Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Celebrating Two Years of Blogging

This blog is now two years old! Woo Hoo!!! Goodness, time has changed so much over the past few years. When I started this journey I knew immediately that I would only use my daughter's middle name when I wrote about her. I did this for a few reasons. The biggest reason being safety. I've been fortunate enough to make some wonderful new friends through this blog but you can't be too cautious when writing about your personal life, especially when children are involved.


Two years ago when I started this journey I had no clue what I would be writing about other than the basics of our daily life or even if anyone would be remotely interested in the things I had to say. It surprises me every time someone leaves a comment and I never knew how happy they would make me.

We had an amazing dog, Joshua Barron, when this blog was started. He was in his senior years when Violet was born and so the two only had a few short years together but they were a wonderful pair. We recently came across a picture of Violet and Joshua and she looked at it and said, "Joshy!". They had a great relationship. Joshua always brought giggles out of Violet by constantly cleaning her ears with a big slobbery lick (something that mortified me at first and then I just gave up trying to stop after a while). And Violet was a constant source of food for Joshua once she started eating solids. It was great never having to worry about crumbs under the table because he always took care of those for us. We miss Joshua but are thankful for the time we had with him.


Since I started this blog Violet has turned THREE and FOUR!!! Goodness, where does time go? And how does it go by so fast? The last few years have just whizzed past us. It hardly seems possible that Violet will turn FIVE in August. Thankfully we have several more months to go before another birthday arrives. Violet has grown so much in the past year, physically and personally. She has a giant-sized personality for such a little girl and is a never ending source of joy and love. Unfortunately, she can also be a giant-sized source of frustration when she decides she doesn't want to do something. Gregg and I often struggle to find the right strategy that will work with Violet when we want her to do something she doesn't want to do. It's not as easy as just saying, "You're going to do it because I said so", although that would be wonderful. No, our daughter is as independent as they come. A personality trait that she comes by naturally. And as frustrating as it can be sometimes, her independent self is also a huge blessing. I have no doubt that our little girl's strong-willed personality will someday help her in life to stand up for herself and for what she believes. But until that day comes, and for this present time, we have to figure out how to get her to bend to our thoughts, wills and desires without breaking her spirit in the process.


One of the many benefits of keeping a blog, especially for the mom-bloggers out there, you can keep track of what you child does, has done, and what they will eventually do someday. This is our way of chronologically recording what happens with our children. Some people do this by scrap booking. I applaud the mothers who spend hours scrap booking their baby's lives. I wish I had the artistic flair to be able to do that. I have all kinds of scrapbook essentials to do this but I'm too easily distracted to keep up with it all. I wish I could do that. Or, I wish someone would do it for me. So I have this, blogging. I write about the things Violet says and does. Writing about her life (and life with her) helps me to hold on to time. And, when I do get around to working on my scrapbooks I'll be able use this blog (and my journals) to help me fill in any blanks.

From the moment I knew I was pregnant I went to Barnes & Noble and bought myself a fancy journal. I started writing in it the day we found out we were pregnant. I had so many thoughts running through my head that I just HAD to put onto paper. I've gone through several journals over the past four and a half years. I will be christening a new journal in August when Violet turns five. Gosh, my baby will be FIVE in a few short months!!! As much as my journals and this blog are about me as a mother they are just as equally a part of Violet. They wouldn't exist if she hadn't graced our world and allowed us the privileged of being her parents. Someday Violet will open up my journals and this blog and discover my hopes, my dreams, my great love for her and how much I respect her. Hopefully she'll have a better understanding of all the things that make me tick and makes me who I am as her mother and as a woman. Will she like me? I hope so. Will she still love me? God, please say yes. Will she know who her Mommy was as a person/a wife/a mother and as a friend? Lord, please let the answers be yes, yes, yes, and yes.

The past two years have whizzed past us. Time has brought about alot of changes and yet there are many things that remain the same. I love being a stay-at-home mom and can't imagine life any other way. My love for my family grows with each day. When I think I can't love them any more than I already do, something happens that makes my heart swell even more. I've been given the desires of my heart and I can't thank God enough for blessing my life so abundantly. I can't wait to see what He has in store for our little family in the years to come. I hope that you're lives are brightened in some small way through here. Thank you for joining us in this journey and for being my friends.

6 comments:

Jen said...

What a great post!!! I feel the same way. When I started my blog I never expected to meet so many great people.

Kimberly said...

Beautifully written. Congrats on your two year aniversary!

Kimberly said...

Thanks ladies!

Glenna said...

Thank YOU for sharing your life and your daughter and husband's lives with us. We are blessed for knowing you.

Kimberly said...

Glenna ~ Thank you for such a sweet comment.

jenni said...

Happy 2 years! :)