I have been thinking about our family blog and I've been wondering: When you visit a blog, what do you like to read about? What is it that you read that makes you think at the end, "Wow, I can't wait til they post something new" ?

I've had many blogs in the past and I've blogged about many things. The problem is - I'm inconsistent and unfocused.

When I think about why I return to family blogs, it's usually because I know the people being discussed. I know that I like to see things like:

• Weekly recaps on what's happening with the family
• Milestones of children within the family
• Stories from daily life that correlate with pictures posted
• Newsflash moments

Yes, there have been times when I've reread some of my blogs from the past and simply been embarrassed. Why? I suppose because I ramble, mostly. Or I'll have been in a goofy mood, tried to write something funny, and when I reread it now - it's just sounds stupid :) Other times I forget that there's an audience and I'll write about something that might be more appropriate for my personal journal.

So while we're still in January, I'm going to make somewhat of a resolution for my 2011 blogging. I'm going to do my best to remain focused on the types of postings that I like to read in others' blogs. I'm going to do my best to refrain from rambling or sharing things that should remain in my personal journal. And I'm going to do my best to post more often.

Here's to a more enjoyable year of blogging!!

A Man's Work is From Sun to Sun, but a Mother's Work is Never Done

Look! I'm back! Did you wonder what happened to me? No? Oh well, I'm back. And - It's 4:07 in the morning. And I'm blogging. I couldn't do that a month ago. So what was different a month ago? We moved on Saturday to our new house in Elkhart from North Liberty in Indiana. In North Liberty, we had to fight for good cell phone service, we had no cable, no internet at home. I had to go to Starbucks, Panera Bread or the library to use the internet. Frustrating. And all of those places were at least twenty minutes from our house. Well, with the exception of the library. There was one around the corner - but the internet was pretty slow. It just took a long time to do what I needed to do, however I was going to do it. And then there's the whole issue of feeling obligated to buy a danish or at least a coffee since they were kind enough to provide internet service for me. Maybe not at the library. But no longer! No longer do I have to travel outside the front door to share my day with the world.

I'm also a new mom. I love it! That in and of itself is a very good reason as to why I haven't been able to blog. It's very much more constant than I ever realized. Who knew, huh? My poor husband comes home from a long day of work. Gets to eat his food. Gets to watch TV. Gets to play a video game. Gets to sleep at night. I work all day at the house, doing what I can between feedings, changes, screams, putting someone to sleep. I have to negotiate my way to a meal. I might be able to watch some TV with my husband if I can get the baby to fall asleep in my arms. Or if I can get her to play with something nearby. Play a game? Before she goes to bed for the night? Forget it. Too many interuptions. So while I love being a mom (this is what I've prayed for since I was little, right?), it is a life altering adjustment. I knew it would be. Everyone has told me for years that it would be. I guess you just don't fully comprehend what that means and entails until you experience it.

I am sincerely thrilled that I can get online at four in the morning, without constantly trying to log back on, to blog. I am looking forward to doing this all the time! This is wonderful :) Cause hey, when else am I going to do it?

Does this ever happen to you??

You're living life and loving it - and the perfect blog topic enters your mind?? But then when you're sitting in front of your computer screen, trying to remember what that phenominal topic was ... you go blank?

So, that happens to me all the time. Rather than just tell you about my day, I'd rather give you stories and pictures so that you could experience my day. Dan and I were driving to [our new house] and I asked him, "hey, handsome face - if you ventured into your mom's attic and you found your great-great-grandfather's journal, what would you hope to find inside it??"

BEFORE WE GO ON... My answer to that question probably would have been, "a picture, their thoughts, their dreams, an idea of what their days were really like, what they wanted to achieve before they died, what they felt their purpose in life was" - you know, shallow things like that :)

But his answer included ... "money, a map to buried treasure, stock certificates for IBM, family secrets, etc"

THIS has actually helped me out tremendously :) So now in all of my journals, I will put at least one dollar between two pages and I have been inspired to capture "family secrets" - you know, just stuff that we wouldn't necessarily shout about or expect anyone to care about in the future. Hmm... I'm interested in capturing some :)