I’m so excited for my very first post on mommynificent.com! This blog has been a long time in the making, and it’s thrilling to see some things finally coming together on it.

Let’s start with introductions. We are a family of seven – a dad, a mom, three girls, and two boys. When our oldest was a toddler, we often called her Maggie, though it seems she is swiftly outgrowing that nickname. 🙁 My sister brought her a new book for Christmas when she was two-and-a-half, and it made frequent use of the word, “Magnificent!” She came out of the room after having it read to her and announced, “I am Mag—nificent!!!” We all thought it was adorable. She continued, “And Mommy, you’re Mommynificent. And Daddy, you’re Daddynificent…” She went around the room, proclaiming everyone’s “nificent-ness.” In the egocentricity of a toddler, she thought the entire book was proclaiming how wonderful she was by using her name over and over, and she wanted to share that encouragement with all of us. We loved it, and it stuck. We’ve been a family of “nificents” ever since. My husband has long referred to our three girls affectionately as “Big,” “Middle,” and “Little.” They think it’s hilarious, and when we talked about pseudonyms or “superhero names” for our new blog, they quickly asked if they could be Bignificent, Middlenificent, and Littlenificent.

Like all good superheroes, we do a lot of flying. No, really, we do. (Okay, fine, we ride on planes, but we really do a lot of flying.) We live and work internationally. Before Bignificent was a year old, she had been on more than 50 airplanes! And things haven’t slowed down much since then.