When I started this blog back in 2011, I used to religiously read some other blogs as well. One of them was 71toes.com. Shawni is a mom of 5 who lives in Arizona. She blogs about her life with her kids, the joys, the small things, motherhood, everything. I'm honestly not sure how I found her blog, but something about it captivated me. I spent months going through her archives and reading every single blog post of hers. She made me SO excited to be a mom someday. Granted, I was only 19 years old and a freshman in college when I was reading this, so it was a long ways off. But I often dreamed of a life with 5 kids of my own who I loved and cherished.
I still follow Shawni and her family to this day on Instagram. I truly enjoy keeping up with her family and I feel like I actually know them after reading about their lives for the past 13 years. Shawni and her sisters now have a podcast called "In the Arena" where they mostly talk about motherhood. I've learned now as an adult as I listen to their podcast and read their blogs that it's not necessarily that their lives are "better" than mine, but their attitudes are. Shawni often talks about how grateful she is for the little things, she generally has a positive attitude towards things, sets goals, talks about the future, is generally inspiring and makes me want to be like that too.
In today's world with social media it is soooo easy to compare myself to other people. I mean you are constantly being blasted with photos and videos of what other people have. People posting their children's accomplishments, perfectly posed family pictures where everyone is smiling, spotless houses, expensive vacations. It makes it so hard to "keep up". There are also so many tik toks and instagram reels out there talking about parenting and people criticizing each other that it makes it feel like i'm doing it all wrong. Frankly, I hate it. I want to step back from social media but it is so dang addicting that I find myself just going back to it after a few days. I get sucked in again and i'm playing the comparison game with complete strangers, and i'm feeling low.
As i've been listening to "In the Arena" recently, it has brought me back to the days of college where I was reading Shawni's blog and I was so excited about motherhood. That podcast has inspired me to start blogging again, so that's why I'm here. My goal on this blog is to be REAL. Show real life, behind the scenes, what we are doing. The messy, the struggles, but mostly the beautiful realness that i'm grateful for. My goal is that I can not only change my attitude a bit about motherhood and life in general, but use my blog as a way to document my family just how we are in this moment. The little things Hudson and Nora say and do that are so cute. A little moment in time where I can look back and say "Wow, that was hard, but also look at all the cute little things they did and how chubby their cheeks were".
So if you are reading here, welcome :) I'm so excited to start being in this space again. It's been awhile!
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