If you have had more than a couple conversations with me, I have probably told you at some point that  I think you should start a blog.

The truth is – I think everyone should start a blog.  Or a journal, or a scrapbook, or any other type of documentation of your life – but my preferred choice would be a blog.

When I started my blog back in 2008, I was using it solely as an online scrapbook/journal that would allow for my mom, who was living in California at the time, to keep up to date on our lives. That was it for me – that was as far as I had thought.  Honestly, I had never even heard the term “blogger”.  It was around this same time that blogspot came onto the scene in a big way and most of my friends also had family blogs.  It was a fun time and I loved catching up on my other friend’s blogs as well.

Then, Harlo was born and I abruptly decided I would not be carrying on my career as a full time surgical assistant with hopes to continue education as a labor and delivery nurse.  That just seemed out of the question now that I got a way better job (and a way cuter boss).  Because my husband was only in his first year of business, our money situation was a little on the scarce side.  We had to find free entertainment anywhere we could – and you know what was free?  Taking pictures of my darling baby and writing cute stories about our day on the internet.  What I meant for keeping my mom in the loop, turned into my favorite little hobby.  Fast forward 6 years and from this blog, my photography business came about, more babies were had, awards have been given, and our story truly has unfolded as my readership has grown.  From this blog, I have met some of my dearest friends like April and Tisse and Erica and Cara.  These are just a few of my favorite things about blogging.

ASIDE FROM ALL OF THAT, though, this blog is and always has been a love letter to my family – to my life.  I had no idea how invaluable this blog would be to me.  Our entire family’s history is right here in these pages.  That’s a big deal.  I can’t tell you how often I look back in the blog for something or other.  To see when Harlo and Stella started sitting up, or how much they weighed at a certain month, or what their favorite foods were.  I can prove to myself that I did actually say I enjoyed being pregnant at some point in my life.  I can look back and cry with myself over the times of struggle that I have shared here, and see how God had a hand in each situation.  When I go back through the pages of my blog, I can see how some of my opinions and ideas have changed, and I know that I have grown.  I can see I have matured and become more comfortable in my own skin.  When I read through this blog, I feel proud.  This is something I did long before I had any readers or sponsors and it’s something I’ll continue to do long after.  I am documenting my family here and I know that one day my girls and my posterity will find treasures in the words I have written here.

Which is why, I think you should start a blog.  Whether 20 thousand people read it, or no one at all.  Start a blog, start writing about your life, how you feel, what’s on your heart, what you hope your kids will know about you someday, and don’t ever stop. If you have started a blog, then got overwhelmed by being so behind – don’t worry! Start from right now and go forward.  No matter how much or how little you write, each post will be invaluable to you someday.

Here are my best tips for starting to document your life:

1. don’t worry about getting EVERYTHING.  Sometimes I haven’t gotten birthdays posted, or significant events and I become overwhelmed.  OH WELL.  Maybe someday I’ll tell you about Stella’s third birthday at Disneyland (because it was awesome) but today is not that day, and it’s okay.  Just pick up right where you are RIGHT NOW and write what you feel like.

2. You don’t have to be a professional photographer to start a blog. I wasn’t (I just became one *wink!*) and lots of people aren’t.  Do you take pictures only with your phone like the majority of society?  Great! Use those.. or even don’t worry about pictures at all.  Just write what happened, what you’re loving, something funny they said and call it a day.

3. Don’t forget the little things.  I promise you in 20 years (or even 2) you will seriously not care who got what for Christmas or where you went that year for Thanksgiving.  What you will want to know, that you probably forgot about is how your son has to watch elmo right when he wakes up everyday, or that your daughters favorite lunch is waffles, or that you find serious peace in your heart from folding your kids laundry (I don’t, but I hope you do!) Those are the little bits that will make your heart burst.  Luckily, those are the little bits that are easy to write about.

4. Tidbits.  Tidbits are an easy pressure-free post for me.  I named them tidbits because that’s what they are – just little bits and details about that child.  Throughout the month (or however often you choose to write about it) I will make notes on a notebook about funny things they’re doing or saying or they like that I want to include in the post.  Then I can snag any recent picture (one is more than enough!) and write them down.  It’s my favorite segment on this blog and I know a fan favorite as well.  You could start there.  You could have a blog full of tidbits only and be completely satisfied.

We mothers with young kids especially have lives that look exactly the same day to day, but change rapidly without us even realizing.  I try to capture in my writing exactly what our life looks like right now, because I promise you that in even 6 months I’ll re-read these posts and things will have changed dramatically.

Some of my favorite posts that stuck out over the years HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

So the moral to this story is to create a beautiful life and document it.
You never know what will happen, who you will reach or how blessed you’ll be from it.

 (photo c/o ashley flowers)