Here's how it's 'bout to go down on my blog

My blog has been through so much over the past three years.

End of 2008-2009 Was a blast going on and on back and forth about becoming a mom, then finally getting pregnant about a year after starting my blog.

2010 Was full of pregnancy documentation, promotions, and exploring the world of reviews and giveaways. Toward the end of 2010 I realized that wasn't for me and pretty much went in the opposite direction in 2011 avoiding most at all costs.

Toward the end I think I found a happy medium, and I hope to continue that.

I sorta felt like I fell into a mid-blogging-life crisis for a little while. I didn't want my blog to ONLY be about my daughter, in fact I wanted it to be about ME and my experiences raising her. Not "she did this and she did that..." I also didn't want to be a blogger who writes sponsored posts all the time. I like to craft but I'm not a "craft blogger" and I'll never be a go-to site for the coolest crafts. Maybe cool crafts for dummies because my skill level is as such.

I like photography, and taking photos but I'm learning as I go. I'm no Pioneer Woman.

I actually don't really focus on anything. Which some blogging coaches would say is not good if you want to "grow your blog."

This made me take a step back and ask myself once again, why I'm blogging.

It sure as heck isn't to make money. Not on this here blog. That should take some pressure off, right?

I love keeping a journal and I'm going to be totally honest right now... I love knowing that people are actually reading it. People actually think my life is interesting/ crazy/ entertaining/a bad reality show they can't turn off. Either way, it's flattering.

Ok there I said it.

So now that I got that off my chest, I'm trying to find a balance between keeping fabulous people who like to read my blog, but not CARING if nobody is reading my blog. Let me explain...

I don't really pay attention to my blog stats anymore. I get a weekly email with how many people visited but other than glancing that over I don't pay attention to the analytics. I DO however, read each and ever comment and email I get and I get all happy and sappy when I get a big response to a post. The problem is the opposite is true when I get little to no response. I'm like "wait, where did everyone go?... They must hate me... Ok I shouldn't write about that anymore."

So one person may say that my no-sew tshirt dress tutorial helped them SO MUCH, but in my head I'm like "huh, one comment, people must think that's boring."

Then someone may email or facebook me saying they loved it, and I get excited again for them. It's an emotional roller coaster.

Ok, its not that bad. It's silly, but some of that it goes through my head. Especially cause I'm a hypocrite. Yea, I'll admit it. I don't comment on blogs I read as much as I should either. Actually last year was so busy it was an all-time low for visiting other blogs and commenting back.

Ok, I'm going on way too long about this. Anyway, point is, I may have thought up a solution to my problem.

If I'm going to be honest with myself, I'm not writing this blog JUST for myself. It's for myself, my daughter, my family, my friends, and all of the people who have written to me and said my experiences and words have helped them in some way. If more people discover my little corner of the Internet, its awesome. But I can't stress about it. This aint a job. In fact, it's more like free therapy.

SO... To find the balance between caring and not caring and going back to my frequent stream-consciousnesses posts I'm going to write as if I'm writing this blog for myself and my best friend.

Funny thing is, I don't think my best friend reads my blog.

You know who else doesn't read my blog? ... Aside from my husband. (He doesn't read it either (but he's not allowed to)). My mom. Jeez, now that I think about it no one reads my blog. Except you. Therefore you will be like the BFF I'm writing to from now on. I can be silly, share my secrets (but not the ones that could get me fired or divorced) introduce you to cool things I find, teach you how I made something new, tell you how much I love being a mom, and ask you what you think of my new outfit, or the photo I took this morning.

And I won't be sad if you don't respond right away because hey, we are busy people. And life gets in the way. I can totally relate. Even if you don't talk for a while, you know your BFF is still there whenever you need them, and you can pick back up right where you left off.

Another thing... Going through my blog rolls and old posts I noticed an extremely different crowd. It's like a class of Baby Making Machine readers graduated and I'm yapping to a new group of kids.

I feel bad having a blog roll when I can't add everyone. Especially when I'd most like to visit those who visit me and see what yall are all about because if you like me that means I'd probably like you too.

To solve this problem I got rid of my blog rolls on the sidebar and my friends link at the top. Now I can focus on getting to know visitors who want to be visited and make new blog friends. How will I know who you are, you ask? With my handy dandy stalker tracker of course. It'll email me your address and I can come visit your house and bring you cookies!

KIDDING OF COURSE!

My comments section will be like my daily blog roll. If you leave your link in your comment, or if it's attached to your name and you've updated within a month, I'll assume you don't mind me paying you a visit back. I've already been doing this since the start of the year and it's SO NICE visiting you back!

So there you have it! My blogging resolution to write as if this is for me and my BFF in a nutshell.