Main Page Blog Getting Pregnant Articles Pregnancy Articles Parenting Articles TLOL Article Directory Chinese Gender Chart Pregnancy and Parenting Journals	MUD by Ashley Ocampo What is MUD you may be asking, MUD is short for Mothers Understanding Dirt. We are the rejects from Practically Perfect Mothers of America. Which do you belong to? Well, read on, decide for yourself... :-) Practically Perfect Mothers of America, I'm sure you know at least one member. Their children are NEVER seen in dirty shirts, or with messy faces and hands. Their children's clothes always match, no rips or tears in the knees. A PPMA member is the one who is perfectly made up and coiffed at preschool drop off in the morning, when you are rushing your child thru the door in your sweats and a quickly pulled up pony tail. Part of me WANTS to be a PPMA mom, but I'm realistic, I know I'll never make the cut. I'm lucky if I can get my 2 year old to WEAR clothes, matching is unimportant when you are faced with taking naked bums out to shop for groceries. Cameron also seems to have that problem known as "Pigpen Effect" after the character in Charles Schultz's Peanuts. He can walk out the door fresh and clean, and within seconds be dirty. It's as if every dirt particle in a 100 yard radius is instantly aware of a clean kid, and rushes to remedy that problem. No, I will never be a PPMA mom. Not being one who likes to feel left out, I came up with the idea of starting my own club, Moms Understanding Dirt or MUD for short. Our club uniform is a T-shirt and sweats. I'm sure there are alot of us out there, hiding from the PPMA who shake their heads in pity at us in the store. There's power in numbers, even if it's just the reassurance that you aren't the only one who's child is perpetually dirty and mismatched. Trust me, you aren't, I have 2 of them right here. In fact, Cameron has pudding face right now. So if you are like me, a PPMA reject, I hope you will come join our online chapter of MUD. Here you will be accepted, dirty faces and all, you get extra points if you have at least one smudge on your clothes from a child. Yes, rejoice in the messiness, at least they are having fun. LOL In the meantime, be sure to look for me at the grocery, I'll be the one with the 2 tots, with dirty faces, unsnapped pants, and missing shoes. You'll recognize me by my sloppy pony tail, and sweats! Ashley is a WAHM to 4 wonderful, wacky, and exhausting children. They are Courtney, 14, a teen girl in EVERY sense of the word..(moms of teens, you KNOW what I mean...LOL); Lanie, the budding gymnast and Brownie Scout, 7; Cameron, aka, "Messy Boy" ,who has language delays and sensory integration dysfunction, 2 1/2; and Nicholas, 15 months, he's the quiet one, probably because he spends alot of time wondering just what kind of a crazy family he was born into. Ashley 's biggest accomplishement to date is her proud mastery of being able to clean a major poopy with the single remaining wipe! She is also known for her superior negotiation abilities, and contributes to world peace daily by helping to avert bloodbaths between fighting siblings. Ashley, her DH, Nels, their kids, the cat and the dog, all live in the Panhandle of FL. Ashley is a Site Administrator at http://www.thelaboroflove.com .