My Blog was Featured in the Newspaper!

I have been wanting to share my exciting news for weeks, my blog was selected to be featured in a newspaper article about mom blogs from around the state. As excited as I was to share the news, I wanted to wait until after the article was published in the paper that way I could share the actual article with you. Then we had quite a bit happen last week so I haven’t been able to share my news…until now! I want to share this exciting news with all of you, my wonderful readers, because its with your help that my blog is a success. I want to thank all of you for being a dedicated follower of my blog, I have really gotten to know some of you and have formed some truly wonderful friendships!

Back in January I received an email from a reporter that writes for our state newspaper. She had come across my blog and wondered if I would be interested in answering a few questions about my blog and about being a mommy blogger. The story she was working on was about mom blogs from around the state and the questions were simply about when I started blogging, if I use my blog to share memories with friends and family, who my intended audience is and what I hope my readers take from my blog, etc.I was so excited! And a nervous wreck, I’m terrible when it comes to talking about myself and trying to describe something that means alot to me. I got to work and spent the day answering her questions and sharing quite a bit about my blog with her. It was quite enjoyable, to sit and explain the importance of my blog and the importance of it to me. Shortly after I replied with my answers, the reporter wrote back wondering if I would be available for a photo. She set up a time for the photographer to stop by the base and I was thrilled to be able to include my family in the pictures. After all, the blog isn’t just about me! Its actually centered around our daughter and it was no surprise when the photographer focused most of the attention on her. I hate having my picture taken so that was fine with me…but…ummmm, wasn’t this about me and my awesome mommy blog? LOL I’m kidding! The photographer was really nice and Abby was fascinated with his camera. He took several pictures of her, of us as a family sitting in the floor playing and then wanted some of me at the computer “blogging”. I hate (absolutely hate) being the focus of that much attention so I asked if he wanted some of my little helper working with me. I had posted several pictures last fall of Abby “helping” me work and those were such cute pictures, since she’s the inspiration of my blog it was only right for her to be included in the picture. Abby had a blast pounding on the keyboard and getting into things, she knows that normally she isn’t allowed to do all of that so she took full advantage of the situation. Once the photographer was done all I could do was wait impatiently for a week to pass by and the article to be published. I was more excited to see the picture than anything else, I wanted to know how terrible I looked lol.

I was excited once the day arrived, I would wait to read the article and read about the other blogs featured. Although I have many blogger friends, I don’t know many from around the state. We were up bright and early like always and luckily the paper had already arrived. There are about seven blogs mentioned and three pictures included, two of the other bloggers and one of me and Abby! She looks so adorable, she has such a serious look on her face like she’s really concentrating on her work. I enjoyed reading about the other blogs and I did look them all up. The reporter mentions a few different blog communities where she came across each of us, since I’m only listed on one of them I’m definite of how she found me. What I’m proud of is that my blog stood out to her among all the others. She must have found something about my blog that really caught her attention and made her want to contact me. This is a huge accomplishment for me, I do work hard on my blog and for it to catch someone’s attention like this makes me feel like I’m finally headed in the right direction.

It actually took me three tries to get into blogging. I started the first time back in 2008 when hubby deployed, I figured it would be a great release to be able to vent and let loose on what was bothering me. I ended up spending so much time with friends and family that I never put any effort into my blog and it basically remained blank. I then decided to try again when we became pregnant, I thought it would be fun to document my pregnancy and gather advice from others. I will honestly admit that I just didn’t care about blogging that time, I was so busy preparing for our precious little one and dealing with morning sickness that I just never got around to posting anything except a short post about when we found out we were expecting. Once Abby joined the family and I became a SAHM, I needed something to fill my time besides housework and caring for my sweetpea. Suddenly I had found my niche for blogging, and my passion for sharing with others, all inspired by my daughter…and Adventures in Abbyland was created. Being in the military means I often have friends spread out all over the world plus it means not always being close to family. I wanted a way to share fun stories, important updates, and pictures of our daughter not only with family but also with all my wonderful friends no matter how far away they might be. I found the perfect pasttime and exactly what I needed to fill the small empty void in my day. My days are centered around Abby but when it was nap time I would sit her in the office with me (this was when she still napped in her bouncy chair, her favorite place to snooze) and happily type little posts about how she was doing, new things she had done, I share cute photos and let my friends and family get to know the most important little one in my life. When Abby was hospitalized I was able to open up on my blog about what was going on and share my fears and worries with others, I blogged about her stay in the hospital and I received so many emails from my readers expressing concern, providing helpful information or some simply wanting to say hi and keep me company. I look back now and I’m so proud of how far my blog has come in less than a year. Now I not only get to share stories, updates and pictures of Abby along with some of our experiences as first time parents, but I also get to share amazing products and giveaways with my readers. I remember trying to shop and prepare for Abby, there were so many items to choose from and I was a little lost as to which were the best and which to stay away from. I always look for reviews on items before I purchase anything and now I’m able to help others by providing reviews for products I love. I love sharing my thoughts and opinions and when I come across a product that is amazing I want to tell everyone! 🙂 Thanks to my blog, I can.

You might be wondering why it has been almost an entire week before I shared my exciting news. Well, I wanted to let it have time to circulate and let others read it before posting. While I’m excited and proud of my blog and couldn’t wait to share my good news with my wonderful blogger friends, I didn’t want to immediately post and come across as bragging. I simply wanted to share the good news with everyone as I would a close friend, especially since many of my readers are good friends of mine now. I was also delayed by a family emergency…I’ll post about that next. Here are the links to the article, I tried to find a different way to include it but this was the only way to keep it large enough to read. Thank you for letting me share my exciting news with you!

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