "Parents are people... People with children...." We are PEOPLE! POWER TO THE PEOPLE! Ahem...
How has parenthood changed the way you write? Aside from adapting to writing with one hand, writing half asleep, and writing with spit up on your shoulder. .. Has it changed the content?

Chris: The content has changed. If I wrote about this stuff earlier than five months ago, well, I’d be lying. It shouldn’t be any shock that I’m writing about our daughter and parenthood a good 80% of the time. Parenting is an all-encompassing thing. If I wrote about music or books or work 80% of the time, readers would nominate me for the Suckiest Parent of the Year Award. But, like I said, I don’t want to be a guy who writes only about parenting. Parenting arms you with all kinds of good blogging material but makes it that much more difficult to come up with non-parenting stuff.

Beth: Um, what did I write about before? Seriously, does anybody remember? I would have to check my archives to jog my memory.

Mommybloggers: Ha! Those little people have a way of keeping your attention riveted. How do you see blogging changing the perception of parenthood in America these days?

Chris: That’s giving blogging a lot of credit. I don’t think blogging is quite mainstream enough to have a perceptible effect on parenting or parenthood. I think we’ve seen perceptions shift because of blogging in other areas, such as journalism and politics. It’s only a matter of time before there’s some sort of saturation point and blogging goes mainstream. But to tell you the truth, I’m not sure I’m looking forward to that happening. We’re a sub-culture and I’m okay with that. I think what blogging has done, for me personally, however, is opened up this whole avenue of communication with other parents. There are shared fears, thoughts, concerns – it’s very liberating knowing you’re not the only one who’s going through whatever it is.

Beth: I don’t know that it is changing the perception of parenthood, but I do think it is giving parents a unique support system that I, for one, am very glad to have.

Mommybloggers: The Mommlybloggers are glad to have a support system too. If we can help to create a "Safe-to-say" environment, we consider it a job well done.
Some people are uber concerned about child safety and writing about their children on blogs, posting pictures, etc.. How do you feel about what to reveal and what not to reveal?

Beth: Since our daughter is so young I’m not hugely concerned about this yet, but I think it is something we will have to consider very carefully as she gets older. I think it is important to protect both her safety and her dignity. Right now, I don’t worry too much about embarrassing her since all babies do pretty much the same stuff and if she gets mad that I told the internet about her diaper blow-outs I’ll just tell her that every baby ever born has pooped in his or her own hair. I am concerned about safety, in fact I did not run a birth announcement in our local paper because I did not want anyone to be able to use good old Google to get her last name (and also our local paper is The Washington Post and easily searchable online). I expect we will make some changes in how we write about her, and probably even go back and edit what we have already written, once she is going out into the world on her own.

Chris: There are some freaks out there and, of course, I want to insulate our daughter from them. Like Beth said, I’m sure we’ll tweak the way we write about her as she gets older. Right now we’re just enjoying the ride and trying to share it as best we can.

Mommybloggers: Did either of you write professionally before you blogged? When did you all start writing?

Beth: My first effort at writing was very bad, angst-ridden teenage poetry (which I’ve actually posted on my site so the internet can point and laugh). I did a lot of writing for my last job, but have never been paid just to write.

Chris: I’ve always been employed in positions in which there was a lot of writing but that’s about the extent of any professional experience. I’ve always dreamed of writing the Great American Novel but so far I haven’t found either the subject matter or the patience. With a newborn, I doubt I’ll find either any time soon.

Mommybloggers: Chris, you contribute to the extremely funny and enlightening Dadcentric. It is so refreshing to read about fathers being so active in their childrens lives and writing about their experiences in things child-related and not. How did you end up collaborating with that whole motley crew?

Chris: I appreciate that but, to be quite honest, I haven’t contributed as much as I’d have liked so far. The credit for DadCentric being the success it is goes to the other guys. Between countless sleepless nights and what’s turned into a hellish season at work, I just haven’t had as much time to devote as I should. I was actually approached by Jason at DadCentric. He’s been a long-time reader and friend who I’ve always really seen eye-to-eye with on a number of things. I thought the idea was truly unique and I was excited to be a part of it.

Mommybloggers: So it appears that Mommybloggers and Dadcentric are two of the newer parenting blogs on the block. Moms that blog...dads that blog. We see the first highly publicized arranged marriage between the two blogs. Think you can work something out with guys over there. Think of the amazing baby offspring!

Chris: HA! Yes. I can see where that would be the next logical step, some kind of bionic blogger. Yet, I'm afraid our daughter might see this as an encroachment on that whole, pesky self-determination thing. And I'm not really sure I want to encourage her to take up blogging and expose the neuroses of her parents to a wider audience than we already have. The world just doesn't need that.

Mommybloggers: Soooo, that means you will think about it....? Picture it: Blaming-My-Blogging-Parents.com We'll talk.

Mommybloggers: Chris, while we are on the topic (somewhat) what challenges, if any, do you find in co-managing a site with so many talented contributers?

Chris: That’s easy. My name is listed alongside some really talented and funny guys and while we all seem to know it isn’t a competition, I think we’re all really striving to write some good stuff. I’m not too self-conscious on my own site but I’d have to bomb alongside such funny people.

Mommybloggers: How the heck did you two meet? Was it love at first site for one or both of you? We want the dirt.

Beth: We met in college. I picked him up in a bathroom.

Chris: Yeah. What she said. I think we’ve elaborated on our own sites but that’s essentially the gist of it.

Mommybloggers: So you are going to make us dig are you? Now to the good stuff. Name your favorite quirk about your spouse:

Chris: This is supposed to be informative and fun, not get me killed, right? We each have too many quirks to choose from. I love that Beth honestly expects to win the lottery when she buys scratch-off cards. I love that her organizational quirks keep my in line and out of trouble and, most importantly, her passion for Chapstick never fails to amuse me.

Mommybloggers: We said FAVORITE quirk. We don't want anyone ending up in the dog house....at least not in the middle of winter! Beth, how about you?

Beth: That he can tell you what the producer of the third track of an album made 25 years ago had for lunch on the day he mixed the next-to-last version of the second minute of the song, but can never remember that he has an appointment to have his hair cut.

Mommybloggers: And here are the questions we subject all of our featured bloggers to (With apologies to Bernard Pivot and Inside the Actors Studio for our gratuitous rip-off of these questions):

1. What is your favorite parent related word?

Beth: Naptime!

Chris: Heh…poop.

2. What is your least favorite parent related word?

Beth: Our daughter is four months old, so I am going to go with the sound she makes when she is really crying and I dare to allow her father to try to comfort her and it sounds like all the sadness and injustice in the world has fallen upon her tiny shoulders and in addition we are trying to tear her arms off and force her to eat parsnips. When she makes that noise, I would eat nails if it would make her stop.

Chris: I hadn’t really considered it but I’ll go with Beth’s response. It’s truly a horribly noise that sounds so pitiful and helpless I just got chills thinking about it.

3. What is your favorite creative censored curse word used around children? (If you are still cursing in front of your daughter, which many of us do freely until that first moment when your words are parroted back to you.) What will it be when she starts repeating you?

Beth: I am convinced her first word will be the f-bomb, since that is the most frequently used word in my vocabulary. I think once I have to stop I will go with things like dagnabit and gollygeewillakers.

Chris: Fuck. Most assuredly, fuck or any variation thereof.

4. What is your favorite hiding place within your home when you need to get away from it all? (We do realize you can really just set her down at this point, and since she can't follow you this makes hiding REALLY easy, but trust us when we say that moment will be gone sooner than you think!)

Beth: Does such a place exist? On the weekends I go grocery shopping while Chris watches the baby, otherwise pretty much everywhere I go, she goes.

Chris: I usually leave the house and head to the local bookstore when I can’t take it any more. If I have to say home, I’ll head down to my music room. There’s very little playing a guitar for a little while can’t fix.

5. What hiding place have you been found in too often and can no longer use? (assuming you are working on perfecting this skill when the need arises that just leaving a room is no longer enough to be considered hiding.)

Beth: It used to be the shower because I would take a shower after dinner while Chris entertained the baby, but now we are putting her to bed earlier so if I want a shower she hangs out in the bouncy seat and I sing. I can usually get about half clean before she screams, so what I miss cleaning one day I get the next.

Chris: There isn’t one. The effectiveness of hiding places is limited by my own guilt. We have a house with a very open floorplan. It’s hard to avoid hearing what’s going on. I feel like I’m slacking if I hear crying and try to hide.

6. If Oprah exists, what would you like to hear her say when you arrive at the Oprah Winfrey show when she features the Mommy--and Daddy--bloggers?

Beth: Do I lose my mommyblogger privileges if I admit that I can’t stand Oprah? How about “thanks for agreeing to guest-host, Beth, now let me get out of here.” (Mommybloggers sidenote: No loss of privileges here. We would totally rock out the Harpo studios with you hosting a show like that!)

Chris: “Here are the keys to the BMW. Don’t worry, you don’t even have to pay taxes on it.”

We would like to extend our thanks for Beth and Chris for taking the time to do this interview with us. They are an amazing couple who are showing us through their blogs that they are amazing parents as well. Be sure to check them out on their own sites as well. Beth blogs at So the Fish Said and Chris blogs at Rude Cactus and is a contributor at Dadcentric.

If you've loved the interview here, just wait until tomorrow when you read what they have to say when we hand the reigns over to them. (Although they never really said it was going to be from them. We suspect if the little angel pulls a sleepless night, we just may hear from her!) Be sure to come back tomorrow to read more!