Check Check, Is This Thing On?

Do people even read blogs anymore?


I mean, its been close to a year since i've posted anything on mine. We've talked about it a lot over on instagram, but honestly, the joy of writing, of community, of sharing fun DIY and money saving ideas quickly just got squashed by an oversaturated market of like to know it links, swipe ups, loop giveaways, and inflated social media numbers.

I was over it. I didn't want to play that game. I like writing. I like my online diary, sharing pictures and DIY and our family life. I read back on a lot of my old posts with such a smile on my face because it reminds me of that blissfully quiet time in our life, pre-kids, pre-promotions, pre-giant fixer upper lake house. We were naive and had time and I just loved sharing the simple ways we were learning how to be adults.

It's hard to translate that when your day becomes saturated with changing diapers, constant runny noses, deadlines at work, long hours, and little sleep. The tone isn't the same. Add in the pressure of never ending "influencer marketing" growth requirements and it's just a sure fire way to burn out, and quick.

I mean, scroll your instagram feed, how many people on it look exactly the same? I mean sure, they're different people. But I'm willing to bet some serious cheddar over half of your feed today is Nordstrom anniversary sale picks. The exact same picks, from 408 different people. It's hard to stay motivated to keep doing something you love, when the market has pretty much been tapped.

But i'm brought back to this: I love writing. I love our day to day family life, and I think it's a balance. This blog has been such a great way for me to look back on Sawyer's monthly updates and compare them to Isla at the same age. I've loved to look back on the progress we've made in our house, or remember how much fun I had 5 years ago DIYing our entire wedding. It's like peeking back into an old yearbook, or reading your diary from junior high.

I don't want to stop writing those things out, I don't want to stop reading about our life and what my tone was back then in 5-10 years when those words mean so much more to me than they do today.

So ultimately, I have no intention of running ads, of growing my instagram audience, of joining like to know it or even posting at a regular cadence, but I do want to write. I want to write what is in my heart, write about my family, with respect to the fact that my kids are getting older and deserve to have a voice about what of their life is shared to the masses of course, but i've always looked at this space as a space I can just let it all out, and I think i'll continue to do just that.

I don't even know what great blog numbers look like anymore, but I will say, at the height of blogging, I was averaging close to 300k views per month, and this last month there were less than 3k (all on that stinking how to blowdry your hair post, go figure..I took those photos with an iPhone 4!)  so who knows if this will even be read, but it feels good to get it out there, it feels good to have an update on this online diary of ours.

And because there isn't a single blog post worth reading that doesn't have pictures, here are our recent Spring family photos taken by my dear friend and the ever talented Jessica Robinson Photography. The kids are getting so big. They're hilarious and fun and the coolest little people I know and our love for them is boundless. Isla is feisty and a little mean, but loves her people fierce, and Sawyer is sensitive, loving, and dinosaur obsessed. They love each other, fight like nobodies business, and keep Jake and I constantly on our toes. We are the lucky ones.

 

Thanks for following along.

Until Next Time,