At the age of 36, Bellevue residents Ilana Long and her husband tried just about everything to get pregnant.
They visited numerous fertility doctors and began a regimen hormone treatments and routine checkups. The end result was a little blue line and double diaper duty. Long and her husband had twins.
The author of the new book, The Binky Conspiracy: True Tales of Mommydom, shares her journey through motherhood with true-life tales of raising her twins.
These days, Long divides her time between writing, raising her 6-year-old twins Benji and Marina, teaching at Open Windows/Vista Academy in Bellevue, and taking the stage as a stand-up comic.
“I’ve always craved the spotlight and enjoyed sharing my story in a creative way,” Long said. “Being a mother is probably the funniest thing there is. How could I not share about the potty-training era or the thumb-sucking trials?”
Long first shared her humorous tales of motherhood five years ago at gatherings for the Eastside Mothers of Multiples (EMOM) group. She turned her everyday struggles as a new mom into stand-up comedy to share with other new parents. She began writing short stories for EMOM monthly newsletter, Multiple Madness.
“What was amazing to me, was that all the moms could really relate to my stories,” she said with a laugh. “They knew exactly what I was struggling with because motherhood is universal. After some prompting by other mothers in the group, I decided to turn my short stories into a book.”
The Binky Conspiracy covers topics from first tantrums to the Tooth Fairy and includes hand-drawn cartoons by Long herself.
“I had such a fun time writing this book,” she said, who spent the last year with her family teaching at a school in Cancun, Mexico. “It’s great to be able to look back now and laugh at all those hard times when I thought I was going crazy as a new parent. I think any parent who reads this book will be able to relate and laugh right along.”
Long lives with her husband and two twins in Bellevue.
Lindsay Larin can be reached at 425.453.4602.
The Binky Conspiracy: True Tales of Mommydom is available on Amazon.com for $6.99/paperback, www.amazon.com/Binky-Conspiracy-True-Tales-Mommydom/.
