Mommybloggers: Emily and Cooper - give us a little background on your friendship, and how you decided to start your fantastic blog Been There.

Cooper and Emily: Way back in 1988 we were introduced on Cooper's first day at work at a Washington, DC public affairs firm where Emily was already climbing the ranks. We both attended Kenyon College at different times, so our co-workers thought we should know each other. By 1992, we both had left that firm for the promise of the Big Apple. And soon we were working together again when Emily opened her own PR company and brought Cooper in as her number two. Good times in New York and then Cooper started to have babies, Emily wrote a book and had babies, Cooper moved to Pittsburgh, and Emily moved to the NYC suburbs (although we can write it in a sentence, that all took about five years.) No longer interested in the hard driving, corporate life, we decided to write a book together, and in the process, Been There was born.

Mommybloggers: Is it difficult to keep the mojo working with the miles that separate you?

Cooper and Emily: Not at all. We see each other about once a month (God bless Jet Blue), but with several thousand emails over the last year alone, iChat and our 35 phone calls a day, we are more connected to each other than we are to almost anyone else. A better part of the communications are spent cracking each other up. Like when Emily was on the phone with Cooper and started to pull her car away from the gas station without having taken the gas nozzle out of the tank. Luckily for everyone, as the hose dragged beside the car, gas was no longer flowing.

Mommybloggers: You are both published authors. How do you feel that blogging has affected your writing?

Cooper and Emily: We love the blogging writing style. It has so much energy and the authentic, conversational tone of it makes it such a better read than, say, an article in a parenting magazine or on a web site. In many ways, the process of blog writing has shaped our writing voices.

Mommybloggers: We have to ask...are you mommybloggers? What do you think about the term "mommybloggers?"

Cooper and Emily: A resounding YES! We embrace the mantle with pride and honor. "Mommyblogger", like "Mother", is much more multi-dimensional, complex and deep - just like all of us - than some in the world give us credit for.

Mommybloggers: So, you guys have a parenting book in the works, and you're working away at it. Suddenly, Hurricane Katrina arrives, and your focus shifted overnight. Tell us about the Been There Clearinghouse. Was this the first grassroots relief effort you've undertaken?

Cooper and Emily: Yes. Overnight we went from mommy bloggers to running a collaborative relief network. Basically, when Katrina hit, we put the word out on our blog, asking visitors to list in the comments if they had any goods they wanted to donate to people from the Gulf Coast who lost everything. This was only a day after the levees broke, and all of us, as we watched our televisions, were devastated to see people stranded on rooftops and parents searching for their children, and we all wanted to do something, anything, to help. As that first week unfolded, we were blown away when our request out to the Internet struck a chord and tens of thousands of people came to our site.

We linked up with some big groups that were helping evacuees find housing so evacuees could hear about all the offers on our site. Not long after that, the stories started pouring in – people so badly wanted to talk about their ordeals and to say how much it meant to them to receive packages of goods through the Clearinghouse, with their name on them, and with exactly what they needed inside. And with that (and on other really cool blogs and websites dedicated to Katrina) "connected giving" online entered the world. We hope that "connected giving" and "connected relief" only continue to grow and become more refined, perhaps by organizations with actual resources, and will be ready for the next time.

Mommybloggers: We sat in the audience at BlogHer and cried as Cooper recounted the challenges and triumphs of your blogger-led charge to bring relief to devastated families. How has this experience changed you?

Cooper and Emily: It has completely changed both of us. We saw first-hand that moms, when they set their minds to something, get it done. The Clearinghouse worked because moms and dads across the country got the word out and took action. We have no doubt that moms are changing the world. ‘Naptime activists’ are popping up everywhere, it seems, to make their voices heard online. Just a decade ago (or less), many moms were much more isolated, but now they have the Internet and it’s so very cool to see the connections being made and actions being taken by these incredible women online.

Mommybloggers: Can bloggers really make a difference? What message would you like to send to other bloggers out there?

Cooper and Emily: (Mommy) Bloggers can and will change the world. It’s already happening, and we’re only at the beginning of what’s possible. We can’t wait until the millions and millions of moms who aren’t in the loop yet, discover how relevant and thoughtful and inspiring blog conversations are. Then, all bets are off. Moms are going to make their voices heard, really heard.

Mommybloggers: We've been following the employer interview situation in PA, thanks to MomsRising.org and Cooper's involvement. How important is it for parents to raise their voices and demand change? Where do we start?

Cooper and Emily: Oh boy, this is one of the most valuable lessons either of us has ever learned and we learned it in the last year: It is critical for all of us to demand change where and when we see a need. We all need to accept the fact that our voices count. Each and every one of us has the ability to make a big difference and to affect change, now, just by virtue of the fact that we understand the "blogosphere," that we "live" in this community on a daily basis, and that we can literally reach thousands of people, instantly.

There is so much good that can be done. Every link, every message, every call for action that a blogger puts out there reaches someone who does just that - takes action. We have noticed in recent months a subtle shift in the mommy blogging communtity -- there is still talk and conversation, but there is a whole heck of a lot of action, too. It is awesome and awe inspiring. We feel the earth moving as we speak.

As for Pennsylvania, Cooper wrote a piece (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06260/721997-109.stm) for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette last week, and www.momrising.org/pa has more information and a link to an online petition. If we can pass this legislation in Pennsylvania (which would make it illegal to discriminate against mothers in job interviews), we can move on to the 27 other states that have the same discrimination practices in place. It could also start a chain reaction on a host of other critical issues that hurt moms and kids.

As you can tell, we get worked up about stuff!

Mommybloggers: We're very excited about your most recent project... The MotherHood.net promises to be a fantastic site. We'd love to hear more about your plans for the site!

Cooper and Emily: We are so excited about theMotherHood.net, we can barely stand it!! We’re designing a site for moms that gets at so much of what we all want online – to connect, to find the information we’re looking for, and to help us accomplish whatever it is we need to get done each day. There’s nothing like it online, as far as we can tell, so we’re hoping moms will see it and will feel, maybe for the first time, that there is an online community where they can be right at home. We’re lucky we have some people who really believe in the project, an angel investor and the most incredible techies and creative people on the planet.

Mommybloggers: With six kids between you, and plenty of side projects, we're in awe of your passion and drive. What motivates you to keep on keepin' on?

Cooper and Emily: In the last year, we’ve been totally inspired by all the moms who came to the Clearinghouse and whom we’ve gotten to know through Been There. All of us seem to be doing much the same juggling act, what with our commitments to our families, schools, communities, and work. In some ways the two of us have it easier, because for our teamwork online, we can back each other up if one of us has kid with a fever or a school field trip.

We keep hearing (and we know first hand) how much it means to moms to connect with other like-minded women, to talk, problem solve, commiserate, make a difference, and we can’t wait to create a site that will let them do that in spades.

Mommybloggers: Emily, give us seven words that describe Cooper. Cooper, give us seven words that tell us more about Emily.

Cooper: Emily is brilliant, beautiful, kind, perceptive, driven, wise and fun.

Emily: Cooper is inspiring, creative, hilarious, caring, beautiful, focused, and oh-so-smart.

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

What is your favorite parenting-related word? Love What is your least favorite parenting-related word? Judgmental

What is your favorite creative censored curse word used around children? WTF and friggin’

What is your favorite hiding place within your home when you need to get away from it all? Our offices.

What hiding place have you been found in too often, and can no longer use? Our offices.

If Oprah exists, what would you like to hear her say when you arrive at the Oprah Winfrey show when she features the Mommybloggers? These ladies have made the world a better place and they are so much fun.