Announcement! – I have a Mom Blog now. *Shudders* Why on earth would I decide to take my rambling public? Goodness woman. There’s seventy million moms out there already writing about sleep deprivation, adventures in potty training, and coffee till wine memes. Why start a mom blog when there are a million already?
I’ve been writing on this blog for a while now, mostly to document our life and adventures and share them with our friends and family. But those of you who’ve dropped in before may have noticed that the blog got a little bit of an upgrade these past couple months (maybe you haven’t and I’m entirely too self-inflated!) I’m taking this show on the figurative road.
I don’t know where this blog will go. Maybe I’ll nurture this thing like a newborn and it will be read by 10 people. Maybe the Today show will call me tomorrow and declare me a parenting sensation because I managed to string two sentences together and put on pants this morning. The possibilities are endless.
So why start a mom blog?
I want a new challenge.
I love being a stay at home mom, but between the dishes and the laundry, there isn’t a lot of mental stimulation happening. There are only so many episodes of Paw Patrol a woman can watch before her brain turns to Jell-O. This is a scientific fact. I read it on the internet, so it must be true.
I need hobbies.
I absolutely love the challenge of learning something new. I start endless hobbies because I’m nuts, but also because staying stagnant sounds absolutely suffocating. I would legit go back to college just to take classes for fun if I could.
Here’s a sampling of my attempted hobbies in the past few years:
Carpentry & Furniture Building
Crochet
Sewing
Calligraphy
Cake Decorating
Furniture Refinishing & Upcycling
Travel with Kids
Hiking
Biking
Camping
Gardening
Canning (yes, like preserving food in jars)
DIY Beauty Product Making
DIY Cleaning Product Making
All Crafts on Pinterest
Excessive Party Decorations
I’ve had varying levels of success.
I try a lot of things, just to learn how to do them. Honestly, I’m not always that good at stuff. Damn you crochet!! But I’m always all in. I have this problem with dipping my toes gently into something. I tend to just go ALL OUT RIGHT AWAY. I worry about my actual skill level later.
It’s good sometimes to be pragmatic about your skill level, lest you spend an entire summer wearing homemade clothing because you were operating under the delusional belief that you were good at sewing.
Maybe normal people don’t attempt to go camping for the first time with a 1 year old and a 3 year by themselves.
But sometimes my unshakable belief that I can master anything if I’m committed enough works out in my favor.
When I decided to take up carpentry my husband was a little skeptical. Of course Jake loves me, and believes in me, and supports me 100%. But let’s be honest. Who here wouldn’t be a little concerned when their pregnant wife announces that she’s taking her moderate skills with a basic tool box and building floor to ceiling bookcase. Dude don’t worry. It will be fine.
Those bookcases turned out fabulous.
All this is to say I have a 50/50 shot of actually reaching people who want to read what I’ve written or having literally no one even understand what I’m talking about.
So why start a mom blog?
Life has been too routine around here lately. I’m a suburban mom of 2… we are constantly busy with the oddly full social schedule of a 4-year-old and a 2-year- old. But it’s all routine. Colds, holidays, school commitments, doctor’s appointments, family obligations – these are not things that light a fire in the soul. I’m not saying life around here is bad, but I love the spark of excitement that builds when I’m on the verge of a new project.
But really. Why a blog?
Last year our family embarked on our#yearofadventure. We visited 100 parks, traveled a lot, had a crap ton of fun, and learned soooo much. We also had epic meltdowns, serious fails, many frustrations, and frequent less than Instagram worthy moments.
But when I was searching the deep recesses of the internet for families who were crazy like ours, I couldn’t find a lot of blogs about families I could relate to. We aren’t a full-time travel family living in a RV and taking endlessly perfect photos in the sunset. But we aren’t a complete hot mess failure family either (well, ok, depends on the day). We’re just… somewhere in the middle. We have our good days and our bad days, but we keep trying anyways.
I kept looking for someone, somewhere to be like – Hey! We go on adventures and they are awesome and epic, but also my kid spent 3 hours on a boat tour in the Tetons screaming uncontrollably. These things can coexist! You can have adventures with your kids. It won’t be perfect, but it will be so worth it.
So I started this blog so I could say Hey! You can have adventures with your kids. It won’t be perfect, but it will be so worth it.
I would love it if you would follow along and share the misadventures with me!
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Interested in reading more about why other moms are starting blogs?
Head over to my internet BFF Mom’s Got it Made and read her post – What Compels Millions of Women to Start Mom Blogs?
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Head over to my bloggers connect page to get in touch!
I love your reason for starting a mom blog. I love vacationing too, but we are also far from perfect and I could not imagine living in a RV either.
Love your reasons for starting a blog! I started my blog because I wanted to share my homeschool journey with other parents but that spiraled into writing about other subjects as well. Mostly parenting.
It’s funny how quickly it spirals once we get going!
I totally felt the same way. I started a food blog and figured I was in the thousands of mom’s starting a blog. But it’s been a fun ride!
Glad you’ve been enjoying it!
I enjoyed reading about your reason or why behind your mom blog. I think sharing your experiences and adventures as a family who is in the middle is wonderful! I agree that there are not many mom blogs like this out there. This is a great blog post, one that totally resonated with me. Thank you for sharing your why for starting a mom blog! Good luck with your adventure!!
I’m glad it resonated with you!
Love it! I stopped my blog becaaue « there’s so many out there » crisis, but then i got a full time and couldn’t find time, but reading this made me realize that I do need that stimulation. Away from work, my baby and my non-existent social life, why not! So I’m going to pick it back up! Thanks a million for the inspiration! Good luck and I love reading yours! Bisous XX
Thanks so much! I think that if it brings you joy then you should do it! Life is too short to worry about what everyone else is doing!
I believe if a blog is giving you pleasure, that’s enough of a reason to write it. But if you can share your adventures with other likeminded families, and maybe inspire some along the at, even better. You have tried a lot of hobbies. I am in awe. I am not a doer, I’m more of a procrastinator. But I do really need floor to ceiling bookcases, maybe I should try making my own… #globalblogging
You should try it… what could go wrong lol!
I love reading them even if there are so many out there! The same goes with my fashion blog.
I love reading mom blogs, and yours appeals to me because of the travel / adventure aspect!
Thanks!
I love your writing style! I agree with you that there’s huge value in the challenge of learning something new – I’m surprised by how much I’ve enjoyed learning about all the back-end stuff that goes into blogging.
Thanks! There seriously is so.much.stuff to learn!
Congratulations on launching your mom blog! 🙂 If you have a passion for it, that is reason enough to do it. You go girl!
Thank you!
I totally get where you’re coming from. That’s why I started my blog, when LP went to school I knew I would get bored so started writing. Good luck with it – I’m sure you’ll do fine!
#DreamTeam
Thanks!
Good luck with it all lovely, looking forward to following your adventures #dreamteam
Good luck with your blog. We all need a little escapism and a place on the internet to vent. Pen x #globalblogging
Thanks!
Love this. That’s the great thing about blogging, anyone can do it. I started because I wanted to keep a diary of what we got up to, but it was only 6 months in I realised that there were mum blogs and a community! #globalblogging
Haha I know! I suddenly was like wait… there’s other people out here!
If you love writing and blogging then that’s good enough reason to start! I’ve loved it since I’ve started and love reading all the blogs and being part of the blogging community! #dreamteam
Love this! You literally took the words right out of my mouth, lol. When I started my Mom Blog, I was thinking the same thing, “why do this when I’m just going to be one of three million others”, but my brain was also in desperate need of stimulation and needed a break from Elmo and Spongebob. Now looking back, I’m so glad I did start it. Even though its tough to find the time to dedicate to it, its good for my inner self to have this connection and time! <3 #wanderingwednesday
Desperation is a pretty strong motivator!
You go girl! Everyone has different stories to share, so I see every reason for everyone to write. Blogging is such a great way to connect with others too.
Thanks for joining #WanderingWednesday!
It really is a great way to “meet” people!
Yay! And I for one am super glad you started a Mum Blog! I was much the same, and I had to laugh at you having tried ‘all crafts on Pinterest’…I may have a ball of yarn I’m trying to crochet sat beside me right now!! Will look forward to reading more from you! Thank you for linking this to #DreamTeam!
I love this post! I’ve just started blogging again. I tried to divert my interest to something else but it seems that I prefer to write things. #fortheloveofblog
You sound so much like me trying all those different things. I love to be that way and I think it teaches our kids that life never has to be boring, you can always learn something new!
Love this! Thank you for sharing! I’m a high school teacher turned sahm who needs more mental stimulation for sure!!! I’ll be following your posts! Looking forward to reading more! I’m at http://www.bringingupjoy.com just starting out with blogging, would love any feedback from another mom blogger!
Love your reasons for starting a blog! Thank you for sharing!
I’m glad you started your blog! I’m a firm believer that there is room for everyone 🙂
I love your wit Megan! That alone makes you worth reading! Keep up the positive vibes!!
#WanderingWednesdays
Thank you! You too!
Love this! Sharing experiences are so important even if there’s already a million people already doing it.
I love this! I love the idea of reading about your adventures as family! It’s such a great way of recording them all too! Can’t wait to read more! 😀#fortheloveofBLOG
I love this! I love the idea of hearing about yiur adventures as a family and look forward to reading more! #fortheloveofBLOG
Thank you!
We just started our blog, too, and it’s so much fun! It’s such great outlet in which to express yourself and engage with fellow parents.
#WanderingWednesday
I have been blogging for 18 months and hadn’t even read another blog before I started on my own! I learnt a lot VERY quickly! I can’t wait to read about your adventures. Thanks for linking up with #globalblogging
Yes there is so much to learn!
Love your reasons! And I totally agree! It’s such a great way to share!
I started my Mummy blog nearly one year ago! I agree with everything you said here, I love blogging. Thanks for sharing with #fortheloveofBLOG
Why not start another? Everyone has something different to bring to the proverbial table.