On Friday, when I asked what changes you would like to see to my blog, there was one request that was repeated over and over. You wanted an easy way to find my first post so that you could read my blog from the very beginning.
Well, you don’t need to wait for me to redesign my whole blog to make that happen. I can do that right now. If you’ll notice, on the top of my left sidebar, right below my picture, I added a little button that says, “Click here to start from the beginning”.
DON’T CLICK IT.
It will send you to this post.
Hi again!
I wanted to write a quick disclaimer before I sent you down the rabbithole.
I didn’t start this blog when Mazzy was born. I started Mommy Shorts when Mazzy was about eight months old. In fact, I didn’t get around to writing Mazzy’s birth story until she turned two.
Mommy Shorts was very different when I started. I cursed more. I wrote shorter posts. Sometimes I’d post a quote or a video and that was it. It’s interesting to see how my blog has evolved since then, but my fear is that if you find Mommy Shorts for the first time and click “start from the beginning”, you’ll have a very different impression of what goes on here.
It’s kind of like asking a writer for an example of their work and the writer handing over a paper they wrote in junior high school.
For instance, my very first post is called “This is What My Baby Looks Like When She is Taking a Dump”. It’s one sentence long and says that Mazzy gave me a black eye so I posted the picture in retaliation. Which is true (I show off my shiner in my second post), but I would never post that picture today.
As Mazzy has grown up and more people read along, I have become much more sensitive about what I post about my girls.
This is not to say that I gloss over the truth. I think it’s really important to be honest about parenthood. But I try to find ways to do it that won’t be too offensive for my children in the future.
At the beginning, I was trying to set a tone (this is not your typical Mommy Blog!) and now I find it somewhat unnecessary. I’m just myself. So, if you find yourself cringing a bit at “Mommy Shorts: The Early Days”, please know that I probably am too.
Alright, now that you’ve been properly prepared, feel free to CLICK HERE TO START AT THE BEGINNING.
But if it’s your first time here and you really want to know what this blog is all about, check out the Best of Mommy Shorts first. It includes my most popular posts (just updated yesterday!), as well as a bunch of my more personal stories. Personal stories aren’t the posts that get the most “shares”, but my regular readers tell me that’s the stuff they like to read the best. (Thank you, that was very nice to hear. If there is a post you think should be on there that I missed, please tell me in the comments.)
Did you know Mommy Shorts turns three tomorrow?
I wouldn’t have known either if you guys hadn’t inspired me to go back and look for my first post.
Now. How should we celebrate?
I think it’s so interesting to see how blogs evolve. My first post is NOTHING like how and what I post now (okay fine, it has a cute pic of one of my kids so that is still similar but you know what I mean). At that time I was just updating family and friends on our life. It’s much different now. More personal even.
Glad I’ve known you since close to the beginning! 🙂
Goodness, I started blogging in 2010. So much has changed in my life since then, I felt I had to start a brand new blog all over again, so it’s impressive what you’ve done here!
I think my absolute favorite post will always be The Secret to Enjoying Parenthood. I think you should celebrate by letting Mike tackle all the most loathesome parenting duties tonight while you relax and have a glass of wine!
I am so excited to get some time to check out the beginning. I only recently found your blog. I was thinking about mine the other day and how my first post (2011) was titled ‘I Am No Writer’. Looking back…I realize now that I am a writer, I just didn’t know it or have the confidence yet. You are an inspiration here! Thank you.
I love taking photos of CharlieV filling his diaper or crying…call it a blackmail file if you will, but sometimes it’s the only way that I can laugh though an otherwise crappy day, like when he’s so inconsolable & I have two options: cry along with him out of frustration or take a picture and capture how pathetic he looks so that when he’s a big tough teenager, I can pull out the photos and put him into his place.
How do you have the time to do all of this?
It is so important to “leave it be”. I go back to my early posts (I’ve been at this for almost six years) and cringe so very much. But it’s part of who I am, part of who my blog is and I won’t go back and change it or take it down! Happy Blogiversary coming up!
Congrats on 3 years!
I also found your 4th (or so) post about sleep-training Mazzy… How is that going by the way?
I can’t tell you how many blog posts I’ve removed for this exact reason. I cringe when find myself in the rabbit hole and I’m just like “oh you were trying real hard with this one, weren’t you Kat?” I think it’s necessary for all content creators to go through that learning curve in order to find your footing, but it doesn’t make it any less cringe worthy. Now when people ask me about old posts I’ll just send them to this one and be like “what she said! Just read that.”
Look at all you’ve accomplished in three short years! Inspirational and just plain fantastic! Congrats, Mama! And if you’re wanting to pay it forward as a celebration, you could pimp some of us “I’m more than a Mommy blog” bloggers who aspire to your greatness. I’m so transparent, aren’t I? 😉
I love the hell out of Mommy Shorts–thank you and happy blogiversary! xo
Thank you!!! I loved starting at the beginning of your blog and while you may not have loved the posts, I can look at them and think, wait – I don’t have to have long funny posts all the time? I can start smaller? This is helpful to those of us aspiring to be you!!!
“Love the hell out of Mommy Shorts” – damn straight! You are awesome.
I remember asking you for your first post right before I started blogging and I read probably a few months worth of your first posts. I love how you had evolved, and I loved your old stuff too. But now that I have an explanation of why you had evolved the way you have, I love it even more.
And I think we should celebrate with chocolate. Chocolate is always appropriate for celebrations, right?
Congrats on (almost)three years! I think you should celebrate with a little shopping spree. And like MomChalant said, chocolate. Always chocolate. 🙂 And thanks for the clarification on the beginning! Love it.
You make really good points in this – we start out trying, searching, flailing, and gradually become our blogger voices. I think my very first post was about moving, the kid didn’t show up for 2 more years.
Late last spring, I found you on facebook, or somewhere. I don’t really know…
I visited your site and read a few articles and bookmarked you. I came back a second time and liked you on facebook. I enjoyed having you in my feed and then you started posting about your most recent round of sleep training. At the same time my partner and his ex and I (all living in the same house for just a short time longer…eeek! I am so exctied about this move!) started sleep training his SIX-YEAR-OLD daughter.
I’m going to totally ignore the huge lead I just wrote and continue with my story.
I read your posts about sleep training with great interest and found myself clicking the link that leads to this page. That was two or three weeks ago, I can’t really remember. I have been lost in MommyShortsLand. I almost commented when I got to your one year Blogaversary, but I couldn’t be bothered long enough to stop reading to do anything, really.
Today, I arrived back on this page. The last few days, I’ve been running across posts I’d encountered before my total and complete addiction to Mommy Shorts took hold.I’m a little bit sad because I know that very soon, there will not be a Mommy Shorts post that I have not read. Maybe I’ll actually get something done, like start my own school or something.
You rock, Ilana. Keep it up.
I’m so glad you’re NOT a typical mommy blogger. A lot of mommy bloggers tend to portray themselves as overly annoyed, insensitive toward their children, and honestly, kind of obnoxious. I appreciate that you value the ups, downs, and hilarity of parenting and children, all the while maintaining respect for the fact that “the whole world” is reading these stories. You don’t make motherhood (or children) appear like the worst thing in the world or make it seem like you don’t like your children (I swear, so many do, and I want to headbutt them), but you share the challenges and the joys and invite everyone into this community of honesty. So THANKS! It’s very appreciated. 🙂