100th Post!: Why I Blog

For my 100th post (!), I thought I would tell y'all why I write this little blog.

When I began the blog, almost 2 years ago, I was newly married, newly pregnant, and living in Arizona, far away from my family. I wanted a place to share our new life together, to document my pregnancy, and to post a million pictures for my mom. I never expected anyone to read it (except my mom of course), so I started writing for myself right from the beginning. I wrote about the sweet little baby growing inside me, about my experience with pregnancy, and immediately began to feel like I was a part of a community of women sharing about this time in our lives. I loved that.

I began to love this little space of mine. It gave me a place to document all of the things we were doing. It gave me a place to share our life with others. And most importantly, it gave me a place to come and unwind, to open up, and to relax at the end of a long day. It has become a peaceful place for me. Where I go to share my heart. It is my therapy.

I've written things on this blog that I haven't ever said out loud. Letters to my son that I (and he, hopefully) will cherish forever. Musings on this amazing scary wild and wonderful new role as a mother. Daily heartache I experienced as a full-time working mama. And most recently, sharing about my sweet Oliver has helped me through the grieving process in ways that I can't even explain. Sharing these things with you has done so much good for me.

I've come to realize that I blog because I need to. Because I love to. This is where I open my heart and my mind and let all of the love and pain and joy and sadness pour out so that it doesn't boil over inside me. I hope whoever reads this blog enjoys it, feels encouraged or less alone or understood because of what I write here. I hope it brings some good to the world. But even if not, it makes me better to share my life with you. This little blog has enriched my life in so many ways already in these two short years, and I can't wait to see where it brings me next.

Every few months I go back and read some of my old posts and I am so blessed by them. It's amazing to read what was running through my head when I was pregnant, falling in love with my little man before I had even met him. It's amazing to read about those first few weeks with him. There are so many things that I forget, so I'm happy to have these old posts to remind me of the little things that have happened in our life. I hope one day Emmett will read this blog and see how much I loved him. When he's a teenager torturing me with his angst I plan to pull this up and show him so he'll be nice to me again. :) I would give anything to have access to my mom's thoughts when she was pregnant with me, after I was born and during my childhood. How amazing would that be?

So these are a few of the reasons why I blog. There are more, and I know over time I will discover new reasons. I hope you enjoy reading what I write here. I hope my silly little blog blesses you (at least a fraction) as much as it blesses me.