Playdates.
Lunches.
Conferences.
Small groups.
Church activities.
School.
Birthday parties.
Anxiety.
If you read back through the last several years of my blog posts you might notice something has changed around here.
When I was pregnant and then after I had Brayden I wanted to be in every vehicle that was moving. I wanted to be a part of everything. If a friend wanted to go somewhere I was in. If there was an activity going on at church I was there. When the opportunity came up to help launch a new church we joined in and drove 30 minutes each way several times a week to be a part of everything that was going on. I was in several playgroups, a small group and had regular lunches with friends.
Long story short, I had at least one activity every single day of the week.
When I had Brody things got even busier. And over time, I got burned out.
This world we live in, with bloggers and pinterest accounts that dictate what "success" looks like - generally filled with magazine worthy birthday parties, time for girls night outs, a immaculate home without a single corner left undecorated and kids who look like an advertisement for monogrammed clothing boutiques just became too much.
Unconsciously, I began taking a step back. My blog began to transform itself from mom blog to 50% mom blog, 50% food blog. I cancelled a lot of my commitments and we made the difficult decision to leave a church we loved because the travel time was leaving us burned out.
Then we decided to build our home in the country.
I knew things would change anyway when we moved and I wasn't 2 minutes from the freeway, 5 minutes from the mall and close to most of my friends.
Over the last few months, I've cleared my calendar. I don't have something every single day...or even every other day. And I LOVE IT. My marriage is reaping the benefits of me being at home more often and happier, more relaxed. My kids are reaping those benefits as well, which is funny considering I was doing all of that running around because I thought it was best for them.
It turns out that in our case, my kids just enjoy being at home with me. They are happiest that way. We still do things with friends - lunch dates at Chickfila, hanging out etc. I have friends that thrive on the busy life - each day planned without a minute to spare, and that's wonderful, but for us it just wasn't working.
So, you might have noticed a change in my blog. It's a change I'm proud of, and one that you'll probably continue to see evolving. After all, I'm a country girl now and with that will come lots of new things. I plan to start sharing more of my life again but you'll still be getting plenty of my family approved recipes each week.
I love this community. I've made so many wonderful friends that I never would have met if it hadn't been for blogging and Twitter. I want to reconnect with all of you and look forward to talking to you in the comments, on your blogs and on twitter.
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