Feeling Reflective

Reflecting upon Declan’s first year made me start thinking about this past year for me, as it has been a year of changes…all around!  The first three months of motherhood went by in a flash of dirty diapers, around the clock nursing, and very few hours of quality sleep.  However, by the time I was 6 months in, I found myself missing working; not cooking, cleaning, diaper laundry type of working, but the brain-bending, deadline-meeting type of work.

I wasn’t necessarily missing adult conversation and contact, as I had a network of other SAHMs and adults that I regularly got together with, it was the feeling that my talents weren’t being put to use, that my creative abilities just weren’t being tapped-into.  It was around this time that I really started to question my decision to become a stay-at-home mom.  While I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to be home with Declan, and know how important of a job it is, I find it boring, and not challenging in the ways that I need to be challenged.  There, I said it, and I’m sure a lot of people will be offended.

I gained a new respect for SAHMs once I became one.  It’s really like a career path, some people are meant to do it (and are great at it), and others just aren’t cut out for it.  I waver between both sides.  I have good days and bad days.  Days where I threaten to get a job and put Declan in day care (just so that I can regain my sanity).  Thankfully, once I began to get more sleep (D began sleeping through the night at 8 1/2 months), I found a way to challenge myself: blogging.

I actually started blogging through work, as we used a blog as a platform to talk about and market the wonderful books we were selling.  After writing a few trade posts, I started my own blog once home from my honeymoon; Miscellaney: A Hodgepodge of Thoughts is still out there, collecting dust.  There are a few posts I’d like to migrate over, like my birth story, but I may just rewrite them instead.

I really felt the need to be challenged, stay fresh, and acquire more skills in order to market myself when I eventually decided to return to work.  In a nutshell, I started this blog to be something of an online portfolio that would serve to exercise my brain (in some of the ways that I need be challenged) and give me a sense of purpose, apart from my amazing job as a mom.  In just 5 months, this blog has already become more than I ever thought that it would, and it continues to grow and change before my eyes.  I’ve already met so many wonderful people through the world of blogging, and have been able to meanfully interact with some amazing companies.

Reflecting on my own reasons for blogging, made me curious to find out what motivated some of my blogger friends to begin blogging.  I’d love to share some of them with you:

I initially went into blogging as a writing outlet and to connect with family and friends. Blogging helped me discover this amazing community of moms and bloggers online.
~ Mindy from The Inquisitive Mom

I originally began blogging to keep family updated, which switched to sharing products we like.  Entering giveaways is what got me into review blogging the most though.
~ Karine from SAHM of Drama Queens & a Prince

I started blogging when first my son was 4 weeks old.  It was a way to share pictures and document my journey as a mom with family.  We had no family within hundreds of miles and my husband was getting ready to deploy.  During that deployment I rediscovered a love for writing.  One day I shared about a product that got my baby to sleep and got my first “random” comment.  I was hooked on sharing products from then on!  4 years later my passion and sanity saver has become my business.
~ Emily from Our Knight Life

I started blogging when I got pregnant. It was my outlet to the world because I was home all the time.  I wasn’t working towards the end of my pregnancy so I needed something to do to keep from losing my mind.  Now I do it because I love sharing my opinion and occasionally getting up on my soapbox.
~ Kelly from A Mother’s Design