This week, the mommybloggers are pleased as punch to feature the unstoppable, irrepressable, Jenijen from Not calm dot com. Jen is mother to four beautiful children. Her writing offers up truckloads of truths about motherhood. She is honest and straightforward about the great and not-so-great aspects of parenting. Not being one to complain, Jen writes candidly about the joys and tribulations of burning the candle at both ends. She mentions the occasional lack of sleep, nonstop work, and sheer chaos of raising four young children (and several non-human creatures), but those things are far from her main point. Those things are sidebars. What Jen emphasizes, are the joyful moments that tend to occur in the everyday. Jen lives in the present, and makes being quintessentially not calm look like a joyful place full of wonderment and meaning. The mommybloggers must point out a warning here: Anyone who might be in the midst of considering whether or not to go ahead and have another child would likely be nudged into the “go for it” category after reading her blog. The woman is a goddess.

We could go on and on and on about Jen. Instead, we thought we would give her readers a crack at it:

Jennifer admires her present presence:

You know what I love about jenijen? She has all these kids and she never says that they keep her from doing anything. She never complains that she misses her life pre-kids. She has this great family and lives in the Now, not the past. She relishes the beauty of what life brings her no matter how messy.

Mary loves he way Jen has always surprised her:

I remember first seeing Jenijen at the mommyblogging session at BlogHer '05. I thought she was one of those young, hip moms with one kid. Then I found out she's one of those young, hip moms with four kids! And I just about fell off my rocker, because this woman has the youthful look of a twelve-year old, and I mean that in the nicest possible way. I don't know if it's the smooth complexion or the braids, but she's definitely one of the cool moms out here in the suburban mother jungle.

From reading Not calm dot com (love that blog name!), it's obvious to me that Jenijen loves her kids and loves her sweet husband. And when I read about what she's been through with her fourth child who was a preemie, I could just weep. But Jenijen is a strong woman, and I'm sure she can be the meanest mama bear you've ever seen, if she needed to fight for one of her kids.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Jenijen in person this year and hanging out with her at WoolfCamp and WoolfCamplet. She's just the nicest person. Exactly as you imagine she is after you've read her blog, and exactly what I imagine when I hear the word "mother."

Dixie loves getting glimpses into Jen’s world:

I don't have kids myself so through the stories that Jen tells about her family, I'm able to feel what it's like to be a mom - all the pressure, all the joy, all the hectic hours and all the happy moments. Jen doesn't make being a mom look easy; Jen makes it look real. If I were a mom I'd want to be a mom like her.